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yellowcry · 7 months

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The brain is flooded

When Bruno was walking in the village, avoiding people, he didn't except to find Luisa, panicking over an accident. Luckily, he knew what to do in those situations.

And maybe, just maybe, one day Luisa will return a favour.

Bruno tried to move around quietly, avoiding people. He really wasn't in the mood for another vision. To be fair, he didn't even want to go out of his tower, not even mention the Casita.

"I am scared of nothing!" Bruno reminded himself, putting his hood on. He was hunching over to make himself look smaller.

He heard a loud crack. At first, Bruno didn't want to see what was going on; it wasn't his problem, and he would only get unnecessary attention. But his intuition told him that he had to check on whatever was happening. And his intuition was rarely lying. Was it somehow related to his gift, or maybe he actually got some bit of luck? Even if it was really strange, Bruno wanted to have at least some hope, even if it was way too groundless.

Soon, he realized that there wasn't really anybody besides him and a little girl. For a second, he stared, then winced as he realized that it was Luisa. She was trembling as she hunched over next to the broken, half-painted fence. Her eyes widened, she stared at the white stockade, whispering something under her nose, breathing rapidly and shallowly.

"God!" Bruno screamed, rushing to his sobrina. He felt his heart pounding from worry, but he couldn't let his own worries get in the way of helping Luisa, as she definitely needed some help. He could never be more grateful for the lack of people, knowing that overwhelming crowd was the last thing his sobrina needed right now. There wasn't a need to know about what happened, as Bruno understood it really well.

He knew that Luisa's gift demanded all-time control. In the first few months after her ceremony, she was even more of a walking disaster than Agustin and Pepa together. Bruno remembered that most people avoided physical contact with Luisa for about two weeks after she gained her strength. But as time passed by, she seemed to maintain better control over her immense power.

Well, it might be better, but it definitely wasn't perfect.

Brumo kicked away the paintbrush that lay in front of Luisa and kneeled, putting his palm on her shoulder supportively as he whispered softly, trying to get Luisa's attention. "Luisa, can you hear me?"

She nodded weakly, still crying. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to, I didn't..."

"Shhh, it's okay." He gently patted her head, trying to stay calm too. "Just breathe... Okay?"Breathe in, breathe out." Bruno was counting and taking deep breaths to show Luisa what she had to do. "Luisa, what do you see?" Bruno's hands were also shaking from anxiety, but after so many years, he learned not to lose his head, he couldn't let his own anxiety stand in front of Luisa's well-being.

Her breathing hitched. "What?" The voice was almost whispering, she looked at Bruno with eyes, wide as two plates.

Bruno lifted her chin a little. "Just tell me, what do you see around, please?"

Luisa pursed her trembling lips. "I... I see... you... the fence," Bruno nodded, asking to continue. Her eyes were glancing around, focusing on what she could see. "Tía's cloud... the mountains.. a donkey..."

"Good job, kiddo." Bruno gave her an awkward but honest smile, focusing on Luisa's face to keep himself steady. "How about what you can feel? I mean with your skin." His grip on Luisa's shoulder was a bit too strong, that his fingers turned white.

Bruno felt like going back to his tower for weeks, days, maybe even months.

She looked down, closing her eyes. "Y-your hand on my shoulder, my hair on my forehead..." She let out a shaking whiff, but it was better than before. "I.. I feel the sun... my blouse, the..."

Bruno put his hand in front of her. "That's enough." His sobrina nodded, biting her lip. "Now, tell me what you're hearing."

Luisa thought for a moment before speaking. "There... There's a rustle of grass; the donkeys are jaking; your voice." Luisa's body wasn't trembling anymore, as she was focusing on something else than her own feelings, which helped her to go back to reality.

Bruno nodded, patting her shoulder. "Now smells."

"There's paint, also the flowers." Luisa's voice was now pretty normal, still raw from worry, but she stopped shaking, signaling that her panic attack was getting away.

"Oh, cool! Now..." Bruno put his hand into his pocket, searching for something. "Give me your hand." Luisa smiled weakly, stretching her palm. "What can you taste?" He put a little chocolate candy in her arm.

She giggled happily, clinging to Bruno's neck. "Thank you!" He fell under a sudden weight and rolled on the young grass. Luisa was now settled down and ready to run forward again. Bruno patted her spine with an awkward smile. "I.. I didn't mean to break the fence..." Her voice was firm now but still filled with deep guilt as she hid her face in Brunk's shirt.

Luisa looked into his eyes as if she begged him to believe her. "Hey, take it easy." He shook his head, looking away to stop eye contact. "I-It's okay!"

"But the fence..." She protested hugging him tighter, but Bruno immediately interrupted her.

Luisa's quiet and scared voice was breaking his heart. She was a child, an eight-year-old shouldn't hyperventilate from a stupid accident that meant nothing.

"It's easy to fix. It's just a fence." Bruno assured Luisa, as she was still hugging his neck.

His sobrina muttered. "I had to be careful... I just..." She sobbed into Bruno's shoulder. "I just got lost in my thoughts.".

"Hey, you can't control your mind!" Bruno chuckled nervously. "I'm getting lost in my own thoughts all the time! B-becides! You are way more important than some fence!" He shook his head, convincing his sobrina that there wasn't anything wrong.

Luisa sighed, finally letting go. "I know... I just... I don't wanna disappoint Senõr Cuellar... I-I... I promise to help him..." She looked down in shame as if she had just caused a problem. "And then... I just..." She wiped the tears from her eyes, trembling from despair at the knowledgeably that she wasn't strong enough to control herself.

"Was it like you can't breathe?" Bruno asked, sitting up and rubbing his hair. Luisa pursed her lips and nodded weakly. "It's okay... Or, well, not really, but doesn't It happen to everyone? So... if this happens again... try to do the thing I asked you to, alright?" Bruno twisted his arms around each other, explaining. "Like trying to say what you see and feel... it's helping!"

Luisa nodded unsurely. "Okay, I'll try." She bit her lip, looking down. "What was it even?" She stared at Bruno with blank eyes, hoping to get an explanation for this overwhelming sense of fear she had just a few minutes before.

"Oh..." Bruno scratched his head nervously. "Well... Books are calling this something like a... panic attack." He shrugged unsurely, raising his voice. "Don't know why it's happening, but the thing I've done to you usually helps me."

Luisa nodded, proving that the grounding had indeed worked. "Can you... Can you, please, don't tell Abuela?" She looked at him with pleading eyes, her lips trembling.

He sighed, knowing that Mama wouldn't be pleased with this; she didn't like it when Bruno had those, and Luisa wouldn't be anything different. He put his fingers on his lips, showing that this secret would be saved. "Hey, I'm quiet as a mouse."

His sobrina hugged him once again, this time lifting him from the ground. Bruno gasped for air in surprise, feeling the strong arms wrapped around his body. "You're the best!" Luisa screamed, clutching him tighter but still being careful not to cause any real damage.

Bruno giggled awkwardly, patting her spine. "There you go..."

Luisa nodded, finally letting him go. "Alright..." She rubbed her palms, getting ready to work again. "I got it; just fix the damage and go back to my chores." She let out a weak laugh as Bruno ruffled her hair. "Tíoo!" She shook her head, trying to get away. For now, Luisa was okay, and it was the main thing. Bruno really hoped that his sobrina would never need to ground herself ever again, but he didn't dare to check it with his gift.

The girl stared at the destruction once again, clutching her hands into fists. "Just... Do this. As fast as you can." She muttered quietly, which forced Bruno to realize that Luisa needed a break. She was probably working for an hour or two already.

Bruno put his hand on her shoulder. "Kiddo, do you... want some help?"

He wasn't sure why he even asked this. Maybe it was his love for the family... Or maybe he just wanted to have a reason to avoid creating another vision. Bruno loved his family, really loved, with all his heart, even if he rarely visited even family meals, let alone any other contact. But he loved his siblings, his mom, and his sobrinos. And right now he didn't want to leave Luisa alone.

She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Really?" Bruno nodded weakly, and he was squeezed into another hug a second later.

"I'd like it!" Luisa screamed in happiness. People usually didn't offer help to her, which made this little gesture even more important. "I didn't know you know how to fix fences."

"Uhh..." Bruno scratches the back of his head. "I don't." There was a bit of silence. "I will be happy to learn this skill." He promised, knowing that his sobrina was pretty good in the repair of different kinds of things, even if he always thought that she was way too young for this.

"Oh, okay." Luisa got off him. "At first we need to..."

#encanto #ao3 author #fanfic #luisa madrigal #bruno madrigal #i wrote this as stress relief over deleted chapter

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biographydivider · 2 years

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MILK DAY MILK DAY MILK DAY

Happy holiday, to all who celebrate! Thank you to @breannaaiedail and @missilestorm1 for coming up with this madness - and a happy birthday to @glitternightingale! You are all babes, and I can’t wait to see everyone’s creations. Here’s mine; time for some Bruno and Pepa shenanigans!

“Bruno?”

Bang bang.

“Bruno!”

Bang bang bang.

“Hurry up in there!” Félix called. “I need my hair oils, bro! I can’t go out looking like this.”

Bruno groaned, pulling at the bags under his eyes. “Just a sec, Félix.”

Ugh; what was it about the lighting in bathrooms that made you look so…haggard? “Y’can’t get some ambient lighting in here, Casita?” Bruno grumbled, inspecting the crow’s feet growing at the corners of his eyes. Laugh lines, Julieta called them. Not that he’d done much laughing since the last time he’d had decent access to a mirror. Unless they’d formed in the last few months, since he’d been home? Like, maybe they’d got the jump on him?

“Ayo, Tio!” Camilo piped up, “there’s a line forming here!”

“There’s other bathrooms, Milo,” Bruno yelled, applying the last of the day cream he’d swiped from one of the girls’ bathrooms last week. It was the last remnants of a jar, Pepa wouldn’t miss it. But it didn’t seem to be working, anyway. He still looked every day of his fifty years, and then some. Maybe it only worked for light skin…?

“They’re all being used,” his sobrino said from the hallway; “all the girls are on the rag together –”

“Camilo.”

“What? I can’t say they’re on the rag? Can I say Aunt Flo’s visiting? They’ve got the decorators in? Shark Week? What? Anyway; no other bathrooms, so chop chop, Bruno.”

“Fine! Fine.” Bruno swung the door wide and stamped out, walking past every guy on Pepa’s side of the family, including a desperately scampering Antonio, who barged past his brother and Papi to get to the toilet first. “Knock yourselves out. Storytime in ten, Toñito! ‘member to clean your teeth, too.”

“’kaaaay!”

He’d tried everything he could think of. Chugging water constantly just resulted in him needing to pee every ten minutes. He’d tried being in the sun; being out of the sun; lotions and potions and eating whatever Juli put in front of him (until she found out what he was trying to heal and told him, as gently as she could, that her Gift wasn’t a fountain of youth). Cutting out caffeine? Don’t even think about it. He’d gone for half a morning and then gave in and was all the grumpier and more exhausted for the attempt. It was no use, Bruno just felt…old. Old and ugly. I mean, he’d never felt like a good-looking guy, but now…let’s just say ten years was a long time to not see your reflection in anything more than a banged-up silver tea tray.

Anyway. Family Weirdo Club time. At least the kids made him feel young again. Pepa’s Storytime Rule was that Antonio needed to read a few pages of a Non-Fiction book before Bruno and Mirabel read him a storybook, and so tonight, they were learning about the Ancient Egyptians.

“‘Cleeeeap….Cleop…Cl…’”

“Cleopatra,” Mirabel said, holding a hot water bottle to her belly. “It’s a big word, hombrecito, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, Mira. ‘Clee-oh-patr-ah was a famous Eg…Egyptian Queen. She was also the most bee-you-tee-full woman in the whooole world, because she bathed in milk and honey –‘” Antonio scrunched up his face. “Milk and honey for a bath?! Gross!”

“Sounds like a pretty good drink, though,” Mirabel said with a wince. “Oof, maybe warm, with some cinnamon…owie.” Poor kiddo; her stomach must’ve been killing her.

Antonio beamed up at her. “Juanita can make you some milk!”

Juanita was a cow Antonio had adopted from a farmer in town; apparently, she wanted to see more of the Encanto than just the pasture she was born in. So Antonio had said; Bruno kinda just thought his nephew wanted a pet cow. Mamá had said she could only stay if she ‘pulled her weight’ – and so the entire Madrigal clan were enjoying a glut of cheese, cream, butter and milk, and Juanita got her very own paddock to grow fat in.

Hmmm…milk and honey...

“Tio?”

Bruno was lost in thought; teeth worrying at his bottom lip. I mean; it sounded dumb. But a lot of things did, when you broke them down. Like social situations. Or maths. I mean; it couldn’t be less effective than –

“Bruno!”

“Uhhyyyeeaah, um, uh-huh!” Bruno babbled, grabbing a storybook off Antonio’s shelves. “Yep, yup! Storytime. Don’t worry, kid; all under control. You go relax, heh.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure. Okay! Toñito! Billy and the Pirates tonight, yeah? Go get comfy…”

About half an hour later, Bruno was standing on a chair in the kitchen, attempting to reach a jar of honey without knocking half the contents of Julieta’s larder to the floor. He’d done some pretty illogical things in his time, but he really didn’t know how to explain this one to the family if he got caught.

C’mon, c’mon c’mon c’mon…got it!

Bruno leapt down from the chair, honeypot and spoon in hand. He set both on the counter, took a generous spoonful, and decanted it into a tiny jar he’d found in his room. Screwing the lid shut, he licked the spoon clean, went into the cold larder Juli kept especially for Juanita’s exports and…

Cream. Cheese. Butter. Whey. Curds. Everything but milk. Mirabel must’ve used the last of their supply for her period-pain-remedy. “Seriously?” Bruno growled, letting the larder door swing shut as he spun dramatically, gesturing at no-one. “We own an entire cow, how can there be no –”

Out the kitchen window, he could see Juanita grazing peacefully in her paddock.

No.

No way.

He wasn’t that desperate. Surely, he didn’t feel so old and wrinkly that he would –

…

“Heeeeeeeeyy, Juanita,” Bruno cooed, ducking under the fence into her paddock. “Sooo, I need a favour.” Juanita regarded him with deadpan brown eyes. Bruno approached; hands splayed out in pacification. “You give me, like, two squirts of milk in this lil’ jar, and I get you…I-I dunno, what do cows want?”

Juanita was silent on the matter. She simply chewed her cud as Bruno retrieved the milking stool from her shelter, flicking her tail disdainfully.

“Okay, um. I-I’ll get you…carrots. Carrots! Cows love carrots, right? I know a guy. Girl. Isabela. Getcha all the carrots you…all the carrots you want.” At the sight of her milking stool, Juanita stood in place and let Bruno sidle up to her and sit down. He winced.

“Okay. I can do this. I can do this. How hard can it be? How hard can it…ay, sorry! Sorry Juanita, didn’t mean to pull that hard. Okay…just aim it at the – gross gross gross gross it’s all warm and bleeeeargh –”

Splish-splish.

He’d done it. He’d milked a cow! Look at him go! Bruno Madrigal: Practically A Farmer.

“Thanks, Juanita,” Bruno said, stirring the milk into the honey with his finger as he walked backwards out the pasture. “I owe ya. Let’s keep this between us though, ‘kay? They already think I’m crazy in that house. I mean; I am talking to a cow, I-I guess. But…yeah.” He stuck his finger in his mouth, pulling it out with a pop. Mirabel was right; milk and honey did taste good. He just hoped it worked miracles, too. “G’night!”

Juanita said nothing. Just another night at the Madrigal house. She didn’t even like carrots.

…

“Woah-ho-ho, Brunito!” Felix hooted as his cuñado sauntered down the stairs the next morning. “Looking good, bro!”

“Thanks,” Bruno preened, trying his hair up with a ribbon so he could show off his glow. “I’m aware.”

He laid with the stuff on his face for a good, oh, hour and a half after he went to bed – he clearly couldn’t take up a bathroom for that length of time, not in this house, so he used the milk/honey concoction like a face mask; reading his book and trying not to get strands of hair stuck in the sweet, sticky mess. Trying to keep the rats away had been…interesting. In the end, Bruno had locked them all in their playroom for the night, tossing in a few stale arepas to assuage his guilt. Then, he’d wiped the concoction off, slept like a baby for once and, when he awoke, had the softest, clearest skin he’d had in years. Even the bags under his eyes seemed to be receding; and that was after only one night!

It had worked. It had actually worked!

He swanned around the Encanto for the rest of the day – winking at people of all genders, occasionally patting his face and enjoying how soft it felt – until, just before dinner, Pepa lunged from the shadows and dragged him into the kitchen with a yelp.

“Spill. Now.”

“I don’t know,” Bruno said, tilting his head this way and that, “what you mean, sister dear.”

“Where has this confidence come from?” Pepa crossed her arms, a tiny thundercloud forming above her head. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

Bruno felt himself deflate, just a little. “I…I-I just feel nice today, that’s all. C-can’t I just feel nice?”

“Oh no; I’m not saying you don’t look nice. You look fantastic, it’s infuriating.” Pepa grabbed her brother by the ruana and yanked him close. “Bruno. The other day Señora Guzmán said my face had a lot of character.”

Bruno gasped. “Puta.”

“I will not be judged,” Pepa said through gritted teeth, “by a woman whose son was beaten in a fight by a plant.” She reached up and stroked Bruno’s cheek, eyes burning. “Tell me your secret.”

…

“…you are kidding me.”

A few hours later, Pepa leaned against the fenceposts as Bruno ducked into Juanita’s paddock.

“Pep,” Bruno said, spinning around and putting his feet on the bottom rung of the fence so he was at his sister’s height, cupping her face in his hands. “I love you. I think you’re beautiful just as you are. But if you want this –” he placed his palms under his jawline and posed, skin dewy even in the moonlight – “then y’gotta help me milk the stupid cow, alright?”

Pepa scowled. “…fiiiiiiine.”

Pepa ducked under the fence, making clucking noises with her tongue. “Heeeere, Juanita…that’s a good girl, come on…”

Juanita, however, had other ideas. Being harassed in the middle of the night by two humans with desperation in their eyes had not been part of the deal she’d broached with Antonio. She would not be tugged on and bullied, she just wouldn’t stand for it. And so, as soon as the scraggly-haired male human placed her milking stool at her side and sat down, she moved a few paces, just out of reach. And then again. And again. And then, when the red-haired female one tried to hold her by the halter, Juanita swung her huge head at her middle and knocked her flying. This cow was not in the mood to play two nights in a row.

“Pep, j-just grab her, alright?”

“I am trying, Bruno – if you think it’s so easy, you hold her steady, and I’ll milk her.”

“Fine!”

“Fine! Gimme that stupid stool…”

…

“’Psychosomatic,’”

read Camilo, straddling the dictionary across his legs.

“’Relating to the interaction of the mind and the body.’”

His prima wrestled the huge, leather tome away from him, flicking backwards to the ‘F’s.“‘Folie à deux,’” read Mirabel, her finger raised in the air in a way that reminded Camilo a little too much of their tio, “‘also known as shared psychosis or delusional disorder.’”

They both turned back to the bedroom window; watching as Camilo’s Mami chased a cow around the paddock just outside his window, while their Tio Bruno was basically dragged along the ground, holding onto her halter, yelling ‘think of y’complexion, Pep!’ as his sister stumbled over her skirts in a vain attempt to catch Juanita; a steadily growing wind blowing her hair back from her face, which was frozen in a mask of crazed determination.

“Told you he was being weird out there last night. Now he’s involved her in it, too.”

“At least he’s feeling more confident,” Mirabel offered, leaning on the windowsill. “He deserves that.”

“Yeah, but that gunk doesn’t work,” Camilo scoffed. “It’s all in his head. Frickin’ sunlight and good food’re doing more for his skin than some magic cure.”

“Do you want to go down there and tell them?”

“Pffbt; no.”

“Then we’re agreed; we stay up here, out of sight, and come up with a name for this…” Mirabel winced as Bruno faceplanted in the mud. At least, she hoped it was mud. “…spectacle.”

“Bruno!” Camilo’s Mami shrieked; a crack of lightning punctuating her panic. “Your face! Your beautiful face!”

“…Madrigal Madness?” Camilo offered. Mirabel grinned, offering her fist to be bumped in agreement.

“Madrigal Madness. Definitely.”

#Bruno's opinions on his looks do not reflect those of the author #but you knew that already right?#encantomilkday #encanto milk day #bruno madrigal #pepa madrigal #la familia madrigal #encanto #pensandpizza

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achitka · 2 years

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For the Nerves

Chapter 23: For the Nerves

Summary:

So jumpy

Sitting under a tree, Bruno was keeping an eye on Antonio. The rest of the family was busy rebuilding and Pepa was busy with Félix. Living with her in-laws must be a bit stressful, that’s a lot of folks to stuff in that tiny house but it was nice to see how well Pepa was doing, not having flip her mood to do anything. All the kids were getting to spend time with their father’s parents but Antonio kept requesting Tío Bruno.

Antonio was petting one of Bruno’s rats and asked, “Tío?”

“Yes Antonio.”

“Do you understand what the rats are saying?”

Bruno looked at Antonio and said very seriously, “No, but I think they understand me.”

“Really, how come?”

“I don’t know just a feeling I get. We’ve spent a lot of time together, so…”

“When you were living in the walls?”

“I thought the rats told you everything?”

“They only told me where they were taking the vision pieces. I followed because I was worried about Mira. Abuela was really mad at her. She looked so scared.”

“Probably a good thing you did.”

“Yeah…I miss Parce though.”

“Whose Parce?”

“My jaguar friend. He’s really smart and told the best jokes. Kinda like you Tío.”

Bruno smiled, “You know kiddo, if you think about it, Parce may still be around, in the forest.”

“You think?”

“Of course, you don’t think he just manifested out of thin air?”

“What does mantlefest mean?”

“Appear from nowhere, like your Mamí’s clouds used to. Oh, oh, I forgot something,” Bruno said, suddenly up on his feet, “Come on Toni, I have a surprise for you. You can’t tell anyone about this place, okay?” He led Antonio into the forest to a very large tree whose trunk was hollowed out. Bruno lit a candle that was near the doorway, which was just some blankets and waved for Antonio to come in. Antonio did and broke into a wide smile as he ran over to the shelves carved into the trunk and picked up the small stuffed jaguar.

Antonio nodded as he hugged to toy and thanked his Tío. “You should ask Mira to make you one too. Good for the nerves.”

“Not a bad idea kid, but I have enough hangers about.” As Bruno said this there was a squeak on the shelf recently vacated by the stuffed jaguar. Bruno held out his hand and the rat moved onto it and up to his shoulder. “Come on, time for lunch!”

Antonio grabbed his Tío’s hand and together they walked back to town.

#encantober 2022 #encantober #rats #antonio madrigal #tio bruno #parce ftw

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ladychandraofthemoone · 2 years

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Here are my final designs of @c-rose2081 kiddos, I love them so much, I’ll die 4 them ok!!! Fyi, this is my interpretation on what they would look like, it’s not canon and I’m so sorry it’s so rusty, I’ve been practicing. Most designs are based on concept art of Encanto:

Character notes and random hcs that are not true so you can just ignore me:

✨Bianca I saw as a bit of a girly tomboy with her messy braid with flower designs on her skirt, yes she look somewhat like a young Pepa but she isn’t 😅, her right leg is suppose to be lifted up but now I gave her a bit of a limp. Besides Mirabel she’s the big sister of the group! Her hearts big and she likes to take care of everyone when Mira isn’t there and she’s one of the stronger kids, being sporty as she plays soccer. There’s a 90% chance you’ll get punched if you sneak up behind her but she will apologize quickly, she’s plays in her skirts and dresses and does not mind getting messy, hence her blouse

✨Pablos I gave him bandages and cuts as he does get into fights and is quite reckless but is proud of them with people fearing him since it will protect his siblings, bullies (who teased them, mostly Bianca due to her limp and Adrianne for her vitiligo) now somewhat fear him, I added the bull patch on his jacket that he still wears alongside some dirt patterns and patches, besides his new clothes, he will still get them a bit ripped up and dirty with his tiny fishing knife.

✨Juan and Hernandez I gave them opposite colors from the wheel or in my case, both from Bash and Dash despite their personalities reminding me of Bill and Ben with them finishing each other sentences or arguing or just being together since they simply latched on to one another having a somewhat similar appearance , they happily consider each other to be twins and get along very well with Antonio.

✨Adrianne is a bit of a girly girl, I gave her vitiligo and like Pablos she has freckles, with fair hair of many shades in blonde but she’s very proud of who she is, mostly cause she’s confident thanks to her big sis Mirabel which is why people stopped messing with her as she will sass back (gives me Marie kitty vibes) besides her brother Pablos will fight them and very empathetic despite sounding stern about it she’s still a kid ok, I love her) so I gave her Isabela’s old concept art with the flower designs and color plus Isa’s old hairstyle

✨Elena is as quiet as a mouse for her age, with her dress color coming from AG Cecile/Addy Walker and also from Dolores with the different shades of red with the music notes even though you can really see it coming from something you can hear and I love the hc that Dolores hears Mariano sing and as a result can hum and softly sing to her, mostly lullabies and later Mariano does it for her, plus i said i wanted to give her afro-puffs, ruffles and bows, she’s a cutie

Either way, I love them all and I hope you like my rambles and art 😊

#submission #c-rose2081 #my art #my art owo #encanto #encanto ocs i guess #my art stuff #my art style #sorry I'm so rusty i haven't used procreate in a while #did this while watching ttte and pokemon while looking at concept art

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awesome-opossum-after-hours · 2 years

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(Encanto fanfic, final part babeyyyyy! Check my profile for the earlier parts, I will be posting the full thing soon!)

When they got there, the rest of the family had been waiting just as they were instructed to. But instead of the excited faces Mirabel had anticipated, everyone looked around worriedly as the feverish, and now noticeably delirious girl made her way to the front of the crowd. They all murmured and whispered amongst each other, things like "she looks terrible, poor kid" and "she's been working way too hard, she should give herself a rest"- all of which Mirabel chose to ignore. It wasn't until she let out a huge sneeze, one that took her back so much that Casita had to tilt the door forward to keep her from falling over, that everyone quited down enough for her to speak.

"Familiaaaaa..." Mirabel croaked out, as loud as she could muster, "to continue this AMAZING birthday surprise, follow me to a party in the center of the Encanto!" She began to choke on air once again as she led the way into the center of town. "¡Vamos!" *sniffle*

As she trudged into town, Mirabel could hear the muffled voices of her family behind her. They were actually yelling out to her, saying "Mira, you're sick!" and "it's ok, you can take break!", but to her blocked up ears it all just sounded like mush. Eventually, it was her Abuela who called out to Mirabel the loudest.

"Mirabel, nieta, come back to Casita!" Mirabel still wasn't used to being shouted to by her Abuela out if this level of care and concern, so she started to slow down. "Let's get you to bed, niña, it looks like you could use some rest."

"Abuela..." an exhausted Mirabel groaned as she whipped herself around to face the rest of her family. "I'm f-" She caught a glimpse of her whole family rushing to her side as her world spun a little too fast, and poor Mirabel was down for the count.

------

"Corazón!"

Mirabel's consciousness quickly returned, and so did her excruciating headache. She realized that she had blacked out, and was now laying with her head in her mom's lap, surrounded by all of the other Madrigals.

"Ay, you're burning up! I knew it, you were sick all day. Pobrecita..." Her father was right beside her mom, stroking Mirabel's hair as he always did when she was a kid to comfort her. It never failed to help.

Pepa sat down with them. "Mira, why didn't you tell us? I know you wanted to do something big for our first birthday all together again, but we would've understood!" Pepa tried her best not to rain on them, only letting out a small drizzle here and there.

"I..." Mirabel started. Unknowingly, she began to cry. "I just wanted to make today special. You guys haven't celebrated your birthdays together in ten years, and I planned out this whole thing with everyone else, I'm sorry I ruined your birthdays-"

"Hey, hey kiddo," said Bruno softly, kneeling down by the group of them on the grass. "Don't say that! You didn't ruin anything. Sometimes bad things just, happen. And there's nothing you can do about it. You're sick, that's not your fault at all!" He joked, "trust me when I say that this is the best birthday I've had in- well, at least ten years!" Mirabel laughed a little.

"We appreciated everything you did for us today, mija." Her mother gave her one of her signature soft, comforting hugs. "¡Te amo mucho!"

"And as far as the party waiting in town," Dolores chimed in softly, "we can redirect it to Casita. You can stay in my room, since it's now all soundproof, and that way you can join in when you feel up to it."

"Sounds perfect," Mirabel replied, as her family helped her back to her feet. They started back to Casita, and she felt a sense of relief knowing that she was about to get some much-needed rest.

In the end, the day did not go perfectly at all, but that wasn't such a bad thing. It surely would be a Madrigal birthday that they remembered forever.

#encanto #fanfic #mirabel encanto #encanto fanfic #please make cool fanart of this fic i wanna see it!#final part!#part 6

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tails89 · 3 years

Text

Unbreakable

Pairing: Evan Buckley x Eddie Diaz Rating: T Warnings: None Words: 2.7k

Read on AO3

All it takes is one split second.

Buck had been right there beside him, talking into his radio, confirming they were on their way out.

And then he was gone.

The floor had caved in beneath them with a thunderous crack and somehow—Eddie still can’t fathom how— somehow, Buck had managed to shove Eddie to the side before disappearing in a shower of smoke and smouldering wood.

“Buck!” He screams, kneeling on the edge of the hole and peering over. He can see the yellow stripe on the back of Buck’s coat, unmoving beneath the debris. “Captain Nash, this is Eddie.” He fumbles with the radio. “Buck is down. He went through the floor, I can’t— he’s not moving.”

He doesn’t wait for the reply. Eddie scrambles to his feet heading back towards the staircase that will take him to the ground floor.

“Chim is on his way to you.” The radio crackles to life. “Can you get down to Buck and give us a report on his condition?”

“Yeah, copy that.” Eddie takes the stairs, two at a time. “I’ve almost got him.” He skids to a halt, dropping to his knees beside Buck. As far as he can tell, the turnout gear has protected him from serious burns, but the fact that Buck’s unconscious is a serious concern.

It’s probably only been a minute or two, time moves at a strange pace when you’re trying not to panic, but any blow hard enough to knock someone out is dangerous.

“Buck?” Eddie knocks away bits of debris. “Can you hear me? Open your eyes, cariño.” He rubs his closed fist against Buck’s chest, breathing a sigh or relief when it prompts a groan from the younger firefighter. “Hey, there you are. Just stay still for me.” His heart is still pounding as he clears a space around Buck, afraid to move him before Chim arrives but also mindful of the burning building around them.

“Eddie?”

“I’m right here.” He leans into Buck’s field of vision. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”

Buck blinks up at him, his eyes fluttering shut for a second before he drags them back open.

“Don’t even think about it,” Eddie warns, glancing up as another figure arrives. “Eyes open Buck, or I’ll tell Chim what you said about him this morning.”

“What’s this?” Chim asks, kneeling opposite Eddie. “Buck’s talking shit about me again?”

“Nothing that wasn’t true,” Buck mumbles.

“If you say so, Buckaroo.” Chim moves quickly, assessing Buck’s ability to move before nodding to Eddie.

“Alright, time to get out of here,” Eddie says. “Let us do all the work okay?”

“You’re good at that, right Buck?” Chim pipes up, earning a pained smile from their patient. They each hook an arm across their shoulders and heft Buck upright. He groans, eyes squeezing shut from the movement.

Eddie and Chimney carry him out into the fresh air, carefully lying him down away from the fire, then get to work.

Hen joins them as they strip him of his jacket and start a more thorough assessment of his injuries. Eddie kneels by his head, keeping up a steady stream of reassuring chatter as Hen and Chim poke and prod and jostle.

Buck doesn’t say anything, just gives short jerking nods when he’s asked a question, eyes scrunched up in pain and discomfort.

Eddie reaches down to grab Buck’s hand; the one Hen hasn’t just inserted an IV into and gives it a squeeze. The fingers in his grip tighten in response.

“Ready to transport, cap,” Hen calls out when she’s done. The three of them get Buck on the backboard and transfer him to the stretcher.

“Bobby?” Eddie glances over at his captain, still clutching Buck’s hand.

“Go,” Bobby tells him. “Keep us updated.”

With a nod, Eddie follows Chimney up into the back of the ambulance.

The ride to the hospital is tense, even with Chimney cracking jokes to lighten the mood.

Buck is in and out, drowsy with a probable concussion and who knows what else. Eddie can feel the panic clawing at his throat, but he manages to keep it together, never once letting go of Buck’s hand until they reach the hospital. He focuses on the point of contact, using the warmth of Buck’s skin to keep grounded and remind himself that Buck will be okay.

It feels like it takes no time at all to reach the hospital. Hen does the handover while Chim and Eddie help transfer Buck from the stretcher to a bed.

“Let us know what happens,” Chim says, giving Eddie a clap on the shoulder, and promising to be back after their shift.

The hospital staff try to send Eddie away too, but Buck has come around enough that he is not having that.

“I’m his partner,” Eddie explains, laying a calming hand on Buck’s shoulder. One of the nurses has cut away his pants to inspect the burns on his leg and another is tearing through his shirt. “Please, I won’t get in the way.”

Buck is pretty out of it once they give him some pain relief. He gets wheeled away for imaging tests and Eddie takes the opportunity duck outside to text Bobby an update and call Carla to ask if she can take Chris to stay with his aunt.

Chris, of course, immediately wants to come and stay with Eddie at the hospital.

“It’ll be boring, kiddo,” Eddie tells him. “Just lots of waiting around and Buck will probably be asleep.”

“But what about when he wakes up?” Chris asks. “He shouldn’t wake up alone, dad.” And Eddie just can’t with this kid. He wonders, not for the first time, how he managed to raise someone with such a big heart.

“He won’t be alone,” Eddie promises. “I’ll be here, and maybe tía Pepa can bring you over in the morning. I know Buck will want to see you when he wakes up, but tonight he needs his rest.”

“Okay, dad.”

Eddie doesn’t need to see his son to know how hard he’s pouting at the phone right now.

“Tell Buck I love him.”

“I will. You be good for Pepa. Love you.”

“Love you too, dad.”

Eddie disconnects the call with a sigh then goes to check his messages. There’s a text message from Chimney saying he’d called Maddie.

“Shit.” Eddie quickly scrolls to her number. He’d completely forgotten in all the chaos—Maddie should have been the first person he’d called.

“Eddie?”

“Maddie, I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t worry about it, Chim called me and let me know what happened. How is my little brother?”

“He’s going to be okay.” Eddie rattles off some of the words that had been thrown around in the emergency room. “Concussion, second degree burns on his legs, maybe cracked ribs?” He takes a deep breath. “They’re doing some more testing to determine the severity of the concussion, but they didn’t seem overly concerned.”

“That’s good news at least,” Maddie says. “Evan just can’t do things by halves can he?”

Eddie huffs out a soft laugh. “Half-assing it just isn’t in his vocabulary.” The ball of anxiety that’s been sitting in his chest for the better part of an hour finally starts to unwind.

“I’ll be there soon,” Maddie says. “And Chim said he was going to head over. Have you eaten yet? I’ll bring you something.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Eddie assures her.

“I know, but you must be starving. Chim definitely will be.”

“Thanks Maddie.”

“I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yeah.” The call ends with a beep and Eddie shoves his phone back into his pocket. He’s still wearing his turnouts, he realises belatedly. His coat is draped over the chair behind him, his helmet balances on a knee.

“Mr Diaz?” One of the nurses beckons him over. “We’re admitting Evan,” she tells him. “If you’d like to come with me, I’ll take you up to his room.”

“He’s okay?” Eddie follows her down the corridor towards the elevator.

“Nothing nasty turned up in the MRI,” she explains. “His helmet protected him from any skull fractures, but he still got his brains rattled about pretty good.”

The elevator doors open with a ding, and they step inside.

“He’s got a couple of cracked ribs and the burns on his legs will need to be monitored to ensure they don’t get infected.”

“How long before he can come home?” Eddie asks.

“His doctor wants to keep him overnight to monitor the concussion, but all going well, he’ll likely be released tomorrow, maybe the day after at the latest.”

When the lift stops, she leads him out to a room on the ward. Eddie pushes the door open to step inside.

“Buck?”

The lights are low, but it’s still easy to make him out on the bed. Eddie drags a chair over, taking a seat at Buck’s side.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I fell through a floor and had the whole house land on me,” Buck croaks, looking a lot more alert than the last time Eddie had seen him. He’s still pale and drawn, but it’s good to hear his voice.

“Well—”

“Don’t say it,” Buck groans. He swallows, his face paling even more, something Eddie wouldn’t have thought possible. His birthmark stands out in stark relief against his skin.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie asks, reaching for Buck’s hand. He rubs circles into the skin of Buck’s wrist.

“Nausea.”

“I can help with that.” The nurse who’d shown Eddie up to the room is still hovering nearby. “I’ll go have a chat with the doctor and be back in a minute.” She hands Buck an emesis basin before she leaves, just in case.

Alone in the room, Eddie reaches with his free hand to run his fingers through Buck’s hair. He’s careful not to use too much pressure and aggravate anything but Buck seems to appreciate it, sinking down further into his pillow.

“How are you really feeling?” Eddie asks, his thumb trailing across Buck’s temple.

“Like shit,” Buck mumbles. “Nothing… hurts? But I know it’s going to later.” He shuts his eyes, swallowing convulsively to keep from being sick, clutching the basin in his free hand.

Fortunately, the nurse returns before he has to use it. She gives him something and leaves them alone again.

“You should get back to Chris.” Nausea dealt with, Buck is loose-limbed and sleepy, blinking up at Eddie.

“Chris is fine,” Eddie assures him. “He’s spending the night with Pepa. He wants to come by and see you tomorrow if you’re feeling up to it.”

“Mm, I’d like that.” Buck’s eyes drift shut and his breathing evens out into sleep.

Eddie watches him for a moment, still running his fingers through Buck’s hair, until he’s sure he’s truly out. He pulls out his phone to see that Maddie, Chim, Bobby and Hen have all arrived.

He stands, pressing a kiss to Buck’s forehead and goes downstairs to meet his family.

Maddie is the one who convinces Eddie to go home.

He’s grimy with sweat and soot from the fire they had been attending and she gives him her best big sister stare and tells him under no uncertain terms that he stinks.

“And I mean that in a loving way,” she says, handing over a box of Chinese takeout.

He sits outside with Chim and Hen to eat, while Maddie and Bobby head upstairs to check on Buck for themselves.

“How’s our boy doing?” Hen asks.

“He’ll be fine,” Eddie says. “He’ll be sore and grumpy when I take him hope, but you know Buck.”

“Yeah, I don’t envy you there,” Chim says. “Buck is the worst patient, so have fun with that.”

After they eat Bobby gives him a ride back to the station to collect his car.

“I’ve called Marcus in to cover your shift tomorrow,” Bobby says as Eddie is climbing out of the car. “If you still need time after your days off, let me know.”

“Thanks Bobby.”

“Don’t mention it, you just take care of Buck for us. And take care of yourself too.” Bobby drives off and Eddie walks to his car before he starts getting too many questions from B shift. Buck is a well-liked member of the 118 and everyone wants to send Eddie off with well-wishes to pass on.

It’s late by the time Eddie finally gets home.

With Chris off at Pepa’s and Buck at the hospital, the house is dark and quiet. Too quiet, in Eddie’s opinion.

He turns the TV just to give himself some background noise while he showers and changes for bed.

It takes a long time to fall asleep.

Eddie picks Chris up in the morning on his way back to the hospital.

Chris has a thousand questions about what happened, and will Buck be okay, and when can they bring him home.

It strikes Eddie that he’d said the same thing the night before. He’d asked the nurse when he could bring Buck home.

For all the time they spent together and as much as Buck was a part of the family with Eddie and Chris, he did still technically have his own apartment. Not that he used it that much. Eddie had been able to pack a bag using the clothes Buck had stuffed into a drawer in Eddie’s room. There was a toothbrush on the sink for when Buck stayed the night.

Maybe it was time for Eddie to finally ask Buck to move in.

The thought keeps him distracted the whole way to the hospital. He’s still mulling it over as he helps Chris down from the back seat and leads the way up to Buck’s room.

“He’s asleep, dad.” Chris is disappointed when they open the door and Buck is still fast asleep.

He’s got a bit of colour in his cheeks this morning. He doesn’t look quite so pale against the starched white hospital sheets.

“You sleep a lot too when you’re not feeling well,” Eddie reminds his son, pulling up a second chair and moving Chris’s crutches to a spot where they’re not going to trip anyone up. “Have you got your game with you?”

Nodding, Chris pulls his Switch from his backpack, content to play his game while they wait for Buck to wake.

It doesn’t take long. The thing with hospitals is that they’re never really quiet and Buck jerks awake when something is dropped just outside his room.

“Hey, you.” Eddie leans forward in his chair and waits for Buck to get his bearings. “How are you feeling?”

“Ugh, I feel like shi—” he notices Chris on the other side of the bed, “-t.” He grimaces. “Sorry, brain could thing of anything fast enough.”

“I think we’ll let it slide this time,” Eddie says, grinning.

“Dad says sometimes bad words are okay.” Chris puts away his game and stands, shifting his weight so he can lean against the bed for balance. “I’m glad you’re okay Buck, I missed you last night.”

“I missed you too bud,” Buck says, reaching out to ruffle Chris’s curls. “Just seeing you makes me feel better already.”

Chris beams at the words and Eddie feels his heart swell.

“So,” Buck shifts on the bed, his face tightens as he jars something, probably his ribs, but he doesn’t mention it. “Any idea when I can get out of here?”

“I was talking to a nurse last night who said you’ll probably be released today,” Eddie tells him. “But we’ll have to wait until the doctor gives you the okay.”

“Hospitals are the worst,” Buck groans, his head tipping back against the pillows. “Right Chris?” Chris nods and Buck pats the bed. “Why don’t you show me the game you were playing while we wait.”

Buck is discharged late that afternoon.

He makes a fuss about using the wheelchair, but when he tries to stand all the blood drains from his face and he has to sit back down real fast.

“Ready to try the wheelchair now?” Eddie asks him, keeping a gentle hand on Buck’s shoulder in case he tries to faceplant again.

“Yeah.” The word comes out in one long breath. “Sorry, I didn’t think it would hurt that much.”

“When we get home, I’ll make up the couch for you,” Eddie says, “and you’re staying there for the rest of the week.”

“Home?” Buck glances up sharply.

“My home,” Eddie clarifies, then after a moment’s hesitation says, “Our home.”

“I like the sound of that,” Buck says, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Okay Eds, take me home.”

#911 #buddie #evan buckley x eddie diaz #evan buckley #eddie diaz #hurt/comfort #shameless whump #hurt!buck #happy ending #911 fanfic #my911fanfic

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diazevan · 3 years

Text

I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside

Christopher refuses to sleep until he knows Eddie (and Buck) are safe.

Christopher Diaz Week, Day 1: Chris in the Future + "I don't do that anymore!"

Read on AO3

2019

Christopher wouldn’t sleep.

He kept his eyes open, looking at the ceiling as he wiggled his toes under the covers.

He wouldn’t close his eyes and head for his dreams until he heard his dad come home from work.

Pepa read him a bedtime story, tucked him in, kissed his forehead, and then left; Christopher squeezed his eyes shut, playing pretend. He knew he’d get told off if she knew he was awake, he had school in the morning and he would probably spend the day yawning, but he didn’t care.

He had to make sure that his dad was safe; he fought fires and saved people who were in trouble, but sometimes he got scratches or bruises.

Christopher didn’t like that. He hated it.

He knew that it was dangerous, but it was better than the army. Back then, his dad would be gone for months and they could only talk on camera. Now, his dad would come home almost every day which was fun. Still, Christopher wished that he didn’t get hurt.

His dad wasn’t the only one that he worried about. Buck was a firefighter, and Christopher’s best friend – not his dad’s best friend, people kept saying that, but Christopher was Buck’s number one best friend, and his dad was Buck’s second.

Buck had been hurt the worst when he got crushed under a firetruck; Christopher hugged him extra tight after that, and he was scared that his dad could get hurt like that.

When the tsunami happened, Christopher knew that Buck was a real-life superhero. Like Christopher’s dad was.

Christopher hugged his Curious George plushie under his arm as he darted his eyes around the bedroom; it was dark, but there was light in the corridor that came through under his closed door.

He snapped his eyes shut when he heard the front door open, “Tía.” Eddie sang, with a tired voice, “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem, Eddie,” She said, “You know it isn’t.”

“How was he?”

“An angel, like always,” She replied, “What happened to your face?”

“It’s soot,” He told her, “Buck and I—it’s a long story.”

“Everything good?”

“Buck’s broke his nose,” Eddie sighed, “But not on the call.”

“Oh, that boy.”

“He’s Buck.”

“Well, you send him my best,” She told him, “I’ll see you on Friday.”

“Bye.”

The front door closed as Pepa left.

Christopher pulled the covers up, turning his face away from his bedroom door as his dad pushed it open.

“Christopher…” Eddie whispered, “Hey, buddy, I know you’re awake.”

Christopher spun his head, opening his eyes, “How?”

“Because I’m your dad,” He skipped over, kneeling by the side of the bed, “And I know you too well.” He held up his finger, bopping his nose, “You should be asleep.”

“I’m going to sleep.”

“Okay,” Eddie sang with a laugh, “Were you waiting for me to get home?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“You do that a lot, don’t you?” He asked, combing his hand back through Christopher’s hair.

“I do, but sometimes—” He paused, “Sometimes I fall asleep.”

His dad grinned, wide, “That’s okay.” He stepped up kissing his forehead, “I’m home, buddy, you can go to sleep.”

“Is Buck okay?”

“Yeah,” Eddie snorted, “He’s fine, just an idiot.”

“How’d he break his nose?”

“He slipped…” He told him, “In the shower.”

Christopher couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“Buck is very good at his job,” Eddie explained, “But everything else, he has two left feet.”

Christopher teased loudly, “Like when you cook!”

His dad dropped his mouth open, “Hey!” He shook his head, “Get some sleep, Superman.”

“Night, Dad.”

“Night, Buddy.”

2026

Christopher was sitting at the dining table going through pamphlets about college. They were held together in a folder labelled in red ink; Christopher Diaz-Buckley.

He yawned as he leaned his head back; since entering his sophomore year, he was super tired, all the time.

Whenever he woke from a nap or starting falling asleep in front of the television, he was teased by his dad and Buck; Auntie Hen was right, since Christopher’s dad and Buck started dating, they were more annoying.

They’d been dating for six years, married for three; Christopher was happy, and he loved Buck, but sometimes they were the world’s most embarrassing parents.

“What are we looking at, hey?” Carla asked, reaching for a pamphlet, “San Antonio?”

“I spoke to them today—” He paused to look up at her, “And Orange Coast.”

Carla perched on the seat beside him, “Any favourites?”

He shook his head, “Nope.”

“That’s okay, honey,” She smiled, “You don’t have to choose yet, you’ve got over a year before you do.”

“I know.”

“You still wanna be a teaching assistant?”

“Yeah. I love school, and I wanna help kids like me.” He relaxed in his seat, “Teachers are like first responders, they are heroes too, right?”

“They are.”

Christopher yawned again.

Carla asked, “You think it’s time to call it a night?”

He answered immediately, “No.”

Carla gazed at her phone, “It’s half eleven.”

“I don’t have to go to bed until midnight.”

“Are you waiting for them to get home?” She asked softly, as she crossed her arms, “So, you know they’re safe?”

Christopher stood up, “I don’t do that anymore!” He defended as he headed into the lounge to sit on the couch.

Carla hummed a laugh, “Sure thing, sweetheart.”

Christopher did wait.

He was scared that one day he’d wait and one of them wouldn’t come home or worse, neither of them.

He couldn’t lose his dad, he needed him; Buck had gone from being his best friend to his second dad, and that made sleeping even harder.

Christopher rested his legs on the coffee table, sighing heavily as he laid hands across his lap; he reached for the remote, turning on the television, letting it play reruns of Family Guy while he cast his eyes to the window.

His parents did get hurt; scrapes, bruises, and broken bones, but for six years, nothing too bad had happened. Only a couple of nights spent at the hospital.

Still, Christopher liked to know they were safe, even if that meant he pretended to be asleep, every once in a while.

Carla parked herself beside him, “You okay, honey?”

Christopher lifted his head, “Can I live at home when I go to college?”

“Yes, of course, you can,” She said, “As long as it isn’t too far away.”

“Cool.”

“Why do you ask?”

He lifted his shoulders in a shrug, “Gotta make sure Dad and Pa are okay.”

Carla lowered her head as she laughed, reaching up her hand to run it through his hair, “I know you do.”

“Maybe we could get them to retire!”

“Cheeky.” She nudged his arm, “Your dad is thirty-eight and Buck is only thirty-four!”

“Super old.”

She dropped her jaw, “I’m older than them!”

Christopher added, “But you don’t look it!”

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” She smiled, “You know that Buck wants to be Captain one day when Bobby retires—”

Christopher sighed a long breath, “I know.”

“You think he’ll make a good Captain?”

“Yeah. The best.”

She asked, “Then what’s with the long face?”

He muttered, “Want them to be safe.”

“I know you do.” Carla nodded along, “But they look after one another, out there, you know that.”

“They do.”

“And they do everything they can to come home to you,” She soothed her tone, “Who wouldn’t?”

“Thank you, Carla.”

“No problem, baby.” She got up onto her feet, “I’ve just gotta phone home.”

“Okay.”

She moved away towards the kitchen.

Christopher stared at the television, fidgeting the buttons on his pyjamas.

When he heard the key in the door, and the familiar voices of his parents outside, he jumped to his feet, running directly to the door.

Buck was the first to step through, and before he could even make it through the door, Christopher locked himself around him, “Hey, Superman!”

“Hey, Pa.”

Christopher’s dad stepped inside as he joked, “Oh, here we go, with the obvious favouritism.”

“I’m the best hugger in this family,” Buck shrugged, “And since Chris is almost taller than you now—”

“No.” Eddie said sternly, “He isn’t.”

“I am!” Christopher moved, hugging his dad, side-on, “Hi.”

“Hey, kiddo.” His dad, tapped his back, “Were you waiting for us?”

Christopher nodded, “Yeah.”

He didn’t need to hide it, they understood, and with them, safe inside, Christopher could sleep easy.

#911 #911 fanfiction #chrisdiazweek2021 #christopher diaz #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie fanfiction #buddie #liberty writes #911onfox

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inawickedlittletown · 4 years

Text

I’m With You (22/22)

Summary:

Having a crush was nothing to be ashamed of…lying to the family and friends of said crush about being the guy’s boyfriend, that was a whole other problem. When Buck saves the life of Andrew Diaz and accidentally makes a nurse think that he’s Andrew’s boyfriend, Buck soon finds himself lying to Andrew’s firefighter friends/coworkers as well as Andrew’s family including Andrew’s very suspicious and attractive brother, Eddie.

Based on the 1995 movie While You Were Sleeping.

Words: 4,916

Notes: And we are at the end. Enjoy.

Read on Ao3

Masterpost

Previous Chapter

–

Eddie saw the pictures before he heard about the get together at Chim’s apartment. Karen had posted a few pictures on Instagram and Eddie had just happened to open the app in time to see them. The thing that struck him the most was that Buck looked happy. He was smiling wide standing between Hen and Karen and then in another with his sister. And then in the last picture, it was Buck, Chim, Hen, and Andrew.

So, it was to Andrew that Eddie went first. “How’s Buck?”

“He’s good. Which doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook on talking to him.”

Eddie shrugged him off.

“He really is good, Eddie,” Andrew said.

Hen brought up the dinner later, filling Bobby in on Buck and more specifically that Buck was training to become a firefighter.

“I think that would be good for him,” Bobby said.

Eddie didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t expected that at all. Buck was going to be a firefighter.

A week later, he watched Maddie enter the station. She was on her own and Eddie was up on one of the trucks doing some maintenance so she didn’t notice him. Eddie got to watch as Hen greeted her, but then it was Chimney that she left with.

“What’s up with that?” he asked Hen later when they were leaving the station.

“Chim said something about Maddie needing a comprehensive movie guide,” Hen said with a shrug.

“Is Buck really okay?” Eddie asked.

Hen gave a slight nod. “He’s doing something he loves and he has his sister back. I think — I think Buck is okay. He’ll be okay even if you never talk through whatever you’re still angry about. But I think the two of you should talk.”

“He should be the one to—”

Hen raised a hand to stop him. “What, to apologize? He sort of did that already. Andrew isn’t even holding it against him, so I don’t get why you are.”

“I’m not holding—”

“You are,” Hen said. “But you shouldn’t.”

He couldn’t make himself call. Or text. And then, when he finally built up the courage to return to Coffee Time to see if he could catch Buck there, Buck wasn’t there. Not the first time he stopped by. Not the second. The third time that he went in and didn’t find Buck, Eddie finally asked the person at the counter.

“Buck doesn’t work here anymore,” Buck’s former co-worker told him which meant that Eddie had to actually call him or text him or show up at his apartment. None of which felt like something he could actually do.

He did need to do something, though, because Buck was a constant thought in his mind. He was past the anger and past all the resentment he’d felt about the guilt that Buck had made him feel and instead he just missed him. He was reminded of Buck constantly. Legolas alone could bring forth memories and then there was everything else. Everyone else who still had a connection to him and saw him if not regularly, at least they did see him.

All of it came to a head when he was over at abuela’s house with Christopher. Andrew was supposed to join them but he was running late so while Christopher was outside with Legolas, Eddie had a moment with his abuela.

“No estás bien,” she said. “Te veo triste, mijo.”

[“You’re not okay.” she said. “I can see you’re sad, kiddo”]

“I’m okay, abuela,” Eddie responded.

“This has to do with Buck, doesn’t it? Ese día en la fiesta de Andrew, todo lo que pasó con Buck. Todavía estás enojado?”

[“...that day at Andrew’s party, everything that happened with Buck. You’re still angry?”]

Maybe there was some lingering anger but it wasn’t even directed at Buck. It was more that Eddie wished things were different and that somehow if Eddie hadn’t gone and lost Buck’s friendship that something more could have been possible. The potential for more between them...it felt like it was lost.

“Eddie, qué estás esperando si lo extrañas tanto? Andrew dice que Buck está bien. Va ser un bombero.”

[“Eddie, what are you waiting for if you miss him so much? Andrew says that Buck is okay. He’s going to be a firefighter.”]

“It’s not just that I miss him,” Eddie said and he took a deep breath. “I think...I think I love him. I think he’s the only person I’ve met since Shannon that I could see myself spending the rest of my life with and even though I like to think that I actually do know him, he lied. He lied to all of us. So how much of what he told me is real? And then there’s...well, who knows how he feels about me.”

Abuela gave him a pointed look but she didn’t get to say anything because Pepa arrived. While Eddie could easily figure out that his abuela wasn’t too bothered by any of what Buck had done, Pepa was different and Eddie just couldn’t tell how she felt mostly because she didn’t ever bring up Buck. And if his name came up, she raised an eyebrow and said nothing more.

“Didn’t know you’d be here, Eddie,” she said. “I just spoke to your mom. She and your dad are coming back next week?”

Eddie nodded. The only part about his parents returning to LA that he liked was that they were going to be staying with Andrew. Like Pepa, his parents had said very little on the whole Buck debacle. Eddie suspected that they’d talked to Andrew about it. Maybe Andrew had put them off on talking to him about Buck. Eddie didn’t mind that too much because if Andrew was pushy, his mother was much worse.

“I think mom thinks she’s going to convince Andrew not to go through with it,” Eddie said.

Pepa chuckled. “I wish her luck. And how are you doing, Edmundo?”

“He’s missing Buck,” Abuela said. “I miss him too.”

“He lied to us,” Pepa said.

“Pepa, no seas asi. Ves a este chico, esta enamorado.”

[“Pepa, don’t be like that. Look at this boy, he’s in love.”]

Eddie just groaned. He felt Pepa’s hand land on his hair, running her fingers through it gently and soothing. “Eddito, if you really feel like that, what are you waiting for?”

“You just said it. He lied to us and I have no idea how he feels or what will—”

Her hand tugged at his hair suddenly and he yelped. “Stop thinking so much. You’ll drive yourself crazy. You just have to talk to him.”

“Right, like that’s easy.” But they were right. He did need to talk to Buck.

Pepa was looking at him still.

“Look, I can’t pretend I’m not still mildly upset about all of this with Buck. But, I also know that he didn’t pretend to be anything different than who he is with us. And I’m sure once I see him again, it’ll be easy to forgive him.”

—

Buck was so busy with his last few weeks of training and how grueling it all was to notice much outside of what it meant to be so close to being done. So, he didn’t realize that Maddie and Chim hung out more than he hung out with either of them. He also failed to open any of his mail or check his phone — mostly because he knew his bills weren’t due for a few weeks yet and everyone that was important in his life knew that he was too busy to do much more than train and sleep and as such would understand when Buck didn’t respond right away.

And then when those final weeks came to an end, came the testing. The written portion and the physical all of it combined to measure all the skills that Buck had learned over the last few months. It felt surreal to have gotten to the end and even more surreal when there were results in front of him and he passed. Top marks. Any station would have him.

“But there is one that has put in a request for you, Buckley,” one of his instructors, Danny, said.

The 118. Buck just didn’t know if that was what he wanted. Andrew was already off of the 118 and as much as Buck loved Chim and Hen, he didn’t know if it would be possible for him to work with Eddie. He also hadn’t seen Bobby yet since everything happened but Bobby had clearly put through the request to get him so he had to be okay with it.

“The 118?” Buck asked.

“You have friends there, Buckley?”

“You could say that,” Buck said. “I just don’t know if going to work with them is a good idea.”

Danny touched Buck’s shoulder. “The people you work with on this job, those people become family. You’ll spend more time with them than you expect and you will know every single one of them better than you’ll know anyone else because it’s that closeness that makes this work. It’s trust that makes it easier for you to do your job. We leave everything behind to do this, to focus on saving lives, but it’s far easier when you’re carrying the burden of this job with those you work with.”

Trust. It came down to that, to how Buck knew that Eddie didn’t trust him.

“I think I have to turn that offer down,” Buck said.

“Think on it, Buckley. You don’t have to decide now. Captain Nash, he’s one of the best. Maybe talk to your friends before you decide. No one will be assigned officially until tomorrow.”

“Right,” Buck said. “Thanks.”

It wouldn’t change for him, he knew. He wouldn’t do that to Eddie, he wouldn’t encroach on his space, push in where he wasn’t wanted even if it would disappoint Hen and Chim and maybe even Bobby.

Somehow, it wasn’t Maddie that he called to talk about it, though, but Andrew. And Andrew agreed to meet him for coffee at Coffee Time.

Ali was there when Buck arrived. Buck joined the line while he waited for Andrew. He had almost made it to the front of the line when Andrew entered and Buck felt a little like he’d gone back in time. Andrew pushed the door open and he was just as handsome as ever as he walked in. Buck couldn’t help but smile, remembering when he’d been behind that counter admiring this man.

“Buck!” he said as he approached and he pulled Buck into a tight hug. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Great, even.”

“Wait, wasn’t today...wait, are you a probie officially?” Andrew asked.

“That I am,” Buck said and he couldn’t help but smile to himself. “And it seems like Bobby is trying to pull some strings to have me join the 118. That’s, um, that’s why I asked you to meet me.”

“Yeah, I know,” Andrew said. “I spoke to him about it and we all felt you’d fit in perfectly in my spot.”

Buck took a breath, but they had reached the counter at that point and Ali was there with both of their coffee orders ready and a plate with danishes. Andrew picked up his cup and the plate and motioned towards one of the empty tables.

“So, you two together officially, now?” Ali asked.

“What? No. Andrew isn’t into men. But we’re friends now.”

“Well, he’s still really nice to look at,” Ali said complete with an eyebrow wiggle. “Think there’s a chance he could—”

Buck rolled his eyes. He put a bill down in front of her and grabbed his coffee.

“I’m just saying, Buck, you could put in a good word for me.”

Buck laughed. Andrew was waiting for him at a table.

“You don’t want to join the 118,” Andrew said after Buck sat down.

“I — I don’t know, Andrew. I mean I love Hen and Chim and Bobby and I liked everyone else from the station well enough but there’s Eddie to consider too. I doubt he’d be happy to have me around.”

Buck averted his gaze, staring at his coffee instead.

Andrew chuckled. “You haven’t spoken to him? I thought — Eddie said he was going to talk to you weeks ago.”

“I haven’t spoken to him,” Buck said and he hated how a burst of hope ran through him. He glanced back up at Andrew. “I’ve been...I’ve been busy, though. Is he, is he mad at me about it, still?”

“I don’t think he is,” Andrew said. “If he ever really was. Look, Buck, my brother is stubborn. We both know that. He needed time. Maybe less than he got if we’re honest, but he did...and more importantly, you needed time. And look at you, look at what you’ve done. What you are. You did all of this on your own and you needed to.”

Buck didn’t know how to respond. He took a gulp of his coffee. It was hot, maybe a bit too hot, but the slight burn on his tongue felt good.

“You should talk to him,” Andrew said. “If you want. Or you should join the 118. Or you can go somewhere else and be whoever and whatever you want to be. All, I’m saying, is that this is all up to you, Buck. You made a choice to save my life and maybe you got something out of that too—”

“By lying,” Buck said, interrupting. “By pretending that I was someone to you and by continuing that charade even when I...when I knew it was going to blow up in my face.”

Andrew’s fingers were cold when they touched Buck’s hand, taking it into a tight grip. “You did something stupid, but not malicious. And you’re better for it. I know my family, I know the effect that they have on people and I’m not just talking about Pepa and abuela and my parents, but everyone. And you needed them. You needed their kindness and their acceptance and it’s entirely possible that we all needed someone like you. Even, Eddie. Maybe especially Eddie.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Just answer one thing for me,” Andrew said and he was smirking, full teeth. There was mischief there which meant that Buck couldn’t help but worry.

“What?” Buck asked.

“Do you love him? Eddie, that is?”

Buck’s hand fell away from Andrew’s. And he knew the answer. He absolutely knew the answer which didn’t make it easy to admit.

“You do,” Andrew said. “That’s why this is so hard. Go talk to Eddie.”

“Right now?” Buck asked.

“Why keep waiting?”

“Because I have no idea how to do this,” Buck said.

“Tell the truth. That always helps,” Andrew said and then he pulled out a pen from somewhere and wrote down Eddie’s address. “Go.”

“But—”

“Go,” Andrew said, even more insistent.

Buck looked at Andrew for a beat longer and then glanced back at Ali. “You know, my former co-worker over there wanted me to put in a good word.”

Andrew laughed, loud and surprised.

“Of course, I should also add that the first time I stepped into your house there was a bra hanging off of a lamp so I don’t know if I should actually encourage that.”

“Buck, stop getting distracted and go,” Andrew said pointedly.

—

Eddie’s yard was not as big as Andrew’s, but it was enclosed and it meant that Legolas had somewhere to run around with Christopher. Eddie did sometimes take him over to Andrew’s place so he could have a bit more space or over to his abuela’s house. On a few occasions, Eddie had even taken Legolas and Christopher to the dog park, but Eddie always worried about the other dogs getting too close to Christopher. Although, as it turned out, Legolas could be pretty protective of him.

Christopher and Legolas were both out in the yard and Eddie had been keeping his eyes out on them through the kitchen window while he made him and Christopher sandwiches. Christopher was sitting on the grass and petting the dog which meant that Eddie felt okay with leaving them to it for a moment and going to the bathroom. He had barely closed the door before he heard Christopher shouting and some barking.

“Legolas! Legolas, come back!”

Eddie ran out. Christopher was standing with only one of his crutches. Legolas was gone. Eddie didn’t see him anywhere. He rushed towards Christopher, who reached for him.

“Hey, what happened?” Eddie said as he picked him up. “Are you okay?”

“He ran,” Christopher said. “Like when the earthquake happened. Dad, do you think this is another earthquake?”

It was a real possibility. Eddie was aware that animals acted strange whenever things like earthquakes happened.

“I don’t know, Chris,” Eddie said and yet the dog was nowhere to be found. “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. He can’t get out of the yard.”

At least, Eddie was sure that he couldn’t. In the time that they’d had Legolas, he hadn’t once tried to get out of the yard. Eddie bent to pick up Christopher’s fallen crutch just as he heard barking, but it was definitely not coming from anywhere in the yard.

“Daddy, I hear him,” Christopher said.

It sounded like he was somewhere in the front of the house. So maybe he did have a way to get out of the yard or the door hadn’t been latched properly.

Eddie set Christopher down and headed to the door leading out of the yard to the front of the house. He heard Christopher following behind him. Eddie stopped short just as he was rounding the house because Legolas was there wiggling excitedly, his tail wagging to and fro as he jumped around and his whole body shook with excitement. Buck was on the ground doing some mixture of petting and hugging Legolas while the dog licked his face.

“Buck,” Eddie whispered, so low that Buck definitely didn’t hear it.

Then, Christopher arrived and he didn’t pause like Eddie did. And he yelled, “Buck!”

Buck glanced at them, then, and he smiled that blinding smile that made Eddie suddenly remember how attracted he was to this man. Buck was there in front of them. He was smiling. He was at Eddie’s house, hugging Eddie’s dog and in the next moment hugging Christopher and laughing. Eddie could only watch.

“Hi,” Buck said and he had Christopher up in his arms. Legolas walked alongside him. Christopher was speaking too, explaining something or other to Buck, but Eddie couldn’t be bothered to pay him any attention because Buck was right there looking at Eddie with those sea-like eyes.

“Hi,” Eddie said back after a long beat. “You should come inside.”

Buck nodded.

Eddie wanted to touch him. He wanted to grasp his hand or his elbow or his shoulder. He wanted to get close enough so that he could smell Buck’s aftershave. He wanted to pull him into his arms and hold onto him tightly. All of those things, he wanted them so that he could be sure that it really was Buck in front of him and he wasn’t experiencing some wild hallucination.

The elusive man that he’d been trying to get ahold of for the last few weeks with no results was there with him and his son and his dog. Eddie had been almost convinced that Buck was avoiding him for all that his attempts to find him were futile. Eddie had even gone as far as to get Maddie’s number off of Chim only for Maddie to tell him to call Buck or show up at Buck’s apartment. Eddie had attempted both a few times on top of texting him and somehow just couldn’t get a response.

Eddie led Buck inside the house through the front door. Buck only set Christopher down once they were inside and Legolas seemed to want to stick as close to Buck as possible. Eddie didn’t blame him.

“I was — I’m making sandwiches,” Eddie said. It felt awkward. “Do you—” Eddie cleared his throat. “—do you want to join us?”

“Uh. Sure,” Buck said.

Christopher led Buck to the table and Eddie left them to go into the kitchen where he tried not to freak out too much as he pulled out more bread for the third sandwich he was going to be making. He could hear Buck and Christopher talking. Christopher laughed and Buck chuckled a few times. Once, Legolas barked.

Eddie could only take so long making the sandwiches before he had to take them out of the kitchen. There was a lot to talk about. Apologies to be made. Explanations. But Christopher was there and they couldn’t discuss any of that while Christopher was with them. But, Buck was there. Buck was with them. It was enough to know that Buck had come to them.

—

Buck had intended to take his time walking up to Eddie’s house, to talk himself into knocking on the door and to maybe not get in his head so much that he couldn’t actually knock. But then, he heard a bark and suddenly golden fur was running at him and Legolas was jumping at him until Buck just dropped to the ground to pet his favorite dog.

“I’ve missed you so much, boy,” Buck whispered into his fur. “Did you miss me too?” Legolas nudged him and pressed into his space, his whole body moving with all the excitement.

He was so distracted by Legolas, that Buck didn’t even realize Eddie had come out to find the dog until Christopher was calling his name.

The next thing he knew, he was hugging Christopher and in a strange sort of daze, he followed Eddie into the house and Eddie disappeared into the kitchen and Buck didn’t know if he could stomach anything Eddie brought out. Christopher was a good distraction. The boy filled him in on a few things. He told Buck about a new coloring book and about Legolas being his dog and about a cartoon he was watching and Buck lost himself to talking to Christopher for a while until Eddie came back.

Tension hung in the air between them and Buck had expected nothing less. Eddie had welcomed him in, though, and he hadn’t asked Buck to leave. It made Buck think that he’d made the right decision in going to see him.

He tried to eat, but couldn’t stomach it. His stomach had been taken up by his nerves and maybe in part by the hope he felt and the awe of having Eddie in front of him again. Eddie looked good. He always looked good.

After he finished eating, Christopher allowed himself to be distracted and settled in front of the tv, Legolas sitting next to him. Eddie motioned for Buck to go to the kitchen.

“I’m officially a firefighter,” Buck said for lack of something else to say.

“Oh,” Eddie said. “Congrats. I had no idea.”

Buck nodded. “I, um, I probably would have never thought of going for it without everything that happened.”

“You’re welcome, I guess,” Eddie said with a snap in his tone.

“I’m sorry,” Buck said. “I hope you believe me this time. That I never meant to hurt you. Any of you. I came so close to telling you so many times. Something always stopped me — interruptions or my own head. And I should have let it go on for so long or at all, but I’m going to be honest here, Eddie, and just say that I don’t actually regret it. I don’t regret the lie or getting to know you — everyone. I don’t regret any of that. I couldn’t.”

“You don’t regret it,” Eddie said in a whisper.

Eddie crossed his arms and he leaned back against his counter and Buck had no idea what to expect, but the one thing he did know to do was to wait and see what Eddie might say. It helped that Eddie didn’t look angry. Mostly, he just looked like he was trying to figure out what to say.

“At first I thought...I wished you’d never done it,” Eddie said after a beat. “More and more lately, I’ve realized I don’t wish that. I was...I am angry more at myself for not questioning you more and for not realizing sooner that you couldn’t have been with Andrew. I was doubting my own knowledge of my brother...I was doubting everything I was seeing and I think I let so much just go because I wanted you around even if you were my brother’s boyfriend.”

Buck had definitely not expected that. Eddie was frowning in that cute way with lines on his forehead so prominent that Buck wanted to reach over and ease the tension. Really, he could do with touching Eddie in any way or form. He really did love him. Earlier, when he answered Andrew, Buck hadn’t fully known it. But he did. Having Eddie in front of him, it cemented it.

“You came really close to the truth,” Buck said. “A few times. The day Andrew woke up, I was gonna tell you. I was so ready to and then Chim was telling us he was awake and I was so sure that it was all over anyway.”

Eddie gasped and he blushed, not quite looking at Buck. “I was so mad that day. Jealous. I was going to kiss you before Chim interrupted.”

“Oh,” Buck said.

Eddie’s eyes met his then and Buck had to swallow before he made the decision to be brave. Buck had been different once, the kind of person that was bold and didn’t hesitate to encroach in someone’s space. That was before Abby and before he realized that all the loneliness he was feeling wouldn’t go away if he had someone warming his bed. In some ways, that had made it worse.

“Uh, you should — you should kiss me now,” Buck said, moving even closer.

Eddie’s eyes widened and darkened all at once and Buck lost himself in them as Eddie closed the small bit of space between them. Buck watched him and when Eddie didn’t do anything other than to stand so close to him that he could feel his warmth, Buck reached up to cup his face. Eddie melted into his touch, his lips let out a gasp. Buck closed his eyes and he leaned into Eddie’s space.

“I love you,” he whispered before he kissed him.

Their first kiss had been hard and urgent and Eddie had been in control, his anger and his jealousy and everything else he’d been feeling because of Buck’s lies had been everpressent in the way that he’d wanted to show Buck how much he wanted him. This kiss was not that.

This kiss was tentative and soft and slow. It was an apology and a declaration of love. When Eddie whispered a moan, Buck smiled against his lips.

“I love you,” Buck said again, their lips brushing lightly as he spoke. He opened his eyes and Eddie was already looking at him. “Eddie?”

Eddie pressed their lips together into another kiss. His arms brought Buck flush against him and Buck couldn’t think while he could feel all of Eddie against him, his muscles and his toned stomach and how Eddie kissed away from his mouth, nipping at his jawline up to his ear.

“I love you too,” he whispered, his lips brushing Buck’s earlobe. “Even if you are a liar.”

“One lie,” Buck said back. “And one I won’t ever regret.”

Eddie chuckled. “Just as long as you don’t pretend to be anyone else’s boyfriend.”

“Am I yours?” Buck asked, a tinge of nervousness travelled through him.

“I think that’s obvious,” Eddie said. “Otherwise, I don’t know what will happen the next time you save someone, Firefighter Buckley.”

Buck couldn’t help but laugh. “I love you so much, Eddie. Been kinda miserable without you.”

“Serves you right,” Eddie said, but he kissed Buck again, just a peck. “But I love you too.”

“Good,” Buck whispered back, dropping his head onto Eddie’s shoulder and dropping a kiss there.

There were probably still a few things to clear up and more to catch up on, but all of that could come later. It made up the mere details in everything they’d been through. In the meanwhile, Buck just held onto Eddie and Eddie held onto him.

“You know, we do have to thank Andrew for all of this,” Buck whispered.

“Nope,” Eddie said. “He doesn’t get any satisfaction out of any of this.”

—

“Welcome to the 118, Firefighter Buckley,” Bobby said, smiling at Buck.

Eddie didn’t try to hide his own smile, Andrew noted and Buck was definitely grinning from ear to ear. He was already in uniform and there was an ease to the way that he walked and how Andrew could tell even from where he was standing that Buck felt like he was at home. Hen nudged him from where she stood next to him and Andrew glanced at her.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad this all worked out,” she said, “but I don’t even get when that all happened with Buck and Eddie.”

Andrew chuckled. “You know, I think most of it happened while I was sleeping.”

–

Notes: This fic has been such a joy to write. I just want to thank everyone that’s read this and that has left commens/kudos because that means so much and one of the reasons this fic got finished by keeping me writing even when I began to lose interest in working on this.

I hope this ending was satisfying for all of you and just thank you all so much. Let me know what you all thought. :)

Tagging: @tranquility-or-chaos @diazbuckleysworld @stilesgivesmefeels

#911 fox #911 fic #buddie #buddie fic #buck x eddie #911 fox fic #fic #my fic #I'm With You

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justsmilestuffhappens · 4 years

Text

Making the Most of It

*nsfw coitus interruptus

@lilywoood @comablog2 @cherishingstydia

After a stressful day of hard calls and nearly missing an event for Christopher after school both Eddie and Buck were worn out.

Buck knew Eddie was more so than him with Christopher getting that award. If they'd have missed it then it'd be another failure to add to Eddie's list of not being there for his son.

"Hey." Buck came back from the shower in just his towel and boxers.

Eddie looked up from his book. The book club thing he'd joined was incredibly endearing and buck loved that it was something Eddie did in his own time and enjoyed.

"I think the person who suggested this for our group was calling me out." Eddie said bookmaking his page with a soft frown.

"Why's that?" Buck asked sitting down on his side of the bed.

"The dad in this story has trouble being there for his son but he's gotta come to grips with only being able to do so much before he's going to die soon."

"Woah! Okay? But, uh. Is it too much?" Buck asks scooting closer.

"No. I identify with him but, he's alone in it. I'm not exactly alone. I'm lucky and grateful to have you." Eddie gently pulled buck's face closer to kiss him.

"So. I uh, got an idea. I know you're stressed, so- how do you feel about a massage?" Buck asked with a smile while rubbing up Eddie's arm as he was holding Bucks cheek.

"I'd like that." Eddie rubbed his thumb on Bucks cheek.

"Good. Lay down, on your stomach. I gotta fight your shoulders before I can get to that back of yours.

Eddie felt as Buck poured some oil onto him. It was distinctly warm, not too hot.

"Hmm." He hummed happily. Buck felt it in his hands.

"It's not too hot right? I put it in the shower with me so it could warm a little." Buck asked.

"No. It's just right Goldiloc-" Eddie cut into a moan as Buck worked his shoulders.

"Does that make you one of the bears?" Buck asked.

"Shh. God, keep doing that Buck." Eddie said while buck quieted down.

"You're lucky I love you"

"Yeah, I am." Eddie said while buck finally moved down to his middle and lower back.

"I'm lucky to have you too." Buck said while Eddie was sure he was fighting not to grab his ass making him smirk. He decided to flex his glutes where buck was straddling him earning Buck stopping for a moment.

"Stop that. I want to help you relax. Don't distract me," Buck said.

"Well, sex is good stress relief with all those endorphins." Eddie countered.

"And so is this physical contact, now accept my foreplay. I'm not saying no, I just want to focus on you for a bit Eds." Buck came down to kiss Eddie's spine.

"Mhm. Yeah. Babe."

Buck continued to massage Eddie and adding more oil when he felt he needed it.

"Okay. Now it's your turn." Eddie's said moving to get up.

"No. You don't have to." Buck said while letting Eddie up.

"I want to do the same for you. Please Buck." Eddie said while knowing buck couldn't deny a Diaz anything.

"Fine." Buck sighed as Eddie got the massage oil and let buck lay down for him to get on top and get to his back.

Eddie kissed buck across his shoulder blades as he rubbed the oil in his hands to warm it up more from it cooling as buck used it.

Buck wouldn't lie. It felt good to have Eddie's undivided attention.

His blush while hidden was probably known by Eddie by now, they were so in tune together.

"Relax Buck. Let me take care of you like you take care of us." Eddie felt buck slump more while he went back to making his boyfriend feel good.

The larger towel Buck had brought and set down would help with cleaning up afterwards but they'd probably need another shower anyways or to clean the sheets for what he had planned after this.

By the time he was through they'd be too tired to get up until the morning.

"Eddie."

"Yeah babe."

"I love you. And I'm not just saying that because of the massage. But it feels really good."

"Then I guess I'm doing it right." Eddie teased while moving down to cup Bucks cheeks.

"Oh. I didn't know this was a massage option. I've been missing out."

"I want to be the only person who gets to do this and make you feel good. So don't get any ideas," Eddie said hands gliding down to work on bucks long and thick thighs.

"Can we do this every time we work out? Think I could use it then," Buck laughed.

"Shh. I don't know. I'll think about it." Eddie joked while nipping Bucks ass a little.

"I'm gonna get you back for that." Buck said getting up.

"Not if I don't let you." Eddie pushed buck back down earning an "oof" from the man's lips.

Buck grabbed his arm as Eddie paused making sure Buck was okay and into it.

"You're just making it worse for yourself." Buck said while grunting and jerking to get Eddie off himself.

Eddie laughed as Buck didn't get very far. In his exertion the bottle that was still open tipped and spilled more between them.

The cold startled both of them as Buck finally got his leg up and around Eddie. Using his moment to switch their positions. Eddie's found himself on his back with Buck above him facing the ceiling too before twisting around to capture his lips.

"That was hot. But you got lucky." Eddie said as Buck pinned his arms beside him and smirked.

"Maybe I was lucky. But I was holding back before too- and now we're completely covered in this stuff." Buck shook his head.

"You don't have to hold back with me though. I can take it too. Just like you said you could take me, remember,"

Buck swallowed at his words being used against him. It was unfair.

Soon Eddie had him in a some sort if MMA hold he thought he'd seen before.

Buck moved to get Eddie off by shifting his balance first bringing him closer before pushing him away and grabbing his hand before he actually fell off the bed and brained himself.

"You've been paying good attention to when you see me fight or when we watch, huh?" Eddie asked.

"I guess so."

Eddie slowly with held eye contact pushed Buck back down onto his back.

Buck bit his lip as he opened his legs to wrap around Eddie and pull him down closer.

"Hottest foreplay ever"

Buck couldn't tell if Eddie was asking or telling. "Yeah."

Eddie reached down to cup Bucks fully erect member through his boxers ignoring his own that was straining in his.

"Eddie, come on." Buck's breath sped up as Eddie's fingers pulled at his waistband. It wouldn't take much.

"Gonna make you feel so good b-"

"Daddy?"

Both of them froze.

It was at that second Buck remembered he'd forgotten to lock the door.

Eddie turned around and looked at it opening in horror before schooling his expression.

"Si, mijo."

"I'm thirsty." Christopher yawned as he opened the door.

Buck could laugh if he wasn't so mortified.

"I'll get you a drink buddy." Eddie got up and wrapped Bucks towel on quick to hide his erection that was slowly dying down.

"Why were you on top of Bucky holding him down?"

"We were just play fighting, like uh, wrestling to get tired. Grown ups like doing that sometimes before going to sleep," Eddie tried.

"But why are you all wet? Did you get sweaty doing it?" Christopher inquired.

"No. It just gets a little hot sometimes in daddy's room. That's why we slept in our underwear." Buck chimed in.

"Does Buck help you sleep and have good dreams dad? Like my teddy bear,"

"Yeah son. Buck's the best at making other people feel good. Let's get you some water and put you back to bed, ok?" Eddie guided him to the kitchen.

Buck scrambled once they were out of view to grab some night pants from their drawers and hurried to catch up.

They both glistened in the low light as Christopher let himself be ushered back only because he was still so tired from the earlier activities to keep talking.

"Nighy daddy. Night Buck." Christopher said as Buck took the cup from him and put it on his nightstand as Eddie took off his glasses.

"Night kiddo. We love you."

With their crisis averted buck and Eddie retreated into their bedroom.

"That's was a close one." Buck whispered.

"You're telling me. I'm not ready for the birds and the bees, he's not even a teenager yet. You're going to help me when that day comes." Eddie vowed sitting down.

The mood couldn't be killed, Eddie still found buck incredibly attractive and always would but it had shifted. He couldn't even think of that right now.

"Let's go to sleep. You can wash everything tomorrow while I start breakfast after a shower."

"We're cuddling though."

"You better flipping believe it."

"I was tell you, not asking." Eddie laughed while pulling Buck closer.

The oil wasn't so bad after they used the bits of towel left to dry off a little.

It wasn't even a week later that things took a turn.

Christopher had come with Tia Pepa to drop off a side dish to their late lunch from Abuela.

"Thank you and Isabel for this again Pepa." Bobby said while putting the dish in the oven to warm.

"It's no problem. You need to keep up your energy. Mama insisted she cook it but I helped her. Said she can't give you the recipe until after the wedding." She winked.

"Ha. Well, we'll all be there. Have a nice day. Where's Christopher?"

"Visiting his two favorite people. Oh. That boy is so happy, he can't stop talking about his papa's." She smiled.

Over toward the common area there was a commotion.

"Buck no. I've got seniority kid. We've watching this." Chim held the remote away while pushing his arm to keep Buck at a distance.

"But this show blows and you've seen it before. Let me-" buck strained to reach even though chim knew he was winning more out of respect and buck holding back.

"You're wrestling with Chimney like you do with daddy?" Christopher asked getting both of them to freeze for different reasons. Startled and confused.

"Buck and Eddie wrestle Chris?" Hen asked while Eddie pleaded with God for his saint of a son to change the subject.

"Yeah. They do it before bed so they can be tired enough to go to sleep." Christopher smiled. "Right daddy?"

Eddie looked down at his son beside him. Why? Ok. Breathe.

"Yes mijo. It's just something adults do though it's with people they're very close to, ok?" Eddie looked to Hen for support.

"It's your dad and Bucks special time, they like to- wrestle. Yeah. Right chim?" Hen looked him in the eye as he stopped quietly laughing to put on a serious face.

"Oh yeah. They're right. Just don't tell people about it okay. I'm sure it's different with your dad. Buck loves him more than me Chris." Chim smiled as Buck continued to bite his lip.

"Yeah. Bud. Chim is just my friend. I love your dad." Buck calmed down.

"Why aren't you all wet and sweaty though?" Christopher asked killing Buck.

Hen laughed quietly. "I'm sorry I sneezed. Excuse me."

"Bless you hen." Both of the Diaz boys said while buck joined them.

"Hey mijo, wanna try on my helmet before you go back with Pepa to Abuela's. We can send the picture to her."

"Yeah!" Christopher followed his dad.

"Good luck with "the talk' Buck. You're a father before I am. What's this world coming to?" Chim joked.

"Eddie already made me promise to be there. I'm dreading the day." Buck groaned.

"Welcome to parenthood." Bobby and Hen said back to back.

"For the record you're doing pretty good." Hen soothed buck with a hand on his shoulder.

"You'll make it through, together." Bobby said touching the other.

"What's with the you both being wet part?" Chim asked curiously.

"Massage oil." Buck sighed.

"Oh. That makes sense." Chim said.

Eddie came back up alone.

"Chris okay?" Buck asked.

"Yeah. But Pepa said try not to do the deed while Christopher is home."

"She's gonna tell Abuela isn't she?" Buck dropped his head then looked up to see chim texting. "No don't tell maddie."

"Already done. Here's the remote Buck." Chim went to sit with hen and chat with Bobby while the food cooked.

"It's okay. If we have to tell him then we have to. It's like the book. We've gotta just do the best we can." Eddie comforted buck while sitting next to him.

They were definitely having sex at Eddie's before being scolded by Abuela. They were never gonna hear the end of it.

#my writing #buddie #solo mio #buck Buckley #Eddie Diaz #Christopher Diaz #911 #firefam #fire fam #nine one one #long #fic #ficlet #American massage wrestling #lemon #n*fw #nice stuff from writers #nice stuff for writers

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florenceandthemachine · 4 years

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happy chapter! yes I know I missed last week and I've updated the chapter count to reflect. my state is cold as fuck and also somehow on fire and the Big Sad hit me real hard so I had to take a weekend to be dead. love you all.

Chapters: 3/4 Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV) Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)

”Alright, Eddie.”

No, it was not alright. It was not alright at all.

“I’m starting to worry about you.”

Eddie felt his bed dip as Buck sat beside him, groaning in response, rolling over in a desperate attempt to hide his shame.

“Chris is about ready to call in for a rope rescue, and you’re still not out of bed. I may not understand why you’re meeting your parents for lunch today, but you are, so get up.”And therein lied his shame. Eddie didn’t need a reminder. His parents had spent all of ten minutes in his living room the night prior—annoyingly vague about why they were there in the first place, insisting that even though they were just ‘passing through’ they still wanted to spend some time with their grandson.

Not their son. Just their grandson. Which was totally fine and didn’t bother Eddie at all.

Eddie had spent every one of those ten minutes clenching his teeth so hard he thought he would pop a crown, but ultimately agreed to their request (maybe a little quicker than he would have liked, but he had done less for more when it came to making sure Chris stayed in bed). As bad as that was, though, he wasn’t sure what was worse—the fact that he was so hesitant to spend some time with his parents, or the fact that the moment they left, all he felt was guilt.

He knew that he wasn’t the crazy one here; but even then, it was hard to ignore how it sounded, feeling so unhappy—so hesitant—to spend time with his own parents. He knew exactly how it looked for him, because what kind of son was chomping at the bit to rip his own parents head off, just for wanting to spend some time with their family?

It should have been a perfectly reasonable request. It should have been something Eddie was happy to do. It should not have been something that set Eddie’s teeth on edge, that tripped up his sixth sense like no other, the soldier's sense that he had developed in Afghanistan buzzing in the base of his skull like a beehive. It felt like something was about to go incredibly wrong, and it felt fucking disgusting to have that reaction triggered by his own parents, but he couldn’t deny that he was afraid history would repeat itself.

Maybe he really was a garbage person.

The guilt only got worse, surprise surprise, after they left and Eddie discovered Buck standing in the kitchen, where Eddie had told him to stay. He had all but forgotten about Buck. How could he forget an entire person?

Garbage person, strike two.

Eddie wound himself in his blanket even tighter, guilt and shame doing little to motivate him on getting out of bed, but his silence was short lived as his blanket burst into flames just long enough for him to yelp and bolt upright before it completely disintegrated. “You—that’s not—you cheater!”

Buck just laughed, the bastard, idly examining the nails on one hand as he shoved Eddie out of bed with the other. “I’m a demon, you dolt. Of course I cheated. Now,” he started, pushing Eddie upright and all but herding him toward the closet, “why don’t you get dressed and tell me what’s really going on?”

Eddie felt a lump sink into his stomach as he stood up, a harsh breath coming out of his nose as he yanked a pair of pants off of a hanger.

“I’m scared, Buck.”

Either out of shock or respect, Buck remained silent, and Eddie could only spare a glance over his shoulder before he ducked his head, dressing haphazardly. “The last time I saw my parents they tried to... to take him. They were trying to take him from me, and my response was to literally pack Chris up and move across the country. They didn’t reach out for years—it’s been years, Buck—not when Abuela broke her hip, not when Chris changed schools, not when Shannon died. A year goes by, and nothing. And then they send a card, and then I meet you, and now they’re just... here again. And I think they’re going to try again, I think they’re going to—“

Eddie looked down at his hands as he felt the fabric of the shirt he was holding tear beneath his fingertips, staring at the hole, like he couldn’t believe he had just worried a hole through it. He looked up to Buck, guilt and misery written on his face as he tossed the garment aside, hiding his face in his hands as he rubbed at his eyes, dragging his hands down his face shortly after.

“You are going to lunch and I’ll be nearby, but Eddie, listen.” Eddie didn’t realize he was spiraling until Buck stepped forward, grabbing his hands and giving a firm squeeze as he shook his head. When Eddie looked up again, all he could see was Buck—eyes glowing, mouth set, teeth maybe just a little sharper than they were a moment before. “I will never, ever let them—or anyone else—take him from you. Ever.”

“…and Mark says that Washington has one of the biggest volcanoes, but I don’t think that’s true. Ms. Flores and Mr. Beeman says that Mars has volcanoes too, even bigger than any of the ones we have here on Earth!”

“I’m sure it does, buddy. Maybe that’s why it’s the red planet? All the magma?”

“No, Dad, the magma is underground, when the volcano erupts it turns into—hey!” Eddie had a smile on his face as he reached over to steal one of Chris’ fries, grinning as his kid squawked, pushing his dads’ hand away playfully. Their afternoon together had started easy enough; Chris had stolen the show easily, directing the conversation through himself in that effortless way kids managed to do, talking about his school, his friends, his day to day. To this day, Eddie would never understand how this kid had him wrapped around his finger so easily—all it took was the bat of an eye for Eddie to swing through the drive through on the way to the park, and suddenly he was meeting his parents at a picnic table near the playground with arms full of chicken tenders and fries.

Not a great look. Whatever.

Chris had been every bit as ecstatic to see his grandparents as Eddie knew (feared?) he would be, propelling himself forward at a speed that would have made Eddie panic had Buck not spent some significant time over the past few months working on Chris’ physical therapy.

He wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse, how easily it was to use his son as a distraction from whatever nightmarish scenario his parents wanted to bring up, but even that grateful moment was cut short as his father chuckled, reaching forward to tousle Chris’ hair playfully.

“Mark, Flores, Beeman, I can’t even keep up anymore kiddo. Sounds like you’ve had a busy third grade in your new scho—“

“Fourth grade, dad.”

“What?”

“Fourth grade, Dad. Chris is in fourth grade.”

Eddie regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. As good as it felt to even attempt to put his father in his place, he could feel the exact moment that both of his parents swiveled their laser-like attention to him. They were smiling, sure, but Eddie felt like he was back to being a kid again, waiting for the inevitable slip up that would get him grounded.

“Fourth grade, right.” Eddie smiled tensely as his father nodded, gesturing between he and his son. “Of course, we would know that if you bothered to call once in a while. We don’t hear from you on Christmas, birthdays, nothing.

“You know, you can always call us too, not send some letter on the anniversary of my wife’s death like a complete—”

“If we didn’t hear from Pepa regularly, how would we know that you and Chris were even alive?”

“Dad—“

“But we’re doing good.”

Eddie felt his jaw click shut as Chris spoke, his heart swelling with pride as both of his parents turned their gaze again. His mother at least had the decency to look mildly guilty—his father, no such luck.

“Of course you are, kiddo. We’re just trying to make sure that your dad has enough help. There’s been a lot of big changes since you both left Texas—two new schools, new grades, new teachers, your father’s new job, and—“

The death of Chris’ mother, Eddie’s mind provided, angry once again that Shannon was being so disregarded by people who were supposed to be her family.

“Yeah, but we’re still doing good.” Chris said, not looking up from the fries he was dunking into ketchup, smearing only a little bit on his upper lip as he shoved the handful into his mouth. “Dad says that sometimes the hard things make us stronger, but things aren’t even that hard. And Buck says that I have a lot of, um. Initiative! And they both say I’m perfect, so that’s good.”

Eddie didn’t hesitate. He didn’t freeze as his parents turned back over to him, and he certainly didn’t feel his heart sink into his stomach. He just… was trying to un-swallow his tongue, was all. Buck had been the one topic that they had somehow danced around, and Eddie wasn’t sure if he should have been thankful or not that Chris ripped that bandaid off.

He was afraid, to be honest, of that particular aspect of their new lives coming to light—there were few wounds that Eddie’s parents loved rubbing salt in more than his parenting and his financial situation, and suggesting that he had private help for Chris? That was certainly something that hit both of their favorite topics.

“Buck?”

Even if, you know, he had sold his soul instead of provided a monthly stipend.

“Who is Buck?”

“Buck’s great!” Eddie felt himself finally breathe as Chris picked up the slack, his cheerful demeanor impervious to the doom and gloom swarming around both of his grandparents right now. “He’s really smart, and he’s super nice. Plus he makes Dad laugh, which is also nice. And he taught me how to make cootie-catchers! Did you know that they can see into the future?”

Eddie wasn’t panicking. He definitely wasn’t panicking. He definitely wasn’t looking between his mother and his father, trying desperately to come up with something, some excuse, some way to explain the strange name that called Chris perfect and made him laugh.

...Buck really did know how to make him laugh, though. And he did love Chris, that much was clear. And those two thoughts were the only things buzzing around in his head when he opened his fat mouth.

“Edmundo, who is—“

“Buck is my boyfriend.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the moment afterward—his father turned a lovely complexion of purple and red while his mother looked like she had literally seen a ghost, which, hey! Not that far off from the truth. Eddie wasn’t sure if he was just in shock, or if he was having a stroke, or what, but he suddenly felt heavy, grounded for the first time all day, firmly planted in the moment.

So, Eddie decided that Buck was, as of ten seconds ago, his boyfriend. It… made sense, in a way. Fuck, they were basically co-parenting his kid. Chris absolutely adored Buck. And Eddie knew they were sexually and romantically compatible, hell, he knew Buck intimately from his teeth right down to—

“Buck is your what—”

“Buck!”

Eddie was getting very, very tired of being caught by surprise, so it was actually exhausting to have yet another rug pulled out from under him. He turned his head as Chris called out and almost fell out of his seat, seeing who else but the demon in question striding toward them, smiling like the sun,

Honestly, at this point, Eddie should have expected yet another whiplash, but nothing could have prepared him to turn around and see Buck, striding toward him with a big smile on his face, wearing what Eddie could only describe as a “meet the parents” outfit.

If there was another reason as to why Buck would be wearing a sweater vest in California, Eddie would love to hear it.

At the very least, he wasn’t the only one who was shocked. His parents had similar slack jawed looks on their faces as Chris raced toward Buck, who easily wrapped Chris in a huge hug with a “Hey, Superman!” before setting Chris on his hip easily.

Eddie didn’t realize that he was up until he was already moving, trying to think of how he could explain this, but Buck was quick on the draw—keeping Chris balanced in one arm, he drew Eddie in easily with the other, kissing his cheek, murmuring against his skin easily.

“Thought you could use some backup from your boyfriend.”

...oh, right. Demon. Probably heard the whole thing. Cool, that was definitely a cool thing and not embarrassing at all. Eddie felt his own hand fall into Buck’s as they started to walk back toward his parents, a weight writhing in his stomach, only partially subdued by the warmth burning pleasantly through his bones from the small contact he shared with Buck, looking over as Buck set Chris back down, grinning at the giggling ten year old like he wanted nothing more out of this life.

“Mom, Dad, this is Buck. Buck, these are my parents.” Eddie was half tempted to let the moment stew in a silent awkwardness before starting introductions, but Buck spoke up before he could do anything, extending his now-free hand to Eddie’s father first. “Evan Buckley, Eddie’s told me a lot about you. Glad to meet you both.”

Huh. Eddie never thought to even ask if Buck had a first and last name. He always thought it was just, ‘Buck’.

It was comforting for him to see the good, Catholic guilt push both of his parents to accept the greeting with an incredibly pained smile and a handshake of their own, as much as he knew they both wanted to pretend he wasn’t there.

“So! Evan.” His mother started, always the diplomat. “What do you do?”

“I’ve known I was bisexual from, like, sophomore year. I brought boyfriends home in highschool! Why is this so hard for you to wrap your head around?”

Long since abandoning the idea of civility, Eddie’s voice was tired, watching as Buck pushed Chris on the swingset across the park from their little picnic bench. Chris had all but dragged Buck over there, subconsciously (or maybe consciously, though Eddie hated thinking of that) feeling when Eddie needed some time to yell at his parents.

Which he definitely, definitely wanted to do. Because Buck was a fucking delight, he answered every question perfectly, he complimented, he flattered, he smiled, and his parents had given him absolutely nothing back.

Now, he was actually finding himself… jealous. Because he would have sold his fucking left leg to just be over there, with his kid and his… Buck, instead of here, with the firing squad. Watching the two of them together was nice, though, definitely a memory he would treasure later—right now, it was providing just enough serotonin to keep him from jumping off a bridge.

“Because you’re not like that, not really!” His mother’s voice was pleading where his fathers had been firm, but Eddie couldn’t really tell the difference between the two when they were both parroting each other. “Eddito, you can’t expect us to believe this is just... happening now. In highschool, that was one thing. I am your mother, we are your parents. No one knows you better than we do!”

Eddie threw his hands into the air, turning it into a wave at the last moment when Chris looked over, trying to keep his face relatively neutral. “Mom, you don’t know the first thing about me, apparently, but I’m starting to think that might go both ways. Maybe I don’t know the two of you, either. For starters, I had no idea my parents were so fucking mean.”

The innocent look his father shot back at him made him want to puke. “Eddie, I can’t help it if pointing out the truth seems a little mean to you. That woman leaves you—”

“That woman was my wife, and she died, next topic.”

“—leaves you,” his father repeated, ignoring what Eddie had said yet again, “and now I’m supposed to believe that you, what. Decided that instead of finding someone who could give Chris what he needs, you just looked for the first man waving a rainbow flag and that was that?”

“Dad, I swear to God, if you insult Buck again we’re done for the day.”

If Eddie was surprised by his own assertiveness, he was alone in that—his father wasted no time in scoffing, shaking his head.

“I have every right to criticize someone spending that much time with my grandson, Edmundo. When was the last time you and Chris went to service? Because if it got around that you were hanging around with someone like that—"

Honestly, there was a certain level of irony here that Eddie had to appreciate. His conservative, religious parents didn’t like his boyfriend (and, wait, how had Eddie attached Buck to that word so easily?)—not because he was a literal demon from Hell, which would have been a perfectly reasonable thing for two good, God fearing Christians to dislike, but because he was a man.

“Hey, Chris, we gotta get going! Come say bye, buddie!”

All that aside, the stunned silence that followed as his father struggled to find his voice was sweet, so sweet, even if it was incredibly short lived.

“Really, Eddie? One little disagreement and you’re just going to walk away? We don’t see Chris for two years, and the first time we visit is when you decide to—”

“Chris is going to come over and say goodbye.” Eddie interrupted, voice dangerously low as he looked up to where Buck was helping him down from the jungle gym. “If you try and play him against me with this, you will lose. If you try to play him against Buck, you will lose and I will laugh at you. But we are going home now, and if you give him any grief about that, if you try to make him feel bad that you don’t come up to visit more often, if you do anything that puts a frown on his face, that’s it. You will never see him again. Ever. And I’ve already kept one promise to you once in the past five minutes, you wanna push for two?”

Eddie wasn’t sure if he was burning that bridge or crossing it, but he was all smiles when Buck and Chris rejoined them, easily slotting himself against Buck’s side as his mother and father each hugged and kissed Chris’ head. Eddie may have let his eagle eye slide a little bit—he could tell my Chris’ giggling protests that they weren’t saying anything uncouth, and even if they were, he knew Buck would put a stop to it before anything else.

Waiting until his mother released Chris, Eddie leaned and kissed Buck on the cheek, tilting his head back to the truck. “Chris, you wanna go with Buck and get buckled in? I’m gonna walk your grandparents to their car.”

Chris took off happily with Buck in tow, and Eddie allowed himself a moment to feel all warm inside watching Buck take Chris’ hand happily as they walked away before he had to turn and face his parents once more. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that his mother was first to speak, pleading with him while his father unlocked and started their car. “You don’t need to be so sneaky to talk to us, Eddito. You know your father and I just worry.”

“If you want to talk sneaky, let’s talk about your spontaneous road trip to Los Angeles. Have you talked to Abuela? Or Pepa? Because Buck’s met them both, and they both love him. Have you even thought about visiting with them while you’re out here?” Eddie asked, the look on her face answer enough. Eddie sighed, shaking his head as he turned to his father, waiting to see what kind of explanation he would try and bury this in. “You dragged Mom a thousand miles just to interrogate me but you won’t even see the rest of the family?”

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as his mother shut the door to the passengers seat of the car, and Eddie found himself wishing he could just tune this entire topic out as easily as she seemed to when his father met this gaze again.

“I am just trying to get you to do what is right for Chris.”

“That’s just it! I am what’s best for Chris, and I don’t understand why you can’t accept that. He’s my kid, mine, and if you can’t trust me to do what’s best for him,” Eddie paused, “then I don’t know what I can do to get that across.”

He shook his head as he started to walk back to his car. He had really, really hoped that would be the end of it, but he was well aware that would require luck, which he did not have, his father's voice calling after him making that painfully clear.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Eddie. When your little… mistake comes crashing down, we will be the only ones here for Chris! You can’t just turn your back on family!” Eddie felt his hackles rise as he walked away, ears ringing as he dug his heel into the dirt and looked over his shoulder.

“You turned your back on us—on me—a long time ago.” Eddie’s voice was low as he opened his door, slumping into the driver seat like a string had been cut, hands shaking as he started the truck.

“What was your family like?”

Eddie’s voice was soft from his place against Buck’s side, tucked up under one of Buck’s arms, the warmth from the demon eliminating any need for a blanket.

Eddie had made it exactly three blocks (just long enough to be out of view of his parents) before Buck had demanded he pull the car over so they could switch. He was more than happy to give up any responsibility, sliding into the back seat beside his kid, letting himself be completely engrossed in whatever Chris was listening to for the rest of the ride home.

Buck had been the one who drove them home, made dinner, entertained Chris while Eddie showered. Buck was the one who helped with everything along the way just like he always did. And now Buck was literally, literally anchoring him into reality, a comforting weight along Eddie’s side.

He couldn’t tell what Marvel movie was on—honestly, he had kind of stopped caring about any of them after Black Panther—but they were still Chris’ favorite, and he was sure that Chris would have been livid at them for talking if he hadn’t fallen asleep in the first five minutes of the movie. He wanted to save the moment like a snapshot forever; Chris’ head against Buck’s thigh, sprawled out over the both of their laps, his soft snores doing little to mask Eddie’s question (or Buck’s snort in return). “Eddie, my parents were like... completely crazy. Yours are getting up there, but mine were insane. My mom...” Buck shut his mouth as Chris shifted, waiting until he was settled to resume.

“My mom is the reason I got into this position in the first place.”

Eddie felt his face fall as Buck spoke, repositioning himself to sit up a little straighter beside Buck, eyes trained to the demons’ face. Buck was smiling, a sense of bitter irony on his face as he pushed some hair from Chris’ forehead. “When my dad died, my mom... didn’t take it well. She kind of fell off the deep end. Maddie was lucky, she got out before the shit hit the fan. Anyway, my mom and I tried everything—therapy, grief counseling, the power of prayer—seriously.” Buck said, a smile on his face as Eddie laughed, shoulders shaking.

“You’re such an ass.” Buck said, but he was smiling as well, shaking his head. “Anyway, when that didn’t work, my mom tried the other route. She was, like, off the deep end at that point. Talismans, ouija boards, drugging herself up to talk to the dead. I probably should have turned around when I came home to find a pentagram painted on the floor, but.”

Buck shrugged like this was the easiest thing in the world to announce, but Eddie had long since stopped laughing, his jaw a little slack. “Oh, Buck...” He hated how weak his voice sounded, but Buck brushed it off, continuing on.

“No big deal. She sucked at Latin, turns out. I got these devilishly good looks, and she got torn apart by hellfire.” Eddie choked on a laugh as Buck beamed at him, because of course he would be making a pun at a time like this. He stifled the rest of his laugh as Buck squeezed him a little tighter, shaking his head as Chris let out another little snore.

It was easy enough to maneuver Chris into his arms, carrying him to his bedroom, though he certainly wasn’t about to object to Buck’s abject closeness, less than a half step behind Eddie as he put Chris to bed. It wasn’t until he stood to leave did he actually see the look on Buck’s face as he tousled Chris’ hair and said goodnight; it was incredibly soft, dopey even, and the only reason Eddie could make that comparison is because Hen had told him plenty of times that was the same way he looked at Chris.

He just never thought he would see that look on someone else.

Eddie kept his voice low as he closed Chris’ door, starting the walk back to his own room slowly, swaying easily in step beside Buck as he scratched at his head. “Do you remember, when we met, you told me—“

“How incredibly hot you were, how good you were with your tongue, how—“

“Jesus, Buck, no, you fucking pervert. I was going to say, you told me that I wasn’t being normal about this.” Eddie said, and Buck hummed, his hand idly reaching out toward Eddie’s. “What are most of your contracts like?”

Buck snorted as he tugged Eddie into the bedroom, turning off the television, the lights, even locking the front door with a wave of his hand. “I’ve never fucked another contract, if that’s what you’re asking.” he started, pulling the sheets down with another wave and a laugh as Eddie threw his shirt at Buck’s head. “God, Eddie, they’re fucking assholes. Everyone’s power hungry, or money hungry, or just stupid as fuck, seriously. In like, a whole decade, I’ve never had anyone make a contract for someone else before. But you…”

Eddie looked up as Buck pulled him closer again, planting a kiss on his lips. Part of Eddie wanted to shy away, wanted to say the boyfriend thing had all but been an act, but he had given up on that about thirty seconds after Buck told his father to fuck off.

“Even when you were drunk, you only cared about what was best for your son. That’s why it was so easy for me to make a contract with you. Seeing how good of a person you were, how much you loved your kid? No question.”

Buck’s voice had dropped down low as he sunk into the bed, making grabby hands at Eddie until he followed suit, finding himself fitting perfectly in the crook of Buck’s shoulder, resolutely not thinking about the flat plain of muscle beneath his hand as he wrapped an arm around Buck’s midsection. Eddie felt his eyes wander across Buck’s face, his lips, the smooth line of his neck to the little gem on his necklace. “You really think I’m a good father?”

“Eddie, come on.”

When he looked back up at Buck’s face, Eddie felt a spark burn through his spine, meeting Buck’s glowing eyes for the third time in three months and the second time that day. Eddie wasn’t sure who moved (okay, he was definitely the one who had moved) but the kiss was soft, a barely there brush of lips, a pressure that set Eddie’s lips on fire.

“You’re amazing.”

#911 #buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #halloweenfic #demon!buck #flospeaks #fic

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tawaifeddiediaz · 4 years

Text

the love definition - Chapter 6

We’re at the end! This story is complete!

Thank you for all the love on this, and I appreciate all the wonderful rebloggers the most, so this is dedicated to you guys, because I love you. For all of you, I have included a bonus chapter at the end ;)

And Tumblr pissed me off because my content was just not showing in the tags, but whatever it is, I am praying this shows up.

Support your content creators!

Christopher is 26 in this chapter :)

[Chapter 6 AO3 Link]

Word Count: 6659 words

Entire chapter below the cut:

Like all milestones, there was a party.

And like all previous milestones, it was held at Aunt Athena and Cap’s house.

“Look at us, right on time for once,” Anabiya beamed, walking beside him up the driveway with a tray of dessert in her hands. She was dressed in a gorgeous sari with a simple necklace and the ring Christopher had given her at their wedding.

When she’d come out of their room this morning, Christopher had really just stared with his mouth open, making her flush.

“You’re going to make us late,” she’d told him before surreptitiously shoving him out of the apartment they’d moved into after getting married.

Christopher laughed about the timely comment as he knocked on the door. It was true; they were usually bare minimum ten minutes late to everything, a habit everyone attributed to his dads.

Bobby swung the door open, face lighting up as he caught sight of them.

“Hey, Cap,” Chris greeted the older man, who just smiled and shook his head, pulling them into warm hugs.

“I’m not Cap anymore, kid, just call me Bobby. You can call Chim that,” Bobby laughed, pointing to where the man in question was trying to coax his eight-year-old son into not shoving his hands into a platter of appetizers.

“You’ll always be Cap in my mind,” he grinned, remembering the man from all those years ago, asking him if he was any good with the hose. “It’s either that or Grandpa. Grandpops if we’re really feeling it.”

“Cap works,” he said quickly. Everyone knew Papa was pretty much his adoptive son, and Christopher took it at such - and maybe a prime opportunity to tease Bobby, too.

Anabiya laughed at the familiar quip, squeezing his arm to go around to where May was standing with her son and husband.

“Are they here yet?” he asked, scanning the room to find it bursting to the brim with people. There was Carla talking to Uncle Michael, Pepa and Abuela with Aunt Athena, Denny and Harry’s girlfriends discussing something. A few kids were running around in the corner and there were a bunch of people Christopher didn’t even recognize but were probably from the firehouse.

“Surprisingly, yes,” Bobby chuckled, gesturing over to where Dad and Papa were talking to Aunt Maddie and Aunt Hen. “For once, Buck and Eddie are on time. How about you? How are you and Anabiya?”

“Honestly, it’s great.” Christopher shifted on his crutches a little, moving to face him. “It was a bit of a shift with moving into a new apartment, and living together for the first time, but it’s exactly how Dad and Papa described marrying your best friend would be like.”

“They would know, yeah,” Bobby agreed, looking fondly towards them. “Go meet them. It seems like your wife beat you to it.”

Biya was already tucked under Dad’s arm, laughing away with Aunt Maddie. His chest warmed at the sight, for how easily things had slipped in place for them. His whole family loved Anabiya and the other new additions to their family as if they’d been there forever.

Christopher chuckled and made his way over, stopped a few times by some of the familiar firefighters that worked with his dads.

“Chris!” Buck exclaimed, hugging him close and making him smile. “Hey, buddy!”

“Hi Papa. Happy anniversary, guys,” he congratulated as he moved to hug Dad.

“Thanks, kiddo. How are you doing?”

He didn’t get to answer the question before May was gesturing him over. Denny, Harry and Nia were standing there too, along with Chimney and Aunt Maddie’s oldest daughter, Layla.

Dad laughed, pushing him in that direction. “Go. They’ve been waiting for you for a while. We’ll stick with Biya.”

“Uh, no. You stick with Papa, I’m taking Biya with me,” he teased, automatically reaching for his wife’s hand, thumb tracing her wedding ring. Aunt Maddie cooed in the back, making him flush but Papa swatted her away before turning to his husband.

“Face it, Eds. Your kid is your brand of romance - the secret kind. Right, Biya?”

“He’s both of you, and I would know,” she teased back, laughing when Papa’s mouth dropped open in indignation. But he looked proud, which was another warm feeling all on its own.

Dad let out another belly laugh at Papa’s antics, wrapping an arm around his waist. “See? Told you.” He turned back to Chris, winking merrily.

“Uncle Eddie! Buck!” Denny called again. “Talk to Christopher later, we need him over here.”

Dad’s jaw dropped, as he gestured between himself and Papa. “Excuse you, why is he just Buck and I’m Uncle Eddie? Kid, we’ve talked about this!”

“Because you’re older. You’re like fifty.” Denny shrugged.

Dad’s eyebrows shot up, completely offended. Buck was losing it, leaning onto Aunt Maddie as he laughed loudly. Even Aunt Maddie couldn’t help but laugh, though she patted Dad’s shoulder sympathetically, having also crossed into the fifties a few years ago.

Dad was kidding no one with that offended look, especially as he turned to glare at his husband; it was really quite dramatic. Christopher rolled his eyes at how his dad somehow still managed to look disgustingly fond, but turned to look at his wife. “You coming?”

Biya shook her head, squeezing his hand once before letting go. “I was talking to Aunt Maddie and Aunt Hen about the healthcare situation at the center, I’ll join you in a bit.”

He nodded and walked over, only to find them crowded around one small book. A very familiar book.

The Love Definition in its very primitive form.

It could hardly be called a “book” with its ragged condition. The pages were slightly yellowed and frayed after nearly twenty years, but May’s neat handwriting was still etched into the white strip on top of the purple cover.

“Holy...where’d you find that?”

“I went looking for it in my old boxes today. Buck and Eddie’s sixteenth anniversary definitely deserves a little nostalgic attention,” she claimed, pointing to where his dads were now standing with their arms linked around one another, content smiles on their faces.

“Open it!” Harry rubbed his hands together eagerly.

The notebook was divided into four sections, one for each of the couples. Not that they used all the pages; at the most, they’d written in only one page per couple.

The first section was for Aunt Athena and Cap, “Bobby and Athena” scrawled at the top in Harry’s chicken scratch.

Under the heading were random points in varied handwriting.

Being there for one another

Accepting each other fully

Loving freely

Bobby and Michael being best friends

Aunt Karen and Aunt Hen’s sections were next. Denny and Nia laughed at the points written under their moms’ names.

Getting through rough times together

Not being afraid to love

Being honest

Supporting each other’s dreams

Next came Chimney and Aunt Maddie, under “Chimney and Maddie” written in May’s perfect cursive.

Being strong for one another

Going slow

They all laughed at the sight of a nine-year-old Denny’s (Mom says like glaciers) scrawled next to it. But the next point made them laugh even harder.

Going home together because something smelled bad

“That was when Aunt Maddie found out she was pregnant with you,” Christopher told Layla. “I think it was fish?”

“Yeah, salmon, the one she loved. Chimney brought it over, she caught a whiff and got nauseous,” May confirmed. “I don’t remember who wrote that. It definitely wasn’t me, but this book was created maybe a little bit after that. After Chris got back from summer camp.”

“Buck was upset for days when you left,” Harry told him. “Even more than Uncle Eddie.”

Christopher shook his head fondly. “Dad says that Buck probably wouldn’t have let me get on the bus in the first place. But yeah, that summer camp was an experience. They listened to me ramble for weeks about it - after Buck told me I was never allowed to leave again.”

They all burst into laughter at the reminder of Papa’s theatrics, drawing multiple suspicious eyes. Schooling their expressions best as they could, they leaned back over the book, giggles still slipping free.

The last section was for the guests of honor, “Buck and Eddie” written in Christopher’s nine-year-old handwriting. He smiled, drifting a finger over it as he read through.

Best friends

Hugging each other all the time

Not wanting them to leave

Lots of love

There were sparse drawings littered throughout the ratty pages, too - gratuitous use of stick figures and floating hearts to encompass the gravity of their parents’ relationships. Bonus points for all of them because the stick figures were holding hands, and some of them had pencil lines around their shoulders and waists to signify arms.

At age nine, love didn’t get better than that.

“You know, all of these points pretty much say the same thing,” Layla flipped through the pages, making the connections with one hovering finger.

“I think most of us kept it all more in our heads than we did through this notebook,” Christopher replied, adjusting his glasses. “I know I did. There were things Papa or Dad would say and I’d just mentally file it away.”

“Same with my parents,” Denny agreed. “There’s no way that there’s only three or four points to learn from all eight of them, and I’m pretty sure we only wrote in this once. But I still think this notebook was probably one of the best things we ever came up with together.”

“I think it helped us choose our life partners, too,” Harry said. They all hummed in agreement. Christopher’s gaze found Biya’s across the room, where she smiled at him in the middle of her conversation with May’s husband Cody.

“You should keep this.” May passed him the notebook, just in time for her son to tug on her pant leg to ask to go to the bathroom. She smiled down at Luka, picking him up and walking off with a slightly apologetic grin.

“It’s so weird that my sister’s a mom.” Harry watched her go, shaking his head as he turned back to them. “I mean I love Luka with everything in me, and I know it’s been four years but we weren’t thinking about all this when we horsed around together in the backyard or played video games.”

It was something that caught him off-guard more than he’d admit. Denny and Harry were both in long-term relationships now, too, and Christopher had just gotten married. None of this was on the radar twenty years ago.

“I’m still reeling from all this,” Denny gestured wildly to how full the room was. Even if there had been virtually no one but the original fire family and their kids here, they were a sizable bunch. It had grown almost double in the past twenty years, all of them growing up more like cousins than friends. “Like my sister was a tiny baby. Layla, too.”

At the teen years, neither Layla nor Nia took very well to the whole “tiny baby” thing. Especially Layla for being the younger one at sixteen. All the other kids playing in the backyard were younger than ten, leaving her kind of stuck in the middle.

“We’re standing right here, guys,” Nia deadpanned. Denny cooed at her, playfully ruffling her hair. She glared daggers into his skull, patting the wayward strands down.

“This notebook actually reminds me of this one psychology thing we did, when we were studying love languages,” Harry intervened, changing the subject before it got too out of hand. “It was literally a bunch of kids describing what love is. Some of them were hilarious, like squishy cheeks. This one kid said that it’s like kissing a girl for the first time, and you’ll never be bored because you can always think about kissing her. A seven-year-old said love is nothing, point blank.”

“We’ve got our entry here.” Christopher held up the book in his hand, laughing. “Actually no, that’d be cheating.”

“How?”

“May,” Denny answered. “She wasn’t a kid, so technically, we’d be disqualified.”

Harry snorted. Then, looking pensive, he turned towards where Uncle Michael was standing with his husband. “I know we haven’t written in this book at all since then, but I’d think we would’ve added a section for Dad and Andrew.”

Uncle Michael had married a doctor, one he’d met after his tumor was pronounced to be shrinking. They didn’t live in LA anymore, having shifted to Sacramento, but Christopher assumed that they’d come down specially for the party. Harry and May were pretty close to their other stepdad, too.

“Yeah, I think we would’ve,” Chris nodded.

“I mean, like we said, it’s always been up here,” Denny added, tapping a finger to his temple. “It’s not like it’s hard to see, with how they are with each other.”

“If Dad hadn’t had the courage to come out to Mom despite everything, I don’t think I would’ve either,” Harry said quietly. “He gave me the courage to stay true to being bisexual.”

Chris and Denny nodded to the sentiment, each of their gazes wandering to find their respective partners. Harry had dealt with a lot of conflict on how to define himself, especially when he started dating Ava.

Secretly, Denny and Christopher had poured over websites and books, furiously trying to do something to make Harry feel more comfortable about his identity, even if they were in a place where they couldn’t quite understand. But Uncle Michael had been the one to tell him that his bisexuality didn’t go away just because he was dating someone of the opposite sex.

Anabiya and Ava were walking towards them now, so the conversation shelved itself.

“Is that what I think it is?” Ava laughed, picking up the tattered book.

“The infamous love life guide,” Biya smirked, slipping under his arm to wrap a hand around his waist. Christopher laughed and pointed at it.

“Hey now, it was that book that brought us here,” he teased, gesturing between the two of them.

Biya rolled her eyes, moving out of his hold to peer over Ava’s shoulder at the atrocious mix of handwriting.

“‘Supporting each other’s dreams,’ ‘going home together because something smelled bad,’ ‘lots of love.’” Ava read out, before setting the book down. “Sounds like the recipe for a perfect relationship to me. Definitely written by nine-year-olds.”

“Hey! I was eleven!” Harry protested.

Denny took one look at them and groaned. “Man, I’m not fifth-wheeling. Where’s Bella?” With that, he disappeared to find his girlfriend, leaving them to laugh at his expense.

“I’m going to meet Abuela and Pepa, coming?” Chris asked Anabiya, who nodded.

Abuela was still far too strong for her age, and nothing about her said she was pushing 90 as she hugged Christopher tightly, rambling excitedly in a familiar mix of Spanish and English. Pepa, on the other hand, adored Biya and pulled her away from Chris with a cursory glance to him the instant they got into range.

“I see how it is, Pepa,” he complained.

“Yes, you do,” she nodded before turning towards Biya, who was busy stifling her laughter. They started up a clear conversation that didn’t include Christopher at all, so he sunk in his seat, making a face at his wife.

“Is Pepa picking favourites again?” Buck appeared out of nowhere, plopping down next to him. “I mean, you’re still Abuela’s favourite.”

“Yes you are,” Abuela agreed, patting his shoulder. “Evan tried to become my favourite so many times over the past twenty years. But it has always been Christopher.”

He resisted the urge to stick his tongue out.

“Okay but I did get there a few times,” Papa insisted, unaware that Dad had snuck up behind him to perch himself on the armrest. “Wait, who’s your favourite grandson, because it can’t be Eddie. Tell me you know this, Abuela.”

Abuela laughed, only gesturing for him to turn around. Christopher burst out laughing at the knowing, smug look on Dad’s face.

Papa sighed, already knowing this game. “He’s behind me, isn’t he.”

“You can’t play the same game literally every time we see Abuela and expect me not to know,” Dad pointed out. “I’m her favourite.”

“How can you be her favourite?”

“How can I not?” Dad countered. Christopher rolled his eyes at their childish antics.

“Yeah, I’m not sitting here for this again. Because next comes the inevitable ‘who's your favourite dad’ competition, and I plead the fifth on that one,” he surrendered immediately, making his escape to find Chimney and leaving his squabbling parents and amused great-grandmother behind.

The man was standing guard by the cake table, where Layla and Aunt Karen were busy trying to fix one of the fallen arrangements. His son was humming to himself as he walked around, peering at each tray as if inspecting it.

Christopher always been pretty close to Chimney, ever since that fateful day of standing on hoses to play pinball and competing with the number of surgeries they’d had. After he’d married Aunt Maddie and Dad had married Buck, the two of them had only gotten closer over the years.

Christopher would never admit this to anyone, but Chimney was his favourite uncle. Even if he vehemently denied the title of “Uncle Chim.”

“Kevin giving you trouble?”

Chimney perked up at the sound of his voice, abandoning his duties to come around and engulf him into a strong hug. “Hey, kid! How’ve you been?”

Unfortunately, that momentary lapse in concentration was enough for Kevin to steal a handful of candy, rushing off before his dad could catch him.

“Maddie’s going to kill me,” he groaned miserably. Christopher patted his arm sympathetically, because their eight-year-old was a monster when he had a sugar high. He could already see Aunt Maddie’s eyes widen in dread at the sight of her son running past her with a fistful of candy.

“I think she saw you on guard duty. You’re going to be just fine. Don’t know about the Kevin part though.”

Chimney just shook his head, resolving himself to his fate. “Anyway, sixteen years, huh?”

“What, didn’t think they’d last?” Christopher laughed, nudging his uncle as he looked out at his dads, a strange sort of pride taking hold of him.

Chimney snorted, shaking his head. “Oh, we knew. From Eddie’s very first day.”

“Really?”

The older man chuckled gleefully, snagging one of the appetizers and popping it into his mouth. “Oh yeah. The tension was off the charts.”

Chris wrinkled his nose, not really wanting to think about his parents like that. Aunt Karen saw the look on his face and burst out laughing. “It’s Buck and Eddie, Chris. We all knew. There were a lot of bets, just for the two of them. High-stake ones.”

“You guys bet on everything,” he shook his head, eyes roaming the room. Layla hummed in agreement, shooting her dad a stink-eye.

“Well, those bets are what keeps everyone on their toes,” Aunt Athena added, coming around to hug him. “Don’t you think we didn’t know about your own bets and wagers.”

Their parents were too smart for their own good. Thankfully, he was saved from having to answer by a very familiar person.

“Christopher Diaz, do not tell me you forgot about me.”

At the sound of Carla’s voice, Christopher laughed before turning to hug her. “I could never forget you, Carla. I just saw you yesterday.”

She snickered at his instant response. “Where’s Anabiya?”

“I swear all of you like her more than me,” he pouted, only half-teasing. Carla only raised her eyebrows. “She’s talking with Pepa, who stole her the second we walked over.”

“Hmm…” She looked up at him to give a mischievous smile. “You know, when I came here today, all I could think of was a nine-year-old Christopher asking me what love was.”

He chuckled at the memory, looking over to where Papa was leaning into Dad’s side, still talking to Abuela. Their hands were pressed together as usual, each move almost absent, done purely on instinct.

“It was hard not to wonder with all these people around us,” he told her. “But I’m really glad I asked you that day.”

Carla only smiled knowingly. “I’m really glad you asked, too.”

“I’m really glad too, because I ended up winning the bet and beating Hen, Bobby and Athena,” Chimney butted in. Christopher laughed at the smug look on his face. “Maddie and I had a great dinner with those winnings. Truly magnificent.”

“To this day, I think you cheated somehow. You two conspired together,” Aunt Karen accused, looking between them suspiciously.

“Us? No. We’ve never done anything wrong in our lives, ever,” Christopher told her, scoffing indignantly and stealing a pretzel stick.

He and Chimney high-fived out of sight.

“You remind me so much of Buck when you do that, Jesus,” she muttered, shaking her head and walking away with Carla.

Chimney burst out laughing. “We don’t need another one of those,” he teased, looking over to where Papa had moved onto talking to Bobby and Dad was talking to Aunt Maddie.

Well, another Buck wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

---------

After another half an hour, the party slowly began shifting outside, where the summer day was beaming down on them, offset by a cool breeze that ruffled the leaves.

Tables had been set around the space, the middle table reserved for Bobby, Aunt Athena, Aunt Hen, Aunt Karen, Aunt Maddie, Chimney, Uncle Michael, Dr. Hale, Dad and Papa. Denny and Isabella claimed a table somewhere off to the right for their group, still joking in between themselves about juvenile things as they stuffed themselves with Aunt Athena’s famous appetizers. It was just like they had when they were kids. Everyone else was spread randomly around, now having turned to listen to Bobby as he called for their attention by tapping a spoon on a glass flute.

“Thank you all for coming today, on such a special occasion. It is an honor to host you all for what seems like the hundredth time,” he joked, pulling laughs around. “Today, we’re celebrating Buck and Eddie’s sixteenth anniversary, and I’m going to preface this whole thing by saying that I’m so, so proud of you. It’s been an honor to see you two grow as each other’s partners in multiple ways, both as your captain and as your friend.

“Today, I’m going to tell you something I hadn’t really told you two over the course of the past twenty years - why I wanted Eddie to join the 118 instead of Station 6.”

“Finally!” Chimney exclaimed, earning him an exasperated look from Bobby. Even as current captain, Chimney hadn’t been privy to the story, a fact he lamented about to Christopher multiple times. Hell, even Chris didn’t know the story.

“When I was looking at the new recruits, Eddie’s resume stood out the most out of all the other candidates and I genuinely believed after a brief talk with him that he’d fit right in with the 118. But I was also looking at potential partners for Buck,” Bobby said, looking pointedly at Papa. Papa only laughed, leaning into Dad’s side.

“Well, you found one, Pops,” he quipped.

“I didn’t foresee that you’d marry him, obviously. But I had a feeling that you two would work great together because you’d balance each other out and you did. It took one blown-up ambulance for me to realize that. And I’m not saying I recruited Eddie for Buck, specifically. I wanted him in my station no matter what, and that could’ve meant putting him on another shift.”

“I’m so glad you didn’t,” Dad piped up, looking a little touched. Christopher smiled, looking down at the copy of The Love Definition sitting in front of him. Anabiya slid her hand in his, beaming at him.

Bobby only laughed, shaking his head. “You two are made for one another. You would’ve found your way, even if Eddie had gone to station 6. But yeah, I’m really glad I didn’t, either. So...tonight’s to you two. May you have many more anniversaries just like this one, and may we be there to celebrate them all with you.”

Cheers and applause sounded around as Papa and Dad got up to hug their old captain.

“If either of you interrupt me, I’m sitting right back down again,” Aunt Hen warned. Papa mimed zipping his lips, even as his eyes sparkled with emotion. Christopher had seen that look many times over the years but for some reason, tonight it felt different. So did the open look on Dad’s face.

Aunt Hen gave a surprisingly emotional speech to the couple, followed by more hugs and applause. Chimney followed with a less serious one, one that had them all laughing with the memories.

Then everyone turned to look at their table, and Chris...did not know what was going on.

“Chris, it’s your turn,” Denny hissed from the other side of him.

Oh, was he supposed to speak?

“Weren’t you supposed to write a speech?” Anabiya looked beyond amused at his floundering.

Dad and Papa were staring at him too, just as amused as his wife. He was certain that no one warned him, but he was also recently married and there was no way he was going to remember everything.

“Somehow, this is your fault,” he muttered to Anabiya as he stood up, scrambling through his mind to pull together something. He spared a glance at the notebook in front of him, an idea coming to light.

Holding the book up, he said simply, “The Love Definition.”

There were sounds and looks of confusion all throughout the party but Christopher’s table erupted into laughter that only confused everyone more.

“This book was written...so many years ago. And in it, are things we’ve learned from each of the couples from the fire family. Aunt Athena and Cap are in here, Aunt Maddie and Chimney, Aunt Hen and Aunt Karen. We wrote in this a sum total of one time with a bunch of stick figures and excessive use of hearts, but for all of us, it was the concept that stayed with us all these years.

“May found it today, and that’s what we’ve been reminiscing about. But since it’s your guys’ anniversary, I’ll let you in on a few things from it - things that we noted down in the ‘Buck and Eddie’ section.”

Flipping the page open, Christopher read out the first point. “Best friends. That was the first thing any of us could see in you two, because...you were best friends first. Partners. And somewhere down the line, that became more meaningful than just someone who knows you the best or someone you love. It also meant someone who knows you for the worst, and for everything in between. To quote Dad, someone who accepts you for changes even if they don’t like them.

“The next point was how much they hugged, oh my God,” Chris said, shaking his head in exasperation. Dad laughed loudly at that one, because it was him that was the serial hugger in their house. “And I can’t remember exactly why that point was in here, but it was definitely tied in with not wanting each other to leave. Because before they got together, every time Buck left, we would get all sad for a second. Dad because he’s always hated how quiet the house got after Buck left, and me because at eight-years-old, my best friend going home meant that it was bedtime.”

Papa looked like he was already crying, but he was grinning widely still, so Chris continued. “The last point was...lots of love. Now keep in mind, this book was written by an eighteen-year-old, an eleven-year-old and two nine-year-olds. And even back then...I think you guys had just gotten together when this book was made, but the four of us saw that it was on par with the other three couples. So we added it in.”

He turned his attention away from his dads for a second, focusing on all the other faces listening enraptured to him. “When I say that the concept of this one old notebook shaped our own perceptions of love, I mean it in the best way possible. Because not a single one of our fire family only showed us the good sides of it. At the end of it, as much as we romanticize how in love they are, being in a relationship like theirs is hard; you have to put the work in and it’s not always pretty. All of those things defined love in a lot of ways for me, for all of us.” He gestured around their table where Denny, May and Harry were sitting with their partners, grinning widely at him.

Taking a deep breath, Chris paused to just look out at his family’s faces from where he stood. His dads looked on at him with pride, patiently waiting for him to speak. His aunts and uncles were grinning, periodically nudging the two.

“Love is Papa not letting Dad into the kitchen to spare all of us.” There were titters of laughter and hooting from where their fire family sat. Dad glared at him playfully, the tears in his eyes betraying his mock-anger.

Christopher grinned at him but kept talking. “It’s Dad making sure Papa doesn’t do anything reckless. It’s Papa leaving half the crossword for Dad just so he can be smug about knowing all the answers. It’s Dad going ballistic trying to find a bandage for Papa’s paper cut. It’s Papa trying not to smile every time Dad’s Texan drawl comes out. It’s Dad going out of his way to pick up those horrible chips only Papa likes. And it’s Papa constantly flirting with Dad even after seventeen years of being together.

“It’s…” Christopher tried to find the right phrase before settling on, “it’s a lot.”

By this point, even Dad was crying freely, clutching at Papa’s hand. That image gave him the strength to keep talking. “When I was a kid, I thought they’d outgrow all the hand-holding and need to be next to each other all the time, just like all kids do - and the gross kissing too. But it didn’t happen. In fact, it probably got worse,” he laughed to himself, not paying attention to anyone else anymore but his parents who were also laughing, tears glimmering in their eyes. “It was annoying the way they always knew what the other was trying to say with just a glance or a pointed look. Annoying in the way all kids get when you think your parents are trying to hide things from you.

“As I started getting older, it became the standard. And yeah, I think all of us can agree with the fact that it was really, really intimidating.” Denny and Harry stood up immediately to start whistling, pointing at their parents in mock anger.

Christopher laughed as he continued. “None of you guys had any reason to set our standards so high up,” he mock-scolded.

“I asked Dad once, why he always wore his ring. In the past sixteen years, I have never seen him nor Papa without it. And he said...that it’s a piece of my heart with me, always. And at eleven years old, that didn’t mean anything to me. At twenty-four...with a ring of my own, I understood. I knew what it meant to...you know, have a partner who loves you for you, with no exceptions.” He smiled down at Anabiya, blushing at the sounds of cooing from the audience. His wife only rested her hand on his, beaming up at him, eyes sparkling.

“But, yeah. Now that I’m 26, none of those things have ever really gone away. You guys have taught me many things over the years, but right now? I can’t think of anything outside of how you taught me to love, or be in love. You guys taught me the foundations of a relationship, the trust and communication needed for one. You two taught me what it meant to stay together even when you were fighting.

“If I know what true love looks like, it’s because of you two. Here’s to many, many more years of love and togetherness. I love you guys,” he finished. The last sentence was hardly over before his dads were rushing at him, sandwiching him between them. Christopher laughed wetly but freed his arms to sling them over their shoulders.

“We love you, so so much, kiddo,” Papa whispered.

Dad pressed a kiss to his forehead, just like all those years ago, in a kid-sized bed amidst a glaring confession.

Christopher grinned wider, looking at his dad. “I told you we’d be okay.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you did,” Dad laughed wetly, wiping his face and dragging him in for a proper hug. “I love you, Christopher.”

He’d already been pretty emotional for the speech, but the vivid recollection of a little boy and his father on a porch brought tears to his own eyes.

“I was thinking about taking another trip. And I was wondering, maybe, if you wanted to come with me.”

“Together?”

“Together.”

Chris looked up at Buck, who was beaming widely at the two of them, completely indifferent for the tears streaming down his face. This was a possibility neither of them would’ve seen coming, the possibility of a man like Buck in their lives. The unwavering support he’d given them, how the three of them had stepped up for one another, all in a bid to keep from drowning.

And they’d made it.

------

“For an impromptu speech, that wasn’t bad,” Anabiya teased, leaning into his side as they sat alone at their table.

After Christopher’s speech, Aunt Athena and Aunt Karen had brought out the anniversary cake. It was a simple two-tiered cake with one of their wedding pictures on it. Papa and Dad sliced into it, feeding each other bites before Dad let Kevin stick his hands in a tiny piece to appease the eight-year-old, much to Chimney’s amusement.

Since cake-cutting was done first to put off the inevitable sugar high, food came right after. The rest of the herd had decided to rush in for first dibs, but the two of them had wanted to enjoy the summer day for a bit, so they stayed put. The table was tucked far enough into the yard that they could steal a few moments of privacy.

Christopher chuckled, pointing at the book. “It’s that book - the concept. Sticks with you when you grow up seeing it.”

“I bet it does. I hope that’s us up there one day. Sixteen years. Maybe a kid or two,” she listed sweetly, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Yeah,” Christopher grinned at the thought of that, pulling his wife closer. “I want all of that, and more with you Biya. Because I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

Chris bent down to kiss her smiling mouth, his own lips curving up with how happy he was.

He looked into the house, where he could see Aunt Maddie hugging Dad. Christopher thought to himself as Dad pulled his husband into the hug too, that Bobby was onto something when he said Dad and Papa would’ve found their way to each other.

After all, true love found its way.

------

bonus:

Eddie leaned back against his husband as he felt the familiar weight of Buck’s arms circle him. The smile on his face only grew as Buck swayed them gently, both looking out where they could see their son and daughter-in-law laughing.

Most of the party had dispersed after sunset, leaving mostly their original fire family. Eddie had come out here for fresh air and a little break from the chaos, but the sight of Chris and Anabiya had him almost overwhelmed.

Christopher had grown up to be the same open, happy person that he was as a kid, and that achievement burned through Eddie with pride. His son didn’t grow up with the same toxic reservations that he did, and for that, Eddie would remain forever grateful.

He couldn’t quite believe that his little boy was now someone’s husband. Three months after the wedding, Eddie still reeled back from the realization that his little boy, who was just asking him if dogs knew they were dogs, was now married.

His and Buck’s journey was something that never failed to make Eddie feel a little teary, either, with the strength of how much he loved him. He’d lucked out with his best friend, with his son, with this found family that only seemed to grow.

“What are you thinking about?” Buck’s breath ghosted over his ear, their height difference a little more prominent like this.

“Just about how lucky we are,” he smiled, tilting his head to capture his husband’s lips in a kiss. Buck hummed, smiling against his mouth.

“Yeah. We really are.”

“Did you think we’d end up here?” Eddie asked. Buck chuckled at the age-old question, holding him tighter.

“Hmm...well, my husband of sixteen years,” Buck started, a gleeful note to his voice before it turned serious, “I knew that there was no chance I was letting you and Christopher get away from me. I just...wanted to be there, no matter what capacity, but I didn’t think it’d be in this form. Not that I’m complaining, because I’m not. This is more than I could ever hope for twenty years ago.”

Eddie turned to face him, just admiring his smiling husband for a second. Buck looked virtually the same as he had all those years ago, his hair paling with time. His laugh lines had only deepened with age, and Eddie could read parts of their journey on each divot of his skin, mapped with love.

Right now, with Buck staring at him softly and a faint grin flitting across that mouth that still drove him insane, Eddie fell in love with him one more time.

The illusion of privacy gave him the courage to speak in a way he probably wouldn’t outside their house.

“When I look at Christopher sometimes, all I can think about is how we’d come here with virtually nothing. I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t have support for him, I didn’t have a partner. I had Pepa and Abuela and that’s it. Because I just wanted a new life for us, where we weren’t under everyone’s scrutiny all the time.

“But when you came crashing into my life, for the first time, I felt like I had someone on my side.” Buck’s eyes glimmered, a tear falling from his gorgeous, expressive eyes. Eddie leaned up, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Buck, I could tell you in a thousand ways how much I love you, but it’ll never be enough. Three words, sixteen years, nothing is ever going to come close to the strength of what I feel for you.”

His husband only leaned down to kiss him, tasting of salt and love and Buck.

“I want all the years with you, Eddie. Forever and always,” Buck whispered, running his thumb in circles where his hands were now cradling his neck. Eddie grinned, wrapping his arms around Buck’s waist, pulling a cheeky smile from him. “And that means you don’t go anywhere I can’t follow you, Diaz. I’m sticking with you to the end. And even beyond that.”

“That’s one way to put it, Mr. Diaz,” Eddie murmured, tilting their foreheads together. “I mean, I did say you could have my back any day.”

Buck let out one of his familiar laughs at the reminder of that fateful day, tilting Eddie’s chin up to kiss him as he reminisced his promise, nineteen years later.

“Or you know...you could have mine.”

#zee writes #christopher diaz #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie #fire family #future fic #tooth-rotting fluff

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firstdegreefangirl · 4 years

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Day Five: Part of the Family

Pairing: Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz

Word Count: 927

Original Pub Date: 23 April 2020

Read on Ao3 here!

Day Five I Day Four I Day Three I Day Two I Day One

“Buck!” Christopher looks up as soon as his friend comes through the front door. “Guess what’s in a week?”

“Hmmm …" Buck taps his chin, pretending to think deeply. “Uh, is it a new episode of Chopped?”

“No! My birthday! I’ll be 10!”

“What? No, it’s not already your birthday again, is it? There’s no way you’ve been nine for a whole year.”

“Yeah-huh!” He grins at Buck’s teasing. “We’re having a special dinner with Abuela and Pepa and everything! And then on the weekend, Dad said I could have 10 people from my class over, since that’s how old I’ll be!”

“Oh, that’s why he wanted to know if I was free Saturday afternoon.” Buck looks over at Eddie, who’s wandering in from the kitchen.

“I told you it was for his party, and you asked if you could help blow up balloons the night before.” Eddie rolls his eyes and sits down between Buck and Chris on the couch.

“Well yeah, but you didn’t tell me it was his birthday party!” Buck winks at Eddie, cluing him in to the joke.

“It is! And it’s my birthday dinner too! With-with …" he trails off. “Dad, what’s the cake again?”

“Tres leches, kiddo. You wanted the creamy one with the cherries on it, right?”

“Yeah!” His face lights up with an idea and he looks at Eddie again. “Dad, can Bucky come too?”

The room goes quiet for a moment, and Buck can’t read the look on Eddie’s face. They haven’t told Christopher that they’re dating yet, so he doesn’t have any reason to think Buck wouldn’t want to be there. But Buck doesn’t want to impose, isn’t sure if they’re up to meeting-the-family yet.

(Not that he hasn’t already met them, but meeting your friend’s family and your boyfriend’s family feel like two very different sets of stakes. He remembers how nervous Maddie was to introduce him to Chimney, even though he’d already known Chim for over a year, and isn’t sure that he wants to push Eddie into that if he’s not ready yet.

Especially on his kid’s birthday.)

“Oh, I don’t know,” Buck breaks the silence. “It sounds like a family party. Besides, I’ll be at the big party on Saturday, now that I know it’s for your birthday.” He tries to bring the levity back, find the lighthearted groove they were in before.

“Dad always says that family is the people you choose.” Christopher looks between them both. “Why can’t you be part of the family?”

“Well …" Buck stares at Eddie, waiting for him to jump in and save him.

“Yeah, man.” Eddie finally looks back at him. “Of course you’re part of the family. If you’re free Wednesday, I’m sure Abuela would be happy to add another plate.”

He says it like it’s not turning Buck’s world on its axis, like there’s no room for argument.

It is though. It’s changing everything.

There isn’t room for argument though, not when Chris and Eddie are both looking at him like that. He’s never been able to say no to Chris, and they all know it. Everything else aside, he’ll go anywhere Christopher asks him to, go along with anything he comes up with.

“If you’re sure,” he looks at Eddie, then down to Chris. “Then I suppose I can clear my incredibly busy social calendar.”

“YES!” Christopher cheers and launches himself across Eddie to throw his arms around Buck’s neck at the same time as Eddie replies.

“I’m sure your sofa will miss you terribly.” He rolls his eyes, but feels Buck brush their hands together and smiles. “Besides, if Abuela found out that you’d turned down an invite for her cooking, I don’t know that she’d ever forgive you.”

It’s the last thing Eddie says about it until all three of them are tucked in bed that night, Christopher passed out before Buck could finish the next chapter of Harry Potter. He’d worn himself out over the course of the evening, telling Buck all about the food Abuela was going to cook and the special toys he only gets to play with at her house, and how excited he is for Buck to see the bedroom he sleeps in there when he spends the night.

Buck responded to every bit of it with just as much enthusiasm as Christopher, and he’s still smiling when Eddie pulls him into his arms under the covers.

“So … part of the family?” He’s trying to play it cool, but there’s a hint of hesitation in his voice to match the pounding of his heart. “You’re sure? I know it’s only been a few months, and Chris doesn’t even know yet--”

“He can tell.” Eddie’s voice is steady, a whisper that echoes off the walls of the otherwise silent room. “Maybe we haven’t told him we’re dating, but he knows how much you care. That’s the important part. And he’s right, Buck. Family’s the people you choose, the ones who are there for you. By that definition, you’re way more family than some of our actual blood relatives.”

“Yeah?” Buck smiles up at him, resting his chin on Eddie’s chest. “And you’re sure I can come to dinner Wednesday?”

“It’s Chris’s birthday, he’s in charge of the invites.” Eddie shrugs. “But even if he weren’t, yes. You keep loving us like this, and it’ll become a requirement, not an invitation.”

“I think I can work with that.” Buck murmurs, snuggling in closer and sighing. “’Long as you keep saying I’m part of the family.”

#chrisdiazweek2020 #911 #911 fox #911 fanfic #9-1-1 #9-1-1 fox #9-1-1 fanfic #buddie #buddie fanfic #evan buckley #eddie diaz #christopher diaz #christopher diaz is a national hero #chris diaz #katie writes #kw20 #the original otp

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biographydivider · 2 years

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Well I had to write an El Ratoncito Pérez story, didn’t I?

Thanks to @usedtobeguest123 for the prompt! Also I found this version of the original story and used it as reference, if anyone needs it. It’s super cute! Bruno finds out that his youngest sobrina missed out on a beloved tradition, and decides to fix it.

“No, that is not how it happened!” Pepa leaned forward in her chair, thumping her fist on the breakfast table. “I’m telling you, Bruno; Agustín didn’t break his leg on purpose. He’s clumsy, not stupid.” “He totally did. I remember him telling me he did.” Bruno leant back in his chair, inhaling the smell of rich, dark coffee. How he loved coffee. “He was all like, ‘Nah, I don’t need a soft landing, Bruno. I-it’s all in the pursuit of love, of sweet Juileta…’” “He did not say that.” “Mmyeh, makes a better story than ‘ Agustín met the love of his life because he fell out of a tree onto her brother.’”

“Mamá! Mamá, Mamá look!” Antonio ran up to the table where his Mamá and tio were sitting, opened his mouth wide, and wobbled his front canine with his tongue. “Ah gah ah loof toof!” Mirabel brought up the rear, squeezing her primo’s shoulder before sitting next to her tio. “We just realised it was wobbly and had to come tell you,” she said. “Any coffee left, Bruno?” “Nope. Shoulda got here earlier, kid.” “Tch, so selfish.” Pepa sank to the floor, wrapping Antonio up in a huge hug and peppering his face with kisses, the tears welling up in her eyes before her knees hit the floor. “Ay, my baby! You’re all grown up! My hombrecito, my little buñuelo…” “It feels really weird.” “Stop moving it with your tongue, mi vida.” “Ah, well,” Bruno said, sipping on the last of his coffee, “You’ll be getting a visit from El Ratoncito Pérez soon enough, I guess…” Antonio and Mirabel looked at their tio; heads cocked, identical expressions on their faces. Mirabel inched forward in her chair. “El Raton…’” “Who’s that, Mamá?” Antonio asked, looking up into Pepa’s face. “Do they live in town?” Pepa winced. “You know,” Bruno continued, leaning back in his chair with a nostalgic grin, “Ratoncito Pérez? Th-the little rat? I used to tell the kids about him every time they lost a tooth – I can’t believe you forgot, they loved that story! They were always so excited to see what he drew for them…” “Bruno…” “’coz, y’know, he leaves you a present in exchange for your baby teeth? Lives in a cookie box, with the little red satchel and the…wh-why are you looking at me like that, Pep?” A tiny, grey cloud had appeared over Pepa’s head as she looked down at the floor, hands knotted in her dress. “Um, Bruno…we didn’t…I mean…” She darted a look at her son, and covered his ears with her hands. “You were always the one who did El Ratoncito Pérez when the children were small,” she whispered. “After you…after you left, we, um…” “I just gave my baby teeth to my Mamá,” came a small voice at Bruno’s shoulder. Bruno turned, heart sinking, to see Mirabel gazing into the middle distance, her expression blank. “She kept them in an old box of spices in her room. We painted it together.” She shook her head – just a tiny movement, almost more of a shiver. “So, everyone else got…they got presents, and a story, and I didn’t?” “Oh. Oh, kiddo…” At the sound of his voice, Mirabel looked at Bruno, a memory dawning in her eyes. “Camilo,” she began, and her voice cracked. “Um. He lost his first tooth just before I didn’t get my…um, like, the week before my gift ceremony. And he was so excited, I remember now…” Bruno remembered that day. Camilo finding the little envelope under his pillow, showing everyone the little drawing inside that Bruno had done the night before, sticking it to the wall just above his bed. He’d drawn a tiny mouse-Camilo holding hands with El Ratoncito Pérez. His tiny curls and a big, wide smile with a gap in it. It was the last time he played that game with the kids before he went into the walls. He wondered what had happened to that picture. The cloud burst, slowly tinkling raindrops onto Pepa’s hair. “Mirabel…we didn’t –” “No, Tia Pepa. It’s okay. It’s just another piece of magic that everyone else had. And I didn’t.” Mirabel blinked hard, then stood up. “I’m gonna…I said I’d walk with Abuela into town today. I better go get ready.” She pushed her chair out from the table, making an awful screech against the cobblestones, and walked away without looking back. Bruno watched her go, Antonio breaking free of his mother to run after her. Guilt lay heavy across Bruno’s chest; followed, quickly, by anger. “Seriously, Pep?” he said, jerking his head to glare down at his sister. “You guys couldn’t even do that for her?” She couldn’t look at him. “Bruno…it…it was your thing. We could never do it like you did. Your little drawings, the notes –” “Then just put a coin under her pillow like everyone else in town does, jeez! She was a kid, Pepa, you guys didn’t think she deserved even that tiny bit of –” “We didn’t want to replace you!” “So that means Mirabel gets to suffer? Oh, wait; of course it did.” Bruno stood up from the table. “Sorry, Pepa; I-I’m pretty mad at you and I don’t wanna shout. So, so I’m just gonna go.” “Bruno –!” “See you at dinner.” …

She knew it didn’t matter. The family had been through so much together; grown so much together. So much had been forgiven, and talked over, and rationalised and analysed and swept under the rug. But still. It hurt. Could you miss something you never even had? She’d barely known her Tio Bruno when she was small. And yeah, they were close now. He was – and she’d never say this out loud because it was kinda pathetic – probably her best friend. But she didn’t get to have his bedtime stories, or his hugs when she’d skinned her knee, or ticklefights or rides on his back. Everyone else had these touchstones of memory with him from their childhoods. She didn’t. It seemed there were a lot of things she didn’t get to have. Mirabel had excused herself after dinner and spent the rest of the night reading the Family Book Club book up in her room until it was late enough that she could curl under the covers and close her eyes. For a long while, her brain was just a swirling mess of self-pity and sadness. Then, finally, she tipped over into the blank relief of sleep. When she next opened her eyes, it was the middle of the night. The moon was full, and shining against her curtains, but everything else was thrown into shadow. She could hear her father snoring a few rooms down, the creak and shift of the house settling into itself. And something new. Scrabble-scrabble. Scrabble-scrabble. Scrabble. Mirabel sat up, fumbling for her glasses. Her eyesight was, somehow, even worse than her Papi’s; everything was a mess of smudges without them. In the middle of the floor was a shape. One of Antonio’s toys? How had that ended up in – As she pushed her glasses into place, Mirabel realised it wasn’t a toy. It was a rat. A small, soft, mist-grey rat, with a miniature straw hat and – Mirabel’s chest tightened – a tiny red satchel, the strops looped over its front paws, stuffed with rolls of paper. The rat spotted her and turned its tiny head. Mirabel froze. The rat scurried up the bedpost at the far left of her bed, making its way over the hills and valleys of her sheets until it was sitting on her knee. It sat up on its hind legs and looked at her, cocking its head this way and that, the moonlight caught in its beady, black eyes. Mirabel reached out one hand, and it snuffled at her fingers. It tickled, but Mirabel didn’t laugh. She barely wanted to breathe. This seemed like something from a dream, and if she made too loud a noise, she’d wake up. The rat turned away from her, showing her the contents of its satchel. It squeaked, once, in an instructional kind of way. With shaking fingers, Mirabel took the scrolls of paper from the satchel, and laid them in her lap. With that, the rat gave her one last look, and was gone; down the bedpost, onto the floor, and lost in the shadows of her room. After a long, long moment, when her room fell quiet again, Mirabel leaned over and tugged the curtains open; just enough so she could read by the light of the moon. The first scroll, when she unfurled it, was no bigger than the palm of her hand. ‘Dearest Mirabel,’ it read, ‘I must first apologise for the lateness of these missives. You see, I have been on a long and perilous adventure with my best friend, King Bubi (I shall tell you all about him in Letter #2). The terribly wicked cat, Don Pedro, dogged our steps at every turn (which was quite impolite of him, being a cat), and so I am only just now writing to you...’ There were so many letters. Each one had a new story, or a little drawing (her favourite one was of a Ratty Tio Bruno running away from a housecat who bore more than a passing similarity to Parce, Antonio’s jaguar friend), coloured in with coffee grinds and shaded with pencil. Mirabel spent the rest of the night hugging her knees, squinting as she read each story in turn, running her fingers over the small, untidy, familiar writing. She smiled a lot – pressing her hand to her mouth to stop the giggles – and often had to pause to wipe away a tear before it smudged anything she hadn’t read yet. Just before sunrise, as her eyes were beginning to ache, she tucked the letters into her bedside drawer and snuggled down onto her pillow. “Thank you, Ratoncito Pérez,” she whispered, closing her eyes again.

…

Bruno woke up to a small, twitching nose pressing into his palm. “Wha…” he muttered blearily, before sitting up in bed, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Rosa sat on the edge of his mattress, her satchel wonky on her back, hat hanging off one ear. Bruno had been so pleased to find the old costumes tucked away with the rest of his stuff. He couldn’t remember how he’d made the hat. “Hey, mi vida,” he murmured sleepily, gently removing Rosa’s outfit. “Did you have fun in your first starring role?” Rosa was his ingenue; at only a few months old, she was just starting to learn the ropes of Bruno’s troupe of performing rats. She needed her big break. Plus, it was less likely Mirabel would recognise her. A little suspension of disbelief went a long way to make a really good story. “C’mon,” he said, lying back down and letting Rosa make a temporary nest in his hair, “we can get a little more sleep before she wakes up.” If Mirabel was anything like her sisters, Dolores and Camilo, she would burst in here in, oh, about an hour or so, to show him her gifts from Ratoncito Pérez. And, just like the old days, he’d smile and ask questions and muss her hair and wish he had a big pot of coffee because it was really, really early, kiddo, can we do this at the breakfast table? He couldn’t wait.

#el ratoncito perez #encanto #encanto fanfic #Bruno Madrigal #mirabel madrigal #pensandpizza #grumpy bruno AND good tio bruno?#sign me up

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achitka · 1 year

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Doors (Chapter 28) Camilo's Ride

Chapter 27: on AO3

Summary: Adventure time! and I managed to make it through another day. go me

Camilo's Ride

Pepa watched as Camilo rode off on Parce into the hallway. She was feeling a mixture of angst and pride for her boy. When she heard her own thunder she forced herself to adjust her thinking. No, Camilo wasn’t a boy anymore. Félix had said as much when telling her about what he’d done, without hesitation, to help the children trapped in that house. Such a fine young man. Another one of her kiddos was all but grown, Pepa sighed, that was gonna take some getting used to. Félix came up next to her just as her gentle rain started to fall, opening an umbrella.

It was probably a good thing that Camilo felt comfortable enough to do as he did. Mamá had asked them all to not interfere when she turned to meeting over to Mirabel. It wasn’t that she didn’t want their opinions, she did, but she also wanted to see how Mira would handle things between herself and the younger generation. Bruno agreed, saying she’d been so long on the outer edge of the family that now that she was at the center of it, he was just as concerned it could be a problem. So, when Camilo spoke up for his little brother, it was hard to just watch and wait. But Camilo, thankfully was past his ‘jerk’ phase. That had ended when Casita fell, and he lost his Gift. A lot of his who he thought he was, was wrapped up in that. He was still hyper energetic but now he was setting goals and priorities for his future beyond irritating his family.

Still, he had always been an extraordinary big brother. He’d do whatever it took to protect Antonio, even if that perceived threat was his favorite prima and honorary hermanita. The cousins were as close as siblings, being born so close together, they’d spent the first four years of their lives with each other every day and neither ever held back once a disagreement started, their fights were almost legendary. It was when they worked together that things would get weird, poor Isabela being their favorite target.

Though Casita had never directly interfered on Mira’s behalf before, Mirabel seemed just as surprised as Camilo that it had happened at all. She’d have to ask Juli what Casita said when Mira asked the house to stop. That eye roll wasn’t for nothing. Pepa was actually surprised that Mirabel did, it was something that would have never happened under her Abuela’s watch. Casita had always been an extension of their mother’s authority over the family. Second only to that candle.

It seemed like yesterday Camilo was five-year-old, excited, and happy to get his Gift. Since he had just entered a growth spurt, it took a little time afterward to figure out why he was eating so much more than the average little kid. You would have thought there was a hole in his foot but rearranging his body used up a lot of his energy very quickly, so the more shifting he did, the more he would need to eat. In the beginning, not knowing why he was eating so much she’d tried to restrict it. That is until the day he shifted his little self until he literally passed out. Just a regular day, he was playing in the nursery with his prima when Mirabel screamed for her and Pepa had never moved so quickly. She flew up the stairs to find him passed out on the floor half stuck in the shape of the last person he copied. Mirabel said she’d tried to get him to stop and go eat but he just wouldn’t listen to her.

Still her misshapen son, lying on the floor terrified her enough that she scolded Mirabel. Insisting that him eating would not have solved this problem. The child had done nothing but seeing her sobrina shrink back from her as she now did with her Abuela made Pepa quickly apologize. She instantly knew that should have never come out of her mouth. She found out later from Felix that her sobrina had crawled under her bed, refusing to come out, for food or anything. Even her sisters couldn’t convince her that primo was fine and that her Tía wasn’t mad at her. Camilo must have overheard because he snuck out of his room after everyone was asleep and went into the nursery. And that’s where she found them both the next morning. Asleep under Mira’s bed.

Once Pepa had scooped Camilo up, she carried him to Julieta in town. Her ever-calm sister told her he was definitely dehydrated. She had cups with special lids for smaller kids and was able to get at least a small amount of juice in his mouth. He woke suddenly reverting back to himself and just cried saying he was so hungry. Pepa’s heart was breaking as she sat on a stool. Mirabel had been right, she seemed to understand before any of the adults that he needed more food since getting his Gift and would often sneak snacks to him before and after dinner, oftentimes saving him seconds. She always seemed to know when he was truly hungry and not just vying for additional treats.

Now Pepa was forcing herself to breathe through her nose and think happy thoughts so she would not rain on her baby. Julieta offered him several buñuelos, which he ate, and he finally stopped crying. Julieta noticed him looking longingly at the arepas on her table and smiled as she told him he could have more but made him drink a full cup of water before she picked up that basket and gave it to Pepa. “Take him home, keep him out of the sun and let him eat his fill, but make sure he drinks a lot more water. We’ll need to watch him since it looks like he may have overused his Gift.”

Word always traveled too quickly in the tiny town and before long her mother appeared with Isabela in tow as Julieta was telling her what she should do. Pepa held Camilo just a little closer, afraid of what her mother would say. There were times she thought her mother would try to take Camilo away from her. That she couldn’t handle her own children. When their mother found out it was Mirabel he was with, she took it as an opportunity to insinuate that Mirabel had done something to make it happen. It was ridiculous, but lately her mother had begun blaming Mirabel for any misfortune that came along. This included the disappearance of their brother six months prior.

Julieta, already tired from a full day of ‘helping’ the community, asked their mother quite pointedly if she was actually blaming her nieta. Julieta did not mince words with their mother. She was always respectful but since Mirabel didn’t get a Gift she’d become hyper aware of their mother’s bias against Mirabel. Their mother, never one to back down, tried to revise what she said by adding that perhaps they were spending too much time together and Camilo wanting to cheer up his prima was overdoing it to an extreme after doing ‘chores’ in the village. The expression on Julieta’s face said it all. It was clear their mother was trying to find a way to make this Mirabel’s fault.

Later that evening Dolores came to her, she looked nervous as she told her about the gossip in town, how they were saying that Mirabel was the one that caused Camilo to pass out. Something she did to him. Pepa realized later what she did not then. She’d unconsciously taken what her mother said to heart and began limiting their playtime in a way she’d not done previously. When Julieta noticed and asked her why, she did not have a good answer, but she also did not stop doing it. With Bruno gone, there was no one to mediate her and Julieta’s nonsensical arguments. He would have told her to stop being so dramatic, Camilo was fine, no one was dead. He always ended with no one was dead. So, the sisters had to work it out on their own. Meaning they did nothing. Just went on about their days pretending everything was fine as the gap slowly widened between their families.

It was times like these that she missed Bruno the most and Pepa grew angry every time someone even mentioned his name. Their mother had just stopped talking about him all together. No one in town wanted to be nailed to a wall with her glare. So, he became a ghost, a painful memory that she did not want to revisit so she did not. Julieta, however, refused to pretend that Bruno did not exist and would talk about Bruno, regardless of the glares and looks given by herself and Mamá but only if the children asked.

In the end Pepa discovered her machinations were for nothing because Camilo already had ideas on how that should be handled. He was much like his father in that regard, and she learned later the two were in cahoots. Felix was genuinely fond of Bruno and did not agree with her that they should pretend he didn’t exist. It was just wrong. When Camilo figured out that she was keeping his prima away from him, he changed tactics asking his father’s advice. His father told him, “You’re both the same age. You go to school together, spend the day in class together, come home together…Whose to know?” Once home though they would be divided when their Abuela decided Camilo needed to do ‘chores’. She never failed to separate the pair whenever she saw them together and Camilo began finding even more ways to make himself scarce.

Now their mother was sitting at the table with concern clearly written on her face. She was watching Bruno but not with impatience as she would have in the past, but with compassion. The use of these ‘Gifts’ they’d been given had always come at a cost. Since the magic returned, it was obvious that the guilt she’d bottled up since the breaking was starting to bubble up. Pepa understood that feeling, her own children’s Gifts had always seemed more of a burden than an actual blessing. Watching them struggle with them and not being strong enough to do more than encourage them to accept their fate as she had.

She looked back over at her brother, he was sitting with his hood up, hands on the table in front of him, tapping his fingers raw. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was tired or enduring another vision. There had been too many and most of Bruno’s nervous tics were becoming more and more evident. Bruno even suffered a sponty just prior to everyone coming up here. He said it told him that they would need some food, but not why. Pepa knew better than to ask too many questions. She didn’t push since it was clear that Bruno expected her to do something about it and if she did nothing, she would end up doing something about it anyway so went to the kitchen and got the basket of sweet buns. Julieta realized he was out of drafts and went to get the fresh ones she’d set aside for their brother.

When Camilo began rapidly shifting, and she realized he was trying to make fur, the reason for the food was confirmed. Since the magic returned, and with no expectation to use it in the Encanto, he was himself more often than not. Without proper care he’d overdo it for sure. Still, what he’d achieved tonight was quite remarkable. Of course, now he was likely to start trying to imitate other types of animals. Copying people had become somewhat boring for him. He could do it with barely any information, sometimes just a glance was all it took.

Pepa was pleased she was able to come up with a way to help him with what he was struggling with. The fact that he didn’t push her away when she attempted to help, as he had often done in the past, showed her that the breaking had brought them closer. Bruno showed them that Parce was going to find the people they were looking for. He just didn’t know how that would come about. They knew it was Parce and not a wild jaguar because there was someone on his back that was difficult to see. Knowing now that it was Camilo in jaguar clothes and not Antonio made her feel somewhat better about it, but that was still one of her babies. Félix gave her a squeeze and pulled her closer when it rained a little harder and said, “He can do this, mi vida. He looked very determined.”

Pepa nodded. Both Dolores and Camilo appeared to be adjusting to the return and change to the magic, primarily because Mirabel was very supportive of them and believed that they were capable of altering how they used their Gifts. Also, she realized all of her children had never worked as a team before. She included Antonio in this because without him, they’d still be sitting around trying to figure out how to approach this problem. Before the break Pepa herself believed they’d learned all they could about using them. Even she found she could be more deliberate in the weather she manifested simply because she was the one who decided it should be so. That Mirabel prioritized that they should have lives that did not revolve around the use of them made her very happy indeed.

Pepa watched Julieta and Gus go by with Bruno, walking with him back to his room she supposed. They were walking on either side ready to support his slightly wobbly self as he carried the tablet and sketches. They’d all noticed he was moving in that very deliberate fashion since leaving his room earlier. Dragging himself about. Now that things were in motion she hoped he could go deal with the vision that was probably giving him a raging headache. All the signs were there, and she was impressed with how long Bruno managed to hold himself together. While in the past Bruno had been able to push them down for far longer, he’d been having almost non-stop spontys given the number of sketches he’d made. That also made her wonder what sort of vision he’d had in the city.

Mirabel was looking out the window in the direction Camilo would have taken, she was clearly on edge because she started when Abuela got up and asked if they were coming to Mirabel’s room to see how Camilo was doing. This broke the tension and Pepa’s realization that she could in fact check up on his progress caused her cloud to instantly vanish. As they were passing Bruno’s door Mirabel stopped for a moment and looked at it. There was confusion there, but she continued toward her room when Abuela touched her arm pulling her out of her thoughts. Julieta and Gus came out of their room, and they came over and joined them.

“Is Tío Bruno alright?” Mirabel asked her mother.

Julieta looked back at Bruno’s door and said, “As well as he can be, I think.”

Mirabel nodded and they continued toward her room. Once inside Abuela went into her room but left the door open. Everyone else joined Dolores, Isabela, and Luisa. They had spread some blankets and pillows on the floor, quietly chatting, while watching a cluster of lights that had two tiny heads floating amongst them. Dolores was so much more animated, though she was back to speaking in quieter tones. Luisa nudged Isabela and Isa looked over at Abuela’s door and shook Isa head. Luisa sighed as the pair returned their attention to the floor. Isa pointed at something in the picture of Casita and Luisa leaned in to get a better look.

Dolores held up her hand and Isa and Luisa fell silent as she touched the tiny jaguar head and said, “No you are headed in the right direction, but they are more to the northwest – I’d say more north than west.” Dolores paused as she listened to his response and then said “Hmmm, okay try this. Go forward a few meters…ah, okay, keep going straight for a few more minutes I’ll signal you when you should head to your right. If you veer off I’ll let you know.” The little jaguar then continued on in the direction she indicated. Mirabel went over and knelt down to watch with her sisters, complimenting Casita on the adorableness of the floating head. She looked over to the door then as it opened to show Antonio.

He had a rat on one shoulder and a small bat hanging from the other. He moved over to where his sister was. She saw the animals but gave her brother a hug anyway. Antonio pointed at the little jaguar face that Casita had made for Camilo and said, “Is that Parce?”

“It’s Milo, disguised as a jaguar,” Isabela said in dramatic fashion.

“But they are together,” Dolores added.

Antonio nodded. He got down on his hands and knees, face close to the floor watching the little head move.

Isabela then asked, “Why do you have a bat?”

Antonio sat back and the animals rearranged themselves so they wouldn’t fall off and said, “Tina sent her to tell me she found the camp.”

“The owl sent a bat?” Isabela asked.

“Yeah, she promised not to eat them if they helped.”

“Oh,” Isabela said and chuckled, “Well that sounds perfectly logical to me, primo. Good job.”

Antonio smiled and pointed to the bat, “This is Juana,” he said as the tiny bat climbed from his shoulder to his hand and squeaked inquiringly. “No, I don’t think Tina would do that.” Another squeak and Antonio got up.

Mirabel got up as well and said to the bat, “Thank you for your help today, Juana.”

The bat squeaked a reply and tugged on Antonio’s cuff.

“She needs to get back home.” Antonio said. He went to the window then as Casita opened the shutters and the bat leapt from his hand and flew out into the night. Antonio waved before turning back and said to Mirabel, “Tina said she’s going to stay until morning and watch them. She can’t count but said there were a bunch of people there, mostly big ones.”

“Mostly? Are there children, mi vida?” Pepa asked.

“She called them chicks so maybe,” Antonio said with a shrug.

He said this so matter of factly that Pepa smiled. Félix picked him up and was not put off by the rat still with him as he said, “That is good information, Toni, but it is getting pretty late.”

“I know, I’m just a little worried about Camilo, he’s never ridden a jaguar before.”

“True,” Félix said.

“Please Pá, is it okay if I stay up. Just for a little bit?” Antonio asked this, eyes wide and full of hope.

Félix looked at their youngest and then to her. Pepa sighed, she could tell Antonio was tired, but she knew he’d keep popping up without Parce there. She came over and put a hand on her husband’s shoulder and said, “Alright, mi pequeño, for just a little bit.”

Antonio smiled as his father put him down and he rejoined his sister who pulled him into her lap and began telling him about his big brother’s adventures.

----------------------------

Camilo held on to the bounding jaguar, leaning close to his back as Parce made his way up the mountain. Antonio made this look so easy or maybe it was because Toni trusted Parce implicitly. Toni told him to pay attention to the animals, in other words, trust the jaguar, he knows what he’s doing out here. Camilo knew this area, it was directly north of Casita and the path most taken by the residents to reach the outlying farms. The path started to the north then veered westward following the curves of the farms. He was surprised how quickly they were able to make it to the very end of that road and Camilo asked Parce to stop to get an idea of where he was headed. He sat up and asked, “Dolores?”

(Yes, Milo.)

“I’m at the furthest edge of the western farms, where to next?”

(I can see you.)

“You can?”

(Well, I can see where you are. I was able to have Casita label your light while you were still here.)

“Oh,” he said and decided he needed to get a good look at that map in Mira’s room. Probably would have been better if he’d looked before he left but the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “So, any guesses on how far we need to go and which direction?”

(Westerly to start. I’m not sure what the distances are…maybe ten kilometers from where you are now?)

“Got it,” he said and pointed in that direction and said to Parce. “Dolores says we need to go this way.”

The jaguar chuffed and started off again at a more reasonable pace. Camilo still leaned close to the jaguar’s back not wanting to be hit by a random branch as the big cat made his way deeper into the woods. The moon hadn’t risen yet and Camilo was taken aback by just how dark it was and how silently the jaguar moved. Another half hour of walk running and they stopped in the next clearing “Dol? I feel like we’re getting off course.”

(No, you are headed in the right direction, but they are more to the northwest – I’d say more north than west.)

“Only one problem with that, Sis. I got no moon, and the stars are hidden by trees and clouds.”

(Hmmm, okay try this. Go forward a few meters)

“Parce, can you walk a few meters that way?,” he asked pointing. The jaguar did and Dolores said, (Ah, okay, keep going straight for a few more minutes I’ll signal you when you should head to your right. If you veer off I’ll let you know.)

“Got it.” Sounded as reasonable as anything else he’d heard tonight so Camilo pointed, and Parce again moved forward. The trees got even thicker making progress slow. After a while Dolores indicated they should head to the right. Camilo was not at all sure how to communicate that to Parce when they were not stopped. In the end he decided to pat the right side of the jaguar’s neck, get his attention and point. This seemed to work as Parce turned and moved in that direction. Twenty more minutes of walking and he heard Dolores say, (You’re close, but it looks like someone’s broken off from the group, headed your way. Be careful – it’s not labeled but from the sounds of it, it is probably one on the kids…not Fernando.)

He had almost forgotten about the old man and Camilo nearly lost his purchase when Parce veered left and off of the game trail. The jaguar stopped not far into the forest and dropped into a low crouch. Camilo looked around but the trees were pretty dense here. Pay attention, his brother had admonished so Camilo tried to listen to the sounds of the forest. After another tense ten minutes he heard a dog bark then go silent. The night air was cool, but Camilo’s fur outfit was almost too warm as he could feel his sweat going cold on his face. Dolores’s soft voice came, and he nearly shifted out of his fur, (Milo, whoever it is, sounds frightened, their breathing is very rapid.) Camilo got off of Parce and edged closer to the trail and waited. He continued watching the trail as there was another short burst of barking.

“Dol, can you guess how far?”

(Maybe half a kilometer away, I can hear the dog. I’m assuming Doris is near it, but she’s stopped moving.)

“She’s not following?”

(Not yet.)

He climbed back up on Parce and said to the jaguar, “Let’s get as close as we can and see if we can find the kid.”

Parce let out a low growl and moved up the trail. After a few minutes, the jaguar stopped and looked back at him. Camilo got down from the jaguar and moved to the edge of the trees. Parce moved past him across the trail into the trees and Camilo lost sight of him pretty quickly. He remained very still, and Dolores said, (They’ll be right in front of you very soon.)

“Got it.”

Camilo stepped out onto the trail just as a small child rounded a bend. There was no avoiding the collision and Camilo increased his size enough to keep from being knocked down. The dog barked again, it was closer now and Dolores said, (Doris is moving toward you.) The child was at first struggling mightily, but then they looked up at Camilo, squeaked and fainted. Camilo almost dropped the dead weight and remembered he looked like a jaguar. After a moment of uncertainty, he decided to hang on to them and step off the trail. He backed into the forest, not wanting to turn away and was doing his best to not trip. Once out of sight of the trail, he propped the kid up against a tree and Camilo shifted back to himself and pulled off his ruana. He wrapped it around the kid who was to his mind too cold. He waited and watched nervously as Parce came out of the forest and stood blocking the trail waiting for the dog to come around the bend. When it did, it skidded to a halt to keep from running into the jaguar that was at least four times its size. The dog growled but Parce let out an impressive sound as he took two steps toward the dog that made it yip in fright and turn back to run the way it had come.

Parce then proceeded to ‘mark’ the area where the child had run into Camilo. Then rolled about destroying any footprints in the area. (What’s happening? Doris is running toward you now.)

“Can’t talk now…” Camilo whispered.

(Okay, be safe.)

Parce leapt off the trail, climbed into a nearby tree with branches that overhung the trail and just sat. He let out a low growl when Doris came around the bend with her dog. The dog whined and Doris immediately stopped, and Camilo saw the angry face he’d seen in the vision, there were no kids with her, and Camilo wondered why. More questions for his Tío or maybe she was always angry. Doris backed away slowly, keeping her eyes locked on the jaguar. Parce had not moved at all but instead was watching the woman the way a cat watches a bird.

(Doris is moving away now…tell me what’s happening)

“I have one of the kids. He’s or maybe she? Anyway, they're out cold. Accidentally scared them with my disguise. So, what now?” There was an unusually long pause and Camilo asked, “Dol?”

Dolores said, (Hang on, Milo)

Not being able to hear what they were saying was making him even jumpier than he was before.

(Milo?)

“Yeah?”

(Mirabel wants you to start down and have Parce listen for Antonio.)

“Why?” he asked, failing to keep the irritation out of his voice. Wasn’t the whole point of him being out here to keep Toni out of it?

(Just do it Milo,) Dolores said impatiently, almost angrily as she continued, (Doris is on her way back toward you and we don’t know if they have weapons.)

His irritation vanished. He hadn’t considered that and responded, “Right, sorry Dol, getting a bit tired.”

(Me too, hermanito.) she said but the anger was gone from her voice.

Camilo only paused long enough to listen to be sure no one was near and picked up the kid. They were surprisingly light given their size. Parce was waiting patiently nearby, and Camilo carefully placed the child in front of him. He made everything about himself thinner, except his arms, those he let remain their normal size to steady the child and said to Parce, “We’re heading back but Mirabel wants you to listen for Antonio.”

Parce chuffed and started forward, head occasionally turning and ears swiveling. The jaguar chuffed again and turned abruptly left, loping but not running toward a light that popped up in the darkness in front of them. While worrisome, Camilo doubted he would be able to get the jaguar to stop so he could look around and did his best to hold on and not be unseated. The jaguar leapt forward into that light and Camilo closed his eyes against its brightness. Parce skidded to a halt and Camilo fell off, managing to shift back to himself and keep the kid on top of him as he hit the floor. He blinked and realized he was home, probably in the upper tower of Casita. His parents, Antonio, Isa, and Luisa were there. Toni already had his arms around the jaguar’s neck. Parce lowered himself and nudged him. Camilo let his head drop back on the floor. His father carefully lifted the still unconscious child off of him and Camilo rolled on his side and let out a groan.

“You did very well, Camilo. Very well,” his father said. He handed the child off to Luisa and she headed to a nearby door that was open. After a moment, his Tía Julieta popped through and pulled it shut. He sat up and craned his neck to take in everything. Just so many doors. There was only one that was red, so Camilo assumed that was the one that Tío Bruno used to go to Bogota. His mother appeared in front of him and helped him off the floor, then wrapped him up in a fierce hug as if he’d been gone years instead of a few hours.

She released him when the door his Tía had closed earlier opened and Abuela was there with Dolores and Mirabel. His sister sighed with relief but she looked almost as tired as he felt hungry. He’d never considered that her Gift could be so taxing, but there was no reason to think it wouldn’t be. They were both using their Gifts in ways not previously considered, so it would take some time to gauge their limits. He decided Dolores was just better at hiding them than he was. The whole we are the Madrigals and we’re all fine mentality he’d been born into was a hard habit to break.

Speaking of; his stomach picked that moment to protest loudly. Damn, he was hungry. With everything that had been happening, he’d been shifting and holding shapes longer than he’d had to since before the breaking. His mother was now holding a covered basket and he could tell by the smell they were cheesy buñuelos, which were his one of his favorites. She handed him the basket saying, “Made them myself, Corazón, now eat before you pass out.” She then turned and knelt in front of Toni saying, “You did so well, Toni. I am so proud of you, mi vida, but it’s time for bed, no more excuses.”

“Okay, Mamí,” Antonio said.

Camilo had already popped a few buñuelos in his mouth and went over to his brother. He handed the basket to Mirabel and knelt down giving Toni a squeeze and said, “Thanks for letting Parce work with me, Toni. Couldn’t have done it without him.” The jaguar chuffed as if that should have been obvious. Dolores was next to him then and she cleared her throat, arms crossed. “You too, Sis. That’s an impressive new skill you’ve got. Definitely kept me out of trouble.” Camilo got up to hug her as well when Antonio shouted, “Jaguar pounce!”

Dolores smiled through her wince and Camilo caught his little brother midair. He was surprised Toni could even jump that high. Antonio pulled his sister in because he enjoyed nothing more than a good group hug. Camilo’s stomach again protested his lack of sustenance, and his mother came over and lifted Antonio onto Parce and said with some accompanying thunder, “Eat, boy.”

Mirabel immediately stepped forward with the basket, handing it off, then turned to ruffle Antonio’s hair. “Good night Toni, see you in the morning,” she said as Parce headed toward the stairs.

“Night!” Toni shouted as he disappeared down the steps.

“Well, I’m off to bed,” his mother said, “Once I make sure Antonio is down for the night. Good night everyone.” And she too went down the stairs. Camilo popped another buñuelo into his mouth as the plain door opened again and Tío Agustín was there. He waved to them and everyone still in the tower went into what turned out to be Abuela’s room. Camilo was mildly weirded out, he’d never actually been ‘in’ his Abuela’s room before. Only ever seeing it from the hallway. A small cot had been set up in the corner. The kid was in the deep sleep of exhaustion and Abuela moved next to him and said quietly. “Nieto, thank you for helping this child. So many new things you are learning,” She paused and asked hesitantly, “I never got to ask, did your interview go well?”

Camilo smiled. That had completely slipped out of his head. He’d already told his parents and he remembered the box of books he was supposed to be reading and said, “Yes, I’ve been accepted as an apprentice at the school.”

“That’s wonderful news, Camilo,” his Abuela said smiling and it struck Camilo that she looked like his Mamí when she did.

“Yes, that’s my boy,” his father said and put an arm around his shoulders. “Good man.”

“Yeah, congratulations, primo.” Isabela and Luisa said.

Tía Julieta was up from the chair near the bed and said, “That is wonderful, Camilo, but you all need to leave, or you’ll wake this child.” As she passed him , she handed him his ruana. She then went to the door and Camilo was amazed it was not the tower, but Mirabel’s room. Dolores moved past them into Mira’s room and stopped her prima as she went by and whispered something that only she could hear and Mirabel responded with an embarrassed smile and said, “Thanks Dolores, but all I did was rely on all of you. I really appreciate everything you did tonight, but are you really alright?”

Dolores seemed taken aback by that question. As far as Camilo knew no one ever asked his sister if she was alright. Dolores undid the knot that were Mirabel’s hands from in front of her and said, “I’m tired so right now everything is just a little too loud. That can happen when I’ve overdo it sometimes. In fact, I think I’m going to my room.”

Mirabel nodded and said very quietly, “Good night.”

Dolores plucked a buñuelo from his basket and popped it in her mouth as she went by, “Good night, Milo.”

“Night, Sis,” Camilo said softly.

Next to go were Mirabel’s sisters. Isa patted Mirabel’s head telling her she’d totally nailed it. Mirabel pushed her hand away as Luisa patted her back and winked. Isabela said she couldn’t wait to find out how this would all end and how wonderful it was going to be to go to Bogotá. They said good night and left followed shortly by his and Mira’s dads with an admonition to get some sleep. Camilo reached into the basket to discover he’d only a few buñuelos left. He offered one to Mira which she declined, telling him he really needed to eat as much as possible.

“Guess I’ll go to bed too,” Camilo said, popping the last buñuelo into his mouth and handing her the empty basket.

“Yeah, it is pretty late,” Mirabel said, hugging the basket to herself.

He started toward the door and turned back and said, “We really are better together.” Camilo felt strangely embarrassed by that statement and said, “Wow, there must have been extra cheese in those,” he said looking at the floor. “G’night Mira,” he said as he waved while heading out the door.

“G’night Cam.”

-----------------------------

Mirabel watched the door close behind Camilo and said softly, “Sleep well big brother.” Her mother came out of Abuela’s room and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer.

“You should get some sleep, Corazón. You have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow and Casita will let us know when the child wakes,” her mother said as she turned her to face her.

“Okay Mamá.”

Her mother smiled and squished her cheeks as she covered her face with kisses. She pulled a mildly resistant Mirabel into a fierce hug and said, “I am so very proud of you Corazón. And not just for this, but for the young woman you are becoming.”

Mirabel smiled and thought this was just the safest place in the world as the tenseness in her shoulders eased and she finally released the yawn she’d been stifling. She leaned into her mother and returned the hug saying, “I learned from the best, Mamá.”

Next Chapter:

Previous Chapter:

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You can read the rest here if you are so inclined.

#encanto 2021 #encanto disney #encanto fanfic #the family madrigal #camilo madrigal #pepa madrigal #mirabel madrigal #julieta madrigal #maybe i should write soaps #abuela alma madrigal #dolores madrigal

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ficsandcatsandficsandcats · 4 years

Note

Just thought of another idea for the Punk!AU 😊 How about the reader heavily pregnant, and is doing some last minute baby shopping with her mom, and she goes into labour in the shopping mall, but Jaskier and the band are doing a gig, and the reader’s mom phones Jaskier ranting to him, to get there quickly, as his wife is in labour, and there’s basically these hilarious things going on, like people giving the reader funny looks, whilst she’s on the floor, and things like that.

Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Punk!Jaskier x Reader, Punk!Geralt x Punk!Yennefer, Punk!Valdo x Punk!Aevryn Word Count: 1,841 Rating: T Taglist: @heroics-and-heartbreak @whatevermonkey @mynamesoundslikesherlock @magic-multicolored-miracle @writingstudent @mlleecrivaine @coffee-and-stories @ultracolorfulnerdcollection @astouract @your-not-invisible-to-me @kemmastan @mycat-is-mylove @amirahiddleston a/n: I toyed with the prompt a bit but I hope you still like the result. Thank you!

The first thought you had as the contraction hit was Jaskier is never going to let this go.

Just that morning he’d fretted over you wanting to go to the grocery store. You insisted on going, in part because you were determined to prove that you weren’t an invalid and in part because you were going insane sitting in the house waiting for a baby who was taking her sweet time coming. He’d almost gone with you but you’d put your foot down here as well, reminding him that he needed to work on sound editing with the group in the studio and that if anything happened (which, you so arrogantly insisted it wouldn’t) he wouldn’t be far away.

You clutched the rack of onesies as a second contraction hit and you started to quietly talk to the baby.

“Sam, don’t do this. Not now. Not in a Target. I know we don’t know each other much yet but just do your mom this favor, ok kiddo?” you pleaded.

Then your water broke.

“Already taking your dad’s side I see,” you muttered as you pulled out your phone. Jaskier answered halfway through the first ring.

“Y/N? What’s happening?” he asked in a panicked voice. You had a moment of pure stubbornness where you considered saying everything was fine and just trying to keep it together till you got home but while you were still having this admittedly ridiculous thought another contraction hit.

“Y/N are you alright? I heard a strange noise,” Jaskier asked as you tried to stifle your pained cry.

“Let me have the phone,” you heard a voice said and then Geralt was on the line, “Y/N? Is it time?”

“Yes,” you bit out.

“Where are you?” he asked, his voice low and calm.

“Target. 2nd Avenue. Hurry.”

“We’re not far, we’ll be there soon. It’s going to be ok.”

-----

“What the fresh hell is this?” Jaskier cried, kicking at the flat tire of his car, regretting his choice to have them all carpool for inner city travel. Geralt pulled up Uber while Yennefer made a call, not bothering to take the time to discuss it with Jaskier though she doubted even he would care if this meant getting them to Y/N on time.

“Valdo?” Yennefer said into the phone, Geralt and Jaskier both looking over to her in surprise, “Where are you right now? Y/N’s in labor and Jaskier’s car has a flat tire.”

“I knew we should have taken Roach,” Geralt muttered under his breath.

“Target. I know, he tried to tell her but she’s stubborn. Which are you closer to? Get her first, we’ll find a way there. Yes I’m sure. Ok bye.”

Jaskier stared at Yennefer expectantly.

“Well? What’s happening?”

“Valdo is closer to Y/N, he’s going to pick her up and take her to the hospital. We’re going to meet them there, Geralt have you found an uber?”

“Five minutes away,” he answered.

-----

“Yes love we’re on our way there now. Breathe with me, alright?”

Jaskier guided you through the phone from the back of the little Prius that had gathered them. Geralt sat in the back with him, knees pressed up nearly into his chest while Yennefer texted someone hurriedly. You stood outside of the Target leaning against one of the decorative cement balls, glaring at anyone who walked by you and so much as gave you a second glance.

“Where is Valdo?” you asked miserably, and then you saw him. Well, you saw a pitch black Tesla come careening around a corner, deftly avoiding shopping carts and lamp posts. The moment the car came to a stop, Valdo jumped out, already opening the doors with his key fob.

“Hello mummy to be, let’s get you inside,” he said in a voice that was forcibly calm but you could see a little bit of panic in the usually unflappable emerald eyes. You let him guide you into the car, seizing his hand in a death grip as another contraction hit. He gently rubbed circles into your back until the moment passed and moved around to the other side of the car before shaking out his possibly fractured hand. As soon as the door closed and you were buckled in, he set off. You heard a strange shouting noise.

“Is the radio on?” you asked.

“No but it can be,” Valdo answered, already reaching for the dial. You glanced down and realized the sound you heard was Jaskier, still on the phone.

“Oh shit! Hey, babe, hey I’m sorry,” you said.

“What’s happening?” Jaskier asked, “We’re at the hospital, where are you?”

“Valdo just picked me up, we’re on our way now.”

“Y/N love would you put me on speaker phone?” Jaskier asked, his voice just a tad too calm. You were in no mood to argue so you hit the button and clenched the side of the car as another contraction broke.

“Valdo Marx you listen to me. Rivalry aside, the people in that car are everything I’ve got and if any harm comes to either one of them I don’t care how much Aevryn loves you, I will end you,” Jaskier said, his voice a dark, dangerous hiss.

“If something happens to either of them Aevryn will end me first,” Valdo replied simply, “Now keep your pants on, we’re pulling up soon. Grab a wheelchair.”

“I already have one,” Jaskier said.

“Excellent, see you soon.”

-----

The moment you pulled up you could see Geralt, Yennefer, and Jaskier already waiting with a wheelchair, each with excited, anxious smiles and no small amount of relief. Jaskier opened the door and pulled you into his arms for just an instant and you embraced him tightly.

“Jaskier I’m scared,” you whispered into his ear.

“I know, my love, but I’m not,” he lied, pressing a soft kiss to your temple, “We’re all here. You’re not going through this alone. Well, you are in some very important ways but we have your back.”

“Where’s-”

“Y/N!”

You had just sat in your wheelchair when you saw Aevryn and Win running up to the doors. Aevryn had gone to pick up Win the moment Valdo told her what was going on, knowing you’d want your best friend with you as much as anyone else.

“Alright, I have the push playlist, I have the chocolate, let’s go have a baby,” Win exclaimed.

One of the benefits of being the wife of a famous musician was you got seen quickly. You would have felt guilty about this but you felt that nothing could happen soon enough. The beauty of the room was totally lost on you as you asked every person wearing scrubs who walked by you where the drugs were. It got to the point where Jaskier was worried they were going to UA you but fortunately this was a common response and after a much shorter period of time than it felt you were sitting leaned forward as they administered the epidural.

“It’s a shame Aevryn isn’t in here, she’d have found this fascinating,” Jaskier said, keeping his eyes firmly away from what was going on with your spine and focusing instead on holding your hand and helping you stay calm. You hated needles and it was a testament to how much pain you were in that you’d been so excited when you saw them bring it in.

Once you were gently placed back against the bed Win went to get you some ice and give you and Jaskier a moment alone.

“This might be our last moments before we’re parents. Well, before she’s really here,” you mused.

“I suppose so,” Jaskier said, pressing a soft kiss against the hand he gripped tightly, “Any last things you want to do before she’s here? Our options are sort of limited. Perhaps building a house out of popsicle sticks or prank calling someone?”

“No,” you said with a little smile, shaking your head, “I just want this. You and me.”

His soft blue eyes gazed into yours adoringly and he squeezed your hand a little tighter.

“Well you’ve got it. You’ve got me.”

“Jaskier?”

“Hmm?”

“I think she’s coming.”

-----

The next half hour was a blur of action. Doctors and nurses pressing you up into stirrups, Win holding her phone aloft playing the music, Jaskier helping you breathe, your eyes focusing on his when they weren’t screwed up tight in concentration as you pushed. In one moment there was the sound of Jaskier’s voice and the doctor’s coaching and Push It by Salt n Pepa and then there just one thing – the clear, loud cry of a baby entering the world. She was placed against your chest and you could vaguely hear Jaskier saying something, vaguely aware that you were crying but your focus was wholly on the tiny, messy, squishy baby in your arms. She was taken to be cleaned up and your eyes fell back to Jaskier. You’d never seen him so happy and in awe and utterly, deeply in love.

“You made that,” he said.

“Fuck yeah I did,” you answered proudly. Win left to tell the rest of the group and by the time they were allowed in she was clean and wrapped up tight in a lavender colored blanket, a little matching cap for her head. Aevryn clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from squealing when she saw her. Geralt walked over to Jaskier’s side as Yen went to yours and Valdo and Win hovered a little bit by the door, not wanting to overcrowd the room and giving them all a chance to meet her.

“Well, I know you’ve been wondering what we’re going to name her,” Jaskier said. You saw Valdo open his mouth, could almost hear him proudly crowing that he already knew her name, and you shot him a look that made him close his mouth quickly.

“Everyone, meet Aksamitka Geralta Pankratz,” he said. Yennefer looked from the baby to Geralt with a soft smile and if the man’s eyes got a little misty, no one felt the need to comment on it.

“So are we going with a nickname or…” you heard Win ask.

“Sam,” you answered. Win tried not to look relieved and you couldn’t blame her. It was a mouthful of a name but you had no doubt she would more than live up to it. Sam made a little snuffling noise, tiny fist rubbing against her nose and then her brow furrowed and her eyes squinted open, glaring out into the world uncertainly. Her eyes were a pale, ocean blue and the little bit of fuzzy hair on her head was a very light brown that you knew would darken to match that on the man who now held her and gazed into her eyes. You weren’t sure when you fell asleep but when you woke up Jaskier was sitting next to you on the bed singing quietly into the bassinet and you fell back asleep with a smile on your face.

#Anonymous #Punk!AU #Punk!Jaskier x Reader #Punk!Geralt x Punk!Yennefer #Punk!Valdo x Punk!Aevryn #and introducing #Punk!Sam #Vicious Mockery AU #Vicious Mockery

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