Work Text:
Barry wasn’t convinced that going to a karaoke bar was a great idea but hey, Oliver was buying all the drinks because he’d just got that swanky new job at the record label so could he really turn him down? It wasn’t like he was planning to actually sing, he was just going to sit there and mock the others while he drunk copious amounts of whatever liquor came to mind. There were definitely no plans to sing involved, not at all.
Apparently he was the only one with that mindset because Cisco and Caitlin had already dueted on some obscure 80’s power ballad that practically made Barry’s ears weep and Jeremy had rapped along to an Eminem song as if that actually made him cool. There were a bunch of Oliver’s old work colleagues there too but he didn’t feel quite as comfortable mocking them considering they were all relative strangers to him. Barry kept his social circle as small as possible on purpose and outside of the three friends around him, he could probably list the rest of his regular contacts on one hand. There was Diggle from the gym, Wells from the apartment next door and Kara from work. He didn’t have the energy to tackle any more than that.
Even though he wasn’t exactly one to label himself as a slut, Barry didn’t really consider himself the type of person to have a serious lasting relationship. It wasn’t as if he’d never tried it before, hell him and Iris had even given it a shot for a few weeks before he confessed that his heart wasn’t really in it. He was too much of a free spirit, always seeking out his next party. Thankfully they’d remained friends afterwards and Iris was now chatting up that Laurel girl who worked at some fancy law firm in the city. The closest thing he’d managed to anything longer lasting was his friendship with Oliver but there had never been anything romantic there either. Besides, his best friend was with Tommy now and even if Barry loved to tease them he was still glad his best friend had found somebody who was so obviously devoted to him. He deserved it.
Of course, it all had to change when one of Oliver’s other friends stepped up to the microphone. Out of all of his friend’s now ex-colleagues, Eddie was pretty much the only one Barry had ever taken notice of. He either worked out or was genetically blessed and yeah, he had a pretty handsome face. How could Barry not take notice of that? He didn’t want to make things awkward for Oliver though which was why he’d kept his friend’s colleagues off limit but technically they didn’t work together anymore…
Still, if Eddie was truly dedicating himself to being an embarrassment like every other karaoke-goer that evening had presented then maybe he’d lose Barry’s interest altogether. Harsh, maybe, but the world was a mean place.
Okay, maybe Barry was just mean. Same difference.
“I hope he knows this is going to kill any boner for him I’ve ever had,” Barry hissed in Oliver’s direction, earning an eyeroll in return. Oliver was long past surprised with pretty much anything that came out of his mouth these days but that was sort of what happened when you were best friends throughout middle school, high school and college. They were practically brothers by now. Only, you know, Barry was the much better looking brother.
“This one’s for Barry because I think he’s really cute,” Eddie murmured into the microphone, so quickly and quietly that Barry would have thought he’d imagined it if it wasn’t for all the heads that suddenly turned in his direction. Barry felt his breath catch in his throat for a moment and he coughed, covering his mouth and glancing down at the ground in an attempt to hide his blush because what. Seriously, what the hell was going on?
Now that he’d been put quite firmly on the spot, Barry wasn’t sure whether he wanted Eddie to be terrible or not. He was already embarrassed and as the first few bars of a familiar song started, Barry was pretty sure his cheeks had more color in them then they’d ever had before. This had to be a dream, right? There was no way that he was actually being serenaded by a friend-of-a-friend while a crowd looked on. Barry had never identified as shy before but this was a whole other level and oh god, Eddie was singing Britney Spears and this was all so weird.
“Every time you look at me, my heart is jumping, what can I do?” Eddie crooned, his voice deep and surprisingly in tune. In fact his voice was somewhat hypnotic in its beauty and okay that definitely made it worse because now Barry couldn’t keep his eyes off of the other and he was pretty sure Iris was grinning at him like an idiot in his peripheral vision. Everybody here was an idiot though, especially Eddie. Since when had this been a thing? Was he just joking round? Was Oliver in on the joke?
The most important question though was why did Barry actually care so much? His heart had started to beat a little faster and his breathing became more ragged as he gasped for breath, too captivated by the display on stage to even reach for his drink. Eddie was twirling his hips as he sung and christ, Barry could only imagine how else he could get the man's body to move. Eddie's jeans were so tight and his ass looked amazing and yep, Barry was definitely a lot more interested than he'd initially realized. He wasn’t sure he even blinked until the song was over and Eddie was grinning and walking right towards him and wait, what?
“So?” he asked expectantly, his eyes sparkling in hope. Barry could feel his friends’ eyes on him but he did his best to block them out while he tried to sort his own head out. He felt like he’d just been punk’d or something, it was ridiculous. He was supposed to be the flirt, the seductive one who lured handsome men and gorgeous ladies into bed but now - well, it turned out he wasn’t too opposed to being the object of somebody else’s affections either.
Instead of giving an immediate answer, Barry downed the rest of his drink before slamming it back down onto the table. “Aw fuck it, what’s the worst that can happen?” he sighed, standing up and grabbing Eddie by his ridiculously tight shirt. “You’re so lucky you can sing,” he murmured just a few moments before dragging Eddie away from the rest of the group. If the other man genuinely was interested in him then they weren’t going to have a group of their friends spying on them throughout their first date. No, they were going to do this nice and proper which involved Eddie buying the first round of drinks and Barry finding them a nice dark booth in the corner of the bar to curl up in…