Chapter Text
“You invited mom and dad to visit?” Buck asked, almost frozen.
“Yes.” Maddie said, almost cautiously.
“And you’re just telling me now?”
“Well, you know, you were in Texas, and I wasn’t -I wasn’t completely sure they were coming.”
“And you’re just telling me now that they’ve crossed the California state line, a-and it’s too late for me to talk you out of it" he paused before scoffing bitterly "though I’m not sure who talked you into it”
“No one, I guess I just want my little girl to have a normal family. You know, uncles and grandparents she might actually know.”
“Well then maybe you should have gotten knocked up by a guy who has one of those.” It was a cheap shot, and Buck didn’t really mean it, he loved Chimney, but he was panicking, not looking forward to seeing his abus his parents.
“Now that’s not funny.” Maddie waited a breath before continuing. “Maybe, maybe this will be a good thing. You know, you could talk to mom and dad, tell them how you’ve been feeling. Could be good for your therapy.”
Or cause me to need more he thought bitterly.
Maddie let out a sigh, and Buck realized he had said that aloud.
Maddie stared at him for a moment, a bit of sadness creeping into her face, “I think I’m willing to try… and maybe mom and dad are too.”
Buck sighed, Maddie wanted to have her parents in her life, she wanted her baby to have them in her life, and while that idea terrified Buck, he knew nothing would happen if he cooperated with his parents. If he played nice with them and smiled at his mom then maybe, just maybe no one would get hurt and Buck’s beautiful unborn niece would get to have a functioning family, something Maddie and him never did.
“Fine, but we’re a team, okay a united front. You are not allowed to leave me alone with them.”
“I won’t. I promise.” relief poured over Buck, no way they could hurt him if Maddie was there. “And don’t worry, Chimney’s gonna be there too.”
And honestly, that reassured Buck even more, if there was one thing the Buckleys absolutely hated, was a bad public image, they would do anything to keep their image perfect and unblemished, and never aired their dirty laundry around other people, no matter how close that person was.
“And maybe you could invite Eddie.” Maddie suggested, a smirk lighting up her face.
“Hah,” Buck laughed. “No way, am I subjecting my best friend to that torture.”
Eddie would see right through his fake smile, he would notice the slight flinches and the darting eyes. Eddie noticed everything when it came to Buck, and he would quickly be able to see the truth of Buck’s childhood if he was in the same room as him and the Buckley parents.
Maddie frowned at Buck’s response, but dropped it
.
Buck was anxious, panicking really, he was going to see his parents, who he hadn't seen in over a decade, in less than two days. They were about 8 hours into a 24 hour shift, and had been stuck on back to back calls all morning, allowing for Buck to push the thoughts about of his parents to the back of his mind. Currently, everyone was lazing around the loft, taking advantage of the break while they had it. Chimney and Hen were crowded into the loveseat, shoving at each other and bickering over the video game they were playing. Eddie was tucked into the corner of the loft couch, reading some book that Chris had convinced him he would like. Bobby was moving around the kitchen, making a quick, protein heavy meal for his team. And Buck was sprawled out on the couch, head propped on a pillow, his feet tucked in Eddie’s lap, and currently deep diving into his recent hyperfixation via Wikipedia searches.
Then Chimney had to go and shatter his peace with one “simple” question.
“Sooooo, Buckley,” Chimney started, placing his controller on the table in front of him, turning towards Buck.
“Hmmmmm?” Buck hummed without looking up from his phone.
“What are they like?”
This time Buck did look up from his phone, “Who?”
“Your parents man? I know you said that they were like emotionally absent, but like do I need to worry? Are they judgy? Do I need to like act differently around them, or like avoid certain topics? Because no one has told me anything and I have no idea what to expect, and I’m meeting them in like, less than a day, and I’m sorta freaking out man.” Chimney said in one breath.
“Wait, Buck, your parents are visiting?” Bobby questioned. “You didn’t say anything.”
Buck sighed, “Yeah they are flying in early tomorrow and spending a few days in LA. I don’t know, didn’t really seem important I guess. And you’ll be fine, Chimney, you’re giving them a grandchild”
“Wait, hold on, can we focus on the emotionally absent part?” Eddie said, eyebrows furrowing in concern as he turned all of his attention towards Buck, his hand coming off his book to rest on Buck’s ankle.
Buck rolled his eyes thank you Chimney, “They just don’t know how to communicate emotions very well, ya know.” he explained quickly, “ I mean they were good people, and they did their best, they just struggled to understand us emotionally. Plus it’s not like they didn’t love us, they just… didn’t know how to show it all the time.” - more like all the time Buck thought bitterly to himself.
“That sounds lonely, Buck” Eddie said, a look of, was that sadness? crossing his face. Eddie emphasized his worry by squeezing Buck’s ankle slightly, sending butterflies through his entire body.
It took Buck a minute to respond, his mind now solely focused on Eddie’s hand on his leg.
Finally he shrugged, “It wasn’t so bad, I had Maddie. Plus I can make friends with anybody, I had plenty of people to talk to.”
Buck did have friends. Well they were more like acquaintances, kids he sat with at lunch and played football with in highschool, but nobody close, he was always too scared of getting hurt.
“Still…” Eddie trailed off, his deep brown eyes searching Buck.
“Wait, you didn’t tell Eddie, I thought Maddie said you were gonna bring him to dinner.” Chimney said furrowing his brows, glancing between them.
Eddie raised his eyebrow at that.
Huffing, Buck responded “No, Maddie wanted me to invite Eddie, and I told her I wasn't going to make him endure my parents' judgy racist bullshit just to give me moral support.”
“Hey,” Eddie chastised softly, “I don’t mind.”
His eyes went completely soft, and Buck felt those damn butterflies again.
Buck went to say something, but Chim interrupted him immediately.
“Wait racist-” he said, arms gesturing to himself frantically “-you said I would be fine”
Buck rolled his eyes again, “You will be, they're not like racist, racist it’s-” he gestured to Eddie as if to explain his point “-Eddie’s ya know.”
“Mexican,” Eddie guessed, eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, I mean no, it’s not, ugh,” Buck groaned. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to collect himself. “I was raised protestant, uh episcopalian, and my parents were both raised that way too.”
“Ohhhhhh,” Eddie whispered, understanding crossing his face.
“That’ll do it,” Bobby chuckled from the kitchen.
“Wait, I'm sorry, why is that even relevant?" Hen spoke up, confusion apparent on her face.
“Protestants hate Catholics.” Eddie stated.
“Well not all Protestants,” Bobby corrected, “It’s complicated, but most protestant religions were founded by former catholics who didn’t necessarily agree with what they were taught, so oftentimes it leads to strain between the different religions.”
“Yeah,” Buck added “And there are plenty of Christians and Protestants who don't mind Catholics, and even respect them-”
“Like Athena.” Bobby interrupted, a smile on his face at the mention of his wife.
“Like Athena,” Buck agreed,”But my parents are not like that at all, they will judge the fuck out of you, and how all Catholics are ‘blasphemers’ who are damned to hell.”’
“Oh, shit, so don't say anything religious at dinner?” Chimney questioned.
“Probably a good idea, tho they haven’t actually been to a service since before I was born, so we should be fine.”
“Ok sure, but I'm still confused as to how that correlates to Eddie if he isn’t even practicing technically."
“Yeah well, like I said they are sort of racist..”
“So they assume anyone with Spanish heritage is a Catholic?” Eddie finished.
“Yeah, basically.”
Eddie opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could the tones rang, causing all the firefighters to jump to their feet.
Buck couldn't help the sigh of relief l left him, grateful that his teammates’ attention was now focused away from him.