Lowering his voice to a whisper anyway, Teddy said, “I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for you to surprise me back.”
“Well,” Finn answered playfully, “Erina didn’t get me a separate hotel room.”
The heat that flooded Teddy’s stomach definitely helped his remaining nerves. Even if watching the ballet proved miserable, he had something to look forward to.
Of course, he couldn’t call any of the show miserable. Don Quixote was one of the best and most well-known ballets for a reason—it was breathtaking, and Erina most of all, even if he was biased thinking that.
She floated, entrancing in every step, conveying emotion in her face and her body that moved Teddy more than he was prepared for, combined with the emotions stirring in him over how much he missed this. How what every dancer on that stage could execute so beautifully he would never experience again.
Teddy didn’t notice the wetness on his cheeks until he felt Finn’s hand slip into his. He looked down at their fingers entwining and couldn’t help feeling guilty for being so torn up over what he’d lost when he knew how much more Finn had lost. Still, the camaraderie in Finn’s expression, letting some of his own sorrow through to let Teddy know—I understand—alleviated the heaviness of his heartache.
Teddy would never again experience what he once had, but there were new things he might not have opened himself up to if he hadn’t first known loss.
Act I culminated in an eruption of applause. The show had two twenty-minute intermissions. Teddy would have preferred to stay in his seat for this one, given the dampness in his eyes, but Dan and Rick slipped away to chat with other theater contacts, and he couldn’t simply sit there when Frankie waved at them once more and dashed out for the lobby.
“I think we’re being summoned. Be right back, Mother.”
With Finn as his shield, Teddy hoped Hartley would keep his distance, but he still pulled Finn into a corner of the balcony to ask if his eyes looked too obviously red or puffy before traipsing down the stairs.
“You look gorgeous.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“It’s the only answer I got,” Finn asserted, reaching up to hold Teddy’s face tenderly. “Don’t worry, no one will be able to tell. If the other acts are this difficult for you, just think about the after-party we’re going to have.” He leaned in to whisper those last words, and his lips brushed the shell of Teddy’s ear.
That helped the tears but didn’t bode well for future problems.
While Finn grinned impudently, Teddy grabbed his hand to drag him down to the lobby before they got too distracted to face Frankie.
“This is amazing!” Frankie gushed as soon as she saw them, hurrying over to hug Teddy. She didn’t have her crutches but seemed to be managing well enough.
“Frances,” her mother chided, but Teddy didn’t mind her bold greeting.
“It’s important to instill good culture in the next generation,” he said after Frankie had released him and turned to hug Finn too. “I’m glad you were able to make it.”
“Thank you so much, Mr. Scofield,” her father said, both parents looking honestly grateful.
“My pleasure. Now, get your bathroom breaks in while you can,” he said to Frankie. “The best is yet to come.”
When they parted and Finn grasped Teddy’s hand again for their trek upstairs, Teddy couldn’t help noticing how closely Finn walked in line with his body, their hips bumping, arms nearly flush. The cold shower of their time in the lobby was instantly counteracted by that warm proximity.
Then Teddy’s throat closed, and his face grew hot as the lights dimmed, because this was difficult, but Finn still had his hand and looked at him with a smile.
The start of the second act was where the classic scene of Don Quixote mistaking a windmill for a giant took place, which relaxed Teddy somewhat, imagining Frankie enjoying the exaggerated humor, but the dream sequence focused more on Erina again, filling him once more with warring emotions.
He squeezed Finn’s hand, maybe too tightly, because the next moment, Finn pulled away—but only to splay his fingers over Teddy’s thigh instead.
Teddy side-eyed him, catching the hint of Finn’s wicked grin. His mother was at his right, yet the gentle massage of Finn’s hand and subtle drift inward up his thigh made it easy to ignore everything around them. Teddy turned back to watch the ballet, but the dream sequence appeared like, well, a dream, still riveting but less focused, which made it easier to enjoy.
Finn didn’t palm Teddy right there in the theater seat, but he got close, hand obscenely high up his leg and constantly moving, rubbing, squeezing.
By the time the tavern scene had come and was nearly gone to signal the second intermission, Teddy was having trouble keeping from going full-mast. The applause this time made him bold enough to grab Finn’s wrist and move him right there for half a second, eliciting the squeeze he truly needed.
“I’m going to show Finn around the theater,” Teddy said to the others, impressively straight-faced, quickly gathering Finn’s hand in his again and willing himself to not leak precome through his suit pants or be in any other way obvious about what they were really doing.
Laverne and Dan nodded passively enough, and Rick gave him a smirk as they passed by to head out with the other people moving once more for the bathroom or lobby.
Screw it. Teddy didn’t care. He needed Finn’s hands on him again now.
Finn giggled as Teddy dragged him down the stairs but turned immediately right when they reached the lobby, away from the bustle of people before anyone could recognize Teddy and stop them. There was a very specific door Teddy was gunning for that was never locked during performances, but also hardly ever used outside rehearsals and set building. The old stagehand corridor allowed travel from one side of the theater to the other without having to go backstage or through the lobby, was narrow, dimly lit—and best of all, empty, just as he’d hoped.
He slammed Finn back against the wall as soon as the door closed behind them and launched forward to kiss him, grinding his instantly rock-hard erection that he no longer needed to temper with no one else around.
“I figured a little distraction might help you get out of your head,” Finn gasped around short, wet reconnects of their lips, grabbing Teddy by the waist to grind back into him just as enthusiastically.
“Very good deduction,” Teddy panted.
Twenty minutes was not enough time for what Teddy truly wanted, but the friction felt so good, calling him back from that self-pitying place he kept tumbling into. This type of dance he could still do, he thought, as he kissed Finn deeper.
Then hissed when he tried to rock harder into him.
Maybe not.
“Dammit.”
“It’s okay. I got you, remember?” Finn said, sliding his hands down Teddy’s hips to rub gently. He was always careful around Teddy’s scar, knowing exactly where it was beneath his clothes.
Eventually, he started to undo Teddy’s fly, kissing him slower now with languid swirls of his tongue and soft nips at his lips.
“Relax,” he whispered, returning to Teddy’s hips inside the suit pants, massaging down his thighs like he had in their theater seats, only this time, when he moved inward, he didn’t stop, and his thumb brushed Teddy’s erection through his underwear.
“Wait,” Teddy said, even as he arched into the subtle graze, “there’s isn’t time, or a way to clean up without it being very obvious what we were up to.”
“We have time,” Finn grazed Teddy again with his thumb, slowly up and down, “and I got the mess.” With a telling bite of his lower lip, he dropped to his knees and started to pull Teddy out of his underwear. “Think of how much more relaxed you’ll be to finish the show.”
Teddy felt the stir of wanting to confess undying love again, because Finn was too incredible, grinning up at him like that, licking his lips, and descending to take him into his mouth. If anyone suddenly appeared in the corridor, Ted
dy honestly wouldn’t care, not when he had that heat, the squeeze of Finn’s hand at his base, and the other up rubbing around his sore hip.
Melting back against the wall, Teddy wanted to run his fingers through Finn’s hair, but then it would really be obvious what they’d been up to when they returned to their seats. He satisfied himself with gripping the back of Finn’s head and hanging on through the exquisite work of Finn’s mouth on him—again.
They had less than fifteen minutes, the time ticking away swiftly so that Teddy honestly didn’t know how much had passed when he felt his gut tighten and warned Finn that he was close. Finn didn’t pull away but sucked harder, finishing Teddy off until he came down his throat with a shudder.
“You do too much for me,” Teddy said, blissed out and boneless as Finn licked him clean and helped tuck him away.
“Are you kidding?” Finn stood with as content an expression as Teddy imagined on his own face. “All I wanted when I moved to that beach town was some excitement and passion in my life, and every moment I’ve spent with you makes me glad I didn’t let myself fall back into those old habits. Or, I did, but then you reminded me of everything I’d be missing and made me think that, maybe, I deserve something good.”
“You do.” Teddy grabbed Finn’s face like Finn had done to him earlier. “So much more than I do.”
“It’s not a competition. How about we agree we deserve each other?”
Teddy grabbed the other side of Finn’s face too and kissed him. “Agreed.”
“Besides.” Finn grinned. “You can pay me back later. Come on.” He tried to take Teddy’s hand to lead him out of the corridor.
“We can’t go back yet.” Teddy resisted, even if his pants were zipped and his shirt neatly tucked. “We’re both flushed. Anyone who sees us will know.”
“So, we wait until the lights start lowering.”
Even in the corridor, the lights flickered to signal it was time for everyone to return to their seats.
“Like now.” Finn giggled, dragging Teddy after him to the door. “We’ll wait until everyone else clears out, then sneak up and wait to return to our seats until the house lights lower. If anyone asks, we got caught up in you showing me around.”
He was diabolical. It was no wonder why Teddy liked him so much.
Finn propped open the door, and they peeked out, hands still clasped, watching the people in the lobby scurry away. Once it looked clear, they snuck to the bathroom to freshen up, then hurried up the stairs just as the house lights were coming down.
Teddy’s mother gave him a scrutinizing look when they snuck back to their seats after the curtains had already parted, but she didn’t say anything. Teddy would hear from Rick later, though.
The third act was the wedding, a fantastic climax—though not enough to rival the one Teddy had just experienced. He did feel relaxed, though, and as glorious as Erina proved to be in her final dances, Teddy didn’t feel moved to tears again; he was simply proud and content.
At the final curtain, he was left with very few nitpicks he would have scolded the dancers for if they had been under his direction. Clapping and getting to his feet was what finally pulled his hand from Finn’s since they’d returned to their seats.
Erina found Teddy in the crowd when she took her bow, and he nodded in acknowledgment.
“Shall we go monopolize my sister?” Teddy asked Frankie when they found her in the lobby afterward, motioning to where the dancers had come out in their curtain call outfits to take pictures with the audience. Erina stood out in a black, red, and gold tutu adorned with sparkling sequins. “If you’d like to meet her, that is?”
“I can meet her?” Frankie gaped.
After agreement from her parents, Teddy led Frankie to the cast.
Rick and Dan got pulled away by other theater contacts again, which meant Finn was left with Frankie’s parents and Laverne. Teddy almost would have worried about his mother’s ability to meddle as badly as Erina, but any time he looked back at the group trailing behind them, Finn, Laverne, or all four were laughing.
“Who’s this now?” Erina said when it was their turn, bending to address Frankie’s short stature. “I thought my brother had a different date tonight.”
“Finn’s back there.” Frankie pointed behind them, and Finn waved with a light chuckle.
“And you are?” Erina asked again.
“I’m Frankie. You were amazing. Finn does my PT, and Teddy taught me a few dance steps, and I want to move like you someday,” she said in a rush. “If I can.”
Teddy saw the moment when Erina’s eyes fell to Frankie’s prosthetic beneath her dress.
She looked at Teddy with a wink. “Why, Teddy, that reminds me, I don’t think I ever told you about Mona, one of my fellow ballerinas at my last company.” She had her cell phone in case she wanted copies of any of the pictures taken and took a moment to scroll through it.
When she found what she was looking for, she turned the phone to show Frankie, though Teddy could make out the image well enough too. There was Erina in a yellow-and-orange tutu, beside a blond woman in a matching outfit who he took for Mona—who had a prosthetic leg.
Teddy had had no idea Erina worked with a dancer like that.
“She twirls so perfectly, they say it’s like the spin of a top. She had to work really hard, but she is a vision in motion. Maybe I can convince her to try out for our company sometime.”
Frankie was spellbound by Mona, and by Erina right in front of her. It was then that Teddy realized how this, now, filled him with the same elation he thought he could only experience while dancing or training someone else to dance with equal passion.
It wasn’t the dancing he missed, not only that, but this feeling, something he had a sneaky suspicion that Finn had realized all along.
Teddy didn’t hold up the line. Frankie’s parents wanted to meet Erina, too, Finn wanted to congratulate her, and their mother descended in a way that said she would hold up the line as much as she wanted, but it was only after the crowd had dwindled that Teddy had a moment alone with his sister.
“Be honest. How was it?” she asked.
“Overall, I would have done better. Sancho Panza was sluggish.”
“Teddy.”
“You were amazing.” He cracked an honest smile. “I couldn’t have choreographed anything more beautiful, and even if I had, you would have outperformed that as well. You deserve every bit of praise they’re saying. I’m proud of you.”
Laverne may spout those words constantly, but it wasn’t something Teddy said often. He could see how the phrase startled Erina.
“Stop, you’ll ruin my eyeliner,” she said, running a finger under each eye to prove it. “I’m glad you came. Really. I know we’ve done our own thing most our careers, and I’d always complain whenever you came to see one of my shows in another city and gave criticism, but I also don’t want to lose that just because your life is taking another direction. You’re a bitch sometimes, but you’re honest. Dad was just mean.”
Again, she’d brought up their father unprompted, and Teddy thought he might be starting to understand why. Dad was out of their lives, and it had been a good riddance, but now Teddy had stepped away too, a loss Erina hadn’t been prepared for or wanted.
“You know I’ll always be there when you need me,” Teddy said, glad the crowd had dwindled and that no one else was around.
“I know,” she said with another sniffle, glancing at her feet.
There was an age gap between them, over ten years’ worth, but it had been a long time since he’d thought of her as his baby sister. “Are you saying I’m not mean?” he said to brighten the dark mood. “Because you’ll destroy what little reputation I have left.”
Erina huffed a laugh, eyes sparkling with wetness. “You’re still an ass, Teddy Scofield, never worry about that.”
“If I gave you any critiques tonight, I’d be making them up,” he said sincerely. “If that’s ever not true, I’ll be honest.”
“I know that too,” she said and launched forward to hug him, allowing one stray tear to slip free.
Teddy forgot sometimes how often they both hid how they truly felt. Finn had hidden part of himself too. Maybe everyone did, but for once, being open didn’t scare Teddy, and he liked being able to share that with his sister—and his boyfriend.
“Now, go back to your cradle robbing.” She pushed his shoulder, indicating Finn across the room with Laverne, Rick, and Dan. Frankie had left, but she’d been in a joyous daze that Teddy was grateful he’d been able to give her. “Say hi to Carlos when you see him. He’s coming to the show next weekend.”
Of course he was, though Teddy couldn’t be anything but happy for his sister.
And happy for himself when he caught Finn staring at him.
While Erina went off to change and head to a cast party, Teddy moved through the emptying lobby toward his friends. He caught a caustic look from Hartley across the room, but simply smiled back and felt a wave of self-satisfaction course through him when Hartley looked even more annoyed.
“It was good to see you, dear.” Laverne kissed his cheek. “Lunch tomorrow? You’re in town until Sunday, aren’t you? I don’t know when I’ll get out to that beach house, so I need to get in as much mother-son time as I can. Besides, I expect Finn will be joining us? He’s lovely,” she whispered at Teddy’s ear.
Laverne could have partied with the best of them, but she said her farewells to call it a night.
Rick, on the other hand, was already loosening his bow tie. “We hitting the bars or what?”
There were numerous local establishments near the theater that Teddy knew well and had frequented over the years, but the one they chose was an Irish pub with hidden nooks where he could sip on a whiskey for hours without feeling the need for more than a single glass. He’d sobered from earlier and wasn’t drinking anymore to drown himself but to celebrate.
They claimed one of the nooks that was perfect for four, closed in on three sides like their own private room. Rick mirrored Teddy with a whiskey, while Finn had a Smithwicks and Dan a Guinness. They’d shoved their ties into their pockets, and all but Teddy’s suit coat had been removed to pile in the corner. Teddy liked layers, though he did have his jacket unbuttoned.
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