it’s like the universe is screaming at you

Speaking of phones, Eddie's starts ringing in his pocket. He pulls it out, furrowing his brows slightly when he notices that it's a video call from Buck. A slight rush of worry goes through his mind, as it usually does when getting an unexpected call. Then again - most of the calls he gets from Buck are unexpected and in 8 out of 10 cases it is nothing more than Buck needing to tell him something mildly important.

“Miss me already?” Eddie says as he answers and he mentally kicks himself. Especially when out of the corner of his eye, he can see Chris raising his eyebrows at him. 

Buck's side profile fills the screen as he is looking at something off camera and Eddie can see the corner of his mouth go up in a smile.

“Of course,” Buck answers simply and there is some rustling on the other side. “But someone else does more and has to say goodnight to you and Chris.”

The camera shakes a bit when Buck moves and Theo’s sleepy face appears on the screen as well. He's in bed, head smooshed into the pillow, barely able to keep his eyes open. Buck is sitting on the floor next to his bed and rests his chin on the mattress, tilting his phone so it's mostly focused on Theo. 

“Hi, buddy,” Eddie smiles, his heart growing at least two sizes when he sees the view on the screen in front of him. Three sizes, when Christopher scootches over to peer over his shoulder.

To his dying day Eddie will swear that the screenshot he takes is an accident. In the tiny preview in the corner of his screen he can see the horrible side eye that his son gives him when he notices what Eddie did. He does his best to shape his face into something along the lines of “Oh my how could this happen, what a silly accident, I am so bad with technology!”

“Hi, Eddie,” Theo says, blinking a few times and wriggling around to move closer to the screen. “Hi, Christopher”

Buck moves his arm around Theo, accommodating for all the wriggling and now his chin is resting lightly on top of the kid's head. Their curls are the exact same shade of light brown and equally messy. Christopher matches with them almost perfectly as well. It's uncanny. It does weird things to Eddie's head. 

“Hi, Theodore,” Chris grins at the phone and gets a toothy smile in response.

It is not actually Theo’s name - his birth certificate simply states that he is Theo Riley. However, when he learned that Chris’ full name is actually Christopher, he found it incredibly cool. When Chris explained that Theo could be a short form of Theodore and started using it, it delighted the kid to no end. Though only Chris had the permission to call him that.

Unsurprisingly, “Edmundo” did not impress him as much - Theo only scrunched his nose and decided that he'll be “just Eddie”. The only consolation here was that “Evan” was deemed even more boring.

“Are you all tucked and ready to sleep, Theo?” Eddie asks.

“Yes! We brushed our teeth,” Theo says, presenting his teeth to the camera and pokes Buck's cheek blindly - almost taking out his eye in the process - to do the same. Buck does and only then, Theo continues. “And Buck read to me. And then I needed to say goodnight.”

“Of course! We wouldn't be able to sleep without that,” Eddie agrees.

Theo pouts slightly before adding, “It's sad that you can't stay here.”

“Well, we probably could have a sleepover together one day, what do you think?”

“Fine,” Theo says, sounding very not fine. “But can't you be here all the time? Like I live with Buck now. Can't you too?” Theo says, hugging his plushie closer.

In the preview Eddie can see Christopher turning to face him and when Eddie looks to the side, there is a wicked little smirk on his son's face, “Yeah, dad. Why won't we just move in with Buck?”

“Chris-,” Eddie splutters.

“Yes! Move in! Chris can sleep in my room,” Theo offers, waving with his toy towards the other side of his room. “And Eddie can sleep with Buck.”

Those words could have not been said in a less innocent context and yet, Eddie feels his cheeks heat up and he glances everywhere but to his phone screen. 

“What a great idea! I bet dad would love that,” Chris nods happily.

“Christopher!” Eddie whisper-yells, completely scandalised by this teasing.

He knows what his son is doing and he does not like it one bit.

Being in El Paso has made Eddie realise a couple of things. Possibly the most life-changing one was that he was in love with Buck. The physical distance between them helped him see that the way he missed Buck, the way he needed to call him, to hear his voice constantly was not exactly platonic. His heart ached, tugged in two opposite directions and only settled when he was back home with the two people it belonged to.

Apparently, after having that revelation, he's been acting weird. Or weirder than usual - Chris’ words, not his. Even though it made him panic when it happened, in hindsight the way Christopher cornered him was quite funny. He sat Eddie down in the dining room, took a chair opposite him and did something akin to a reverse coming out talk.

“Dad, I think you have something to say but you are scared to do it. You know, I love you but you've been weirder than usual and it's unbearable to watch. You are acting strange when Buck's around. Is there something you want to tell me?”

Eddie had just stared at him, unblinking. He was a vet, he should have spotted the trap, instead of happily walking into one. He just didn't expect his own son to be setting it out for him.

And well, he did promise himself and Christopher total honesty after the whole Kim disaster.

“Well. I– I mean… It’s not like–” Eddie tried to form a coherent sentence. The unimpressed look Christopher was giving him was not helping. “I guess I realised in Texas that– Buck is very– I mean–”

“Are you in love with him?” Chris asked, simply.

It was nice to be put out of his misery, stating the obvious like that. Eddie let out a deep breath and nodded.

His son just patted his arm with a sigh and said, “You might need to write down how to say it to him. What you just did might not get the point across.”

Eddie just laughed, feeling lighter than he did in months. If he got a bit teary eyed, so what. It was a completely justified reaction.

“That’s good, dad. I hope you tell him soon.”

Fast forward a couple months later and it seems that Christopher decided to take matters into his own hands. 

“Theo, it's–,” Buck's voice is slightly higher than usual and when Eddie finally looks back at the screen, Buck’s face seems to be very red. Which might be just caused by the dim lighting in Theo’s bedroom. “It’s not so easy.”

“Why?” Theo asks, looking up at Buck with big, curious eyes.

“Yeah, Buck,” Christopher chimes in, leaning forward over Eddie's shoulder. “Why not?”

“Chris, don't you have– homework– to do?” Eddie asks.

“It's summer break,” Christopher points out.

“O-okay guys,” Buck says, sitting up straighter and taking the phone a bit further away from Theo's face, who almost touches it with his nose now. “We can talk about it– someday. M-maybe. Theo, it's late and we have pancakes to make tomorrow, right?”

“Right! Buck will make funny shapes!” Theo exclaims, moving back on the bed to rest his head on the pillow.

“Of course he will,” Eddie laughs and his eyes catch Buck's for a moment. “Buck's the best at those, right?”

Next to him Christopher mutters something that sounds a lot like “unbelievable”. Eddie ignores him, watching the bashful smile spread on Buck's face.

“You guys are always welcome to join us,” Buck says and it's like he tugs at the thread tied to Eddie's heart and pulls, just a bit. “And now, say goodnight, kid.”

“Goodnight, kid,” Chris and Theo say in unison, matching grins on their faces and Buck rolls his eyes fondly.

“Goodnight, Theo,” Eddie says, chuckling.

“Night, Eddie. Night, Christopher,” Theo says around a yawn. “See you tomorrow!”

“Sleep well, Theodore!” Chris replies.

Buck kisses Theo’s head with a loud mwah sound and fixes the covers on him before getting up from the floor. The camera shakes as he walks out of the room and Eddie stares at his profile instead of hanging up.

“Thanks, guys,” Buck's voice is quiet, as he shuts the door to Theo’s room, leaving a tiny slit just in case.

“Nothing to thank us for. I'd be very sad if I didn't get my nighty night,” Eddie jokes. Or at least partly-jokes.

“Well, then,” Buck laughs, walking to the kitchen where the bright lights confirm that indeed - the tips of his ears are still deep red. “Nighty night, Eddie. Bye, Chris.”

Chris says his goodbye, before moving back to his end of the couch and picking up his phone again. 

“The invite for pancakes still stands, drop by if you want,” Buck says.

“Wouldn't miss it. Love you–your pancakes,” Eddie stumbles slightly, the word slipping from his lips without his involvement. The save went quite smoothly, if he can say so himself. “Night, Buck.”

The call disconnects and just a second later his phone pings with a message. It's from Buck and it's just a simple red heart emoji. Eddie bites the inside of his cheek, trying to stop the smile that wants to overtake his whole face.

“How are you so bad at this?” Christopher mutters loud enough for Eddie to hear him as he gets up from the couch. “Hopeless, both of you.”

With that, he walks down the hall to his room and Eddie hides his smile behind the glass he picks up from the coffee table. From whom he is hiding, he is not really sure anymore.

.