American broadcast of the semifinals. The camera kept panning to Dave’s wife and daughter, and the kid is cute and all, but it was like Dave’s worth was being determined by the fact that he’d succeeded in life. He has a bronze medal from the last Olympics and now he has a wife and daughter, and his life is complete.” Tim sighed. “And it’s the nature of the beast. Olympics coverage has been like this forever. They’re trying to appeal to female viewers or whatever the fuck. But do you think that if I got married, they’d pan to the audience to show off my husband? Doubtful.”
“I know. It sucks.”
“And Isaac, poor crazy Isaac, doesn’t really care who knows about us, and I guess I don’t either, but what happens if it does get out? Are we gonna be able to do cutesy stories about our Olympic love during any of the broadcasts?”
“Tim, sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”
“No, it’s okay.” Tim sighed. He shook out his shoulders, trying to calm down. “I didn’t mean to get so angry. This bullshit gets to me sometimes, but I’ll shower and shake it off. You coming with me to watch the women’s team dive tonight?”
“Yeah. I’ll get dressed.”
Chapter 17
Day 6
THE LAST hell day—a day in which Isaac had to swim in at least three races—dawned as the past few days had, with Tim in bed beside Isaac. Isaac had a bit of a swing in his step as he got to his preliminary race. He felt a million times better than he had the previous evening.
Luke raised an eyebrow as Isaac walked into the locker room. “You look… improved.”
“I don’t need PEDs. I don’t need alternative medicine. All I need is a solid night’s sleep.” Isaac did feel pretty incredible. He jumped up and down a couple of times, shaking out his body, testing how he felt physically. “It’s probably all adrenaline, but I feel great. I’m like a shark. I have to keep swimming or I’ll die.”
Luke guffawed. “That’s a hell of a metaphor.”
“This is the last terrible day. 200 IM prelims today, the 200 breast semi, relay tonight, then the IM relay tomorrow. Adam says I don’t have to swim the relay prelims.”
“Yeah. I’m on the relay tonight too. I might swim in the prelims for shits and giggles.”
“Hell, maybe I should too. I feel good enough to do it.”
“Slow down there, hotshot. You could barely move last night. Don’t overdo it.”
Isaac grinned. He wasn’t sure why he felt so great—he had some theories and a lot of superstition—but he didn’t want to question it.
When he walked into the warm-up room, someone was blasting Beyoncé, so Isaac did a little dance by the side of the pool.
“That might be the gayest thing I’ve ever seen you do,” Luke said, laughing.
“Pretty sure giving my new boyfriend a blow job last night is gayer, but whatever.” Isaac dove in the pool before Luke could respond. He felt too giddy to let Luke get his goat.
Of course, Tim had been upset last night by the story, which had now spread through the Athlete Village, that a reporter had scoped out athletes in a gay hookup app and outed a bunch of them. Not Isaac, since Isaac’s phone still buzzed too much for him to do anything except text the people he actually wanted to speak with—limited mostly to his mother, sister, and Tim—but he supposed it could have been him if he hadn’t met Tim. He didn’t generally seek out that kind of companionship until after his events were over. But this was his fourth Olympics. He knew what an orgy the Athlete Village tended to devolve into the second week of the Games. And if an athlete finished his events early and wanted to get a little something? What was the harm? Thousands of athletes, all in one place, meant a plethora of beautiful people to choose from.
Tim was right, of course, that the article invaded the privacy of the athletes and the enclosed bubble of the Athlete Village. Although by the time Isaac read it, the identifying details had been removed from the article. Still, the damage had been done.
Isaac wanted to double down on their relationship, to be seen together somewhere in public, maybe with cameras around. But Tim told him he preferred to lie low for a few more days. Isaac agreed, recognizing the rebellious tendency in himself that wanted to go public to make trouble, not because it