Eddie waited outside the stadium, trying to push down the flutter of butterflies that were in his stomach. When he initially offered the tickets to Albert, he had been intending on the two of them going just as friends. But then Albert made the comment 'Okay, it's a date!' in response to his invitation, and now Eddie wasn't really sure what the night was going to bring. Or what he wanted it to bring.

While he knew he was bisexual, ever since his first kiss to the star football player back in high school, and then a subsequent one with Shannon, Eddie hadn't actually dated a guy before. He had fallen hard and fast for Shannon, and then never looked back. But now Shannon was gone, and he finally felt ready to get back into the dating scene again.

Eddie winced at his initial reference to Albert, calling him Chimney's kid brother when they first heard of his existence. But that afternoon when Albert had come into the firehouse, all excited and happy to see his older brother's place of work, Eddie couldn't help but give the younger man a second look...and then several more looks as his visit continued. Albert's attitude was like a breath of fresh air in the station, which they all desperately needed, and it was so nice to be around someone who excluded such positivity. And hotness.

It had been a long time since a man caught Eddie's eye, but Albert definitely caught his. The low-key flirting that was happening at Chimney's birthday gathering was a possible sign that Albert was interested as well, but then Albert and Chimney had their words and the evening was wrecked. Eddie had been too slow to chase after Albert, Buck leaping to his feet and dashing out quickly to be the saviour of the evening. Although, in hindsight, that might not have been the best time to make any sort of move either.

A friend of Eddie's had reached out, an old army buddy that had an extra pair of second row tickets for the Dodgers and wondered if he was interested in them. Eddie wasn't going to pass up free tickets and had thought briefly of inviting Buck when he remembered Albert saying how much he enjoyed baseball.

And now, Albert was walking over to him, a big smile on his face and a small backpack over his shoulder. He had on a brand new baseball hat, probably bought specifically for the game, and generally looked thrilled to be there. "Hey Eddie! Thanks so much again for inviting me, this should be great!" He then looked around a bit nervously before taking a step closer to Eddie, their shoulders bumping gently. "Um, did I overstep the other day? Like, did you mean for this to be a -"

"-A date?" Eddie filled in, cutting Albert off by accident. "Well no, not originally," Eddie started to say, but then seeing the crestfallen look on Albert's face quickly added "but after you mentioned it, I realized that yeah, I did want it to be a date. It's just…been a while since I've dated." Eddie paused, slightly embarrassed with his rambling. Albert was still looking at him, a reassuring look on his face. "A-are you okay with it being a date date?" Eddie asked, wanting to make sure that Albert was on-board with the idea as well.

"Yes!" Albert replied cheerfully, leaning into Eddie's space a bit more. In contrast to his eagerness, he reached out hesitantly to take Eddie's hand, as if he wasn't sure how Eddie was going to react to the more public display of affection.

Trying not to think too hard about that hesitation, Eddie quickly clasped Albert's hand, interlacing his slightly larger hand with Albert's, his cheeks turning red at the gesture as he followed his date into the stadium.

XXXXX

The game had been a tight paced competition the entire evening, which Eddie always loved when that happened, as it made for a more entertaining watch. But Eddie found his attention often drifting away from the game and towards his date. Albert had similar passion for the game as he did, and Eddie found himself smiling as they both found themselves cheering for a hit or yelling at the referee for a bad call. He was fairly sure that Albert was sending him similar looks throughout the game, catching him staring at him a handful of times, resulting in the most adorable blush on Albert's face.

The hand holding continued for a while, until they had to juggle a large platter of nachos (which they shared of course) and a couple of beers. But now, Albert's hand had found its way to rest on his knee, and Eddie was loving every second of it, his attention narrowing in on the warmth of the contact, the sounds of the game pushed to the background.

Finally their team scored the winning home run and the players flooded the diamond, cheering and patting each other on the back as the typical announcements ran in the background, Eddie and Albert standing to cheer with the rest of the fans. Not really paying attention to the announcements themselves, Eddie couldn't help but flinch at the first pop-pop of the celebratory fireworks. He quickly dropped back into his seat and pulled Albert down with him, his first reaction to get them both out of the line of fire. As he sat in his seat, trying to catch his breath, he could still feel that warmth on his knee, Albert's hand helping to ground him back in reality.

"Hey, hey Eddie, it's just fireworks," Albert said gently, shuffling closer to Eddie, and shifting his grip on his knee to up by his elbow. "Are you okay? Do you want to head out?"

Eddie shook off the memories that the noise had brought, wanting to leave those painful thoughts behind in the desert where they happened. He looked over at Albert, wanting to wipe off the concern that was clearly written all over his face.

"No, no, I'm okay if you'd like to watch them," Eddie said sincerely, not wanting to make Albert rush out of the game. And now that he had gotten over his initial shock, he could handle the sound better.

Albert looked down at his hands and then back up at Eddie, his back still turned on the fireworks display. "I really want to kiss you right now, would that be -"

And once again Eddie cut him off, but as his lips covered Albert's and Albert grabbed the collar of his shirt to tug him in closer, he didn't feel bad about it at all.