United States Figure Skating Championship - Final Day

Brian hadn't realized until Justin looked up - their eyes momentarily connecting - that he'd been holding his breath waiting for the music to begin. He shook his head, a bit confused by his intense reaction to this boy. He had nothing in which to compare this feeling to. It was perplexing, and it made him want to do much more than just fuck the blond; he was continuously left with the feeling that he wanted to know Justin. Really know him. And that alone, scared Brian. He didn't do emotions, apart from his friends and his son. Yet his thoughts had been monopolized by this boy from almost the first moment his hungry eyes had settled upon his pure blond perfection.

Narrowing his eyes on Justin, noticing the pale pallor upon his face, he issued a mental chant; one that he wished could reach Justin's mind to encourage him... soothe the boy into surviving what would no doubt be the longest four minutes of his life. Come on, beautiful. You can do this. It's only four minutes. Hold your head high and face down those that seek to see you fail. You are the winner in this arena - you WILL be the winner. Nodding, as Justin began an intricate spin in the middle of the ice, Brian smiled seeing the perfect form Justin held. He was pleased with the flawless spin and the speed that was quickly escalating - in perfect rhythm with the music.

The notes of Forever Young blasted in the arena - the only sound to be heard, outside of the staccato scraping of Justin's skates upon the ice; the tiny shards kicking up around his blades as he spun in rapid succession. Slowing, Justin reached his arms upwards as his body began to ascend back to full height, as he prepared to skate - back and forth - near the walls of the arena. Brian watched with trepidation, intuitively knowing Justin was about to launch into his first major jump. He had the uncanny feeling that Justin's first jump would not be a double as most skaters would utilize in their early performance - this boy of skill and confidence would launch into a triple immediately.

Sure enough, mere moments later, Justin was vaulting into the air, spinning and landing back upon the ice in a flawless triple toe loop; his posture perfectly straight with his arms outstretched. He built up his speed once again, to skate around the entire mass of the arena; half of his pass gliding upon his left leg, before alternating to his right. A simple, yet required move in the competition; one that was far more difficult to maintain the grace and accuracy than what would be expected of such a simplistic motion to the untrained eye. Of course, Brian didn't have an untrained eye. He knew exactly what to look for - as did the other judges surrounding him. Brian knew the most difficult part in that maneuver was the timing of extending the other leg that was not on the ice, thus establishing the correct angle and maintaining a smooth balance.

Surreptitiously, Brian glanced at the judges seated at the left and right of him, smiling to himself in satisfaction. They were clearly in awe of Justin - so far. Much like they had been just a few days prior. As long as he performed without any falls, he was certain Justin would receive very high marks. Brian glanced down at his watch, particularly the minute hand - relieved to find only two minutes remained. Once those two minutes elapsed, Justin's work would be done until the awards presentation. He had discovered only this morning they wanted him to do the honors and present the medals. He hadn't been surprised. The committee was not governed by mindless fools. He knew they saw a possibility to continue to cash in on Brian's involvement in the Nationals. As the awards were televised, he would be in the center of that moment and very much on display as being connected to this year's event.

Initially, Brian had been set on refusing them. He had sworn to never lace on skates again - not even to skate out to bestow the honors. Then he thought about it. He would be the one to hang the medal around Justin's neck. As soon as that realization had settled into his mind, Brian had graciously accepted. He didn't stop to think it was uncommon for him to care enough to perform such an act; along with how he had coddled the blond last night when he had been struck with an incapacitating illness. The only thing he could accept and understand was that he knew how it felt to be in this position - and how those of lesser talent wanted to strike out in an attempt to defeat their opposition. But bottom line, Brian told himself it was only because he wanted this blond piece of ass damned bad.

And when this was over - and Justin was fully recovered - that was exactly what he would have.

His eyes focusing intently upon Justin's progress across the ice, he smiled as his skater boy increased his speed, before launching into another triple; this time a lutz that he equated as simplistic beauty. He shook his head in amazement, watching as Justin moved across the ice as if he owned it. Nodding, Brian thought that was the most accurate of analogies. Justin did own the ice. Regardless, if the boy felt crippling pain in his stomach from his sabotage - this blond would prevail.

Brian pulled his focus only momentarily to look back at the crowd, his eyes noting immediately the rapt fascination they held of Justin's performance. And rightly so, Brian thought. The boy was not only a feast for the eyes, his grace and skill were surpassed by none. He watched as Justin began a version of the ice dancing routine that had wowed the crowd in his initial performance; his eyes narrowing on Justin's face intently - searching for any physical weakness. The boy was entirely too pale, even more so than when he had begun his program, but with less than a minute to go, Brian fervently hoped that Justin could endure it.

He cringed as he watched Justin arch his arms above him to do another spin on the ice, much as he had when he had begun his performance. It was trademark skating, a statement of elegant beauty. But it messed with one's equilibrium; the more they descended to the ice, along with their steady progression in speed. The last thing Justin needed right now was to become dizzy and collapse. Looking down at his watch, he breathed a somewhat sigh of relief, knowing Justin would stop spinning momentarily and move into his big finish. He smiled wondering just what the clever little blond would choose for his crowning moment. He hoped it would be one he could manage without a mere stumble, yet one that would put those treacherous assholes directly in their collective places.

As Justin's body spun back upwards and he launched full speed around the outer edges of the arena, Brian realized he didn't have long to wait. He determined from the speed Justin was quickly building up to - to conclude his performance - one thing was for certain; his final move was going to be one of paramount proportions. When Justin was at the middle wall of the arena, he switched direction so that his final move would be directly in the center. Brian's breath rapidly caught in his throat at the unexpected sight that captured his undivided attention.

Gasps were audibly heard throughout the arena as Justin literally flew into the air, twirling, before faultlessly landing a quadruple toe loop. Landing it, Justin couldn't remain expressionless, bestowing a beaming smile for all to see and enjoy... and one certain observer enjoyed exactly that. He ended with another spiral into the ice, his hands outstretched upwards, perfectly, his symmetry and balance in conjunction with the final notes of the music, before he straightened back up to his full height, arching his back to pose with his arms extended in a perfect line, as the song finished with the last two notes fading away.

Justin bowed, as the bouquets hit the ice. He skated over to retrieve them, his eyes quickly connecting with the amazed and admiring ones from his hero. With a wink, Justin acknowledged Brian, before taking another bow and skating off to allow the next performer to get set up.

Brian chuckled as Justin skated away, tapping in his score without any hesitancy. Once he had entered a perfect score of 6.0 into the system, he turned to the obnoxious judge on his left, taunting him deliberately. "Darkhorse... wasn't that how you described him a few days ago, Clyde?"

"Hmph, if that wasn't a grandstand play, I don't know what was. But hell Brian... that was the most impressive piece of skating I've ever watched!" he exclaimed, surprising Brian by admitting that. "Of course, since your time, old man."

"Old man? I will ignore that, seeing you're so obviously overwhelmed by blondie's performance. It was remarkable. That boy should go far," Brian announced, as he mentally held visions of going far with that same boy - in the nearest foreseeable future imaginable. "They could just end the competition now - who's going to compete with that?"

"Now, Brian... remember we are here to judge them all fairly. Granted, Taylor is exceptional... but who's to say one of the other front runners won't step up their game?"

"All that remains is to determine who wins silver and bronze... and we both know that. He was already in the lead following the short program. I believe when the scores populate, it will become mathematically impossible for him to lose now," Brian stated, knowing as long as these judges did their job, that his math would be correct - Justin could not lose the gold.

About a hundred feet behind the judge's table a quartet of women sat with hands pressed to their faces in apprehension as they waited for the scores to appear. Each one of them was dumbfounded by what they had just seen. Finally, Daphne was the first to break the silence. "I can't believe he did it. I never thought he would risk the quad. But oh my God! That was incredible! Utterly brilliant. He can't lose now... he just can't."

Lindsay, Mel, and Jennifer nodded, before Justin's mom answered, "Not if the judges do their job right; he should be in excellent shape."

Melanie looked at Lindsay sharply, before muttering under her breath, "One particular judge better not fuck this up."

"Trust me, Mel... he won't. I have all the faith in the world that Brian wants Justin to succeed," Lindsay whispered under her breath, not wishing to be overheard.

"We'll soon see. This would be just the sort of thing Brian Kinney would callously fuck up," Melanie hissed back.

Glaring at her partner, Lindsay then turned her gaze back toward the scores that were meticulously appearing across the board. All of them shrieked in excited wonder at what their eyes swiftly beheld.

Daphne jumped up and down, squealing in delight. "His combination is 5.92. He can't lose now. It's impossible for anyone to beat that. Do you know what this means?"

They all smiled in understanding, before looking toward a crying Jennifer Taylor. She gracefully wiped away her tears, before she said in a choked-up voice, "My baby boy is going to win the gold."

Each of them huddled around her, squeezing her tightly, as they turned their eyes straight ahead to watch the remainder of the performances. Lindsay gripped her hand tightly, before whispering, "That he did, Jennifer. Your son is a true champion... and now all the world knows it."

Justin sat down weakly, watching the approach of his coach, waiting for the recriminations to begin regarding his program improvisation. He reached into his bag, pulling out his water, uncapping it to take a long drink, finding his hand was shaking, and his balance not what it should be. He knew, considering his illness, he had gone overboard... but it just felt right, and the best thing of all - he had accomplished it. His eyes, lifting to his coach, he said, "I know, I wasn't supposed to do the quad. I just couldn't stop myself."

"It was a hell of a risk, Justin. But it paid off. I would say barring a judge hitting a wrong button you are hours away from having a gold medallion hanging from your neck."

"I sure hope so," Justin answered wearily.

His coach was about to answer when their eyes focused on the score, both of them with widened gazes at the numbers that were presented. "Damn. I knew you did good, but that score seals the day. You can't lose now, you know that, right?"

Justin nodded in wonder, as he mentally did the math on who had been in second place following the short program. Even if they scored a perfect 6.0 from every judge, they couldn't surpass him. He realized quickly his coach was right. He could not lose now. All that remained to be determined was second and third place. Justin felt like jumping up and down in joy, in the realization that he was going to be crowned as champion, but his churning stomach, unfortunately, told him otherwise. As he reached into his bag to take the next dose of his medication, he looked up to see the glaring gaze of Martin Levinsky and his father.

Martin smiled forcibly at Justin, before he said, "Congratulations, Justin. Hell of a job."

"Thanks, Martin. Good luck to you," Justin offered in response.

Martin's father narrowed his gaze on Justin before he spat out, "You're on some medication there, Taylor? I do hope you have a prescription..."

"Over-the-counter flu medication. All perfectly legal, Mr. Levinsky... thanks for asking," Justin replied with a cold smile. "Now, I think I will go change and throw some cold water on my face before I return to enjoy the remaining performances."

Justin grabbed his bag, before heading toward the changing room, glancing back to see Mr. Levinsky glaring at him with unmasked hatred. He knew he had an enemy in this man. Could he have been responsible for his illness? Justin realized he might never know the answer. With the stakes, almost everyone was a suspect. He found he didn't care about that any longer. He was going to win the gold... and he had done it while making history before the eyes of Brian Kinney. It couldn't possibly get any sweeter than that...

The crowd cheered at the sight of the former Olympic champion, Brian Kinney, skating out onto the ice to perform the awards presentation. Brian smiled at the three men in turn, as he stopped before them, awaiting each medal to be handed to him to be awarded. His eyes fastened upon Justin, drinking in his beauty and happiness while quickly observing the boy was not well. This needed to be over with the champion in bed for at least the next twenty-four hours. The quicker they finished the presentation, the sooner Justin could do just that.

Brian reflected how this was a Nationals to remember. The boy who was perceived as the dark horse, not only made history, but easily skated away with the gold. The heavy favorite, Martin Levinsky, fell to the bronze after a miscue in his final skate. The silver had been awarded to a returning competitor, Scott Jenkins from New York. All who were very talented - but outdone, seemingly effortlessly by ‘skater boy extraordinaire', Justin Taylor.

Following the customary congratulations to the winners, Brian reached out to slip the medals around each competitor's neck, as he wished them well in the future. When it came time for the gold medal to be presented, Brian's eyes sharpened in alarm when on the center podium, Justin's legs began to quiver, and his gaze became unfocused and unresponsive to movement.

Clearing his throat in concern, while forcing himself to maintain an air of professional indifference, knowing this was being televised, Brian inquired, "Mr. Taylor, are you okay?"

Justin's mouth became dry, as his lips opened and closed, trying to issue a response, when he suddenly realized he was too weak and incoherent to verbalize anything. Mere moments later, Justin Taylor made history once again today. His first, by successfully performing a quad in the competition. His second was followed by collapsing forward, unconscious. Falling directly into Brian's waiting arms.

TBC