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“Absolutely no shame,” Bowie told him with a shrug. “I have performed in nothing but boots, briefs, and a smile.”

“But in that case there were extenuating circumstances,” Tony pointed out.

“We are never to talk about those,” Bowie declared.

“I believe that ship has sailed,” Tibby said as I wrapped my arm around Tony, who snuggled against my side.

“What had happened was…” Bowie began, until Tony kicked water at him.

“I’ll tell the story, so there are no omissions or outright distortion of facts,” Tony declared.

While I couldn’t see the look he gave Bowie, it prompted him to make a show of locking his lips and tossing the imaginary ‘key’ over his shoulder into the water.

“We were at an outdoor festival. One of those that has the whole carnival vibe going on and everything. We’re wandering around, checking shit out, catching a buzz off these crazy vodka lemonade drinks that were a foot tall and cost twenty bucks.”

“To be fair, you only needed one.”

“True, now hush up you. I thought you tossed the key?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bowie grumbled before falling silent again.

“He’s right though. Two of those and we’d have been on our asses, and it wouldn’t have been the mechanical bull’s fault.”

“That was fun, come on!”

“Does Pressley need to gag you?” Tony asked.

“I’d like it too much and you know it!” Bowie blurted, before slapping a hand over his mouth.

“I will be making a mental note of that, thank you, Tony,” Pressley replied, grinning at Bowie who lowered his hand enough to stick his tongue out at Tony.

Those two, I swear. They might not be related by blood, but the brotherhood between them was unmistakable.

“You’re welcome,” Tony replied, sweet as pie, just needling Bowie. “Now where was I. Oh yeah, we tried the mechanical bull. They were offering vouchers for giant slices of stone-fired pizza if you could stay on for the full eight seconds. It took Bowie five tries, but he did it and split the slice with me. Man, that was good.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“Best pizza I’ve ever tasted,” Tony said, while Bowie nodded, one hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t interrupt again.

“We tried the egg toss game, where one guy is tossing and the other guy is trying to catch them in the basket strapped to their heads. Bowie wore the basket and I only got one on his face, the rest went in and we won a couple snack vouchers. We did the spinning wheel of death, which was technically just a motorized merry go round. Last a minute or be the last one to fall off, and you win a twenty-five-dollar merch voucher. We were still clinging to the middle bar when it stopped so we both won them. Then Bowie spotted the mud run.”

“Oh no.”

“Yup.”

Tibby snorted and started laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. “Let me guess, he was wearing what he was supposed to be performing in.”

“Of course he was,” Tony cackled, laughing so hard he finally turned and burrowed against my chest.

“I knew you were gonna be trouble,” Pressley said as he tugged Bowie closer to him.

“Only the best kind,” Bowie replied before kissing him.

“Awe!” Tibby said, clapping his hands.

He was standing close enough for me to see the dreamy look on his face as he watched them, for about a fraction of a second, before Tony claimed my lips and melted against me, reminding me that I was no longer the guy standing around watching everyone else fall in love.

Neither was he.