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Buck had always liked summer as a child.
Often, people assumed it was because there was no more school. It would be not knowing Buck. Buck liked school. But he preferred so much summer camp!
There, Buck had friends with who he could play, laugh and go on quests with. That was a thing, when you were a Demi-God. Not that you would know, of course.
Summer was his escape from his parents’ house, to the first place that had ever felt home.
Before she first married, Maddie went there too. They didn't have the same Godly parent, and it hadn’t shocked them that much to learn that.
The Buckley parents weren’t really the best parents around. They provided food and a shelter for the kid to grow up, but that was basically it. There were no love, no real care.
But Maddie had care for him. Maddie, who was a child of Hestia, goddess of hearth, home and family. It made sense.
She had been Buck’s home and anchor back then. She was the one to advocate to Chiron to keep her little brother close, to rather have him in Hestia’s Cabin than in Hermès’.
She had always been family, his real sister, which was why Buck was so proud when she finally managed to make it work for her.
He couldn’t be more happy than when he walked her to the aisle, where Bobby had officiate her wedding with Chimney.
All the people she came to know in LA were there. Sue, Josh, and some others colleagues from the dispatch centers, some friends from her yoga class, and of course, 118's A-Shift and their families (which had become like family).
Athena (the cop, not the goddess) was here too. Maddie remembered the first time she met her, and was genuinely confused whether or not Mrs Grant was human or not, in some "Lester Papadopulos" fashion. But apparently she was 100% human, according to Buck (who had checked, of course). He had been shocked too, after all.
Some of her friends from the camp even managed to come. Maddie had teared up when she had noticed, and hugged her brother dearly.
Mister D even made the trip, and Maddie had shed a tear or two. She would always be grateful that they managed to answer her invitation.
The siblings had introduced them to the 118 as old friends.
Of course, Mister D had mixed everyone’s name, in his true fashion, calling Maddie ‘Mary’ and Buck ‘Duck’. He also asked for wine but the siblings reminded him he couldn’t drink it, as if as a past private joke. Chim was sure that he was an alcoholic in remission.
Chim also asked if Mister D’s name was a dirty reference, but Maddie explained the old man just hated his first name so Chimney let it go. He wasn't one to talk about names.
Overall, it had went all so well.
Some hunters of Artemis even made it. Maddie had hesitated to join them, before her first wedding.
It had been a good time, that wedding: family, friend and good weather had been here.
Buck smiled fondly at that memory.
And now, summer was around the corner.
Buck loved summer. Because it reminded him of the time his home was a Cabin in Camp Half Blood. Now, his home was a house he shared with his two favorite Diaz.
Maybe one day he’ll contact Chiron to do a reunion with older and still alive Demi-Gods. Maybe some could even bring along their Legacies —the children Demi-Gods had among them.
He opened a new tab on his laptop, and searched for Chiron mail. For safety, he also joined Mister D, so at least one of the two would read it.
He started to write something, but wasn’t satisfied. He thought about it.
“What are you doing?” Chimney asked, genuinely curious, a mug in hand and was going for a refill. “Another Wikipedia deep dive?”
The team was so used to Buck’s deep dive and the following rambling that all of them even knew Buck’s Wikipedia account pseudo. Because of course Buck had a Wikipedia account.
Chim tried to watch Buck’s laptop, but it was set in Greek —the only language Buck could read with ease, with his dyslexia. A child of Athena had told him it once that it was because his brain was setup on Ancient Greek that he always had a hard time reading English.
It didn’t look like a Wikipedia page, Chim noted, but rather some wording editor.
“Thinking and trying to plan a friend group reunion,” Buck answered truthfully.
“Hm. Have fun.”
And Chim left to get coffee.
Buck went back to think about how to introduce his idea. He had already wrote five different versions. He never suppressed one, just in case he’d have a good idea in draft #5 and a fantastic formulation in draft #3.
Next to him, Eddie was reading a poetry book, sipping a coffee from their favorite coffee place, the Crab. It was bartended by a gay man obsessed by his husband and his husband's coffee (made with Austrian goat milk, or something fancy and unusual like that).
A little bit further, Hen was doing crosswords. Sometimes, she couldn’t find a word, so she would ask out loud, and everyone would turn their brain gears to try to find the answer.
Suddenly, a melody rang. It was “Under the Sea”, from the Disney The Little Mermaid.
Eddie glanced at Buck’s phone to catch the caller name before Buck got his phone: “Little Merman (Percy)”.
Eddie felt a peak of jealousy inside him. Buck had never mentioned a Percy.
“Yo Percy! Impeccable timing as always! I was trying to find a way to ask Chiron for a group reunion one of these days!”
“Well that’s actually a good idea, Sea-Ev! Not was I was calling for, but actually yeah! Wait a second, I’m sending Annabeth a message so I won’t forget and we could discuss it later!”
“Sure,” Buck smiled.
“Anyway, I was calling because we are in some kind of situation.”
“What kind of situation?” Buck frowned, his voice tensing because that could rank from anywhere between something very little and non-major to ‘the camp is on fire and being attacked right now and the end of the world is planned at 5, btw’.
The glimpse of alert in his voice made Eddie react. He raised his eyes to see Buck now trying to get something Eddie couldn’t understand.
Eddie and the team had noticed Buck had a bead necklace he sometimes played with when he was stressed, and it didn’t miss: Buck was stimming with the beads.
Buck had told them it came from the summer camp he went to as a child, a bead for each summer. Eddie frowned when he had counted 14 beads. It was a lot. But he didn’t ask.
“Another child of Triton arrived today at Camp.” Percy announced on the phone.
Buck was shocked, as if he had been punched in the stomach. His fingers stopped on one bead.
“What?” He whispered, his eyes opening more in shock.
He wasn’t that surprised or shocked that it happened, if he was being totally honest. Sure, Gods would do what they please. But Triton hadn’t had another mortal child in 32 years, after all. Probably less if given the high probability that the child wasn’t a newborn.
“Are they safe?” Buck asked, and Eddie immediately got worried. Not only due to Buck’s words, but also his voice tone.
The others were also starting to pick up something was happening. Buck had closed his laptop.
“Yeah. Yeah she is. For now. She’s six, and lost. Her parents died in a monster attack that hit their car. Thankfully some of us were near, so we could save the kid, but not her parents. She’s asleep now. Chiron called me, but frankly I’m busy, and also you may be the right person to call, since you’re also a child of Triton.”
“Yeah, sure. Of course. I’ll see with my captain to be there as soon as I can.” The firefighter was already getting up.
“Cool. I’ll text Mister D to let him know.”
“You know I also have his number, right?”
”Yeah but I’m pretty sure you’re gonna be busy in the next minutes.”
“Fair enough. I’ll salute our dads on my way,” Buck couldn’t help but grin a little.
The team was becoming more and more confused, and Chim and Hen — the ‘tea’ from ‘team’— were already elaborating theories.
“You’ll take the sea?”
“It’s fast and safe enough for me.” Buck argued. “Panama ain’t that far.”
“Fair enough!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll text you, blue brain.”
“Yup. Bye!”
”Sea y’a!” Buck hung up.
He couldn’t care less about his coworkers following his every moves or alterning glances between him and Eddie.
But Eddie had also no idea of what was going on.
Buck’s brain was already fully turning. The girl was six, so one year older than him when he first got to Camp. She must felt so lost!
He had already started thinking about where he'll park his car: near some uncommon beach, so no one would touch his car or be worried when he wouldn’t come back to the sand.
Once someone had tried to stop him when thinking he was going to end his own life. Buck was annoyed since he was busy, but couldn’t really blame the guy who thought he was genuinely helping.
Buck pretended a family emergency to Bobby, something about some Long Island cousins being in an accident. He knew that if anyone asked, Maddie would back him up.
Of course, Bobby understood and gave him a few days off.
“Thanks Bobby!” The team only heard as Buck stormed out of their Captain’s office.
“I’ll call you,” he only told Eddie.
And Buck was gone.
And the team stayed there, confused. Especially Eddie.
Buck drove to a calm beach. No one was there. His phone had a special protection to go into water, but he still put it into a plastic bag before putting it into his pocket.
Then, he went into the water.
It felt good, being in the water. But he had no time to think about that.
He had always been faster in the water. He was the son of the sea messenger God after all.
He lost some time when he had to go through the Panama Canal, but this was still faster than going around the whole planet or to go through the freezing waters near Greenland.
Soon, he could see the camp. It felt good, to be back.
He got up the river on which some children were canoeing, like a salmon. He was pretty sure he scared them, but not enough for them to attack him, which was a good thing.
He finally arrived to the Big House, where Mister D wasn’t expecting him from there. He was startled when Buck arrived from behind, but both pretended it didn’t happen.
“Percy told me he called you,” Mister D stated, opening a can of Diet Coke.
“Yup.”
“Hm. You’re not in the right uniform.”
Buck looked down. Indeed. His bead necklace was still out, but he was still wearing his LAFD uniform. He hadn’t took the time to change.
Buck looked up, and Mister D was already going away, stating: “Anyway. Come this way!”
He joined him.
“So. What’s new in LA?” He asked casually as they walked the earth trail he had used so often in the past.
"Oh well, Maddie's pregnant," Buck started.
Mister D nodded here and there, congratulating Maddie and commenting some times.
Buck smiled when he saw orange shirts in the distance. He loved his job with all his heart, but this place will always be home for him. It felt good to be back.
He knew campers were looking at him, an adult in a firefighter uniform, with 14 beads around his neck. He smiled, knowing what he was representing for them: the proof that they could grow old and live and adapt in society. He knew how important it could be.
There were now more grownups Demi-Gods than when he was young, but that didn’t mean they would all see them.
“Look at you, attracting them like wasps to honey,” Mister D cracked a joke. Well, it was probably a joke. Buck was never sure, with him.
“Must be my natural charisma,” Buck smiled back.
“Hm. Well, you know the way. Will you stay with us for diner?”
“Probably, yeah.” Then, a realization hit him. “I’ll have to call Eddie! I won’t be there for diner!”
“Ah, love,” Mister D sighed, bored by all of that —or pretending to be.
Buck typed Eddie a message he didn’t send, as he wouldn’t be able to explain how he could have travel that fast from LA, California to Long Island, New York. Not that his "Long Island cousins" couldn't be anywhere else, right. But anyway.
He'll send it later. He pocketed his phone again, and entered the Poseidon Cabin, which also tolerated children of Triton.
The Cabin hadn’t changed. It was still low, long and solid, with all the windows facing sea, and letting enter an abundance of light inside.
One of the windows was open and Buck could smell the salt of the sea. It smelt like home, like summer.
The outer walls were rough gray stone with pieces of seashell and coral, and looked like the bottom of the ocean floor. Not that Buck had never been that profound, but he imagined it would look like that. Some parts were disappearing behind strange aquatic plants by the windowsills.
Bronze hippocampi were still hanging from the ceiling. Buck used to look at them to fell asleep.
Around the fountain, they were six bunk beds. The one Buck used to sleep in was one of the top beds further from the door. It was currently empty, but the bed under it was filled with a little girl. She had curled dark hair and a slightly tanned skin. Her eyes were closed, but Buck assumed they were blue like his.
He wondered if her eyes would also change color depending the largest body of water around. Percy’s did, and Buck also (to a lesser level but still).
He let her slept and went to one of the window to look at the sea. He took a pic.
Maybe he would put it as one of his phone screen. Maybe the unlock one? The locked one was already a pic of Eddie and Chris and there was no way on Styx he was changing it.
He let her sleep and went outside. Of course, some campers were waiting for him, more or less discreetly. Some pretended to do something, but Buck wasn’t born yesterday. Each new thing —person— in camp was like drama at the 118, everyone wanted in.
“Hello,” Buck saluted.
“Are you Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon?” A kid asked.
“No, I’m Buck. Child of Triton, the sea messenger God,” Buck replied casually.
“Why do you have so many beads?”
“Because I came there many summers. Fourteen, from when I was 5 to when I was 19,” he explained.
“Really?” Some kids were fascinated. Others, impressed. Some wouldn’t believe him, but Buck was okay with that.
“Prove it,” a kid asked.
“My beads already prove it. But I suppose you want a fight? You’re a child of Ares?”
“Yeah. Name’s Cameron. Cameron Dubois.”
“Nice to meet you. Let’s go to the Arena then.”
On their way, they came across a centaur.
“By Chiron’s beard, Buck! It’s been forever!” He exclaimed.
“Alex?” Buck replied enthusiastically. It had been a while indeed.
Last time he had saw him, it was when he had hugged him goodbye when Buck had left in the Jeep to travel through the Americas.
And before that… Buck reddened at the memory. Yeah. So. Anygay.
“You’re going to roast the young?” Alex was way too happy to ask that.
”Yup,” Buck popped the p, a smile coming naturally to his face.
“Whoever is fighting him, maybe know he’s one of the best fighter I’ve had to fight with.” The centaur mentioned to the small crowd following Buck.
“I’m a fighting instructor,” he added for Buck.
The man simply nodded.
“You still want to fight?” Buck questioned.
The child of Ares was too proud to say no, but starting to get a bit worried.
“Maybe we could spar?” Alex came to their rescue. “For old time’s sake?”
“Sure!”
The arena was mostly like Buck remembered it. Equipping brought back a lot of memories. Fighting also.
Nowadays, except fires and white Karens, Buck didn’t fight a lot. Yet, he was still in a nice shape, and time hadn’t altered his dexterity.
His reflex with a swords were a bit rusty, but compensated by an expert knowledge of his body’s capabilities. It was more close than one could have expect, but the victory was still obvious.
Which is why Alex was still cheerful when he lost.
“Buck: 673; Alex: 548! You’re okay?” Buck smiled, extending his hand for his friend to take.
“You mean 549? We had agreed that the purple incident didn’t count!” Alex shook his friend’s hand.
“Okay, okay,” Buck laughed. ”549.”
There were claps. The campers were impressed.
Buck did a bow.
”You gained fans I see,” the centaur joked, and Buck chuckled a bit. Gods, it was good to be back.
“Natural charisma I tell you,” Buck laughed a bit. He had missed it. And maybe him a bit also.
After that, Buck answered to the popular demand and showed them a trick or two, and they went back to the Cabins.
Buck went inside Poseidon’s, wanting to take a shower (he had forgotten he hadn’t took any changing clothes).
His phone vibrated. A text from Eddie, reading: «Everything's ok?»
Buck suppressed his pre-tapped answer to reply: « So far so good; meet old friends. Emma's still asleep »
He glanced at the bed.
« Never mind she's waking up »
He pocketed his phone and went next to her bed.
“Hey. My name is Buck, and you’re safe. How do you feel?”
The girl looked left and right, and around. She seemed impressed by the decoration. Buck let her look around.
Then, she looked at him. He wasn’t too close, letting her smile. She frowned.
“My name is Buck,” he repeated, signing along —he also spelt his name—, “and you’re safe.”
Some children of Apollo had started to teach ASL both for deaf or heard of hearing kids and kids going non-verbal. It had became a thing now, so almost every camper knew ASL.
She opened her mouth to reply, not too big, but not even a whisper came out.
”It’s okay. Take your time. We can teach you sign language to communicate with us if you want.”
She nodded shyly.
Everything was too different around here. She was lost and Buck was the only thing that she could rely on right now.
She hugged him and started to cry. She remembered the accident.
Buck hugged her back and made circles with his hand on her back to comfort her.
“The accident wasn’t your fault. It’s okay to cry and to be sad.” He told her.
He thought she needed to hear it. She did.
After a while —Buck still hadn’t broken the hug—, she straighten up to face him, a question in her eyes. She looked around.
“This is Camp Half Blood,” Buck explain. Greek Gods exists, and we are their kids. We are children of Triton, the Sea Messenger God.”
She frowned.
“You want me to prove it?”
The little girl nodded, still frowning her eyebrows.
Buck took her to the Cabin’s bathroom where he filled up the sink. He put his hand in it, and got it out dry. He let her touch it, and it was dry.
“Being water repellent is something we can chose to be and it’s very useful. After the shower for exemple.”
She frowned and wanted to try it. She took the stool, and put her hand in the water, frowning out of concentration, as if she was instructing it to stay dry.
She let out a little cry of surprise when it did came out dry. She looked at her hand, then Buck, then her hand.
“It’s true,” Buck said. “I also had a hard time to believe it at first. I was five, at the time.”
She looked at him some more, until her stomach made her presence known.
“You’re hungry?” He asked.
She seemed a bit ashamed and nodded.
“Dinner will be ready soon. We can go if you want?”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
Before they left the Cabin, he searched around a bit and found back his old notebooks with ASL translations. It had been made by an Apollo kid, back in the days; Buck wasn’t sure of their name anymore. He lend it to Emma, who accepted it gratefully, and put it in her little Fanny packs.
Buck hold his hand towards the little girl, who took it. She followed him to the eating area. They were late, the bell had already rang.
They weren’t fashionably late, but they were still the center of the attention when they arrived.
Emma hide herself behind Buck’s legs.
“Everything’s okay,” he reassured her.
She nodded. She believed him.
So far he was a reassuring adult that treat her like a person rather than a mere child.
He took a step forward and she followed him. They join the queue to the hearth.
“We gift something to the Gods. A part of our meal.” Buck explained her gently, as if he was explaining something to Chris.
She looked at him with a questioning look.
Buck took his left hand, got it to his head level and got his two middle fingers to his palm, to sign “why?”.
“This is the sign for ‘why?’,” he explained.
She nodded with excitement, and signed “why?”.
“It’s to show them we’re grateful for the benedictions they give us. We show recognition, and therefore they’ll be more nice when we will ask for help,” he started.
He put a part of his meal in the hearth, continuing his explanation: “Here, you put the part of your food you’re sharing with the Gods, and they’ll eat the smoke made out of why you gave.”
She nodded eagerly, and imitated him.
Then, both of them went to Poseidon’s table to enjoy their meal.
Buck send a quick message to Percy, and then another one to Eddie to reassure him.
Buck wanted to take a pic to send to Eddie, but he wouldn’t be able to explain him the whole orange shirt situation without revealing the truth and without passing for a man in a cult.
As much as he’d have love for the man of his life to know about the truth (Gods, Demi-Gods, monsters), he feared Eddie’s reaction. The man had already enough Catholic guilt not to add other Gods to his plate.
And also, Buck feared for Eddie’s security. He knew Eddie was a mortal and therefore couldn’t be hurt directly by monsters, but he could be hurt by proxy, and that was a thought that hurt Buck. He couldn’t imagine Eddie hurt (again). It was too painful.
With their line of work, it had happened, but Buck could still hope and pray for it not to happen again.
And worst of all, Buck was afraid that Eddie would not believe him.
So Buck just send him a text to reassure him that for now, everything was fine. He also told him Emma was non-verbal for now and learning ASL. Eddie (who still had no idea who Emma was for Buck) replied with a thumbs up emoji.
The little girl in front of the adult was shy but also curious. So he spend the dinner to teach him some basic signs: yes, no, okay, why, I like it, I don’t like it, please, thanks, you’re welcome, hi, bye, I, you, us, them, eat, clean, happy, sad.
She forgot some, but the process was launch in her mind.
After that, they had a campfire evening, where they sang songs, and told stories.
Given it wasn’t summer yet, most of the camp occupants weren’t there yet, but there were still some kids.
Buck, who was the phenomenon of the evening, told some stories of when he was younger. He had a big success, of course.
At some point, he and Emma still went back to their Cabin, to sleep. They brushed their teeth, and Buck put Emma to bed. She felt asleep fast.
He went outside for a bit. He wanted —needed— to call Eddie. He met Alex on his way out.
They went up for a walk to caught up. They sat down near the beach: Buck directly on the sand, and Alex letting his horse part get down and him with it.
”So you’re a firefighter now,” the centaur started.
“Yeah. Have been for the past six years, going on seven. It’s what I call my destiny.”
Alex chuckled a bit.
A silence passed. The night was young, and so were them. Less than before, but still. The air was sweet and the stars, shining with all their might. Eddie would have love that view.
“If we were a decade younger, we would have made out,” Alex laughed.
“Yeah,” Buck chuckled.
“So. You found someone?”
“Yeah,” Buck sighed, and it felt like his heart was too full of love, so full his heart was going to explode.
“Want to talk about it?”
“He’s wonderful," Buck started, and he couldn't stop. "He’s the best father, even if sometimes he doubts it. He would do anything for his son. He’s true, and compassionate, yet can also be strict and severe when it needs to be, and he hates technology but love to play Just Dance.
"He loves his coffee black in the morning, and loves to drink it in my mugs. He keeps stealing my shirts and hoodies, and we both pretend not to notice it, but I love when he does,” Buck smiled.
“You must really love him, eh,” Alex said, and his voice almost didn’t sank.
If it had been ten years ago, he’d have left crying. Back then, he’d have love Buck to the moon and back. Nowadays, Buck was just a friend —one he’d have to invite to his wedding one day.
“I do, yeah. He’s my best friend.” Buck smiled. He had got his phone out to show Alex pictures of Eddie.
On the ones Eddie noticed Buck taking his picture or on the ones were he was with Buck, his gaze was so soft and loving that Alex couldn’t help but tease him.
“Just your best friend?”
“Actually, yeah. A lot of people mistake us for a couple, but we’re not. We’re just friends.”
The centaur was baffled and couldn’t believe it. His flabber was truly gasted.
“Oh you sweet summer child, denial is a river in Egypt!!” Alex could almost hear the Universe screaming at them. “Seriously, you never questioned why everyone think you’re together?!”
“No? We’re just close. And co-parenting a child. Have been for the last six years.”
“So let me get this straight –even if nothing about this is–, you coparent a child with your best friend and everyone think you two are a couple due to the way you act with each other, yet you aren’t together.”
“Exactly!”
“Oh you big bisexual buffoon!” Alex was desperate. Gods help him! Maybe he needed glasses? It was the only logical and rational explanation he could come with for him to be that blind.
"Wait, how did you know I was bi-"
”Buck, we literally hook up when we were 17, what do you mean 'how do I know?' I have eyes, you idiot!” Alex couldn’t. He hadn’t the patience anymore for this shit.
Buck was shocked. But it did make sense. Somehow. He had hooked up with men before Tommy —the ex he didn’t missed after having heard Hen and Chim about why they couldn’t stand the guy— but he had never called them boyfriends, so it made it alright in his mind.
Had he been that obvious all his life?
“But… Eddie’s straight…” he whispered, and it sounded more pathetic than he intended to.
”And I’m the Queen of England.”
“It’s a King now.”
”Semantics, Ev, semantics! Point is: I’m sure that he’s as straight as you’re neurotypic. And we both know you have ADHD.”
“Hm. You know, it’s funny, but no one really calls me Evan nowadays. They all call me Buck.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Oh, you can keep calling me Ev, I don’t mind. It’s more about how you say it. You’re not my parents after all.”
“The bar is literally on the floor, Buck,” Alex laughed without any humor. “If not lower. And you're tripping on it.”
They both knew Buckley parents were awful. The human ones, that is. The godly one? Meh. Up to debate. But the human ones? Definitely. The only reason the Buckley were that eager to let Buck go to Camp every year was to child free all summer.
“Hm. And you? What’s new?”
“Well, I’m an instructor here, but Phyrra —my partner, they’re a child of Apollo— is working in a marketing team in New York, and Elle, my girlfriend, is a botanist. She’s a satyr also.”
“Oh. Well. Congratulations. Yeah, I remember them, but I didn’t knew you ended up in a relationship.”
“Thanks. Love them both. Yeah, it’s a whole story. It implies a screwdriver, a grandfather clock and a garbage truck, you’ll love it.”
And he started to tell it.
It was past midnight when Buck went back to Poseidon Cabin.
Used to the bunker room back at the station, Buck took the bed near the door. Emma had went back in the bed she had woke up in.
He send Eddie a quick message, trying to not think too much about what Alex had told him, and felt asleep as soon as he pressed ‘send’.
He did dreamed about Eddie.
The next day, after breakfast, both of them went to the Big House to meet Mister D and Chiron, to discuss a bit about the future of Emma.
Given she has no more family, and no one (mortal) claiming her, she could either stay at Camp —which was probably safer— or maybe eventually perhaps going with Buck.
Emma was firmly gripping Buck’s side of the shirt, as if to physically anchoring him so he wouldn’t be able to leave without her.
But she seemed hesitant.
“This doesn’t meant we’re gonna replace your parents,” Chiron explained patiently and nicely to the little girl. “We just want you to be raised in the best environment possible for you.”
“Even if she comes live with me and the Diaz, she’ll still be around for summer,” Buck stated.
Chiron agreed.
”I need to call Eddie,” the firefighter declared.
He took out his phone, under Emma’s scrutinizing look, and called “Eddie (partner)”.
“Hey Buck!” the other man saluted, and Buck could hear the smile in his voice. Instantly, he softly smiled too. ”You’re on speaker, say hi to Chris!”
“Hey Eddie,” he replied tenderly, and Mister D excused himself with a grumbling comment about young people disgustingly in love. Buck ignored him.
”Hey Chris!” Buck added. Eddie was probably driving him to school.
“Everything’s okay?” Eddie asked, some worries in his voice.
“Yeah. So hum. My cousin’s parents (that was the lie that he had come up with) are definitely out of the picture, so there’s a discussion about whether she go stay with some uncle,” Buck glanced to Chiron to assure it was okay and was met with a nod from the centaur, “or she could stay with me. But since we’re co-parents, I had to ask you.”
“I’m gonna have a sister?!” Chris asked overjoyed before Eddie could even think of an answer. Not that there was much thinking to do anyway.
“I’m on,” Eddie agreed, “but we may have to move, my house hasn’t enough bedrooms.”
Buck’s loft wasn’t even questioned because Buck was so rarely there they often forgot it even exist.
“I’m looking into that as soon as I’m back in LA. I’ll text you.”
“Sure. Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of right now, no.”
“Okay.” Eddie said softly, and it sounded like he would trade the world (minus Chris) for a peanut if it would help Buck.
"We'll be back today or tomorrow, I'll let you know.
"Okay!"
“Love you, bye!” Buck concluded before he hung up. He was still grinning like an idiot.
Then, he realized what he said and reddened, ashamed. Since his discussion with Alex, he was overthinking his whole relationship with Eddie.
Chiron made not comment, but agreed on dealing with the paperwork to let Buck be the legal guardian of Emma.
They had to wait until it was dealt with before leaving.
Buck took Emma around the Camp, telling her stories about the games he and his friends had played here over the years, or how the Camp worked.
“… we Demi-Gods need to protect ourselves from monsters, so we train here. It’s a summer camp, but some stay here all year long,” he was saying.
Emma was nodding.
”When we’ll be with Eddie and Chris, we won’t be able to talk about the Gods or the Camp. They don’t know. It’s a secret for now, okay? We will tell them one day, I promise. Just not right now.”
She nodded again.
They went in for a swim.
During the afternoon, the paperwork was done, and send by email to Buck.
Legally speaking, Chiron had disguised it by making Buck Emma’s godfather and legal guardian.
Since it was settled, Mister D accepted to drive them to Emma’s old home. It was a really emotional moment for the little girl.
Buck dealt with all of the legal stuff, having all of Emma’s belonging —including every book from her house— and some furnitures travelling to LA for their future house. The rest was sold, like the house. Mister D would deal with it, and the money would go on a trust fund for Emma.
Once it was settled, and the truck was on its merry way, they went back to Camp, were Buck and Emma took the sea back to LA.
During the whole trip, Buck hold her hands so she wouldn’t got lost. She picked up pretty fast that she could breathe under water. Thankfully, they had practiced earlier so she didn’t panic as much as before. It was pretty counterintuitive to go in the water and not having respiration issues.
They passed Panama Canal, and arrived on the beach that was as desert as when Buck had left. Thankfully, his car was still there.
Buck drove to Eddie’s place, and he and Emma started searching a new home for them.
When Chris came back from school, he was like any excited teenager. He was happy. He joined them on the couch.
They were still there when Eddie came back.
“I’m home,” he announced.
“On the couch,” Buck replied, as if Eddie couldn’t see them in front of him.
He joined them on the couch and they all looked together.
They had reduced their choice to three options, all accessible to Chris wheelchair. Chris didn’t use it everyday, but they wanted him to always be able to be independent, whatever his mobility aids were.
So Eddie called the real estate agents, and they programmed visits for the next day.
The second house was their dreamed house. Four bedrooms, one bathroom, separate toilets, with a garden, not too far from Chris school and work. It was perfect.
They were focused on it, even if the two others were also nice.
They were still talking about it when they came back home, and Buck got a mail from Chiron: he had already taken care of the planning of Emma’s parents funeral. It would take place in Virginia —Emma’s birth state– the following week. He had added the date and place of the event, of course.
The same day, Buck also took care of transferring Emma to a local school. She would start there the following Monday.
Before dinner, their offer for the house had been accepted. They celebrated with pizzas.
Buck and Eddie took advantage to have their weekend off to move. Buck contacted the transporters of Emma's stuff so they would know and deliver to the right address.
Moving in was easy. Buck hadn’t too much from the loft. The main job was at the Diaz’s house. Thankfully, they had help.
They arranged the new house for a life together, agreeing that maybe some paint work could be done, but it wasn’t a priority, so it would be for their next day off. Well, the ones after the next ones, as the next ones would be used to go to Emma’s parents’ funeral.
Bobby had given them the new address paperwork like he was giving them wedding papers. Well, that was how Buck felt at least. He kinda enjoyed it, if he had to be honest.
Despite that, Buck and Eddie slept in two different rooms.
Emma once asked Christopher if they were together. Chris had thought that at first too. He had even thought that they were together at some point and had broken up and remained friendly for him.
But apparently, they had never been together and still weren’t, and it was starting to pissing him off, as he wanted his dads to be together. Because whatever Buck might say, for Chris, Buck was his second dad.
He always introduced them as being his dads, and since the moving in, they accepted that title.
After all, Chris had know Buck for half his life, and couldn’t even really remember a part of it before Buck was in it.
Chris had asked for Buck to adopt him, with the official papers and all.
Since his dads were too blind to notice they were a couple in everything but in sharing kisses and a bed, Chris had decided to take the matter into his own hands and definitely teenager-trapped Buck as his dad.
Of course, Buck had accepted.
Eddie also asked Emma if she wanted him to adopt her as well, and she accepted. She already felt welcome in that family. She had always wanted a sibling.
She and Chris had talked about their dads, and she was glad to have them. She still had a mom, a mom she liked with all her heart, but she had never had knew her father, only a stepdad she didn’t really liked, so having two dads was great.
Without Buck and Eddie knowing it, Chris and Emma started to refer as them as "Dad" for Eddie and "Papa" for Buck.
That didn’t erase her grief, of course, but it helped it. It soothed it, to make it more bearable. She also started to go to therapy.
Buck had found that child of Psyche who was a therapist also, Dr Martha Pickleson. Which was actually great, because it meant she could also open herself about the whole Demi-God situation.
Emma’s sign language was limited —but growing. She wasn’t comfortable enough to talk yet. The Diaz had also picked up on ASL classes to communicate with her.
The young girl was slowly adapting to her new life.
Her teachers had been told about the traumatic events the young girl was going through and were understanding.
Unbeknown to Eddie and Chris, Buck and Emma had asked for Triton’s protection on the house.
It wasn’t a secret at station 118 that Buck was an Hellenistic pagan, and the Diaz accepted it pretty easily, so Emma being one too was neither shocking nor that much of adaptation.
On one of the shelf one the living room, near Eddie’s Christian cross, there were altars for their Gods.
There was one for Triton, their Godly father, of course, and one for Poseidon, but Emma had also insisted to put one for Hestia, after Buck had told her story about how Hestia Cabin had welcomed him in when he first arrived at Camp, young, lost, and following Maddie everywhere.
They had built these while listening to that musical, Epic, by Jorge Rivera-Herrans.
”The author of the musical is a son of Apollo,” Buck had whispered to Emma when putting on the altars.
She had enthusiastically nodded.
Triton’s altar was made of a scallop shell, with a little trident and a little envelop, and a music box that play “Wellerman”. For some reason, Triton had a thing for sea shanties.
For Poseidon, they had used a wooden chest filled with sand. On it, there were figurines of a sea horse and a horse, and an olive tree.
For Hestia, they had created a small hearth that could light up with a small led, and four little false marshmallows.
They flew to Virginia for the funeral.
Chris couldn’t come, as he had an exam he had to work for. He stayed with Hen, Karen, Denny and Mara.
The funeral was emotional, of course.
There weren’t many people. Some friends of the deceased. Percy. Buck, Eddie and Emma.
After the ceremony, Percy approached Buck.
“Hey Sea-Ev,” he saluted him, and Eddie felt instantly jealous.
”Hey Blue Brain,” Buck replied.
“Eddie, this is Percy, my brother from another mother —he’s two years younger. How’s Sally, by the way?”
“Mom’s okay. She sends her regards, of course.”
Buck nodded. Eddie’s jealousy had come down.
“So this is Emma?” He kneeled to be as her height. “Nice to meet you.”
‘You too,’ she signed.
”Do you want to have time alone with your parents?” Buck asked her.
‘Yes, please.’ She signed.
“Okay. We’ll be in the back, watching from afar,” Buck reassured her. She nodded and went to had a moment.
“So, this is the Eddie you talk about all the time,” Percy noted.
Eddie frowned. Buck talked about him all the time?
He glanced at the man next to him, who had reddened. Since he had come back with Emma, Buck seemed more careful than before.
Something had changed. Something good. But Eddie had no idea of what it was.
“Well, you talk about Annabeth all the time too,” Buck retorted.
”Of course I do! She’s my wife! And we have three kids together.”
“Technically, he’s as much as Chris’ dad as I am,” Eddie blurted out.
Buck’s eyes opened big as tea plates. Despite having adopting Chris, Buck was still surprised, positively, when he was reminded that he was also his parent.
“I really think that,” he told Buck. “You know that, right? It’s important to me that you know that, Ev.”
The tone was so intimate that Percy almost felt like he was intruding.
No one commented that Buck compared his relationship with Eddie to Percy and his wonderful wife. Or rather, to Annabeth and her husband.
”I’m a dad,” Buck said, and he had to sit down to fully realize it.
« Do you think of me as your dad? » He texted Chris.
The response came a few seconds later: « Yeah? Always had. You’ll always be my Buck »
It was followed by: « Buck, you literally adopted me??? Wdym ofc you're my dad »
And: « Not sure I could call you Papa but I can work on it if you’d like »
Too emotional, Buck teared up and showed Eddie the texts.
While he was showing them to Percy like the proud dad he was, Eddie texted his son: « Please don’t break your father, I’d like him to stay with us. »
The reply came in the instant: « Are you finally admitting that you’re gay for Buck??? » It was send with the firework effect.
« Chris! »
« What do you mean finally?? »
« Chris??? »
Eddie stared at his phone. His teenager was weirding him out sometimes.
A week after that event, a few trips at Costco and some paint work later, the Buckley-Diaz made a barbecue at their new home and invited the 118. It all went well.
They all liked Emma. Emma, who was starting slowly to talk. She had befriended Mara quickly, as they shared a similar life experience.
Eddie, who had realized his son was right, had spiraled down and had an existential crisis. And that was why he had reunited his close family the previous day to come out. Of course, they were fully supportive.
Like the 118, when he came out during the meal at their place.
Speaking of coming out, Buck had thought about it for a long time, and had decided it was finally time for Eddie and Chris to know.
He invited Percy over, as he would need some support.
What he didn’t planed was that Poseidon would tag along.
“Percy. Why is Poseidon in our garden?” Buck asked, musky annoyed.
Eddie looked confusingly from Buck to the middle aged man in fisher hat, Hawaiian shirt, shorts and tap shoes talking with Emma and Chris about fishes in his garden.
”He wanted ribs.” Percy shrugged as if it was the most normal thing ever. “And see family, I guess.”
"Poseidon?" Eddie reacted. "Like the Greek God? That's funny, our captain's wife is named Athena!" He smiled, amused.
Percy frowned, uneasy. Athena (the goddess) was his mother-in-law, after all.
"She's named after the goddess," Buck added. As in: she's not her.
Percy sighed internally and relaxed a bit.
"So that's your father?" Eddie asked him.
"Yeah. One of the Three wearing sandals, I know... I was disappointed too."
"I'm not sure I understand." Eddie was confused.
“You haven’t told him?” Percy was surprised. Shocked perhaps even.
“I wanted to tell him today.” Buck replied silently.
“Tell me what?!”
Buck sighed.
“We need to tell Chris too.”
Percy nodded.
They all joined the kids and the God in the garden. They all sat down.
“Poseidon, can you go take care of the barbecue please?” Buck asked.
The God nodded, happy to be here.
“Poseidon’s a sick name!” Chris smiled.
“That’s the Sea God,” Buck told him.
“And my dad,” Percy added.
“What?!” Chris and Eddie dropped more or less at the same time.
Buck sighed.
“Long story short, Greek Gods exist and Demi-Gods too. Percy is a son of Poseidon, and Emma and I are children of Triton.”
“The Sea Messenger God for whom there’s an altar in the living room?” Eddie asked, dumbfounded. Because seriously, what in the fuck.
“Yup.”
“So technically she’s your sister?” Chris questioned.
“Technically, Percy is our uncle,” Emma said with a small voice.
Everyone turned to her. She reddened.
Eddie was too baffled. He turned to Buck. He wasn’t joking.
“Triton is Poseidon’s son,” He explained.
It was too much for Eddie. He stood up and went into the kitchen. Buck followed him.
“Eddie! I’m sorry! I should have tell you sooner!”
“Yeah, I… I need time Buck.”
Eddie wasn’t even angry. His brain was still processing.
“I’m sorry.” Buck had no idea what else to say.
“Does that mean God —the Christian one, I mean— and Jesus are real too?” Eddie asked silently.
“No idea,” Buck answered truthfully.
“How do you feel?” He asked after a bit.
”Confused. Maybe a bit betrayed, but it’s all a little bit hard to believe. Is it why you didn’t tell me right away?”
“Yeah. You’re okay with this?”
“To be fair, I’m still processing. There’s a difference between believing in a God and having him in Hawaiian shirt in your back garden for a barbecue!”
Buck burst out laughing at that.
Eddie hugged him. Tight.
Of course, Buck hugged him back. He noticed Eddie was shaking a bit.
“Don’t worry,” Buck reassured him, “this house is protected by the Gods.”
“Protected against what?” Eddie regretting asking as soon as the words left his lips.
“Maybe we’ll wait until tomorrow for that discussion,” Buck declared.
“Yeah. Okay. Okay.”
“You’re alright?”
“Yeah. Let’s go back.”
So they went back. Percy was telling Chris about his powers, and Emma was nodding along.
Chris asked Percy if it was why sometimes he was seeing weird things (like a boy with a bronze shield in a McDonald) other didn’t seemed to catch. So yeah, apparently, Chris could see through the Midst.
For the Sea God, Poseidon was surprisingly good at barbecue.
Before leaving, he told Eddie and Buck that they had his and Triton’s benedictions for their relationship. Buck and Eddie had reddened like lobsters and fire engines.
Buck called Maddie during the afternoon to tell her Eddie and Chris knew.
They came for dinner so Maddie could tell her husband about it.
She hadn’t told him because she had fear his reaction. She hadn’t tell their daughter as she was afraid that she (and the baby to come) could be a Legacy, and have powers, and be targeted by monsters if she knew she was special.
“Technically, given Chim is a mortal, there’s a very low chance that she’ll be a Legacy,” Buck had reassured her again.
"Yes, but low is not zero, Buck." She had replied. Her brother had nothing to answer to that.
Chim had approximately half hundred questions, and Eddie was actually glad these were asked: it covered the basics.
“So you have a sword?!” The man asked, and Buck nodded.
“You kept it?” Maddie wondered.
“Yeah. It’s not as cool as Percy’s pen sword, but it does the job. I haven’t used it in forever, mind you.”
He had turned his head to the shelf next to the TV. The one that contained the altars, and just behind them, the sword.
He went and took it, and brought it back to the table.
“It’s made of celestial bronze,” Buck explained. “It only affects Demi-Gods and monsters. Mortals like you aren’t affected by it. May I?” He asked Eddie.
”Of course.” Eddie nodded, trusting Buck.
“You’re sure? It seems pretty cutting.” Chim thought about safety first.
Buck slowly let it go towards Eddie’s hand. It went through it. Eddie was still shocked by that.
Chimney had to touch the blade. Well, try to. He couldn’t actually touch it. His brain was having a hard time grasping that, so much it gave him a headache.
“See? But on a Demi-God like me?”
He put the blade against his left index and major, and without even applying much pressure, it cut through skin and started to bleed.
Eddie stood up, ready to search the first aid kit, but Buck asked him to sit in a glance.
“It’s okay,” he told him, putting his two fingers in his water glass.
The injurie healed itself so well there weren’t any scare.
“See?” He hold Eddie his hand so the man could inspect it.
Eddie took it very carefully, as if it was a precious manuscript that belong into a museum.
He examined it, and was reassured, even if he couldn’t quite calm his heart that was still racing after seeing Buck so casually hurting himself on purpose.
He told him so while they were loading the dishwasher.
Maddie and Chim had been on their merry way. Jee-Yun was at Hen and Karen's for the night, having a pajama night with Mara: they were good friends now.
Chris and Emma were playing some game, before going to bed.
“I’m serious, Buck. I don’t want you to get hurt to prove a point.”
Buck stayed silent a bit.
”Thanks.” He stated. He needed to be reminded that he was being cared for. And Eddie would tell him every time. “I promise you I’ll try my best not to hurt me on purpose.”
”Hm. Thanks.”
”Do you want to watch pictures and videos of me from that time?” Buck offered.
“Of course I want!”
They went to the sofa, and Buck connected his phone to the TV. He had reunited every pics and videos in one folder on his phone, protected by a code.
“Kids of Hephaestus had to create special cameras to pick up through the mist,” Buck explained.
Eddie didn’t fully understood, but nodded.
They were soon joined by Chris and Emma, all on the couch.
“What’s with the orange shirts?”
”It’s what we wear at Camp. Make it easier to see kids through the forest.”
“Hm. Make sense.”
Buck commented every pic, every video.
“Is that a centaur?” Chris asked, voice full of wondered.
“Yeah. His name is Alex. We dated, back in the days.”
Eddie turned his head so fast he could have broke his neck. His eyes had doubled volume.
“What?” Buck stated, as if it was perfectly normal. “We were young. Seventeen, actually.”
Eddie didn’t even questioned it. Not the weirdest thing that had happened that day.
“So you went out with guys before and never questioned your sexuality before Tommy?” Chris was so done with his Buck sometimes.
“Yeah… I mean, most of the time, it wasn’t anything serious, and the only relationship were it was serious, it was Alex, and it seemed so natural that neither of us questioned things.”
“Hm.”
“Oh, here we can see Groover, Percy and I on a fountain in Central Park, in New York! The picture was taken by Annabeth. She has husbanded Percy up by now.”
“Oh nice!”
A few pictures went by.
“Oh, that’s when we went to Australia!”
On the picture, Percy and Buck had their left eye blue and the right one pink.
“What’s up with your eyes?”
Buck put the next picture, where their two eyes colors were inverted.
“We were between Lake Hillier and the sea. Our eyes took the color of the biggest water body nearby. One summer in our twenties, some friends and I wanted to test that. You’ll notice Percy’s eyes are more colored than mines.”
“But you have blue eyes!” Chris said.
“Because we’re near the ocean.”
“So you eyes are reflecting the sea,” Eddie stated.
“Yup.”
“Does my eyes do that too?” Emma spoke, not too loud, but not so quiet that they would have to pay extra attention to caught it.
“Probably, yeah. We could test it? If you want.”
“Yeah!” She smiled, and the family unit continued to watch pics of Buck’s youth.
Around 10 and a half pm, they all went to bed.
And when the kids were in their rooms, Eddie hesitated in front of his door. He turned to Buck.
“Do you uh… Do you want to sleep with me?”
”You want me to protect you in your sleep?” Buck only half joked.
Eddie gave him a look, and Buck’s cocky attitude actually left his body immediately.
Eddie was actually terrified of all the implications of the day’s revelations.
Buck hugged him.
“Oh Eddie, I’m so sorry. Shh, it’s okay.”
Of course, Buck hugged him as long as he needed.
And of course, he hold him as he got to slip into Morpheus’ arms.
When he woke up next to Eddie, Buck didn’t pinched himself. It was probably a dream, and he didn’t want it to stop.
“Hey,” Eddie’s voice was still soft with sleep.
“Hey,” Buck answered with the same tone and a tender smile.
Eddie closed his eyes again, softly grinning.
“Echolalia,” he simply stated.
Buck once had a ramble about echolalia, aka: repeating things. A lot of neurodivergent people tended to do it, and Buck was no exception.
”You remembered?” Buck was touched.
“Of course,” Eddie dropped as if it was the most obvious answer ever. He plunged his head into Buck’s chest, eyes still closed. “You said it.”
Buck felt his heart so full of joy and happiness at that instant! It was so intoxicating in a good way, like ambrosia was running in his veins.
He felt loved and heard and listened to. He felt like no one could love him as much as Eddie Diaz, and that he could love no one more than him.
The others were right. They were soulmates. Made for each others in two compatible molds. Two indissociable humans.
Loving Eddie was easy like breathing. Loving Eddie was what made Buck understood why Orpheus looked back.
He let out a sighed a relief. He loved him so much.
“What are you thinking about?” Eddie whispered between his arms, right above his right pec.
Buck shivered under Eddie’s breath on his skin.
“About how much I love you.” Buck whispered back.
”Hm,” Eddie smiled.
A bit passed.
Suddenly, Eddie was pulling back.
“Wait, what?!”
Buck frowned. What?
And then, realized what he just confessed. This idiot.
He didn’t even try to deny it —he remembered someone saying something about some river in Egypt— and just turned lobster red. To try to hide his shame and awkwardness, he borrowed —stole— Eddie’s pillow and put his head in it.
Big mistake: he just managed to get a heavy inhalation of Eddie’s smell. Fucks.
This was also the moment Buck realize he wasn’t asleep and fully awake: he couldn’t smell in a dream.
Eddie was touching his shoulder, gently shaking it.
“Hey, Buck, it’s okay. I love you too. Buck?”
The blond man emerged from the pillow to see Eddie had also reddened.
”I do love you too,” Eddie repeated. He was now sat in bed, fixing Buck.
“Can I kiss you?” the Demi-God mumbled from the pillow.
“What?”
“Can I kiss you?”
Well, Eddie beat him to it.
It was soft. It was warm. It felt like home. Forget butterflies, it was like his stomach was put on a rocket that took off for the stars.
When they emerged from the room, Chris was eating breakfast with Emma.
“You finally resolved your shits together?” Chris was unbothered. Eddie reddened, and Buck had no idea of what to say.
Neither picked up the swear. Emma did, and gave him the Swear Jar. Given he haven’t a dollar on him, he noted the date and put a bar that would stay until he would out a dollar in.
“Uh… Yeah. We’re together.” Eddie confirmed, after a glance to Buck to confirm it was okay.
“Finally! Can I tell others, or you wanna do it?” Chris asked.
The two adults exchange glances.
“We’ll do it. Just… later. Now, it’s breakfast time.”
They sat down and started eating.
It was a new day. Everything was well.
Soon it would be summer.