archerdean
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Buck’s hair is gray at the temples, buzzed neatly on the sides and a bit longer and curlier on top than Chris remembers him wearing it, and there’s a new scar through one of his eyebrows. He looks good, like he’s living a happy life, and the only possible reason Chris can imagine for Buck to be here at Helena Diaz’s funeral in El Paso is that Chris’s father brought him.
“Why would you come?” Chris snaps at him.
Buck blinks. “Why wouldn’t I come?”
“She didn’t mean anything to you.”
“I’m not here for her,” Buck scoffs. “She is dead. I’m here for him.”
or
Chris is forced to grapple with the choice he made eleven years ago when his father comes back for Helena’s funeral.
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Bookmarked by archerdean
23 Apr 2026
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There’s a new resident moving into the suite across from Buck’s.
“What’s his name?” Buck asks.
“Eddie Diaz,” Nurse Corra tells him.“Hey, you know Eddie is also a retired firefighter."
Eddie Diaz, new recruit, a voice echoes in his mind.
“Huh.” Buck says. "Never heard of him."
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- English
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Bookmarked by archerdean
07 Apr 2026
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The idea comes to him on one of his drives through the mountains.
He’s driving up, and up, and up until the road has a steep, sheer drop on one side, and nobody’s driving alongside him. He’s headed to the top of a mountain. There’s a gravel pull-off right before a hairpin turn. The turn is protected by a flimsy guardrail.
Eddie parks on the pull-off and walks over to look past the guardrail.
Nothing underneath. Just dry underbrush. A shallow stream right at the bottom. Thin vegetation. If a car missed the curve at a fair speed, it would plummet down the cliff. Next to no chance of survival.
And Eddie’s known to drive, to clear his own head. He used to do it to find hiking trails for him and Buck, or roadside attractions or activities that Christopher might like. It’s a known hobby of his. He’s a good driver.
So it’s not convincing if he crashes in good weather. He’ll have to wait for a storm.
But it’ll work. It has to work.
(Or: Eddie and all the ways you shouldn't love your loved ones.)
Series
- Part 1 of darkness on the edge of town
Bookmarked by archerdean
03 Apr 2026
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Buck is a lot. Eddie knows Buck is a lot. Buck knows Buck is a lot.
But every single person who ever said that to Buck said it like a warning. Like a disclaimer, a heads-up, a you-should-know-what-you're-getting-into before getting too close so they can't say they weren't told.
And Eddie has never, not once, wanted Buck to be less.
The surplus, the overflow, the fourth tangent on a story that started somewhere else entirely — that's not the price of Buck. That is Buck. And more of Buck has only ever meant more to love, and Eddie spent enough years running on empty to know what it means when someone fills up every room they walk into so completely that Eddie is overflowing with it most days.
"Eddie. Are you listening?"
Eddie nods. "Gym Katie is alone at the gym and she's upset."
Buck blinks. His mouth is still open from the sentence he was about to say, his hands still mid-gesture, and he looks genuinely thrown, like he expected to catch Eddie zoning out and instead got caught himself. Caught being heard.
"You were listening," Buck says, a little breathlessly.
Eddie smiles. "I'm always listening."
Or,
Eddie finds beauty in the mundane.- Language:
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Bookmarked by archerdean
27 Mar 2026
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He’s fairly sure, in some faraway part of his brain, that Eddie doesn’t mean for him to climb onto the couch, slot his legs between Eddie’s, and collapse on top of him — Eddie’s chest his new favorite pillow.
He does know that’s probably not what he meant. But it is what Buck does.
Or, Buck's so, so tired. What's he supposed to do but take a nap on top of Eddie?
Bookmarked by archerdean
24 Mar 2026