Chapter Text
“It’s good to be home.” Buck sighed, sinking into Eddie’s couch the night Olivia was discharged, accepting the bottle of beer Eddie handed him as he joined Buck, their thighs pressed together a warm length neither shied away from. Olivia and Christopher were in bed, well past their bedtimes, but neither father could bear to send them any sooner than they had to, their eyes drooping shut from sheer exhaustion.
“Finally home, no parents, just us and the kids,” Eddie agreed, head tilting back on the couch as he brought his beer to his mouth. Buck watched the long line of his throat as he swallowed.
“How did that go?” Buck wet his lips, turning to face the turned-off TV, “The whole, Diaz parents thing.”
In the TV reflection, Buck watched Eddie pull a face, slumping lower in the couch, which only served to press him further into Buck’s side. “Well, they’re not coming out for Easter.” Buck laughed, leaning more into Eddie until they were pressed together from shoulder to ankle.
They sat in comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to break it, happy to just be. The baby monitor was the first sound to be made, crackling alive as Olivia let out a sleep-heavy snort. They looked at each other in amusement and Buck just thought our girl as Eddie smiled at him.
In Eddie’s home, Buck pressed against his best friend on the couch while down the hall their kids slept safely and soundly. They were drinking Buck’s favourite beer, because Eddie always kept it in the fridge even though he preferred wine. They had eaten from the Indian takeout Buck loved, pre-ordered by Eddie, the keema naan included without Buck having to ask.
As the warmth grew between them, Buck's arm pressed against Eddie felt like it was on fire, prompting him to shift and drape it casually across the back of the couch to relieve the burning feeling. Eddie turned his head to Buck, the movement brushing the back of his head to Buck’s arm where it continued to burn, the heat radiated off Eddie’s skin as he turned, their eyes locking in a way that momentarily stopped time for Buck.
“I never told you how I named her.” Buck blurted, the bubbling heat inside him prompting the confession.
Eddie hummed, brows furrowing at the abrupt announcement.
“I used one of those name generator things,” Buck told him, words spilling out now, no longer able to contain them. “Part of the generator was where you could put the names of other family members, you know, so that all the names would kind of fit. And I didn't even think about it, not really, but when it asked for the family names, it wasn’t Maddie and me, it was me and Chris and, and you.”
The change in Eddie’s expression was slow, slowly changing from confused to understanding to elated. “You named your baby to fit with us.” It was a statement, not a question, but Buck nodded anyway.
“Yeah, I named our girl to fit with us.” and he had barely said it, barely finished when Eddie surged forward, his teeth catching Buck's lower lip and he was stunned for a second - only a second - before his arm on the back of the couch is pulling forward, gripping the back of Eddie’s head as he held him to him, drawing him into a slow, deep kiss.
The heat between them brimmed over, all-consuming as they grasped at each other, tighter and tighter until they were almost one, Eddie shifting to Buck's lap, their chests heaved as they broke apart, heavy ragged breaths and eye contact intense in a way that even they knew could no longer be considered platonic.
“Eddie,” Buck rasped, and Eddie moaned in understanding.
“Yeah, yeah, Buck ,” he arched into Buck, and it was electric and perfect and everything he could never have allowed himself to imagine. The pretty bow unravelled, the safe wide open and the bunker torn apart. Another kiss, and another, and another.
“Eddie,” Buck said when Eddie pulled their lips apart and mouthed along his jaw, “Eddie, we have kids together.”
“Yes,” Eddie replied simply, a gentle kiss pressed against his cheek in almost unbearable domesticity, and Buck never wanted it to end.
“As in multiple.”
“I’m aware.”
“Oh my god,” Buck blurted, jerking Eddie back, hands grasping him tightly to prevent him from falling back, “I baby-trapped you!”
“Technically, I baby-trapped you first, bud.”
“Please don’t call me bud while I can feel your dick on my thigh.” Buck chastised him with a whine.
Eddie simply replied with a roll of his hips, head dropping to Buck's chest, and their simultaneous moans filled the room. “Bed,” he murmured against Buck's ear, and Buck didn’t hesitate, hands running down him to the back of his thighs, and lifted as he rose from the couch, Eddie moaned desperately, legs wrapped around Buck as he carried him two whole steps before stopping dead.
“We can’t!”
And fuck, fuck, he had changed his mind, Eddie had fucked up here, demanded too much too soon and Buck wasn’t, didn’t-
“Olivia’s in your room!”
Eddie froze, looking down at Buck from his higher vantage point as Buck just held him, not even struggling under his weight.
“You don’t actually want to stop?” He asked, needing Buck to say it, to tell him he wants him.
Buck shook his head sharply, “No, I want this, want you , Eddie, but our girls in your room.” He tilted his head up, lips finding Eddie’s and planted a sweet slow kiss and he was still fucking carrying Eddie and god, it was doing something to Eddie, something unholy, forcing him to run his hands through Buck's hair and just grasping a handful, eliciting the most beautiful moan he had ever heard.
Buck twisted them around, depositing Eddie to lie back down on the couch, and covered his body with his own, hands and mouths desperate for each other.
“I love you,” Eddie confessed into Buck’s mouth, because he did and he needed Buck to know, to know this wasn’t some fickle one-time thing.
“Me too,” Buck nodded, eyes closed as he dropped his forehead to Eddie’s, their breaths mingling, becoming one, he breathed in Eddie and Eddie breathed in him. “God, Ed’s, I love you so much.”
And the heat burned, but they traded slow, honey-sweet kisses and tight grasps and “I love you”s captured between them, content to just be.
Later, when they were woken by the sound of movement, still fully dressed and wrapped up on the couch, they exchanged languid kisses, sleep-fogged brains not fully awake enough to register the clicking of crutches announcing Chris’ entrance.
“We’re gonna need some ground rules,” Chris declared with a put-upon sigh, they froze like deer in headlights, neither able to meet his eyes. “The couch,” Chris gestured, eyes to the ceiling, “is a communal space. Communal spaces should be sacred from your eugh .” They disentangled as he spoke, the cold instant as they reluctantly disentangled from each other.
“Sorry,” Eddie murmured, a deep flush creeping up his neck and cheeks, “we should probably talk about this-”
“I’m good,” Chris shrugged off the apology, eyes dropping from the ceiling to them with a crinkle. “Just- just respect the communal spaces,” he added, before turning on his heel and leaving the room and left before they could say anything else.
“Oh my god,” Eddie groaned, dropping back to the couch, palms digging into his eyes in embarrassment at being caught by his fourteen-year-old. “Why did we do this on the couch?”
“Yeah, well I didn’t hear you complaining.” Buck laughed dropping down beside him, a little more than relieved that Chris had seemed okay at seeing them - horrified - but okay. “Actually, I think it was more like ‘don’t stop, you’re a sex god’. Or something, I’m paraphrasing here.” Eddie poked him in the ribs, eliciting a burst of laughter from them both.
“I really do love you, you know,” Eddie told him softly.
“I know, baby.” Buck replied, a wicked grin spreading across his face, “I’m the love of your life, your soulmate, the Romeo to your Juliet, the Cleopatra to your Antony, the-”
“Nope, never mind, I’m taking it back.” Eddie interrupted, grabbing the throw pillow beside him and throwing it at Buck. The bark of laughter Buck let out filled Eddie with a warmth he could never claim to have felt before.
*
Eleven months, three weeks, and six days since the day Buck first met his daughter, and he was standing outside of a courthouse having just officially adopted her. In front of a judge and everything. He balanced Olivia on his hip, her small frame squirming with glee, a messy kiss pressed to her cheek as she giggled. Eddie mimicked him on her other side, pulling Chris close in their family embrace. Maddie yelled ‘Say Cheese’ with enthusiasm, and Karen took a hundred photos, Hen and Chimney whooping cheers of delight, Athena smiling brightly as she pulled Bobby close, wiping the tears from his cheek as he clapped.
Eleven months, three weeks, and six days. Clipboard Buck would have been upset that it hadn’t lined up perfectly, Dad Buck couldn’t care less, because it meant he had one less day of waiting.
Eleven months, three weeks, and six days since the day Buck met his daughter and he sat outside an ice cream shop, sunlight streaming on his friends and family, his daughter and his son and his- well if the engagement ring burning in his pocket had anything to say about it, that could change soon too.
Buck was surrounded by laughter and joy, his hand clasped in Eddie’s, Chris to his left, too old now to tuck up under Buck's arm like he was little, but there were no protests when Buck tested an arm on the back of his seat, keeping him close while giving him his own space. Olivia was perched on Eddie’s lap, though he doubted it would last long, her wriggling and need to get on the ground running almost outweighing her delight at the giant scoop of ice cream both in front of her, and smeared all over her face and hands.
“We need more napkins,” Buck muttered to Eddie, standing up with a press of his lips to Olivia’s messy hair - the once neat braid unravelling - completely ignored in favour of the chocolate ice cream beginning to melt. He made his way to the table set up at the doorway, grabbing a handful of napkins, and accidentally bumping into a woman as he turned back around.
“Sorry!” He apologised with a quick glance. He doubled back at the almost-familiar face, taking a second to focus.
“You have a beautiful family,” The woman told him, looking from him to Olivia, still in Eddie's arms, fists raised in glee as Chris tickled her side and stole her spoon, and finally it clicked.
Her hair was lighter, and her nose too narrow, but her eyes. Buck would recognize her eyes anywhere, because he looked into their copy every day.
“Thank you,” he croaked almost desperately, hoping he could convey just how much he meant it, how much he owed her for the life and the baby he got to love and raise and watch become a stubborn, smart, beautiful, opinionated toddler.
She smiled at him brightly, eyes sparkling, and reached to squeeze his arm briefly before turning back and continuing down the street with a lightness to her step.
Buck made his way back to his seat in a half daze, Eddie took the napkins from him with a smile, wiping Olivia’s face and hands despite her protests with a high-pitched “There's our girl!” when she was clean.
Eddie nudged his shoulder, keeping his shoulder pressed comfortably against him and whispered lowly, “You good?”
Buck looked around the table, Maddie and Chim were sitting across from him, Jee on Maddie's lap, and baby Joy on Chimney’s as he fought a losing battle of keeping his ice cream cone from her grabby hands. Karen and Hen were to the right, Denny and Mara chatting animatedly with Chris about the newest game Buck had broken down and bought Chris, Eddie snorting with a shake of his head and a muttering that sounded suspiciously like ‘good cop’. To the left, Bobby and Athena were returning with another round of coffees for the adults at the table. Ravi, May and Harry seated between them and Eddie, each pulling increasingly weirder faces to the delight of Olivia, peals of laughter erupting from her.
“Yeah,” Buck smiled, turning back to Eddie, a warmth spreading through him that he could scarcely contain, “I’m good.”