Aidan sat next to Emmy on the sideline seating area at Hilldale Gymnastics as he watched Luca from afar, he was by the balance beams talking to two older men, one looked to be in his late twenties, another in his late forties. Aidan smirked as he watched Luca smiling wide for the two men, particularly the older one.

"Which one's the Canadian guy?" Aidan leant over to ask Emmy, who shushed him in return, watching intently as Luca made his way towards the two rings suspended in the air.

"The blonde man is Mr. Yuri." Emmy whispered, pointing to the man in his twenties. "The other man is Gerard Gauthier." She explained irritatedly.

Yuri Alexandrovich was a retired gymnast who represented Russia at the Olympics in Beijing and London and Gerard Gauthier had six Olympic gold medals representing Canada, and now was a coach for the Canadian men's Olympic Gymnastics team.

Aidan watched with bated breaths as Luca stretched in his tight leotard, Aidan could barely control himself as he stared at Luca's perfectly sculpted body. He was so masculine while still being feminine, it was like he was the perfect mix of the two. The tights were bright red and left his muscular arms exposed, running down skin tight past his waist and down to his knees. Part of Aidan hated that his Luca was on display for everyone to see, he wanted to be the only one to see him like that.

Yuri walked up behind Luca and grabbed his waist, hoisting the smaller boy up so he could grab onto the suspended rings. Aidan felt a tinge of jealously in his chest as he watched the other man hold Luca like that, but he trusted Luca. He watched proudly as Luca raised himself up, flipping and contorting on the rings as the Mr. Gautier nodded, staring at him with narrowed scrutinizing eyes. This went on for a while, as they went through floor exercises, pummel horse, horizontal bar and parallel bar.

Aidan watched him carefully, with a smile across his face, but he couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching him as well. He followed the undeniable feeling, cocking his head to the right to see a familiar dark haired boy glaring daggers at him. Gio Greco.

Gio was flanked by Arianna and Gianna, though the two girls were far too busy watching Luca to notice Aidan. Gio was smug and arrogant, and Aidan never cared much for him, ironically enough that's exactly what Gio said about Aidan as well.

The two boys had so much in common, which terrified Luca at times; had they gone to the same school they might have been the best of friends. Aidan gave Gio a tight lipped smile, nodding politely to him as he watched his glare turn into a scowl, before confusedly breaking eye contact and staring back at his cousin on the parallel bars.

Aidan smirked to himself, knowing he successfully pushed Gio's buttons, but that wasn't why he smiled at him. He knew that one day Luca would tell Gio about them, and he knew that one day they'd have to put their differences aside for a certain beautiful dark haired boy who both Aidan and Gio loved, albeit in very different ways. Luca was their common denominator, he would be the reason they'd bury the hatchet, and for him, Aidan would do anything.Even if that meant befriending the brash asshole who was Giovanni Fucking Greco.

"I'm impressed." Mr. Gauthier said as Luca walked up to him, wiping the sweat of his brow and clapping off the residual chalk powder off of his hands. "You have potential, Yuri was right about you. But I must say, I'm surprised you'd pass up the option to represent the States at the Olympics." The older man said with a curious glint in his eyes.

The truth of the matter was that Luca did pass up representing the US team. When he was sixteen, he was so close to training with the USA Gymnastics team, but with everything that happened with Ryder Lark, it didn't happen.

Luca was offered a position on the team, but he later learnt that it was partially for damage control. When Luca first turned Ryder Lark in to USA Gymnastics, he was offered a position to train with them ONLY if he signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement that would prevent him from ever telling his story.  He declined the option outright; if God willed him to go to the Olympics, he'd go on his own merit, not out of pity.

"I'm as Canadian as I am American." Luca said with a smile. "I'd be honored to represent either of my countries. Both are home to me."

"I like that answer. You're quite mature for your age." The older man said with a paternal smile as he patted Luca on the shoulder. Unlike with Ryder Lark, he didn't get a predatory vibe from this man, he got a fatherly vibe from him  that seemed to put him at ease. "I was wondering, Luca. I know I'm here to recruit you for Gymnastics, but Yuri mentioned you being co-captain of the Cheer squad at your school. Have you considered Cheering at the university level?"

"I haven't really thought about it..." Luca blinked in deep thought, he really hadn't thought about it before, like at all.

"As you know, Luca. I'm also a recruiter for Columbia University's Athletics department as well as the Canadian Olympic team. I took a look at your perfect marks and your high SAT scores, and I must say, we'd be lucky to have you on our Cheer Squad... Obviously I can't make any promises right now, but with your stellar set of extracurriculars and impressive class rank; set to graduate valedictorian... The odds look to be quite in your favor. Plus you wouldn't be the only Team Canada kid on the squad either, there are three more, they train with me on their off nights when they don't have cheer practice."

"Oh my God... Columbia?" Luca asked as his glance shifted to Aidan on the sidelines, who smiled at him lovingly. "That's... I.... Can I have some time to... think about it?" Luca mumbled in a state of shock and daze.

"Of course! It is a big life decision, that's two sports plus school work. I won't pressure you, take as much time as you need. I will need to bring some cheer recruiters to see you in action, but from what I've seen, you're definitely Olympic level in the Gymnastics department. Welcome to Gymnastics Canada."

Luca smiled as he shook the older man's hand and bid him farewell, though he felt a sense of unease within him. Aidan was being looked at by NYU to play football in the fall, and Luca applied to NYU as well. NYU and Columbia were close enough to each other, but with them so early in their relationship yet somehow so deep, he didn't know what this new development meant for them.

He stalked off to the locker rooms to change into his normal clothes, peeling the skin-tight leotard off and slipping on his skinny jeans and a form fitting black sweater. Luca jumped slightly as he felt two strong arms snaking around his waist, and a familiar pair of lips gently kissing his neck.

"You were amazing out there..." Aidan said huskily as he nuzzled Luca's neck.

"Thanks..." Luca turned to him, turning a bright red as he gazed into Aidan's beautiful blue eyes.

"What did the guy say?" Aidan asked with a neutral look in his eyes.

"He said I had potential... And he was going to look into potentially getting me a spot on the Cheer squad for Columbia." Luca said with a sigh, as he gazed into Aidan's eyes wearily.

"Baby! That's awesome!" Aidan said with a wide smile, cupping Luca's face as the smaller boy stared up at him.

"But... What about NYU? What about us?" Luca whispered disappointedly.

"What about us?! Luca, babe. We'll be in the same city! You're acting like it you're going across the damn country." Aidan chuckled as he kissed Luca softly on the forehead. "It's less than an hour by subway, MAX. Besides, it's not like we go to the same school now, and we're doing just fine."

"I guess you're right. I'm just being dramatic." Luca said softly, gazing up into Aidan's comforting eyes. Luca's mind always saw the negative in any situation, but the more time Aidan spent with him, the more he learnt to be more positive and see things in a different light. "You shouldn't be here... Gio's here..." Luca said anxiously, making Aidan smile knowingly before sneaking a final kiss and making his way out of the door.

Aidan opened to door leading out of the locker room and practically ran straight into Gio, who glared at him. Aidan flashed him a polite nod and a smile before brushing past the other boy and making his way back to Emma in the main Gym area. Gio opened the door to the locker room with an irritated huff, rolling his eyes to Luca as the smaller boy raised an eyebrow at him.

"The fuck did he want?" Gio muttered through gritted teeth as he glanced backwards to see that Aidan had disappeared in the distance.

"He was just being nice." Luca said with a neutral smile.

"Fucking hate that stronzo." (Piece of shit) Gio groaned irritatedly. "How do you even know him?"

"Through Aria." Luca lied as he slipped his leotard into his gym bag.

"Aria..." Gio drawled with narrowed eyes. "He was looking us really intently while you were out there. What was he even doing here?"

"His sister does Gymnastics here." Luca said nonchalantly, turning around to close and lock his locker.

"Interesting..." Gio said with a glint of intrigue in his eyes. "I've been thinking... About what Gia said." Gio said as he watched Luca tense up slightly. "What if she was testing the waters?"

"What do you mean?" Luca asked with a raised brow.

"I was thinking about it, what if Taylor and Aria..." Gio trailed off as he turned Luca to face him, and glared scrutinisingly into his eyes. "You don't know anything about that, do you...?"

"No I don't." Luca shrugged Gio's grasp off of his shoulders. "Besides, what's the issue if Arianna were to date Aidan? I know you dislike him, but is it that serious?"

"I don't dislike him, Luca. I fucking hate him." Gio said as Luca smiled at him, though on the inside he felt nothing but dread and anxiety. "And I don't think I could trust her if she did..."

Luca let Gio and the rest of them go home because he needed a minute to clear his head. The big game between Hilldale and Crenshaw was next week, not to mention he had midterms, just found out he might be cheering for the Columbia Lions, and was probably going to be going to a different school from his boyfriend which landed him right where he is right now. As small of a thing as it seemed to be, Luca wanted to go to the same school as Aidan. He felt as though the enemy school cloud that loomed over their relationship would finally be lifted.

He walked out of the gym with his gym bag slung over his shoulder as the frosty November air fogged the air around him as he exhaled. He looked up as he heard a car door slam shot nearby, it was Mr. Gauthier, walking around to sit in his driver's seat. He locked eyes with Luca as the boy smiled widely at him.

"Have a good night, Luca. Again it was a pleasure to meet you." Mr. Gauthier said with a cordial smile.

"You too sir." Luca nodded politely towards the older man with a tight-lipped smile. "Have a good night."

Luca felt the cold autumn air as he continued the rest of the way towards his car; hastily unlocking his car and climbing inside as he rubbed his palms together, blowing into them to warm them up. He let out a huff as he leant back into the driver's seat and stared blankly out into the darkness through his windshield. 

He felt this bittersweet sensation; happy that he was standing at the cusp of this huge opportunity, but also sad that his plans with Aidan for the future were potentially jeopardized. Though it might only seem to be a minor inconvenience to most, for Luca and his obsession with everything going exactly to plan; this was a huge fucking deal.  

Luca's gaze shifted to the wooden Rosary hanging off of his rearview mirror, lightly swinging as though beckoning for Luca's attention. In life he faced hardship, he faced bigotry, he faced difficulty understanding his place as a gay male in a piously Italian Catholic and Greek Orthodox family. And while many gay men find that their sexuality and their faith run parallel tracks, to Luca, his faith was what kept him strong, grounded, and always illuminated his path. 

"Dammi un segno, Signore..." (Give me a sign, Lord...) Luca closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of him as he bowed his head in prayer. "Per favore... Dammi solo un segno..." (Please... Just give me one sign...)