struck with the vision of the buckley-diazes at the zoo (upon christopher's suggestion, actually, because buck was trying to think of something to do with theo and christopher remembers all the times buck took him and his dad and how much fun he had, so theo would probably enjoy it too, right?) and they're not ready to leave yet, but it's after lunch and they'd already been there for an hour or two before they ate, so they're starting to slow down a little bit. particularly theo, who is still excited by everything he's seeing and is chattering away about all the animals, but he's not trying to race ahead, giving buck a mini heart attack every time he's out of sight for half a second, anymore and he's not tugging at buck's hand or the hem of his shirt to get him to hurry up because the ice cream cart is right there and theo wants some now (which of course buck gave in to, shut up eddie, i can say no, i was just... gonna get some for myself already anyways. obviously. it was my idea, not theo's. pft. maybe i should've said no to buying yours.).
but anyways, theo's calmed down a bit now that he's a little tired (and from the sugar crash that is sure to be hitting any time now) so he's sticking closer to buck's side, holding his hand, even, until he drops it so he can bounce over to eddie a few steps ahead and slip his little hand into eddie's. it catches eddie's attention of course, and he manuevers them to the side, out of the flow of walking traffic, so he can crouch down and listen to what theo wants to say to him.
and then buck watches as eddie nods and smiles and then scoops theo up and swings him onto his shoulders, earning a toothy grin and a giggle from theo, who kicks his little feet happily against eddie's chest and immediately sticks his hands into eddie's hair. and buck is trying his veryveryvery hardest not to melt into a puddle of lovesick goo right there in front of the giraffe enclosure because that's just the cutest sight he's ever seen.
and then beside him, christopher pipes up with a joking, "you think i could get a shoulder ride too?" with a sharp grin and a twinkle in his eyes that's allllllll eddie, and buck laughs and slings his arm around christopher's neck and tells him — not a little tearfully (he's just... got allergies pft) because of how christopher is like. over double the age he was when buck got to take him to the zoo the first time and maybe that's just kind of emotional okay!!! whatever!! buck's cool, he's so cool — "think you're maybe getting a little too big for that, bud." and chris just laughs and leans into buck's side as they start to follow eddie and theo, who are now a little bit ahead of them, because the second theo was seated he started directing eddie towards the tigers for the third time (he's really into tigers now).
and something something it just hits buck, right here right now, as he's walking through the zoo with an arm around one kid and his eyes on the other, smiling and giggling as he is positively indulged by buck's best friend in the world, the man that buck couldn't possibly do this without, the man that buck— oh, that buck loves.
it hits him then and there, and maybe at one point that would've scared him, a realization like that. but now? now, it just feels obvious. natural. right. because this is... well it's kind of perfect. it's exactly where he's supposed to be. it's exactly what he wants, for the rest of forever, if he's lucky.
theo. christopher. eddie.
