It's here. The highly requested fic from this post .
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Let me know what you think :)
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The Husbandification of Evan Buckley - Part 1
- 1678 words-
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5 times they were called husbands, 1 time they were husbands.
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Eddie Diaz is an intelligent man. A bit slow, sometimes, when it comes to feelings, but he did spend his whole life, until very recently, repressing those troublesome feelings so he gets a pass on this one. Evan Buckley is also an intelligent man. However, Buck prefers to experience his feelings as quickly as possible; imagine a golden retriever on a skateboard hurtling towards heartbreak.
Neither of these men are stupid, but they are a bit dumb, sometimes.
1. Isabel “Abuela” Diaz
Isabel Diaz is very proud of her favorite grandson, for many reasons. When Eddie moved to Los Angeles with Christopher, she was worried as any grandparent would be, but it did not stop her pride from growing.
Many things happened between then and now, and Isabel has never been prouder of her Edmundo, even if she wasn’t invited to his and Buck’s wedding. She understands, of course, but it would have been nice to know about it.
A truck pulls into the driveway and the dulcet tones of an 11-year-old, and a set of crutches meet Isabel at the door.
She opens the door to the smiling face of Christopher Diaz, who is too adorable for his own good, and he knows it.
“Good morning, Bisabuela,” Christopher greets as Isabel hugs him. The reminder that she is a great-grandmother is already forgiven and forgotten by the time Eddie makes his way to the front door.
“Morning, Abuela,” says Eddie as he kisses his grandmother’s cheek. He looks exhausted, but 24 hours of firefighting would do that, Isabel supposes.
After situating Christopher with his homework at Isabel’s dining table, Eddie prepares to leave to get some sleep. He has registered very few words, if any, this morning but he registers a real gem from his Abuela.
“You should bring your husband with you when you pick Christopher up. I want to show him how to make pozole,” Abuela states, as if that is a completely normal sentence. Eddie thought he had been careful in not making his relationship with Buck obvious, but Abuela knows, apparently.
Another detail clicks for Eddie.
“The same pozole recipe you refuse to give to my mother?” Eddie questions. Isabel lifts her chin to look at her grandson and raises her brow, in challenge.
“Your husband can cook. Your mother cannot,” Isabel reasons. The use of the word ‘husband’ finally registers with Eddie, so now he has to deal with that.
“Buck and I aren’t married, Abuela,” Eddie sighs.
“Oh? Then how did you know I was talking about your Buck when I didn’t say his name, hm? Don’t lie to me again, or I’ll tell your husband,” Isabel challenges.
As said before, Eddie is an intelligent man, and he knows when he has lost. Eddie hugs his Abuela and makes an exit before he digs himself into a bigger hole.
2. Tyler-Kennedy “TK” Strand
So maybe TK made some assumptions. Some very wrong assumptions. In TK’s defense, he wasn’t aware of the context.
The context being that Buck was obviously married to Eddie and, based on the sight of a pair of red Converse sneakers much too small for either of them on the floor in Buck’s Jeep, they had a kid, too. Buck was, definitely, not hitting on him in Texas. TK has decided to leave the detective work to his fiancé.
Oh, yes. Haven’t you heard? One wedding, coming right up. That is partly why Carlos and TK are in LA, to begin with. Other than to catch up with the wildfire squad, obviously.
Their first stop was always going to be Station 118 for a reunion, meeting some new faces and sharing their engagement. What they didn’t expect was a child, looking a lot like Eddie, to also be there.
Well, one mystery is solved then, even if TK is still very much confused.
“Buck!”, the kid calls, happily, from a couch to the right of the stairs, a pair of red crutches next to him.
“Christopher!”, Buck responds and takes the last three stairs in one bound to hurry over. “These are my friends from Texas, TK and Carlos,” Buck introduces from where he is now seated next to Christopher. Christopher uses this opportunity to do some of his own detective work.
“Are you married?” Christopher asks.
“Not yet,” Carlos avoids.
“So, you’re engaged?” Christopher pushes lightly, in a way only children can.
“Buckley, how is your kid so smart?” TK redirects. Buck grins widely while looking at Christopher.
“That’s all Eddie, playing Clue against them is a nightmare,” Buck says, mock-exhaustively.
“I can imagine. Where is your husband, by the way? Is he on shift today?” TK asks. Buck blinks for a second before preparing to respond. He is interrupted by the return of Truck and Ambulance 118 and an enthusiastic reunion.
3. Judson “Judd” Ryder
Judd is on the brink of insanity. He loves TK like a brother but, by God, if he must spend one more minute on Google trying to find this one specific brand of wine, that is only bottled and sold in Los Angeles, for his and Carlos’ wedding, Judd’s brain will stop responding.
Judd does something he probably should have started with. He calls Hollywood.
Eddie answers his call with a slightly confused greeting. Judd understands the feeling.
“Hey, Diaz. I need to talk to your husband.” Judd is beyond politeness, at this point, but its Diaz, so he’s not worried.
“He’s not my husband, Judd,” Eddie says, purposefully leaving out an acknowledgement of the engagement ring on his finger.
“And whose fault is that, Hollywood? Not mine, that’s for sure. Now pass the phone one foot to your left, I know he’s standing there,” Judd accuses.
Eddie decides Judd doesn’t need to know he was right.
“It’s for you,” Eddie hands his phone to Buck. For the record, Buck was standing in front of him.
4. Adriana & Sophia Diaz
It is a sister’s civic duty to bully her brother. Especially when one of your sisters is just minding her business on Instagram and her brother posts a story. To be honest, Sophia didn’t even think Eddie knew how to do that.
Her assumption was confirmed just as quickly as it was challenged when the story turned out to be a photo of her brother sleeping. The photo itself is not particularly interesting, if not for the gold ring on Eddie’s finger.
Sophia likes to think she knows her brother well, and part of knowing her brother is knowing that he has only ever worn two pieces of jewellery; his silver wedding ring and the St. Christopher’s medal around his neck.
Sophia has decided to take this opportunity to collect reinforcements (read also: Adriana) and ambush her brother over Facetime. What else are sisters for?
“Um, hi,” answered a familiar face, but still not Eddie. Huh, funny. Sophia was pretty sure she called Eddie’s phone.
“Hello, Buck. What a coincidence, we had a question you can help us with actually,” Sophia began. Buck looked confused but Sophia knows it’s a sham.
“Yeah, what’s up with the ring on Eddie’s finger?” Adriana asks, with determination. Buck’s wide eyes and slightly open mouth are very quickly replaced with Eddie’s ‘It’s none of your business’ face.
“What do you want? Did you run out of gossip in all of Texas?” asked Eddie fondly, but exasperated. To be fair, he probably should have expected this at some point.
“Hey, Eddie. We were just calling to find out who put that ring on your finger, but your husband already answered that,” Sophia explained brightly. Eddie rolls his eyes, but his protest ended there.
“The invitations are in the mail; we’ll see you out here in April,” Eddie says before hanging up.
Adriana & Sophia: 159
Eddie: 0 1
5. Robert “Bobby” Nash
For a long time, Bobby thought he would never see the weddings of his children. What he failed to consider was the adoptability of one (1) Evan Buckley.
And so, here Bobby stands in the doorway of his office, trying not to cry. The firehouse is ready for a wedding and Buck needs help with his tie. At least this part is familiar.
“Need a hand?” Bobby offers. Buck turns around quickly, as if he had forgotten he wasn’t alone and smiles appreciatively at Bobby. “Maddie said you needed some help, and she was a little busy wrangling Jee-Yun into some shoes,” he clarifies. A familiar scene plays out then; Bobby standing behind Buck to fix his tie, and Buck realizing again that real family are the ones that would help you with a tie (or throwing a wedding in a firehouse).
“There we go. Perfect. Are you ready to see your husband?” Bobby asks as he finishes with Buck’s tie. Buck rolls his eyes, as if he hates the ‘dad-ness’ of the question.
“He’s not my husband yet,” Buck replies.
“As soon as you walk out that door and turn left, we can fix that,” Bobby counters.
+ 1
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
“Hi, yeah, I think I’m in labor?”
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The 118 arrive to a small suburban duplex to find a very pregnant woman pacing the sidewalk. It takes some convincing before she agrees to stop pacing, then some more convincing to sit down. Hen and Chimney decide it would be best to transport her to the hospital, just to be safe. In this time, Buck and Eddie have readied the gurney when the woman notices their uniforms. More specifically, their surname patches, both reading “DIAZ”.
“You don’t really look like a ‘Diaz’,” she wonders aloud at Buck. Buck doesn’t take offense at this, the woman is in labor, above all, and he looks like he could become invisible in a snowstorm, he gets it.
“That would be because I took my husband’s last name,” Buck explained, gesturing vaguely at Eddie, both smiling gently. Her gaze shifts to Eddie, then she turns her attention back to Buck.
“Damn, that’s your husband?” she asks Buck, looking impressed when she receives a nod. “Is he single?”
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