Chapter 7 #3
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, Teddy 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.”