Title: The Sweetest Temptation
Series: Fan Flashwork Challenge
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: 9-1-1
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Tags: Fluff, First Time
Summary: Eddie wasn't sure what to call Buck but the sweetest temptation.
Word Count: 1,555
Spoilers: Up Through Season 3
Author Notes: Quote used by Thomas Merton in the story. It's attributed.
Beta: Grammarly



"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."

"What?" Eddie asked as he looked up at the waitress who was setting down his plate.

"It's a quote from Thomas Merton. Every Saturday, you come in here and watch those two across the street. Now I have seen you with the boy. You are his father. The man, your ex?"

"No, my best friend," Eddie said.

"Ah, the worst spot in the world. You don't want to lose that, but you also don't want to see him with anyone else. Rock and a hard place. Well, what I said still stands. Can you stand to have just this in your life?" the waitress asked.

"No, I don't think I can settle for too little."

"Then go over there after you are done eating."

"No, I won't do that. This is their time, and I'm not going to take that away from my son. He'll be dropping Chris off at the house. I'll talk to him there."

If Buck didn't run away. Lately, there was a gap between them that Eddie wasn't sure how to bridge it. He hoped that Buck coming to spend time with Chris would help, but Buck, he planned things outside of the house. Everything had gone to shit over the damned lawsuit, and Eddie felt like Buck had done something that Eddie knew he never would have. It wasn't until Adriana had raked him over the coals about the discovery that Eddie realized that he had put all of that on Buck instead of at the feet of a lawyer who had taken Buck in at the worst time and used him.

Whatever had gone on, Eddie knew that Buck was so willing to get back to them, to the family that he had been used to. Buck was a good man, misguided sometimes, but he was good. He was the best man that Eddie had ever met in his life, and he looked at Chris like Chris was the best thing in the world.

"Well, that's a good thing there. Just don't wait too long. Someone like him, he won't stay single long."

Eddie knew about that. Buck wasn't looking for anyone and hadn't been since Ali dumped him over being injured. It was now nearly Thanksgiving, and Buck would be going to Eddie's if it was the last thing that he did.

The meal in front of him was tempting, so Eddie turned to it and started to read the book on his phone that Buck had talked him into reading.

Eddie laughed when he saw a notification flash across his screen when he was nearly done with his breakfast.

Buck: Come and join us when you are done eating; bring lemonade for both of us, please.

"Ma'am," Eddie said.

The waitress stopped and gave him a smile.

"Two large lemonades, please, one of them with extra ice, but don't label it that way, please."

"That's what they get every day in about an hour," the waitress said.

"Yes, probably. They want me to bring them over. I guess that I wasn't as invisible as I hoped I was."

"No, you really aren't. He clocked you as soon as you came in. He keeps his head on a swivel when he's over there with him. No one gets within ten feet of them without him seeing, and he looks around all the time. He's damned good. I would trust him with my children."

"He's great with Chris. The first person besides me who allows Chris to do what he wants and learns ways to adapt things that Chris can't do to where he can. With Buck and me in his corner, Chris will reach for the stars and land among them."

"Well, I'll get those lemonades. For you?"

"Unsweet tea, please. Light on the ice."

"Sure thing."

Eddie put his phone into his pocket and did a little mental math on what the tip should be. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do just yet, but he would figure it out.

---

Buck came out of the back of the house where he had carried Chris to put him down for a nap after a long morning out and being active. Eddie was just glad that Buck was inside of the house.

"Beer?" Eddie asked.

"Sure," Buck said.

Eddie nearly let his mouth drop open at that because he hadn't expected Buck to take him up on it. Buck hadn't been for a while.

"I think I have that one, you really."

"Awesome." Buck sat down on the couch and settled with a leg on there and the other on the floor, looking like he was ready to talk.

Eddie got the beers as quickly as possible and moved two more up from the drawer for easy grabbing later. He popped the tops on the beers and dropped the caps into the bucket beside the fridge. Chris wanted them for some kind of art project. They would be washed later to remove the smell of beer, but since they didn't drink too much bottled soda, it was only beer caps that Chris was going to be bringing in. Eddie had already cleared that with the teacher. Most kids were just bringing in what they needed for the project, but a few others were bringing in more for the ones who didn't have someone who drank from bottles in their family.

"Did you have to go and steal the beer?" Buck asked.

Eddie turned to look at his friend. Buck was leaning in the doorway to the living room with a smile on his face.

"I love you," Eddie said.

Buck's face did a few complicated things while Eddie tried to get a grip on himself to stop him from blurting out anything else.

"Well, that's a hell of an utterance there."

Eddie shrugged.

"Good thing I came here to talk about the same thing, huh?" Buck said.

Eddie nearly choked on the sip of beer he was taking right then. "What?"

"yeah, Chris told me that you and I needed to talk as he didn't like the divorced kid stuff we had been doing since the tsunami, and he was going to parent trap our butts if we didn't get it together. I tried not to point out the flaw that I doubted that Shannon had his twin brother somewhere hidden for him to be able to do that."

"Divorced kid stuff?" Eddie asked.

"Me always picking him up and taking him places instead of hanging here like we used to. You and I are barely talking." Buck stepped up, and he took the beer from Eddie and took a drink of it. It was the same one Eddie had drunk from.

"You have your own."

"Maybe I want yours," Buck shot back. He backed Eddie up to the counter and grabbed the second beer to set them both down before trapping Eddie there. "You love me?"

Eddie nodded his head.

"Good because I love you like I need to breathe, and I would die if it wasn't returned."

Eddie had no more words because Buck kissed him then. It wasn't just a simple peck on the lips like a first kiss should be. It was like fire, consuming Eddie whole.

It was the sweetest kind of temptation that Eddie wanted to give into, but he also knew that Buck had a history with sex that he had never fully gotten the truth out of him of.

"Well, this is better than being divorced," Chris said.

Buck jerked back like he had been burned. They both looked at the same time to see Chris there rubbing his eyes.

"You weren't asleep for long at all, mijo."

"No, my leg started to hurt. I didn't hear the TV, so I went looking for you. Bucky, come rub my leg down, please."

"Sure," Buck said.

"Growing pains again, huh?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah."

Buck stepped over and picked up Chris, who gladly dropped the crutches and held onto Buck.

"You aren't allowed to leave," Chris said.

"I'll be here all day, buddy. We need to talk things over. Figure out what we want to do."

"I don't mind being watched by Hen or Bobby. So you can go on dates."

"Ah, mijo, dates are just as fun with you here."

"You aren't going to get the adult stuff if I'm here."

Eddie laughed, and he shook his head as he followed Buck and Chris to Chris' room. Buck laid him down carefully, and his hands went right to Chris' leg, which had been giving him issues with his newest growth spurt.

Chris' eyes closed when Buck got in there and started to work. Buck turned to look at Eddie with a smile on his lips, and Eddie nodded his head.

They were already a family; they just needed a few little changes to talk it out.

The temptation to do like he had done with Shannon years ago was there, but Eddie wanted more than that. He wanted everything that Buck had, and to do that, they needed to talk.

"I love you, bucky," Chris said as he was on the verge of sleep minutes later, the muscle cramp in his leg worked out.

"I love you too, Chris."

The End