Chuck Versus Thin Ice
By Steampunk . Chuckster
Summary: On the doorstep of the Olympics, top American curler Sarah Walker has lost her mixed doubles partner and her boyfriend in one fell swoop. Her coaches throw newbie Team U.S.A. curler Chuck Bartowski onto her team and thrust them into the Olympics, hanging America's curling hopes on two people who only have a short amount of time to learn to trust one another.
A/N: Hi! Thanks for the insane amounts of hits and reviews, folks. Just...wow. Enjoy this next installment!
Disclaimer: I don't own this show. I don't own the characters in this show.
The snow had finally slowed down, but it was frigid at the Phoenix Snow Park. And Chuck Bartowski had frankly had it with the Southern-California-Boy teasing, as though he was the only one out here who was cold. It got to the point now that he was standing off to the side with a bit of a broody look on his face, hugging himself to ward off at least some of the biting weather.
At least there were less snowboarders in the men's halfpipe final than there were in the quarters which meant less standing around in twenty-five degrees, seventeen degrees with wind chill. He'd checked his phone just to make sure there was a reason for him freezing his ass off.
Sarah, Ellie, Awesome, Beckman, and Jane were huddled together talking about the snowboarder from South Korea who'd just gotten his first run's score, in the low eighties. They were all in high spirits and it made him even gloomier.
He wasn't trying to be a spoil sport, but his nerves were starting to get the best of him.
Morgan had just missed the podium four years ago in Sochi. He'd taken a fall in the landing of his last jump in his second run, and in his first run he hadn't scored high enough. Chuck then had the privilege of watching his best friend work ten times harder for the next four years, training, working out, building something of a brand and a fanbase with his Flying Beard persona in competitions and world events.
He wanted his friend on the podium this time. If he missed out again, Chuck knew Morgan would be even more disappointed than he'd been in Sochi.
Not to mention Bolonia Grimes' health didn't permit her to fly to South Korea to be here for him, and Chuck was tasked with documenting this event for her. He had her on FaceTime speed dial for when Morgan finished, and he knew it would be a rough talk if Morgan didn't place in the top three.
"Hey…"
He turned to see Ellie had sidled up next to him.
"Sup, sis." He slung an arm over her shoulders and pulled her in for a side hug, not just because he loved her but also because he'd take a little extra warmth where he could get it.
"Sup with you?" She was giving him one of her searching looks and he sighed.
"I'm just nervous for Morgan."
"Oh, okay. Well, of course you are. I thought you were seriously in a mood because Jane, Sarah, and Devon were ganging up on us for being Californian."
"Just because we're the only non-midwesterners. Like, I'm sorry if I like snow and also like the beach after to thaw off a bit." She snorted. "Fine, it did bother me a little. But it wouldn't normally, I'm just a bit…frayed right now. My nerves. Ya know?"
"I know." She wrapped an arm around his torso and cuddled his side, patting his chest. "But you need to have a little more faith in him."
"I have more faith in him than anyone else does. He's my beard."
There was a pause as they both realized how that sounded.
"Ya know, brother, that has a different meaning than I think you—"
"Yep!" he interrupted. "Heard it right after I said it."
Ellie giggled. And then she pulled away a bit and slapped him on the arm encouragingly. "You know how hard he's worked. You saw how chill and ready he was when we met up with him earlier."
"He's always chill and ready on the outside."
She raised an eyebrow. "We're talking about Morgan. Morgan Grimes. Morgan 'Actively Tries to Get Me to Date Him Even Though I'm Clearly Married Now' Grimes. Do you think there's anything inside of him that doesn't also show on the outside?"
They shared a laugh.
"Good point."
"He's got this. You text Bolonia yet?"
"Yep." He took his phone out and shook it at Ellie. "She's got the event on her TV right now and she's waiting with her phone for the FaceTime afterwards."
"That's gonna be a gold medal FaceTime."
"I hope so."
"Hey…" She knuckled him in the arm. "Don't doubt me and don't doubt the Flying Beard. He's an annoying pipsqueak but he's our annoying pipsqueak. He's got this."
He nodded. "You're right. I need to be as chill as he probably is up there." Then he looked down at his phone and pulled up Twitter, turning the phone to show Ellie. "So chill he's currently tweeting about grape soda."
"Did he seriously just tweet that?"
"He did."
"Oh my Godddddd, Morgannnnn." She groaned and walked away from him again as he chuckled, pocketing his phone again and following her a bit more slowly.
It was then that he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned and gaped immediately at the woman standing behind him, a tentative but happy look on her face. "Chuck?"
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, and then regained a bit of his senses. "H-Hey! Hi!"
"Hannah," she said, gesturing to herself.
"No, I know! Hi! I just—I was surprised to see you—" he tried to explain, and she immediately went in for a tight hug, her lips pressed against his cheek. The hug lasted a little longer than was really necessary, he thought, but he was still a bit too startled to do much but accept it.
When she pulled back, he saw the vestiges of what they'd shared in Sochi in her face. And she slipped her gaze down him and back up to his face with no small amount of appreciation.
"Still just as lanky as you were back when you were a ski jumper?"
"Oh. Uh, yeah. With lots of padding." He thumped his layers. "Heh. Yeah, I'm not a ski jumper anymore. I'm on the curling team now. So."
"I know," she said, shrugging. "Congrats. Not a lot of people can transition to a different sport in four years and make the Olympics both times." She made a face and shook her head. "Or…I didn't phrase that right. You get it." She laughed, a bit embarrassedly.
He chuckled and fixed his beanie a bit. "Still snowboarding?"
"Yeah. Yep, slopestyle in a few days. Thought I'd watch my bro Grimes and cheer him on."
"Nice of you."
Her smile became a bit more heated then and he squirmed subtly. "Well, I'm a pretty nice girl…Or have you forgotten in the last four years?"
"Hah…heh…I, uh…ahem…"
Jane appeared at his elbow suddenly. "Morgan's first run is coming up in a few minutes, Chuck." Then she turned and fixed Hannah with a smile. "Oh. Hi. Sorry."
"It's okay." She stuck her hand out. "Hannah. Are you one of the curlers, too?"
"Jane." They shook hands. "And yes. Not on Chuck's team, though. Sarah is his partner." She seemed to make a point of gesturing to Sarah, even going so far as to say, "That gorgeous blonde standing over there. Not the tall, beefy one. The, uh, tall female one."
"Oh." Hannah raised her eyebrows. "Cool. Yeah, Sarah Walker. She used to be, um…Bryce Larkin's partner?"
"Weeelllll, she's my partner now. I replaced him. I mean, he left and they pulled me onto the mixed doubles team. He's basically irrelevant now, though. So…"
Hannah nodded. "Yeah, I'd prefer you over him any day."
In spite of how awkward it was seeing the woman he'd slept with the night of Sochi's closing ceremonies again—add to that the fact that she was absolutely flirting like no time had passed at all—Chuck had to smile at that. Suck it, Bryce.
"I mean…I've never seen you do, uh, curling. But just…you know…out of the whole…curling outfit."
He widened his eyes at her.
"I mean, out of the curling…I didn't mean clothes outfit, but um…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Like the group of curlers outfit type of outfit." She made an oops face at Chuck but he wasn't as amused, not with Jane standing right there and looking decidedly unamused.
He didn't really know why, though.
"Um, anyway, it was nice meeting you, Jane. I'll let you pay attention to Grimes' run since he's almost up. But maybe we can meet up later?"
"I…uh…"
"I'll find you after the event."
She waved at them and was gone.
Jane just grabbed his arm and pulled him back over to the group. He let out a long breath through pursed lips and furrowed his brow. Morgan didn't warn him that Hannah Yee was in PyeongChang. She'd told him she didn't think she'd be back in four years, that she was getting tired of the competitions and was thinking of quitting and here she was, still competing…in the Olympics, no less.
"Who is that?" Jane asked, pulling him down by his jacket so that she could speak softly.
"Who?" She glared. "Oh, her. Well, um…" Part of him wanted to say it was none of her business, but he liked Jane, in spite of her being a little nosy right at that moment. And he didn't want there to be a rift between them. She was his friend, and Sarah's best friend. "Okay, full disclosure, we had sort of a thing in Sochi four years ago. It ended when the event was over, we went our separate ways."
"Hm…" She looked over her shoulder in the direction Hannah had run off in and shrugged. "Didn't see you as the type who goes after snowboarders."
"I didn't go after her. It was just a one night…Why am I even giving you details right now?"
"I'm a good listener," she chuckled, giving him a look.
His faux-glare was dubious.
Sarah grabbed his arm then. "Hey, Morgan's next!"
He turned back and nodded, exchanging a quick smile with her. And then she got a bit of a look on her face and glanced around him for a moment, then shifted her eyes to meet his again. "What's going on? Everything okay?
"Pffft, yeah. Everything's good. Allll good. Pretty nervous for Morgs, though, we should definitely watch his first run." He cleared his throat and pointed towards the halfpipe, staring up at the small figure of Morgan Grimes up at the top, probably singing some sort of old standard by Bobby Darin or Perry Como. That was his thing during competition. Luck be a ladyyy…
"Oookay," he heard Sarah murmur, mostly to herself, before he saw her turn to watch Morgan in her peripheral.
He had a feeling they'd come back to the conversation later, though. Sarah didn't tend to let things go. Oh boy.
-oooo-
The crowd absolutely erupted as Morgan Grimes burst out of the halfpipe and skidded his board around to flop onto his back and just lie there in the snow yelling, pumping his fists above him.
Sarah felt Chuck's arms wrap around her from the side and he hoisted her off the ground as she screamed in celebration, laughing as Chuck held her and jumped up and down. He nearly lost his grip, he was so crazed, and she had to smack a hand down onto the top of his head to hold on with a yelp.
When he put her down, she was surrounded in a mass hug, Devon, Ellie, Jane and Beckman closing her in on her other side so that her face was smashed against Chuck's chest. It was the perfect opportunity to wrap her arms around his torso and let herself just enjoy being close to him in public.
The most important thing was that Morgan Grimes had most likely just gotten a high enough score to take the gold medal in men's halfpipe. She knew nothing about the tricks, but he went incredibly high up in the air on each trick, did an insane amount of spins and flips, grabbed his board, and landed everything perfectly. No bobbling, no sitting down.
When they all stepped back, Sarah reluctantly released Chuck from her grip and looked up into his supremely happy face. He laughed, his eyes a bit misty, and she thought maybe her heart grew ten sizes in just that split moment before he blinked the mistiness away and spun on his heel to face his friend. He leaned half his body over the barrier. "Morgan! Buddy, get up! You gotta get your score still!"
Morgan sat up and unhooked his boots from the board, climbing to his feet and grabbing his board. He could only throw Chuck a thumbs up as he ambled over to the spot where the current top three were standing and awaiting his score.
They all put their arms around each other's shoulders and just stared at the scoreboard.
Sarah reached down to hold Chuck's hand to her left, and Beckman's to her right as they waited. It was taking too long. Had the judges seen something she hadn't seen?
"C'monnnn," she heard her partner chanting under his breath.
The score finally popped up on the board and they saw Morgan Grimes take that first place spot, beating out Australia's and Japan's snowboarders with a ninety-seven point seven five.
Sarah was immediately swept up in the celebration, everyone screaming, leaping in the air, whooping, hugging. Ellie even leapt onto Devon's back and screamed, "THAT'S RIGHT, FLYING BEARD!" in a show of support she never thought she'd see from Ellie Bartowski directed at Morgan Grimes. She'd seen all of the eye rolling and heard the multiple times she'd droned, "Go away, Morgan" and made ugh sounds at him. She imagined that was a part of their decades-long history together. But this was adorable.
Even Beckman was wearing a beautifully happy and proud look on her face as she clapped.
Morgan finally scrambled over to the barrier and let Chuck envelop him first. "I DID IT, MAN! I GOT GOLD!"
"YOU GOT GOLD, BUDDY! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!"
When Chuck finally relinquished him, Devon dove in squeezing him so hard over the barrier that Morgan made a soft choking sound. Then Ellie hugged him and his face melted into supreme happiness and Beckman practically pushed Sarah out of the way to throw her arms around Morgan's neck, laughing.
Everyone chuckled at the wide-eyed, stunned look on Morgan's face. "And here I thought you hated me," he said as she let go of him and told him how proud she was of him.
"Oh, hush. I hate everybody."
They all laughed at that and Sarah finally stepped up and offered him her hand. "Well done, coach."
"Coach?"
"Yeah. I didn't tell you? I'm hiring you as my snowboard coach now. You did such an amazing job coaching me at first-person shooters that first day, I figured…" She let her voice die off and gave him a cute one-shoulder shrug.
"I ACCEPT!" he belted and instead of taking her hand, he pulled her in for a tight hug. She smacked a hard kiss against his cheek and pulled back to pat the other cheek with her hand. He staggered back a bit and put his gloved hand to the spot where she'd kissed him and then raised his arms over his head, yanking his helmet off and letting out a long, "WOOOOO!"
After a few quick interviews, Chuck finally managed to get Morgan's mom on his phone to FaceTime with Morgan. They let the bearded gold medalist hobble off to a place where he could at least talk to her semi-alone, because it was obvious the emotions were starting to get to him.
Everyone else had already left, but Chuck's phone was in Morgan's possession and Sarah opted to stay with him, standing at his side as his partner and…well, more than just his partner. He looked so incredibly happy and relieved, like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. It was so incredibly cute how important this event had been to him, how close he was with Morgan, with his sister and her husband, too. She'd felt the nervous tension in him the last few hours and she'd just wanted to comfort him.
Right now, she wished she could do something even as simple as holding his hand while they waited, but she couldn't. So instead, she just subtly watched him, admiring how nice his profile was as she leaned back against the railing.
But something changed in him suddenly. She saw a hint of recognition and then something else…discomfort? Fear?
She followed his gaze across the crowd that was starting to filter out of the place. There was the woman she'd seen approach Chuck earlier. She was pretty and she was smiling at Chuck invitingly. That kind of invitation.
Sarah gawked at her for a moment then switched her gaze to Chuck. At least he wasn't smiling back. He looked like he might legitimately run in the other direction, actually.
And then the woman held up a finger, mouthed "just a sec" and turned to talk to someone else.
Sarah spun on Chuck immediately. "Okay, who is she? And you better tell me quick because she's about to come over here and I'd like to know what I'm dealing with beforehand."
"What you're dealing with?" he asked, his eyebrows popping. He shifted his weight uncomfortably. "You don't have to deal with anything. It's not—"
"Chuck."
But then Morgan ambled up to them, still beaming. Just in time, she thought, clenching her teeth. "Here's your phone, man. God, thanks. It was so great talkin' to Mom, but that woman can cry. If they had an Olympic event for crying, she'd take gold." He nudged Chuck with a laugh and handed Chuck his phone. Then he turned to look over his shoulder. "Oh shit, yeah! Did you know Hannah was here? She totes asked me about ya this morning and I told her everything."
"Thanks, Morgan," Chuck drawled sarcastically through gritted teeth.
"Who is Hannah?" Sarah asked again.
"Oh ho ho! Remember how I said Chuck can pull?" He flicked his thumb over his shoulder. "Sochi. 2014. My brother and Hannah Yee. I introduced 'em. I should get credit, I think."
"Why don't ya just stick to the gold medal, loudmouth?" Chuck murmured, obviously perturbed.
Sarah tried to push down her own annoyance, but she wasn't going to make a big deal out of this the way she imagined Chuck feared she might.
And then Hannah closed the distance between them, her eyes never leaving Chuck once.
"Hi…"
"Hey, Hannah! How are ya? I just won a gold medal, no big deal," Morgan chirped, completely clueless. But Sarah felt a bit bad thinking that. How could the guy be anything else? She and Chuck hadn't told anyone about this extracurricular connection between them. For too many reasons.
And they weren't about to start anytime soon.
"Yeah, I saw! Congrats, Morgs!" She came up for a quick hug. "That was an epic double McTwist 1260, man! So sick!"
"A'thank you."
And then the awkward silence settled again and Sarah felt it best to interrupt it. "I'm Sarah. Sarah Walker. Chuck's mixed doubles partner. You, uh, you doing a snowboarding event?"
"Yeah, hi! Hannah Yee. I'm in slopestyle." They shook hands. "Chuck and I, uh, we go back to Sochi. Morgan introduced us." Her gaze swept back to Chuck. "Lucky me."
Really? Sarah inwardly rolled her eyes.
"Heh. Yeah, well…uh…we've got, um, we've got the semis tomorrow. Sarah and I. We should probably head back, take a hot shower…s. Showers." Sarah inwardly rolled her eyes again. "And uh, get to bed. Gotta have my mind in tip top shape for the match. Ha ha." He tapped his temple and then folded his arms at his chest, looking insanely uncomfortable.
Sarah was mostly amused, but the more Hannah flashed her flirty gaze at him, the more Sarah saw the other woman essentially checking her man out even though he was wearing about ten layers under his Team U.S.A. snow coat, the more she felt the mean throb of jealousy in her chest. She felt the heat of it rising up from her scarf and coloring her face. She could always blame it on the cold if anyone noticed. That was, if she kept herself from grabbing the snowboarder by her scarf and strangling her with it.
"Oh, yeah, of course! I just wanted to make sure you didn't get away from me again…like you did in Sochi." She smirked, taking her cell phone out of her coat pocket.
"That was…definitely an agreed upon decision," he rushed out. He turned to Sarah and gave her a wide-eyed look that clearly said help me and amusement dulled her jealousy a bit. "We both agreed to stop."
"Nevertheless, Morgan gave me your phone number if you wanna agree to start up again."
There was a loud ringing coming from Chuck's pocket. He took his phone out and looked down at it. "Oh. Let me guess. This is you.""Yep." She giggled. "Hit me up after you two win your medal, huh?"
"Uhhh…"
"It was nice to meet you, Hannah," Sarah said quickly, managing to push down the jealousy by telling herself she was being silly. Again.
"Nice to meet you, too. Good luck. And I'm serious about that medal!" She pointed at Sarah, and then she switched her gaze and finger point to Chuck. "And you…I'm serious about wanting that phone call."
"Hah…I…" was all he seemed capable of before he turned on his heel and started trudging through the snow, away from the whole thing. Sarah and Morgan exchanged a look then scrambled after him.
"Dude, what's up with you? In Sochi you were way more suave and charming. Like…you formed actual sentences," Morgan said. "Man, this guy…lemme tell you, Sarah…"
"What if instead, Morgan, you go find your coaches and get ready for that medals ceremony?!" Chuck said, grinning excitedly.
"Dude! Yes! Good point! I gotta get my Soohorang stuffed animal!" He hugged them both, then scampered back over towards the crowd.
Chuck kept walking and she had to take hurried steps to keep up with him.
"So…are you more angry right now, or embarrassed?"
"Por que no los dos, Sarah?"
She laughed and shook her head. "Well, you didn't exactly stop her."
That made him stop walking and he turned to face her. "S-Stop her? Right in front of you and Morgan? That'd be so embarrassing and cruel."
"Well, you aren't going to start something up with her again like she thinks, are you?"
He huffed. "It wasn't as much of a something as everyone is making it out to be.""Oh?" He started walking again and she trotted after him. "What was it?"
"If you must know, we'd flirted for a few days at Morgan's event, then after the closing ceremony, we slept together. We both agreed it was fun and not necessary to prolong things, and we went our separate ways. It really wasn't that huge of a deal."
"Oh." She shrugged. "Well, if it's just a sex thing, that's even better. Tell her you're a Catholic priest now and you're abstinent."
They both stopped and looked at each other. After a beat, they broke into laughter, leaning into each other and holding on to keep from falling over.
-oooo-
"Thirty!"
Chuck let go of the pull-up bar and landed on his feet, doing a few spry hops and clapping his hands together once, turning to face Sarah with his arms out, palms out. "I've been getting reeeeal good at these," he said to her, no trace of modesty in his tone.
She slow clapped, but he knew she wouldn't dare do anything else, considering there were other athletes in the gym using the other equipment. "I mean, I can't disagree with you. You're objectively really good at pull-ups."
"Thank you!" he chirped. "I've practiced a ridiculous amount."
Sarah laughed and shook her head. "I'm almost pissed you're as good as you are."
"Well, you can't be better than me at everything, Walker." His answer and smirk coupled to make her laugh again. "And you're already better than me at most things." He smiled, a smile he reserved just for her, to let her know nothing about that fact upset him or made him resent her.
"I am not." She made a face at him but he could see her pleasure beneath the modesty.
"Uh. Okay. Agree to disagree," he snarked teasingly. "Bikes?"
"Lead the way, Shoulders Boy." She swept her arm out to the side, gesturing for him to lead the way towards the stationary bikes currently unoccupied.
He was already walking in that direction but he stopped and turned to face her, his features saying 'what the fuck' very clearly. "Shoulders Boy?"
Maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see, he thought to himself, but he wondered if that wasn't a blush on her face.
"What? All those pull-ups and push-ups you do, but the pull-ups especially, make your shoulders all…I dunno…" She bit her lip and her eyes dragged down to take in his shoulders before slipping back up to meet his gaze. "Broad."
He shut his mouth as two women strode past them, speaking to one another in German.
When they were out of earshot, he leaned close as he and Sarah stepped up to their respective bikes. "You checking out my shoulders these days, partner?"
She merely shrugged and stepped up onto the bike. He figured he wouldn't get more of an answer than that, so he snorted and climbed up onto his own bike, immediately starting to pedal fast, working on his breathing and looking up at the TV showing the ski jumping qualifiers. He ignored the chill that went down his spine and looked away. He wasn't letting it get to him. Not now.
It was then that he heard her voice rise above the whir of their bikes.
"These days," she chirped. "And before."
He felt his entire body jolt as the meaning hit him like a ton of bricks. His foot slipped off the pedal and he nearly got his shoelace caught on the spokes, but he yelped and lifted both feet, knowing how ridiculous he looked by how hard she laughed.
"You okay?" she asked through her laughter.
"You easily could have killed me. But yeah," he said in a flat voice. "Yeah, I'm fine." There was a pause as he put his feet back on the pedals that had slowed to a stop. He began pedaling again, but much slower now, just to be safe. "So…just to be clear, you were checking me out before…ya know…?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
"Um, using much vaguer words. You were super vague, hence why I asked for clarity."
She panted out a breathless giggle and beamed straight ahead. "Your broad shoulders aren't exactly new to me. Just how broad, now that was new to me."
"Jesus Christ," he breathed. "I—"
"Fancy meeting you two kids here!"
Chuck lifted his feet again and turned to look over his shoulder, startled that someone had been able to come up on them like that without him noticing. Granted, Sarah Walker had just admitted to him that she'd been checking him out for a while, before PyeongChang even? Dear God…
But Jane Bentley was here now, squirting water into her mouth and squeezing past their bikes to stand in front of the mixed doubles pair, leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms. She had a bit of a shit-eating look on her face as she flicked her eyes back and forth between them.
"Thought it'd be best to get a bit of a workout in before tomorrow," Sarah explained.
"Ahhh."
That shit-eating grin hadn't subsided, and she looked like she had something on the tip of her tongue, something she wanted to say. He exchanged a quick look with Sarah, and he decided that maybe it was safer if he just didn't start pedaling again until he could trust both of these women not to drop bombshells.
"What's going on?" Sarah asked, then, and he was glad she'd been the one to ask.
And apparently Jane had been chewing at the bit to tell them, because she immediately sprang forward to put her hands on their machines, leaning close and lowering her voice so that even Sarah had to stop pedaling to hear. "How do you feel about mixing the Olympics with…dating?"
Chuck nearly swallowed his own tongue.
Thankfully Sarah jumped to the rescue. "Oh. Uh. Dunno. Why? I mean, we—I haven't thought about it much. Not at all, actually."
Both women were quiet for long enough that Chuck jumped a bit and noticed they were staring at him. "Oh! You asking me, too?" Jane gave him a look. "Oh. Er…I think it's perfectly fine."
"Yeah, Chuck apparently—what was the word Morgan used?—pulled at the last Olympics."
"He exaggerated. It was one time!"
"Mhm, suuure…"
"Stop," Jane cut in. "I really don't need to hear about Chuck's sexploits."
"I don't wanna hear about 'em, either, if I'm bein' honest," he droned, bemused.
"Why you asking, though?" Sarah asked, apparently having had enough teasing him for the moment.
She gave them a bit of a wince, then smiled. "Well…"
Wait, was that a mischievous look on Jane's face? Did she know they were sleeping together? Panic cascaded through him. Had she seen something? Did she walk up in time to hear Sarah wax poetic about his broad shoulders?
"I was asked out on a date by a guy a few minutes ago. He spotted me on the weight bench…and then offered to, well, spot me on the weight bench." Chuck snorted a bit at that. "I don't usually like getting picked up at the gym but, I dunno, he did it in a way that wasn't gross. I can't explain it." She beamed, biting her bottom lip.
"Oooooo," Sarah sang, leaning down with her arms over the handlebars of the bike. "Score. He a coach or an athlete?"
"He's on the Swiss hockey team. He had this cute accent, talked about my guns." She rolled her eyes a little. "Dorky, but…I don't know, it was cute. Charming."
"Dorks can actually creep up on you with their cuteness and charm," Sarah said, and Chuck couldn't help wondering if she meant him. He wasn't above hubris.
"But it's not bad, is it? That I told him I'd go out on a date with him tomorrow night? I'm not gonna get some sort of distracted-at-Olympics curse or something and screw everything up for our team?" she asked.
Sarah shrugged. "No. You're fine. There's no rule against not enjoying the atmosphere and the, uh, well, other athletes while you're here. Did you see all the condoms they're handing out?" She widened her eyes at her friend and earned a scoff.
"Just don't marry him and move to Switzerland until you know for sure that he's still got most of his teeth in his mouth," Chuck added."I'm going to come up there and beat your ass."
He laughed at his own glib comment and got a glare from both women, though Sarah's had quite a bit of amusement underneath it.
"Wait a second, what do you mean by a date?" Sarah asked, furrowing her brow. "Like…a date date? Like dinner?"
Jane pulled her chin back and gave Sarah a bit of a confused look through her eyelashes. "Girl, has it really been that long since you went out on a proper date?" Then she frowned and shook her head. "Forget I asked."
Sarah looked a tad embarrassed.
"He wants to go out dancing. Got some recommendations from a local hockey fan."
"Dancing?" Sarah raised her eyebrows. "That sounds fun."
"Mhm." She was going to say something else but then her watch beeped. She turned it off and shrugged. "Have to get back and shower. Listen, I'll see you kids later."
Jane climbed up on a wheel a bit dangerously to half-hug Sarah, and as she walked past Chuck, she ruffled his hair. "See ya, nerd."
When she was gone, he turned to Sarah and shrugged at her. She gave him a closed-mouth smile that was a bit muted and went back to riding. He got a peculiar vibe from her, not a negative one, per se, but a vibe as though she was thinking about something. Rather than interrupt, he kept quiet, going back to pedaling.
-oooo-
Sarah pulled her hair up into a bun and stopped with her hands up above her head, just looking at her reflection in the mirror for a moment, before she lowered her arms to her sides again and huffed.
It was such a silly thing to be gloomy about. She shouldn't be gloomy in the first place, considering tomorrow was her first ever Olympic curling semifinal of her career. She was competing in the Olympics and she needed to get her head on straight.
Then again, it was on straight, wasn't it? It was.
Thanks to her boycotting social media (except to post a few pictures, videos, updates about training, and thanking fans for their support after winning matches), Sarah had been able to avoid the multiple spirals she'd seen Chuck go through.
The guy couldn't stop looking at what people were saying about him. On the one hand, she thought maybe it was almost like a driving force for his success, working extra hard to prove them all wrong. But on the other hand, it really wasn't good for him to see the negative stuff people still said about him. She knew Bryce's commentary wasn't helping because she'd seen some of the things Bryce had written about Chuck's lack of experience, his rash and unpredictable decision-making. How "against all odds this American team is somehow pulling off a miracle, despite such a strange, off-the-cuff way of approaching the sport". It might have come off to those listening as a compliment, but it wasn't. She knew Bryce well enough to know his backhanded compliments when she heard them.
Screw Bryce Larkin.
He didn't matter, though. Not really. She just wanted to focus on curling, and…well, at the moment, her focus was Chuck. The night before their semifinal match against the unbeaten Canadian team, she was stuck brooding over their chat with Jane.
It was immature, Sarah knew, but she couldn't help being envious. Jane was leaving the Olympic cluster to have a legitimate date with a Swiss hockey player and nobody would care about it. There wouldn't be Twitter threads about it. Nobody would dog her with cameras. She didn't have to worry about who did or didn't see her out having fun with…whatever guy.
She didn't begrudge Jane at all. She could see the genuine excitement in her friend's face, and she couldn't remember ever seeing the woman be shy. Jane did everything with guns blazing—curling, her career, giving advice, dating. That tinge of a blush on her cheeks was so refreshing and heartwarming.
Still, Sarah envied Jane's chance to just spend one night enjoying herself out in public with a guy she liked without getting hounded. By everyone. This was a normal date, one that Sarah would love to be able to go on.
Unlike with their rule about not letting their attachment go further than admitting their romantic feelings during the flight to PyeongChang, Sarah knew they would be asking for trouble if anyone knew she and Chuck were doing more than just curling together. They could do this. They could handle keeping their romance behind closed doors. He was just as determined as she was about it. And it was even easier now that they'd allowed the romance to happen.
But she still felt a bit morose about not getting to go out on a date. And she felt ridiculous for it. It was silly. Because it wasn't like they'd never get to go on a date. They didn't have to continue this secret romance lifestyle when they got back to San Jose. There was just so much publicity surrounding them here. Back home, nobody would know who they were or even care.
There was a light knock on the half open bathroom door. "Hey, I left my lotion in there. Mind if I grab it?"
She smiled and pulled the door open. "Come on in."
He stood there with his eyes shut tight and she giggled when he peeked them open, one at a time once he saw she was dressed. As he passed behind her to snag his lotion, he muttered, "I'm just bein' polite."
"You've already seen me naked, Chuck."
"Yeah, but there's an important distinction there. You're actively allowing me to see you naked in that situation. It's an invitation."
She just smiled in the mirror at him, and couldn't help thinking about what it would be like to disappear into a crowd of couples on dark dance floor, dancing in his arms after a nice, low key dinner or something.
But he must have seen something in her face, a bit of wistfulness, maybe. Because he stopped behind her before he could duck back out of the bathroom, and he just looked at her in the mirror for a moment. "Somethin' wrong?" he finally asked, sidling up next to her.
She turned to look up at him and shook her head. "Nah."
"Nah?" He gave her a dubious look. "Whenever I say 'nah' it usually means 'yeah'. Just throwin' that out there."
Sarah rolled her eyes and sighed, pressing her shoulder into his arm and leaning her weight against him. "I'll keep that in mind. It's just a stupid thing. Almost embarrassing it's so stupid."
She walked out of the bathroom then, shrugging a button up over her tank top and buttoning the bottom few buttons as he followed. He plopped to sit on the end of his bed and patted the mattress next to him. "Tell me anyway."
Eyeing him a bit dryly, she still smirked and joined him on the bed.
"Jane is going out on a date—a real date—with that hockey player and I'm really glad for her. But it sounds so fun, too, and I'm maybe a little…jealous."
"I wasn't aware you had a thing for hockey players. You know, a lot of them don't have teeth."
"Shut up," she laughed, smacking him in the arm lightly. "You know what I mean." She sobered a little, trying not to sound as bashful as she suddenly felt. "It'd be really nice to just go out on the town and not worry about who sees us. You know? Just to have fun. And she's going dancing," she half-whined. "I want to dance."
He chuckled and draped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her against him. "I wouldn't mind going out for a night of enjoyable date-like activities with you." He paused. "But I mean, if you found yourself a hockey player to go out dancing with, I'm not sure anybody would pay that much attention. They would if it was me. We've got shippers on the Internet now and they're reading into literally everything."
She ignored that last bit because people seriously creeped her out and she didn't even want to think about it.
"I don't want to find myself a hockey player to go out dancing with, Chuck. They don't have teeth." She found herself brimming with pride when he laughed hard at that. "I'm just kidding. But seriously, I just want to go have a dance with you, like when we had drinks with Sweden. People would've read into it big time if they'd seen us go out there on the dance floor together. Just one freaking dance and we'd see shit on social media about how we're picking out curtains. It sucks."
"It does suck," he said, but his voice still had an incredible amount of warmth in it, and strangely enough, it made her feel better.
"I can handle it, though. If it means no unnecessary distractions for the rest of the curling events, then this is a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
"Right, a little less of the tweets with the Bartowsker hashtag. I saw one that was a picture of me laughing across the ice with Kaarlo, but they said I was smiling at you. Like, it's madness."
She wrinkled her nose. "Jane showed me one of us high fiving and they said something like 'Can bae get pregnant from high fives?'" Chuck shivered dramatically. "I know. Gross. But, you know, as annoying as that is, it's at least not as annoying as Lawker. It isn't even an appropriate mash-up of the names Larkin and Walker. They spell it with an L-A-W in it. Idiots." He was looking at her a little funny. "I mean, obviously, the spelling isn't the most annoying part of it. Obviously. The fact that our relationship was under a public microscope was the worst part. So the sacrifice is worth it, in summation."
He chuckled again. "I can make the sacrifice, too."
"Good. As long we continue being on the same page, we're all good."
Chuck seemed like something else was on the tip of his tongue…But instead of saying it, he glanced at his watch. "Hey, not that I wanna get rid of you or anything, but aren't you meeting with Anna, Jane, and Lou in, like, ten minutes?"
"Shit, yeah. Thanks." She stood up and grabbed her jacket, shrugging it on and zipping it up, then she stepped into her sneakers and grabbed her phone and badge. "You know you're actually super excited to have some time to yourself for once, and you're going to read the crap out of your online comics."
He scoffed. "You make fun of me, but you still haven't even tried to read one. Not even Red Sonja, and like I said before, you would love Red Sonja. Love. Her."
"I'm not reading a comic."
"Okay, but she lures the bandits who murder her family into the forest and kills them. Nothing cooler than that."
"Ain't gonna happen."
"It is gonna happen."
"No, it isn't," she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the bedroom and went to the door of the apartment.
"You'll seeeee—"
She shut the door, cutting him off as she laughed to herself. He was an idiot, and she wasn't able to catch herself before she thought, my idiot.
-oooo-
In spite of what his partner had teased him about before she went to her meeting with the rest of the U.S. women's curling team, Chuck Bartowski did not read his online comics while she was gone. He went down to the market to buy some bungeo-ppang and hot cocoa, stashed it away for later, and sat down at his laptop, listening to song after song, digging deep down into his extensive musical knowledge…
Because as much as Sarah dismissed her frustrations about not getting to go out dancing, he could see it was legitimately bothering her. Maybe she could handle it. He thought she could probably handle anything. But what if she didn't have to?
The least he could do was ease a bit of her frustration.
Or try.
Because he understood. It sucked that they couldn't pull back from this intense Olympic atmosphere, even for one night, and bury themselves in South Korean nightlife. Or even just go out for dinner. Something fun. Together. It didn't even have to mean anything.
They couldn't do that, though. Because everything was too tied up in her and Bryce and the way they were marketed together for so long…
So he had another idea…
He didn't know when she'd get back from her meeting, but he made sure to make his playlist as quickly as possible.
So that by the time he heard the double beep of the apartment door being unlocked, he was ready with at least six songs. And he'd set the bungeo-ppang out on a plate—a cheap plastic plate, but it was the thought that counted. The hot cocoa, he'd re-warm in the microwave when the time came, but he set that out, too.
As he heard her shuffle into the apartment, Chuck grabbed his laptop and tucked it under his arm, heading out of the bedroom to meet her.
Sarah already stood at the coffee table between the TV and the couch, looking down at his presentation. She seriously was the most observant person he'd ever met. Her eyes must have found the bungeo-ppang the second she walked in.
She glanced up at him, the beginnings of a smile on her face as she pulled her badge off over her head and tossed it onto the nearby desk. "What's this?"
"Uh, bungeo-ppang. It came highly recommended from the guy running the market down in the lobby and it smelled amazing. And-And that's hot cocoa. From the same guy. I thought you'd like that." He watched as her smile grew. "How was your meeting?"
"Good." She shrugged, a delicious bit of mischief in her blue eyes. "We're going to win gold. That's the plan, anyway."
"You ladies needed…" He glanced at his watch. "Almost three hours to figure that out?"
"Lou brought her lucky cards and we played a few games of slapjack." She caught him studying her hands and made a face. "What are you doing?"
"Seeing how red the backs of your hands are." She raised an eyebrow. "You played slapjack," he explained with a shrug. And then he slapped down at the air.
"We don't slap that hard."
"Oh, when I play with my friends, we do. If your hands don't sting for hours, you aren't doing it hard enough."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Men."
Then she giggled and shrugged her jacket off. "But, uh, Lou really fits in well with the team. She's nice. And pretty cool."
"She is! She actually told me she used to play poker professionally so it makes sense she'd carry cards around like that." He missed the searching look Sarah gave him through her eyelashes. "I like her a lot."
"Well, she likes you, too," Sarah muttered.
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"Uh…okay." He cleared his throat and finally crossed the room to her side. "I, uh, I actually have something for you." Setting the laptop down on the coffee table, he opened it up and turned it so that she couldn't see the screen. He clicked on the Spotify playlist he took way too long to make—but he was a music connoisseur and he needed to pick the best songs he could find.
Nothing but the best for Sarah Walker.
He stood to his full height again and she gave him a questioning look.
"So…um…You know what? I always use words and then I ramble and spiral and say really stupid shit, so instead of doing that, I'm just gonna…" He knelt down and pressed play on the first song.
He was so ready…
And then an advertisement came on instead of the song and his whole body sagged, throwing Sarah the flattest look he was capable of.
She didn't seem to know what was going on but she laughed anyway, stepping out of her sneakers. "What are you doing?"
"Just…wait. Sorry. We just have to stand here awkwardly for a few minutes until the advertisements stop. Sorry." He inwardly rolled his eyes at himself. He easily could've just downloaded all of these songs and then there wouldn't be this stupid advertisement break.
But no, of course not. He was Chuck Bartowski and he obviously had to do things in the dumbest possible way.
The advertisements finally stopped, Sarah still just standing there, waiting, obviously biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing too hard at the situation. And as the crackly radio DJ's voice started, a smooth beat and sexy wah-wah underneath, Chuck quickly turned it up a bit and slowly moved to stop a few feet away from her.
Like a rabbit in headlights
They're stunned by all your charm
And I feel so damn lucky
To have you on my arm
He did a bit of a squirmy dance, gyrating his hips and pulling his hands towards his chest with his elbows out, snapping his fingers to the beat and smoldering at her. She giggled, her face immediately lighting up.
When the chorus dropped and the rest of the instruments joined in, Chuck let the synth hit him and he bobbed to the beat, closing the rest of the distance to her, grabbing her by the hand and gently pulling her into his chest, his arm around her waist, wordlessly inviting her in to dance with him.
Yeah you can keep me warm on a cold night
Warm on a cold, cold night
Yeah you can keep me warm on a cold night
Warm on a cold, cold night
The music slowed to a sexy softer rhythm again and he pressed his forehead against hers, letting her slip her hand from his and round his neck with her arms. As they met gazes, she sobered up a bit just stared, their bodies swaying and gyrating.
I want to treat you something special
Give you what you deserve
I want to take you to paradise
In a 1950's Merc
And I can't help but wonder
Just how we ended up all right
And I love you like no other
And this has never felt so right
Right before the chorus dropped back in, Chuck took Sarah's hand and held it above their heads, spinning her. As she crashed into his chest again, the beat dropped. They laughed together, and Chuck stepped back as the instrumental break played, doing more of his silly squirmy dance for her and mouthing the sexy wah-wah-wah sounds to make her laugh. He succeeded, then stepped back into her, wrapping her up in his arms and breathing the lyrics to the chorus into her hair: You can keep me warm on a cold night. Warm on a cold, cold night.
Sarah turned her face to press her lips against his neck, and he felt her mouth stretch into a grin, her teeth grazing him and making him shiver in an incredibly pleasant way.
"What is all of this?" she asked as they continued to dance close together.
He pulled back to press his forehead against hers again, nuzzled her nose, and then tilted his head away to look in her eyes steadily. "I know you're disappointed we can't go dancing or have any fun together in public because our every move would be tracked and reported by anyone who sees us. So while this isn't a club per se, we are dancing." He paused as he watched her blue eyes soften, realization starting a slow smile on her lips. "We're facing Canada in the semifinal tomorrow, and I know this is the Olympics but…" He shrugged. "I thought tonight we could just have fun. You seemed pretty taken with the idea of going dancing when Jane mentioned it so while I'm obviously not the best dancer, I thought this might at least be somethin'."
Girl, you could have anyone
So why you choosing me and not leaving me on my own
Girl, you could be with anyone
So thanks for making me your number one
"Think you can steal another board game from the lounge?" she asked, her voice quiet, her eyes still swimming with something he couldn't identify. Whatever it was, he knew it was something nice, something he liked.
"Well, I painstakingly picked out five other songs besides this one. When those are done, I'll gladly steal a board game for you." In fact, at this moment, with the way she was looking at him, the music hitting him right in the center of his chest, Chuck was sure he'd do literally anything for Sarah Walker.
She slid her hands to his shoulders and then stroked them up to his face, cupping his jaw. She looked him right in his brown eyes and smiled. "Thank you, Chuck. You really know how to make a girl melt."
Sarah kissed him then, oh so long and slow.
"Mhm…" He waited a beat, and in the same tone said, "Put her in a microwave."
Her laughter nearly drowned out the music, but Chuck held her close and danced with her anyway, feeling her hands slip underneath his t-shirt and feel his warm, bare skin.
Yeah you can keep me warm on a cold night
Warm on a cold, cold night
Yeah you can keep me warm on a cold night
Warm on a cold, cold night
A/N: So...author's tip: Read that last scene again but do it while listening to the song "Warm on a Cold Night" by Honne. That's the song Chuck turns on first. I've always had this intense refusal to ever put song lyrics in my fic. I dunno, maybe I always just felt like it was too cheesy. But I heard this song while I was devising this chapter and I couldn't stop myself. So...enjoy the cheese. ENJOY IT.
Have a good holiday, for those celebrating stuff!
-SC