17 Works by Second_starr
Listing Works
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Summary
It’s not sudden or shocking. Just there. Something inevitable Eddie kept trying to rename into safer shapes. Best friend. Partner. Family. Anything except the truth sitting underneath all of it. His chest caves inward sharply.
Pepa’s expression changes immediately. “Hey,” she says. Eddie presses the heel of his hand against his mouth hard enough to hurt. His eyes are burning violently. Not now. Not here. Not after spending thirty-three years keeping this contained.
“I tried so hard,” Eddie whispers. Pepa goes still. The words slip out before he can stop them. “I tried so hard to be right.” his voice breaks on the last word.
And it finally destroys him. The exhaustion from spending his entire life trying to earn the right to exist comfortably inside himself. Tears spill before he can stop them. Eddie laughs once immediately afterward, humiliated on instinct.
Or
Eddie Begins Again
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“And then this one says, ‘Rawr!’ But not a scary rawr because he’s a nice dinosaur. He just wants a friend.”
Jee nodded with absolute seriousness. “We can be his friends.”
Maddie’s heart squeezed. She watched Theo carefully place the dinosaur into Jee’s tiny hands. “So he won’t be lonely.”
Just like Evan, always making sure nobody was left out. Without thinking, she smiled and called across the room. “Evan, honey, can you hand Jee the blue block too?”
OR
Maddie keeps calling Theo, Evan
Series
- Part 13 of Welcome Home, Theo
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5 Times Theo Played a Prank on the 118 and the 1 Time They get Him Back
Series
- Part 12 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Theo had wandered into the kitchen rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Papa?”
“Morning, Bubba.”
“I can’t find Mr Moo.”
Buck barely looked up from spreading peanut butter. “Did you leave him in bed?” Theo shook his head. “What about under the bed?” That earnt Buck another shake, Buck smiled reassuringly. “He’ll turn up. He always does.”
OR
Theo’s teddy bear, Mr Moo goes missing and Buck panics
Series
- Part 11 of Welcome Home, Theo
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"I need you to wake up." His throat burns. "Chris needs you." A pause, with a shaking inhale. "So do I." The words slip out before he can catch them.
Buck closes his eyes, and squeezes Eddie's hand once. The nurse enters a moment later. His time was up. Buck steps back reluctantly.
The medication begins dripping into Eddie's IV. Slow and steady. Buck watches the monitor before he turns his back to leave. He watches the numbers change, and watches Eddie sink further away.
Everything feels distant, Buck looks down one last time while the nurse guides him toward the door. Buck turns back, just once as Eddie lies motionless beneath the hospital lights. As he walks away, his gut tightens, everything screaming at him to turn back, to stay with Eddie. And somewhere far away, beyond the machines and pain and fear.
Eddie wakes up.
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Eddie is critically injured, goes into a coma and dreams that he and Buck are married
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Theo sits happily on the couch eating animal crackers. “Pops says Ravi screams during scary movies.”
Ravi chokes on air. “How-”
Theo gasps. “He says one time you cried.”
Hen immediately loses it. Buck tries not to laugh and fails spectacularly. Ravi points accusingly at him. “You told him!”
“I swear to god I didn’t!” Buck says, raising his hands in defense.
Theo swings his legs cheerfully. “Pops said it was the dinosaur movie.”
Ravi buries his face in his hands while Chim nearly falls off the couch laughing. Buck watches Theo carefully after that. Everything he says, leaving Buck slightly unsettled. Theo acts and is talking like someone is really there. Not imaginary-friend energy or make-believe. He was having real conversations about actual things that have happened. And every time Theo wanders off to talk to “Pops,” he comes back calmer.
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Theo has a new imaginary friend and it’s slowly freaking Buck out.
Series
- Part 10 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Theo picks at the hem of his shirt. “Eli said it was weird.”
Buck frowns. “What was weird?”
“That I call you Buck.” The words land harder than they should.
Buck crouches down slowly. “Okay.”
Theo stares at the worksheet instead of him. “And Miss Jenny asked if maybe I wanted to call you Dad instead.”
Buck feels like someone shoved a fist straight through his ribcage. “Oh.”
Theo’s tiny shoulders hunch. “I didn’t know the right answer.”
Or
Theo is trying to figure out what to call Buck.
Series
- Part 9 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Buck gets a new tattoo, Eddie panics, proposes and fucks him about it. In that order.
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“They said I’ve been approved to adopt Theo.” the words coming out broken.
Eddie doesn’t speak immediately. Doesn’t rush in. Just waits. Buck hates how easily Eddie reads him. He’s got better at it since Theo.
This should be good news. It is good news. Theo is safe. Theo is thriving. His nightmares are less frequent now. He laughs easily again. He calls for Buck when he gets hurt. Climbs into Buck’s bed during thunderstorms.
And Buck wants him. God, he wants him. That’s the terrifying part.
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The aftermath of Buck being told he is able to adopt Theo officially. Eddie is there to put the pieces back together.
Series
- Part 8 of Welcome Home, Theo
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5 Times Eddie Diaz Accidentally Acts Like Buck’s Husband — And the 1 Time Someone Finally Says It Out Loud
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Theo gets sick for the first time since moving in with Buck, and caring for him comes as naturally as breathing. Holding Theo through fevers and coughing fits makes Buck realise something painful - if Theo is so easy to love, and so much like Buck was as a child, then why couldn’t his own parents love him the same way?
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Theo is sick and Buck spirals
Series
- Part 7 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Christopher has always secretly loved when people mistook Buck for his dad. He never said it out loud. Not to his dad and definitely not to anyone else.
But every time someone smiled at them at the zoo and said “Your son is adorable,” or a teacher assumed Buck was Mr Diaz, Buck automatically corrected people with a soft, “Actually, I’m…” before Chris could pretend for a second longer.
Christopher loved it. Because Buck chose him. Every single day. He was his Buck.
OR
Christopher is struggling to understand where he fits into Buck’s life now he has Theo
Series
- Part 3 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Buck helps Theo out of his truck, crouching down to zip up his hoodie properly. Theo leans into the touch for a second. Then Buck notices the paper banner hanging across the front entrance.
Father’s Day Breakfast!
Theo sees it too. And stills beside him.
“Oh,” Buck says softly.
Theo’s eyes drop immediately to the ground. His curls falling in front of his face.
“I forgot.”
OR
It’s Theo’s first father’s day without Connor and Kameron. Buck tries to navigate this to the best of his abilities.
Series
- Part 5 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Buck lets the call go to voicemail the first time. Unknown number.
He tells himself it’s probably spam or a wrong number, or something he doesn’t have the energy for after a double shift.
The second time, it comes through while he’s standing in Eddie’s kitchen.
Buck declines the call. Again. Eddie notices, of course he does.
“You gonna get that?”
“Nah” Buck says too quickly, already reaching for the olive oil. “Not important”.
The phone buzzes again. A voicemail now sitting in Buck’s inbox. Buck doesn’t listen to it, why would he? The only people who need him are; Maddie who he spoke to earlier that day or Eddie and he’s with him.
It’s not until later that night, when he’s alone, that Buck checks his voicemail.
“Hi, this is Dierdre from Social Services, I’m calling about….”
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Buck has been contacted by Social Services. Buck tries to handle it alone - convinced it’s not his place. But when things escalate and Theo’s future becomes uncertain, Eddie refuses to stay on the sidelines, stepping in with a quiet unwavering certainty that shakes Buck more than the situation itself.
Series
- Part 1 of Welcome Home, Theo
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A routine call turns dangerous when Buck is hit by a car and injured. Eddie helps him while Theo is later triggered by the accident. Buck recovers, and together they decide to support Theo through his trauma as a family.
Series
- Part 4 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Eddie gives Buck a St. Theodore after he starts fostering Theo.
Series
- Part 2 of Welcome Home, Theo
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Eddie sat down on the floor in front of Santa, Christopher having already taken a seat next to him. Buck joined him with Theo.
It should’ve been nothing. Only a photo.
But the elf behind the camera - young, bored and smiling from ear-to-ear - looked at them and tilted her head slightly.
“Awww” she said without thinking. “You’ve got an adorable family.”
The world didn’t stop.
But it shifted.
OR
Buck gets Déjà vu when taking Theo’s photo with Santa
Series
- Part 6 of Welcome Home, Theo