I need the Diaz family accepting Buck as Eddie’s boyfriend before Eddie even admits to himself that he wants Buck as his boyfriend.
I can’t get this Buddie fanfic idea out of my head, but since I know I’m never actually gonna write it, I figured I’d just share it here. Basically, it’d be the entire Diaz family going through this big, dramatic internal struggle to accept Eddie dating a guy (Buck) and blessing their relationship—all while Eddie and Buck have no idea any of this is happening. The plot could play out during Christopher’s birthday. In my idea, Eddie goes to El Paso for Chris’s birthday and brings Buck along. Because of the way they act around each other—and the fact that Eddie’s family probably has their suspicions about him not being straight (let’s be real, Latin families are very close and have a radar for this stuff)—the Diaz family assumes they’re a couple. And from there, the whole internal and external struggle begins within the family, with Eddie and Buck completely clueless.
First off, I wanna say I’m Latina, and 100% of this idea comes from my own life experiences within my culture. Obviously, Latin culture isn’t just one thing since it covers so many countries and subcultures, but there are some things that are basically universal.
Why do I think Eddie’s family would accept Buck? Because the only other person he introduced to the family was this white American woman they obviously couldn’t stand, and, ironically, Buck checks all the boxes of the “perfect wife” in the eyes of Latin moms, grandmas, and aunts and the “perfect husband” in the eyes of Latin dads, grandpas, and uncles.
Unfortunately, in our cultural context, traditional gender roles are still really strong for older generations, and even those who are more progressive tend to put these roles onto same-sex couples because they can’t quite picture a relationship without a “man” and a “woman” role.
So, I imagine Eddie’s whole family would evaluate Buck the same way they’d evaluate a girlfriend or boyfriend.
Important qualities for a good first impression as a Latina girlfriend:
Helpful: when the family gets together, it usually involves a ton of food, and that’s the women’s responsibility (I know, I know °_°). If a girl is introduced to the family and doesn’t help in the kitchen, she’s automatically seen as lazy, and if she tries to help but can’t do the basics, she’s seen as useless.
And we know Buck can cook pretty well.
Loud and talkative: I know that for Americans, people who are loud and super expressive might come off as rude, but for us, it’s normal. So if you’ve just been introduced to the family and stay too quiet, it might make a bit of a bad impression.
Buck’s expressive enough to fit right into a Latin household.
He’s involved, kind, takes amazing care of Chris, is superstitious, smart, and attractive. All he’s missing is being Catholic and female to be the dream daughter-in-law for every Latin mom.
And from the men’s perspective, he’s perfect too.
He’s got a stable, good-paying job, he’s strong, knows about repairs and construction, and he’s got that friendly, open vibe that makes it easy to bond. Plus, he’s a firefighter with loads of heroic stories. That alone would put him on a pedestal as the dream son-in-law.
I can just picture Buck spending hours setting up tents and tables, chatting with the men about firefighter stories, and then spending hours with the women, helping in the kitchen, talking to them, and listening to their stories.
By the end of the visit, after lots of private discussions, the Diaz family would welcome Buck into the family, and he wouldn’t even realize it. Since there’s still that ingrained prejudice, it’d be more like a blessing in disguise. Buck would get home exhausted, happy, and with a recipe to cleanse bad energy from his apartment (coarse salt).
When they finally do get together, it takes Eddie months to work up the courage to tell his family. But when he finally does, they’re so confused (since they thought the two had already been together for at least a year) that they end up thinking the news Eddie’s so nervous to share is actually that he proposed to Buck.
