So the Olympics have started and @pennyplainknits and I have been talking about Swimmer Steve. His first Olympics is 1988, where he gets two silvers and a bronze. Two golds and a silver come in 1992 and he's all set to wipe the board at his home games in Atlanta 1996.
Except he has a training accident right before World's, some rookie crashes into him as he's making a turn at the wall, and he's stetchered off with a broken shoulder and a concussion.
What no one knows is that Atlanta was supposed to be his last Olympics. He and Eddie had life plans that didn't involve Steve needing to be firmly in the closet to keep his sponsorships. But he can't leave it there and Eddie isn't going to LET him leave it there. So he drags himself back to form, qualifies for Sydney 2000. And then...
"Wait," Robin says, grabbing Eddie's arm. "There's no way, he -"
Eddie is sitting so far forward in his seat that he's in danger of falling onto the people sitting in the row below. He reaches back blindly, ends up clutching Robin's knee with his fingernails.
"He can. He totally can."
He wasn't supposed to. He told everyone he just wanted to come to Sydney to compete.
But Steve was sixth at the start of the penultimate lap, fifth by the middle, fourth as he takes his final tumble turn. He pushes off long and strong, resurfaces in third and then it's on.
Half a length to go, he's level with Alexander Popov in second, and then he just, he surges. Eddie didn't know he could still do that, hasn't seen it in a decade.
The Dutch dude, Van Den Hoogenband is new and fast and twelve years younger than Steve, but Steve is strong and beautiful and stubborn as fuck. They're in sync for that final stroke, but even this far away Eddie is sure - he's _sure_ - that it's Steve's fingertips that touch the wall first.
On Eddie's left, Robin screams. On Eddie's right, Dustin yells, "Jesus Christ!" like all the air has been punched out of him.
Eddie yells louder than any of them. He's on his feet without knowing he's going to move, friends and family of Team USA jumping up and down around him, Robin and Dustin yelling in his ears, but Eddie's eyes are firmly locked on Steve, still down in the pool.
He's pulled his cap off, hair everywhere, and he and Van Den Hoogenband are side by side, waiting together with their eyes locked on the screen.
"He did it," Robin says, "he _did_ do it, right?"
"He did it," Eddie says. He did. They all saw it. Why the fuck is it taking so long for the confirmation to come up?
The screens flash, a ripple goes around the Acquatic Centre, and then finally, there it is: Van Den Hoogenband (NED) - 48.30; Harrington (USA) - 48.29.
(ETA: now with more here)
