Matchpoint

by Gus Ralthocco

  The roar of the crowd was almost deafening as the view, the sand, the lines around the court, the net—everything slowly came into focus.

  Diego saw his parents in the stands, right next to Alice and Marina, all of them watching him, cheering him on among all the other fans.

  A wave of confidence lapped at his feet when he touched the ball. He had to grab it with both hands because in this stage of the competition, they couldn’t lose a game. From the round of sixteen, only the winners advanced to the next stage, the quarterfinals.

  As Diego felt the sand under his feet, he positioned himself on the back of the court, ready to serve. Then he breathed in and pushed away everything else but the moment.

  The referee blew the whistle, and the first ball went flying to the other side.

  Diego resumed his place beside Caio as the other team prepared an attack with a swift pass of the ball from one player to the other. Toward the net, Caio ran for the block, yet the ball passed right in front of him and moved parallel to the net, leaving Diego alone to extend his arms and wrap his fingers together to save the ball.

  With precision, he sent it up in the air, and Caio was on it to prepare their attack. Diego moved forward and jumped to spike the ball down, but Hanzer had his arms up on the other side of the net, ready to defend the field. Instead of finding a hole in their defense, the ball Diego hit found a wall in front of him, came back to his side of the net, and fell to the sand. He tried to kick it with his foot, but he didn’t catch it the right way, and the ball flew away.

  Loud cheers went up for the Dutch team, and Diego felt the haze of defeat cloud his eyes.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Caio came his way as the other team got the ball.

  “I know.” Diego tried to put up a front.

  Caio offered his fist for a bump, and Diego complied.

  They returned to their places to receive the ball, but the serve from the other side came at a high speed, right between the two of them. Instead of aiming for the ball, Caio and Diego didn’t manage to communicate well and bumped into each other as the ball hit the sand between them, which marked a second point for the opposite team.

  “Sorry,” Diego said. He got help from Caio to get up.

  “Next point is where we’re at,” Caio assured him.

  But the next rally was also a bust, and they were nervous all of a sudden, unsure of themselves on the sand. In the next couple of rallies, they couldn’t find a way to break that wall on the other side of the net.

  At 5-0 for the Dutch team, Caio decided it was time to take some of the pressure and asked for a timeout of thirty seconds. When the referee accepted the request, Caio led the way as they marched to their bench.

  Caio handed Diego a water bottle but didn’t release it, so their eyes met in that stalemate.

  “What?” Diego asked, knowing that the clock was ticking.

  “This is not who we are, Diego. You know that, right?” Diego feared that Caio was talking about the most recent developments between them, and his heart started to get buried under the heavy weight of disappointment. But then Caio got closer to him. “We’re good together, in and out of the sand. And whatever happens after this competition, I swear that I’m not going to hurt you. I’ll protect you from the world and from myself if I need to. But we’re staying together,” he said in a whisper, mostly so the cameras wouldn’t pick it up.

  And only then did Diego realize that Caio was looking at his lips, and the heaviness inside his chest started to disappear.

  “We’re together in this, right?” He asked, eager to get an answer.

  Caio nodded. “Of course we are.”

  The referee called them back with a whistle, and Caio released the bottle. There was only a few seconds left for Diego to wet his tongue before he had to hurry back to the court.

  But Caio was waiting for him, offering a hand for Diego to take. Hesitantly, Diego put his hand in Caio’s, and a shock of energy engulfed him. He felt like he was ready for anything that might come his way.

  Chapter Twelve

  WHEN the game restarted and the opposing team served the ball, Caio watched it go straight to Diego, who received it so they could work up an attack. But the Dutch team managed to defend themselves and then attack again, forcing the ball to the Brazilian side with even more speed.

  Caio received the shot and didn’t let the ball escape from his hands. He felt the brunt of the hit, but it was a pain that didn’t seem to register as he passed the ball to Diego, who sent it flying toward the net, and Caio jumped to spike it down.

  The Dutch players defended, and while they worked on their attack, Caio breathed in. With barely enough time to put his hands together, he studied the ball as it came toward him. It was too high for him to receive with his hands anyway, so the ball hit him right in the chest and then fell dead onto the sand.

  And now they were six points behind.

  “Was that any better?” Diego asked when he moved closer to check on Caio.

  “Kind of,” he answered, but he wasn’t happy about losing another point.

  He offered his fist, and Diego gently bumped him with his own.

  Caio knew they could do it, of course. In a match it was hard to know what would be enough to guarantee the win. He didn’t want to say goodbye to the competition, and he didn’t want to let more of his memories of the Olympics get tainted with the bad things that had happened in his life. He would fight to make things work out this time.

  When the next serve bounded his way, Caio tried to receive the ball with the best technique to give them the chance to mount a successful attack. He got the ball and lifted it above the middle of their half of the court for Diego to set the play. With precision, Diego touched the ball swiftly and prompted it toward the net at the right place for Caio to spike it.

  Up until then they hadn’t been able to put the ball down on the other court, and as Caio moved his arm to connect with it, he aimed at the far left side of the court to avoid their opponents yet still put the ball inside the lines.

  The hit was perfect, and the ball went right where he wanted it to go. One of the Dutch players reached out to save it, but instead of the ball coming back to the court, it kicked off his hand and went outside of the playing area.

  For a moment of suspense, Caio almost didn’t believe they’d scored a point, but when the cheers of the crowd reached his ears, he knew the point was theirs.

  Caio closed his fists and let out his frustrations with a “yes!” And Diego did the same beside him.

  The relief coursing through his veins was dizzying for a moment, and he saw Diego smiling. Caio swung his arms around him and pulled Diego close for a beat. It was just one point, and they were still five behind their opponents, but sometimes it was a moment like this that made the game shift their way.

  Turning that difference around was no easy feat, though. They fought through that first set, but the Dutch team held them off the top of the scoreboard, and the first part of the match, they finished 21-18 for the Dutchmen. It was close, but Caio and Diego lost and needed to come back stronger in the second half and push it for a third set so they could come out with the win.

  “I think we need to keep hitting Dalhausser on the left side. He gets frantic about receiving the ball, and I’m sure we can get him to lose his concentration if we tire him out,” Caio said as they moved to the other side of the court during the time between sets.

  “You sure?” Diego looked at their opponents.

  “Just don’t forget to keep controlling your serve. Don’t try to force an ace, because we can’t lose balls in this match. I think it’s more of a waiting game now—waiting to see who’s going to make more mistakes.” At least that was how Caio saw their situation.

  Some teams were fantastic on the first set but lost steam toward the end, while others got sharper and stronger as time went by. That was the case for Caio and Diego. He was worried about them going forward, because each match would be harder than the l
ast. They needed to transform every bad ball thrown their way into a good one. But for that to happen, nothing from outside the court could interfere in their playing.

  They stepped inside the lines once again, and Caio glanced at the stands, where Alice was wearing the same shirt she wore to their first game. Beside her, Marina was looking at him with worry in her eyes, but he could also see her trust in him. She knew they could win this game.

  “Ready?” asked Diego from the side.

  “Yes, I am.”

  The referee blew the whistle to signal the restart of the game.

  Things didn’t start to magically work out, but from that moment on, Caio felt they were on the right track. They worked to open a three-point margin over the other team right at the start, and that set the tone for the rest of the game. That difference stayed between them all throughout the second set. And as the game advanced, Caio felt that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

  Even then, after winning the second set, Caio knew there was still the tiebreak for them to get through in order to advance to the quarterfinals. At the start of the game, it had seemed like mission impossible, but now that the ball was doing what Caio and Diego wanted, the game was looking up.

  Caio kept his best hits for the third set, and Diego was steady and focused beside him, going as far as to disobey his request to not force a serve, and he surprised Caio with his perfect aim and cold-blooded attitude.

  He did that on the match point, when they were one point away from the win. Diego was positioned to serve, and after the referee allowed him to hit the ball, Diego sent it up to the sky and jumped high to hit it hard and fast. The ball went from the top of his extended hand to the back of the court on the other side, almost right at the line. It toyed with Caio’s vision for a beat as he looked for the line judges to know if it had fallen in or out.

  But the fate of the game was sealed.

  Diego’s cries of victory confirmed it.

  That was the end of the game.

  He turned to the stands and let the energy of the crowd wash over him. They were screaming something that seemed surprisingly like pato. Caio wasn’t sure what it was at first, but then he remembered the posters and their fans, and he laughed.

  Someone jumped on his back, and sweaty arms snaked around his neck. Caio had to reach behind not to let Diego fall to the ground. He maneuvered him around so they were chest to chest as Caio held him against his body. It was good. It was perfect.

  He felt a shiver at the back of his spine when their eyes met. They were going to kiss, but at the last moment, Diego buried his head in Caio’s neck.

  “This is who we are,” Diego stated. Caio could only nod against him.

  Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay that way for too long. They needed to greet the other team and the referees at the center of the court and then pass by the mixed zone.

  Caio got ready for the press, but Diego beat him to it and went on to talk to the reporters.

  They were asked some of the same questions from previous games, and Diego gave them the rehearsed answers. One Brazilian TV reporter wanted to talk to Caio too, so he advanced onto the mic and took a breath as he waited for the questions to come.

  “This was a difficult game, but in the end, you managed to grab the win. Congratulations on advancing to the quarterfinals. What happened on that first set? It’s not common for us to see you guys struggling that much.” Caio nodded as the man asked the question.

  “I think this is a different competition. We never were at the Olympics together, but we’re on an upward curve. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. We leave here with the win, and that’s what we set out to do, even though we took some time to find the right way to play the game.” He pressed his lips in a tight smile. He wouldn’t mention that there was more than that behind their hard time on the sand.

  “It seems like the relationship between the two of you is even closer than before. Is this something that’s improving your game, or becoming a hurdle?”

  The question was just on the edge of what Caio would answer, especially when there was nothing public about their relationship. No one knew it had changed.

  Diego turned to him with hesitation in his eyes, and Caio breathed in to give the reporter his answer.

  “We won the game, so I wouldn’t say it’s holding us back. And we’re spending all of our time here together, so it’s impossible not to get closer. That way we can better understand each other, we can connect in ways were haven’t before, and I think that can only help in the long run. And we’d like to thank you for the support,” he added at the end.

  Caio dipped his head in a respectful manner and then waved a goodbye and followed the volunteer who was waiting for him by the entrance of the backstage area.

  Diego trailed him, and when they were away from the big crowd, he surprised Caio by weaving his arms around his torso without saying a thing. They were sweaty and smelling of the sand, but Caio held on to Diego. He needed that.

  “We need to find Marina,” Caio said.

  “I hope she’s not going to kill us for that first set.” Diego groaned.

  Caio laughed, and Diego released him.

  “She won’t do a thing if she wants us to win a medal,” commented Caio as he put an arm around Diego’s shoulders and led them out of the backstage area.

  They left through the gates toward the main plaza, and Alice ran to Caio when she saw them. She launched herself onto him and almost didn’t give Caio enough time to step away from Diego so he could swing her around.

  “You won the game, Daddy!”

  “Yes we did, princess.” He kissed Alice on the cheek.

  “But that was far more tension that I wanted from a game at this point,” Marina complained when she got close to them.

  “It was my fault,” Diego pointed out, a guilty look on his face.

  Instead of agreeing with him, Marina huffed out a breath and then pulled Diego in for a hug.

  “You need to stop putting yourself down all the time,” she said, and there was a trace of irritation in her voice.

  “I was slipping in the first set, and we could have lost the game,” Diego explained as he put some distance between himself and Marina. Alice made grabby hands at him, and Caio turned her over to Diego.

  Diego adjusted her in his arms, and as he watched how comfortable Alice was with him, Caio couldn’t help but feel something tug at his heartstrings.

  “It was still a good game.” Marina opened her arms for a hug as she turned to Caio, and he welcomed his sister in.

  “Thanks. We managed to win. That’s what matters.”

  “Are you two all right?” she asked in a whisper.

  “We’ll be fine,” he answered, but he didn’t delve into it, because they were so out in the open.

  In the next moment, Júlio and Roberta found them, so there was another round of congratulatory hugs. They couldn’t discuss any intimate things then, but he sensed Diego’s eyes on him, and there was a promise in them, a newly discovered, deep-seated need, and Caio wondered if anyone else could see it.

  The fans didn’t take long to descend, and the group had to disband to attend to them. For about twenty minutes, Caio and Diego talked with fans, took pictures, and signed autographs. Then they managed to get away to have a meal in the city.

  Caio wondered if Diego’s parents also knew what was going on between Caio and Diego, but they never mentioned it, although it seemed obvious to Caio that the group was skirting around the topic.

  Caio wanted to relax for the rest of the afternoon, and Caio and Diego went home unscathed, carrying with them only the exhaustion of that day in the sand. Fortunately, the apartment was empty when they got in.

  “If you want the first shower, have at it,” he said as they entered their room.

  He went to open the window to let some air in and keep the room fresh.

  When he didn’t get an answer, Caio twisted around to see where Diego was and saw him pull
his shirt off of his body and throw it on the floor. He walked toward Caio with purpose, and even before Diego neared him, there was no doubt what he had in mind to do.

  Caio let his backpack fall to the floor as Diego jumped on him, wrapped his legs around Caio’s midsection, and pressed their lips together.

  “Are you sure you want to do this now?” Caio put a little distance between them.

  “I just want to be with you,” Diego pleaded, and then he kissed Caio again.

  All that Caio knew was the feel of Diego against him. He took over the kiss to press his tongue into Diego’s mouth and taste him. Against his abs, he felt the pressure of Diego’s hardening shaft, and he manhandled Diego so he could get his hands on the muscles of his ass and squeeze him close.

  Caio pushed away from the wall, moved to his bed, and knelt over the mattress as he let Diego fall on the comforter. He watched as Diego’s muscles worked to take the strain, and his hard cock showed against the fabric of his shorts.

  Diego slid a hand under the band of his underwear and pulled out his cock.

  “Fuck,” Caio said. He didn’t know where to look.

  In haste, Caio moved to get his shorts off, and Diego reached for Caio’s shaft as soon as he was naked. Caio’s cock twitched under the touch of Diego’s hand. It’s been a long time since someone had touched him.

  “Fuck yeah,” Diego groaned.

  Caio tested out the motion of his hips and fucked Diego’s hand once, then twice.

  “I’ve missed this,” Caio put a hand on the bed above Diego’s shoulder for support and rolled his hips to follow the movements of Diego’s hand.

  “And I’ve wanted this for a long time,” Diego said.

  Caio leaned down and brought their lips together as Diego squeezed both their cocks. Their movements were erratic, not following a rhythm, but it was hot and messy and just like Caio wanted.