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It's during one of their weekly catch-up and gossip calls that his Tía mentions the name for the first time.
Buck.
Initially, Eddie doesn't think much of it. His aunt has a vibrant and thriving social life that puts Eddie’s own to shame. As much as he’s happy enough spending time with his colleagues, Pepa has not been subtle when insinuating that he should try and find someone to spend time with whom he’s not also wearing matching outfits with.
Eddie has long since given up on keeping track of all his aunt’s friends.
He pays slightly more attention when the name is mentioned again the following week, and Eddie finds out that Buck has access to flour that is, according to his aunt, way superior to the store-bought kind. Eddie has no knowledge about the qualities of flour, but he takes his aunt’s word for it.
During the same conversation, he also finds out that Buck is a baker (which would explain the flour access) and a friend of Ximena’s. Eddie pictures a stereotypical jovial older gentleman, wearing an apron and a white hat.
The image shifts slightly when it turns out that Buck’s new to LA, having only moved here about six months ago after a terrible ranch accident.
Eddie doesn’t know the man, but Tía Pepa is a natural storyteller, and Hen always accuses him of being a gossip, so Eddie is still listening with bated breath as his aunt tells him the story of how Buck ended up with a crushed leg after a horse fell on him.
“Had to drag himself back to the ranch, Eddie. He was bleeding and barely conscious, from what Ximena told me, but apparently, what kept him going was the need to get home and make sure the horse was okay. Can you imagine?”
Eddie imagines. And it’s a mistake. Eddie’s got a boatload of physical trauma from his two tours, always bubbling just under the surface, ready to rear its ugly head if Eddie stops to inspect it too closely. It seems hearing stories of another man with a broken body, alone in the wilderness, desperate to get home, has just enough similarities with his own history for Eddie’s throat to start constricting.
He closes his eyes, does his psychologist-prescribed breathing exercises, and manages to nip the panic attack in the bud.
“Did he find the horse?” he asks, anything to shift the mental images to something that does not remind him of Afghanistan.
“Oh, he did. She’d trotted right back to the stables. Not even a scrape on her!”
“That’s good,” he says, voice a little weaker than normal.
It’s quiet on the other line for a beat too long, and Eddie knows he’s been found out.
“Oh cariño, I didn’t think… I know you don’t like talking about these things.”
“It’s okay,” he assures her. Because it is. He can’t spend his life hiding from anything that reminds him of his trauma.
“And Buck is alright now,” Pepa continues. “His leg still bothers him sometimes, but he’s made a miraculous recovery, all things considered.”
Eddie’s glad to hear that too. He knows the risk of crush injuries all too well, especially for older people. He’s glad Buck made it.
Tía Pepa smoothly shifts the conversation to safer territory, and they keep talking until Eddie feels his heart rate return to normal and the buzzing in his brain has fully stopped.
*****
The next time Buck’s name is mentioned, Eddie is dead on his feet after a 48h shift and dropping Chris off with his aunt so he can go home and get at least half a day of uninterrupted sleep.
His aunt offers to make him lunch before he leaves, but Eddie can already hear the siren song of a warm bed, so he tries to politely decline.
His aunt, however, is a stubborn woman and, in his weakened state, Eddie soon finds himself sitting at the kitchen table with a sandwich in his hands. If the rumble of his stomach is anything to go by, maybe he was hungrier than he thought.
Eddie is by no means a gourmet, but even he can recognize that this is the best damn bread he’s ever had, and he tells his tía as much.
She looks pleased by the compliment but tells him she’s had nothing to do with it. The bread, it seems, is Buck’s creation.
For one ugly moment, Eddie almost sends a quiet thank you to the horse that crushed Buck and forced him to switch careers. Because baking is clearly his calling.
Without having to ask her, Pepa preps another sandwich to go. Eddie fully intends to save it for later when he wakes up, but it never even makes it through the car ride home. Eddie will deal with the crumbs on his seat later.
*****
It's during the seventh Buck-related story that Eddie figures out what is going on. It’s when his tía is telling him how Buck has replaced the squeaky old boards of her porch steps, how he’s coming back the day after to paint them, that Eddie realizes that his aunt is dating Buck.
She’s been dropping hints for weeks now, like a trail of breadcrumbs for Eddie to follow, rather than outright telling him. Well, two can play this tiptoeing game.
"Buck really sounds like a triple threat," he tells her with a smug tone.
"Oh he really is,” she says, matching his tone exactly.
Later, he feels a little bad about not being the one to help his aunt with the porch. He really had been meaning to. Life had just managed to get in the way.
He’s grateful his aunt has managed to find someone to help her where Eddie fails.
*****
Chris lucks out and gets to meet the famous Buck before Eddie does. And his kid is instantly smitten.
"Did you know he used to be a cowboy? And before that, he built houses! And lived in Peru! He even wanted to become a seal!” Chris giggles like Buck’s resumé is the height of comedy, and it takes Eddie a moment to realize that, of course, his son thought Buck was talking about the animal. The visual makes Eddie chuckle as well.
“He's so funny, Dad!” Chris says with a happy sigh. The math homework is still spread out on the table in front of him, but Eddie recognizes a lost cause when he sees one. His kid is brilliant, and when he fixates on something, it takes forces far stronger than Eddie to get him to shift his attention to something as uninspiring as math homework.
Tonight, his son’s interest seems to have been fully captured by his aunt’s new partner.
“Did you know he used to have crutches too?" Chris asks, proving Eddie’s point further.
"Yeah, mijo, after his accident, right?"
"Right! He says mine are way cooler than his, though. They didn’t even let him pick the color of his! He says if they had, he would have picked the same color as mine. Then we could have matched."
Eddie smiles at that, appreciating the gesture from the man he has yet to meet.
*****
When Eddie drops Christopher off at his aunt’s place before his next 48h shift, he finds himself trading a kid for a basket of baked goods.
There are three loaves of bread and a dozen muffins, along with a note that thanks the 118 for their service, hoping their shift won’t be too rough.
There’s also a small container marked Just for Eddie in a slightly messy handwriting.
Eddie opens the container as soon as he gets in his car. It’s filled with what looks to be chocolate chip cookies (Eddie’s favorite) and another handwritten note.
Chocolate chip protein cookies. All of the energy and none of the sugar crash!
The note is signed with Buck’s name and a wonky little smiley face.
It's all very thoughtful, like something you’d do for family, and Eddie feels moved by the gesture.
Pepa really seems to have found a good one in Buck.
*****
"I think you would get along.”
"I think so too. Anyone who has managed to charm both my aunt and my kid is good, in my book," Eddie tells his tía with a genuine smile.
“Come over for dinner tomorrow,” she tells him. “It’s about time you met each other.”
Eddie and Chris just happen to have no plans for the next evening, but even if they had, Eddie would have tried to shuffle things around to finally be able to meet the man, the myth, the legend that is Buck.
*****
The next evening, they show up at the house right on time, despite the LA traffic that Eddie never seems to get used to.
Eddie had offered to come over earlier to help, but his aunt had refused, stating that she and Buck wanted to treat him and Christopher, and that between the two of them, they would have everything sorted, no problem.
Christopher is practically bouncing with excitement as they exit the car in the driveway, and the click-clack of his crutches sounds like maracas as he hurries towards the front door.
Eddie is excited too, but in a slightly more subdued manner.
Pepa is the one who opens the door and lets them inside. Hugs and kisses are exchanged. No sign of Buck so far, but Eddie can hear sounds from the kitchen and could probably make an educated guess who’s causing them.
"BUCK!" Chris suddenly hollers in a way that makes Eddie jump and let out a surprised "Mijo!" at the lack of manners and at the volume. Eddie has clearly underestimated the lung capacity of his son.
In response to the shout, Eddie hears a loud belly laugh from the kitchen. It’s a nice laugh.
"Is that my favorite Diaz, I hear?” And that’s a nice voice. Warm and inviting. And Eddie can hear the genuine excitement from the other man. “Gimme five seconds to set the lasagna down and I'll be right with you."
Chris begins counting loudly, earning himself another laugh from the kitchen, and Eddie looks on in amusement.
When Chris’s counting gets to 4 seconds, Buck emerges from the kitchen, and Eddie does a double… no, scratch that. He does a triple (possibly quadruple) take.
Because walking out of the kitchen is not the older gentleman baker that Eddie has built up in his mind.
Buck, it appears, is 6'2, built like a small house (if houses were made of muscles), clad in a baby blue knit sweater under his aunt’s apron. He’s got curly hair and a sunny smile that makes his eyes crinkle at the corners, a pink birthmark above his left eye that Chris has already told him about, and he is definitely not a day older than Eddie himself.
Buck is also, possibly (read: definitely), the most beautiful man Eddie has ever laid eyes upon.
"Superman!" Buck calls, grinning brightly at Chris as he steps forward. Eddie notices the slight limp in Buck’s stride. His son meets him halfway and throws his arms around Buck's shoulders when the other man crouches in front of him. His kid’s enthusiasm would probably make Eddie a little jealous if there was room for anything in his mind currently, besides That's Buck?!
Shocked, he looks over at Pepa and finds her looking at him with a smug smile. No shit! If Eddie had bagged a man like that he'd be fucking smug too.
"You must be Eddie."
Eddie spins around so fast he almost loses his balance, and Buck's hand shoots out, ready to steady him if needed. The man is smiling at him, not quite as blinding as he’d been smiling at Chris, but no less striking.
"And you're Buck?" Eddie has to ask… just to be sure.
"I sure am!" Buck grins.
"Thanks for the cookies," Eddie says, a little dazed and unable to stare.
Buck ducks his head with an almost shy smile that has no business looking that endearing on a grown man.
“It was no trouble,” Buck says. “Pepa might have said something about chocolate chip being your favorite.”
Pepa huffs out a laugh from behind him. “We used to have to hide them from him whenever we baked. Or else, they would all very mysteriously disappear.”
“Such accusations!” Eddie protests. “I’ll remind you, we were three children in that household.”
“They weren’t the ones with crumbs and chocolate stains on their sweaters, cariño.”
Eddie pouts in defeat and looks over to find Buck watching him, something intense and unreadable in his expression.
*****
Eddie tries not to be judgmental. He really does. He reminds himself that even if Buck's appearance is nothing like he expected, it's still the same man who has been taking such good care of his aunt these past few weeks.
Plenty of couples have an age gap. Eddie knows it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. He has worked really hard to overcome all the prejudices that were imposed on him as a child. Arbitrary rules about what was acceptable and what wasn't. Hell, he'd come out to Pepa as gay in this very dining room less than two years ago. She hadn't hesitated a second before telling him she loved him, pulling him in for the most needed hug of his life.
The least Eddie can do is return the favor.
Still, he can't help the complicated… something that happens in his stomach when Buck gives Pepa a quick kiss on the cheek, telling her to stay put as he gets up to check on the dessert.
There's nothing salacious about the kiss at all. In fact, it’s more like the kind of affectionate gesture that Eddie himself might give his aunt.
But that something still churns in his gut when Buck comes back and gently rests one of his big hands on Pepa’s shoulder, telling her that dessert will be ready in ten minutes.
*****
Despite Eddie's complicated feelings, dinner is very pleasant.
Buck is a boundless source of energy, that's only matched by Eddie's own son. They trade facts and knowledge, and the did-you-knows fly back and forth between them at a speed that Eddie's unable to follow. Pepa too, by the looks of it.
They are partway through dessert when Eddie catches Pepa looking at him with an imploring gaze, and he realizes he should probably say something to put her at ease.
"Buck, this has been a wonderful meal. Tía, you've certainly found a good one right here," he says with a smile that he hopes only conveys the genuine happiness he feels that his aunt is happy and cared for.
Buck ducks his head again at the compliment, and Eddie sees the twin spots of red on his cheeks. He has to look away before his thoughts take an unwelcome turn down Inappropriate Lane.
"I knew you would like him," Pepa says, leaning back to sip her coffee, the way she usually does when she’s particularly smug about something.
"I really do," Eddie smiles at them both. Then, to steer the conversation away from too sappy waters, he adds a teasing: "It's about time I got a step uncle."
He expects laughs, or at least a polite chuckle.
He does not expect Buck to almost choke on the tres leches cake, sending a spray of half-chewed cake across the table, or for tía Pepa's eyes to grow at least to twice their normal size, her knuckles going white around the coffee mug.
Eddie has no idea what he’s done wrong. It's not like he’s revealed a big secret. They're all in on it. Maybe not Chris, but Eddie knows his kid. He wouldn't care as long as he got to keep Buck in the family. And it's not like Eddie had declared loudly that he was happy Buck was fucking his aunt… ugh, not the mental image he needs right now!
Buck reaches for his drink with a shaking hand. He’s still coughing.
Eddie, on instinct, pulls the glass away before Buck gets to it.
"No drinking or you might actually choke," he warns, also on instinct, because he still isn’t sure what is happening.
"Edmundo…” his aunt finally says slowly, “what do you think is going on here?"
"You're introducing me to Buck."
Buck has finally stopped coughing, and Eddie glances over to make sure he's not silent because he's actually choking. He seems to be breathing okay, and while the color of his face is nowhere on the scale of normal, it's more red than blue, which also puts Eddie at ease.
"Because…?" Pepa implores.
"Because you're dating?" He looks between them.
Buck makes an unintelligible sound, and Pepa looks at him as if she's contemplating having him committed.
After a moment, Christopher pipes up from next to him.
"Isn't tía too old to date Buck?"
Eddie doesn't have time to cover his son's mouth before the words are out, but he hisses, "Chris! Manners!"
"No no," Pepa interrupts. "Christopher is right. I am definitely too old to be dating Buck. Eddie, where on Earth would you get that idea?"
"I…” Eddie looks around the table. His aunt is still staring at him with concern, Chris has a piece of tres leches cake stuck on his forehead, and Buck is refusing to meet his eyes. “I assumed. You talked so much about him and how good he was, I thought you wanted to sell what a catch he is."
"I was!"
Eddie looks even more confused, and she continues.
"Ay, Díos! Not for me, cariño. For you!"
"For me?!" Eddie is not proud of the way his voice squeaks. He looks over at Buck, who looks like he's hoping the floor will swallow him whole. "Did you know?"
Buck nods subtly, still not looking up to meet Eddie's eyes.
Now that Eddie looks a little closer, the man kinda looks like a dog expecting to be kicked. It makes Eddie feel guilty for causing a scene.
"I'll start the dishes," Buck mumbles before Eddie can say something. He stands and quickly gathers up their plates before hurrying into the kitchen.
Pepa is looking at him with a disapproving look.
"You could have given me a proper heads-up," Eddie hisses at her, because he refuses to take sole blame for this.
"I thought I had," she hisses right back. Before pointing a finger towards the kitchen. "Go!"
Eddie gets up because he had already planned to check on Buck, not because his tía is the boss of what he does or doesn't do.
He leaves to the hushed whisper from Christopher, "Is dad dating Buck?"
*****
Eddie finds Buck in the kitchen, scrubbing away at the plates like a man possessed.
"Hey," Eddie says to get his attention.
Buck stills for a moment before turning. There's a stiff smile on his face that in no way reaches his eyes. Eyes that dart towards the door like Buck’s contemplating making a run for it again, but then his shoulders sag and he drops the dish sponge in the sink.
"Hey…” he replies. “I figured I'd give you a chance to sort out the misunderstanding without the…misunderstanding hovering over you." He points to himself. Eddie doesn't think he's imagining the self-deprecation and shame there.
"She's never tried to set me up with a guy before,” Eddie says, as if that explains things.
“Oh… but you are…” Buck starts, suddenly looking worried. Eddie is clearly doing this explaining thing wrong.
“An idiot, yeah, clearly!” He agrees.
“No, I mean… you… you like guys, right? Pepa said…”
"Oh! Yeah, very gay! Just also very much closeted up until a couple of years ago."
"Gotcha."
Silence falls between them, and Buck shifts uncomfortably.
Eddie looks around the kitchen as if he’s hoping to find How To Apologize When You Assumed Your Date Was Banging Your Aunt for Dummies on the bookshelf next to the fridge or on the little table under the wall-mounted phone. He’s out of his depth here.
The uncomfortable silence stretches for another eternity before Buck eventually opens his mouth, and Eddie is suddenly terrified that the words out of his mouth will be some variation of goodbye.
He doesn’t want Buck to leave.
"Can I tell you a secret?" he blurts out.
Buck closes his mouth again and nods, watching Eddie with a slightly wary expression that Eddie absolutely deserves.
"I'm so fucking relieved you’re not dating my aunt!” The confession escapes him, sounding slightly hysterical.
But it earns him a surprised laugh from Buck, so Eddie counts it as a small win.
"I like her just fine, but I have absolutely no intention of dating your aunt." Buck gives him a faint smile.
Eddie nods, as if receiving information of the utmost importance.
Buck watches him, clearly thinking it’s Eddie’s turn to contribute to the conversation.
"And… are you hoping to date someone else?" he asks, clearly having lost all concept of normal human interaction. Buck’s eyes are just so blue. It’s not Eddie’s fault!
A smile slowly grows on Buck’s face. “I am,” he agrees, taking the smallest step forward.
It’s an invitation, Eddie recognizes. An opening. Something nervous and excited flutters in his chest. He should say something flirty, show Buck that he’s on board with wherever this is going.
He opens his mouth.
“It’s not my son, right?”
Up until this point, Eddie has never wished to be back in Afghanistan, but in the blink of an eye where Eddie’s words register with Buck and his mouth falls open, Eddie finds himself longing for machine gun fire.
What the hell is wrong with him?!
Then Buck suddenly doubles over, laughter bursting from his lips. It’s loud and infectious. Eddie lasts three seconds before he starts laughing too.
*****
His sides hurt. There are tears in Buck’s eyes, and they are staring at each other with matching grins.
“I’m really bad at flirting,” Eddie confesses, between giggles.
Buck makes a snorting sound that has no business being so endearing, and Eddie slaps him on the shoulder.
“You’re not supposed to agree!”
“You just asked me if I’m here to date your seven-year-old. After you spent the whole evening thinking I was dating your aunt.”
Eddie groans. “I’m really bad at flirting,” he repeats.
Buck shrugs, the laughter ebbing out and being replaced with something softer. He smiles at Eddie.
“So let’s skip the flirting then,” he says, stepping closer again. One hand on Eddie’s hip. “Take me home with you. I’ll make scones for you and Chris in the morning. Then we can go to the zoo.”
Eddie blinks. “That sounds really nice,” he breathes.
“Yeah?” Buck looks so hopeful that Eddie falls halfway in love with him right then and there.
“Yeah,” he says, then frowns. “You should know, though, I’m not great at dating either.”
Buck’s free hand reaches up to gently cup his cheek.
“Well, Eddie, we can’t skip that too. Call me traditional, but I want at least one terrible date before I propose to you.”
This time, Eddie’s hand doesn’t slap Buck’s shoulder. Instead, it curls around the back of his neck, pulling him in for their first kiss.
It’s an insane thing to think, but Eddie’s already looking forward to that proposal.