The Thomas Flair - E.J. Russell Page 0,74

event final tomorrow.”

“That’s tomorrow. I’ll worry about it then.”

As he snuggled back into Tony’s big spoon, flipping the dry part of the blanket over them, Sol opted to close his eyes. Just for a few minutes.

But when he opened them again, light was streaming in his window and somebody was pounding on his door hard enough to make it bounce on its hinges.

“Guys!” Danny shouted. “I know you’re in there.”

Tony groaned into Sol’s ear, swearing under his breath as he peeled himself away. “Shit. Who needs waxing when you’ve got dried jizz to remove your short and curlies.” He raised himself on one elbow. “Whatever you want, Daniels, it can wait.”

Danny pounded again. “No. It really can’t. I mean it, guys. You need to get out here. Now.”

Tony dropped a kiss on Sol’s shoulder. “He’d better not just want to tell us about his latest GTA score.”

Sol sighed and rolled up to sit on the side of the bed. “I may kill him anyway.” He brushed at his belly and thighs. Didn’t help. “Guess we should have cleaned up last night after all. Because you never know who’ll drop by at—” He peered at his travel clock. “—ass o’clock in the morning.”

“Especially when they live in the same suite.” Tony crawled out of bed and picked up his shorts. “Come on. We might as well see what he wants. Although to make up for the unwelcome wake-up call, he can let us have the first showers.”

“He did what?” Fists clenched at his sides, Tony stared across the common room at Danny and the other guys on the team. I’m going to fucking kill Andrei.

“He outed you. You and Sol.” Danny grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. “He copped an interview on one of those conservative channels, the ones who are always on about the sanctity of sport.”

“Fucking hypocrites,” Tony growled. “They only care about the alleged sanctity when it conflicts with their self-righteous, racist, homophobic—”

“Tony.” Sol’s calm voice was the only thing that could cut off Tony’s rant. “It’s not like we didn’t expect a backlash.”

“Yeah, but it should be our news to share. Not fodder for some sanctimonious ratings-grubber and a pissed-off ex-coach.” Tony grabbed Sol’s hand, because damn it, this was their truth. “You know what? Fuck it. We were never hiding on purpose. We’re not ashamed.” Tony’s belly suddenly plummeted, and he glanced at Sol. “At least I’m not.”

Sol returned Tony’s grip. “I’m not either. I wish we could have handled the optics ourselves, though.” He edged closer and put his hand on the small of Tony’s back. “You’ve got the high bar final today. What if the judges are swayed by the news? For that matter, Danny’s got p-bars. What if it affects the rest of the team?”

“Fuck,” Tony muttered. “This is exactly why we wanted to wait. Because the Games shouldn’t be about this.”

“I don’t agree.” Everyone’s head turned to stare at Rahul.

“What do you mean?” Sol asked.

“I think the Games are about inclusivity. Or at least they should be.” He favored them with his wintry smile. “Excluding someone, punishing someone, for something that has nothing whatsoever to do with their athletic performance, seems counter to what the Olympics are all about.”

“You know,” Sol said slowly. “He’s right. Tom Daley participated in Rio as an out athlete. And remember what happened when Gus Kenworthy’s boyfriend kissed him at the Pyeongchang Olympics? Or how Adam Rippon being so open and downright celebratory about his fabulousness made him the star of the Games? Maybe we need to do our part to make gender identity and sexual orientation a non-issue by, well, making an issue of it.” Sol smiled at Tony, fond and as intimate as a caress. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but don’t we have our very own internet celebrity on this team? Maybe we should attack this with the celebrated Thomas flair.”

Tony faced Sol and took both his hands. “You’re sure?” Jesus, this was the second time that Sol’s privacy had been trashed in Tokyo. “You weren’t happy about that other interview.”

“And I should have been. The support and feedback I’ve gotten since then proves that I was looking at it from the wrong angle. I was worried that my performance would be blamed on or excused by my medical condition. But instead, it’s not my performance, it’s my participation that’s made a difference to more people than I can count. I think that’s what Tom and Gus and Adam started. Unashamed visibility