Ashley did not—as Spencer had vindictively hoped—blow the jump move. Nor did he pitch off at the complicated sequence immediately after it. He made it higher than Flynn had but came off where the holds started to get thin. Which meant that with two climbers to go, the results were: in fourth, Kurt; in third, Flynn; in second, Ashley; and in first… him. He was sitting on a metal folding chair with a bottle of water in his hand and his boyfriend at his side, and he’d just won a bronze medal.
Ashley dropped into the chair next to Flynn, who held out his hand for a shake and said, “Good job, man.”
“Not good enough,” Ashley said sourly. “Not unless Shino and Dai both fuck up bad. You either.”
Spencer had been too busy gloating over having locked up third to do the math, but shit, Ashley was right. Flynn probably wasn’t going to medal, and though Flynn had said he didn’t care, he must, right? Spencer peeked at him out of the corner of his eye and saw him rubbing between Ashley’s shoulder blades.
“It’s the Olympics. You did good.”
“Thanks. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel like that.” Ashley took a swig from his water bottle and slumped back with his eyes closed, refusing to watch as Shino took the stage. Spencer wanted to hate Ashley, but he couldn’t, not when he knew exactly how Ashley was feeling. And holy shit, he’d won a medal. He couldn’t hate anyone.
Shino climbed steadily toward the top, looking strong all the way up to the point where you had to intentionally choose the more difficult path. Spencer held his breath, willing Shino to make the right choice, but he took the bait and moved to the sucker hold, pausing there to chalk up before realizing he’d made a mistake. He tried to backtrack and fell, but he didn’t seem too mad about it. He raised his hands over his head, whipping up the crowd as he lowered off. It’d been an excellent run, good enough to secure gold unless Dai topped out. Either way, the crowd would get what they’d come for. One of their own would take gold.
They all slapped Shino’s hand when he came over to join them, then settled down to watch the final climber.
Dai was a great jumper, so there was no doubt about him sticking that move, but endurance had never been his specialty. He fell even lower than where Flynn had—low enough for a fifth place finish in the lead event, but still strong enough to put him in third overall.
But if Dai was in third, then…
“Silver,” Flynn said as the leader board updated. “You just won silver.”
Spencer couldn’t even breathe.
22. Flynn
“I don’t have a Canadian flag,” Ashley said petulantly.
“I’m not really going to make you do that.” Though Flynn wished he had one himself so he could wave it for his boyfriend.
The three non-medalists had been offered front row seats for the ceremony. Kurt had declined, scurrying away as soon as he’d been allowed to leave with a quick handshake for the winners and the glint of tears in his eyes, but Flynn was excited to watch the ceremony. That was his man up there, with the Canadian flag suspended over his head and a silver medal around his neck.
Shino stood on the top step of the three-tiered structure that’d been hastily assembled, an unsurprising gold. Dai stood lower to his left, a bronze medal around his neck. And there was Spencer—silver gleaming against the red of his maple leaf and a smile so wide it made Flynn’s cheeks hurt in sympathy.
“I wasn’t going to make you quit climbing either,” Ashley said, bumping their knees together. “Obviously. I was just playing mind games. Gotta take every advantage you can get.”
Flynn shook his head, because he never wanted to be that person. “Wouldn’t have mattered,” he said, but he didn’t elaborate. Ashley couldn’t be trusted to keep a secret.
When the ceremony broke up, he fought his way through the mob of reporters to get to Spencer. He’d promised his boyfriend a kiss on the podium, and he intended to deliver.
“You’re sure?” Spencer clung to his arms like he was having trouble standing.
“Never been more sure of anything in my life.” He lowered his mouth a little and let Spencer rise up to meet him. The sound of cameras clicking filled the air, but the cries for Spencer’s attention faded as the reporters let them have their moment. It was odd not to be the one whose name was being shouted, but also wonderful. He pulled back far enough to see the dazed sparkle gleaming wet in Spencer’s eyes, and then Spencer was practically torn from his arms by a press that had run out of patience.
“We should talk about—” Spencer said as he was dragged away to answer questions.
“I know,” he told Spencer’s receding back. The competition had ended, but this couldn’t be the end for the two of them, which meant they had some logistics to work through. But that could wait. He turned away and discovered that the crowd of reporters wasn’t entirely disinterested in him after all when a woman from Climbing Magazine thrust a recording device in his face.
“Can you tell us what happened up there? You looked like you were favoring your left ankle.
“No secret my ankle’s been off-and-on for years.”
“Do you think it affected your performance today?”
“In the speed event, definitely, but I did all right, otherwise. Spencer just did that much better. My hat’s off to him. And to Shino and Dai—all the climbers who worked to be here, whether they medaled or not.”
“And you and Spencer Woolery are…”
“We definitely are. I wasn’t expecting to come out at the Olympics, and I don’t want to detract from anyone’s victory, but when you have a shot at something as good as Spencer, you have to take it.”
“Must be bittersweet, though—your boyfriend winning when you’ve lost.”
“It’s entirely sweet,” he promised. “Really, really sweet. I couldn’t be happier for him. He deserved this so much more than I did. I’ve never been a comp climber.”
“So what’s up next for you?”
“I’m going to start by giving my ankle some long overdue rest.”
The reporter nodded at that like she agreed with him, but also like she didn’t believe him. Well, she would see. Flyin’ Flynn had climbed in his last comp. After a few more questions, she dashed off to acquire another target, and with some space around him now, Flynn managed to find his family.
His mother gave him a warm hug of sympathy. “I heard what you told that reporter. You’re really not too sad about losing?”
“Really not. You knew how I felt coming into this.”
“Yeah, but I figured you’d change your mind once you got here.”
“I gave it my best shot. The ankle didn’t help, but even if I’d been climbing a hundred percent today, I don’t think I’d have finished better than fourth. Spencer was just that on. And I didn’t change my mind about the other thing either.”
“Quitting?”
He took a quick glance around. Now wasn’t the time for a retirement announcement, but the reporters had all found bigger stories to chase for the time being. “I emailed my acceptance to USC. Before I lost. Because this isn’t what I want.”