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They all go the first time. Buck calls it a “bonding experience” in the team group chat. Chimney is going, Maddie is going, Ravi is going, and then somehow Buck has convinced everyone to go. Eddie pretends for a long time that he hasn’t seen the texts yet, he doesn’t know what to do in this situation. He wants to support Buck, and he does want to hang out with the team, but going to a gay bar isn’t exactly what he had in mind. It’s not that he has anything against going to a gay bar, but is a straight man even allowed to go to a gay bar? He knows Chimney and Bobby are going, but it seems different for them to go than for Eddie to go.
While Eddie is still ignoring the new messages popping up on his phone of everyone agreeing to go, Buck decides to call him. Eddie groans out loud at the sight. He knows Buck is calling him to get a direct answer. Eddie does this a lot where he tries to get out of group hangouts. He’s used the excuse “I didn’t see the messages” too many times now. He hesitantly grabs his phone and accepts the call.
“Hi Buck,”
“Hi Eddie. I can’t help but notice you’re ignoring the group chat right now, conveniently when we’re trying to make plans to go out,” Buck doesn’t waste any time getting into the nitty gritty of it.
“I’m not ignoring the group chat messages right now,”
“But you know there’s group chat messages! Yet, you’re not answering them,” Buck knows he’s got him with that. Eddie can practically hear the smirk on his face right now. Eddie rolls his eyes and answers, “No, I haven’t answered yet,” He makes an emphasis on the ‘yet.’
“But, you’re in, right?” Buck sounds nervous asking, even though that’s the whole reason he’s called Eddie. Eddie feels the tug in his chest, the one he always gets when Buck asks him to be somewhere with him. Eddie may not have answered the texts, but he did see Buck saying that this would be his first time going to a gay bar. So, goddamnit, he’s going to have to go to a gay bar.
“Yes Buck, I’m in,”
-
Eddie doesn’t know what to expect when going to a gay bar. He’s been to plenty of other bars during his life, but he thinks this could be the best bar he’s ever been to. The lightning is way better in this bar than the ones he usually goes to, and he’s never had a drink this strong. Plus, people are actually dancing. Not everyone is just pretending to watch whatever game the bar has put on the TVs. And, Eddie isn’t immune to a dance when he’s had three extremely strong drinks.
“C’mon, you like this song!” Eddie screams into Buck’s ear to make sure he can hear him over it. Eddie can tell he’s holding himself back. He’s been lightly singing along to the songs he knows, he’s been glancing over his shoulder at where everyone is dancing, including Hen and Karen, but he hasn’t made the move to get up from the stool he’s sitting on. But, Eddie knows he wants to, and Eddie also wants that for him.
“Let’s go,” Eddie slides off the stool he’s on, grabs his drink and swallows the rest down, and motions for Buck to do the same. He shakes his head at him, but he’s smiling while he does it. He grabs his drink and chugs it down before he’s following Eddie to where Hen and Karen are. The song is near the end by the time they get to them, but Karen sings the rest of it with Buck when he starts singing along with her. The rest of the team come over to them too, and Eddie doesn’t know how long he’s been on the dance floor, but he’s sweating his ass off by the time Sabrina Carpenter’s song ends. (“Eddie, what the fuck do you mean you know Espresso!” “I listen to the radio, Buck.”) He quickly tells Buck he’s going to grab some water, and that he’ll bring him too. He’s smiling as he looks back to see Buck smiling brightly as he twirls Maddie on the dance floor.
“Hey man, two waters please,” Eddie smiles as he leans against the bar. The bartender smiles at him, and despite the crowded bar, he makes conversation with Eddie.
“Your first time here?”
“Yeah, here with a couple of friends. They wanted to go, so here I am,” Eddie shrugs. The bartender slides over the plastic cups to him with an eyebrow raised, “You didn’t want to come? You hate gay bars or something?”
Eddie tries to backtrack, “No, that wasn’t what I meant!” But, the bartender is laughing, and Eddie thinks he’s a little too drunk to follow social cues right now, because obviously that was a little ribbing. “But, you’re having fun now though, right?”
Eddie is sweating his ass off, he’s overwhelmed by the volume of the music, there’s way more people here than he’s used to, and Eddie is having the most fun he’s had in months. “Yeah, I really am.”
-
Eddie doesn’t mean to keep going to the gay bar, but he really liked it when he went, and he wants to support local businesses. So, he keeps going. It starts with him going after tough shifts because the drinks are strong and perfect when his muscles are aching. So, it’s only about once every couple of weeks, but then he learns about all the activities they do throughout the week. He comes on a Wednesday night and learns it’s karaoke night, and it’s fun watching people sing bad karaoke. Then, on the weekends they host drag queens, and Eddie has never seen a drag show in his life, but the bartender convinces him to go when he drops one time that he’s a firefighter, and the bartender says, “You need to come see Ember Empress, she does a firefighter theme!”
It takes a couple of months, but suddenly Eddie becomes a regular at The Yellow Brick Road.
He learns all the bartenders’ names, the other regulars there, and some of the drag queens also know him because Cory, the bartender, had to introduce him to Ember Empress. He and the bartenders all quickly become friends. He meets them all throughout his visits, and then they put him in a group chat with all of them so they can fill each other in on the latest firefighter drama when one of them isn’t working.
“Wait, rewind, is your whole team really gay? I meant to ask that forever ago when you all came in that one night. Damn, that’s awesome! You’re the firefighting version of all of us,” Cory points to him, Stella, Ashley, and Matt.
“Well, no, not everyone on the team is gay. Chimney, Bobby, and I are straight,” He states, and all the bartenders turn to look at him. All of them stop whatever they’re doing and crowd against the bar and start throwing questions at him.
“What do you mean ‘straight?’”
“This is a gay bar!”
“This first time you were here you had the gayest mustache I have ever seen and you’re telling me you’re straight?”
It takes a lot of convincing, and Eddie has never had to convince people this much that he’s straight. It’s a little odd, but they seem to get it after the sixth time he emphasizes it. (“And you’re sure you’re straight?” “I’m sure I’m straight. I’ve talked to you all about my ex girlfriends before!” “Well, yes, but!”) They’re all still looking at him oddly the rest of the time he’s there, so he leaves earlier than he usually does. When he’s walking out the door, he sees them all start to whisper amongst themselves, and something uncomfortable settles in his stomach. He’s never really thought about his sexuality ever, but the way he had to convince them he was straight has him second-guessing if he is.
He comes in the next day, and he doesn’t normally come in on Fridays because he knows it’s going to be extra busy, and it is. It’s extremely packed when he comes in, but that means all the bartenders are in, so at least that means he’s going to be able to talk to all of them. He pushes past everyone and makes his way to the bar, trying to squeeze in.
“Eddie! You don’t normally come in on Fridays, what are you doing here?” Cory asks as he hands someone their drink.
“Why are you so surprised I’m straight?” Eddie screams over the loud music. Cory’s eyebrows raise a little, and then look around the bar they’re in. “Eddie, you’re a regular at a gay bar!”
“Besides that!” He must look crazy the way he’s running in here demanding this conversation, and Cory seems to look a bit worried. Cory points to the end of the bar where Eddie follows him down. They make their way to an employee only room and Cory shoves him in it.
“Eddie, are you okay?”
“Why was everyone so surprised I’m straight?” He demands. He runs his hands through his hair and waits for Cory to say something, but he’s just opening his mouth and struggling to find the words. He just throws his arms out and waits for Cory to say something.
“I mean, Eddie, we’re all queer, right? Ashley is a lesbian, Stella and Matt are bisexual, I’m transgender. We all work at a gay bar, we’ve all worked at other gay bars before, we have a lot of gay friends. Do you get where I’m going with this?” Cory trails off, but Eddie just shakes his head. Cory sighs and steps forward.
“We all have good gaydar, Eddie,” Cory states, and Eddie still just can’t follow, “When you’ve talked about your past relationships, they just scream repressed gay man. You married the first woman you’ve ever dated because she got pregnant, you had panic attacks thinking about being with another one of them, I think at one point you even stated you felt like you were performing when going on dates with women! Don’t even get me started on that whole doppelganger shit, I still don’t even think I believe you about that. Anyway, we just thought you were opening up to us about how you discovered you were gay, we didn’t question it until you kept turning down every man that hit on you. We thought you were coming in here to explore your newfound gayness.” Cory lays it all out while counting everything that set off his gaydar with his fingers. Eddie slowly feels the puzzle pieces coming together, and his brain is buzzing with this new information being thrown at him.
“Straight men don’t really have panic attacks while dating a woman, and don’t feel like they’re performing when dating the sex they like,” Cory finishes off. Eddie stares at him with wide eyes, and Cory looks panicked after spilling this all out. “God, Ashley should have been the one to tell you this. She would be handling your cow eyes better.”
Eddie looks around the room, he’s trying to find something he can concentrate on as this information settles. He thinks about all his past relationships with women, and he can’t even begin to process if he liked being in those relationships.
“Plus, you always talk about the Buck guy, we tossed around the theory that you two had broken up and you were trying to get over him, but we put together pretty quickly that you two hadn’t dated,” Eddie’s eyes flick back to Cory.
“Buck? You thought I was into Buck?” Eddie asks, and Cory nods like it's nothing.
“Yeah. You talk about him all the time, and you were here with him the first night dancing, we thought it was new. But, when you kept coming we learned that you’ve known him for years, so we threw that theory away. Well, not the theory that you were into Buck, but that the two had broken up. We are pretty sure you’re in love with him,” Cory laughs and then pauses. Eddie’s eyes widen and Cory’s eyes widen back. “Don’t tell Stella I told you that! Fuck, we wanted you to figure it out yourself! Even though we thought you were gay, we didn’t know if you knew that you were in love with him, God, can you make me stop talking please?” Cory collapses onto the wall and covers his face with his hands. “This is cruel that you asked me to explain all this, Eddie. You know I’m an over-explainer!”
Eddie stares at the wall blankly. He thinks he needs to go, “I think I need to go.” He walks past where Cory is looking at him, now with concern spread across his face.
“Eddie, are you sure?” He grabs his shoulder to stop him from walking out the room. Eddie nods numbly, “Yeah, I gotta,” He swallows even though his mouth is dry, “I gotta think about all this.” He opens the door and makes his way through the crowd. He can hear Ashley yell his name, but he keeps walking until he pushes open the door and feels the breeze on his skin. He quickly walks to where he parked his car, and pulls open the door to collapse into his seat.
-
He doesn’t go back to The Yellow Brick Road for three weeks. He takes a lot of time thinking about what Cory said. At first, he was in complete denial. He’s only dated women his entire life, he couldn’t possibly be gay. But, then he texts Cory what he meant by being repressed, and Cory sends him a list of articles that he must have been waiting to send to him. Then Ashley sends him articles, Stella, and so does Matt. He does a lot of reading and self-discovery during the three weeks.
On the third week, he walks back into The Yellow Brick Road. It’s a Thursday night, so he knows at least Cory will be here, if not all of them. He takes his usual spot, and sees Cory hesitantly come up to where he’s sitting.
“Hey Eddie, how are you?” Eddie tilts his head at Cory, who looks extremely nervous, but he smiles at him and responds, “Good. Anything else you want to ask me?”
Cory’s eyes narrow at him, and he crosses his arms over his chest. He looks Eddie up and down, and purses his lips. “Do you want me to ask you what I want to ask?” Eddie nods, and Cory lights up.
“Edmundo Diaz,” Eddie raises his eyebrow at the full name drop, “Dude, I’ve seen your credit card. I know your full name. Don’t distract me, let me ask it!” Cory points his finger at Eddie and he puts his arms up in a surrender position. “Thank you. Edmundo Diaz, are you sitting in The Yellow Brick Road as a newly self-discovered gay man?”
“I am,” Eddie confirms, and Cory throws his arms up in celebration. Then he pauses, and points his finger at Eddie, “Wait! Follow-up, a newly self-discovered gay man who’s in love with someone called Buck?”
“Yes,” Eddie nods in confirmation, and Cory once again cheers. Ashley, who’s just a few feet down, starts jumping up and down. She runs out from behind the bar and runs to wrap her arms around Eddie. She squeals and shakes him around, as much as her five foot three self can.
“We’re so happy for you, Eddie! Now you can finally let yourself be hit on by men, even though you’re in love with Buck, you can still get free drinks! I know at least three guys interested in just a dance. Tomorrow is glow night, we always get the best crowd. You need to come,” Stella joins the conversation.
“Alright, I’ll be there.”
“There’s a cover though, just so you’re not surprised when Anthony asks you for fifteen bucks at the door,”
“Cory, we’re not making Eddie pay the cover. It’s free for men named Eddie who are newly out. I’ll just put you on a list that he can let you in,”
“Guys, I can pay fifteen dollars. It’s not a big deal,”
“No!” They all say in unison.
-
If Eddie was surprised the first time he came to The Yellow Brick Road, then he doesn’t know what to call this emotion. Ashley and Stella cover him in glow paint when he walks in, and Matt has stuck at least ten glow sticks on him. He’s got them on both wrists, his neck, and he looped a couple through his belt loops too. He definitely fits the vibe of glow night, and he’s smiling ear to ear as they all hype him up.
He got here earlier than most people did, so they could do him all up, but the crowd slowly starts to roll in, and Eddie lets himself get pulled in the madness. He dances with everyone who asks, he’s letting every single man buy him a drink who asks. He smiles, nods his head, and watches as Cory only pours him soda or juice on the fifth drink bought for him. He leans into their space when he talks to them, and the thrill of it sends electricity through him. He’s never felt this way being flirted with and flirting back. It always felt boring. Just something that he had to do, never something he enjoyed doing. But tonight, he’s enjoying it.
“Are you having fun, Eddie?” Stella says from across the bar, and Eddie nods as he collapses onto his stool. She hands him water, and then looks at the clock on the wall. “Have never seen you here past eleven, you’re going crazy tonight, old man.” She smirks as he says it, and Eddie just rolls his eyes.
“Oh, let him have fun! No old jokes tonight, just ones making fun of him for thinking he was straight three weeks ago!” Cory laughs as he slides another drink Eddie’s way, this time one with actual alcohol in it. “I’ve never had to pour so many juices at this bar. It felt like a sin,” Cory shivers in disgust.
“God, I’ve only been out one day and I’m getting more action than you have in your whole life. I’m so sorry, Cory,” Eddie fake pouts, and Cory straightens his back and looks around the bar like he’s being pranked. Eddie hides his smile as he sips at his drink, and they’re all poking fun at each other when Eddie hears his name called from behind him. He turns around, and does a double take when he sees Buck standing there.
“Buck?” He hears Cory gasp from behind him, but Stella scolds him and they quickly leave to go to the other end of the bar. Eddie curses them for leaving him.
“Eddie? What are you doing here?” Buck has two paint streaks underneath his eyes and three glowsticks. One on each wrist, and one wrapped around his neck. The club is dark, but Eddie can see the confused look on his face.
“It’s glow night,” Is all Eddie can choke out. Buck tilts his head and his confusion further. Eddie can see his mouth drop open trying to form words, but can’t.
“How do you know it’s glow night?” Buck finally forms a response, and then shakes his head, “No, wait. Why are you at a gay bar?”
“It’s glow-”
“Don’t say it’s glow night like that answers the question!” Buck interrupts him, and Eddie quickly shuts his mouth. He knows he must look like a deer caught in headlights, and Buck just keeps staring at him.
“I’m a regular here,” Eddie says, and it doesn’t answer the whole question, but it answers enough. Buck furrows his eyebrows and moves to take the empty seat that just opened up next to Eddie. The person looks back and mouths to him, ‘good luck!’
“Why are you a regular at a gay bar? You’re straight. I mean, allies can come to gay bars, but normally they aren’t regulars,” Buck is rambling, and Eddie knows it’s because he’s trying to work this out for himself in his head.
“I’m not straight, Buck!” Eddie screams over the music. Buck’s eyes widen, and then he grabs Eddie’s drink and chugs it down. He slams it down, and then continues to stare at Eddie. Eddie just lets him, because he doesn’t know what else to say in this situation. He wasn’t expecting to come out to anyone he knew tonight, especially not Buck, the man he’s in love with.
“You’re, you’re not straight?” Buck asks, and Eddie nods in confirmation. “I’m a regular here, but this is actually my first night here being out as a gay man. I thought I was straight the whole time, but Cory had to set me straight. Well, gay.”
Buck turns to where Eddie has pointed, and Cory is staring right at them, and he cringes as they look at him. Eddie awkwardly waves, which Cory returns. Buck turns back to Eddie and asks, “You two, are you, um?” Eddie quickly shakes his head.
“No, no. He’s just a friend,” Eddie clarifies, and he can see Buck’s shoulder relax at the confirmation, which causes the gears in his head to start turning. It quickly turns quiet, and it’s just the remix of a Taylor Swift song filling the silence. Eddie feels awkward with no drink in front of him, so he just messes around with the napkin in front of him.
“God, I’m sorry Eddie,” Buck finally breaks the silence. Eddie quickly looks towards him and asks, “Why?”
“It’s your first night out, and I just came and crashed your style. Then also made you come out to me, which you probably weren’t ready to do. And I paid goddamn fifteen dollars at the door to do it,” Buck pouts as he finishes. Eddie laughs brightly, and shakes his head.
“Buck, it’s fine. I was going to tell you anyway. Not so soon, and probably not at a gay bar during glow night, but now it’s a funny story,” Eddie shrugs and claps his head on Buck’s shoulder. Buck uses the hand placed on him to pull Eddie in for a hug.
“Buck, don’t hug me in a gay bar on glow night. C’mon, let’s go dance,” Eddie hugs him back as he says it, and then pulls him to the dance floor. Eddie lets the people swallow them as he leads Buck to the middle, and they’re quickly squished together.
Eddie hasn’t let himself be this brave in a long time, but it’s glow night, and the first day he’s finally out as a gay man, so he decides to pull Buck into him. Buck seems surprised by the movement, but quickly adjusts by putting his hands on Eddie’s hips. Eddie looks up to face him, and Buck is smiling brightly at him, and he looks ridiculous with the orange streaks under his eyes, and so goddamn good. Eddie can’t stop himself from pulling Buck down by his neck and smashing their lips together. It takes no time for Buck to kiss him back and the grip on his hips tightens. Eddie can feel the sweat gathered on the back of Buck’s neck, but he doesn’t care. He grips onto the hairs on the back of his neck and opens his mouth eagerly. He can’t hear the groan Buck lets out, but he feels when it happens. Everyone around them is pushing them closer together, and Eddie feels like he’s on fire.
They pull back when someone shoves against them extra hard, and Buck has extra paint on his face from Eddie’s, and he’s smiling brightly. His teeth shine blue from the lights, and Eddie knows he must look the same with the way he’s beaming at him.
“Holy fuck, Eddie,” Buck is pressing their foreheads together, and presses a couple more kisses against his lips. Eddie is just as desperate, he can’t keep his hands off Buck. “I was about to turn around when they asked for the fifteen dollar cover, thank fucking god I didn’t,” Buck confesses, and Eddie doesn’t even have time to laugh before he’s getting pulled back into a kiss. This time he can taste the glow paint that’s somehow made its way onto their lips.
Eddie doesn’t keep track of how long they’re on the dance floor together, but they’re there pressed up against each other when the lights turn on, which means it’s closing time. It takes them a minute to get off the dance floor, and Buck is trying to pull him towards the door, but they’re stopped by a yell,
“Edmundo Diaz! Turn your ass around,” He throws his head back, groans, and looks to where Cory, Ashley, Stella, and Matt are all standing. They’re all cleaning up, but looking at him with their eyebrows raised. “Don’t pretend like we didn’t just see you making out nasty in the middle of the dance floor.” Stella bluntly states.
“Are you going to introduce us to your friend?” Cory smiles all innocent like, and Eddie glares at him. He knows exactly what’s going to happen when he introduces Buck.
“Hey man, I’m Buck,” He smiles and waves, and Eddie throws his head back knowing what the reaction will be.
“Buck!” All of them scream in unison. He smiles, but looks confused when it happens.
“Wow, I can’t believe we’re finally meeting the famous Buck,” Cory states. Buck turns to where Eddie is glaring at all of them. He’s smirking at him, and Eddie can’t believe that he’s going to be able to kiss it off his face later.
“You talk about me?” Buck says giddily, and Eddie can’t help but smile at the happiness radiating from him.
“God, does he ever!” Ashley screams from where she’s taking out the trash.
“Anyway, we won’t interfere with the rest of your night. Get home safe, you two,” Cory smiles, and then looks at Eddie, “You are going to text me about this.”
“I will not be.”
“Yes you will.”
“Okay, fine. We’re leaving!” He turns around, and drags Buck along with him, “It was nice meeting you all!”
By the time they Uber to Buck’s, Eddie already has twenty-five text messages in their group chat ranging from, ‘oh my god?? he’s so hot??’ ‘it actually isn’t fair that Eddie has been out for ONE DAY and has more pull than I’ve gotten in my whole gay life’ ‘Text when you’re home safe!’
“We need to wash all this paint off,” Buck comes out of the bathroom with his shirt off, and Eddie throws his phone in the bed and immediately walks towards where he’s standing. Yeah, the texts can wait.