stay here 'til morning
eddie & buck & chris | time loop | 6k | rated m
Maybe Chris sensed Eddie needed a win this morning, or perhaps it’s that connection he’s always seemed to have with Buck, the two of them understanding instinctively when the other was upset. He answers his phone.
“Hey, Dad,” Chris says.
“I’m coming over. Can you meet me on the porch, please? It’s really important.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line.
“Please, Chris.”
He’s asked his son to understand far too many things, made him bear witness to Eddie’s crises and breakdowns, forced him to grow up, sent him running away when Eddie couldn’t keep a good enough hold on himself to just act normal. Asking him to be strong again for Buck’s sake may be cruelty, but here’s the honest truth: Eddie is scared. Buck is wrapped in a hoodie in his passenger seat, tapping out a pattern on his leg the way he did a million times back home, and it should be a miracle to have him here, but Eddie is terrified.
When he pulls up to his parents’ house, Chris is sitting on the stoop alone. Slipped out, maybe, or perhaps his mom will be watching between the blinds. Eddie doesn’t care. Seeing his son alleviates some of the pressure in his chest, and he takes a deep breath for the first time since Buck confessed his—not his delusion, Eddie won’t let himself think that until he wakes up tomorrow morning. He takes his first deep breath since Buck told him about the time loop.
Chris doesn’t blink when Eddie gets out of the car, even though he must look disheveled. But when Buck steps out, he pushes himself to his feet.
“Buck?” Chris asks. His voice is so small Eddie isn’t even truly sure he heard it. Maybe he simply read Christopher’s lips and filled in the sound, easy enough to do after years of hearing Buck’s name come out of his son’s mouth.
Buck doesn’t hold himself back. He runs for Chris, pulling him up into a hug the way he used to, back when Chris was small and defying gravity in Buck’s arms was a treat.
“I missed you so much,” Buck murmurs into Christopher’s hair. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Buck,” Chris says. “Who died?”
“Me,” Buck says. “Me, I think.”
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