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Last Swim	By : jai Category: Individual Celebrities > Athlete/Sports Misc Views: 8134 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the people written about in this fanfiction. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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June 1, 2007 Ann Arbor, MI

Michael and Ian waved to Mrs. Grayson as they walked down to the trail in silence. They decided to take the longer loop without a word and traveled for a few minutes before Ian cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

“Where did we go wrong here?”

Michael sighed and squeezed Ian’s hand. “Well, I started taking the massage lessons in November while you were in Australia. You came back in a kind of crappy mood and then I left for California without us really talking about what put you in that mood.”

“It wasn’t a good trip. The meet was fine but the swim association people were difficult and the press was on my back the whole time.”

“And I wasn’t there to help you through it.”

“I really missed you. I kept wishing you were there and I slept horribly. I think by the last day I was really angry with myself for not being able to cope without you.”

“So you came home in a bad mood and I took off on you.”

“But you’ve gone on swim meets with the team before so I shouldn’t have been having such a fit about it.”

“Huh. Tell me something, did you try calling me while you were in Australia?”

“Of course. We spoke a couple of times.”

“No, did you call and hang up after you thought you dialed wrong? Did a woman answer the phone?”

Ian tried to remember back to his trip. “I don’t know. That was months ago.”

“Well, I’m asking because the Tuesday after you left I put my cell phone down while I was having lunch with Jim, Pam and Kyle. Pam’s friend Sheila joined us and she put her cell phone down. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Oh, you took her phone and she took yours.”

“Yep. It wasn’t until later that night I figured it out when I tried to call your cell phone and your number wasn’t there. When I finally tracked Sheila down she mentioned that some guy with a really weird accent had called. I figured it had to be you.”

“It could have been.”

“So you’re feeling lonely and getting ticked because you’re feeling that way. Then you call me and a woman answers, you get home and I take off. When I get back I start acting all secretive about something. I can see why your Spidey senses were going off.”

“Now you’re making this sound like it was entirely your fault.”

“No, I’m just trying to figure out why you’d suddenly start thinking you couldn’t trust me. I’m still a little hurt that your mind went in that direction but I can see where it started.”

“A little hurt?”

“Just a little. Then again, I thought you were reconsidering our relationship so I think we’re even.”

“You thought what?” Ian turned to look at Michael, bringing them to a halt.

“Well, look at it from my perspective. You go to Australia and you get a boatload of grief because of what you said about the Commonwealth Games. Comments you made during the documentary which I talked you into doing-”

“But-” Ian tried to interrupt but Michael waved a finger at him.

“Wait, let me finish. You come back in a bad mood which is totally understandable. The next thing I know, you’re taking extra classes and talking about trying to finish your degree early. On top of that, you suddenly start picking fights about the most incredibly stupid stuff and sleeping on the other side of the bed.” Michael realized he was trembling and stepped back, taking a deep breath.

“Now you’re mad.” Ian observed.

Michael nodded helplessly. “Yeah, I kind of am.”

Ian waited for Michael to pull himself together.

“Okay.” Michael took another breath and looked at Ian. “I’m mad at you for pulling away and at me for not calling you on it and Australia for picking on you and us for falling apart like this.”

Ian held out his hand and Michael took it gratefully. They began walking again.

“Charles warned us about this.” Ian said conversationally.

“Yeah, yeah. Drag Charles into it why don’t you?” Michael said, laughing under his breath.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think w com completely fallen apart. I still love you.”

“And I love you.”

They walked for a couple of minutes in silence, both contemplating the situation. Ian looked at Michael a few times, wondering just how mad Michael was and what he could do to fix things.

“Would you be upset if we talked to Bob about taking a step back in our training schedule the next couple of weeks?”

“Why?”

“We’re going to Maryland next week for the wedding and we’ll be there for two weeks. We’re driving with mum, dad, David, Chris and the baby out there and back here. It’s going to be fun but also really hectic. We were planning on putting in four to five hours a day on top of that. Where are we supposed to find time in there for us?”

Michael pondered that for a moment as they continued to walk. “I’m not saying no, I’m just going to think this through.”

“Okay, go on.”

“Worlds are in four months, the Australian trials in eleven months and the Olympics are in fourteen months. Can you afford to take time off now?”

“If not now, when? Yes, I’d like to finish my career off with a bang in Beijing but not if it means permanently damaging our relationship.”

“Are you really retiring next year?”

“Yes. I can’t stand Derrick Newton; it’s been one fuck up after another since he took over the national team.”

“How much of a cut back are we talking about?”

“Back to two or three hours, one session.”

“I think that’s doable.”

“It won’t hurt your training?”

“Considering Bob’s been complaining about me just flopping around in the water lately, I’d say no.”

“You too?” They shared a look of commiseration. “He’s been threatening to kick my butt back to Sydney.”

“So, we’ll talk to Bob tonight?”

“I think that’s good. So, do you want to know why I suddenly began thinking about getting my degree early?”

“Yeah.”

“Because I’d like to walk into the Olympics as a college graduate and shove the paper right up Newton’s -” Ian gestured with his free hand.

“I get the idea. Wow, what did he say to you?”

“He didn’t say it to me; I overheard him talking to a reporter about us.”

“A reporter?” Michael missed a step and almost stumbled.

“I’m sure it was off the record.” Ian said sarcastically.

“What did he say?”

Ian sighed. “That I was making a lot of fuss over a p of of ass attached to a dick. Or words to that effect.”

Michael slid a look at Ian’s troubled face. “He sounds like a real jackass.”

“He’s a raging homophobic racist sexist jackass.”

“Let it out, baby.”

“I hate his guts and wish everyone else saw him for what he is. I want drop him off a boat somewhere between Australia and Antarctica with a five ton weight wrapped around his waddled neck.”

“That’s it.”

“And he doesn’t brush his teeth, ever! He’s got the worst breath and he stands right on top of me when he talks. Gesturing and breathing on me. I can’t stand it!” Ian threw his head back and yelled, “He’s such a fucking pig!”

Joanne and Roger Wilkins stopped as they walked around the curve of the path and looked at each other before looking back at Ian and Michael.

“I hope you’re not talking about me, Ian.”

Ian whirled around and turned red. “Uh. Roger. Hi!”

Michael stifled his laughter snd smiled. “No, Roger. Ian’s just venting about a fellow countryman.”

Ian whirled back at Michael. “Don’t call him that, I swear the bastard’s English. He’s got to be.”

Staring at Ian, Michael couldn’t help himself and started snickering. The snickers turned into giggles which grew into chuckles followed by falling down, holding his stomach because he couldn’t stop.

Joanne and Roger came over to stand next to Ian and they all looked down as Michael put a hand over his eyes so he wouldn’t see them.
“Oh. Oh. God. Stop. Stop looking.” Michael gasped and then snorted as he tried to catch his breath, rolling over so he faced away from them.

“Does he do this a lot?” Joanne asked, looking as if she was resisting the urge to poke Michael with her foot.

Ian put his hands in his pockets and grinned. “Not for a while but he’s so cute when he’s like this.”

Roger rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you afraid he’ll choke going on like that?”

Michael rolled over and cracked one eye open. “English. Hee.”

He put his hand up and Ian took it, pulling Michael to his feet and putting an arm around Michael’s waist for support as little riffs of laughter continued to escape.

“Ooh. Oh, my ribs hurt.”

Ian patted Michael’s stomach, “There, there. Breath through your nose, out with your mouth.”

Michael nodded and quickly calmed down before smiling brightly at Roger and Joanne while leaning back on Ian.

“Hi guys. How are you?”

The older couple exchanged another look and Joanne returned the smile warily. “We’re fine, how have you been?”

“Good, better than good now. How was your trip to Chicago?”

“We had a good time.” Roger answered. “Thanks for taking care of our mail that week.”

“No problem.” Ian said while tightening his grip around Michael’s waist.

Joanne’s eyes suddenly narrowed and smi smiled while grabbing Roger’s arm. “Well, that’s good to hear. Roger and I are just going to be heading home, we’ve got uh, yard work that needs to be done. Have a good walk.” She waved at them cheerfully while hustling Roger off.

Once they were back around the curve, Ian said softly. “She knows something’s up.”

“Yeah, you can’t get anything by her. You want to head back?”

Ian looked around at the trees and woodland flowers. “Actually, it’s really nice out here. We don’t have to be at the pool for hours and mum said she’s got everything in hand back at hou house. Let’s keep walking.”

“Okay.” Michael slid his arm around Ian’s waist and hooked a finger in Ian’s belt loop as they fell into step. “Do you feel better now?”

“I really do. I hadn’t realized how much I’d let that build up inside of me. Do you feel better?”

“Yeah, I haven’t laughed like that in a while. So aside from Newton and his bad oral hygiene habits, what else has been going on?” Michael smirked at Ian and then jumped when Ian smacked him on the ass. “Hey! You know I have permission from your mother to spank you.”

“You and what girl scout troop?”

“That’s ‘you and what army.’”

“You have your clichés and I have mine. Why are we suddenly using condoms again?”

“Oh. Well, I’ve been tired, you’ve been tired and it’s always a little messy when one of us-.” Michael paused and then shrugged. “All right, I won’t be delicate. After you’ve come inside of me, it sometimes feels a little weird later on.”

“Feels weird how? Is it painful?”

“No you never hurt me; it’s just uncomfortable. Sometimes I have to get up in the middle of the night and clean up again because well, there’s oozing. Does that not happen to you?”

“Yes it has but it bothers you enough to wake you up?”

“Yes.”

“So you’d like us to go back to using condoms?”

“Just when I’m tired or even when you’re tired. It makes the clean up afterwards easier too, doesn’t it?”

“It does. I have to admit that I’ve gotten used to how it feels without one but this isn’t a deal breaker. I know you have a hard time going back to sleep once you’re awake and if this helps you, it’s the least I can do.”

“Oh. Whew.” Michael mimed wiping sweat from his brow but Ian could tell he was truly relieved.

“Michael, why are we making love if you’re that tired? Are you doing it because you think I want to?

Michael bit his lip and shook his head. “No, if anything I feel like I’m using you sometimes. I sleep better afterwards.”

“Um. Okay, I’m going to take your lead and not use polite language. When do you sleep better, after I’ve been on top or after you’ve been on top?”

“I sleep better after you’ve been on top, I just feel more relaxed.”

“Do you not like being on top?”

“It’s more fun on the bottom. When I’m on top, I always worry that you’re not having a good time or that I’m not doing it right.”

“You do ‘it’ just fine. Don’t I look like I’m enjoying myself?”

“I don’t think this has anything to do with you, as strange as that sounds.”

“It does sound strange. What do you mean?”

“I think because you’re the only man I’ve been with, I don’t have anything to compare it to. Not that I want to nail some random guy so get that look off your face,” Michael rushed to say. “I need to confess something though.”

“What?”

“I was looking for gay porn that time on the computer.”

“Why?”

“I guess I was trying to see if how I do it is normal. Not like any of those guys looked normal so I didn’t bother to look at any more. It was actually too bizarre watching that stuff. They’re nothing like we are. Sure, we’re all guys and we’re all gay but everything I saw looked really uncomfortable.”

“That’s because of the camera. They use those weird positions for the camera.”

“Oh. You’ve watched porn?” Michael was faintly shocked.

“Almost every guy has seen porn, Michael. Didn’t you have girlie magazines when you were growing up?”

“Have you met my mother?”

Ian ground to a halt. “You’ve never seen one?”

“I didn’t say that. There was a guy in school who used to bring them to lunch but they didn’t really do anything for me. I guess I just don’t get porn. It’s all so fake looking, especially the gay stuff. And I wasn’t joking about mom. She really would have killed me if I’d brought any into the house; she thinks it’s demeaning to women.”

“I’m not going to debate that because I agree with her. It didn’t stop me from looking at it but it got old really fast. But we’ve drifted off subject. I think it’s your turn.”

“To ask a question? Okay. Do you think we should go back into therapy?”

Before Ian could answer, they arrived back at the start of the trail and turned to look at each. Michael tugged Ian’s hand and they turned around to continue walking.

“I’m not sure. Part of me says we’ll work things out. Another part of me doesn’t want to always run back to Charles when we have problems. The sensible side of me says that I’m just making excuses and we probably should go see him if I’m feeling this conflicted about it.”

“I feel the same way. Have you been keeping up on your journal?”

“Uh, that would be no. I was so busy last semester that- well; now I’m just making excuses.”

“We didn’t have to keep using them but I found it helpful when I was trying to figure things out. Maybe that contributed to all this, we stopped trying to figure things out with ourselves.”

“And we stopped talking to each other. I know you’ve been trying to figure what my problem has been lately but I was too upset to talk about it. That was the worst thing I could have done.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“I think I was afraid of what your answer would be; I was so desperate not to lose you but I kept trying to push you away so it wouldn’t hurt so much when you left.”

“Aw, baby.” Michael wrapped his arms around Ian and held him close. Ian nestled in and held on. “I love you and I would never do anything to betray our relationship.”

“I know and I trust you, I really do but sometimes I wonder why you chose me.”

“How can you say that? You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“But I’m grumpy and I’m stubborn and I’ve made this whole drama out over you trying to do something incredibly nice for me.”

Michael heaved a sigh and stepped back to look into Ian’s eyes. “Things aren’t perfect right now, hell they’re never perfect and neither one of us is perfect. I never put the top back on the toothpaste, I hate unloading the dishwasher and I yell at you for putting black socks in with the whites. See? We both have our little quirks.”

“Your things are quirks, my things are personality flaws.”

“It’s not a competition. Yes, you’re a grumpy stubborn drama queen; I’m a needy obstinate prude but we’ve made it work for almost three years, Ian.”

When Ian looked at him with astonishment and Michael grinned. “What? You expected me to deny you’re not a grumpy stubborn drama queen? You’re not like that all the time but you definitely have your moments. We both do but it’s not a deal breaker.”

“Just like that?”

“Sure.” Michael nudged Ian and got them walking again, looping his arm through Ian’s. “We’re both human, we make mistakes. We’re going to be cranky, thoughtless bastards sometimes. We’re actually pretty lucky that it took us three years to get here.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“I don’t know. Can I ask a question out of turn?”

“All right.”

“Do you want to get married?”

“What?” Ian’s eyes widened.

“Uh, wait. I phrased that wrong. Have you been thinking about us getting married?”

“Oh.”

Michael watched Ian’s shoulder’s slump and swung around until he was facing his lover head on. “Stop. I’ve always thought we’d be together for the rest of our lives; marriage is the next step in our relationship. We’ve both always talked as if we would get married someday.”

“But you said-” Ian stopped and then went on. “You said you wanted to get married in Sydney or Baltimore.”

“I said I’d like to get married in either, not that I’d wait around until we could.”

“Oh.” Ian smiled and then frowned. “I guess this wouldn’t be a good time for us to run off to Canada though.”

“Well, no but once we’ve gotten through this bumpy spot; we can start looking into it. I’m just warning you that I’m not wearing white.” Michael grinned and tapped Ian’s nose.

“Neither one of us really qualifies for white, do we?”

“Nope. Do you really want to retire next year?”

“I think it’s time for me to move on from competitive swimming. Not just because of Newton but also I feel like I’m ready for the next phase.” Ian took Michael’s hand and started them walking again. “I don’t know what that is but I want us to find out together.”

“Fair enough but what if I don’t graduate by next spring? What if you don’t graduate? We’re both going to have to scale back next year.”

“We’tay tay here until you’re ready to leave. If that means we’re here until after New York, that’s fine with me. I was planning to take the GRE anyway and I’ve got some ideas about graduate school, maybe even a doctorate. What about you? You’re going to graduate eventually.”

“Actually Nancy suggested that I look into a Master or Doctor of Physical Therapy program. I’ll have to take a few extra courses to get into a good school but the programs run from two and half to three years.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know it started on a whim to help you through your migraines but I’ve really enjoyed the classes.”

“Does UM have this program?”

“Not at Ann Arbor, I’d have to go to Flint.”

“Are there any other colleges nearby that offer it?”

“There are a few in the area but there’s also schools on the east coast or even Australia that offer similar programs. I don’t know what it would take to get into the University of Sydney but it might be an option.”

“You’d be willing to go to Sydney?”

“Sure, you came to Michigan after all.”

“Huh. Okay, let’s put that under the possibilities column. Let’s say we graduate next fall or even spring; if I can get into the Master’s program here would you also be able to take the extra classes you need to get into a good program?”

“Probably. It’s physics, statistics and anatomy mostly. The schools all have different requirements but a Bachelor’s in Business Admin isn’t going to cut it.”

“And that won’t take you the two years that it will take for me to get an MBA. Maybe we should compile lists of schools that have both an MBA program and the MPT program; failing that we should find schools that are close enough together so we won’t have to live apart.”

“Okay, how about we have our lists together by the end of November? That’ll give us both time to do the research and I know how much you love lists. You want to know where else I think we went wrong?”

“Where?”

“I think that having Brenda make dinner for us was a good idea in concept but we used to talk while we were cooking. Now we come home, eat then separate to study. I don’t want to hurt her feelings by changing the arrangement but I miss spending that time with you.”

“I don’t think she’d mind if we talked to her about it and explained why we wanted to make the change. Don’t you have last classes on Tuesday and Thursday next semester?” After Michael nodded Ian continued, “I do too so maybe she could cook just on Tuesday and Thursdays and we’d have the other nights to spend together.”

“Good idea.”

“Thank you. Do you think we’re ready to talk about our sex life or lack thereof?”

Michael winced. “I guess we kind of have to, huh?”

“Well, it is an important issue. Do you want me to go first?”

“If you want to bite the bullet, go right ahead.”

“Okay. There’s been a noticeable drop off in the level activity. I know part of it has with the fact that we’ve both been overextended with classes and traveling but the majority of it has been my fault. Between my pushing you away and the nitpicking, I think I was sending you all the wrong signals.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure sometimes if you were even interested anymore and I wasn’t in the mood most of the time. Even if I was, the rolling away thing you were doing usually changed my mind. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we were only making love on Saturdays or Sundays, those were the only days we were spending any time together.”

“And the only days you never went missing. I know why now but before they were the only days I knew you weren’t with Nancy.”

“Nancy’s sixty-three years old, she’s married with three kids and seven grandkids. She’s a sweetheart but she’s really not my type. She will however be thrilled that you considered her such a rival.” Michael said with a smirk.

“God, I feel like such an idiot.” Ian said with a shake of his head.

“And I know now that if I’m going to surprise you, I’d better not draw it out for months on end.”

“That would help but I’m going to have to work on my trust issues. You know, I’d like nothing better than to run home and jump into bed with you but I think we both need time to get our feet back under us.”

“You’re right. I wish you weren’t but it would be pushing it. We can still cuddle right? I miss cuddling with you.”

“I miss it too. Shall we go home and make sure mum hasn’t redecorated?”

“Yeah. By the way, has your ear recovered yet?”
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