Chapter 30
Jackson
The actual fucking Olympics. Jackson was riding a high from the second they stepped off the plane, and knowing that Elliot, Beth, and his parents would be there to watch him race, he felt invincible.
They were staying off their feet as much as possible.
A couple of short shakeout runs to keep their conditioning up was the extent of their training.
It was a fine balance to hit the taper right for a race this important.
It was alright rooming with Darius, and nice to have the time to hang out with his friend, but honestly, it felt like whenever he wasn’t meditating or going through some weird agility sequence, he was on calls with Jamie.
Jackson couldn’t help but wish he could swap with Green to stay with Elliot, though they’d likely never leave the room.
Jackson was trudging down the corridor with sandwiches he’d picked up for the four of them from the canteen when he spotted Stefan a few steps ahead.
Anger flared in him. He hated that Stefan’s suggestive posting had hurt Elliot.
If the two of them hadn’t drastically improved their communication, that could have been what stopped them from ever coming back to each other, and Jackson would never have known why.
Confrontation wasn’t something he wanted to get into in the middle of the village—you never knew how people would interpret things—so he just turned around and walked the other way.
“Jennings,” Stefan shouted after him, clearly having seen him. It would have been best to turn back, but something in Jackson took over, and he darted down the corridor until he came to the apartment and pushed inside.
“Did they have chicken Caesar?” Elliot asked from where he was sprawled out on the sofa. He was reading a paperback, those reading glasses Jackson loved so much perched on the end of his nose.
“You’re killing me, Owens,” Jackson groaned as he tossed his boyfriend the requested wrap and flopped down heavily next to him.
“All part of my super-secret plan to take your spot,” Elliot replied.
Jackson leaned over to press a kiss to his jaw. “You want another shot at trying to break me?”
“Green’s just in the shower. Keep your hands to yourself,” Elliot replied.
The water switched off. “Yeah, and he can hear every fucking sound. These walls are paper thin, so don’t even think about it,” Chris shouted from the bathroom. He was laughing as he exited, drying his hair roughly with one of the standard-issue towels.
“Darius around?” Jackson asked.
Elliot shook his head. “Physio, I think,” he replied, returning to his book as Jackson stretched out, placing his feet in Elliot’s lap.
A knock sounded sharply at their door, causing Elliot to finally give up and put his book down on the side table with a deep sigh.
“I got it,” Jackson said as he bounded over to the door. On the other side of it was Stefan.
“Hi,” he said. “Can we speak for a moment?”
He’d been caught. The confrontation he’d been trying to avoid, whether for Elliot’s benefit or his own, wasn’t going anywhere, and Stefan needed to know that what he’d done wasn’t okay.
“It’s just it feels like you’ve been avoiding me.”
There was a snort from inside the room. Jackson was pretty sure Elliot wouldn’t find this funny, so it must have been Green.
Jackson crossed his arms. “I have been avoiding you.”
“Why? I thought we were friends.”
Jackson arched a brow. “Oh, do friends post pictures of each other implying they’re hooking up, upsetting the partner of said friend so much that it causes extreme stress and fucks with their athletic performance right before the fucking Olympics?” he asked. “Is that a thing friends do?”
Stefan did have the wherewithal to look sheepish at that. Jackson wasn’t going to wait for a response, but from within the room, Elliot spoke.
“You might as well come in. No need to shout this conversation down the corridor.”
Jackson opened the door wider, allowing Stefan to enter.
Elliot was sitting stiff-backed on the sofa now, his sexy little glasses returned to their case, and the icy facade he so often maintained firmly in place.
Chris, on the other hand, looked more relaxed than Jackson had seen him since they'd arrived, leaning against his bedroom door, shirtless in his joggers with a towel hanging from his neck and a grin on his face like he was enjoying the chaos. It was kind of nice to see the anxiety wiped away, even if it was at Jackson’s expense.
“Sit,” Elliot ordered, and Stefan complied. “Explain yourself.”
Stefan fidgeted under the weight of three gazes fixed on him, awaiting an answer.
“I was…manifesting?” he finally said.
“Manifesting?” Chris snorted.
Stefan nodded vigorously. “Yes. Jackson is everything I want in a partner. He’s fun and attractive and athletic, and I think we have good conversation…”
“Just because Jennings is all those things doesn’t mean you get to imply you’re seeing him.”
Jackson smiled a smug little smile. He liked it when Elliot complimented him, even inadvertently. “Exactly. And your manifesting upset my partner.”
“But I didn’t know you had a partner!” Stefan exclaimed.
Chris arched a judgemental brow. “Even if you didn’t, still a bit creepy, mate.”
“I…I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to—I—” Stefan paused as if to collect himself, then he tilted his head, an almost hopeful inflection in his voice that spiked Jackson’s irritation as he asked, “Are you and your partner ok?”
“We’re fine,” Elliot replied gruffly.
Everyone froze. Even Jackson didn’t know what to do as he gaped at his boyfriend.
“What?” Elliot shrugged. “Green already knows, and I don’t want this little shit thinking he has a chance with you.”
“Have I told you I love you yet today?” Jackson asked, crossing the room in one short stride to straddle Elliot’s thighs.
“You have, but feel free to say it again. I am bloody wonderful.” Elliot smiled at him and pulled him into a kiss. Jackson sighed into it, allowing himself to sink into Elliot’s lap as their hands started to wander. Stefan let out a startled squeak that neither of them acknowledged.
“They’re always like this.” Chris sighed. “Want to head over to the track and check out the athletics?” he asked a shell-shocked Stefan.
Jackson didn’t understand why he was still there.
He’d apologised. Whatever. Jackson had more important things to focus on now.
More important things like Elliot, who had so casually told another person about their relationship.
Who, day by day, was opening up more, not just to Jackson but to everyone around them.
Fuck, he hoped Chris and Stefan vacated quickly.
A couple of hours later, Jackson and Elliot managed to disentangle themselves from each other. They’d heard Darius come back in from physio and had been exceptionally quiet. Score one for the super-secret spy boyfriends.
Chris’s idea of checking out some of the other events had been a good one, and they agreed to head out and see what they could get into. The track events were well underway now, and Elliot had mentioned being keen to see some of them.
“We should see if Hewitt wants to join,” Elliot said as Jackson searched fruitlessly for his accreditation in the mess of his belongings.
“Yeah?” Jackson asked, a tiny bubble of hope forming in his chest. Maybe Elliot would continue his sharing streak, and Jackson could stop dancing around well-intended questions about his love life from his best friend.
Elliot nodded as they went to knock on the door of the room Jackson shared with Darius.
“Owens and I were going to head over to watch the athletics. Wanted to check if you were up for joining.”
“You two getting close?” Darius asked. "Anders mentioned he asked him to work with you in Leicester."
“Erm, yeah. He’s alright. We talk and stuff,” Jackson replied. Christ, it was going to be awful explaining how long he’d been hiding this for.
“It was good of him to reach out about getting you here,” Darius said. “I should’ve thought of it myself. I feel like I’ve been a shit friend to you lately.”
“You haven’t,” Jackson insisted.
“Still. He did a good thing.”
“He did. He’s…well, he’s pretty great, actually.” He was certain his feelings were written all over his face. He cleared his throat. “So, you coming?”
Darius had a contemplative look on his face when he turned back to Jackson. “Yeah, sure.”
“Great! Now, have you seen my accreditation anywhere?”
“You left it in the loo,” Darius replied with an exasperated tone. Jackson pointedly ignored it as he crossed the room to the bathroom and grabbed the card from the counter.
“Let’s go, then!” he said cheerily, striding out the door to where Elliot was waiting in the corridor.
Despite his personal feelings about short-distance running, which amounted to ‘ick, please don’t make me do that,’ Jackson had to admit that watching the sprinters race around the track at unimaginable speed was inspiring.
Every race seemed to end in what looked like a photo finish from where he sat between Darius and Elliot in the seating area reserved for athletes.
It was just so different from the type of race he was used to.
Jackson didn’t think he’d done a run shorter than five kilometres since primary school.
He grinned as he saw some familiar faces file in. Alice and Ilaria, the cyclists they’d met in St Moritz in April, were looking for seats. He waved at them, turning to Elliot. “I’m going to go say hello. Want to join?”
Elliot cast a glance over at the women, returning their enthusiastic waves with a nod. “I…I need to speak with Hewitt for a minute. I’ll come in a bit.”
Jackson arched a brow at Elliot. “You won’t tell him without me, right?” he whispered.
“Of course not. This is something else.”
Jackson looked at him imploringly, waiting for a real explanation.
“Go see the girls, I’ll only be a minute. I want… Look, he’s your best friend, right? So, I want to…I guess clear the air or whatever.”
Jackson nodded, squeezing his boyfriend’s hand subtly between the seats as he rose.
It meant more than he could express that Elliot kept putting himself out there, that he was willing to try.
Jackson reluctantly pulled away and made his way through the crowd to where the two Italians had found an excellent spot, right near the front.
“Jackson!” Ilaria exclaimed. “Is Elliot not coming to say hello?”
Relaxing into the hard plastic chair next to her, Jackson replied.
“He’ll be down in a minute.” He chanced a glance back up at Elliot, and his heart fluttered happily as he watched him gesturing in that understated manner he always did.
He knew Darius had been a bit of a sore spot where Elliot was concerned, jealousy on both a professional and personal level widening the gulf between them, but seeing him try like this, well, it reminded him of how much his boyfriend cared.
Elliot Owens deserved the whole damn world, and Jackson was going to spend forever helping him realise it.
“Stefan! Mars! Siamo qui! We’re here!” Alice shouted, breaking Jackson out of his Elliot-focused reverie. She waved Stefan and his group, which now included Chris Green, over.
Stefan nodded timidly at Jackson, who glared back at him.
He wasn’t going to absolve him that easily, though it was hard to stay angry at someone who so closely resembled a sad puppy.
Stefan shifted his weight and then seemed to regain his confidence as he began introducing the others.
The group was mostly made up of other triathletes, except for one friend who introduced himself with a self-deprecating shrug.
“I’m Mars. Just a photographer, not an athlete,” he said.
“Don’t be so modest!” Ilaria interjected from where she’d now perched herself in Stefan’s lap. “Mars is one of the best ultra runners in Italy. He’s unbeatable.”
“I’d hardly say that,” he replied, though the wry grin on his face hinted that she couldn’t have been far off.
“That’s crazy, mate,” Jackson replied. “I’ve always kind of fancied giving ultras a go.”
As the others chatted, Elliot approached, subtly letting a hand slide over Jackson’s hip as he leaned in to greet everyone.
Though the hand disappeared when he spotted the press badge hanging around Mars’s neck, and Jackson couldn’t help but be disappointed.
Now that he’d experienced the freedom of people knowing about them, it hurt to have that rescinded.
To shove their relationship back into the darkness again and again when he wanted to bask in the glow of it.
“Good chat?” Jackson asked.
“Yep,” Elliot replied, offering nothing further.
Ilaria interrupted. “Elliot! I’ve missed you! Is everything good for you now?”
Elliot met Jackson’s eyes over Alice’s shoulder as he replied. “Yeah, it really is.”