Chapter Text
“Okay, folks. It’s that time again already. In addition to the calendar this year, the higher ups have decided to revive the department talent show idea for our fundraising efforts. Apparently after the pandemic they are keen to showcase more of the individuals behind the masks to the public. Those of you who were around for the last one will be relieved to hear that they have come up with a far more comprehensive set of rules this time.”
Bobby passed around a printed sheet to each of the team.
“You’ll be needing my vocal talents then?” Chim smiled. “Can I duet with Maddie?”
“FD only I’m afraid, so you’ll be going solo unless anyone else wants to volunteer?”
“I-” Buck began, before Chim interrupted with, “Not Buck!”
“Hey, I can sing! But what I was trying to say was, I don’t understand why there is a whole page of rules. Is it that competitive?”
“Two pages,” Eddie corrects him. “There’s more on the back. Why is number three ‘no full frontal nudity’?”
“That would be why the event hasn’t been held in about eight years. You can thank the 147 for that,” Hen said.
“What the hell did they do?” Buck asked.
“What they tried to do was their take on The Full Monty,” Chim said. “Word got out what they were planning, a whole lot of bachelorette parties showed up, and when they weren’t allowed to perform there was nearly a riot.”
“Sawyer swore that they weren’t actually going to go further than down to a thong,” Bobby said.
“Well, that’s just false advertising!” Buck said. “There would have been a riot either way!”
“Technically it was just a rumour, so they didn’t actually advertise” Bobby said. “But it seemed safest not to risk letting them onstage at all. Somehow the insurance covered the damages, and they are covering everyones asses with the new rules this year.”
“Number four, no bachelor or bachelorette parties to be admitted to the event.” Eddie read from the sheet.
“They’re asking for two acts from each firehouse, and so far we only have Chim, so I’m going to need another volunteer.”
“Does it have to be one of us? What about the other shifts?” Eddie asked.
“I’m open to suggestions from everyone, but I’ll be honest, apart from Chim, no one else has come forward with anything remotely suitable.”
“What about Stevens? He’s pretty funny. Couldn’t he do a stand up thing?” Buck asked.
Hen shook her head. “He did an open mic night once. Completely tanked. Swore he’d never do it again.”
Buck thought about it for a moment. “Reggie does that thing with-”
“No!” Everyone chorused emphatically.
“I wish I hadn’t seen that!” Chim shuddered. “We can’t subject an audience to it.”
“You got any hidden talents, Buck?” Bobby asked
“A few bartending tricks, but nothing that would work on stage. Hen?”
“I don’t think anyone would be interested in a bassoon solo and Chim’s already singing, so no. Bobby?”
“Sorry. Captains are on the committee so I can’t compete,” Bobby said, trying not to look smug.
“How convenient,” Chim muttered.
“Well,” Hen sighed. “It looks like we’re down to Mallows belching the alphabet or…”
“Hen,” Eddie shook his head.
“Or what?” Buck asked.
“Or Eddie takes one for the team and busts some moves onstage,” Hen said looking hopeful and apologetic.
“Hen!” Eddie looked pissed.
“Wait, Eddie can dance?” Buck asked.
“Oh, he can’t just dance, he can really dance. Like, really really dance!” Hen nodded.
“You are dead to me now,” Eddie said, hiding his face in his hands.
“How did I not know this?” Chim asked.
“Because no one is supposed to know!” Eddie sighed. “It’s not a thing I…It’s kinda private.”
“Probably shouldn’t be doing it in the middle of a nightclub then!” Hen laughed.
“You went clubbing without me?” Buck asked, directing the question at Eddie, and looking like a puppy who had just been kicked.
“It’s not… I wasn’t… Look, sometimes, very occasionally I go to a club to dance for a couple of hours. Alone. Frank suggested it as a healthier way to blow off steam instead of fighting, after…y’know. I’d mentioned it was something I used to do before I joined the army. It’s no big deal, but I’m not getting onstage in front of a room full of firefighters! I’d never hear the end of it.”
“But, Eddie, you’re really good!” Hen protested.
“Not the point. There’s a world of difference between dancing in a crowd, and dancing for an audience.”
“But you-”
“I said no, Hen. Drop it.”
“Okay, so we’ll keep thinking then,” Bobby said. “We still have a few weeks to work something out.”
Buck frowned, watching as Eddie made his excuses and left.
Eddie could dance?
“So how come you saw Eddie dancing? I didn’t think clubbing was your thing these days.” Buck just couldn’t drop it. He’d been pestering Hen for more information all day as Eddie refused to talk about it.
Frustrated with telling him repeatedly to ask Eddie, Hen finally caved just a little and told him the circumstances that led to her discovering Eddie’s secret.
“So after we tracked down my stolen credit card, we stuck around, and had a pretty good time, so I take Karen out to a club now and then. It’s not like when we were younger and we could stay up partying ‘til dawn, but it’s a little escape from mom-life once in a while. We had no idea that Eddie would be there. He was on his own, like he said, just dancing. I don’t think he was even drinking alcohol.”
“You don’t he was-”
“Doing drugs?” Hen said, knowing the conclusion Buck would jump to given the circumstances, even if this was Eddie they were talking about. “Absolutely not. He was embarrassed and pissed when he saw us, but 100% Eddie, clean and sober.”
“So why is he being all weird about it all then?”
“Sounds like it’s therapy for him. I didn’t quite realise that or I wouldn’t have brought it up. I figured he was just shy.” Hen shrugged.
“So what kind of dancing are we talking about here? I just can’t picture what all the fuss is about.” Buck frowned.
“Nu-uh. I’ve said too much already. Talk to Eddie.”
“But-”
“It was a nightclub. Eddie was dancing. He was good. That’s all you’re gonna get from me.”
“Which club was it?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Or just tell me the name of the song he was dancing to! I need details, Hen!”
She cupped her hand to her ear and said, “Sounds like we got a shout. Guess I’m saved by the bell.”
Buck frowned as she jogged away. “But there is no bell.”
As Hen wasn’t budging, he was going to have to try again tp get the information out of Eddie. He wasn’t sure why he was so fixated about knowing more, other than it was a side of Eddie he knew nothing about. He thought if he could just picture it in his mind somehow, he’d be able to let it go, but it just didn’t fit with everything he knew about Eddie.
There was just something about the idea of Eddie doing something as expressive as dancing. He was a physical guy, no arguments there. Beyond firefighting, he knew Eddie saw combat in the army, and it wasn’t a huge mental leap from seeing him pummelling equipment in the gym to finding out he did MMA, but all of that was about control, and Buck always thought dancing was about letting go.
He thought about what Hen said about it being therapeutic, and wondered if obsessing about what it meant was as bad as, say, trying to read someone’s journal, or eavesdropping on a therapy session. But it was something he technically did in public, so it wasn’t the same, was it?
He wasted hours on TikTok watching dance clips, but most were viral challenges or how to do specific moves, and they all seemed too gimmicky for Eddie. He wasn’t big on social media outside of what had been necessary for work, so he was unlikely to be following a specific viral trend anyway. Besides, if he was into dancing before his army career, that would be at least nine or ten years ago, so Buck tried browsing through dance videos on YouTube for inspiration. He saw a lot of seriously cool clips, but nothing that screamed Eddie.
The station was still buzzing with everyone talking about the talent show, trying to convince each other to take the free spot so they wouldn’t have to, and sharing outrageous rumours about previous acts. Bobby had to make an announcement that he was not approving any leave requests for the weekend of the show after half the firehouse tried to claim they needed to be out of town that night.
Catch a piece of equipment tossed to you? “Hey, Cap! We’ve got a juggler! Sign him up for the show!”
Repeat something back to them sarcastically? “Bobby, guess who does impersonations? Get the sign up sheet!”
A couple of the guys even tried to persuade a probie that spelling was a talent, and that a three minute segment of him spelling twelve letter words that they sprung on him at random would qualify, but not even someone new to the department and eager to please his new colleagues would fall for that. Although Buck had to admit it was a little impressive when probie did get them all right.
It had been days since Hen dropped the bombshell that Eddie could dance, but asking him about it directly had gotten Buck nowhere, so he was looking for clues wherever he could. Asking Christopher didn’t seem right, and he wasn’t sure he’d know anyway, because if he was aware his dad had a skill like that, he would have boasted about it at some point. He’d never been shy about telling anyone and everyone how awesome his dad is.
So Buck paid more attention to what music Eddie reacted to. If he so much as tapped his fingers to something on the radio, Buck asked if he liked the song. He tried to drag him out to do karaoke with Chim and Maddie, not so much to see what song he’d pick, but to watch how he’d react to different music choices, but Eddie made excuses not to go.
By the time Eddie caught him going through his saved playlists on Spotify, Buck could begrudgingly admit that his sleuthing hadn’t been quite as subtle as he’d thought.
“Okay, as entertaining as it’s been watching you try not to ask, will you please just spit out whatever is bothering you about the idea that I occasionally go to a club to dance!”
Eddie seemed amused rather than angry, like he was genuinely bemused as to why Buck even cared.
“What kind of dance do you do?” Buck blurted out before Eddie could change his mind.
“Er, the kind of dancing anyone does in a nightclub, Buck,” Eddie laughed. “Nothing special.”
Buck frowned. “Hen thinks it’s special enough to do onstage for an audience.”
Eddie crossed his arms. “Okay, so I may have a couple of flashier moves I throw in sometimes, but-”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know! It’s not like I took a formal dance class or anything!”
“Then how did you-”
“Ugh!” Eddie groaned with frustration. “Look, street dance was a bit of a craze when I was in highschool. I picked up some stuff, okay? Just dicking around with my friends who thought they were hot shit, but we really weren’t!”
“Like a dance crew?”
“Only in their dreams! Whatever you are picturing, you are way off. I stuck with it for a while when the novelty wore off for my friends, and wound up a slightly better than average dancer. That’s it!”
Buck got the feeling that that was very much not it. Not all of it anyway.
“So it’s, like, therapeutic for you now?” He asked. “Like letting off steam the way you would with MMA?”
“There’s similarities, yeah. A good fight, a tough routine, it’s all endorphins.”
Eddie didn’t seem to notice his slip up.
He said routine! That’s more than a couple of flashy moves…
“I wanna see it.” Buck said.
“What?”
“I wanna see you dance,” Buck insisted before he could lose his nerve. There was never going to be a better time to ask than this.
“Why?” Eddie asked.
Buck didn’t have a good reason for that, other than he needed to.
“Because, I didn’t know it was a thing you could do,” Buck said. “And you’re my best friend and it just feels like you’re hiding something from me and I don’t know why.”
Maybe that was a low blow, but it was also true, and Eddie looked a bit guilty at the implication that this was something he didn’t trust Buck with.
“It’s not something I was hiding, Buck. Just something I didn’t draw attention to because it didn’t seem important. It wasn’t important until Hen brought it up. And now you want me to put it all out there on a stage? For people to record on their damn phones and post wherever for anyone to see. And then what? I’m the dancing firefighter? I don’t want that kind of attention!”
“No! That’s not what I meant, Eddie! I swear! I just…I can’t picture it, that’s all. I can’t wrap my head around it.”
Eddie laughed, “I’m pretty sure that I should find that insulting.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. Look, Eddie the dad, the firefighter, the medic, the soldier, even the cage fighter, I get that. But dancer? I don’t know that Eddie.”
“This really bothers you that much?” Eddie asked, his expression softening.
“Yes. I wish it didn’t but…” Buck shrugged.
“And it’s not about the talent show?”
“No! I promise.”
Eddie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Ok then. Friday night, after shift. Chris has a sleepover. But not a word to anyone, not even Hen. You got it?”
“Really?”
“The dress code isn’t that strict, but it’s still a club. This is a one time offer Buck, so if they don’t let you in, you’ve lost your chance.”
The week dragged on, but finally Friday rolled around, and after what seemed like the longest, dullest shift he’d ever endured, Buck was climbing into the passenger side of Eddie’s truck. It had been so dead at work he even considered using the q word to liven things up, but he knew he’d catch hell from the team if he did, and he didn’t want to tempt fate into throwing a major incident their way, and stopping them from even being able to go out.
Eddie seemed satisfied his outfit passed muster, although he still hadn’t told him exactly where they were going. It couldn’t be anywhere that fancy as Eddie was wearing sneakers, although they were decent ones, bordering on flashy compared to Eddie’s usual style. He was wearing fairly loose fitting cargo pants, one of his tight black tanks and a flannel shirt. The overall impression was of a slightly grungy skater look, and Buck wondered if he’d missed the mark a bit with his button down shirt and skinny fit pants.
Buck wasn’t even aware that he was bouncing his leg up and down, until Eddie told him to quit it. He hadn’t been this nervous over a night out since long before he was able to ditch his fake ID for a real one.
He wasn’t really familiar with the area they were driving through, although maybe they’d had a call out to one of the warehouses nearby. He figured it was going to be some edgy club that you needed to be in the know to find, but that didn’t quite fit with the type of place where Hen and Karen might have bumped into Eddie on a night out.
“Is this place where Hen saw you dancing?”
“No,” Eddie smiled. “I don’t really go there any more. I found somewhere that is more about the music and dancing than drunk people looking to hook up.”
“But it’s still a club, right? You said there’s a dress code?”
“You can still grab a beer if that’s what you’re worried about, but don’t expect a fully stocked bar. And it doesn’t really matter what you’re wearing, I just didn’t want to answer a million questions about where we were going. And if they don’t let you in, we just go home.”
“Why wouldn’t they let me in?”
“They can be funny about new people sometimes, but I’ll vouch for you. It’ll be fine.”
“How did you hear about this place?”
“I was invited.”
“Because someone saw you dancing at another club?”
Eddie nodded.
“Why does this feel sketchier than when you were brawling in a junkyard?”
Eddie laughed. “Look, it’s just a place where people hang out and have some fun. They just keep it quiet to keep the hipsters out. They don’t want to be the next big thing on the scene.”
“But it’s safe, right?”
“The building is up to code, I checked.”
“And it’s not run by a gang-bangers, or a front for running drugs and-”
“For fucksake, Buck! Rein in your wild imagination for just five minutes. Lexie is a former professional cheerleader, and a part-time yoga instructor! She is not working for the mob! This place is a retirement project of sorts. She had a little trouble getting a liquor licence at first, but that’s all straightened out. It’s just a club, just probably not the kind you’re used to.”
Buck frowned as they pulled up at an industrial building that didn’t look much different from the ones around it, save for a small cluster of people smoking and laughing. They got out of the car.
“Ed! You made it! Didn’t think we were gonna see you tonight!” A woman in her twenties with pink hair and an uncomfortable number of facial piercings stepped forward and did a complicated handshake with Eddie.
“Yeah, well I couldn’t stay away for long. I brought a friend. I hope that’s okay? Jess, this is Evan. Evan, this is Lexie’s daughter Jess.”
Buck wasn’t sure what was going on with their names, but maybe it was just a way of keeping Eddie and Buck separate from whoever Eddie was when he was here.
“Oh, when Lexie sees you’ve brought her a snack, she'll probably even waive the newbie tax,” Jess grinned, giving Buck an obvious look up and down.
“Easy,” Eddie laughed. “He startles easily. Who’s DJing tonight?”
Jess pulled a face. “At the moment Bongo Dave, but if you give it a half hour Tatiana will sort you out.”
“Thanks, Jess.”
Buck grabbed Eddie's sleeve when they were approaching the door.
“What’s the newbie tax, and should I be worried?”
“It’s mostly a free-for-all on the dance floor, but there are a few spots available throughout the night when you can make a request with the DJ if you want to do something specific. If it’s someone new they have to make a donation to the upkeep of the place. After that, it’s up to you to keep on the DJs good side. They can be savage if they think you are wasting anyone’s time. Tatiana is Jess’ girlfriend though. She’ll give me a spot.”
“Doesn’t exactly sound welcoming,” Buck frowned.
“The setup is a little quirky, but I like it here,” Eddie shrugged.
“Okay, Ed .”
Eddie rolled his eyes and shoved Buck through the door.
The setup inside seemed a little more official when their IDs were checked and they were searched by a couple of bouncers with radios and the standard I-don’t-give-a-fuck-who-you-think-you-are look that was strangely reassuring. Buck went for his wallet to pay the cover charge, but Eddie insisted that he’d pay it as Buck was his guest.
Buck had heard the music from the moment they got out of the car, but it was just a rumble of bass and a drum beat. Now they were actually in the building he could tell it wasn’t anything he recognised. At first he thought he couldn’t make out the words because of the sheer speed of the delivery, but then he realised the vocal track was a man rapping in another language, probably french.
The acoustics were surprisingly good for such an open space, but Buck didn’t spend much time looking around at the dozens of huge graffiti murals on the walls or the eclectic groups of people watching from around the edge of the dancefloor and the small mezzanine level above. Prevailing over the dance floor from an elevated platform, the DJ was pretty much what Buck expected from a guy who called himself Bongo Dave, a pasty looking white guy with waist length dreads and a tie-dye t-shirt. But what really demanded Buck’s attention was the team of six men doing something that looked like a combination of break dancing, gymnastics and some kind of jitterbug thing that shouldn’t have worked but totally did.
“You get some experimental stuff here,” Eddie yelled in his ear. “Keeps it interesting.”
“I see that,” Buck yelled back.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Eddie replied. “I’m nowhere near this good. They’ll be a tough act to follow.”
Buck nodded, and clapped when they finished their number to rapturous cheering, wolf whistling and applause. The DJ transitioned into something lighter that had a catchy but unfamiliar tune, and the dance floor filled up with people just doing their own thing. It wasn’t as tightly packed as a normal club, partly due to the size of the venue, but that just meant there was more room for each dancer to show off their moves. Buck could see the appeal for someone who wanted a club vibe without all the excess drinking and hookup culture.
Eddie steered him towards the bar, which as he had said, was pretty basic, and the music wasn’t quite so loud, tucked in the corner. There were a handful of different brands of bottled beer behind the bar, and a large sign warning that anyone taking bottles on the dance floor faced a permanent ban. Mostly people were drinking soda or bottled water, and there wasn’t much of a queue, although there was another bouncer there to enforce the rule about the bottles.
Buck offered to get Eddie a beer but he asked for water instead. So far what little Hen had told him checked out, even if it was a different club from the one she’d spotted Eddie in.
“There’s Tatiana. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Buck was left standing forlornly at the bar, telling himself it was no big deal Eddie wasn’t introducing him to his friend, when he got a tap on the shoulder. He turned around to face a stunning blonde woman in a black silk jumpsuit, who was probably pushing sixty but looked like she could eat Buck for breakfast.
“Jess was right. I think I’d actually pay to watch you dance,” she grinned and held out her hand. “I’m Lexie. You’re here with Ed.”
Buck nodded and shook her hand. “I’m Evan, but I’m not here to dance. Just wanted to see Ed do his thing.”
“Sweetie, everyone dances here. It’s a rule. Drink up and I’ll take you for a spin.”
“I’m not sure I’ll meet your standards,” Buck grimaced.
“Don’t worry. You meet all the standards I need right now,” she winked.
Buck tried to laugh it off, but she must have picked up on his discomfort, because she gave him a far more genuine smile and said, “I’m a happily married woman and have been for over thirty years, but I have a certain image to maintain, so work with me here. Have a little dance with me. Don’t be a wallflower or you really will stick out. Nobody cares how you dance here, as long as you do.”
Buck was pretty sure he was going to stick out anyway, but reassured he wouldn’t be expected to do anything spectacular, he offered her his arm and they headed onto the floor.
The music changed to a club classic, something by The Prodigy that Buck was familiar enough with that he wasn’t too self conscious. The playlist was completely erratic here, but no one appeared to care. The DJ didn’t seem to have the usual agenda of trying to keep the dance floor packed at all times, and there seemed to be no ill will if a track wasn’t to everyone’s taste. If you liked it you danced, if you didn’t there was just more room for someone who did. The dance floor was never empty.
Dancing with Lexie felt like dancing with a friend in a club like he’d done a million times before. Once she dropped the cougar act, it was actually a lot of fun, and they kept going through another song, even though it was a funky blues track he’d never heard before.
He was just thinking about making his excuses and going in search of Eddie, when Lexie tapped his shoulder and leaned in.
“Time for the changing of the guard! Ed will be up in a minute. Might want to save yourself a spot with a good view!”
The dance floor was filling up rather than emptying, but Buck took her advice and headed off to the side. The song finished, and for the first time there was silence. It was so abrupt that for a second Buck thought the power had been cut, but the lights only dimmed and didn’t go out.
Then someone on the dance floor started stamping their feet in a regular beat, two thumps then a pause, and soon it was taken up by everyone, and it was as if the building had its own thundering heartbeat.
“Here comes my drama queen,” said a voice beside Buck. It was Jess. “Demanding her tribute, as usual.” She grinned at Buck, pointing at the now dark and empty DJ booth. “Don’t miss her big entrance.”
The opening riff of ACDC’s Thunderstuck rang out in perfect time with the foot stomping.
“Where is it?” a voice demanded as the music built. “Where… is… my… THUNDER?”
As soon as the crowd roared ‘thunder’ in time with the thumping, the light’s went up illuminating a statuesque woman wearing a leather cyberpunk corset and a sour expression that rivalled those of the bouncers Buck passed on the way in. She milked it for all it was worth, raising her arms, urging the crowd to get louder and louder.
Suddenly the music stopped, and the crowd went still. Tatiana looked over the crowd like a general surveying the troops, before declaring, “Acceptable. Shall we proceed?”
A cheer went up, Tatiana smiled, and music started blasting out again, something with a techno beat and a combination of sickly sweet female vocals and an almost lazy sounding male rapper. Most of the crowd stayed and danced, although a few slipped away to the bar or to just find a good standpoint to watch.
Finally Buck saw Eddie, walking down the stairs from the mezzanine floor, shrugging off his flannel shirt. Buck had no idea what he was in for, but the anticipation was killing him.
Eddie gave Buck an apologetic look, then started taking off his tank top.
“No way!” Jess yelled.
“Shouldn’t have let on that I really wanted to dance tonight!” Eddie explained. “And when I told her my song choice she insisted that I lose the shirt or lose the spot.”
“Tatiana has been trying to get Ed to dance shirtless since we spotted him! Never thought she’d manage it though. Damn, boy, you are ripped! It’s about time we saw the goods! Lexie is gonna lose her shit!”
Buck was trying to process a now shirtless dancing Eddie, but his brain just blue-screened.
“I’m up next. You okay?” Eddie asked.
“Er, yeah. Yes I’m fine,” Buck managed, not really sure that he was. He took Eddies’ shirts when he handed them to him, and watched as Eddie did a few quick stretches.
“And now, loyal subjects, a real treat for you. After the thunder… comes the rain!”
Buck recognised the opening beats of Rihanna’s Umbrella immediately, and he flashed back to watching all those YouTube clips, and the Tom Holland lip sync battle he’d watched multiple times. His breath caught in his throat as he finally had some idea what was coming.
Eddie rolled his neck for a moment, and then just launched into his routine, confident and loose-limbed through the opening rap, before amping it up as Rihanna’s vocals rose into the chorus. It wasn’t exactly the same routine as the lip sync one, in much the same as Holland’s hadn’t been identical to the original music video, but it was obviously a tribute to both, and the references were clear. Where Rihanna had been coy and alluring, Holland had been defiant and proud, but Eddie was all power and strength. Not that he couldn’t move as lithely as the Spider-Man actor had, Buck nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight of the first body roll, but the absence of a prop umbrella only emphasised the idea that this was a man with the strength and will to fight the fucking sky to protect the ones he loved. It was as primal and raw as a war dance, but still as seductive as the previous interpretations of the song.
By necessity, Eddie had to dance to parts that had been filled in the music video with close-ups of the singer, or had been shortened by the tv performance, but Buck found those the most compelling because they were all Eddie.
That he could do moves involving kicks wasn’t that surprising, but the way his body seemed to hang in the air as his legs carved out graceful arcs was a world away from the combat moves he threw at the bags in the gym. The first handspring knocked the breath right out of Buck, and the various body rolls and grinding movements were slowly eroding his braincells. It didn’t seem to matter how many points of contact Eddie had with the floor, he was in complete control of every thrust and sinuous twist of his body, but Buck grew nervous when it came to the point when Holland had done a forward flip and landed on his back in the tray of water, hoping that Eddie wouldn’t attempt such a risky move on the hard floor.
He held his breath as Eddie executed a perfect back handspring that ended in a chest roll transitioning into a kind of plank position. Buck had to remind himself to breathe as Eddie started thrusting and grinding above the floor, then Eddie abruptly threw himself into a classic breakdance windmill, then it was back to grinding again, his legs splayed apart, using only one hand to support himself.
Buck was right, he had needed to see this to understand. It was all the parts that made up Eddie displayed in perfect balance: his strength, his control, his fierce protectiveness for those he loved, and the sheer heartstopping beauty of his body. It was far too personal to charge money to see, even if it was for a good cause. This was Eddie, body and soul laid bare. The fact that it was the single hottest thing Buck had seen in his life was… unfortunate.
As the song wound down, Eddie repeated a few of the simpler moves from the lip sync routine, and Buck could see that even being in great shape, Eddie was winded, and his chest was heaving.
It was at that point that Buck realised he was painfully hard.
He used the cover of holding Eddie’s shirts to adjust himself, as his brain scrambled for something to say as Eddie walked over, gleaming with sweat, and grinning from ear to ear.
The raucous response from the crowd was loud enough to buy Buck a few more seconds before he could reasonably be expected to speak, but all he could come up with was, “Yeah, you can’t do that for the show. Would definitely cause another riot.”
Taking in Buck’s gobsmacked look, Eddie laughed and took it as the complement it was.
“You liked it?” He asked, accepting a bottle of water from Jess, drinking half, then pouring the rest over his head. It was something Buck had seen Eddie do many times before to cool down after escaping the cloying heat and smoke of a fire, but in this context his brain seemed to be registering the sight as pornography.
Buck nodded dumbly, not trusting himself to speak.
“I think you broke your boy,” Jess laughed.
Eddie didn’t seem in a hurry to reclaim his shirts, and several people came over to show their appreciation. Buck grit his teeth as they gave Eddie good natured shoves and bro-hugs, unhappy with the way they felt they had the right to just touch him like that, but it did give him enough time to will his erection back to something less obvious. The sheer terror of Eddie noticing his body’s response helped, and by the time they’d found somewhere to sit, and Buck had been to the bar, the situation was mostly under control.
That still left the problem of what to say to Eddie next, so he dropped off the drinks, and went to find the bathrooms to buy himself a little more time to get his head right.