Justin bowed his head waiting for his music to begin, utterly still as he tried to quell the quivering in his belly; the moments of his wait seeming like an eternity. As he waited, continuously chanting in his head ‘be one with the ice', ironically remembering the words of the legendary Brian Kinney. Focus Taylor, forget about Brian Kinney, at least for the next few minutes - or you will never survive this round. His head gracefully rose once his music began, and he began his skate around the outer edge of the arena, this part of his program designed to build up his momentum, before proceeding toward his more skillful feats.

No matter how much he concentrated on the task at hand, it was impossible not to notice the filled arena on each pass, along with it being even more improbable to block out the sounds that could not even be drowned out by either his Bohemian Rhapsody or the slash of his skates upon the ice. One thing was for certain, he would not let his eyes veer toward the judges' table - at least, not until he was finished.

Justin began his last circle around the outer edge of the arena, inwardly smiling knowing his speed was perfectly timed in conjunction with his program. His arms outstretched as he raised his left leg behind him to glide upon one skate at the precise angle, before beginning his leap into the air for his first double loop, breathing his sigh of relief when it was landed flawlessly, finding that the first jump was always the most difficult. Next, he began to glide into the middle of the ice, his arms stretched at an upward angle, fingertips meeting as he spun in a circle after circle, each spin increasing in speed, fragments of ice kicking up in his wake.

When he had spun until he had almost lowered himself to the ice in a perfect arching of his limbs, he proceeded to the next part of his program, his own design of ice dancing. Justin kicked up his skates in an elaborate style of dance, his arms moving in succession, before he spun again in flawless spirals, advancing into a triple lutz that whether he was looking or not, he knew to be directly in front of the judges' table. Justin couldn't hold his enthusiasm, nor the beaming smile as he landed this challenging triple without any mishaps marring his performance. Knowing where he was in his program, Justin realized he only had one more minute left, and if he continued on this path it could go down as the best skating performance he had ever achieved.

He zig-zagged across the ice, all but blocking out the mixture of hush and boisterous sounds amongst the crowd, disciplining himself to only hear his music; along with keeping his steps in perfect conjunction with both the rhythm and keeping his program on track. Justin began to leap into the air, alternating which foot he landed on in perfect synchronization. Next, he placed his weight on his left leg, with the right outstretched as he glided around the outer edge of the arena, his arms uplifted. Once he had made one pass, he gracefully reversed his position to do the same on the other leg, inwardly smiling at the round of applause he couldn't quite block out.

Advancing toward the center, building up his speed to work toward his big finish, Justin began with a simple double toe loop, to follow up with a slashing skate in figure-eight fashion to land a triple toe loop, and another triple lutz in back-to-back fashion, something that he knew to be an extremely rare occurrence, to land them both successfully. He smiled as he began to spin in his final moments, his speed so fast and powerful small chips of ice were flying from his skates, his back arched and arms perfectly angled that would make the most prima ballerina envious. His spin propelled him downwards, until he was almost down to the ice, once he was about halfway there he affected some intricate jumps, alternating from foot to foot, before resuming his spin, propelling his body upwards to finish.

Justin halted at the exact time his music ended, his timing and precision without any breaks. He took a bow toward the cheering crowd, raising his arms upward, on the last bow finding his gaze locked by the fiery eyes of none other than his hero; seated at the judges' table directly before him, the one and only Brian Kinney. He beamed with delight, visually seeing the open surprise and admiration in Brian's eyes, along with another undefined emotion that Justin couldn't identify at present. Just before he was to skate off the ice to take his seat on the bench, to wait for his score to populate, Justin's eyes widened in disbelief and he nearly lost his balance seeing what his beautiful hero did next.

Brian turned his lip downwards, his eyes brazenly moving over Justin, as he silently mouthed one word. It was more than obvious he wanted Justin to see him - and only Justin to see. Perfectly proportioned lips formed into one word, "Hot."

Justin flushed, smiling more brightly as he skated off to meet his enthusiastic coach, inwardly doing his celebration for multiple reasons. Brian liked my performance, and I think he finds me hot. Oh my God, can it be true? That would be the one dream he would have never thought to achieve.

As he made it off of the platform, he hurriedly unlaced his skates, smiling as his coach patted him on the back. Boisterously complimenting him, "Well done, Justin. I'm so proud of you. This is by far the best performance today."

"Thanks, coach. I tried to block out everything except the music, and bring my routine to life. I just hope that I succeeded," he whispered tremulously, at once a bundle of nerves, knowing his score would soon materialize.

The coach trained his eyes on the board, waiting for the numbers, his face breaking out into a wide smile before answering, "I think you more than succeeded. Look up, Justin. The fastest scores rendered yet today."

Justin groaned, before responding, "Maybe that's not a good thing. Oh my God, I'm afraid to look."

"I'm telling you, Justin, look up, this is unbelievable. Listen to the crowd cheering! You made a lot of fans with that performance."

Eyes widening in joy and disbelief, Justin exclaimed, "Coach! Do you see that? 5.89? That's incredible. I never dreamt of accomplishing that."

"It's a fantastic score, Justin... for a remarkable performance. Now, we just sit back and watch the rest of today's round. But you should be fine. All the heavy hitters in your group have already skated. Don't forget though, this was only the short program," he needlessly cautioned.

"I know, coach. For now, I'm on a high from this skate and how the judges responded. And the crowd reaction was so much more than I could have ever expected," Justin answered, as he watched the approach of Martin Levinsky, his primary competition.

"Great skate, Justin. Without a doubt, you win this round. Congratulations," Martin told him somewhat grudgingly.

"Thanks, Martin. You did great too. I thought you had it. It's all gonna come down to the long program," Justin told him, knowing either one of them could still come out on top.

"Yes, it will. Well, good luck, Justin. See you in a few days," his rival said with a nod, accompanied by a quick handshake.

"Good luck to you too, Martin. Hopefully, we both medal, and win our trip to the Olympics," Justin smiled.

With a forced smile, Martin returned to his coach and family that had been closely watching their exchange, unfriendly gazes directed toward Justin. He almost flinched from the anger displayed in the father's eyes; ones that had deemed his son to have a simple round one victory, only to have that illusion shattered.

Justin's coach frowned, looking from him to the Levinsky family, gruffly telling him, "Forget about them, Justin. They know Martin is running out of time to effectively compete in the Olympic Games. Just spoilsports seeing his bid isn't going to be as easy as they foolishly thought. Have a seat and wait for the rest, I have a feeling your mom and friend will be joining us soon."

"Yes, you're right, and I'm well aware the competitive spirits of skaters are often far from pleasant," he agreed. "I'm surprised Daphne hasn't burst into the room yet, waving her security pass for all to see."

A short moment later his thoughts became a reality. Shouting with excitement as she ran toward his bench, she exclaimed, "Justin! You were fantastic. You aced it! I told you so, didn't I?"

"You sure did, Daph. This is just the first round, the next one will be much more challenging - and be judged much more closely."

Jennifer came forward to sit next to him, embracing him tightly, whispering with a rough catch in her voice, "You were marvelous, Justin. I've never been more proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom. Umm, I thought you said Molly was coming with you," he said, knowing she wouldn't leave her behind in the arena.

Eyes downcast, she answered in a bitter voice, "I'm sorry, Justin. I didn't want this to come out now, you have so much going on, your focus doesn't need to be tested. I was hoping you wouldn't ask about your sister."

"What's going on, Mom? Something wrong with Molly?" Justin asked in concern.

"Shortly after your father threw you out of the house, he and I separated. She's with him for the next couple of days. I decided I would just bring her for your final performance. She has just been so confused, I didn't want to disrupt the routine she's just becoming accustomed to," Jennifer sadly explained.

Justin lowered his head, sorrowful that his revelation to his father had led to the destruction of his parent's marriage. As much as he hated his father right now, his mother didn't deserve any form of hardship. Unable to meet her eyes, knowing guilt would be displayed openly in his, he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Mom. I should have never told Dad as I did."

"Justin, look at me," Jennifer demanded, waiting for her son to lift his pained gaze up to meet her own. "This is not your doing. We have had problems long before you told us you are gay. I don't want you to blame yourself, this was on the horizon regardless."

"I wish you would have just told me," Justin grumbled, hating how his mom still coddled him, no matter how good her intentions may be.

"Well, you know now. And you didn't need the distraction from your training, watching you today I can see how well that paid off," she said proudly.

"I never felt one with the ice as I did today. I can't even begin to explain it to you, everything just felt right."

Daphne elbowed him, before whispering, "I wonder what a certain judge thought about your performance. Do you think you will get to talk to him again?"

"I don't know, Daph. I sure hope so, but after this is finished. That man is entirely too distracting," Justin said with a shiver, remembering the look in Brian's eyes when he had finished his skate, and the word Brian had plainly made certain Justin saw him mouthing.

Jennifer stood up, looking down at the two of them with narrowed eyes, "Okay, that's enough talk about distractions. It looks like the last contestant for the day has finished, and you are still in first place. I think it's time to celebrate. Go get changed and we will meet you out front. I want to take you both out to dinner."

"Okay, Mom, thanks. Won't take me long at all," Justin smiled before dashing off to change. Turning to his coach to say, "Thanks again, coach. I wouldn't be here without all your help. Practice tomorrow morning?"

"You would have been fine, Justin. You have the gift, nothing will stop you now," he said with a grin, patting his shoulder affectionately. "Damned right, boy. Practice bright and early as usual, have a lot of work to do in the next two days."

"See you in the morning, coach," Justin smiled, still flying high from his victory, at least for the moment. He all but ran toward his locker to retrieve his things to change, while the unbidden thought of Brian Kinney once again permeated inside of him.

The only thing that could make this day more perfect would be to fall into those beautiful hazel eyes once again, and see that look of longing inside of them, to know without a doubt he had not imagined it. Of course, he knew that wasn't likely to happen. Brian was finished for the day. In all likelihood, he had headed out of here in the quickest manner possible, not giving him another passing thought. One dream still seemed to be a possibility, however, the far-fetched one of anything developing between him and his hero, whether it be friendship or more, seemed to be unrealistic at best.

After changing, Justin swung his bag over his shoulder, before heading to the men's room to run a brush through his ruffled hair that was presently falling wildly about his shoulders. He dropped the bag to the floor as the door not only opened but was clicked locked behind the newcomer. Hand paused midstream from brushing his hair, eyes lifting in the mirror to watch as the God-like man leaned against the door, surveying him with a cocked eyebrow, his eyes all but crawling all over him. Justin was stunned speechless, but was soon to find the silence would not be maintained much longer.

"I have to say, Mr. Taylor, it's a shame to run a brush through that hair. That tousled look gives the appearance you just slid out of some lucky man's bed, preferably my own," Brian whispered sexily, as he pushed his body away from the door, slowly stalking toward the most delicious prey his well-seasoned eyes had ever encountered. Uncaring of the impropriety of his actions, he just knew he was unable to resist seeing this delicious blond one more time today.

Oh yes, Justin, before you rejoin your family, you are going to become more than aware of my intentions...

TBC