Page 96 of Dickathlon

“Well, technically, no. Semen isn’t your only sustenance, is it?”

“Well, today? Yes, that’s all I’ve eaten.”

“Semen vampire it is.”

18

Declan

July, four months later…

ROME

“What’s going on, Declan? I don’t have to tell you, but that was your worst official four hundred meter time, I think, ever.”

“Fuck.” Yuri was right. I didn’t need to look at my stats. Something was off. And I didn’t like the feeling. I was in fourth after the first day of competition. There were five more events tomorrow and they were my only chance at redemption.

Two months ago at the US Championships, I broke the world record for points and came in first. Unfortunately, Ty hadn’t been there for that. He was with his kids at the state championship, which fell on the same weekend. They placed third, which wasn’t enough to qualify for Nationals. I knew Ty was disappointed since it was his last year with them, but I was glad he was moving on and contributing to the US Olympic team again.

He had arrived yesterday morning, so last night was our first night together in seventeen days. Yeah, I had been counting.

“Did you get enough sleep last night?”

“Yup. Nine hours.”

“Shower up and I’ll meet you after. We need to figure this out.”

I had a feeling he had a theory, but I’d wait until later to hear it.

Turning my attention to my boyfriend, it was easy to find Ty in the stands. He was almost the only one wearing green in the American section. We caught each other’s eyes and blew kisses. I had never been one for schmaltzy stuff before, but he brought it out in me so easily. It was something new I had discovered about myself because of him. Similarly, I loved traveling, but doing it with someone I cared about, sharing the experiences and taking cute couple selfies, made it that much better. I had no idea what I was missing until Ty.

Because of some of my photos, I had noticed a significant gain in followers on Instagram and a lot more DMs. Ty had redownloaded the app, but only posted occasionally, though he liked every one of my posts, which hadn’t gone unnoticed. I didn’t take offense to him not announcing us from the rooftops. It was his first big relationship, he had to be nervous about it. I mean, I was…a little, though for me the nerves were more about the future and less about going public

As an active spokesman for several brands, I had to keep up with social media. I wasn’t sure if Ty had seen the comments asking about us. Even without tagging him, people recognized Ty. He was a hard face to forget. Instead of addressing them, I just liked the comments and let the rumors circulate. They weren’t hurting anything and like with most things, I was letting Ty set the pace.

Yuri said we were apparently the hottest gay couple in sports even without an official announcement. I knew Graham, Ty’s former teammate, and his now-husband Jake went public after their wedding, but I guess there weren’t many other athletes in gay relationships.

I ran into a couple of the other decathletes on the way to the lockers and we made small talk before giving each other congratulatory bro-hugs. I avoided the guy currently in the lead, Ulisses Ferreira, and made my way inside.

Pulling my phone out of my bag, I checked my messages first.

Tyler: I’m so glad I’m here to cheer you on. You were great!

Declan: Thanks, babe. I’m glad you’re here too.

Declan: Gotta meet with Yuri for a minute. Wait for me by the main entrance?

Tyler: Will do. :-*

I had no idea why I was so off. Everything felt the same. I was just…slower. The shot put and the high jump were the only two events I did reasonably well in. I was in and out of the shower in minutes and dressed in shorts and a fresh polo as I headed out to find Yuri.

I didn’t have to go far.

“Let’s sit over here, Declan.” He motioned to a bench nearby. “Let’s go over everything you did today after waking up.” He produced a notepad from who knows where and wrote down everything that I said.

I glanced over and could see he was making a timeline.

“Food. Drink. Tell me those too, and when.”