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XLVI

There had never been a human being on any dance floor this similar to a board than Eddy Chen at this exact moment. His pupils were blown wide in panic, his face was white as a sheet and droplets of sweat ran down his temples without him moving an inch. 
Brett felt almost bad. Almost, while he swung his upper body left and right to the beat (boom, boom, boom), right arm in the air and having the time of his life. 
“Brett!”, Nathan yelled, laid an arm around the smaller and together, they jumped in circles chaotically, making their whole group cheer. 
“Join!”, Brett screamed at Eddy when he got faced towards him and it was another miracle the poor guy didn’t take the opportunity to flee to the other side of the ocean. Brett thought similar, broke free from Nathan’s side hug and took Eddy’s hands instead. 

“Dance! I’ll teach you!”
(Boom, boom, boom)
“I don’t think this is a good idea, man!” Eddy’s head swung left and right like a rabbit looking for the best possible escape path. Thank God for the hundreds of people blocking his way.
“All you have to do is feel the rhythm…”, Brett ignored Eddy’s attempt to convey how absolutely uncomfortable this whole situation was for him, “...and move your body to it! You’re a musician! Rhythm’s in your blood!”
“But dancing definitely isn’t!”, Eddy yelped as Brett let go of Eddy’s palms just to place his hands on the taller’s hips. 

Firm, strong and warm they felt through the fabric of Eddy’s white shirt and pink button down. Brett spontaneously licked his lips, gaze held captive by what he was holding while his heart rate picked up the pace, adjusting its tempo to that of the music (boom, boom, boom).
“Like this. Look!”
He pushed Eddy’s pelvis left and right a bit, trying to make the movement more fluent and less robotic. 
“Yeah! Not bad!”
“Please let me go home”, Eddy begged, his body however giving in to Brett’s guidance and finally swaying minutely to the music. The frown on Eddy’s forehead flattened more and more with every passing beat (boom, boom, boom). His features relaxed and suddenly, Brett’s hands on his hips became increasingly unnecessary.
Yet, they stayed glued on there, like this was the only place they belonged tonight.

Oh, seeing Eddy let himself go, move to the music, his hair flicking back and forth with the beat truly was a glorious sight to behold! 

His moves weren’t great, still a bit stiff and one could tell that he wasn’t used to dancing, but it wasn’t about that at all. Brett could see a freedom in Eddy’s demeanor similar to whenever he really dived into a performance or when he listened to the teacher’s concert on the first night of orchestra camp. The slight smile and fluttering lashes around his closed eyes only added to the beauty of one Eddy Chen not caring about what others would think or if that was something productive to do or not, but instead was simply having fun and letting loose. It drew Brett in, encapsulated his being so he could do nothing else than stare at the one facing him, his mouth slightly opened in awe.

“Hey! Now you’re not dancing anymore or what?”, Eddy pulled Brett out of his beautiful reverie, the music's boom, boom, boom reverberating through his body.
“Oh, uh, course not!”
Brett forced his muscles to do their duty again, match Eddy’s movements and soon enough, both were bopping to the music in the midst of the partying crowd. 

There was one tiny detail that held Brett back from surrendering himself fully to the beats though, and that was the fact that his hands were still there, feeling every move Eddy did, making it impossible for him to widen the distance in-between them. Not that he was complaining in any way, it was quite frankly the most distracting thing in the world, including the viola section playing out of tune during a concert. He felt his fingers itch and when Eddy did half a spin at one point, Brett found his palms sliding to Eddy’s slim waist and himself even closer to the other.

“Oh”, Eddy made, eyes opening and looking directly into Brett’s for sure clouded gaze. Their breaths mingled in-between them as Brett’s focus landed on Eddy’s pink, glistening lips.

(Boom, boom, boom)

“Oh”, Brett mimicked, gulped and took a step back, arms finally retracting only a tad too late for it not to be awkward. 
“Oh, no… no…”, Eddy stuttered and blinked rapidly, letting his lashes flitter once more. He shook his head. “It’s fine…”

Before Brett could ask what was, a tiny hand took Brett’s and whirled him around. 
“Brett!”, a glowing Katie greeted him, cheeks as red as her hair, “You’re here!”
“Uh, I guess”, Brett tried to get his grip together, which was easier said than done with a brain currently resembling scrambled eggs. 
“How wonderful”, she beamed, making him squint his eyes together, “Wanna dance?”
Without waiting for his response, she took both his hands and began to swirl them around. Cold sweat started to cover Brett’s skin. It didn’t lead her to let go of him though. 
“Katie… wait…” He turned his head back to look for Eddy. 
“What is it?”
“I kinda have to use the toilet, sorry.” And with that, he pulled away and wriggled his way through the crowd. 

There was no way Eddy had gotten far with all those people invading each other’s personal space! Brett tried to stick his head high enough so he could get a glimpse of Eddy’s dark hair or probably not amused face, anything, while a nauseating, anxious nervousness slowly but surely overtook his system. What if the in hindsight very risky, and, not to mention, weird stunt his drunk ass had allowed him to pull had finally scared Eddy away? Teaching him how to dance was one thing, but grabbing another dude’s waist was definitely crossing boundaries, wasn’t it? Brett swallowed hard, tried his very best to keep the panic down as he started to scream Eddy’s name throughout the club, a futile, desperate attempt, so it seemed.

“Cole! Have you seen Eddy?”
“I thought you kidnapped him to go dancing, no?”
“He was with me, but he went away. Have you seen him?”
Cole stood up from his seat at their booth and looked around as well. 
“Maybe he went outside to get some air? Or he needed the toilet. Don’t worry, mate. He’ll be back.”

“I’m not so sure about that…”, Brett mumbled, took a deep breath to keep the increasing nausea in check and stormed toward the exit with Cole yelling his name behind him and the boom, boom, booms echoing through the club Brett by now wished, he hadn't entered to begin with...