the buses to the Olympic Stadium. Luke and Katie were there holding hands, as were Jason and Ginny—not holding hands—so they all formed their own sub-mob and managed to get seats together on one of the buses.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” said Luke.
“Do you think they’ll let us mingle?” asked Jason. “With the other countries, I mean. I want to try to catch my new friend April before she flies out in the morning.”
“Your new lady friend?” asked Ginny.
“Yes, if you must know. She’s a rhythmic gymnast from the UK.”
“Did you do any rhythmic gymnastics with her?” Luke asked.
Jason ducked his head in response.
The USOC had asked Isaac to be the Closing Ceremony flag bearer, but Isaac had passed because he wanted to maximize the amount of time he could spend with his friends—especially Tim—before he had to fly home. He’d heard one of the gymnasts had gotten the honor instead. Tim hadn’t heard if his replacement was a male or female gymnast—he spared a thought for Jake Mirakovitch, although his sister had apparently cleaned up the women’s gymnastics medals, so it might have been her—but he supposed it didn’t matter much. He just wanted to hang out with these people and find a way to say goodbye to an incredible Olympic Games.
When they got to the stadium, they were led underground, and the athletes were all corralled onto the practice track. Flag bearers would go into the stadium first and then the athletes would follow. There was some pomp and circumstance that had to happen before that, but once the athletes got into their designated part of the stadium, a bunch of Spanish pop stars started putting on a concert. So that had some potential to be fun.
They didn’t enter the stadium until almost an hour later, at which point they were kind of herded into a pen where, yes, the athletes were given space to mingle with their former opponents from other countries. Jason took off to find his rhythmic gymnast, and Ginny got pulled into a conversation with a Mexican diver. Luke and Katie made eyes at each other, which effectively left Isaac and Tim alone together in this big mob of people.
Fireworks exploded overhead.
And then, improbably, it started to rain. It had been sunny and gorgeous for sixteen straight days, but now at the end of the Olympics, big fat raindrops fell into the stadium. Isaac didn’t even care. He and Tim stood in a mélange of athletes, the countries all mixed together, and they held hands as the Madrid Olympics came to a close.
“I can’t believe it’s ending,” Tim said.
“It’s not ending. This is just the beginning.”
Tim turned to face Isaac. “What are you saying?”
Suddenly the heavens opened and it started to pour. Some of the athletes seemed to embrace it, squealing with joy as it poured, though a lot of people ran for the cover of the inner corridors of the stadium. Isaac didn’t move, because he had to say this.
“Tim, I love you. I know it’s only been, like, two and a half weeks, but I do. I love you. You’re the one for me. So I can’t let this end. I won’t. I’ve turned my life around, and I want to be a good man. I think, with you at my side, I can do fucking anything.”
Tim met his gaze. He looked like he might be crying, but it was hard to tell in the rain. His hair was matted to his head and his clothes were starting to cling to his body. But he said, “I love you too. Oh my God, I love you too. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it’s true.”
Isaac grinned. “You and I can do anything!” he shouted because the rain was hammering against the track.
Tim nodded. “No matter what, we’ll figure it out.”
Isaac lunged forward and kissed Tim, sealing the promise. Because they would figure this out.
And so they stood there kissing in the rain, and probably the press caught them and would have things to say about it the next day, but Isaac did not fucking care, because he loved Tim and they were both Olympic champions and he wanted this moment to go on forever.
Epilogue
Four Years Later
TIM STOOD at the base of the dive tower, waiting for the signal to climb it for his first dive of these Olympics. There was some kind of delay—one of the judges seemed to be having technical difficulties—which gave Tim enough time to imagine what the