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 thiswasdifficult, 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. Hismotherwas 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 righttherefor 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 againnow.
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.
