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Eddie and Buck were waiting in their usual spots in front of Eddie's truck when Christopher came out of school, watching him wave goodbye to his teacher before he spotted them and his whole face lit up.
"Dad! Buck!" Even though this was their routine every time they were both off shift, it always seemed to bring the three of them the same amount of joy it had the first time. Eddie scooped Christopher up in his arms, squeezing him tightly before Buck took him for a hug, the familarity of the manuever a source of comfort in and of itself.
"Mr. Diaz!" A voice called out from the doorway, and Eddie turned, as Buck balanced Christopher on his hip. A young woman came hurrying up to them, her long skirt flying behind her in the breeze. "Mr. Diaz, I'm Mary Beth Carter, Christopher's art teacher." She smiled at Christopher before turning her smile, and her attention, back to Eddie. "You are coming to the parent teacher conferences, aren't you?"
"I'm already signed up, Mrs. Carter," Eddie assured her, smiling back. Buck shifted Christopher slightly, bringing him closer, his eyes fixed on the conversation in front of him.
"Ms. Carter, or Mary Beth is fine," she responded with a laugh, and Buck abruptly turned and headed towards the truck, opening the back door and beginning to settle Christopher in.
"Thanks Ms. Carter, I will see you at conferences," Eddie said, nodding as he moved towards the driver's side door, sliding in and waiting for Buck to sit in the passenger seat. It took an extra minute or two, but Buck finally slid in himself, clicking his seatbelt and settling in quietly. Eddie glanced at him quickly, but honking from behind alerted Eddie that another parent desperately wanted his parking spot, and he pulled out and onto the road.
"Buck, you're coming to talk to my teachers too, right?" Christopher called out from the back.
"Sounds like it's just for your dad, buddy," Buck responded, twisting around to pat Christopher reassuringly on the knee when he heard the frustrated groan Christopher gave.
"But I want you there!" Christopher insisted.
"Christopher, Buck has a twenty four hour shift ending right before conferences, he's going to need his sleep," Eddie answered, frowning as he swore he heard matching sighs from his son and boyfriend. "Buck-"
"Sorry Superman, you know I would come if I could," Buck said softly, "I wasn't able to ask for time off since I didn't know about it." Eddie's frown grew deeper, wondering at the twinge in Buck's voice, something nagging in the back of Eddie's brain about Buck's word choice, but the light turned green and he had to focus on the road again.
***
That night, after Christopher was in bed, Buck headed downstairs, followed by Eddie. Eddie went to the fridge, turning around with two beers to find Buck perched in an armchair rather than in his usual spot on the couch, where they could share the space.
"Buck, what's going on?" Eddie asked, tone full of concern and confusion as he went to hand Buck a beer, which Buck grabbed and took a deep gulp of. Buck shook his head, taking another long drink. Eddie knelt in front of Buck, his hands resting on Buck's knees. "Buck, talk to me. Please."
"Are you ashamed of me?" The words came spilling out of Buck's mouth, like he had tried to hold them back but couldn't contain them anymore. "Of us?"
"What, Buck, no of course not!" Reaching up, Eddie cupped Buck's face in his hands, but Buck wouldn't meet his eyes. "Buck, sweetheart, where did this come from?"
"First you don't even tell me about the parent-teacher conference," Buck choked out, "and look, I know I'm not Christopher's dad, not really, but I thought-"
"Buck-" Eddie tried to cut in, to ease the pain on Buck's face, to tell him how wrong he was when he said he wasn't Christopher's dad, but Buck was already blinking back tears, words rushing out.
"And then I find out about the conference from the art teacher who is blatantly hitting on you right in front of me, and you don't even introduce me!" Buck's voice rose in volume, and he instinctively glanced towards the stairs to make sure he hadn't woken up Christopher. Sighing, Buck stood up abruptly, rubbing his hands over his eyes, the hurt in his voice slicing through Eddie like a knife. "I'm going back to my place tonight. Like you said, I need sleep before my shift."
Eddie stayed kneeling on the carpet, Buck's words careening through his mind, trying to put the puzzle pieces together. All Eddie knew in that moment was Buck sounded so sad, and Buck was leaving, and he couldn't let him go into a shift without him this way. So he stood up, walking quickly over to Buck and grabbing his hands.
"I don't want you to leave, but I need you to feel as good as you can for your shift, especially since I won't be there to watch your back," Eddie said softly, gently rubbing his thumbs up and down the palms of Buck's hands, before risking a glance at Buck's face. The sadness in his boyfriend's eyes wasn't something Eddie could just leave alone. He wrapped his arms around Buck, and Buck let himself be held, even leaning into Eddie's embrace. "We are absolutely talking about this after your shift, but for now, please, please be safe, and please know how much I love you."
"I love you too," Buck whispered into Eddie's ear, before turning and walking out the door, leaving Eddie alone in his living room staring after him.
***
Eddie barely slept that night. The bed felt too big, too cold, and all he could do was run Buck's words over and over through his head, and picture his boyfriend heading out on a call without him having his back. Eventually, Eddie gave up on sleep, and quietly went downstairs, settling at the counter with a cup of coffee, rerunning last night through his head again.
He honestly hadn't even noticed that teacher was flirting with him, he was with Buck, why would anyone think he was available, he-
Oh.
Oh.
As soon as it was a reasonable hour, Eddie rang Carla. "Eddie, is everything okay?" Carla asked quickly. "You said not to come until later because you had the day off until the parent-teacher conferences."
"Everything's fine," Eddie assured her, then sighed. "Actually, everything's not fine. I screwed up. Carla, when did you first know Buck and I were dating?"
"I thought you two were dating from the minute I met you, to be honest," Carla said with a laugh. "Living in each other's pockets, always touching, always together. When I found out you weren't, I was shocked. Figured it had to happen at some point, knew I was right when I walked in on the two of you making out in the kitchen."
"That's what I thought," Eddie said softly, rubbing his hand over his face. "Is there any chance you can come over early? I need to fix this."
***
Eddie made the necessary calls in the truck before pulling up to the station, jogging inside with a bag over his shoulder. He immediately spotted Buck, perched on a chair, staring off into space, a still-full coffee cup encircled in his hands. "Buck!" Eddie called out, taking the stairs two at a time until he was standing directly in front of Buck, whose forehead was scrunched up in confusion. Eddie couldn't help himself, reaching his fingers over to smooth the wrinkles out, elicting a soft sigh from Buck.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Eddie said, trailing his hand down Buck's face until he found Buck's waiting hand, intertwining their fingers, raising them to his lips for a soft kiss. "I'm such an idiot. I've been in love with you so long, it never even occurred to me that anyone else might not be able to see it."
"We saw it from day one!" Hen called out in passing, and both Buck and Eddie laughed, the movement bringing Buck's forehead gently against Eddie's.
"Exactly," Eddie said softly, raising his eyes to meet Buck's. "We were acting like a couple way before we made it official. We've been raising a son together for years. I didn't even realize that that might mean that somebody wouldn't know we were officially a couple now. That teacher, at pickup, she only sees us for maybe a minute every day, and we don't typically make out in front of Christopher's school."
"Just everywhere else," Buck smirked, and Eddie laughed in relief.
"Exactly," Eddie said, feeling himself finally able to smile again. "Buck, sweetheart, I'm so in love with you. I could never be ashamed of that. I'm amazed every day that I'm the lucky one who gets to be with you." Buck blushed, and Eddie grinned, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's waist to pulll him in closer. "I'm so sorry if I ever made you feel any other way."
"You're the first one who's ever stayed, Eds," Buck whispered, tucking his face into the crook of Eddie's neck. "You're the one I always want to stay. I don't ever want you to leave. I love you too much to watch you walk away."
"Good thing I'm never going anywhere then," Eddie promised, kissing Buck's temple. "I love you too much to ever walk away. Okay?"
"Okay," Buck nodded, eyes twinkling, and Eddie leaned in for a kiss, soft and sweet and so relieved, before pulling back just enough to grab the bag he had been carrying and pass it to Buck.
"Now hurry up and get changed, we've got a parent-teacher conference to get to," Eddie said with a grin, chuckling as Buck just stared at him. "Get a move on Buck, you don't want to be late for your first of many, do you? And before you ask, I already cleared it with Bobby. Harrison owes me from when I covered those last hours of his shift. We have time for you to splash some water on your face, grab some coffee from that place you love by school, and-"
The rest of Eddie's words were captured by Buck's lips, as Buck pulled Eddie back tight against his body, kissing him until they had to break for air. Reaching up, Eddie gently wiped the tears hovering under Buck's eyes, wrapping him into a tight hug before nudging him with his hip. "Now go! Teachers take tardiness very seriously."
Buck burst out laughing, shaking his head as he hurried down the stairs, turning around to shoot Eddie another grin before jogging into the locker room.
***
Pushing open the door to the school, Eddie reached over and took Buck's hand, squeezing it as they walked towards the art room. "Don't you dare call her Mary Beth," Buck teased, and Eddie laughed, stopping at the main table in the entranceway. Grabbing two nametags, Eddie wrote quickly on both, before handing one to Buck. Eddie stuck his on his shirt, reading Eddie Diaz (Christopher's Dad), while Buck stared at his, reading Evan Buckley (Christopher's Dad).
"You ready?" Eddie asked, smiling softly, leaning in to kiss Buck's temple.
"After you make me cry before we even get started?" Buck grinned back, running a hand quickly over his eyes. "Hell yeah, I'm ready. Or heck yeah, I guess, since we are in school and all."
Laughing, Eddie watched Buck stick his nametag on, then grabbed his hand again. Eddie peered into the art room, quickly greeted by a beaming Ms. Carter. "Mr. Diaz, so good to see you, you're right on time!" she exclaimed, stopping short as her eyes fell on Buck.
"Hi Ms. Carter, this is Evan Buckley, I called the school this afternoon and had him added to the list," Eddie said with a smile, pointing to the timeslot that now read Eddie Diaz and Evan Buckley. "He's my partner and co-parent, and I'm sorry I never properly introduced you two before." Meeting Buck's eyes, Eddie winked. "I've been in love with him so long, I forget other people might not be lucky enough to already know him."
"I'm so sorry, he's such a sap," Buck grinned, extending his hand towards Ms. Carter. "It's nice to officially meet you."
Ms. Carter paused a second, then laughed good-naturedly, shaking Buck's hand with a smile. "It's nice to officially meet you too. This explains why every drawing Christopher makes has a Buck in it. I've got his portfolio right here. You two have a very talented son."