It had started innocently at first, Eddie noticed, Buck probably hadn't even realized what he was doing. Letting Chris pick out the movie they were watching, giving in and buying him an ice cream from the ice cream truck at the park, replacing Chris's toy rocket ship after the two had broken it by throwing it around.
But now, as Eddie watched the two put together the fifth Lego set Buck had bought the boy this month, Eddie was beginning to feel a little guilty for some reason. Buck shouldn't really have to spend so much on his kid. Especially when it came to buying his kid toys and stuff. It almost felt like he was taking advantage of him.
Lego sets weren't cheap, Eddie knew that and it was one of the reasons he had told Chris he would have to wait to buy another one. So then Chris had gone to ask Buck, because of course the eight year old would. Eddie was going to have to talk to Chris about that once Buck left for the night. And Eddie was going to have to find some one on one time to talk to Buck during their next shift about this.
Because now, after Buck bought his kid three new video games in as many weeks… no, Eddie shook his head, he had to put an end to this. He didn't know where Buck was getting the money to buy so many things for Chris, he knew as firefighters in LA they got paid a good wage but… it wasn't that good.
If he didn't stop Buck now, when would it end?
When he bought his kid a car for getting his driver's license?
Thankfully, that conversation with Buck went better than he expected. The man said he understood that Chris could become spoiled and grow greedy with the amount of toys and gifts Buck was buying the boy.
So Eddie thought it would stop when he told Buck to stop buying Chris toys. And it had… for a while. Until Buck just started to spoil Chris with other non-physical gifts. Days at the zoo and aquarium. Trips to the movies and go-kart track.
Eddie always asked Buck why he felt the need to pay for all three of them when Eddie was joining them anyway, but Buck only gave him that annoying smile of his and insisted he pay.
Eddie always felt awkward telling the man no everytime, so he just relented, somehow he eventually convinced the man to let him pay half the time.
So things were going alright on that front… until Chris's birthday came along.
"I know you said I had to stop spoiling Chris with a lot of gifts," Buck came up to him during some downtime during a shift. "But it's his birthday, I have to get him a gift for that," he said, pleading.
Eddie looked at Buck's face. Why was the man begging Eddie to let him buy Chris a gift for his birthday? As far as Eddie knew, his son was the only kid Buck was like this with. He had to wonder what his son had done to make Buck act like this.
"What were you thinking of getting him?" Eddie asked, almost worried at what Buck's answer would be.
Buck's face lit up in a wide smile, and he brought out the list he had made on the Amazon app on his phone. "Nothing too outrageous this time Eddies, just look."
"Eddie looked at the items Buck had on it. They were all outrageous, either because of the price, or what they did or… whatever. But he looked back at Buck's face. The face that was looking so forward to this.
"You have to pick one thing off of here," Eddie said. "He gets one present from you… one."
"Okay!" Buck nodded, eagerly. "I'll only buy him one, then. Thanks Eds!"
Xx ️xXx ️xXx ️xX
At first Maddie was all for the little gifts and toys Buck was buying for Ji-Yun. The little stuffed animals were cute, so were the small onesies decorated in the cute tiny animals.
But when she counted twenty-four baby onesies after doing the laundry that week, and over thirty plushies strewn around the house, she had to put an end to it. Everytime she turned around she found a new one, and it started to get a little creepy.
So when she met with Buck for lunch later that week, and the man had another toy he had bought for Jee, (she hadn't even brought her daughter to the meeting) she politely asked her brother if he could… lay off with buying so many presents.
"Buy her less things?" Buck asked her. And Maddie could only wonder at why Buck looked so confused with this concept.
"Yes, Buck," Maddie said. "You have to realize you can't just… keep buying her things."
"Well, why can't I?" Buck asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "You said it yourself, I was going to be the 'fun uncle.' Isn't that part of the job description?"
"Yeah, but… Buck," Maddie said. "That doesn't mean you need to buy her something every time you see either me or Chim. Which means every time you go to work. Can't you do it only when you actually see her?"
Buck leaned back, deflated. He supposed Maddie had a point about that. He had been buying her daughter a lot of toys over the past couple months, and Jee still wasn't really old enough to play with the toys he bought her.
It was just that… almost every time he went into a store he spotted something that he just thought would be perfect for his niece, whether to wear or play with. And maybe he had an impulse buying problem, he realized now, but his bank account still had a good amount of money in it.
And didn't everyone have that one thing they spent money on without really caring? For him it was Chris… until Eddie put his foot down. But then Maddie had a baby, and her baby became Buck's money hole… but now it seemed Maddie was putting her foot down too.
Maddie watched as her brother started wilting before her. Was telling him to just buy less things for Jee really that big of a blow for him?
She took his hands in hers and gave them a squeeze. "I didn't say you can't buy her things," maddie said. "Just buy her less things. And maybe ask me first if she needs it."
Buck looked away from her, in the corner on the other side of the room. "Fine," he said, still dejected. "If it bothers you that much… I guess I could buy less stuff."