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It was all Chimney’s fault.
He took it upon himself to schedule a “mandatory team outing” and thought it would be a great idea to drag everyone to a karaoke bar with the hopes of getting everyone to loosen up. Eddie tried everything to get out of it, but Chimney - the mastermind he was - debunked every excuse he tried to come up with and showed up at his house the night of to make sure he was actually coming.
Hen had apparently picked up both Bobby and Buck and were going to meet them at the bar, which left Eddie to sulk in the passenger seat of Chim’s car as he tried to convince Eddie he would actually enjoy himself.
When they met up with the other three at a large booth in the back corner of the bar, Buck sent a huge smile toward Eddie and reached out to fist bump him as if they hadn't seen each other earlier in the day at work. Eddie sank into the booth next to his best friend and reached for the beer Buck had already ordered for him.
“You know me so well,” Eddie said jokingly, before tipping back the bottle.
Buck knocked his shoulder into Eddie’s. “Come on man, this is going to be a blast!”
“If you say so,” he muttered, glaring at Chimney across the table.
Chimney winked sarcastically and announced to the group, “Alright, let’s order some food, get another round of drinks in us, and then we can figure out who gets the first song. I have received word that Buck is banned from singing ‘Eye of the Tiger’ for, quote, ‘all of your sanities, for the love of God, please’, unquote. Other than that, anything is fair game! Start thinking of your choices and potential partners now.”
Soon enough, their table was covered in burgers, wings, and other greasy food, as well as two mostly empty pitchers of beer and a round of shots bought by Hen, who Eddie swore was up to something with the looks she kept giving him.
Of course, Eddie did seem to be the only one that was really against the idea to begin with. Hell, even Bobby was looking free and loose by that point, and he only had the food coating his belly.
Chim, thankfully, had let Eddie slide by the first couple rounds of songs without making him take part, but he did have to admit to himself that the others really did seem to be having a lot of fun up on that stage. He knew his turn would come sooner or later, so he thought long and hard about what song he’d pick that wouldn’t be too embarrassing and that he might actually like singing. He had it narrowed down to a few older rock tunes he always sang along to while driving when Buck started pulling Eddie along to the song book, but they went straight to the back burner when his eyes caught on one song in particular.
Buck was still hovering behind Eddie, and he couldn’t tell if it was because he was excited to see what he picked or because Chimney contracted him to make sure Eddie actually sang something. Eddie put his name on the waiting list and scribbled down the name of his song before spinning around on Buck and pushing him back toward the bar.
“There, I did it. Now let’s go get another round of drinks before I embarrass myself in front of all of you.”
“Aw, I wanted to see what you picked,” Buck said, pouting in a way that pulled at Eddie’s heart.
’He has no right looking that adorable in the middle of a karaoke bar, Eddie thought, rolling his eyes. “You’ll see when I get up there and make an idiot of myself.”
“Hey, I’ve been up there three times already. What does that make me?” Buck asked, pushing past a group of giggly twenty-something women on their way to the bar.
Eddie looked over his shoulder and laughed. “An idiot.”
“Asshole,” Buck answered, laughing along.
They picked up another drink for everyone at the table, and weaved their way through the small crowd at the bar. They had just sat back down when Eddie realized the song being sung was the one right before his on the list. He sighed and took a long drink before announcing, “Well, I’m up next and I hope you all know I hate you for this.”
“Oh Eddie, you flatter us,” Hen joked, hand to her heart.
“You’ll be fine, son,” Bobby reassured, patting him on the back as he stood up. “It gets easier every time they drag you along.”
“Hey! I thought you liked karaoke, Cap!” Eddie heard Buck’s mock-irritation even as he walked toward the stage at the front of the room. He shook his head and chuckled.
Waiting at the side while the woman on stage belted out her 90s pop song, Eddie rethought his song choice. Would it be too obvious? Would anyone at the table catch on to why he chose that song in particular, or would they just chalk it up to him being from Texas? Not that many people that night were singing country songs afterall. Was this actually a bad idea?
Eddie didn’t have much more time to freak himself out over his song, because the pop song was fading into the background and the audience started cheering for the woman’s show. He took one last deep breath and decided to just go all out since he was probably fucked anyways.
Standing in front of the mic, Eddie looked past the little teleprompter to see how much of his group he could actually see. He knew the table could see him just fine, but with the spotlights, it was a little harder for him to see them.
As the first chords of his song played through the speakers, he did see Hen’s arm reach out and smack Buck in the shoulder and he could almost hear what would surely be them laughing. They’ve made fun of him a few times before for still listening to country music, so he was sure they were loving this. He smirked to himself and shook his head as he got ready to sing along.
I don't know about you
But I need a little getaway
I bet you're feeling it, too
He took a deep breath and figured if he was going to make it obvious, he might as well avoid the pronouns while he was at it.
Yeah, it's written all over your face
Let's go somewhere where corn grows tall
Down a road that ain't got no name
Let's dust off a bottle on a blanket by the river
Come on, baby, I can't wait
To get you on some red dirt
And get lost in your blue eyes
I wanna see your little sun tan
Lit up in the moonlight
Gonna dance you in the midnight sky
And kiss you 'bout a thousand times
Gotta get you on some red dirt
And get lost in your blue eyes
The whole table was watching Eddie enthusiastically, but all he really paid attention to was Buck. He held his gaze steadily as the instrumentals lead into the second verse. He only broke the eye contact because he didn’t know the next verse as well and definitely needed to read from the teleprompter.
Something 'bout out there
That's just good for your small town soul
Funny how you seem to care
A little less the further you go
I can see your little t-shirt laying on the bank
You're smiling and sliding in
Body to body, our little party
Water dripping off your skin
When Eddie looked back up at their table, Buck and Hen were no longer looking at him, and were instead in what looked like a kind of argument. He definitely couldn’t see what was going on, so he shook it off and continued through the chorus again, now just wanting to get the song over with so he didn’t have to think about it anymore.
At one point, Eddie looked back at the table and saw the Buck must have gotten up, which made him frown a little through the lyrics. Buck was the entire reason he chose that song, and he wasn’t even watching? It stung a little, until he realized that Buck was actually next to the stage, talking to the guy in charge of the music.
As Eddie finished up his song, which received a roaring round of applause from the audience, he saw Buck standing in the waiting area by the stage, where a different man was standing not even a minute before. Eddie did a small bow out of politeness for the warm reception of the audience, and shot Buck a questioning look at they traded places.
All Buck said was, “Great job up there Eds,” which just made Eddie even more confused. No jokes about picking a country song? Nothing saying he might have caught onto his other meaning by picking that one in particular? Not at all the response he was expecting.
Eddie figured he would want to watch whatever Buck was about to do, since it looked like he went to a lot of trouble to do so. He stood against the wall to the side of the stage out of the way of the crowd and tried to look back at their table to see if he could get any answers from his friends’ expressions. Hen looked downright giddy, and even Chim and Bobby looked amused, at the least. Eddie shook his head and turned back to the stage as Buck's new song started.
A strong, pop-like beat permeated the bar and the crowd cheered. Evidently enough people recognized the song to be excited about it. Buck grabbed the microphone with both hands, like he wasn't just singing karaoke, and tapped his foot along to the beat of the intro. He leaned in close to sing along with the woman's sultry voice.
Ay, boy, whatcha say, boy?
You tryna play coy like a Gameboy?
Hit my phone boy, is you home boy?
Are you alone boy? Come give me dome, boy
Eddie was confused. Why did Buck need to rush up to sing this right after Eddie sang his song?
Got a boy with degrees, a boy in the streets
A boy on his knees, he a man in the sheets
Sheesh, it's all Greek to me
Buck made very obvious eye contact with Eddie as he sang with emphasis, Got this boy speaking Spanish, Ay Papi and flipped around to face the crowd as he danced along to the beat, leaving Eddie to stew in what just happened.
Buck had jokingly called him Papi a couple of times before, not realizing what that really meant, and he ended up blushing harder than Eddie had ever seen when he finally explained it to him. He knew what it meant and he still sang that straight into Eddie's eyes.
Boys! Bo-oys, Boys!
Buck turned back around to Eddie and made a show of shaking his hips and singing, Make a boy go crazy! which Eddie saw on the big screen behind Buck was not the right pronoun for that song either. So Buck was definitely making a point, that much Eddie was sure of. He only hoped Buck was making the same point Eddie was trying to make with his song choice.
I like big boys, itty bitty boys
Mississippi boys, inner city boys
I like the pretty boys with the bow tie
Get your nails did, let it blow dry
I like a big beard, I like a clean face
I don't discriminate, come and get a taste
From the playboys to the gay boys
Go and slay, boys, you my fave boys
Watching Buck move his body like some pop star's backup dancer was definitely not something Eddie thought he would see, that night or any other. The way he moved his hips to the beat, trailing his hands down his body, gesturing along with the words to the song, it hit Eddie in a way he wasn't expecting to be hit.
Eddie peeled his eyes away from the stupidly attractive image up on stage and looked back at his other friends to try and gauge their reaction. Chimney had his phone up, obviously recording the show, likely as a gift for Maddie and her sisterly blackmail stash. Bobby looked about as shocked as Eddie had ever seen him, mouth open slightly and eyes wide. Hen's eyes were also huge behind her glasses and her hands were folded in front of her mouth like she was trying to hide a smirk or something. Obviously no one was expecting quite what Buck was dishing out up on that stage.
Girls! Gir-irls. Girls! Make a boy go crazy!
Boys! Bo-oys. Boys! Make a boy go crazy!
Buck finished out the song, alternating between 'girls' and 'boys' just about every time one of the two words came up in the last part of the song, really driving home the point that Buck was evidently trying to make about his bisexuality.
As the song faded out, the crowd went crazy with applause and wolf-whistles alike. Of course, Buck ate up the attention, bowing and blowing kisses like it wasn't just bar karaoke. When he finally walked off the stage, he made a beeline for where Eddie was hiding off to the side instead of back to their friends at the table. Eddie was still leaning against the wall, and when Buck stopped in front of him, he propped himself up on the wall as well.
"Hey Papi," Buck practically purred.
"Hey Blue Eyes," Eddie countered, smirking.
“I liked your song,” Buck said, all bravado gone almost instantly. He was looking at the floor and Eddie could see a flush creeping up his cheeks even in the dim lights.
Eddie laughed and stepped closer. “Yeah, I got that much. You didn’t really need to do all that to tell me, you know? Not that it wasn’t very nice…”
Buck smirked a little and Eddie just wanted to soak in that look. “Yeah?”
Eddie leaned close to whisper in Buck’s ear, “That was hands down the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Although it would have been even better if it wasn’t in front of a room full of drunk strangers.”
“Well maybe I can give you an encore back at my place?” Buck asked, stepping even closer to Eddie, so that their feet were intertwined. His hand reached out to play with the hem on Eddie’s shirt as he looked down into his eyes.
“However much I would love to say yes right now, neither of us drove here.”
Buck cursed under his breath and laughed, letting his hand drop. “So much for being slick. How about I order us an Uber and we go get made fun of until it comes by those terrible people we call our friends?”
Eddie laughed and put an arm around Buck’s waist, pulling him away from the wall. “That sounds like a plan querido.”
“Ay Papi,” Buck responded in that sultry voice that just about drove Eddie insane.
He groaned and said, “You gotta not say that when we’re in public. It makes me want to do things that would definitely get us arrested for public indecency.”
Post Script
“Okay, fine Chim, technically you won the bet,” Hen grumbled. “But I still think you cheated by forcing Eddie to come to karaoke night.”
Chimney wouldn’t lose that easy. “Well if that’s cheating, than so is you telling Buck he should sing that damned song to begin with!”
“And if you both cheated, then I think that makes me the winner by default,” Cap explained, grinning mischievously.