"This is going to be so exciting!" Mattie actually yelled to his brother.
Alfred grinned, "Dude, I know! Competing in the final with everyone else; that's so amazing!"
Canada and America were currently in Canada's country house he was staying in while in England for the Olympics. They were waiting for England and France to come over so that they could all watch the team finals together, which Canada had qualified for for the first time ever. France burst through the door with a smile and a large hug for the excited Canadian.
"You will do wonderfully, Matthew," France said with utter confidence. "There is no reason you shouldn't."
"Russia sounds like a good reason to me," Arthur grumbled as he walked through the door and shut it behind him. "Nice job, Canada. Glad to see some new blood in the playing field."
Alfred spoke up, "the finals are starting soon, and we'd better get settled on the couch!"
Mattie practically tore his way to the couch and plopped himself on it, "I hope we medal! That was be absolutely amazing!"
France settled next to Matthew and grabbed the bowl of chips from the coffee table, "It would be quite impressive, I'll admit."
"I'll let you take the gold from me," Alfred joked from Mattie's other side.
Mattie was taken back, this was Alfred's first actually chance at a gold medal in almost 20 years, and he was willing to let Canada have it? "Thanks, Alfred."
Arthur sat on the far edge of the couch like normal, "you'll have to pry it from his cold dead hands first. Or my cold dead hands, because I'm not going down without a fight."
The screen turned on, and the teams began to march out into the arena.
The United States of America.
Russia.
Romania.
China.
Japan.
Great Britain.
Italy.
Canada.
8 teams to compete for 3 medals. 8 teams to compete for the only medal any of them wanted.
This final is really only between Russia and the United States for the gold the announcer said on TV.
Canada has somehow managed to work its way into the finals for the first time
The countries are paired together as such:
The United States of America with Russia
Romania with China
Japan with Great Britain
Italy with Canada
"I'm stuck with Ivan," Alfred said with a dark look as he copied down the rankings into his notebook.
Arthur looked down the couch at him, "It's up to you to kick his ass then."
"Deal," Alfred said easily, "I'm not in contention for the gold medal for nothing here."
"Now now," France said gently, "no need to fight over a common enemy.
Mattie smiled, "I start on the floor!"
"Way to go Mattie!" Alfred said with a smile, "I'm starting on vault. Thank God, maybe it'll scare Ivan's team a bit. I don't think Jordyn is up to snuff yet."
Arthur glared at them, "You'll need all the help you can get if you were relying on just Jordyn. I'm starting on beam again."
France smiled, "Look at the lovely new uniforms! Alfred, you really have done a very good job with them this year, I'm impressed."
The couch feel silently as all the athletes were introduced over the loud speaker. Canada seemed nervous, and voiced it several times about what he was supposed to do if he actually won a medal.
Alfred grabbed at his hair, "Jordyn is vaulting first…"
The couch held its breath and Jordyn ran down the runway towards the horse.
They watched as Jordyn almost stuck the landing, and released their breaths with a smile. She would be just fine.
"Very smooth moves from the Italians on the floor," France commented lightly. Arthur grunted his approval, to busy looking for any glimpse of his beloved team suffering on the beam.
Mattie commented, "America's back on vault."
Arthur picked his jaw off the ground when Mc Kayla stuck her landing, "I don't think she did anything wrong!"
"Oh my god…"
"China's doing their usual good job on the bars," Arthur said as the camera switched over.
"Here we go with the beam," Arthur said grimly, his green eyes narrowing.
France winced slightly as Hannah tried to stay standing for her landing, "A very solid beam routine, all things considered."
"Time for the Russian vault," Alfred said coldly, "bet they won't have any athlete's get close to a 10."
"That looked like a pretty good vault to me," Mattie said as the first vaulted impressed everyone with another stuck landing.
"It was," Alfred admitted, "but mine were better."
"Matthew, your outfits are better than Alfred's!" Francis exclaimed when the camera switched to the Canadian team, "I love the maple leaf on the chest!"
"Thanks," Mattie smiled, the girls really pull it off!"
And now for the first round rankings:
The United States of America
China
Russia
Canada
Italy
Romania
Japan
Great Britain
"Mattie, you're also in a medal spot!" Alfred yelled, not caring he was barely in first, "Dude, you're rocking the finals in your first debut!"
France was hugging Mattie tightly, and even Arthur offered a small smile.
"Hey British dude, how's home field advantage working for you?" Alfred teased, knowing it was highly dangerous to do so.
"You wanker!"
"Look a new event!" France interrupted loudly, not letting Mattie go. "And it's for Matthew!"
They watched as Canada's team began vaulting.
"Blimey that was a good vault."
"Dude."
"Oh, Matthew, you are going to win ze gold!"
The camera switched over to the uneven bars, where Russia was currently gracefully swinging around the top bar.
Such a strong start here by Canada
Romania is showing just how graceful it is with its beam routines
Japan as well.
"Jordyn seems to be slipping on bars," France said worriedly, "will she be alright on beam?"
Alfred looked at him, "she better be."
Arthur yelled at the TV, "Switch to the floor! I need to see my team!"
"Here's Gabby, Arthur," Alfred called to the other side of the couch.
Arthur nodded in appreciation, "she really does get some good height on those releases."
At the end of round 2, here are the standings:
The United States of America
Russia
China
Canada
Romania
Italy
Great Britain
Japan
"Mattie, you're doing so good!" Alfred said as the standings were displayed, "All you have to do is over take China!"
Arthur was punching the air in joy, "I'm not in last place anymore!"
"What a lovely first vault, Arthur."
"And a second," Francis said, "you really have a good shot at moving up in this competition, Arthur."
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, frog."
"Back to America on beam!" Mattie said, smiling as he watched the TV.
"Nice one!" Alfred said as Gabby landed off the beam. "China is starting to fall behind," Alfred commented as he added the numbers on his notebook. Mattie, you have a really good shot at pushing China out of a medal here."
Arthur smiled broadly and looked down at the happy nation, "Well done, Canada."
"The judges are not appreciating the fine control it takes to move so gracefully," France reproached, "I would be giving much high scores for beauty then they are."
"Those judges have better give this Romanian girl a good score, she deserves it," Mattie said strongly as they watched a Romanian athlete perfectly dance her way around the floor.
They sat in silence as they watched the Russian's on the beam.
"This one," Arthur grimaced, "has got a lot of grace about her."
Alfred nodded, "Yes she does."
They all winced.
"Just not her landing," Francis said in humorless voice.
And now for the scores going into the final event
The Unites States of America
Russia
Romania
China
Canada
Italy
Great Britain
Japan
Mattie felt his shoulders slump, "I didn't even know I was hoping this much to win a medal."
Alfred wrapped his arms around Mattie's shoulders, "Don't worry. The last place mens managed to bet the men last night. You can do it, brother."
France smile encouraging at Mattie before addressing Alfred, "You do know that Russia's best event is usually floor? He will be working for all the grace and power points he can."
Arthur looked at Alfred too, "You're the only one who can keep Russia from getting the top spot now. Don't mess up."
"It's starting," Mattie said, half hopeful that both China and Romania would mess up so badly he could get a medal.
First event, Russia on floor
"Let's see what I have to go to kick this bastard's ass. Maybe I'll get lucky and his own team will kick it for me!" Alfred said hopefully as he added more totals in his notebook.
Mattie looked at him, "If they keep going as they did on beam, they should just hand you the gold."
"Now boys," Francis said gently, "if Russia even comes close to winning gold, all the other teams will swarm him and steal it."
Arthur watched the screen with a serious expression, "Alfred, pay attention. You have to compete next."
"So do you," Alfred reminded, "On bars, your best event."
"You're against Russia, no pay attention!"
The first Russian gymnast started with a bang.
"She has quite the control over the crowd," Arthur noted sourly, "and she's hitting most of her stuff."
"Mattie, your team is doing wonderfully on beam!" Francis noted, "They are shaky, but are so graceful about it."
"Look at Russia." Alfred sounded very serious.
Francis covered his mouth with his hand, "Good Lord…"
"Maybe the next person can save them?" Mattie whispered.
12.388
"Congratulations on winning gold, Alfred," Arthur said as the second Russian's score was displayed, "Russia couldn't catch up with you even if he tried."
"She's doing pretty good though!" Mattie said with a smile, that was, until she fell on landing.
All four of the men started to get off the couch with looks of horror.
"Is she alright!?" Alfred demanded loudest, as Arthur frantically upped the volume on the TV.
They crashed back on the couch in relief, the girl was physically alert, but she was emotionally crushed. Russia could now be out of getting any medal.
"Maybe you'll medal, Mattie," Alfred suggested.
Mattie hugged his bear tight, "is this how medaling work? You medal on the back of other of people who fail and get hurt?"
Arthur looked at the boy with a sad smile, "Yes. Most gold medals are won like this, especially if the teams are very close in scoring. One mistake, and you lose."
"I don't think I want a medal," Mattie admitted as the teams rotated for the very last events of the night.
"Arthur, it's time to show us your stuff on the bars!" Francis declared as the camera switched away from the depressing Russian team, who knew that they had lost a gold medal.
Everyone on the couch held their breath as Beth mounted the bars.
"GO BETH!" Arthur yelled, as she easily swung from bar to bar and spun on the bars.
Alfred and Mattie both cheered loudly, trying to take their minds off of Russia's disastrous performance. It worked.
"YEAH!" Everyone screamed as Beth stuck her landing, a huge smile on her face.
Arthur leaned back into the couch again, "Showtime, Alfred."
"YEAH!" Alfred yelled as Gabby's floor routine went almost flawlessly.
"Hold it together," Arthur begged as he bit his nails, hoping that America managed to beat out Russia for gold, and hoping that his own team made a huge comeback and kept the gold medal in London.
"Oh shit," Francis said as the camera focused on the next American athlete, "its Jordyn."
"She'll do fine!" Mattie defended quickly, "I know she will."
Mattie and Alfred both jumped up off the couch as they cheered as Jordyn nailed an almost flawless routine. The gold medal was within Alfred's grasp, if only they could nail the next routine.
Ally nailed it.
Everyone exploded off the couch as the announcement came through
The U.S has won team gold
Alfred had cried before. Good tears and bad tears. Scared tears and happy tears. He had never cried tears like this. Tears of pure joy.
America has team gold
Team Russia the silver
And team Romania the bronze
Mattie hugged his brother as the rest of the standings came in.
China is in fourth place.
And an astonishing Canadian 5th place finish
Great Britain is in sixth
Followed by Italy
And Japan
Mattie was bundled in a hug by Francis, "I beat Arthur! I beat Arthur!"
Arthur couldn't be sad that he was behind most people, Alfred was a gold medal winner, and Mattie, the first time finalist, could have medaled from the very beginning. Instead of feeling like dejected person, Arthur instead felt joy. He didn't even mind listening to Alfred's national anthem as it played during the medal ceremony. He had raised future Olympians.