Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Dean
The plan had been simple: get Mila to her room, then get Luka upstairs, close the door behind us, and let both of us come down from the emotional nuclear detonation we’d apparently decided to trigger in front of the entire Olympic figure skating community.
The universe had clearly looked at that plan, done an eye-roll, and said ‘As if.’
We barely made it ten feet into the Village before the shouting started.
“FOSTER!” somebody yelled from across the lobby. “YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND.”
A snowboarder I vaguely recognized ran past us on socked feet carrying his boots and pointed at Luka. “Bro really looked at international media training and said, ‘nah, I’m good.’”
Luka made a strangled sound beside me that might’ve been a laugh while still trying to preserve at least one surviving scrap of dignity.
“I think you two need security detail at this point,” Ethan announced as he appeared out of nowhere alongside Noah and Sasha, the three of them forming a loose wall around us like overexcited Secret Service agents.
Mila pulled her phone from her pocket. One glance at the screen and her face lit up. “I have to go.”
Luka stopped long enough to give her a huge hug. “Thank you. For everything.”
She flushed beneath the arena makeup still clinging stubbornly to her face. “Please. I fully intend to make a little Olympic history myself tonight.” She patted my cheek. “Keep him safe.”
I smiled. “I don’t know how to do anything else.”
That earned me a look from Luka that made it difficult to remember what I was saying.
Then she vanished into the chaos, swallowed up by a tide of athletes who all wanted to tell her how amazing she was.
Ethan watched the crowd closing in around us and sighed. “I should’ve committed harder to the security bit. You know, aviator sunglasses, tiny earpiece. ‘Move along, folks, nothing to see here.’” His eyes lit up. “Ooh, wait. Hot cop roleplay.”
Noah groaned. “Please stop talking.”
I snorted while Luka’s hand slid into mine again, fingers cold from outside air and nerves and adrenaline. I held on tight.
Another athlete clapped me on the shoulder as we crossed toward the elevators. “That was the sickest Olympic moment I’ve ever seen, man.”
“Protect this man at all costs,” a woman from the Canadian hockey team announced loudly while pointing at Luka as she passed us.
“I’m planning on it,” I called out after her.
Luka’s fingers tightened even more.
“Wait,” somebody else shouted after us in a scandalized tone. “You mean the TikTok edits were right?”
That got me laughing.
“Oh my God,” Ethan muttered. “I think you two might have just won the Internet tonight.”
“Won it? I think they broke it.” Noah shook his head as he looked around. “This is nuts.”
Luka ducked his head, but I kept catching flashes of his smile whenever another athlete stopped us to say something supportive or completely unhinged.
A skier passed going the opposite direction, pumping his fist. “Silver medal and hard launch in the same night. Talk about elite multitasking.”
Someone farther back shouted, “Gay Rights for Velkarya!”
I felt the brief hitch in Luka’s grip before it eased again.
Tomorrow would come soon enough.
And then Luka lost his composure and laughed hard enough that he had to grab my sleeve for balance.
God. Standing in the middle of the Olympic Village while strangers applauded around us, hearing him laugh in public without immediately checking who might be watching…
It nearly wrecked me all over again.
Before today, he would’ve swallowed the laugh before it escaped.
Tonight he let it out.
Luka steadied himself. “You realize this has probably triggered at least three emergency federation meetings,” he murmured, keeping his voice low while another cluster of athletes broke into applause near the elevators.
Ethan walked backwards in front of us, pointing finger guns at Luka. “Counterpoint: Gen Z is going to build digital shrines to you on TikTok by morning.”
Luka looked up at me then, his silver medal hanging crooked against his chest, still looking stunned that any of this was real, and for a moment I forgot there were hundreds of people around us.
Then Nathan came sprinting across to us.
“There you are! And no way are you disappearing upstairs before we celebrate this.” Brooke came up after him, looking a little dazed.
“Mark Winton was gonna join us, but he said he was too old for this crowd, and besides, he has a date with David.” His grin was huge.
“Love is in the air tonight.” Then he pointed at Luka. “Congrats on silver.”
Brooke grabbed Luka by both arms before he could respond. “You were unbelievable. Truly. Talk about awesome competition.”
“Thank you. I wish I had watched your program more closely.” Luka still looked stunned by all of this attention happening at him instead of around him.
Brooke gave him a warm glance. “Yeah, I get it, you were kinda preoccupied at the time.”
Then Nathan turned to me. “And can I just say… Really? Luka and Mila winning silver wasn’t enough. You had to seal your Olympic situationship with a kiss in front of the entire planet?”
“Hey, I didn’t start it,” I protested. “This skater just walked across the ice and kissed me.” I flashed Luka a grin. “Would’ve been rude not to kiss him back.”
Ethan snorted. “Situationship.”
“Brother,” Nathan said to me, ignoring him completely, “the group chat has been through hell because of you two.”
“Nathan nearly stopped breathing during the kiss,” Brooke added with a grin.
“Who wouldn’t?” Nathan said defensively. “That was fucking cinematic.”
Luka blinked. “There is a group chat?”
Everybody went silent.
Ethan bit his lip. “Oops. That part was classified.”
“Oh my God,” Brooke managed to get out between laughs. “Nobody told him?”
“No one was supposed to tell him,” Nathan shot back.
Luka narrowed his gaze. “Why do I suddenly feel afraid?”
I was already afraid. “You named a group chat after us?”
Noah appeared delighted. “You wanna know the worst part?”
“There’s a worse part?”
“It started as a joke,” Ethan admitted. “Well, maybe it was just ironic.”
Luka’s gaze grew suspicious. “What is the name of this group chat?”
Nobody answered right away, and that silence alone shaved ten years off my lifespan.
Brooke cracked first. “‘Skate Meat.’ And that’s M-E-A-T.”
Luka stared at her. Nathan folded in half laughing.
I tried not to choke.
“You people are deeply unwell.” Luka shook his head. “That was the chosen title?” He covered his face with one hand while everybody dissolved again.
“It tested well with audiences,” Noah remarked.
“The audience was Ethan and a bottle of Powerade,” Sasha added.
Athletes kept drifting over once they realized who was standing there, and congratulations started overlapping into one giant blur, some directed toward Nathan and Brooke finally getting their Olympic podium after years of heartbreak, some toward Luka and Mila for silver, and increasingly toward me for apparently choosing the most televised possible method of coming out as bisexual.
A Finnish skater walked past, gave us a thumbs up, and said, “About time.”
“About time?” Luka repeated after him once he was gone. “What does that mean?”
Ethan seemed deeply offended. “Luka, you’ve spent most of the Olympics trying not to be obvious about staring at Dean—and failing miserably.”
He gaped. “I have not.”
Nathan cackled. “Oh, you absolutely have. We have evidence. It’s all over the Internet. But to be fair, Dean kept looking at you like God had made you just for him.”
“And don’t even think about denying it,” Brooke said with a gleam in her eye.
Luka’s face had gone red by then, though either embarrassment or happiness. Then again, maybe both.
We finally reached the elevators.
Ethan looked between the two of us for a moment before shaking his head.
“At least neither of you had the emotional restraint to drag this out another season.”
“That’s your takeaway?” I asked.
He blinked. “Dean, he kissed you right after the medal ceremony. There are no remaining layers to analyze here.” Then he smiled. “Go upstairs. Disappear for a few hours before the media apocalypse starts tomorrow.”
I nodded, my throat a little tight.
Luka squeezed my hand. “Ethan has the right idea. Tonight should belong to us before the world starts demanding pieces of it.”
Luka
The elevator doors slid shut and I finally took a long, shuddering breath.
“That was so intense.”
“Like being on a roller coaster.” Dean closed his eyes. “Except it feels like we got off and everything is still moving.” His phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket. “Oh God. Now things get really interesting.”
“What is it?” My heartbeat raced. I still couldn’t believe I had been so bold with Viktor. I hadn’t recognized myself. I knew there would be repercussions.
Not now. Not tonight.
“It’s from my parents. Mom says ‘Damn, I’m good.’ Dad says ‘Was that real?’ And they’re both asking when they get to see me—and meet you.”
I swallowed.
Dean’s arm was around me before I could take another breath.
“Don’t sweat it, not tonight. And you really don’t need to be worried.
They’ll love you, I promise.” His lips twitched.
“They’ll also have a ton of questions.” His phone buzzed again, and this time his expression grew more focused.
“Mark says it might be a good idea for us to give a joint statement to the press tomorrow. You know, put our message out there first, then answer a few questions.” He gazed at me as the elevator doors opened. “What do you think?”
We stepped off it and walked along the corridor to his room, my mind turning over Mark’s suggestion. When we reached Dean’s door, I drew in a deep, calming breath.
“He is right. How do we do this?”
Dean smiled. “He’ll organize it.” He slid his thumbs over the screen. “Okay, done. He’ll message me the details.” He unlocked his door, held it open for me, and I re-entered my sanctuary.
Shut it down. Shut it all down for tonight.
Then everything hit me at once.