Call it the way I see it!

Eddie isn't sure why he doesn't tell Buck about Marisol. He doesn't mention meeting her at the hardware store, doesn't mention exchanging numbers, doesn't mention the many failed texting attempts, definitely doesn't mention asking her out—or, well, saying yes when she asked him out.

A month ago he'd know exactly why he wasn't telling Buck about her. Most likely because a month ago he'd still believe he and Buck were dancing around something, so he never would have blushed his way through an interaction in front of the epoxy shelf in the first place. But now, with Buck and Natalia, Eddie doesn't know why he wouldn't just tell him.

Buck would be happy for him. He knows that much.

And yet, Eddie doesn't tell him, doesn't want to tell him, wants to keep Marisol as separate from Buck as he can possibly manage given how they met those first two times. He just wants to have something that isn't defined by Buck.

(He already has the heartache when Buck mentions Natalia with that little smile, already has the fear of rejection whenever he asks Buck to hang out now, already has Christopher who tilts his head when he's confused just like Buck.)

But its impossible to keep anything from Buck for long. And really, he should have seen this coming.

"Eddie, that is so embarrassing." Buck is shaking with his laughter at Christopher's colourful retelling of Eddie wiping out in the school parking lot the other day.

"For me or him?" Chris replies without missing a beat, only succeeding in making Buck laugh harder. He falls across the length of the couch as he clutches at his sides and Eddie shakes his head from the kitchen doorway. "Besides, if you think that's embarrassing," Chris snickers, and Eddie blanches, "you should have seen him trying to ask Marisol out."

Buck's laughter stops instantaneously, his whole body freezing up, and the silence consumes Eddie whole. He swallows thickly as Buck drags his eyes away from Christopher to look at Eddie. For once, Eddie can't actually see Buck, not the way he normally he can, all he sees is the Buck who can rip his heart from his sleeve and tuck it back into his chest.

"Marisol?" he prods weakly. "Rosa's mom?"

"No, God, no." Eddie shakes his head vigorously, tries to get back on even ground. "You think any single mom at that school would say yes after the Monday fiasco?"

"Who's Marisol?" Buck asks without even a huff of laughter.

"We went and helped her out after we destroyed the house she was fixing up, remember?" Eddie shrugs, ducks his head to avoid Buck's carefully blank eyes. "Saw her in the hardware store a month ago, finally worked up the courage to ask her out."

"Technically, she asked you," Chris chimes in. "I have no idea why."

"Thanks, kid," Eddie sighs.

"Wait, so I can't date someone I met on a call but you can?" Buck butts in, a heat behind the words that makes Eddie's hackles rise.

"I never said you couldn't date her," Eddie retorts, trying not to let his frustration boil over. "I politely tried to remind you that you dating someone you saved never ends well."

"Oh, wow." Buck scoffs. "I didn't save her, Eddie. She had a scratch on her hand, I patched it up. That's it."

"Yeah, I patched Ana's hand up too," Eddie mutters. He glances down at Christopher and feels a tendril of guilt curl around his heart. He's already had to live through his parents' arguments before, Eddie's not making him do it again.

Eddie purses his lips as he retreats into the kitchen, settling back against the fridge to let the cool metal calm him down. He tries to sort through Buck's reaction, but it doesn't make sense. This goes beyond the protective instincts of a best friend, and it feels like more than just Buck's abandonment issues rearing their head.

Everything gets so fucked up when one of them dates. A mess that neither one of them thinks to clean up until its too late. To Eddie, it makes sense. Now, anyway. Now, he knows why he'd hated Abby's ghost so passionately, why he'd U-turned so sharply from finding Ali perfectly nice to a ticking time bomb, why he'd only hated Taylor more with every day that had passed. And, of course, Natalia who never stood a chance when she was hanging onto Buck's death and running away from his life. Because Buck would never hold a grudge, but Eddie does it gladly and without being asked, simmering at the side-lines.

But Buck's reactions never make sense. Not to Shannon, not to Ana, not to Vanessa, not to Marisol.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Buck asks as soon as the kitchen door closes behind him.

"I don't know." Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and tilts his head towards the ceiling.

"Were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know." Eddie sighs, knocks his head against the fridge once for good measure. He cracks an eye open to look at Buck. "Were you going to tell me that you and Natalia bought a new couch together?"

"I did tell you." Buck frowns.

"No, I came over and saw the new couch and you distractedly told me that your mom's couch was covered in Kameron's amniotic fluid. Which you also didn't tell me about." Eddie folds his arms over his chest and takes a deep breath. "Buck, what are we arguing about here?"

"Our girlfriends apparently," Buck mumbles.

"I don't have a girlfriend. Just a date on Saturday." Eddie rolls his eyes, and a sharp thrill of bravery sparks at the base of his spine as he looks at Buck. "What are we really arguing about?"

"I-I don't know." Buck frowns down at his socked feet

"Maybe you should go back to the loft and figure that out," Eddie says quietly, hating himself for the flicker of hurt on Buck's face.

"Just me?" Buck croaks. "So you know what we're arguing about?"

"Yeah," Eddie whispers. He'd been arguing with himself about the very same thing for years before he'd just let himself feel it. Its only fair that Buck does the same.

"And you aren't going to tell me?" Buck asks wetly.

"Its something you have to figure out yourself, Buck." Eddie bites his lip and shrugs. "You don't have to leave now. I don't want you to leave," Eddie clarifies, "but no more arguing. Not where Chris can hear." And then, Eddie thinks that maybe he should give Buck a place to start even if Eddie never got that luxury himself. "He's already been through this with me and Shannon, doesn't need to go through it again with us."

He leaves Buck in the kitchen with the first clue to this little riddle of theirs.

Buck is stood staring at his couch with a wrinkled nose when a frantic knocking rips him from his thoughts. Frowning, he skids over to the door on socked feet and yanks it open to reveal a harried Eddie and sheepish Christopher.

"Tell me you aren't busy," Eddie pleads, already pushing into the loft to set down two dangerously full grocery bags on the kitchen island.

The loft suddenly seems a lot brighter, feels a lot warmer.

"I'm not busy," Buck replies as he shoots a questioning look at Christopher who only bites his lip and looks away.

"Oh, thank God." Eddie grabs him by the shoulders with a grateful smile before taking a deep breath. "I am. Busy. Like incredibly busy."

"Okay..." Buck narrows his eyes at him. "So, I'm hanging out with my favourite Diaz then?"

"Hold the thought on that favourite bit," Eddie huffs, dropping his hands. Buck's shoulders turn cold at the loss, he shrugs the absence off. Eddie turns to Christopher with his arms folded over his chest and an arched eyebrow. "Want to tell Buck what you decided to tell me at four pm this afternoon?"

"Fine," Chris sighs, looking up at Buck guiltily. "I need to bake cookies for my whole class."

"Sure, we can do that." Buck frowns, sharing a look with a still frantic Eddie. "When do you need them for?"

Christopher averts his eyes. Realisation dawns on Buck, and he shares a knowingly unimpressed look with Eddie.

"Tomorrow," he mumbles.

"Chris," Buck groans.

"I know, okay?" Chris groans right back. "I forgot. I'm sorry. Will you help me? Please?" He breaks out his patented puppy eyes, and Buck has to try hard not to laugh at the notion he wasn't going to help Chris all along.

Buck steals a look at an apologetic Eddie, shakes his head in a way he hopes conveys I've got your back.

"Of course I will, Chris, you know that." His eyes snap to Christopher when Eddie's face melts into that dangerously fond expression. He's been seeing a lot more of it ever since he woke up from his coma, and it makes him feel a little like a lightning bolt trapped in a human body. He doesn't know what to make of it.

"You are a lifesaver," Eddie tells him seriously, pulling him into a quick hug. "I've gotta get over to Pepa's, but I'll be back around dinner time, okay?"

"Oh, I see," Buck tuts. "You just want to reap the benefits of all our hard work."

"Obviously." Eddie pulls one of his patented frog faces. "I wasn't trying to hide that."

"Lazy good-for-nothing," Buck says, except it comes out sounding much more like you're everything.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Who here was asleep for a wholeass week?" Eddie retorts.

"Ass," Chris snickers.

"Don't," Buck and Eddie scold in unison, sharing a bashful smile. Chris just rolls his eyes.

Buck tries not to preen at how natural all of this is, thinks of Bobby's words in the engine just before lightning struck.

Life's too short to take those relationships for granted.

Buck has seen his world without the Diazes in it, he'll never take them for granted again.

"I don't think a coma is technically considered sleep," Buck argues, just happy that Eddie isn't flinching away from the reminder of the accident like he used to.

"Well, you weren't snoring," Eddie concedes.

"I don't snore!"

"Buck, the only reason I felt okay leaving you sleeping on the couch to make Christopher's lunch was because I could hear you breathing all the way from the kitchen." Buck tries not to think about a worried Eddie hovering over him, fingers itching to reach out and find a pulse, lingering in the doorway to the kitchen because he didn't want to leave Buck alone. "You snore."

"You snore," Chris agrees.

"Betrayal!" Buck gasps. "We're making oatmeal raisin cookies."

"Nooooooo!" Chris cries. "Buck, please!"

"Do I snore?" Buck demands.

"Nope." Chris grins.

"Chocolate chip it is."

"Double chocolate chip?" he tries, eyes wide and sparkling. Buck loves him desperately.

"Nice try, kid." Eddie drops a hand onto Christopher's head. "You get double chocolate chip when you tell us more than one day in advance."

Something warm and content settles in Buck's gut at the ease of Eddie's us.

"Buck?" Chris pouts up at him.

"Nah, not gonna work on me." Buck shakes his head, folds his arms over his chest. Eddie sends him a smile, the small and private one that tucks itself into Eddie's rosy cheeks, the one that Buck's pretty sure he'd return from the dead just to see again.

"Okay, well, you two have got it under control." Eddie ducks down to drop a muah! on Christopher's head, presses a quick one to Buck's cheek. "I'm off! Love you both, see you for dinner!"

Eddie sweeps out of the door in a whirlwind of frantic energy. Buck just watches him go, mouth half-open in a soft 'o' as the skin of his cheek tingles where Eddie's lips had been. He stares at the closed door with wide eyes, stares for so long his mouth goes dry.

Maybe he does have the answers, maybe he's had a couch all along.

A sharp tug on his shirt pulls him from his trance, and he looks down at Christopher.

"Cookies?" he says, entirely too knowing for an eleven-almost-twelve-year-old.

"Cookies," Buck nods.

3x10 // 6x09

here’s my short drabble from tonight’s ep that i just whipped up on my phone <3

rated: g | words: 2k | read on ao3

With the bread in the oven, the lasagna almost ready, Buck began to mix the salad, busying himself while Chris and Eddie played another round of boggle.

He went on with their conversation, the one he couldn’t seem to get out of his head.

“So it doesn’t bother you that Bobby didn’t even consider one of us for interim captain?

Eddie shrugged his shoulders, not looking up from the game. “Not really. Just got back to the 118.”

Yea, Buck knew; not having Eddie by his side out on the field had been some of the most difficult months of his life.

Eddie looked up to him then, pointing then pen in his hand out toward him.

“Clearly it bothers you though.”

Well yea, it did. He just wasn’t quite sure why.

“Listen, Lucy is—whatever.” Buck didn’t really think much of anything of her to be completely honest; she hadn’t been around enough for him to get to know her.

“Look, the point is,” Buck paused again, getting distracted as Eddie smiled fondly down to Christopher. Those two could really melt his heart sometimes. Ok, it was all of the time, but Buck didn’t have time to dive into that at the moment.

“The point is, is that she’s gone, and it’s weird that Caps struggling to pick a replacement when he has so many other excellent options right under his nose.”

“Like you?” Eddie asked with a pointed look Bucks’ direction.

“It’s like he’s choosing not to see them, and everything they have to offer,” Buck said, adding some seasoning to the salad.

As Eddie and Chris finished their game, Eddie called time, telling Christopher that maybe he’d win next time. Giving Buck his full attention then, Eddie asked, “what’re you offering?”

Buck refrained from telling Eddie anything he wanted, placing his attention on their dinner instead of actually answering the man.

“Uh right now? Bobby’s famous lasagna with six layers of cheese, cooked to perfection.”

Grabbing the hot pads, Buck got the lasagna out and brought it to the table, two eager faces looking up to him. It was nights like these that were his favorites. He could pretend like the three of them were a family—a real one.

“It does look really good,” Eddie said, Chris adding, “smells really good too!”

“And it only took me three tries to get it right!”

He was proud of himself, ok?

“Not sure you get three tries on the job.”

At Eddie’s words, Buck paused. If that were the case, he would’ve lost his job altogether long ago.

“I just—I wanna know what these other candidates have that I apparently don’t.”

“Buck, you don’t even have a couch!” Chris hollered out, Eddie chuckling, the two of them fist bumping for it.

Buck’s eyes wandered over to the blank space of his living room where the couch used to be, the one he still hadn’t been able to replace.

“So, so what uh, what does that have to do with being fire captain?”

“It’s weird,” Chris said, Eddie sniggering once again.

Buck sighed, though he had to let out a chuckle himself. God did that kid get his sass from his dad.

“Well, my last two couches came with girlfriends.”

“I think you mean, your last two girlfriends came with couches”, Eddie noted a little smugly.

Buck squinted over to Eddie, though he couldn’t deny it, his best friend trying to level with him still.

“Taylor moved out, what, four months ago Buck? You could’ve replaced it by now.”

Four months, one week, and three days—not that he was counting. He just hated being alone…didn’t know how to be.

“Well maybe I-maybe I don’t wanna pick the wrong couch again.”

Eddie placed his hand out between them, studying Buck over for a moment.

“Buck, there’s plenty of couches to pick from.”

“Well what if, what if the couch I want is already taken, or-or doesn’t want me, you know um…doesn’t suit me?”

Eddie leveled with him. “Well maybe you’ve been looking for couches in the wrong places.”

They stared each other down then, brown holding blue, Christopher finally bringing them back.

“Dad, you should help Buck shop for a couch since he loves ours so much!”

“Uh—” Buck gave a nervous laugh, Eddie looking between the two of them.

“Yea, maybe I should. Whata you say Buckley?”

There weren’t any coherent words Buck could form, so instead, he shoved a large bite of lasagna into his mouth, nodding his head in answer. Eddie gave him that fond yet exasperated look, Buck grinning with his mouth closed.

It was because of this that Buck found himself with Eddie at the furniture stores a few days later, the two of them already on store number five.

“C’mon Buck, there’s gotta be at least one you’ve liked by now.”

There was; he just couldn’t have it.

“I dunno Eds, maybe this was a bad idea.”

He slumped onto one of the display couches, Eddie moving to sit next to him, angling his body so he was facing Buck, their knees brushing together.

“You wanna tell me what’s really going on in that big head of yours?”

Buck huffed out a laugh, though he couldn’t quite meet Eddie’s gaze.

Buck, Eddie and Chris being the most domestic family I’ve ever seen in my life

Maybe that’s how Bobby feels about  interim captain. 

Their little makeshift family is the heart and soul of this show. - Whitney Evans, TV Fanatic

Chris being held by his dads

Buddie Week Day 3: Favorite Domestic Moments ⟿ Home ✺ Phillip Phillips

so Buck has a Santa hat. and Chris has a christmas jumper.  and i could definitely imagine Eddie with deer antlers bow…

wow I’m crushed..

That could be so cute!!

Eddie not being ready for a ‘ready made family’ because he already has one♥

Buddie and their buddy Christopher + parallels

Christopher Diaz + teasing his legal guardians

9-1-1 (3x10 Christmas Spirit) Buck organizing the 118 Christmas party so Chris and Eddie could spend Christmas together.

+ bonus