Work Text:
Buck wasn't always one to think before he spoke. His brain to mouth filter was remedial at best and he genuinely struggled to realise that he was speaking until he was about halfway through a sentence. The fact that words often slipped out without his permission should have been surprising to no one, least of all Eddie and Chris, who had known him for longer than Buck had really known himself.
It was just his luck that his biological son inherited that trait of his. It wasn't as though Buck would change anything about Theo. Theo was awesome. He was funny and clever and energetic. No, Theo wasn't the problem. The problem lay with Buck.
Buck, who kept secrets that he didn't want told, and Buck, who told Theo just about everything for the sake of transparency.
He wanted Theo to feel comfortable in his new home and part of that was being honest with him whenever he asked a question. This was all a big adjustment for the kid and Buck wanted to make the transition into a new stage of his life as smooth as possible.
So, when Theo asked about Eddie, Buck responded honestly.
"When are we going to see Eddie again?" Theo asked, staring up at the picture of Eddie, Buck and Chris that Buck had pinned on the fridge.
"Soon," Buck answered. "We're going to see a lot of him. You see the boy with him? That's Chris. He's going to be your new friend."
Theo squinted up at the picture, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Like Eddie's your friend?"
Buck frowned a little. He supposed that, yes, he and Eddie were friends and so it would make sense that Theo would compare other friendships to him and Eddie but it didn't feel exactly right to compare what Chris and Theo were going to have to what Buck and Eddie had.
It would have been easy to just go along with it but Buck was trying this new thing of being honest about his feelings and communicating them with the people he cared about so instead he said, "Probably a little different but you'll still be friends."
Theo frowned, a perfect image of Buck, and turned to look at him. "Why will it be different?"
Buck hesitated, crouching down so that he was eye-height with Theo. "Well because Eddie and I are different to a lot of friends."
That just seemed to make Theo more confused, which was fair enough. It was making Buck confused too but it was the only thing that made sense.
"How?" Theo asked, tilting his head. Buck reached out a ruffled Theo's hair.
"We just are. We're best friends and obviously you and Chris are going to be best friends but we do things best friends don't always do."
Theo, ever inquisitive, said, "Like what?"
Buck shrugged. "Like seeing each other every day and helping each other out with house stuff like shopping and laundry. Domestic things."
Theo tilted his head even further to the side. "Domestic?"
"Family things," Buck said, surprising himself by saying it. "We're family."
Theo frowned deeper. "But won't that make me Chris's family?"
Buck didn't really have a good answer to that. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so."
"Then how are we not like you and Eddie?"
"Eddie and I…" Buck trailed off. His knees were getting sore so he sat down on the floor, cross-legged. Theo blinked at him expectantly. "Eddie and I are family in a different way to you and Chris."
Theo looked like he might have got it because he started to smile. "Oh. So you're like Mommy and Daddy!"
Buck faltered. "Uh…"
"Mommy and Daddy are family," Theo pressed on, seeming gleeful at his discovery, "and they're not like me and them because they love each other different!"
That wasn't a bad way of putting it. Putting aside the whole "Mommy and Daddy" of it all, Buck and Eddie did love each other different. Buck certainly loved Eddie differently to how he loved Hen or Chimney or Maddie or Athena. It wasn't more or less but it was definitely different.
"Yeah," Buck said. "Yeah, that's right."
Theo beamed. "Thank you, Buck."
With that, he turned and wandered off to play with his toys.
—
Buck didn't think anything more of it until a few days later when Eddie and Chris came around to introduce themselves properly to Theo and to have dinner.
Buck had been waiting all day for them to arrive, the excitement getting to him. He couldn't wait for them to love Theo just like Buck did and he knew they would. They were family after all.
The knock on the door came at half past three. Buck leapt up to answer it with Theo following after him.
Upon opening the door, Buck was greeted with Eddie's grin and Chris's smile.
"Hi," Eddie said, grin never wavering.
"Hi," Buck said back.
"Hello again, Spiderman," Eddie said, turning his attention to the four-year-old who was standing eagerly beside Buck.
"Eddie!" Theo exclaimed, throwing his arms around Eddie's leg. Eddie bent down to scoop him up into his arms and hug him.
"Theo, this is Christopher," Buck said, hugging Chris briefly and taking his crutches off him to leave them by the door. Chris didn't use his crutches much in the house anymore. The physiotherapy he'd been going to had helped a little with his stability and he liked the independence, even though he was just as independent with the crutches.
"Hello," Theo said brightly. "Buck said you're going to be my friend."
Chris, being one of the best kids in the world, nodded and said, "Sure am. Do you want to play together?"
"You don't have to," Buck said quickly.
"I want to," Chris replied easily. "Theo seems cool."
Buck couldn't help but hug Chris again before he stepped aside to let Eddie and Chris into the house.
Whilst Chris and Theo played with Theo's action figure toys, Buck and Eddie went to prepare dinner. Of course, Buck and Eddie preparing dinner really meant Buck preparing dinner and refusing to let Eddie help.
"I can cut those," Eddie said, gesturing to the tomatoes.
"Nope," Buck replied, grabbing the bowl of tomatoes and whisking it away from Eddie's reach. "I'm cooking. It's my house."
"You cook at my house all the time."
"That's different."
"How?"
Buck rolled his eyes, smiling at Eddie.
Eddie sighed. "At least let me do something."
Buck hummed. "You can sit at the table if you like."
Eddie groaned but must have realised that this was a losing battle as he went and sat down at the table as instructed. He tapped his fingers on it one at a time in a row, waiting for Buck to finish chopping the tomatoes.
"Has anyone ever told you you're bossy?" he asked.
Buck snorted. "This coming from you?"
"I'm not bossy!" Eddie protested. "I'm the normal one."
Buck nearly burst out laughing at that. "Normal? I don't think either of us are normal, Eddie."
Eddie sighed dramatically but the corners of his lips were quirking upwards.
Buck loved the quiet moments like this. They came so easily with Eddie. It wasn't necessary for them to talk for them to have a conversation. A twist of the mouth here and a raise of an eyebrow there and they knew what the other was thinking. It was nice. Buck hadn't really had that with anyone before.
"Buck!" Chris and Theo called in unison from the living room.
They didn't sound like they were in danger but Buck's heart rate spiked.
"Go on," Eddie said. "I'll take care of cooking."
"Don't burn anything," Buck said firmly before leaving for the living room.
The boys were sat on the floor with a collection of action figures scattered around them. Theo looked quizzical but Chris was glowing with something.
"Tell Buck what you asked me," he urged, nudging Theo's side.
Theo nodded. "Are me and Chris brothers now?"
Buck nearly choked on his spit. "What… What makes you say that?"
"Because you and Eddie are like Mommy and Daddy and if you're my Buck then he must be my Eddie and that makes Chris my brother," Theo said wisely.
Buck cleared his throat, pointedly avoiding Chris's ecstatic and teasing look. "Well, not quite."
"Why not?" Theo pouted.
Buck scrambled to think of a reason. "Because Eddie and I aren't married like your mommy and daddy."
Theo screwed up his face. "Why?"
"Because Eddie doesn't like boys."
"Why?"
"Because he doesn't feel romantic feelings towards them."
"Why?"
Buck glanced desperately at Chris, who looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "Help me out here, bud?"
"Don't ask me," Chris said. "I don't know why you aren't married either."
"You're explaining bad," Theo announced. "I'm going to ask my Eddie."
If it hadn't been for the immediate panic, Buck would have taken a second to burst with love at the mention of Theo's Eddie, just like how Buck was Chris's Buck.
Before Buck could stop him, Theo ran off to the kitchen. Buck ran after him and Chris followed behind, leaning on the wall as he walked so he could go faster without falling over.
"Eddie!" Theo said and Buck kind of wanted to slap a hand over the kid's mouth but that would probably be mean. "Why won't you marry Buck?"
Eddie, who had been very slowly finishing chopping the tomatoes, looked up with an expression of pure fear.
"Ignore him," Buck said, feeling a bit bad for saying it but needing to say it anyway. "He's like a dog with a bone."
"No, I want to know," Chris said, coming into the room. "Why won't you marry Buck, Dad?"
"Um," Eddie started, "well, because I don't like boys."
"See?" Buck said, ignoring the flare of disappointment in his gut.
"But you like Buck," Theo said. "You love each other different. Buck said so."
Buck flushed bright red. Eddie didn't look at him, instead keeping his eyes firmly on Theo.
"Well, yeah, I guess we do," Eddie said, "but that doesn't mean we get married."
"Why?" Theo asked, blinking up at Eddie owlishly.
"Because…" Eddie paused. "Because… I— I don't know."
Theo hummed. "You should get married. Then Chris will be my brother."
"Would you…" Eddie cleared his throat, finally (finally) looking at Buck. "Would you want to?"
Buck drew a blank. "Would I want to what?"
"Get married," Eddie said. Their eyes locked and Buck forgot everything else.
"You don't like boys," Buck said weakly.
"I like you," Eddie replied. "It's different with you."
Buck bit his lip. "Eddie, I can't… I can't be some kind of experiment."
Eddie shook his head. "No experiment. I'm sure. Will you marry me?"
"You've got to be on one knee!" Chris piped up.
Eddie nodded and got down on one knee, gazing up at Buck like he was something divine. "Buck — Evan — will you marry me?"
Buck could barely breathe. "Are you serious?"
"Deadly," Eddie said.
Buck looked into Eddie's eyes and he saw family and the rest of forever. "Yeah. Yes, I'll do it."
Eddie broke out into a grin and got up, tugging Buck in for a hug.
Theo threw himself into the hug too and even Chris allowed himself to be dragged in.
Eddie pressed a kiss to Buck's cheek, shaking mildly and laughing in disbelief. Buck just beamed. He was right where he needed to be and he sure was glad that Theo had no filter.