Fortunately, Chris was back in Los Angeles by the end of 2024 and able to celebrate his fifteenth birthday with all three of his dads the following year. He chose to forgo a party and they respected his wishes but Buck still went out of his way to bake a cake (mostly because cake was one of Tommy's favorites). "You didn't have to do this but Tommy thanks you," Chris deadpanned.

"And our son has been spending way too much time with all of us," Eddie muttered as he passed them by, ruffling Chris' hair. The teenager squawked in indignation and glared at him. Eddie responded by shrugging and smiling at his son.

"Dad!" he protested.

"Yeah, you're embarrassing him," Buck teased, sitting down at the table next to Tommy. He flashed him a grin.

"You're still a vision in a cone, sweetheart."

Eddie and Chris rolled their eyes even as Buck grinned and visibly melted at the flirting. "I can't believe that line still gets you."

"Oh, please, like you don't love Tommy's adorable, cheesy flirting, Eddie." Buck definitely wasn't buying it.

"Can we have no flirting?" asked a hopeful Chris, but he of course, went ignored.

"You look beautiful too, Eddie," Tommy assured him. He pulled his boyfriend down for a kiss when Eddie passed by him before sitting down in his own chair.

Eddie rolled his eyes but blushed nonetheless. He then turned his attention back to Chris. "How's fifteen treating you so far, bud? It seems like only yesterday you were fourteen."

Tommy and Buck both laughed, dying even more at the look on Chris' face. "Are you going to do this every year, Dad?"

"Yes. You should know that by now." He stared his son down, waiting for Chris to crack, but that didn't happen. His kid truly was growing up right before his eyes.

"Fine, whatever."

Buck grabbed Tommy's face in his hands and kissed him. "Hey, rude!" Eddie protested.

"Yeah, you can't be rude to our boyfriend, Evan," Tommy chimed in.

"I deserve a kiss from both of you now. Pay up, Kinard, Buckley."

"Such a hardship," Tommy breathed out before kissing him a second time.

Eddie stood up, walked around him to kiss Buck, and then returned to his seat. "Nice," Buck approved, giving them both a thumbs up.

They all started laughing, Chris reluctantly joining in. "Can we eat now, please? I'm tired of watching this gross shit." He gestured wildly towards the three of them.

"Yes, we can eat. Let's go!" Buck stood up and bolted into the kitchen, Tommy and Eddie following him so they could get everything they needed.

"I'm spending my sixteenth birthday alone, just so you know," Chris informed the three men when they finally returned.

"Sure. We'll talk about that next year," Eddie placated.

Buck grabbed his fork and started eating, the other three quickly following suit. Afterwards, they each grabbed a slice of cake and happily devoured it. "God, I love cake," Tommy moaned after the first bite.

They snorted. "We know, babe. Your cake obsession is adorable."

"And really good for us," Eddie added.

"I'm a fan," Chris agreed.

After they finished eating and cleaned up, Chris headed into his room for a few minutes. When he returned, he eyed his dads suspiciously because they looked like men who were definitely up to something. He was about to ask what they were doing when Tommy blew into a kazoo.

"Right in my ear, man!" Eddie winced and rubbed it.

"My poor baby. Sorry." Chuckling, Tommy rubbed his ear and briefly kissed it.

"You're forgiven."

Buck embraced them both before giving Chris his full attention. He then proceeded to blow into a kazoo himself. "Sorry," he apologized to Eddie when his boyfriend glared at him.

"I think you're both trying to make me deaf me but you're forgiven too, I guess."

They laughed and then all three men used their kazoos at once. Chris sighed. "Have at it, I don't even care anymore." But he was having a hell of a time, and he was grateful they had all made the effort. It meant a lot to him.

The Buckley-Diaz-Kinard family was unconventional but it was one for the ages. FInding each other had been the best thing to happen to all of them. Even if the chaos in Tommy's life had amped up exponentially since the hurricane. And Chris always felt loved, despite his many complaints, and looked forward to celebrating more birthdays with these cheesy men who tried the best they could.