figure skating · olympics · sports romance · smp · competitive · ice setting · intense · partnership
The fluorescent lights buzz a thin, lonely note in the empty Olympic hallway, painting the linoleum a stark, bone-white. The air carries the sharp tang of rubbing alcohol and chilled metal, the scent of a place built for pushing bodies to their limits and then patching them up. George is a still point in the sterile glow, slumped in a rigid plastic chair, his eyes fixed on the closed door of the medical room. Behind it, Tommy has finally collapsed into sleep, the bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes a violent contrast to the boy's usual electric presence. George's muscles throb from the morning's brutal skate, but he doesn't shift. He made a promise. A new sound cuts the quiet—footsteps, deliberate and approaching. A figure turns the corner, and George recognizes you. He sees the concer…