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Louis was nervous; he could feel his heart in his throat. This was the moment. This was the dream of every athlete. To represent his/her country in the Olympics is the highest point anyone can reach. To get through to the finals and be so close to an Olympic medal was something he wished for in his dreams. And now that dream was coming to a reality.
He was sitting in the marshalling room with his other competitors waiting for the women's 100m Butterfly to finish so that he could take part in his. The 100m Butterfly was his event. Ever since he started swimming as a 10 year old boy, Butterfly was his favorite stroke. Louis was the national champion in it for 3 years in a row. It was definitely not a surprise when he got into the finals of the 100m Butterfly breaking Michael Phelps Olympic record in just the heats.
The heats were a blur all he remembered was coming up from the water breathless and looking up at the timer board. And there was his name, with Olympic record beside it. He saw his mother at the sidelines and she was holding the England flag and crying. She was a constant support to Louis during his swimming career, she was also his coach. She was the one who encouraged Louis to get into a pool when he was a baby. Though for the past 5 years she was not the only one. There was Harry, Louis fiancé.
Harry was Louis lab partner in college. Louis was a bright student who excelled not only in sports but his academic work as well. He dreamed of becoming a doctor because swimming doesn’t exactly help pay bills he remembered his mother saying. So Louis had two dreams, one was to excel in swimming and the other was to become a doctor. He didn’t really have time for anything else other than waking up at 4am in the morning to go for training then staying up until 12 in the night studying.
But his world was turned upside down from the moment Harry walked into it. His usual late night studying turned into studying with Harry who also wanted to become a doctor which eventually turned into more intense things with Harry with their textbooks long forgotten. Harry was a menace. He was like a drug to Louis and he wanted more and more of it. It was an addiction that he didn’t want to give up.
Normally the one who would wake up before his alarm clock will now shut the alarm and crawl even more closer to Harry’s chest. Even though Louis was a professional swimmer, Harry was still bigger, longer and leaner than him and Louis loved nothing better than to be wrapped up in the arms of his boyfriend. He loved how small he felt, and how being around Harry made him feel protected.
Harry who was a class above Louis had graduated to become a surgeon and not only was he Louis fiancé but he was also carrying Louis baby.
Louis wished that Harry would have been here to see him participate in the finals. But being 7 months pregnant makes it hard to travel half way across the world from UK to China. Harry had put up a big fight saying he was perfectly fit to accompany Louis to China. But Louis didn’t want Harry or his baby under a lot of stress. But now Louis wished he was here. Because now Louis is all nerves and starting to doubt himself whether he could actually do it or not and Harry had a way of calming him down.
Louis closed his eyes and mentally swam his race. It is something that he always did before competing; he would envision how his race was going to be in his mind. That helped him prepare for the real thing.
“You can do this” he said to himself taking a sip of Gatorade. It was lime flavored Harry loved it not him. Louis would have normally bought the strawberry flavor but he wanted the lime today because he wanted to take something of Harry with him to the blocks. He got up from his chair and started stretching. He wanted to win this race so badly. How bad it could be, when it lasted way under a minute. A minute was surely nothing. But that minute will be the most terrifying minute of his life.
“I can do this, I can do this” Louis repeated in his head.
“Boy’s your next” said the marshalling officer.
This is it Louis thought, now or never. He was going to walk out onto that pool deck with the whole nation watching wearing the team GB t-shirt to take part in the race he has trained for his whole life.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before standing. He needed to switch to game mode. He stood near the entrance of the pool deck waiting for his name to be called.
“Louis Tomlinson, Lane 4 from Great Britain” said the voice over the speaker
He could hear the people cheering. Adrenaline was in a full time high. He knew there will be people watching from back home as well. There was a lot of pressure on him, not only did he want to win the race for him he had to win it for his country, because if he did win the gold medal. This will be the first time England has won a gold medal or any medal in this event.
Louis knew where his mother was in the stands but he didn't want to look at her now. So he kept his head down and walked towards his lane. Number 4 was always his lucky number. The middle lane was always given to the swimmer with the fastest timing in the heats. Swimming in lane 4 allowed you to have a good view of everyone around you. It helps in giving that little boost when you see someone catching up with you.
He kneeled on the pool deck and got some water from the pool to wet his block. By now all the other swimmers have come out as well. The noise was deafening. He could feel his heart beating in his ears. Louis gulped and pulled his cap tightly over his ears trying to bloke the noise but it didn't help.
When the official blew the whistle everyone went quiet. He got on the block and gripped it tightly. A few seconds of calmness before the sound went for the race to begin.
He used all his strength to push off from the block and dive furthest into the water. He was soon under water and with four or five Butterfly kicks he was out of the water and speeding away. Louis could see the other swimmers swimming adjacent to him. He knew he must not take a breadth the first 50m. The first 50m was crucial, it helps set your pace for the next 50m and since this was a 100m race both lengths were very important. Louis was swimming as fast as he could. The adrenaline he had before the race was now acting as a booster for him. He could feel a slight ache in his chest from not taking a breadth but he couldn't risk it. He had to win this race and he had to save his energy for the next length.
Louis could see the T mark at the bottom of the pool representing that he was nearing the wall. A few more strokes and he touched the wall finishing his first 50m and he immediately turned to push off the wall to continue his last 50m. The moment his head came up from the water, he sneaked a breadth.
God that felt amazing.
He was underwater kicking as fast as he could again. This part would determine the winner of the race because after 50m you tend to become tired and try to take it slow but once you get that support of the wall and push yourself faster underwater it helps you get few micro-seconds in front of the others.
And when he came out of the water Louis knew that was exactly what that happened. He could see that he was a bit ahead of the others. Now he decided to take a breadth after every 3 to 4 strokes, and it had to be quick. He had to fill his body with oxygen to help him to swim faster the last 25 meters.
Louis was now swimming as fast as he could. He was using all the power he had in his muscles to kick faster. He had trained all his life, come so far he was not ready to give up now. So with one last breadth taken he put his head down and swam as fast as he could. He could now see the T mark and he could also see that there weren't any other swimmers within his vicinity. This gave him a kick to go even faster and that was exactly what he did.
A few more seconds and his hands slammed against the rubber of the wall. It was over. Thank god. Louis raised his head from the water and grabbed the wall with his aching hands. He turned towards the board and couldn't believe what he saw. Not only had he won the race but he also broke the world record for the 100m Butterfly.
He was so happy, his ache in his body went away also most instantly. The crowd was on their feet. The swimmer on Lane 5 congratulated him. He didn't know his name so he just said 'Thanks'.
Louis now wanted to see his mum so he looked in her direction. She was standing there jumping with joy, eyes filled with tears. And then Louis saw it, he saw someone had his arms around his mother and then his mouth fell open. Because the person who was next to his mother was none other than Harry.
Louis could almost cry with how happy he was right now. There right there in the stands was the Harry wearing a Team GB t-shirt which was stretched over his pregnant belly, tears flowing from his eyes. Louis was so happy that he came to see him and he was genuinely surprised. Then Louis saw the others standing next to Harry. It was Liam, Zayn and Niall. His other most important people in his life. They were all here and Louis didn't know what made him happy, the fact that he had just created history or the fact that all of them had tears in their eyes.
Louis got out of the pool and winced at the pain in his legs, but he didn't seem to care about it. He was so overwhelmed with what was happening around him that he couldn't get that stupid grin off his face. He removed his cap and goggles and walked in the direction of his family. There were people from the media asking for a quick interview but he ignored them. He walked straight towards to where his mother was beaming from the stands. She was a complete wreck when Louis walked up to her with his arms extended.
"My baby, oh my god I am so proud of you" she said through her crying. She hugged Louis tight, kissing him on the cheek. "I am so proud of you" she said again.
"Thank you mum, thank you so much" he said closing his eyes because he felt that he might start crying as well.
Louis then released her and looked at Harry. His mum moved out of the way so Louis could walk towards Harry.
"Boo Bear" Harry said. His eyes red from crying, cheeks pink, curls brushed tied in the back to a small pony tail. His dimples were out in full force and he couldn't stop smiling. Harry hugged Louis tight. Louis could feel his bump between them but he didn't care he had his arm around Harry and he seemed to forget about everything else.
"You came" Louis said kissing Harry on the cheek.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world" Harry said looking at Louis with those green eyes. For a moment Louis was lost in it. He could see the happiness and how proud Harry was from his eyes. But something didn't make sense because they had skyped last night and Harry was at home.
"But how did you get here?" he said confused.
"Baby" Harry cooed. "Didn't you know our friend Liam here has his own private jet? We went to the airport right after I skyped with you". "I wanted to surprise you" Harry said.
"Ah! Yes, how could I forget" Louis said.
Liam had his own recording label and right now he was doing pretty well. Well on his way to becoming the next P. Diddy.
"Babe, do you mind if I go and hug them" Louis asked not wanting to let go of Harry.
"Of course" Harry said releasing his grip around Louis.
"Congrats mate" Liam, Niall and Zayn all chimed in. They got Louis into one big group hug.
At that moment, Louis was so happy, the happiest he has been. All his worries before entering the race were forgotten, his body ache long gone. He seemed to have caught his breadth. Here he was in his first Olympics, winning his first gold medal surrounded by his friends and family and most importantly the love of his life. Louis couldn't ask for anything better than this.
He had to pull out of the hug when a volunteer worker tapped on his shoulder telling him he to go back into the marshalling room to collect his stuff and meet up with his team.
Before he could leave, Harry pulled Louis back and placed a kiss on his cheek and whispered slowly and seductively "I want you to take me home and do your butterfly all over me"
Louis blushed and winked at Harry before hurrying off because he was 100% those words went straight to his dick and he couldn't risk getting a boner in his speedos for the whole world to see.