Archive of Our Own

Rex and Cody were eager to get started on training for the season. This was an Olympic season. They could be going to the Olympics if all went well. They were consistently the best. Aside from the Vos/Kenobi team. They often snatched wins from the Mereel/Fett duo, though they lost just as often.

So, they walked into the booked room for the meeting with their coach, and were surprised. Kenobi and Vos, and their coach, were already there. Vos gave them a lazy wave with that wide grin as he always did. Kenobi on the other hand gave them a narrowed eyed look. A look that both Rex and Cody had to return.

“Alright, we're all here.” Rex and Cody's coach, Plo, had arrived. He closed the door and sat down.

“Why are they here?” Rex demanded.

Kenobi raised an eyebrow. “Probably the same thing as you. Expecting a meeting with our coach, and we got a bit more than we bargained for.”

Cody sighed. “Let's just get this over with.”

None of the four men liked the looks the two coaches exchanged.

Mace was the one who spoke first. “This is an Olympic season. You could be going to the Olympics if you work hard. Both teams are favorites for the Olympics.”

“There's one problem,” Plo continued. “There isn't very much competition from the four men team. They consistently are in the last few places in every race. We want you four to form a four man team.”

“What?” Rex exploded, standing, and hitting the table. “But they're our rivals! We can't ally with them!”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at them. “Don't be so dramatic. We can still compete against each other in doubles, if we find we work well enough together as a four man team. Don't you want double the medal chances?” He was still reluctant though. They had quite the rivalry during the competitive season.

Cody hummed in thought, thinking over what he remembered. Yes, their coaches were right, and the chance of potentially getting a medal in two events at the Olympics was something he liked.

“A trial run,” Quinlan spoke up. “How about a trial run? We see which of us is the better break man,” he looked at Rex, “and who is the better driver, and then we take a week to see if we can work together, if we can see any improvement. If not, we can pretend this never happened.”

Obi-Wan sent his best friend a betrayed look, then sighed. “I suppose that if we're going to give this a try a week won't waste our times at all.”

“What you think we're not good enough for you?” Rex bristled.

“Rex,” Cody sighed. “Do you want to work with them?”

Rex subsided. “Well, no. But...”

“We're rivals, yes,” Obi-Wan interjected. “That does mean we might not be able to work together at all. If we can't, it's best we spend as little time as possible on it so that we can really focus on getting medals.”

Cody nodded, looking Obi-Wan over, then he turned to Plo. “So, how do we get started?”

“We will start by some basic runs, see how you adjust, and see which one of you is suited to driving and breaking in the four man sled, which is different in many ways than a two man.”

Quinlan nodded. “Yep. I did four man, when I first got started,” he explained to Rex and Cody. “But our team fell apart right before the season started and they pulled Obi-Wan from his own four man team to pair with me. We had an awful first season.”

“That was the season before you two got your start,” Obi-Wan explained at their bewildered expressions, sighing a little. Quinlan was always the oversharer. And he knew exactly why Quinlan had no qualms about it right now. He shot Quinlan a glare.

“But it didn't deter you two at all,” Cody pointed out, tilting his head curiously. “You did well the season we joined.”

“Yeah, of course. We were best friends before that, since we were kids.” Quinlan wrapped an arm around Obi-Wan cheerfully. “Once we figured out the differences between the four man and the two man, we were good to go.”

“Are you four going to keep talking all day, or are you going to actually start training?” Mace asked with a sigh.

Quinlan jumped up and flashed him a bright grin. “Let's get started. We're going to be doing so many practice runs of just getting into a four man sled, aren't we?”

The other three all groaned. The practice for getting in and out was probably the most important part of training, but that didn't mean that the repetitions of getting in and out didn't get rather annoying. Sometimes they just wanted to do something else.

By the end of the first day of training, they had settled on Cody as the driver, Quinlan as the break man and Obi-Wan sitting between Cody and Rex. It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement for them, and there had been a lot of bickering even as they practiced, but it worked the best for them.

.

Obi-Wan was getting ready to leave when he was blocked by Quinlan. He groaned at the grin on his friends face.

“Don't get started.”

“Oh come on, Obes. I saw how red your face was after the first practice run that put you between the two of them. We both know you've been crushing hard on them for years.”

Obi-Wan shoved Quinlan out of the way. “Sometimes, I hate you Quin.”

“Nah, we wouldn't be roomates if you did.” Quinlan laughed at him as they reached the car. Once he was in the car, he sobered up a bit, glancing at Obi-Wan. “You are okay with this, right? They may be your crushes, but they're also our rivals, we'll still be competing against them in two man.”

Obi-Wan sighed. “I think this might be good for us,” he admitted reluctantly. “We try to keep it to friendly rivalry, but I think we've been bitter rivals a few times, and verging into not so healthy territory. Having to work with them for four man means that we can't let the rivalry get in the way of that, which means we have to remain on friendly terms. No petty ribbing, just teasing, when it comes to the two man.”

“That's a fair point.” Quinlan nodded. He started the car, then leaned back. “You really think we can do this, Obes?”

Obi-Wan poked his shoulder. “The four man?”

“Yeah. My team fell apart last time I tried.”

“Because that idiot Palpatine had been in charge, and he pushed you all too hard, pitted you against each other. You will be fine with Mace and Plo coaching us.” Obi-Wan assured him. “Whatever happened to him anyways?”

“Sheev? He's coaching Nordic skiing last I checked. I think he might be coaching Fox, actually. Cody's brother. But I'm not sure, I try to avoid Skeev.”

“Fox? The one you keep admiring at all the competitions we go to for Anakin and Aayla's ski jumping?”

Quinlan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah. I'm kind of worried about him. But enough about me and my crush-”

“Oh it's a crush now is it?”

Quinlan raised his voice to better ignore Obi-Wan. “I'm also a bit nervous about the Olympics. You remember what happened last time.”

Obi-Wan winced. They'd had a lot of bad luck and had ended up doing poorly. The only consolation was that though Cody and Rex had done better than them, they had gone through similar bad luck, competing for the same country and all. They barely made it into the top half of the competition, while Quinlan and Obi-Wan had been six places behind them.

“It will be better this time,” Obi-Wan promised. “We've been training harder, we'll take precautions against getting sick, and we know how to handle certain weather conditions now. We can do it, Quin. And we'll have two chances at medaling now.”

“Alright. I'll believe it when we actually make it to the Olympics without any problems. I have a weirdly bad feeling about them this year.”

“That's just your nerves. It will be fine, Quin. We'll get at least one medal and we won't do as bad as last time. We'll do our best and show that we can handle it even when the pressure is high.”

Quinlan smiled, then grinned. “You mean you can handle sitting between the two men you have a crush on?”

Obi-Wan smacked him. “You are incorrigable. Let's just go home already.”

.

Cody and Rex in contrast were quiet on their way home. They too, were roomates. Technically, they were uncle and nephew, too, if one considered that Rex had been adopted by Cody's grandfather when he was in his late teens. But they weren't actually related, as far as they knew. They just looked a bit alike, and got along rather well. Sometimes they did bicker like family. But they were together, keeping their relationship quiet to avoid those who would judge them for it.

Rex opened the door and stuck a foot in to deter their cat from escaping before opening it all the way. “I can't believe we're going to work with them.”

“Me either. We compete against them, and we're going to have to work with them. We're going to have a rough time of it, aren't we?”

Surprisingly, Rex was the one who was a bit more optimistic. “Obi-Wan is surprisingly good at letting you take the lead, despite being one of the best drivers in the two man. And Quinlan's not that bad once you get used to his brand of teasing.”

Cody nodded. “I guess we will make a great team. I just...” He shook his head. “It's unexpected. They've never seemed interested in being friendly or anything.”

“I doubt we have either,” Rex huffed. “I mean. I was protesting the idea a lot.”

“And now you've warmed up to it while I'm still not certain.”

“Well, we have the rest of the week to decide. Today we practiced getting in, tomorrow we'll probably seriously work on good starts, and then we'll be practicing actual runs. But it seems promising. Minimal bickering, both accepted their roles and placements, and so did we, and we did actually work well together. I thought it would take longer to get down the starts, even after we figured out who would sit where.”

“It's weird not having you at my back.” Cody was half whining. “I know that's to be expected in this sport, but, you and I are together, and were together before we even thought about bobsledding. And now it's Obi-Wan.”

“He's not that bad. Pretty good looking, actually. He works out too, he's got that gorgeous red hair, those freckles and blue eyes... and you know, I've never seen anyone keep up with you in discussing planning like that. Even I zone out.”

Cody looked at him oddly. “Rex, do you have a crush?”

“I- No I don't!” Rex shook his head frantically. “He's just nice to look at, that's all. With a brain to match. Which is unusual. But I don't have a crush!”

“A crush would explain why you sometimes go into petty rivlary territory, if you're trying to get his attention.”

“Cody! I'm not about to cheat on you.”

“I never said that. We've discussed other good looking guys before. Yet this is the first time you've brought cheating up. I wonder why.”

“...dammit I do have a crush if I want to actually date him...”

Cody chuckled. “Now you admit it. I have to say, I wouldn't mind giving it a go myself.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah. I've had a crush on him for years, ever since our first race when he came up to us, welcomed us to the sport and gave us some good advice on how to handle our nerves. His face when we almost beat him and V-Quinlan after that... I cherish it. But we wouldn't have done so well without his advice...” Cody smiled at the memory, then shook his head.

“Wow, that long... You must have it bad.”

“Maybe. Would you want us to date him together?”

“If that's on the table... but let's see how this season goes, no point in ruining a good working relationship, if we have to work together.”

“Good idea. We'll see how this goes, no promises.”

.

After the week trial period was over, the four men agreed to be a team. And then, their Olympic journey began.

They trained hard. They competed their best, scoring first place in their first race as a team. They didn't always win, or even get third place, but they did well, proving they were meant to be a team.

And when the trials came around, they beat them easily. They were an Olympic bobsled team. And they were still fierce but friendly rivals in the two man.

Obi-Wan found himself spending a lot of time with Cody going over strategies, not just for the races themselves, but to keep their heads in the game and to avoid psyching themselves out too much. He also enjoyed doing some more insane things with Rex, like parkour. Cody despaired over them when he learned they had that as a shared hobby. Especially when it meant Fox and Quinlan joined in, both insane adrenaline junkies as well.

Cody was one too, but at least he was sane about it. He always made sure it was as safe as possible. Which was why he much preferred the adrenaline rush of a rollercoaster to something insane like leaping over buildings. Learning Obi-Wan was a bit more insane was a shock, considering how calm, collected and just. Nerdy he was most of the time. But it thrilled Rex and well, Cody did find it kind of hot. Watching the nerd who did bobsledding do parkour in nerdy clothes was something else.

And then. It was time for the Olympics.

.

Obi-Wan stood with Cody, Rex, and Quinlan. Fox, Anakin, and Aayla were nearby. They were waiting for opening ceremonies, to walk out into the stadium, representing their country, being some of the top athletes in the world.

“I can't believe we're here,” he said.

Quinlan nudged him. “Come on, it's not our first Olympics.”

“Maybe not, but it still feels like a miracle.” Rex spoke up. “We're still good enough for this, we just started the four man and qualified. We're competing in two events. Now we just need to prove we deserve to be here by beating most of the teams, if we can't win a medal.”

“We will win a medal. We're a great team,” Cody spoke with quiet confidence.

Quinlan was distracted by Fox. Fox didn't look good. He was shaking a little, and did not seem confident. So Quinlan stepped back to walk with him, leaving Cody, Rex, and Obi-Wan to keep discussing being at the Olympics and how much more real it felt now that they were in the opening ceremonies.

The line of countries moved, and soon, they were walking out in the stadium waving and representing their country. Getting ready to compete with the best of the best.

The next few days were a whirlwind of training and cheering others on. Ski jumping was the first couple of days, and Obi-Wan and Quinlan made sure to cheer on their younger siblings.

Anakin ended up with two bronze medals. Aayla got a gold and a bronze. Both were thrilled; this was their first Olympics, so being there at all had been amazing. But to medal? Twice? Even if it was 'just' a bronze, it was amazing.

Quinlan dragged Obi-Wan to watch Fox in some of Fox's events. Fox was competing in most of the cross country ski races. He was a top contender, though few thought he'd actually medal because the current favorites were just that good. But Fox was determined. As soon as he was in his skiis, any sign of issues disappeared. He stopped shaking and was just determined to do as well as he could.

Obi-Wan ended up next to Cody and Rex. “Hello there.” He clutched the hot chocolate he'd just bought to help keep warm.

“Hi, Obi-Wan. What are you doing here? I didn't know you were interested in cross country?” Cody glanced at him.

Obi-Wan chuckled and gestured at Quinlan. “Quinlan has a crush and loves to watch Fox but he doesn't like to do so alone.”

Quinlan was cheering like mad, since the race was already going. Fox was doing well, focused and was right where he needed to be if he wanted a chance at medal.

Rex blinked. “Quinlan has a crush on Fox?”

Cody rolled his eyes. “Fox has been looking too, during the parkour sessions you idiots do.”

Obi-Wan chuckled, sipping at his hot chocolate. “Quin loves doing parkour but he doesn't like doing it in a group. Then Fox showed up and he was not about to pass up that opportunity to be able to do more than ogle at his favorite athlete to watch.”

“They do seem to get a good banter going all the time,” Rex admitted, glancing at Quinlan, then focusing back on Fox.

Obi-Wan shivered as he finished his hot chocolate, looking at the empty cup sadly. He loved winter sports, but he got cold way too easy. He got hot too easy too when he went on vacations to hot places. At least when he was actually competing he kept warm pretty easy. Same in training. But watching from the sidelines... he got too cold, too fast most of the time.

Cody exchanged an amused yet exasperated look with Rex. Cody stepped back and around Obi-Wan. Rex stepped in to take his place. They pressed close to Obi-Wan on either side, then held hands behind his back.

Obi-Wan looked between them in surprise. They were effectively pinning him in place. He was stuck between them, with their arms behind him meaning he could not back up. That was strange. A few minutes later it hit him what they were doing as he stopped feeling so numb. They were helping him feel warm.

He leaned in with a grateful sigh. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome, Obi.” Cody didn't look away from the race, drawing to a close as it was with Fox fighing three others for gold. But his voice was warm with a surprising amount of affection.

Rex pressed closer. “Yeah, we can't have our teammate freezing before we can compete tomorrow.”

“I can't believe it's tomorrow,” Obi-Wan muttered. “And nothing has gone wrong yet.”

“Stop being so pessimistic,” Rex scolded. “We've trained hard. Just because it was major bad luck last time doesn't mean anything bad is going to happen this time.”

Obi-Wan sighed. “I suppose not. But I would rather be prepared.”

“Sometimes for someone so insane about running around buildings without safety, you overprepare,” Cody grumbled, pressing closer to him. “We'll be fine. We've trained hard, everything is going to go smoothly.”

“Right.”

“GO FOX!” Quinlan yelled, hanging onto the fence. A bright grin adorned his face.

Obi-Wan glanced at his friend in amusement then turned his attention back to the race as the crowd started going wild. The four skiers in the lead were approaching the finish line, and it was close. Fox was in third for the final approach.

Rex and Cody started cheering. Obi-Wan winced at the volume right by his ears, then gave in and joined in on the cheering. He was more comfortable than anything, and it wasn't like this was a normal thing. He could deal with the headache later. This was worth it. Fox was Cody's brother after all, and Rex certainly considered Fox his brother as well. Of course they were cheering for Fox.

And it was exciting, these last few seconds. Fox saw the finish line, and put in extra effort, a burst of speed that saw him cross the finish line for a gold. He raised his arms as the crowd went wild.

Obi-Wan cheered to block out some of the noise with his own. Cody and Rex hugged each other excitedly, but forgot that Obi-Wan was in between them and he got caught up in their hug. They were so excited they barely noticed, so he didn't protest, though his face was bright red from more than the cold by the time they let go.

This was Fox's third medal of four competitions. It was his first gold. He seemed more relieved than happy. Unlike some of the others he didn't collapse, just skied on over to his coach.

Quinlan went from thrilled and cheering to grabbing Obi-Wan from between Rex and Cody. “His coach is Skeevy Sheev?” he hissed, eyes flashing with anger and worry, now that he had it confirmed.

Obi-Wan blinked and looked closer. “Looks like it.”

“Skeevy?” Rex shook his head. “Sheev Palpatine has been Fox's couch for about three and a half years now.”

Quinlan's face was dark and grim. “He was my coach in four man bobsled and entirely the reason we fell apart. He manipulates and isolates, pushes limits, forced us to practice with injuries. I still can't believe that he's still coaching even though he was banned from coaching bobsled.”

Cody stiffened.

“Fox would tell us if something was going on,” Rex protested.

Cody let out a breath. “He's been acting differently since he started training with Skeev. That's when he took up parkour with you, for one. About the only way either of us see him during training seasons.”

“No, no. Nothing is wrong, Fox is fine.”

Obi-Wan looked to Fox. He and Quinlan avoided talking about Quinlan's time training with Palpatine a lot. A large part of why Obi-Wan had gone to doubles with Quinlan was he had a hard time trusting anyone after that. But he'd known Obi-Wan since they were kids. He trusted Obi-Wan without a second thought. And then they became a great team.

Palpatine was smiling that pleased smile he got whenever Quinlan or one of the others pushed their limits. The smile that was almost genuine, but wasn't quite there. He had his hand on Fox's back. Fox was swaying in place, but didn't seem to be that injured, just tired from the race. But Obi-Wan knew better, and he agreed with Quinlan. This was a major concern.

They would both be keeping an eye on it. After their four man race the next day. Well the first two runs.

.

Obi-Wan sat on the bench in the waiting area, helmet in his hands. He stared it. So far, nothing had gone wrong. As long as their sled passed inspection, they would be in the clear. Sabotage of the sled or the race at all was pretty much impossible these days. So, if their sled was cleared, they would be good to go.

Quinlan was pacing, helmet on the bench next to Obi-Wan. Quinlan was clearly panicking a little. Obi-Wan didn't blame him. While Quinlan had overcome most of the lingering issues from his first four man team under Skeevy Sheev, he still had some jitters before every race. And this was their biggest one yet. Four man bobsled at the Olympics. They were ranked number three, so they were expected to medal or at least come close.

The four of them wanted to win it all. They could do it. But their runs had to be perfect or as close as possible to it.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and put aside his own anxiety. He stood and pulled Quinlan into a hug.

“We can do this. We're a good team. Plo and Mace are great coaches, they get along with each other. They don't let us push ourselves too hard, they don't isolate us or manipulate us. Our rivalry with Rex and Cody is firmly friendly now, and we're more competitive than truly rivals at this point. We are going to go out there, race our best, then do it again. We'll have a good dinner tonight to celebrate our good times, and then we'll race the final two tomorrow. And we will medal.”

Quinlan leaned in heavily. “Right... right. We're going to get a medal. We can do this. Nothing is going to go wrong.”

They stayed like that, hugging each other for a while.

Cody approached. “Um, we are a team... maybe we should all reassure each other, not just in our usual pairs?”

Quinlan didn't say a word. His arm shot out and dragged Cody into the hug. Obi-Wan snickered at the startled look on Cody's face. Cody should be used to Quinlan's tendency to hug and cuddle anyone and everyone who let him. But usually Obi-Wan was available so Quinlan didn't need to 'resort' to Cody or Rex, especially if Mace was around.

Rex wrapped his arms around them from the other side, not wanting to be dragged into it like Cody was. Obi-Wan and Quinlan shifted to add him to the hug, and then there were the four of them hugging each other, waiting to be called out to wait for their race.

“We've got this. We're all adrenaline junkies- just because you prefer the safer options does not mean you are not, Cody,” Rex cut off any attempts at protest, “we love the race. We just need to be in sync, get into the sled and then do what we do best. Follow Cody's lead.”

“And pay attention to any errors to make it better next time,” Quinlan murmured, finally calming down. In his first four man team, this would never have happened, even without Skeev's interference.

Obi-Wan grinned, beamed really, at Cody and Rex for helping him calm Quinlan down, and for easing his own nerves. “We just need to let go of our anxieties, focus on the here and now. Here and now, we're about to race our first four man bobsled at the Winter Olympics! That's exciting, the kind of thing most only dream about. Medaling or not, we're living a dream, right here, right now, just being here. Let's focus on that.”

Quinlan chuckled. “Remember when we first got into bobsledding? Everyone said that we wouldn't ever make it competitively, wondered why either of us was interested in a sport that was so difficult and yet so dangerous. And yet, here we are now, proving them wrong. We didn't just make it competively. We're Olympic athletes! Again!”

Rex laughed. “People didn't think we'd make it either, thought we should do something more common, or traditional like hockey or skiing. But our hearts were set on making it sledding.”

“I still remember the reactions we got whenever we did well in our first season. They kept calling it beginners luck, said it wouldn't last. But we only got better.” Cody smirked. “But now the four of us are here to prove them wrong. To have fun. And maybe take that win out of spite.”

“Yes, spite is a wonderful motivator,” Obi-Wan chuckled, “but we're also here because we have fun sledding, and we're passionate about it. So let's keep that in mind.”

The whole time they were a huddle of hugging, no one ready to let go. They were a team of four. A bobsledding team. An Olympic team, and they would act like it.

They only pulled apart when their coaches entered the room, looking to calm nerves. They were pleased to see that they were not needed.

“You're almost up,” Mace said. “Remember what we've been working on, especially that tricky turn at the end.”

“The weather is fine,” Plo added. “It isn't snowing, so you shouldn't need to worry about that.”

Obi-Wan had his arms around Quinlan and Cody, and Rex had his arm around Quinlan. They all nodded, now determined and focused, as they had to be.

With a few last words of encouragement, Plo and Mace collected their helmets and passed them over.

“Have fun.” Mace gave them a smile.

And with that, they were out of the room and now waiting on deck for the race to start. They had their sled ready. None of them paid any attention to the team going ahead of them. No, they just focused on reminding each other of the little things they had been working on. The most efficient ways of doing things. None of them checked the current times.

They stepped up to the sled, stretched out, offering a few more words of encouragement. But by then, they were all excited. Excited to be racing, at the Olympics. Looking forward to the thrill of racing down the track, always skirting the edge of danger with skill.

When the signal to go sounded, they took off, one team, one goal. Smooth entry into the sled, one of the best start times so far, though not quite the best. They were nearly perfect the entire track, in synch and going faster and faster around turns. They didn't even flub the last turn very much, not the way others had.

It was their best run on this track; better than all their practice runs. And it was enough to put them in first, and remain in first after the remainder of the teams had their first run.

With that success, ending the day in second place didn't bother them. They were in good position for a medal, and there was a good chance of winning the whole thing, especially with some of the spectacular crashes at the end of the course.

The next morning, they watched another one of Fox's races, and he once again got a gold medal. He seemed a little happier this time, but still relieved. Skeevy Sheev was even more pleased. Quinlan resolved to keep an eye on it, to see if he could drag Fox out for a celebratory dinner that night.

And then... they were back to the bobsled track. Back to waiting for their third race down the track. They knew it pretty well at this point after all the practice. Were getting the hang of avoiding the flubs others made coming out of the last turn.

At the end of the third race, they were solidly in second, ahead by a few tenths of a second. But behind the first place team by a little more than half a second. That team had been doing amazing, very few mistakes at all.

They waited out the fourth heat to their turn, second last to race.

“We just need to make this a perfect run,” Cody said.

“If we can come out of that last turn without hitting the wall at all, I think that will give us the edge we need. Even catching it a little loses us time.” Obi-Wan nodded. “I think we can do it.”

“Of course we can do it!” Quinlan grinned. “We're the best team, and we're going to prove it.”

They were called up to take their places. One last round of hugs and pats and they took their places, determined, and thrilled to be here. Competing for the top spot at the Winter Olympics. The crowd was loud, and enthusiastic. For them. They were a favorite for many there watching.

Then they were off, making a new personal best start time, and flying down the track. Single mindedly focused on making this go right. Turn after turn, until the last turn. Smooth, no mistakes.

They crossed the finish line. Quinlan hit the breaks.

They turned, already falling over everything to get out, to check the time. The total of the four heats was a little more than a second ahead of the team ahead of them. The run itself was their best heat, their personal best for the course. More than that, it was a course record.

With bright grins, they moved to the side to wait. They were guaranteeed a silver medal. But was it good enough for gold? Even if it wasn't, they were exhilarated from how well that went, and it didn't matter.

The final team started. Cody, Rex, Obi-Wan, and Quinlan had their arms around each other as they waited. Their eyes were fixed on the screen showing the bobsled at different points in the track. They watched the time comparisons, watched the lead the other team had dwindle... until there was hundredths of a seconds difference.

Then they brushed the side lightly coming out of the last turn, crossing the finish line seconds later to reveal the final times.

Cody and Rex stared in disbelief. Quinlan's jaw dropped. Obi-Wan screamed, jumping up and down, reacting first. He hugged Cody and kissed his cheek, then Rex, then Quinlan. It was his usual go to for winning. Only, he usually went for Quinlan first. They were partners in racing before after all.

That brought the other three out of their stunned stupor and the team started celebrating. They had won. They were gold medalists.

There was chaos as they celebrated, as their coaches joined them. As Anakin and Aayla tackled Obi-Wan and Quinlan to congratulate them, and other family members joined in.

Later, they were calm and collected, but all smiling, when they got on the podium together to their national anthem. When they accepted their gold medals. They had done it. They had medaled this time. The four of them, together.

.

There was a few days of training for the two man event after that. Satisfied with how they had done, thrilled they had medaled, both pairs felt less like there was pressure on them. They teased each other comfortably, joking about how only two of them would be getting a second gold medal.

Fox ran more races, medaling in all but one. But he only got one more gold medal. He seemed to be exhausted every time they saw him, and he declined even grabbing a light breakfast every time he was asked.

Everyone who knew Fox was worried. Quinlan was scheming. He had to help Fox, somehow. Cody was definitely suspecting it had to do with his coach, but Rex continued to be resistant. Quinlan wished he could forget what Skeev was like, but he couldn't.

But he still focused on the two man race. He was not letting Obi-Wan down after how hard they had worked.

After their first two heats, Obi-Wan and Quinlan were in the lead with Rex and Cody close behind. The crowd was thrilled, especially seeing them teasing each other, even if the cameras couldn't capture what they were saying.

The next morning, with their third and fourth heats set for the afternoon, the four of them showed up to Fox's final race. The 30km. The longest race. Fox had been pale at breakfast before he went to do his warm ups, and maybe a little shaky, but fine.

Quinlan could see him at the side, getting ready to race. He frowned and tugged on Obi-Wan's sleeve. “Fox doesn't look that good,” he whispered.

Obi-Wan looked and frowned. “No, he doesn't.” He glanced over at Cody and Rex. Neither had noticed that Quinlan and Obi-Wan had arrived, and they were with other family members for once.

Quinlan tugged on his sleeve again, urgent, worry all over his face. “We should check it out, see if we can find something. I don't trust Skeev and Fox looks worse now than he did at breakfast. He actually looks in pain. He's never shown pain.”

Fox was indeed favoring his left side, though as he got in place in the line up, all signs of the pain were already fading from sight. He was good at hiding it.

“And Skeevy Sheev likes making his athletes push their limits, ignoring injuries.” Obi-Wan nodded. “We should start by seeing if there's any footage of the warm ups, and if there is something that happened, we should find out if there was a report of injury.”

Quinlan beamed at Obi-Wan. “You're the best.”

Obi-Wan grinned. “Come on, let's go rescue your crush from his coach.” He started walking.

“Obi-Wan!” Quinlan whined. “You know it's not like that.”

Obi-Wan hummed. “I know it's mostly motivated because you know what Skeevy Sheev is like, but you wouldn't be pushing to investigate right this instance beyond reporting concerns, if it wasn't Fox.”

Quinlan found he couldn't argue with that.

.

The race didn't start for another ten minutes after they left to investigate. By the time it ended, they were waiting for Fox in place of Skeevy Sheev.

Between the two of them, they had several conversations with Fox that were concerning. Some from Cody and Rex about their concerns, and things even family had noticed. Quinlan and Obi-Wan even dug up the old messages between them and with others about Quinlan when he was training under Sheev to compare the behavior patterns.

With those concerns, and pointing out Fox visibly hiding injuries, they got Olympic officials to agree to look at the warm up footage even though no injuries were reported. Fox had three crashes during warm ups, and two of them looked like there was no way he wasn't at least bruised. But, no injuries were reported.

That was enough for the people in charge to get Sheev to step aside, and allow Obi-Wan and Quinlan to wait for Fox in his place. Sheev had some questions to answer, and they were considering opening an investigation, pending what injuries Fox actually had and what he had to say.

By that point, they were so close to the end that there wasn't the time to quietly get family down to wait for Fox or even another coach. So the two friends would have to do as an adequate substitute.

They took Skeev's place as he was led away. Quinlan smiled and waved at him cheerfully, pleased to have interfered with Sheev. Fox wasn't doing as well this race as he was others, struggling to keep up with the lead pack. Even if nothing happened to Skeevy Sheev, at least he wasn't ending the race to that unpleasantness.

But in the last lap, he pulled into the middle of the lead pack, and then the two in the lead crashed in the lead up to the final approach. It was just Fox and two others, as some others got caught up in the crash as well. Fox was just so numbly focused on continuing that he evaded it.

“No way!” Quinlan gasped, eyes wide. A delighted grin spread across his face. “He's going to medal!”

Obi-Wan wrapped an arm around Quinlan and squeezed. “He's going to medal!”

Fox saw the finish line and put on one last burst of speed, knowing he would be done once he crossed it. He didn't know or care what place he was at. He had done his best, and that was that. He let himself glide across the finish line, towards the stands so that he could collapse out of the way of any skiiers behind him. He knew there was a crash so there had to be some behind him somewhere. At least he wasn't in last.

Quinlan cheered when Fox crossed the finish line, the crowd went wild (three gold medals!), and Fox seemed oblivious as he glided to a stop and collapsed.

Quinlan wasn't too concerned at first. After the 30km, it was pretty common for the skiiers to just collapse until they caught their breath and got enough feeling back to move. But Fox wasn't moving beyond just breathing hard.

So he dropped down next to Fox. “Hey, Fox, you okay, ready to move?”

“Ungh...” Fox groaned. He turned his eyed and squinted at Quinlan. “Quin? What are you doing here?”

Obi-Wan appeared next to Quinlan. “We were concerned and officials spotted the footage of you crashing. They pulled your coach aside to talk.”

“It's fine, I'm fine.” Fox started sitting up, hissing at the protest in his side.

Quinlan shook his head, moving to support Fox. “I know what Skeev is like. Pushes you past your limits, isolates you... forces you to run even though you have a broken leg and it could ruin your career permanently.”

“...I don't have a broken leg.”

Obi-Wan was removing the skis. “It happened to Quinlan. Sk-Sheev was his coach for four man bobsled before we were partners in the two man.”

Fox stared at Quinlan.

Quinlan started poking around for injuries, making notes. “I know you're injured, and I know what it's like to hide the injuries. So just tell me how bad it is and we'll see about getting you the proper help. The race is over, there are no more races, and the only concern is that you might miss the medal ceremony.”

“What do you mean? Why is a problem if I miss the medal ceremony?”

Quinlan stopped and put his hands on Fox's shoulders. “You didn't see? Then I should congratulate you Fox. You won. You got gold.”

“What?” Fox gaped, then looked around. There were still skiiers coming in. The standings showed his name right up top, in the first place slot. “I won?”

Quinlan hugged him gently. “You won. Now what kind of injuries do ya got?”

“Uh... There's massive brusing on my side, I'm pretty sure I sprained both my ankles, it's kind of hard to breathe and I couldn't feel my right hand before the race? And my head hurts.” Fox didn't go in to the old injuries, most of which were pretty minor anyways.

Obi-Wan frowned. “Then let's get you over to the emergency services. Ready to stand? We'll support you.”

Fox groaned but accepted their help. He didn't really use their support at first, but he was getting the feeling back in his injuries and his ankles throbbed.

The paramedics quickly stripped him to examine him properly, were horrified, and sent him to the hospital, with the promise that he would hopefully be released temporarily so he could attend the medal ceremony for his gold medal.

Cody and Rex reached them ahead of the rest of the family. Quinlan was leaning on Obi-Wan, worried, and with no other outlet beyond their upcoming third and fourth heats. He had done what he could.

“What happened?” Rex demanded.

Obi-Wan rubbed Quinlan's back, offering Rex and Cody a smile. “Quin noticed that Fox was favoring his side in the lead up to the race, so we went to investigate, and we learned that Fox crashed three times during warm ups, but no injuries were reported. There was no way he wasn't going to be injured after two of them. The officials were a bit horrified upon reviewing the footage, and realizing that no injuries had been reported.”

“It's fine to compete with injuries, though,” Rex protested, “so why make a big deal of it?”

“It's fine to compete, but they still have to be reported,” Quinlan responded quietly. “So that they can receive first aid and advice for competing, if they are absolutely determined to keep racing. No good coach would fail to report an injury. Fox should not have been racing. He said both his ankles were sprained, his side had a massive bruise and one of his hands was completely numb before racing.”

Cody wrapped an arm around Rex to keep him from protesting further. “So Sheev is going to be in trouble?”

“There's a good chance. You might want to submit some of your own evidence, just conversations you've had with Fox that reference his training that might be red flags,” Obi-Wan replied. “When it was Quinlan dealing with that, that helped a lot.”

Rex startled. “You were serious about it when you mentioned it?” he asked Quinlan.

“I nearly was unable to continue running, let alone bobsledding because he forced me to do a full competition with a broken leg.”

Cody winced. “I'm sorry. I should have taken your concerns more seriously.”

Quinlan waved a hand. “I've been there, Fox would've just doubled down if you confronted him. As long as you were open to talking about it after the Olympics I wasn't about to press it.”

Rex looked between the two. “Come on, let's get a good lunch. You two need to be in top form for our competition later.”

Obi-Wan gave him a grateful look. “Yeah, Quin, you can get your favorite pre race meal and we can indulge after!”

“But the race still isn't for seven hours,” Quinlan whined. “It's not even lunch yet.”

“You're whining. It's time to eat,” Cody replied flatly, helping Obi-Wan drag Quinlan away.

Rex followed, amused by Quinlan carrying on.

Obi-Wan chuckled. “I think after eating lunch, we can check in with our coaches and ask them if there's any way to get updates on Skeev, and I'm sure Cody and Rex will be getting updates on Fox and can update us.”

Cody nodded. “Wolffe will be the one who sits with Fox, most likely. He'll definitely send me updates if I ask.”

Quinlan started relaxing.

.

Quinlan leaned into Obi-Wan. “Is it just me or is the inspection taking a little longer than usual?”

Obi-Wan shrugged. “Maybe he's just being thorough.”

They were about to start their third heat, being the last to do so as they were in first place going into it. Over the last several hours, Sheev was announced to be under proper investigation. It seemed that not only had everyone who knew Fox given enough evidence to arouse suspicion, Fox had decided the gold hadn't been worth it. His arm was so severely broken that he required a surgery to fix it, and they weren't certain he would recover enough to get back to skiing. He would have been able to if Sheev had at least allowed him to get it checked out, for certain. But now... he'd have a long road to recovery.

Quinlan had heard from Fox right before the heat had started, and was pleased that Fox had been considered okay enough to go receive his medal, so long as he returned to the hospital immediately. Fox apologized for not getting to see his race, but Quinlan just ordered him to get some rest and watch on the tv.

Obi-Wan nudged him as he put his helmet on. “Time to go. Rex and Cody made a good time, but I bet we can do better.” He grinned, delighted by the idea of one upping his crushes.

Quinlan cackled. “Oh we can definitely do better.”

They hugged and then fist bumped before getting into place.

The run went smoothly. Obi-Wan had a nagging feeling that something was wrong, but that was chased away when they saw that they were now a full second, almost second and a half ahead of Rex and Cody. He grinned at them.

“Have fun catching up with that time!” Obi-Wan called to them, in the middle of hugging Quinlan. “I think we're going to win!”

Quinlan laughed. “I think you're right. We set a course record for two man! We're doing great!”

Obi-Wan grinned at him, pleased that Quinlan was totally focused, and they were so close to getting another gold.

As they went back to wait for their turn once more, Cody and Rex caught up with them. Cody and Rex elbowed Obi-Wan.

“What was that? You think we're going to win Kenobi?” Rex asked. “I think we can catch you.”

Obi-Wan grinned. “Oh really? With our lead, you need a perfect run, and you haven't had one of those yet in two man, have you? And that might not be enough if we have another fantastic run like the last.”

Cody elbowed him harder. “Don't underestimate us. It wouldn't be the first time we pulled off a miracle.”

Quinlan walked backwards, amused by the three of them. Totally in love with each other at this point, and apparently mostly in denial about it.

“Miracles are just that, miracles. They don't always happen,” Obi-Wan shot back. “But I suppose if you closed the gap that's acceptable.”

“Closing the gap just means a better secured silver,” Cody countered, “not a gold, and not enough of a miracle for me.”

“Yeah. We want to take that win for ourselves, really earn it.”

Obi-Wan shook his head in amusement. “Come on now, we all have gold medals here, do you really need another?”

“Do you?”

Obi-Wan started laughing as Quinlan walked backwards right into Mace, who had intentionally stopped right there for that reason.

“I see you four are having fun?” Mace asked, raising an eyebrow, the ghost of a smile on his face.

Obi-Wan flung his arms around Rex and Cody and gave him an innocent look. “Of course we are. Quin and I had a fantastic run, and these two are doing pretty dang good too.”

“Good.” Mace smiled genuinely. “The happier you are about this, the easier it will be to make it through the final run.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “That's true. It won't do us any good to be all tense and anxious. Just as long as we can focus.”

“You know us, Mace! We can focus!” Quinlan hugged Mace.

Mace accepted the hug then shoved Quinlan way. “Go on, you have some waiting to do and apparently some ridiculousness to get out of your system.”

They all laughed and headed up. The last heat was going to be great.

.

Rex and Cody, as they promised, ran their best run yet, a near perfect run. They were waiting with eager anticipation at the bottom to see how Obi-Wan and Quinlan did. How close their finishing times were going to be.

Once again, the inspection seemed to take just a little longer than usual. The feeling of foreboding Quinlan had been ignoring rose again. Obi-Wan nudged him reassuringly as they took their places, though he too felt like something was wrong.

It started off smoothly. Obi-Wan grinned as they raced down the track, perfect, not a single issue. Just them, the sled, and the ice.

Then he felt it. Something was wrong with the steering. He kept calm and compensated for it. It wasn't enough to keep the run perfect, but enough to keep from a major mistake. They were almost to the bottom, he was still compensating.

And things went wrong.

.

Rex leaned into Cody, frowning. “Something's wrong. They're still ahead, will probably win but...”

“I know... something's not right...” Cody wrapped an arm around Rex. “They were fine when we left them... is it something with the sled?”

Then, to their horror, and the horror of the audience, the sled went out of control. Quinlan and Obi-Wan fell out of the sled at the impact to the top of the curve, though both were holding on for dear life. The sled fell on top of them and remained there as they slid around the corner and across the finish line, which allowed them to finish the race, in second place despite the accident.

They didn't come to a stop until they hit the mats in place to catch them. And neither moved.

Rex and Cody exchanged wide eyed looks and followed Mace, arriving just as some officials pulled the sled off of them. There was blood, a rarity in bobsled crashes, and limbs bent at awkward angles. Their helmets were toast but showed why helmets are a good thing to wear.

Obi-Wan and Quinlan were rushed to the hospital while some officials took a look at the sled. Cody was still staring off at where the paramedics had left when Rex grabbed his arm.

“Look,” he hissed.

Cody turned reluctantly, to find the officials discussing what they found very seriously. “What...?”

“I think the inspector missed something, they pulled out the steering with little effort,” Rex whispered.

“No wonder... Obi did brilliantly, steering that... and then... it went wrong.” Cody swallowed shakily. “I haven't seen a crash that bad in a long time. None of the crashes here were anywhere near that bad... most were able to race again...”

Rex squeezed his hand. “We'll go visit,” he promised. “After the medal ceremony.”

“They deserve to be in first, not us.” Cody said numbly. “Even with the issues, it would have been close, if Obi hadn't been struggling with the steering... they would have easily beaten us. I know they're getting awarded second but... they deserve first.”

Rex sighed. “I know... they were a second and a half ahead of us going into that, and we were three seconds ahead of third place. There was no real competition. Maybe a chance they'd get second, but...” He shook his head.

“Do we really have to accept the gold medal?” Cody asked.

“I don't really want to...” Rex sighed. “But they'll be angry at us if we don't. Maybe we could do something else?”

As they prepared for the medal ceremony, they learned that it was an act of deliberate sabotage. The inspector was paid off to ensure something would go wrong. He had to be careful not to get caught, which is why things only went wrong at the end. It wasn't good enough for him to avoid getting caught anyways, just too late to prevent the crash. And he was paid off by Skeevy Sheev, because of course he was. Sheev was pissed at Quinlan's interference with Fox, angry that he was being investigated. He wanted his revenge on Quinlan, who had also been the main reason he was banned from coaching bobsledding.

Rex and Cody shared a look. They definitely did not want to accept the medal for an act of sabotage. But they knew that Quinlan and Obi-Wan would not be happy, and they knew it could be seen as a snub. So they conspired, and talked with Mace, who would be accepting their medals for his athletes.

They stepped up on the podium, waved and smiled. They waited until they had their medals, then stepped down onto the second place podium respectfully. Mace placed a picture of Quinlan and Obi-Wan on the top and stood off to the side.

There was silence. The third place team nodded respectfully to Cody and Rex for their decision. The best way to honor the team that should have won.

After a moment, the announcer found his voice and informed everyone that though Vos and Kenobi were alive, they were still unconscious at the hospital and unable to receive their medals. Their accident was the result of sabotage, which must be why their rivals and teammates stepped to the side to honor them as if they had actually won.

Cody and Rex suffered through a couple of interviews where they continually proclaimed that they were not comfortable accepting gold when Obi-Wan and Quinlan could have won, and probably would have if they hadn't been sabotaged. Finally, Plo and Mace came to their rescue, and they were able to escape to go to the hospital. To find out what was actually wrong.

.

Cody and Rex sat next to Obi-Wan's bed, holding hands and staring at him. He had a concussion, a massive bruise on his side, cracked ribs, his leg had bent so awkwardly when the sled landed on it that the broken bone broke through the skin, a ton of internal bleeding, and both his arms had been broken as well.

There had been surgeries, and so far, it looked like healing might just mean taking a year off of bobsledding, he should be able to keep doing it. And yet... he hadn't woken up yet. The injuries were just that bad when put together.

“How are we going to tell him?” Rex asked quietly. “After seeing that, seeing this... I can't keep it quiet anymore.”

“Me either,” Cody admitted. “I kept having to hold myself back from kissing him throughout the Olympics. But now... now he's injuried and there's no telling how well he'll recover right now... I want him to know he has us.”

Rex nodded. “He deserves that much, especially since Quinlan is so injured too... Poor Fox, worrying about him when he should be worrying about his own arm.”

“It might be good for Fox to have something to take his mind off of the damage, but we'll have to make sure he's not going to totally ignore his own needs.”

“Yeah. But back to how the heck are we going to tell him?”

“Tell me what?” Obi-Wan asked groggily, squinting at them.

Cody lurched forward and grabbed his hand. “Oh thank goodness you're awake.”

Rex was already moving to contact the nurse so that they were aware.

“Mm... this is the hospital... why am I in the hospital... what happened?” Obi-Wan stared at him, eyes wide as he realized just how much pain he was in.

Cody rubbed his hand soothingly. “What's the last thing you remember?”

“Racing... fourth heat. Something was wrong with the steering... We crashed didn't we?” Obi-Wan asked, resigned.

“Yes, it was a bad one. But you're going to be alright.”

“Quin?”

“It'll be harder for him, but he'll be alright too.”

“Did we end up disqualified?”

“Nope, neither of you let go of the sled.”

“Huh.”

Rex came over and held out the silver medal. “This is yours.”

Obi-Wan stared at it. “...how, if we crashed?”

“You kept control of the sled enough before the crash to not lose much time, and you were close to five seconds ahead of the third place team after the third heat. The crash was at that last turn, you and Quin flipped out and the sled fell on top of you, and you slid across the finish line.”

“That sounds painful. No wonder I'm sore.”

The nurse arrived and started checking on Obi-Wan. Got his pain levels, gave him some more of an explanation of his injuries, then informed him the doctor would be in soon.

Obi-Wan was quiet for a moment once the doctor had left. “It could be worse, after a crash like that... but it's going to be hard if I ever want to compete again.”

Cody squeezed his hand, gently. “That's okay. We'll be with you, whether or not you want to push through.”

“Huh?”

“Obi-Wan, you and Quinlan are both injured,” Rex explained seriously. “And it's months of recovery. You're both going to need help, and you can't help each other.”

“Oh. You're willing to stick around to help?” Obi-Wan asked, blushing.

Rex decided to be impulsive and leaned over, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Of course we are, Obi.”

Cody kissed his other cheek, not to be out done. “We've been talking for a while, actually. About maybe dating you.”

Obi-Wan blinked up at them, dazed. He looked between their serious yet hopeful expressions and blushed a deeper red. “Oh... are you sure?”

“I love you, Obi,” Cody declared, in a rare show of impulsiveness.

“We love you,” Rex added, leaning in with a grin. “You're amazing. Complement us both.”

“And you've helped us avoid arguments, fitting in like you belong with us.”

“Oh.” Obi-Wan grinned. “That sounds amazing... but maybe we can talk more details when I'm not in the hospital?”

“Of course. We can wait. We just didn't want to wait to tell you.”

“I'm glad you're here. Wait, who's sitting with Quin and how bad are his injuries?”

“He didn't hit his head because he hit his back instead, his spine broke. Broken ribs and fractured bones in his legs. It'll take him longer to recover but he woke up earlier able to feel his legs so it should be fine. Fox is with him.”

“Fox?” Obi-Wan smiled. “You know, Quin has the biggest crush on him? I have mentioned that right?” He could not remember.

“Fox has a pretty big crush on him too,” Rex chuckled. “Especially since it was Quin that helped him out after his race.”

“Good. Then maybe they'll get together and I can stop hearing Quinlan whine about him.” Obi-Wan paused, then shook his head. He winced and stopped. “Of course he's going to say the same thing about me...”

“Oh really?” Rex asked with a smirk. “He will?”

“I'm quite in love with both of you, after all. Maybe he'll let up on the teasing now.”

“Especially if he's preoccupied with his own relationship,” Cody agreed.

“True.” Obi-Wan considered them both. “We do need to talk more about how this relationship is going to work, but... can I have a proper kiss? Please?”

Cody leaned over and kissed him before moving aside so Rex could kiss Obi-Wan. Then, without giving Rex a chance to react, he kissed Rex, too. Just for good measure.

Obi-Wan beamed at them. “Well, maybe I need to land in the hospital more often if this is the sort of thing that's waiting for me.”

“Please no,” Cody groaned. “My heart couldn't take it.”

“Mine either.”

“Very well. But I'm never going to let you forget that it took me landing in the hospital for you two to confess.”

“What about you? Were you ever going to confess?”

“You two have a closed relationship. I was not certain you would be open to a third. I did not want to risk our friendship or our team by bringing it up, but I had promised to try hinting at my interest if we got gold in the four man and both our teams made the podium in the two man.”

“Well, at least you had a plan,” Cody grumbled, shooting a look at Rex.

“You didn't have one either!” Rex protested.

Obi-Wan laughed. “Well, either way, it's worked out. Now... tell me what I've missed? How was the medal ceremony?”

With Rex and Cody each holding a hand, as close to him as they could manage, Obi-Wan allowed himself to relax and focus on the here and now. He could worry about his recovery, worry about Quin's recovery another time. For now, he was with his boyfriends and they needed the distraction as much as he did.