Eddie ducked his head, trying to swallow past the lump in his throat and the swoop in his stomach. “Yeah I used to go out dancing a lot.” He tried to keep his voice steady as he dried the plates, nonchalant.
Buck was Buck however, so Eddie knew he heard it. “You did?”
“Shannon...before-” and Eddie did have to take a breath at that, setting down the plate before he broke it, “before all of that, we used to go dancing every weekend. Dance classes or just to clubs. If there was one thing that my family approved of, it was how good she was at dancing.” His family didn’t try to hide their disdain for her even in the beginning, but they all begrudgingly had to admit that at least she was a gringa that could keep a beat.
“I’m sorry.” Buck said softly. Eddie shrugged, words failing him. They finished up the rest of the dishes in that far away pocket of silence they had created.
It wasn’t broken until Buck shoved a beer at him, as Eddie just blinked at him. He hadn’t even seen the man move.
“Do you miss dancing?” Buck continued. “Because from the way Chris has been telling it, you used to love it a lot.”
And it was just like Buck to see right through him. God he missed dancing, how smooth it felt, just letting loose and letting himself flow with it.
“Yeah I miss it. Not many people who I could ask to come with me then.” A smile broke out, warmth blossoming even amongst the hurt, “Except Christopher, he’s danced with me.” Christopher knew it was something that Eddie loved and sometimes when Eddie felt a little down, Christopher would be there demanding that he dance with him to any music Eddie had. Honestly, yeah, he missed dancing, but those moments would always be the most special.
“He is a charmer.” Buck said and when Eddie looked up Buck’s were impossibly proud and warm. Eddie wasn’t quite sure why his stomach swooped like it did, maybe eating that much hadn’t been a good idea. “Why haven’t you asked anyone, I’m sure there are loads of people that would wanna dance with you.”
“Not many people to choose from.” Eddie sipped at his beer weighing the pros and cons of actually looking for some dance places, it wasn’t like he was settling down to marry, it was just dancing. But it felt oddly hollow the thought of dancing with strangers. When he looked up and saw Buck looking at him thoughtfully.
“What if I went with you?”
“Dancing! We could take a class together or go out! I’m sure there are ones in LA, there has to be. We could do it if you wanted.”
Eddie blinked at him in shock for a second.
“No offense Buck, but I don’t really see you as being the dancing type.” Eddie said, finally; smile already spreading
“Hey fuck you I’m a great dancer!”
“All that club dancing that’s just basically grinding doesn’t count.” Eddie said, giving him a knowing look.
Buck rolled his eyes, “I know more than grinding, that was all Buck 1.0, I’m a new man now.” Buck puffed up proudly when he said it. Eddie’s smile turned a little softer.
“Ok white boy” It didn’t mean he would stop teasing him though.
“Fine then you’ll just have to teach me.” Buck said matter of fact with a small smile on his lips as he picked up another plate and started washing again. “Bet you’d be a great teacher, and I pick things up quickly.”
Eddie was silent for a second just boring a hole into the side of Buck’s head because sometimes he couldn’t quite tell if Buck was real or not. Buck didn’t seem too bothered by it, he stacked wet plates in front of Eddie for drying and didn’t seem to notice that Eddie hadn’t picked one up for a second. The idea of dancing wasn’t bad. Honestly if he was real with himself that sounded like a great idea. There was no way he could get mixed up about who he was dancing with. Buck and Shannon were nothing alike, and while Eddie was pretty sure Buck didn’t know how to dance the way Eddie meant it, Buck wasn’t lying when he said that he was a quick learner. That and he really did miss dancing. He’d always been tactile, fighting had probably been a very negative way to just let his body be physical again, but dancing was always his go to.
“I’ll even let you lead for the first few classes.” Buck said, breaking the silence and Eddie from his thoughts.
“Let me lead?” Eddie said incredulously, bumping his shoulder good naturedly, happy when it made Buck laugh.
“Yeah I betcha I can figure it out fast enough I’ll be leading before you know it.” It’s a taunt and Eddie's good at not rising to the bait Buck threw at him, the little challenges but there’s a spark of something in his eyes that Eddie wanted to chase.
What the hell. No hurt in trying. He can’t help the smile.
Honestly Eddie forgot about it. They went on to talking about other things, and they were both busy as everything, so he thought it was just Buck musing, a Buck fantasy. That is until Buck shoves a paper in his face. “I found a class, Eddie!”
He looked down at the sheet raising an eyebrow. “Class?” He was smiling anyway because Buck’s smile was so wide it looked like it would split his face in two and Eddie had never been able to resist the infectiousness of that kind of smile from the guy. Then he finally looked down, and his other eyebrow raised with the other. “A dancing class.”
It was a flyer promoting a beginners to intermediate class of all types of styles of dance that mostly lined up with latin dances such as salsa, bachata, or tango, but also said they were open to hip hop, swing, and a few others. There were options for smaller classes and larger classes, and whether you were doing more social dances or more ballroom type settings.
Buck nodded excitedly. “Yeah, what do you know, It was just on the billboard of that coffee shop we like! I was gonna start researching places soon, but I hadn’t had the time, but then I saw this and it looked perfect!”
“Ah, very old school.” Eddie said and Buck laughed.
Eddie didn’t even think Buck had remembered the conversation but he should have known better, Buck always took things that Eddie loved to heart.
Eddie was quiet for a second, still processing, and Eddie could see Buck’s smile start to waver, his bubbly attitude start to deflate to the pinpricks of nervous energy. “Unless you don’t want to... “
“It’s a couples class?” Eddie said dumbly, wincing when that just made Buck reach up to rub at the back of his neck.
“Well yeah but I thought they usually were? Like you have to have a partner, but - i mean- is that… we don’t have to go I just-”
Eddie laughed softly, placing a hand on Buck’s shoulder just to ease him a bit more. “No Buck, this is perfect.”
And just like Eddie hoped Buck beamed.
“So Tuesday nights? We can skip this week and then see if we can get Carla to cover for us and get our dance on!”
Even if it sucked he would still have Buck there to tease either way so there didn’t seem to be any lose scenario, “Sounds like a plan.” Eddie said, honestly excited.
