Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eddie blinked tiredly, checking the time in the corner of his laptop screen for the tenth time in the past hour.

Not quite time to leave for work.

He sighed, flexing his fingers and rolling his wrists, trying to relieve some of the tension that came from hours of relentless studying and schoolwork. A necessary evil, he had to remind himself.

From the bed beside him, he heard the sound of sheets rustling, paired with a loud yawn.

Oh, great.

Buck was waking up.

Eddie first met Buck on move-in day, the week before his first day of college. They had been assigned as roommates, to share a small dorm on campus during their freshman year. Upon first impression, Eddie thought he and Buck might end up being friends. The guy had a friendly smile and kind blue eyes, excitedly introducing himself to Eddie with the energy of a golden retriever— the similarity emphasized by his blonde curls and large frame.

Things quickly changed when it became clear that the two were entirely incompatible.

Buck was reckless, irresponsible, and stubborn. He didn’t take his classes seriously, he stayed up all night and slept late into the day, and he was constantly partying.

Then there was the way he was always on Eddie’s case about keeping the dorm unreasonably clean, and the snide jabs and remarks.

Though Eddie supposed he wasn’t completely innocent in that regard, either.

And the thing that was somehow the most frustrating of all— the thermostat.

Don’t even get Eddie started on the thermostat.

In short, Buck was the most frustrating person Eddie had ever met— and according to the resident housing office at their school, they wouldn’t even consider a roommate change until the end of the semester.

Just 6 weeks left.

Luckily, Buck was pretty quiet when he first woke up, allowing Eddie a few extra minutes of peace to continue studying as he clambered out of bed and into their small shared bathroom. 

Though that comfort was short-lived, broken when Buck emerged and immediately began complaining— like always.

“Dude,” Buck huffed. “Are you ever going to do your dishes? I swear, they’ve been sitting in the sink for days.”

Eddie rolled his eyes.

“I’ll clean when I can. Between studying and my job, I’m pretty busy. Not that you would understand,” he muttered the last part under his breath, though he was certain Buck had still heard him.

Of course, Buck had time to worry about how clean the dorm was. He didn’t have a job, and Eddie was certain he’d never seen him do homework or study.

Was Eddie a bit messy? Sure, but he was busy. Buck could deal with it.

“We get it, you’re a perfect student, but cleaning is like a basic adult thing. You have to clean up after yourself, man. We share this place.”

“Don’t remind me,” Eddie grumbled. “I’d rather forget you exist, actually.”

“God, you’re such a dick,” Buck snapped at him, not the first time he’d used that one on Eddie.

“And you’re a brat!” Eddie flung back— again, not for the first time.

Buck scoffed, armed with another retort, but a knock at the door interrupted him. He crossed the small room quickly, opening the door as his scowl transformed into a wide grin.

“Connor!”

Eddie fought the urge to groan loudly in irritation.

Remember that thing about Buck being the most frustrating person Eddie had ever met?

Scratch that.

Connor was the most frustrating person Eddie had ever met.

From what Eddie could gather, Connor and Buck had been best friends from high school in their home state of Pennsylvania, having moved to Texas together for college. Eddie could only guess why they would choose Texas, but he suspected it had something to do with God having a vendetta against Eddie, personally. Maybe they were his punishment for not going to church anymore.

Connor had all of Buck’s worst traits, amplified, and then some.

He was a cocky douchebag who spent all of his time partying, bragging, and looking for trouble.

As much as Eddie disliked Buck, he still couldn’t understand why he would want to be friends with Connor. He seemed entirely self-absorbed, always yammering on about himself, asking Buck for favors, and only ever inviting Buck to hang out if they were going to get drunk or high.

Connor stepped past Buck, into their dorm, and Eddie failed to hold back an irritated huff. The shorter man rolled his eyes in Eddie’s direction with a sneer.

“Relax, Diaz. I’m not staying long.”

He turned to face Buck, sliding the backpack off his shoulders with a grin.

“So, my dad is coming to get lunch with me and help me hook up my new TV, so I really need you to hide these.” He unzipped the bag, pulling out bottle after bottle of various alcohols and handing them off to Buck, who took them with a chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah. No problem.” Buck began storing the bottles under his bed, just barely out of sight, as Connor zipped his bag back up and started for the door. “Have fun with your dad!”

“I will. See you tonight!”

And with that, Connor was gone.

“You know you can’t keep those here, right?” Eddie asked, looking pointedly at the bottles. “It’s against the dorm rules, and we’re underage. We could get in a lot of trouble if you get caught.”

Buck rolled his eyes.

“It’s college, Eddie. No one cares, and no one is going to come looking.”

Eddie gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

Buck didn’t understand.

Maybe he didn’t care about his future, but Eddie did. He had worked hard all through high school to get a scholarship, and there was no way he was going to risk losing it. He had to get good grades, follow the rules, and keep his head down. Buck was asking for trouble, and it was trouble Eddie couldn’t afford.

He didn’t even want to think about how his parents would react if he lost his scholarship.

Eddie was pulled from his spiraling frustration by the sight of Buck aggressively adjusting the thermostat, once again, raising the temperature by several degrees.

That’s it.

Eddie slammed his laptop shut, standing from the bed and quickly exchanging his t-shirt for his work uniform shirt.

He didn’t have to leave for 20 minutes still, but he needed to get away from Buck.

“Going to work,” Eddie gritted out, practically pulling the door off its hinges in his hurry to escape.

Eddie had a love-hate relationship with his job.

He hated the itchy uniform shirt, he hated how rude the customers could be, he hated the top 40’s pop songs that played on repeat over the store’s loudspeakers, he hated the mindless repetitive nature of scanning items and counting out change.

He kind of hated the whole job.

But he loved the paycheck, and most importantly, he loved having another excuse to get away from Buck.

Despite being roommates, the two of them didn’t actually spend that much time together. Their class schedules were almost completely opposite, then there was Eddie’s part-time job, and the fact that Buck was always out partying or sleeping off a hangover.

Unfortunately for Eddie, the store had been so slow tonight that he was sent home early— a perfect opportunity to get some more studying in before an important exam the next day, but it meant he was going to have to see Buck again before he inevitably left to spend the night out.

Coming to a stop just outside the door, Eddie inhaled slowly, trying to center himself before Buck managed to piss him off again.

He swung the door open unceremoniously and stepped in, eyes immediately landing on Buck standing in the middle of the room, hair still wet from the shower, naked.

Eddie exclaimed and whipped around to face the door, feeling his cheeks flush hotly.

“Dude! What the hell?”

“What?” Buck asked defensively from behind him.

“Why are you walking around naked? ”

“Uh, because I live here? And I thought I was alone,” he answered like he thought it should be obvious. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“They sent me home early.” The image of Buck’s exposed body, little drops of water sliding down his skin, flashed in Eddie’s mind again, and he felt the heat in his cheeks growing. “Y-You can’t just walk around naked. You’re not the only one who lives here,” he stuttered.

“Relax, man. It’s not like I’m sitting on your bed with no clothes on.”

He heard a shuffling sound behind him, and he focused in on it, trying not to think about Buck, undressed in his bed.

“Alright, you can turn around now.” Eddie could hear the eye roll in his voice.

He swallowed roughly and nervously turned around, half-expecting Buck to still be naked.

Dressed. He was dressed.

Eddie sighed with relief, avoiding eye contact as he walked into their small kitchen— comprised of a sink, a microwave, a single-burner hot plate, a mini fridge, and a coffee maker.

He considered making himself dinner, but realized all his dishes were dirty and resigned himself to ordering in.

“I’m heading out,” Buck called from across the small dorm, grabbing one of the bottles from under his bed and slipping on his shoes. “Party at Connor’s.”

Eddie had already seen this coming, but still felt disappointed at the confirmation that Buck would be stumbling in, drunk, well after Eddie had already gone to sleep. He didn’t bother responding, opting instead to continue scrolling through dinner options while Buck made his exit, and let out a slow breath when the door finally shut behind him.

It wasn’t until the man in question had gone that Eddie realized the dorm was scorching.

Eddie’s jaw tensed as he stomped over to the thermostat and angrily knocked the temperature down from 72°F to 65°F, then, spitefully, 60°F.

At that point, even Eddie would end up a bit cold, but that was fine— so long as Buck was uncomfortable, too. He smiled, pleased with himself, and returned to ordering his dinner, wondering how much studying he could manage to get done before tucking in for the night.

The answer was not much. Eddie had an early class in the morning, having to get up at an ungodly hour, so by the time he got comfortable and wolfed down the pizza he ordered, he only managed to get two hours of studying in before he turned out the lights and went to bed.

And like clockwork, he was awoken at nearly 1:00am by Buck’s drunk arrival.

Though, unlike most occasions, when Buck would clumsily walk in and fumble around while Eddie wondered if his aim was good enough to throw his pillow at him, tonight the sound all seemed to be coming from the hall outside their door.

Buck had lost his key on a handful of occasions since the school year started, and Eddie never felt sorry for him getting locked out. It was his own fault for being so careless. So when Eddie heard the noise in the hall, he was happy to ignore it. If Buck needed to fall asleep, drunk outside their door— so be it. Maybe then Eddie wouldn’t have to listen to him complaining when his alarm went off in a couple of hours.

But when the thumps and bumping against the wall by the door carried on for several minutes, with no end in sight, Eddie regrettably hauled himself out of bed to let Buck inside.

Trust, Eddie would be extra loud in the morning to get back at Buck for disturbing his sleep.

He grumbled the whole way to the door, complaints going unheard as he was the only one in the room, and angrily yanked it open, still half-asleep.

Though he was quickly woken the rest of the way up when he saw the source of the noise.

Connor had Buck’s back pressed to the wall, hands pulling him roughly forward by the back of his neck, with what must have been his entire tongue down Buck’s throat. Buck stopped his frantic grasping for the button of Connor’s jeans, breaking their kiss and turning to face Eddie with wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and messy hair.

“E-Eddie,” Buck slurred, sounding shocked at the disruption, eyes a little glassy.

“God, Diaz, don’t you knock?” Connor groaned, hands still glued to Buck.

Eddie opened his mouth to respond, but truly wasn’t sure how. Was he supposed to apologize? Tell them they were being loud? Complain about being woken up?

“You’re in the hall,” is what he settled on, voice flat.

Buck just continued to stare, expression caught somewhere between surprise and… nervousness?

“Yeah, and we’re busy,” Connor grumbled, words slurring together, making Eddie ask himself why he hadn’t just shut the door when he saw what had been going on.

“You’re being loud,” Eddie blurted. “I’m trying to sleep.”

He half expected Buck to roll his eyes at that, to make some remark about how Eddie always complained about the smallest noise, or about how annoying he thought Eddie was— but no such comment came.

“Noted.” Connor scoffed, pulling a still-dazed Buck back into a kiss as Eddie quickly shut the door again, his heart beating weirdly in his chest.

He crawled back into bed, staring at the ceiling and trying his best not to picture what Buck and Connor were doing in the hall. God, that was the last thing he wanted on his mind.

Eddie was no stranger to finding Buck in... compromising situations. During the first month of sharing their dorm, Eddie had unfortunately walked in on more than a few near-hookups, thanks to Buck. It was one of the only back-and-forth arguments between them that actually came to a satisfying conclusion. Well, satisfying enough. It wasn't like they ever talked things out in a mature way; they pretty much just fought and took petty jabs at each other. Toward the end, Eddie felt pretty sure Buck was timing his guests' visits intentionally so that Eddie could walk in and have his mood soured. Buck never apologized, either. One day, he just kind of stopped bringing random girls back to their dorm. Eddie never asked about it, he didn't care. He was just glad it was over.

But Eddie had never walked in on Buck with another guy before, and to be honest, he had been shocked to find him and Connor in that state. But as he thought about it, he supposed it made sense. They were both insufferable, Connor more so than Buck, and it would explain why Buck was always willing to put up with Connor’s selfish nature— he was his… boyfriend? A shitty boyfriend, though. The only time Connor seemed to spend time with Buck was when they were going to a party or if he wanted something from him.

To Eddie’s surprise, the door to their dorm opened just a minute after Eddie had shut it, with Buck stumbling in and rifling through his drawers until he found a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants.

Eddie must have ruined the mood.

He felt a little awkward, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t a bit pleased about that.

Buck stepped into the bathroom to get changed, noisily opening and closing cabinets as he got ready for bed. By the time he emerged, Eddie could swear he felt his blood pressure rising.

“Jesus Christ, Buck, can you even just try to be quiet? It’s the middle of the night,” Eddie groaned into the dark room, mentally counting the few hours he had left before he was supposed to be awake.

“It’s not even that late,” Buck whined as he walked clumsily over to his bed, a slight slur to his words.

“It is for me! I have an early class tomorrow, and a big exam after that.”

“I have a class tomorrow, too,” he muttered, fiddling with his phone charger, the light from his phone screen illuminating his face in the dark room.

“The difference being that I actually care about my grades,” Eddie retorted, glaring despite knowing Buck couldn’t see him.

“Fair enough,” Buck agreed, collapsing diagonally onto his bed and, from the sounds of it, struggling to tug his blankets over his legs. “‘S cold,” he muttered to himself, and Eddie smiled, satisfied despite his own slight chill in the cold room.

“Good.”

Eddie closed his eyes, eager to fall back asleep and get as much rest as possible in the short time he had left, but the silence in the room felt oddly thick.

It was slow growing at first, the weight of the words building on Eddie’s tongue, but they suddenly felt bulky and awkward in his mouth, forcing their way out in a subconscious effort to alleviate the discomfort.

“I didn’t know you and Connor were dating.”

Why did he say that? It wasn’t his business, and he didn’t care. It wasn’t even that interesting, not really. It was just another useless fact about Buck.

Buck slept with socks on. Buck practically inhaled everything he ate. Buck liked cinnamon coffee creamer. Buck stuttered sometimes. Buck was dating Connor.

Who cares?

Not Eddie.

When no response came, Eddie mentally scolded himself, grateful that Buck seemed to have fallen asleep before that stupid comment escaped his mouth.

But then—

“We’re not,” Buck mumbled, sounding both drunk and half-asleep.

“Oh.”

The silence returned.

“If you’re homophobic, I’ll smash your laptop.” Buck’s threat was undercut slightly by how exhausted he sounded, but Eddie wasn’t concerned with that.

“Woah, woah, no. I’m not. I’m not— that.”

Eddie might have been raised in the church, but he didn't agree with any of the intolerant things that were preached to him for all those years. In fact, it was the hatred, more than anything else, that turned Eddie away from his religious upbringing.

Buck grunted his acknowledgment.

“Alert the press, Eddie Diaz has one redeeming quality,” he mumbled, somehow still capable of being a sarcastic ass even when he was drunk and nearly unconscious.

“Fuck you,” Eddie yawned, rolling his eyes behind his eyelids, feeling himself losing the fight to his own tiredness.

“Right back at you,” Buck sighed slowly, sounding too close to sleep to even know what he was saying.

Eddie tried to respond, barely letting out a hum before he drifted off to sleep.

—

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEE—

Eddie snapped his hand out from under his duvet, fumbling for his phone to turn off the blaring alarm. With Buck’s interruption, Eddie wasn’t sure exactly how much sleep he’d gotten the night before, but he was certain it wasn’t enough.

“Oh my God, can you stop with all the noise?” Buck groaned from across the room, turning over with a whimper.

Eddie stood from his bed, rolling his eyes.

“It’s not my fault you have a hangover,” he said pointedly, crossing the room to start up the small coffee maker in the kitchen.

“No, but it is your fault that your alarm has been going off for the last half an hour,” Buck grumbled, shoving his pillow over his head.

Half an hour?

Eddie felt his stomach sinking, checking the time on his phone—

“Shit,” he hissed, practically running around the dorm as he got ready for his first class of the day, desperately hoping he wouldn’t end up late.

This was Buck’s fault, of course. If he and Connor hadn’t been making so much noise, waking Eddie up in the middle of the night, he probably wouldn’t have pressed snooze on his alarm so many times this morning.

He dressed in a hurry, brushing his teeth while he shoved his books and laptop into his bag, and threw back a still-scalding cup of coffee. With a sigh, he added his mug to the mountain of other dirty dishes in the sink, knowing Buck was going to complain about it later.

Somehow, by the skin of his teeth, Eddie made it in time for his class— though he was pretty sure his shoes were on the wrong feet.

It was a rough start to his day, but at least he had the relief of knowing Buck would be out for one of his own classes when Eddie returned to the dorm. With that, he was able to take a deep breath and settle in, focusing on every word his professor said and taking diligent notes.

The better his notes, the better he could study, and the better he could study, the better he would do on his exams.

If he were being honest, Eddie didn’t really care about his major— Business. Nothing about it excited him, and he didn’t have any business-related career goals, but his dad thought it was a good idea, and it was a versatile major, which meant he would have a lot of options after he graduated. There would be tons of nice, boring, soul-sucking, respectable jobs that he could do and make his father proud.

So what if it didn’t make him happy? It made his parents happy, and it would hopefully pay the bills one day.

He’d always hoped he’d find a job he was passionate about, maybe something where he could help people, but he knew by this point that it was easiest to just do whatever his parents wanted.

So, he worked hard through high school to get a scholarship, he chose to major in Business (after some heavy-handed advice from his dad), he studied as much as he possibly could— and he sort of hated it. Actually, he really hated it. But he couldn’t dwell too much on that, on the chance that it would kill his motivation and mess up the path he was on.

His head was pounding by the time his lecture ended three hours later— a combination of his lack of sleep, the droning of his professor, and the knowledge that he still had a big exam awaiting him that afternoon.

Yay, college.

Pushing open the door to his absurdly hot dorm room, Eddie silently thanked whoever was responsible for Buck’s schedule being so opposite to his own, kicking off his shoes and crossing the room to the thermostat, changing the setting from— 74°F? Ugh— to 65°F.

He had a few free hours, maybe he should try to squeeze in a nap.

With a groan, he collapsed onto his bed, closing his eyes and drifting off without even turning out the lights.

—

Eddie was awoken some time later by a knock at the door, pulling him out of bed and blinking blearily as he stumbled over.

“I swear to God, Buck, if you woke me up from a nap because you lost your key…” he muttered to himself, reaching for the doorknob, already feeling his irritation rising.

Though that irritation gave way to confusion as he swung the door open, finding an unexpected face staring back at him.

“Shannon?”

“Eddie,” she greeted in return, offering a small nod. “I was a little worried I had the wrong room,” she half-joked awkwardly.

Eddie had to wonder if he was having some sort of weird dream, unable to figure out why Shannon would be here— especially now.

He hadn’t seen or even spoken to Shannon since they amicably broke up just before their high school graduation.

“Shan, what are you doing here?” he asked, confusion evident in his tone.

His eyes trailed down her figure, taking her in.

She still had the same long brown hair and bangs that she’d been sporting since they first became friends at the beginning of their senior year, familiar green eyes, and that same smattering of freckles across her nose. She was wearing a thick sweater with a large bag slung over her shoulder, and hanging by her side, she was holding—

Eddie’s eyes widened, jaw going slack.

“We need to talk.” Shannon stepped past him into the dorm, leaving him to stare at the spot where she had just been standing.

“Eddie?”

Eddie swallowed hard, breaking from his daze, and turned to meet her, shutting the door behind him.

She sighed, lips twisted into an uncomfortable frown.

“I’m sure you’ve realized why I’m here.”

Eddie’s mouth opened and closed around words he couldn’t quite find.

“Eddie,” she stressed his name, giving him a pointed look.

“That’s a baby,” he stared at the baby carrier in her hand, holding a small, sleeping baby, bundled in a little yellow blanket.

“Yeah,” Shannon nodded. “It’s a baby. It’s your baby.”

The words hit Eddie like a punch square to his chest.

“B-But— We only s-slept together one time.”

“Yeah, that’s sort of all it takes,” she pursed her lips.

“I don’t understand,” Eddie shook his head, eyes glued to the baby.

Shannon sighed again.

“Let me make it clear for you.” She set the baby carrier down and unzipped the bag over her shoulder, pulling out a manila folder and holding it out toward Eddie.

He grabbed it from her, but didn’t open it.

“I had him two weeks ago. But, Eddie, I—“ she shrugged desperately, gesturing vaguely with her hands. “I don’t know if I want to be a mom— I don’t think I do. And I definitely don’t want to be one right now.”

Eddie’s breathing sped up, eyes going back to the baby in the carrier at her feet.

“All the paperwork you need is in there,” she nodded to the folder in his hand. “Including custody release forms. I know you’re a good guy, Eddie, and you deserve the chance to make this decision for yourself— whether you want to keep him or not.”

Him.

He was a boy.

Eddie had a son.

Oh, God. Eddie was going to pass out.

“There are some essentials in this bag, to get you started,” she set the bag down on the counter beside her, though her words weren’t registering in Eddie’s head.

He was too caught up on the fact that he had a son.

“Just, whatever you do, don’t try to contact me. Please.” Shannon began heading for the door, leaving behind the bag, and the folder, and the baby carrier, and the baby.

Eddie remained standing in place, staring at the sleeping baby as Shannon walked past him. Though the sound of the doorknob turning pulled him out of his shock, just enough to spin around and ask her one last question.

“Wait,” he called, stopping her just as she had gotten the door open. She didn’t respond, just stood silently, looking at him. “What’s his name?” he asked, barely above a whisper.

“He doesn’t have one yet. It felt wrong for me to give him one, knowing I wasn’t keeping him.” She nodded to the manila envelope again. “It’s all in there.”

Eddie tightened his grip on the envelope, feeling it crinkle slightly in his grasp.

“Goodbye, Eddie.” Shannon gave him one last, long look before opening the door the rest of the way and stepping out, closing it behind her.

He turned around with robotic movements, staring wide-eyed at the baby— his baby, sleeping in a carrier in the middle of his dorm room.

Just then, the baby woke up, his face immediately screwing up as he began to wail.

“Oh, God.”

—

Buck heaved a sigh as he headed down the hall toward his dorm, bracing himself for whatever was awaiting him inside.

Probably, Eddie— the most annoying roommate anyone has ever had. Most certainly, random clutter covering nearly every surface and a sink full of dirty dishes, despite Buck’s many attempts to get Eddie to clean up after himself. Definitely, the thermostat turned down to a ridiculously freezing temperature.

Buck supposed that last one was partly his fault. He had turned the thermostat up to 74°F before he left, just to spite Eddie, and there was no way he wouldn’t retaliate. But, to be fair, Eddie brought that on himself. He had turned it down to 60°F the night before.

That was still grating on Buck’s nerves.

Eddie was just so impossibly frustrating.

Buck had been excited when they first met. Eddie was friendly, radiating a soft and comfortable vibe that immediately drew Buck in. Fluffy brown hair, skin glowing with a golden tan, and warm brown eyes. And his smile. His canine teeth pointed out when he smiled, a trait that Buck had found incredibly endearing.

Then they actually spent time together, and Buck realized how arrogant he was.

He was incredibly stuck-up, always acting like he was too good to hang out or party like most college students, obsessing over his schoolwork like he just had to be the best in his classes, rolling his eyes and huffing whenever Buck wanted to do anything fun.

Not to mention, he never cleaned up after himself. Buck understood that he was busy, but the constant mess in the dorm drove Buck out of his mind. Dirty dishes, clothes left out everywhere, and leftovers sitting in the fridge for too long.

Buck was raised in a meticulously clean house, and as much as he grumbled about chores as a kid, he’d come to appreciate the peace that came with living in a clean environment— though some of that habit might be attributed to how often his parents made him feel like he needed to make himself smaller, to leave no evidence that he existed.

And somehow, what was easily the most frustrating of all, the thermostat.

The dorm’s temperature had become a constant battle between the two, and Buck wasn’t about to accept living in an igloo just because Eddie was allergic to buying a fan.

Basically, Eddie was a horrible roommate. The resident office denied both of their requests for a roommate switch, telling them they would see what they could do at the end of the semester.

Just a couple more weeks, Buck told himself, just a couple more weeks.

He slowed in his step as he approached his door at the farthest end of the hall.

Was that—

Was there a baby crying in his dorm?

With a furrowed brow, Buck pushed the door open and stepped inside, eyes widening and jaw dropping at the scene that awaited him.

Eddie was standing in the middle of the dorm with wild eyes, looking panic-stricken, clutching a crying, swaddled baby to his chest.

For a long moment, Buck just blinked at him, trying to process what he was seeing.

“You’re holding a baby,” he eventually blurted out.

Eddie nodded, bouncing the small, red-faced baby. “Yeah,” he replied, sounding as panicked as he looked.

“Is this a prank?” Buck asked, brows knitted together in confusion.

If Eddie’s eyes could open wider, they did.

“How would this be a prank?” Eddie asked incredulously, still hurriedly bouncing the wailing baby.

“I don’t know,” Buck replied defensively. “Why do you have a baby?”

Eddie’s expression turned desperate, almost fearful, and the words came spilling out, broken up between anxious gasps for air.

“My ex-girlfriend came by and she brought him. She said she doesn’t want him, and she doesn’t know if I want him, but she left him with me. She— I— Baby. I have a baby.”

His voice began wobbling by the end of his ramble, eyes glimmering with unshed tears.

“Okay, okay,” Buck soothed, lifting his hands in a calm-down gesture. “Breathe, okay?”

Eddie nodded, sucking in a deep breath.

Aside from the obvious craziness of Eddie suddenly having a baby dropped on him, Buck couldn’t help but think about how odd it was to see the ordinarily prickly Eddie so vulnerable, and how odd it was to be comforting him.

“I can’t get him to stop crying,” Eddie sounded so small, so clueless in that moment. For the first time, Buck felt bad for him.

He spotted a large, unfamiliar bag sitting on their counter and headed for it.

“This come with him?” Buck asked, gesturing toward it.

Eddie nodded.

Buck began rifling through the bag, finding a variety of baby items inside. Diapers, bottles, formula, some baby clothes, pacifiers…

He grabbed one of the pacifiers and quickly brought it to the little guy, offering it to him. At first, he seemed disinterested, but he latched onto it after a bit of persistence from Buck, his loud cries immediately winding down to quiet sniffles.

Buck grinned as Eddie gasped, pulling the baby even closer to his chest in a hold that was both protective and gentle, fear and relief written across his face.

“I swear, I’m usually good with babies.” Eddie stared at Buck with wide eyes, voice almost pleading, like he was begging Buck to believe him. “I swear.”

“Okay,” Buck replied earnestly, nodding. “I believe you.”

“I just— What if he hates me?”

Buck’s brows drew together.

“Eddie, he doesn’t hate you. He was born, like, yesterday, he doesn’t even know what hate is.” Buck looked fondly at the small baby in Eddie’s arms, taking in his tiny little hands and chubby cheeks.

Most people didn’t know this about Buck, but he loved kids. They were so cute, funny in their own particular way, and entirely innocent. He was certain, in another universe, he was going to school to be a teacher or some other job where he got to work with kids. He was sure he would've been good at it. 

“Two weeks ago.”

“What?” Buck looked back at Eddie.

“She said he was born two weeks ago,” Eddie elaborated mindlessly.

“Wow,” Buck’s gaze drifted back to the baby. “Two weeks.” He was so small. He’d seen so little of the world, had so few experiences. His biggest grievances were being hungry or needing a nap.

Buck leaned in closer, stroking a finger over the back of one of his tiny hands. “You’re brand new, huh?”

“I-I don’t… I don’t know what to do,” Eddie mumbled, sounding painfully lost.

“Maybe you should call your parents,” Buck suggested, but Eddie quickly shook his head.

“No. No, I can’t tell my parents about him. They would try to pressure me into marrying Shannon, and she doesn’t want to be involved. A-And I don’t want to marry her. And then what? They— They try convincing me to give him up? No way. I won’t do it.”

Eddie’s immediate insistence that he wouldn’t give up his kid, despite his fear, seeped through Buck’s chest, winding its way around his heart, and tugging on taut old strings he didn’t like to think about. That ugly thing that lived behind his ribs began to poke and prod at his perpetually unhealed wounds, just enough to remind him that they still existed.

The steel in Eddie's eyes when he said it, the protective way he was holding the baby, the already palpable love he clearly felt for his child— every kid should have that. Every kid should be that loved, that wanted.

Buck wouldn't admit it, but he thought it was beautiful.

Bittersweet.

On his mental scoreboard of reasons Eddie is the worst vs. reasons Eddie isn’t so bad, Buck could finally dust off the empty latter category and mark down a point.

“Okay,” Buck nodded. “So just keep him here.”

Eddie blinked at him, looking sort of like he’d just watched him grow a second head.

“What? I can’t keep a baby in our dorm, it’s against the rules—"

“S-So we’ll hide him! No one ever comes this far down the hall, and the RA hasn’t done a single room inspection so far this year. We could pull it off.”

“You’re insane,” Eddie shook his head at Buck before looking down at the baby in his arms.

Buck was about to shrug, about to tell Eddie he didn’t know how to help him, when—

“Okay,” Eddie nodded.

“Okay?”

Eddie glanced at him nervously, nodding again, looking sort of like he already regretted what he was saying.

“Okay, we’ll keep him here. In the dorm.”

Buck’s brows shot up in surprise, his gaze traveling back to the small baby with a soft grin.

“Alright, then. Welcome to the dorm, roomie.”

Chapter Text

“You never mentioned his name.”

Eddie tore his eyes away from his son’s pudgy cheeks and button nose, glancing at Buck— who also seemed to be focused on the newest little addition to their room.

“He doesn’t have one,” Eddie murmured, stroking a thumb over the shoulder of his son’s soft blue onesie.

“What?” Buck turned his attention from the quickly-falling-asleep baby to Eddie with a confused pout. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie shrugged gently, careful not to make any sudden movements. “That’s just what Shannon said.”

Buck hummed contemplatively, pulling his phone out from his pocket, tapping around, and scrolling. Eddie took the moment of quiet to ground himself in the weight against his chest, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was holding his son.

“Huh,” Buck broke him from his thoughts a minute later. “Apparently, in Texas you can wait a full year to name your baby after they’re born. You just have to file some documents to get their birth certificate and social security card.”

Eddie figured those documents must be among the papers included in the folder that Shannon had given to him.

“That’s good, I guess,” Eddie mused, softly rocking the baby in his arms. “I’m sure it won’t take a year, but I’m glad I have time to think of a good—”

Oh, no.

“Time—" he muttered, eyes widening, dropping to the phone in Buck’s hands as panic began sweeping through him. “What time is it? My exam— I’m gonna miss my exam.” Eddie’s hold tightened around the now-sleeping baby. “I have to call my professor, I have to beg her to let me take it later. Oh, God. What if she says no? I can’t bring a baby to my exam, I—"

“Woah,” Buck interrupted, throwing his hands up and gesturing for Eddie to calm down. “Relax, it’s only 1:30. I can watch the baby for a bit, so you can go take your exam.”

Eddie’s immediate instinct was to say no. He just found out he had a son, he didn’t want to be away from him for even a second. Not to mention, could he really trust Buck to watch him? Buck was careless, reckless— he couldn’t even keep track of his dorm key. Now he wanted Eddie to let him be responsible for his child?

As if he could read Eddie’s refusal just from his expression, Buck spoke again.

“C’mon, Eddie. I know you think I don’t give a shi—" His eyes flicked down to the baby and back up to Eddie’s. “—Shoot about anything, but I can take care of a baby.” Sounding entirely earnest, promise shining through his eyes, he continued. “I swear.”

Eddie wanted to say no.

But failing this exam would tank his grade in the class, and failing the class would put his scholarship at risk, which could ruin his entire future— something that just became infinitely more important, now that he had a kid to raise.

With fear gripping his heart in an icy cold grasp, Eddie stared Buck down.

“You won’t let anything happen to him. You won’t take your eyes off of him for even a second.”

They weren’t questions or requests, they were orders.

Buck nodded.

“I swear, Eddie. I’ll protect him with my life,” he replied sincerely.

Eddie’s hands twitched as he realized this was the part where he handed his son off to somebody else, letting go of him and walking away. By far, up until this point, this was the scariest moment of his life. Slowly and carefully, Eddie passed the small boy off to Buck, who cautiously pulled him to his chest with a soft smile on his face.

Eddie hadn’t seen that smile before today, but there it was, every time Buck so much as looked at the baby.

He would deny it if anyone asked, but he kind of thought it was nice.

“Okay,” Eddie muttered nervously, eyes glued to his son. “His carrier is in the kitchen, if you want to put him down. He might just sleep the whole time. A-And Shannon said the bag had the essentials, so if you need anything just—"

“Eddie,” Buck groaned, rocking slowly from side to side. “Go. It’s fine. I’ve got him.”

With one last, nervous look at his baby, Eddie forced himself, against all instinct, to walk out the door and head toward the lecture hall, worst case scenarios playing in his head like a movie he couldn’t turn off.

How the hell was he supposed to focus on his exam?

—

The answer was simple, actually.

He couldn’t.

For the entire three hour testing period, Eddie did nothing but write his name in the designated space and re-read the same first question over and over again, unable to process any of it. All he could think about was his son— a little, defenseless baby. His soft baby cheeks, his fuzzy blonde hair, his small, small, small hands. He didn’t even have a name yet. And he was Eddie’s. Eddie’s to raise, to protect, to take care of. Eddie’s to love.

And he did. He already loved him so much.

Eddie was terrified, feeling clueless despite the years of experience he had being around his younger sisters when they were babies. He didn’t know how to be a father, and with his own dad as an example, he certainly didn’t know how to be a good one.

Criticizing his own father’s ability to be a dad was always something Eddie had struggled with. Sure, his dad pissed him off sometimes. And, yes, there were times Eddie felt like his dad messed up or made mistakes. He had undoubtedly failed in some ways. But it wasn’t so easy to say (or think) that his dad was a bad father.

Until now.

Suddenly, now that he had a son of his own, Eddie could say, easily and without hesitation, that he didn’t want to be anything like his own father. If anything, his dad showed Eddie exactly the kind of father he didn’t want to be. Eddie wanted to be kind, patient, open, and understanding. He wanted his son to feel safe, loved, and comfortable. He wanted to give him a good life, a happy life.

The question was how?

When his professor called time, asking for all of the exams to be handed in to her, Eddie approached, feeling sick to his stomach, and handed her the empty exam book.

“Eddie…” she trailed off, flipping through the blank pages. “I don’t understand. You’re my best student. What happened?”

“I’m sorry,” Eddie shifted his weight between his heels, trying to ignore how queasy he was feeling. “I just— I got some news earlier. Family stuff. Is there any way I could retake the exam later? Please, I swear I studied.”

She pursed her lips before slowly nodding.

“Alright. But only because I can see that something is wrong, and I know you know this material.”

Eddie sucked in a deep breath, relief coursing through him.

“I’ll send you an email about your new exam date. I hope everything works out for you, Eddie.”

“Thank you. I promise, I’ll do better next time,” Eddie sighed, heading for the door, the last person to leave.

“I’m counting on it!” she called after him as the door swung shut.

The short journey back to his dorm felt endless, and by the end of it, Eddie was practically running full speed through the hall. He just had to see his son again— see that he was okay, that he was still real.

Pushing the door open, Eddie stepped in and quietly called out, trying to be mindful of the possibility that his baby might be asleep.

“Buck!” he whisper-shouted, stopping in his tracks as he noticed the mountain of shopping bags and boxes covered in strips of duct tape on the floor between their beds.

A quick scan of the room turned up empty for any sign of Buck— or Eddie’s kid.

Where the fuck is he?

With his heart in his throat, breathing shallow and uneven, Eddie turned back around and ripped the door open, prepared to do whatever it took to find his son. Though his effort proved unnecessary, as the opened door revealed Buck standing in the hall, carrying several bags in one hand and reaching for the doorknob with the other.

“Buck!” Eddie couldn’t hold back his panicked shout, seeing Buck flinch back in surprise.

“Eddie!” Buck returned before pushing past him into the dorm, throwing him a strong side-eye on his way in.

Eddie clenched his teeth so hard he was surprised they didn’t crumble under the pressure.

“Where the hell is my son?” he snapped, nearly yelling, stalking toward Buck.

Buck dropped off the bags in the alarmingly-tall pile in the middle of the room, turning toward Eddie with an easy smile.

“Relax, man—" Buck began casually unzipping his jacket, as if he were about to settle in and get comfortable— like he hadn’t just lost Eddie’s son.

“Relax?” Eddie cut him off, stepping closer, ready to shove one of those bags down Buck’s throat. “My son is missing. I trusted you! I—"

His words died on his lips as Buck pulled his jacket open, revealing a baby sling underneath, carrying a perfectly happy baby— seemingly all in one piece.

“Oh my God,” the words fell from Eddie’s mouth as if of their own accord, and Eddie quickly stepped closer, pressing a shaky kiss to the top of his son’s fuzzy head.

“I told you I would keep him safe, Eddie.”

Buck’s voice drew Eddie’s attention upward, from the baby strapped against his chest to his face.

“Where the hell were you?” Eddie practically growled, glaring daggers at Buck. He looked slowly over at the mountain of bags and boxes before turning back to face Eddie with a quirked brow.

“Shopping,” he replied, as though it should’ve been obvious.

Eddie closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath in through his nose.

“Why were you shopping?”

“Because the baby needs stuff,” Buck shrugged. “Baby stuff. Like, look at this!” He leaned over, one hand pressed protectively to the baby sling, and grabbed one of the shopping bags, pulling out a little green blanket covered in butterflies. “Isn’t this the cutest blanket you’ve ever seen?” he asked with a grin.

“Buck—"

“Woah, hey. Before you say anything— I didn’t just get cute stuff. I got important stuff, too. See?” Buck used his foot to point at the biggest box, at the bottom of the pile. “Crib. I know it’ll be a tight fit, but we can make it work if we move our furniture around a little.”

“Buck—" Eddie stressed, but the man just kept going.

“And! I got him some little toys! Oh, and did you know they make teeny towels just for babies? They—"

“Buck!”

Buck finally stopped his rambling, snapping his mouth shut and turning his attention from the things he bought to Eddie’s face.

“I can’t afford all of this,” Eddie spoke clearly, looking Buck directly in the eye.

“What?” Buck’s brows drew together, lips pouting in confusion. “No, don’t worry about it. I got it.”

What?

“Buck, I can’t let you do this—"

Eddie had always felt guilty accepting offers of help or kindness from people, and this was no exception. Buck shouldn’t be spending his money on Eddie’s son.

“And what? The baby sleeps in a cardboard box on the floor? He needs this stuff, Eddie. And I’m happy to do it. Just think of it like a baby shower, and these are your presents.”

He opened his mouth, trying to find a way to reject Buck’s offer, but he knew Buck was right. Dropping his head with a sigh, Eddie relented. He stepped closer, grabbing the little green blanket from Buck’s hands and rubbing his fingers over the fabric.

“It is a cute blanket,” he grumbled, seeing Buck smile out of the corner of his eye.

“See? Now, c’mon. Let’s build this crib.”

Buck gently pulled the sleeping baby out the sling on his chest and nestled him in a pile of blankets just a few feet away on the floor before sitting beside the box containing the crib.

“Where’s his carrier?” Eddie asked, the realization suddenly striking him.

“Still in my Jeep.” Buck answered, tearing open one end of the box and sliding parts of the crib out. “I figured it would be a little obvious that we were harboring a baby in here if we were lugging that thing around.” He grinned up at Eddie. “Hence the baby sling.”

Eddie dropped down onto the floor next to him, grabbing the instructions for putting the crib together.

“And carrying all this stuff up here wasn’t a dead giveaway?” He arched a brow at Buck.

“Ah, that’s what the duct tape is for,” he gestured to the tape-covered boxes. “Concealing the evidence.”

Okay, so that was sort of smart. Whatever.

Eddie busied himself with the instructions so he wouldn’t have to admit that he approved of Buck’s methods.

“Alright, we need to use the short screws to attach panel A to panel C,” he muttered, looking around at the mess of parts between them.

The two got to work, painstakingly building the crib, piece by piece.

“Where’d you get the money for all this stuff, anyway?” Eddie asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

“My parents send me money for living expenses every month,” Buck shrugged, squinting at the instruction pamphlet in confusion. “Why is every page after the first one in Swedish? I can’t read Swedish,” he muttered to himself.

Eddie rolled his eyes, grabbing the instructions from his hands to see for himself, and frowned when he realized Buck was right.

“Um— Well, now we screw the L-shaped piece into the big flat one.”

“Which L-shaped piece?” Buck frowned down at the two nearly-identical L-shaped pieces in his hands.

“Aren’t your parents going to find out you used the money for all of this?” Eddie grabbed one of the pieces from Buck, working on attaching it to the big flat piece like he’d seen in the pamphlet.

Buck picked up the instructions, scanning the page.

“No. I’ve been using the money for weed and alcohol all this time, they have no idea. We don’t really ever talk.”

Oh.

Eddie paused what he was doing, glancing at Buck, seeing him still looking over the instructions with an intense focus.

That was… sad. Eddie might not like Buck very much, but he didn’t deserve that. He looked over at his own son, sleeping soundly in the blankets a couple of feet away. It had only been a couple of hours and Eddie couldn’t imagine not being obsessed with him. What kind of parent doesn’t check in with their kid?

Eddie went back to screwing the two pieces together.

“Okay, now we’re supposed to use the long screws to attach the X-shaped piece to that,” Buck gestured to the part of the crib Eddie was working on, before scanning the floor around them. “What X-shaped piece?” he whispered to himself, having found none.

Eddie’s eyes swept across the floor, also seeing nothing matching that description.

“You’re probably just looking at it wrong. Let me see that,” Eddie grabbed the instructions from Buck. “It says it’s piece 2.”

“B-But they’re all marked with letters, not numbers,” Buck began checking each piece for one marked with a 2. “Give me that,” he pulled the instructions from Eddie’s hands, sliding his phone from his pocket. “I’m using Google translate.”

Eddie rolled his eyes.

“How will that help?” He waved his hands over the pieces around them. “There aren’t any pieces that look like that here.”

“Ha!” Buck exclaimed with a grin. “See, it says… Um…” He squinted at the screen, reading off the translation slowly as his grin faded to a confused frown. “2 paragraphs. Add result walk 7… Okay, this makes no sense.”

“Oh, your brilliant plan failed? Who could’ve predicted that?” Eddie mumbled sarcastically, roughly grabbing the instructions from Buck’s hands and flipping through the pages.

“Wait! I think the 7 is talking about Step 7.”

Buck snatched the instructions back, and Eddie huffed his annoyance.

“Do you have to—"

“Yes! Okay, so we gotta screw the D pieces together.” Eddie rolled his eyes as Buck cut him off. “Why are the instructions out of order? They’re numbered and they’re still out of order, who wrote this?”

Eddie snorted, grabbing the pieces they needed and getting to work.

“Alright, when you’re done with that, we just attach it to the big piece with this—" Buck broke off halfway through his sentence, picking up a small metal something. “What even is this?” he whispered in horror, staring at a…

Eddie eyeballed the piece, doing his best to figure out what it could be.

It sort of looked like a screw, but it had four sides, and nowhere to screw it in.

Oh, what the—

He closed his eyes, sucking in a calming breath.

“I will not be defeated by a crib, I will not be defeated by a crib,” Eddie muttered to himself like a mantra.

Three hours.

It took three hours to build the crib. Though, that was including the time it took to soothe a crying baby twice, get into five separate arguments with Buck, take half the crib apart and start over when they realized they messed up the second step, and for each of them to take multiple breaks (to pace around, do breathing exercises, or stare at the wall for several minutes in silence).

The crib almost broke them— but they persisted.

Eddie gave the crib a good shake to test its stability before stepping back with wide eyes.

“Oh my God… We did it,” he muttered to himself in disbelief. “We beat the crib.” He turned around to face Buck, but found him lying across the floor, eyes closed and jaw slack, lightly snoring beside a sleeping baby.

Eddie noticed his son grasping tightly onto one of Buck’s fingers as he slept, his tiny hand not even covering half of his finger.

It was one of the cutest things he’d ever seen.

Without allowing himself to think about it too deeply, Eddie pulled out his phone and snapped a picture— because his kid was cute. Just his kid. Buck just happened to be there.

He smiled softly down at the image before tucking his phone back into his pocket and beginning to unpack the rest of the baby things Buck had bought, finding a place for each and every item. If Buck was annoyed with all the clutter and mess before, he had a whole other thing coming. The realization made Eddie grin to himself. Though, there was no way Eddie could put off his cleaning as much as he had been, now that there was a baby around.

Damn.

Once Eddie had the final bag unpacked, he crept back over to Buck and his son lying on the floor, and laid down on the other side of his kid, stroking a gentle fingertip over one of his chubby cheeks.

“I’m sorry you’re in this situation, buddy,” he whispered. “You deserve better. But I swear, I’m gonna do whatever it takes to take care of you and give you the life you deserve. I love you so much.”

Eddie felt his eyes welling with tears, and now, with no one to witness, he let himself cry— silently, briefly. Tears dripped down the slope of his nose, landing on the floor beneath him.

He didn’t consider himself religious anymore. Despite how he was raised, he had mostly stopped believing around the time he got to high school. But it was nice, sometimes, to imagine there were greater forces out there, protecting people who needed it. So he wracked his mind for long tucked-away knowledge from his formative years and prayed, unsure if anyone was listening.

He prayed to God, to Mary, to Raphael, to Saint Nicholas, to Saint Christopher.

He asked them all the same thing.

Protect my son. Let him be happy, let him be healthy, let him be safe.

When he was finished, he hummed to himself.

“You know, I’ve always liked that name,” he said conversationally, as if his son were awake to hear him— as if he could understand him, even if he were awake. He stroked his finger over the boy’s small cheek again. “You could be a Christopher. Don’t you think?”

The baby sighed in his sleep, making Eddie’s heart ache, chest flooding with warmth.

“I agree,” Eddie nodded, smiling softly. “You and me, Christopher, we’re on the same wavelength already.”

It wasn’t long before Christopher began to cry, rousing Buck from his sleep with a groan.

“I forgot living with a baby means always getting woken up when you’re trying to sleep,” he grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“So, just like living with you, then?” Eddie couldn’t resist the jab, pushing himself up onto his feet and heading for the kitchen to prepare a bottle.

“Right, of course. Living with me is exactly like living with a newborn baby." Sarcasm dripped from Buck's words, and Eddie didn't even have to see him to know he was rolling his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Daddy.”

Eddie tripped over his foot, nearly face-planting in the middle of their small kitchen. 

He recovered quickly, righting himself and continuing on to make the bottle.

“Don’t you think we should start playing the TV at night or something, to cover up the sound of him crying?” Eddie asked, changing the subject and willing the sudden, unexplainable flush in his cheeks to subside.

Luckily, the dorm directly next to them was empty— a plumbing issue that had the school preferring to leave it unused rather than fixing it— and on the other side of them was a storage closet. It would go a long way toward helping them keep Christopher’s presence a secret, but it wasn’t a guarantee that no one would hear him.

Buck yawned as he stood, and headed for the small TV he had set up on his desk, flicking it on and putting on some sitcom rerun. “Oh, so now you don't care about noise while you're sleeping?”

"Leaving the TV on for my son is nowhere near as annoying as listening to my drunk roommate bumbling around in the dark at 2am." Eddie moved across the room, picking Christopher up and tucking him to his chest, giving him the warm bottle.

"Oh, I get it," Buck agreed with a nod. "Kind of like way leaving the TV on for your son is nowhere near as annoying as being woken up at 6am by your roommate flicking on all the lights and using the loudest coffee maker known to man?"

Eddie scoffed quietly.

“Hey, you finished the crib.” Buck quickly started pushing furniture around, making space for the crib.

“Yeah. Eddie, one. Swedes, zero,” Eddie replied with a nod.

“Ah, I think you mean: Eddie and Buck, one. Swedes, zero,” Buck said pointedly, causing Eddie to raise a brow disapprovingly at him.

“I seem to recall you sleeping through the last half of it, actually.”

“Hey, it was not half,” Buck defended. “And you would’ve never figured out those instructions without my help.”

Eddie huffed, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, yeah. What would I have done without your Google translate idea?” he muttered sarcastically.

Buck threw him an annoyed look but offered no reply, probably too tired to argue. That was fine with Eddie, he was exhausted, too. The events of the day had finally caught up to him, his mind and eyelids both feeling suddenly heavy.

While Eddie fed Christopher, finished moving their furniture and tucked the crib against the wall between their beds, letting out a satisfied hum when he was done.

“I still can’t believe you bought all this stuff,” Eddie muttered, a thought he hadn’t meant to let out. Buck glanced over at him, flashing an apologetic smile.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for disappearing on you like that without a warning. Tomorrow, we’ll just stay in. Scout’s honor,” Buck stuck up two fingers as he made his promise, the boyish gesture providing an almost silly juxtaposition to his large, muscular frame. It strangely fit. Big and boyish. Strong and cute.

Or not cute.

Some people might find his mannerisms cute. Not Eddie.

“Tomorrow?” Eddie furrowed his brow before realization dawned on him.

“Yeah. You have some classes tomorrow, I don’t.” He shrugged. “I figured I can just watch him whenever you’re busy, since none of our class times overlap.”

Eddie just blinked at him, unsure of how he was supposed to respond.

First, Buck offered to watch Christopher so Eddie could take his exam. Then, he went out and spent more money than Eddie even wanted to think about on baby stuff. Now, he was… what? Offering to be a full-time babysitter?

“Buck…” Eddie began awkwardly. “I really appreciate the offer, but I wouldn’t really be able to pay you much for watching him. I only work part-time and—"

“What? No, Eddie— I’m not asking you to pay me.” Buck dropped down onto his bed. “I mean— I live here. I like kids. It’s really no big deal.”

Eddie shook his head, trying and failing to formulate any sort of actual response to his offer. He knew he should just accept, smile and say thank you, Buck, but he was just so confused. The two of them didn't even like each other, yet here Buck was— wild, reckless, party-loving Buck, offering his time and energy and money without asking for a single thing in return. It just didn’t make any sense.

“Why are you helping me?” His voice was practically a whisper. He felt embarrassingly cracked open and vulnerable, but he couldn’t hold back the question.

Buck stared at Christopher for a moment without speaking, obviously lost in thought, a far-away look in his eyes. He almost looked… sad?

“Because he’s just a baby,” Buck said softly, shrugging. “He didn’t ask to be born into such a complicated situation, and he deserves the best possible start to his life he can get.” He turned his gaze up to Eddie, blue eyes wide and unguarded. When he spoke again, he sounded small, his voice honest and full of care. “I just wanna help.”

Oh.

Eddie wasn’t sure what he was expecting, maybe pity? Or even excitement. A misguided fascination with the concept of having a cute baby around. Or maybe the reckless, risk-taker just saw some sort of appeal in attempting to hide a baby in their dorm, enthralled with the idea of breaking the rules so blatantly.

But one thing he certainly wasn't expecting was for Buck to actually care.

“Okay,” he mumbled, dropping his gaze to Christopher’s little face, seeing him finish off his bottle. Lifting Christopher up to his shoulder, he began bouncing him and gently patting his back, trying to burp him the way his tia Pepa showed him with his younger sisters when he was a kid.

“Okay?”

“Yeah, I guess you can help.”

He knew he should be a bit nicer about it, but he still felt bad accepting help from someone, and it’s not like he and Buck were friends. Buck wanted to help for Christopher’s sake, not Eddie’s. He glanced at Buck, seeing his eyes light up in the dim room.

“Yeah?” he asked hopefully, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.

“Yes.” Eddie rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance. He quickly changed the subject. “But I swear to God, if I come back from class tomorrow and you and Christopher are gone, I’ll make you regret the day you ever decided to come to Texas.”

Buck snorted before realization set over his features. “Hey,” he smiled. “You named him?”

“Uh—" Eddie redirected his attention to Christopher again, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. “Yeah. Is it— I mean, it’s a good name… right?”

Buck nodded. “Yeah, I— Yeah. Suits him.”

“Cool,” Eddie replied awkwardly, hoping that his moment of seeking validation for Christopher’s name would be quickly forgotten. “I’m just gonna,” he nodded to the crib. “Say goodnight, Christopher.”

“Goodnight, Christopher!” Buck called quietly, his voice cheerful.

“I was talking to the baby, Buck,” Eddie rolled his eyes, blaming the slight fondness he felt on his exhaustion. He gently placed the drowsy baby into his crib, careful not to disturb him in the hopes that he would sleep for at least a couple of hours.

“Oh. Yeah, I, uh, I knew that,” Buck mumbled in response, settling into his bed.

Eddie turned out the last remaining lamp, using the glow of the TV to find his way to his bed and lay down. As he lay in the dark, he started making a mental list of everything he needed to do when he woke up— starting with going through that manila folder from Shannon before his first class of the day.

From just a couple of feet away, barely audible over the sound of the TV, Buck spoke into the dark room.

“I hope you know, just because you have a super cool baby now, doesn’t mean I like you.”

Eddie didn’t bother trying to fend off the grin spreading across his face, knowing Buck couldn’t see it.

“Good,” he replied. “I still don’t like you, either.”