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Eddie adjusted his sunglasses as he walked through the gate to the zoo with Buck and Chris, the two of them already several feet ahead of him, talking excitedly about what animals they wanted to see and in what order.
Eddie shook his head at them. They had been here so many times they practically had the place memorized at this point. Yet every time Eddie joined them, they did this same song and dance of specifically mapping out a plan to “conquer the zoo,” a plan that Eddie knows is going to fall apart the second one of his boys spotted a cute animal out of the corner of their eye.
Ahead of him, Buck turned around and gestured him forward. “Okay, so I’m sure you heard, but we have decided to start with the penguin habitat to catch their morning feeding, then we want to double back to the monkeys and make our way through that way.”
“Sounds like a plan, man. You guys know better than I do,” Eddie smiled and ruffled Chris’ hair, who batted him away. “Lead the way guys.”
Eddie trailed behind the two, watching as their faces lit up as they practically pressed themselves up against the glass to watch the penguin feeding. Buck and Chris were passing fun facts back and forth like a tennis match, leaving Eddie nearly dizzy trying to keep up.
He was glad Chris seemed to take after Buck when it came to his curiosity.
Finally, after exhibit after exhibit after exhibit, his two energetic boys found themselves at a cotton candy stand, presumably to fuel up with more sugar to keep the energy going. Eddie looked on as the two heavily debated between which flavor would be the best to get, even though they did this every single time and Buck always let Chris get the flavor he wanted.
Buck was good at that: making Chris happy, no matter the cost.
God, Eddie loved him so much.
He watched as Buck ordered and paid for the cotton candy, handing the large cloud on a stick off to the teenager as Chris took a large bite. Eddie smiled thinking about how hard the sugar crash was going to hit Chris later. No matter how hard he would try to argue he wasn’t sleepy, Eddie was sure Chris was going to be fighting sleep in the back of the Jeep on the drive home.
“Your husband is very sweet with your son,” a voice cut into Eddie’s thoughts and he turned to see a nice looking older woman leaning on a cane, nodding toward Buck and Chris.
Eddie flushed. “Oh. Um. Thank you.” He shook his head bashfully. “We aren’t married though.”
The woman furrowed her brow. “Well what are you waiting for, young man? I know it’s none of my business, but I know love when I see it.” She gestured toward an older gentleman sitting at a nearby bench with a girl no older than five sat upon his lap. “Charlie and I have been married 37 years now and I wouldn’t trade a second of it away.”
She smiled toward Charlie and looked back at Eddie. “Don’t waste your time. Lock it down, son. The two of you are special. I can just tell.”
With that last word and a final wink, she turned and walked over to where Charlie and the girl sat. Eddie watched as Charlie’s face lit up as she approached him. It looked a lot like how Eddie knew he looked at Buck.
“Okay, so I know we promised we would all share, but I highly doubt you and I are gonna get a lot of that cotton candy,” Buck said as he walked up to Eddie, gesturing toward Chris who was already starting toward the giraffe exhibit, if Eddie remembered the schedule correctly.
“Nah, he can have it. Too much sugar for me,” Eddie let out a chuckle as he started following his son.
“I figured. That’s why I thought we could stop at the stand by the tiger exhibit and get you one of those pretzels you love so much with extra salt,” Buck grinned at him, a sparkle in his eye, as he sped up toward Chris, pulling out the zoo’s map on his phone to show the other boy.
And fuck , that old woman was right, he thought as he walked behind them.
What was he waiting for?
“Marry me,” he blurted out, causing the other man to freeze and turn to stare at him.
“What?”
Eddie slowly lowered himself down on one knee, keeping eye contact with Buck, his blue eyes widening as he watched Eddie sink to the ground. Somewhere in the background, he hears a woman squealing as she notices what’s happening.
Eddie clears his throat, grabbing one of Buck’s hands as a crowd starts to form around them. “Buck... Evan. There is nothing more that I want than to spend the rest of my life getting pretzels with you at the zoo listening to your endless fun animal facts while you buy our son sugary confections that he doesn’t need just because it makes him happy... So will you please marry me?”
Buck’s eyes sparkle with tears as he nods enthusiastically.
“Yeah?” Eddie asks, a grin spreading across his face.
“Yeah,” Buck nods again, his grip tightening on Eddie’s hand as he pulls him up from where he was kneeling on the ground. “Of course. Of course I’ll marry you.”
And then they’re kissing.
And oh. Eddie didn’t know a kiss could feel like that. It felt like a first breath after being underwater. It felt like watching the sky explode with fireworks on New Year’s Eve. It felt like seeing your favorite band live for the first time and like sinking into your bed after a long day and like hugging your favorite person.
It felt like home.
Eddie sank into the kiss, pressing his entire body up against Buck’s, one of his hands coming up to tangle his fingers in the curls at the base of Buck’s neck. Buck’s hands gripped at waist, pulling him closer while the crowd around him cheered.
It was one hell of a first kiss. His last first kiss, Eddie thought gleefully.
The two separated softly, staying close as Eddie stared up until Buck’s too blue eyes, a smile taking over his face.
“Really Dad?” Chris’ voice interrupted them and Eddie turned to see his son staring at the two of them with his arms crossed. “At the zoo? You couldn’t have waited until we got home? Look at all of these people, this is embarrassing.”
But Eddie heard the joy in his voice and saw the smile that threatened to slip through his “stern” look. Chris was just as happy about this as he was.
And he proved it a moment later when he stepped toward the two men, throwing his hands around them in a big hug, leaning his head against Buck, who ruffled Chris’ hair and leaned down to press a kiss against his head.
“Yeah, yeah. We love you too Chris,” Eddie’s voice was thick with tears as he squeezed his two favorite boys against him.
“I’m really, really happy Dad,” Chris took a step back. “But you couldn’t have even bought a ring first? How are you supposed to tell people you’re engaged if you don’t have rings?”
Buck cleared his throat. “Well. They won’t be fancy... but I’m pretty sure the gift shop has rings.” He turned toward Eddie and raised an eyebrow.
Eddie pressed a quick kiss against his fiance’s (his fiance !) lips. “I guess we gotta go to the gift shop then.”
Inside the gift shop, the family found a small collection of mood rings shaped like zoo animals. Eddie surveyed the options, spotting an elephant, a panda, and a giraffe before his eyes landed on two rings in the corner shaped like penguins.
He suddenly remembered one of the many fun facts he heard Buck tell Christopher this morning watching the penguins get fed.
“You know... I have it on pretty good authority that penguins mate for life,” he said, turning toward Buck and gesturing to the penguin rings. “That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”
Buck grinned at him. “You do know we weren’t dating before today, right?”
Eddie shrugged. “Why would we need to date when I already know I wanna spend the rest of my life with you?”
Buck’s response to that was to pull him into another bruising kiss. “Penguin rings it is,” he whispered as he pulled away from Eddie.
“Are you guys going to be this gross all the time now?” Chris sighed.
“The grossest!” Buck proudly exclaimed, pressing another hard kiss to Eddie’s lips before grabbing the rings and making his way to the counter with them, loudly proclaiming he wanted to buy them for “me and my fiance.”
Eddie smiled after him before looking down at Chris. “Hey, I know this is really sudden, but you are okay with this, right?”
Chris rolled his eyes at him, which, okay, rude. “Duh, Dad, you guys have been in love for like... ever. We’ve all just been waiting for you guys to catch up. Plus I guess the penguin rings are pretty cute.”
He furrowed his brow, looking up at Eddie. “But you guys are planning on getting real rings too, right?”
Eddie chucked. “Yes, yes, Buck and I will go out soon and get real ones. These ones are extra special though because now we’ll always remember today.”
Buck came bouncing back over to the two of them and as soon as the trio walked out the door, Buck turned toward Eddie and grabbed his left hand, sliding a lopsided penguin onto his ring finger before bringing his hand up to the other man’s mouth and pressing a soft kiss there.
“No take backs,” Buck said with a small grin.
Eddie grabbed the bag from him and took out the other ring, grabbing Buck’s hand this time, carefully positioning the matching ring on Buck’s matching finger before cupping Buck’s jaw and kissing him softly.
“No take backs,” he agreed.
The entire drive home Eddie was giddy, finding himself switching between staring at Buck in the driver’s seat and staring at the ring on his finger which stayed a deep, royal blue color.
Buck had proudly proclaimed that the color stood for love, passionate, and romantic feelings, showing off his matching color at a red light while Chris pretended to throw up in the backseat.
Eddie had never been so happy.
Walking into the house, Eddie feels like a new man and he grabs his computer to get a head start on what he was sure was going to be a busy day tomorrow. That is, if Buck agreed.
“So when are you guys going to have the wedding?”
Eddie looked up at his son from his computer, where he was starting to file for a marriage license before turning his gaze toward his fiance.
“Are you busy tomorrow?”
Buck grinned sheepishly before turning his phone toward Eddie, showing off a jewelry store he was looking at. “I thought we could stop and pick up rings before going to the courthouse.”
Eddie leaned over his laptop and kissed Buck firmly, ignoring Chris’ sigh. “I can book the courthouse for the afternoon if you want to send out a mass text to the 118 fam? Your sister will kill me if I marry her brother in secret.”
“Don’t forget Bobby and Athena. They'll kill you too if you marry their son in secret.”
Eddie quickly navigates his computer, booking them a slot for 2 p.m. the next day. In less than 24 hours, he was going to get to call the man sitting next to him his husband . He couldn’t wait.
Buck showed him a quick graphic he drew up with a photo of the two of them holding up their hands, showing off the penguin rings outside of the gift shop that Chris insisted they take before leaving.
Under the photo read “You are cordually invited to the wedding of Edmundo Diaz and Evan Buckley. 2 p.m. :) Be there or I’ll be sad. :(”
Eddie laughed, his eyes lingering on the photo of the two of them. He really needed to get that framed. “Baby, you spelt cordially wrong.... did you make this in Paint?”
“Yeah why? And who cares? They’ll get it.” Buck pressed a few buttons on his phone and Eddie felt his phone buzz, probably Buck sending it off in the 118 + family group chat.
He pulled out his phone as texts started pouring in, making his phone buzz in his hand.
Chimney: Is this a joke?
Maddie: Buck answer your phone
May: Omg Is it finally happening?
Hen: You spelt cordially wrong
Hen: But congrats :)
Maddie: Buck I’m not kidding, answer your phone
Ravi: Wait, I’m confused, aren’t you guys divorced? Congrats on getting back together!!
Finally, one last message came through from their fire captain, causing a big grin to split across Eddie’s face.
Bobby: Congratulations you two. Athena and I can host a party at our place afterwards. She is on the phone with a bakery now.
Bobby followed that message up with a red heart emoji before Buck put both his and Eddie’s phones on silent as the two of them and Chris gathered around Eddie’s laptop, looking at the jewelry site Buck had pulled up, freeing themselves from any distractions.
After all, they had a wedding to plan. No take backs.