Fic: Rush Night (Olympics -- Michael Phelps/Ryan Lochte) PG-13
Title: Rush Night
Author: kingzgurl
Verse: Bonds of Brotherhood (Fraternity AU)
Fandom: Olympics, Swimming and Gymnastics
Pairing: Michael Phelps/Ryan Lochte, Jonathan Horton/Chris Brooks
Word Count: 9,500
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Rush Night freshman year changed Michael Phelps’ life. It was a night he almost skipped out on.
***
The first time Michael Phelps met Ryan Lochte was on Rush Night freshman year. He met a lot of other people for the first time that night too, but Ryan was the most important.
It was a night he almost skipped out on.
“Hey Mike, are you going to Rush?” Michael’s roommate, another freshman named Jon, asked as he fixed his tie in the mirror.
Michael, at the time, was splayed across his bed with Lil’ Wayne playing from his iPod speakers and his statistics book open in front of him. “In a rush for what?” he responded distractedly without having understood the question.
Jon just laughed and turned to look at him. “Rush a fraternity, man. I heard there’s one specifically for freakishly-tall dolphin boys.”
“Which means there must be one for oompa loompas, right?” Mike rolled his eyes and teased right back.
“There is a frat that is mostly gymnasts and divers, yeah,” Jon searched his cluttered desk for a pamphlet he tossed at Michael when he finally found it. “I don’t know about oompa loompas, though.”
“Is your boy going with you?” Michael took a break from his text book to look at the flyer.
They were only in the second week of classes, but Michael had met Jon’s boyfriend on multiple occasions. The three of them usually ate together in the dining hall, since none of them had made too many other friends yet, and Mike thought they were both pretty cool.
Not that Michael was the best judge of what was or wasn’t cool, but they both played Call of Duty and didn’t have sex while he was in the room, so Mike was happy. Plus they had most of their classes together so he never had to sit alone in lectures.
“Yeah, Chris is going. You should come too-it’ll get you out of the room for a while, and who knows, you might actually have fun.”
“What about the stats homework?” Michael’s least favorite (and most difficult) class was statistics. Any excuse to avoid it was worth doing, but with the homework assignment due in the morning he needed (at the very least) to try to be responsible.
“Homework can wait a few hours. Come on, Mike-if you come out with us I’ll help you with stats when we get back.” Jon turned a ridiculous pair of puppy eyes on him from across the room, and Michael laughed because he looked like a five year old who was told he couldn’t get ice cream.
Michael knew he would have helped with the assignment anyway, because statistics was Jon’s favorite class that semester (who actually likes word problems?), but the offer was reason enough for him to shove the book to the floor. “Okay, okay. I’ll go. What do I need to wear?”
“Coat and tie, dude, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered.” Which was true, Mike realized. In the three weeks since move in he hadn’t seen the other man dressed in anything nicer than basketball shorts and a t-shirt with sneakers.
“I don’t have time to shower, do I?” Michael sniffed at his arm to judge if he really needed one. He’d showered early in the day when he got out of the pool, so he didn’t think he smelled too bad, but it was hard to tell sometimes.
“I can’t smell the chlorine from here,” Jon shrugged from the mirror. “So you’re probably fine. Besides, the other dolphin boys would probably like it.”
Michael’s muffled reply came from deep in his closet where he searched fruitlessly for a tie. “Shut up, we don’t all get horny at the smell of chlorine! I can’t even smell it anymore since I spend my life in it.”
“If you say so,” Jon didn’t sound convinced. “Word of advice, if a nice shirt is that far in the bottom of your closet, it shouldn’t be worn tonight.”
“I’m looking for a tie, dumbass.” Michael eventually gave up the search to handle his clothes instead. It only took a few minutes to get dressed, which he mused over as he changed his pants. “Why does it take girls hours to get ready? Guys have a lot more to put on and it takes less than ten minutes.”
“Oh god, Mike! Didn’t your sisters explain all of that to you?” Jon shook his head and outright laughed at him while he texted someone, presumably Chris.
“They tried to,” the swimmer grinned and pulled on a pale blue button-up that his mom insisted he take to college ‘just in case’. “But I ignored them for the most part.”
“Just know you’re lucky to be in a sport where the girls don’t have to spend forever on their hair and make up,” anything else Jon intended to say was cut off when someone knocked on their door and then pushed it open. “I was just thinking we were going to have to come get you on our way out because you were taking so long.”
“Nah, just took a while on the hair,” Chris’ voice answered from the doorway before he crossed the room to Jon’s side. Michael heard the couple kiss in greeting, but his attention was focused on the buttons of his shirt.
He couldn’t help the snicker that escaped when Chris talked about his hair, though he did dodge the rubber band ball that got tossed at him by Jon.
“Heya Mikey,” Chris ignored the antics between the two roommates, as he usually did. “Glad to hear you’re coming out tonight!”
“Anything is better than stats homework,” Michael finished with his cuffs and pulled on his coat. “Ready?”
“Been waiting on you,” Jon chuckled and grabbed his keys with his right hand, since his left was tangled with Chris’ hand. “Now come on, we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”
***
There were a lot more guys headed for Fraternity Row than Michael expected that night. They were gathered in one of the dorm lounges beforehand so a member of the Inter-Fraternity Council could explain how Rush worked and what they would be doing that night, and Michael was surprised to find that it was standing room only.
He didn’t pay too much attention to the fraternity representative, but it was easy to understand that they would split up into smaller groups of guys to visit each fraternity house and meet the brothers. If there was a house they particularly liked, they could stay longer and join up with a later group, but the IFC leader encouraged them not to stay at one house all night. Michael didn’t really think he would find a frat he liked that much, so he decided to stick with Jon and Chris for the evening.
When they were split into groups of fifteen, Michael was pleasantly surprised to find another swimmer in their group. He had seen the other guy around the pool in the morning, but hadn’t talked to him at all.
“Hey Peter,” Chris called over to the swimmer. It startled Michael and made him wonder how they knew one another, since swimmers and gymnasts don’t usually hang out.
He didn’t have long to wonder because Chris explained as soon as the swimmer approached them. “Guys, this is my roommate, Peter. Peter, meet Jon and Mikey.”
“I’ve seen you around the pool deck… it’s nice to finally meet you, dude,” Michael offered his hand.
“Same here. You’re on the team?” Peter shook hands with both Michael and Jon, though his attention stayed on Michael.
“Will be when practices start next month,” Michael grinned. “I’m a freshman, so I haven’t had any interaction with the rest of them yet.”
“I know how that is. I’ve been working out in the morning until I can join afternoon practices,” Peter continued the conversation even as their group walked towards their first destination. “Honestly, I’m only here tonight so I can actually meet some of the team at Kappa Gamma Nu. What about you?”
Michael laughed, “It’ll be great to get involved with the team. My roommate convinced me this would me more fun than a date with my statistics book, so I got dragged along for the night.”
“Your roommate’s smart. I didn’t even know Chris was rushing until I saw all of you here.”
“I guess you and Chris don’t hang out much, do you?” Michael certainly hadn’t known Chris’ roommate was a swimmer; though as he thought about it, Chris never talked about his roommate except to complain that he was a science major who was always in their room to study.
“I don’t have much in common with a gymnast who is never around except to play video games while I’m trying to study,” Peter shrugged, obviously unbothered by his lack of friendship with Chris. Michael was glad for the darkness because it hid his blush, since he played Call of Duty with Chris late at night and was obviously part of the reason the pair didn’t get along.
Thankfully Michael was saved from any further embarrassment when their IFC representative announced the first house. “Welcome to the Lambda Sig house, dedicated to sports and service.”
***
Michael wasn’t entirely sure what he expected Rush Night to be like, but what he experienced was not at all what he thought it would be. He expected there to be awkward small talk, made all the more awkward by the fact he was terrible at making conversation to kill time. He even anticipated someone would comment on his ears or gracelessness, as he was never entirely comfortable with his long limbs outside of the water.
Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine the fraternity guys would seek him out for their organization. The Lambda Sigma house had almost overwhelmed him. It seemed every member, even the upperclassmen, knew him by name and was on a mission to recruit him.
“Hey, it’s Michael Phelps, isn’t it? I’m Jeremy, Lambda Sig Rush Chair,” Jeremy was half a head shorter than Michael, but more than twice as wide. It didn’t take much thought to conclude he was probably a football player. “I’m sure you already know, but we take only the best athletes at the university. The way I hear it, you’re the number one recruit at Cypress this year. We’d like to offer you the chance to join with the best on campus. Our alumni…”
Michael tuned him out when the words began to blur together in his head and his attention went instead to the wall behind Jeremy’s head. Dozens of pictures covered the wall, some Michael identified immediately - Neil Armstrong, Phil Jackson, Eli Manning - and Michael suspected he would probably recognize others if he could get a better look.
Then he noticed a picture that made his breath catch in his throat. “Michael Jordan was in your fraternity?!” As soon as he blurted out the question, and realized that he’d interrupted the brother whose name he had already forgotten, Michael’s ears burned in humiliation. For a few blissful seconds he thought he had only embarrassed himself in front of the one brother who he hadn’t actually listened to, but of course he wasn’t that lucky.
“Um… no.” The brother stared at him awkwardly. “That’s our inspiration wall.”
“Excuse me, I should go,” Michael heard Jon’s voice behind him, and in that moment he realized all of the conversation in the room had stopped. Small hands grabbed his elbow as the flush stained his cheeks pink and he followed immediately when Jon tugged him outside.
Laughter from inside the house echoed after them as they stepped onto the porch, and Michael was just glad Jon had the decency to hold back his own laugh until they were outside and the cool air stung his heated face.
“Oh god,” Michael mumbled and covered his eyes with a hand while he shook his head, “I made myself look like a fucking idiot in there.”
His roommate was less than helpful, as the gymnast was doubled over and laughed his ass off.
“Shut up,” Michael moaned and shoved him half-heartedly, which only made Jon laugh harder.
Familiar laughter joined Jon’s a moment later when Chris stumbled out of the house and onto the lawn with them. “God, Mikey!” He punched Michael playfully on the arm, “That was awesome! There he was talking to you about partying with the Kappas and you go off about a picture of MJ? Priceless, dude.”
“I hate you both,” Michael grumbled, although some of the embarrassment had already faded as the gymnasts teased him. “I should just leave you both here and lock you out of the room tonight.”
“Don’t be like that, Mike!” Jon grinned at him and made a useless attempt to suppress his laughter.
“Seriously, you’ve gotta stay with us until you get to the KG house. After that you can leave if you make a fool of yourself again,” Chris glanced at Jon and the pair immediately burst into laughter all over again. Some friends they were!
***
Michael stayed with them in the end, because he really had no desire to return to his statistics homework. The next three houses bored him, as they catered to a demographic that neither Michael, Jon, or Chris qualified for - Alpha Epsilon Pi was a Jewish fraternity, Psi Phi Pi was strictly nerdy science (Peter appeared fairly happy there at least), and Alpha Phi Alpha was an African American fraternity.
Rather than make an even bigger fool of himself, Michael stayed off to the side at each of the three houses and talked Call of Duty with Jon and Chris. He noticed, however, that while Peter had avoided him since the incident at Lambda Sig, the other swimmer went out of his way to talk to the brothers at each house, even the houses that would never offer him a bid. Michael was more than a little jealous at how easy it was for Peter to find a connection with anyone he spoke to. In his experience, unless the conversation was about swimming or football, it was never that simple for Michael to talk to anyone because he always over-thought it.
Chris teased him and said that Michael was uptight and needed to relax. Jon agreed with his boyfriend and quietly encouraged Michael to get out more, but never pushed him either, which was something the swimmer greatly appreciated from his roommate.
“Michael? Hey Mikey, you’re doing that blank stare thing again…” Chris snapped his fingers in front of Michael’s face to get his attention back. “Good man, there you are. We don’t want you shouting out about MJ like you have Tourette’s or something.”
“Shut up,” Michael rolled his eyes and pushed his friend towards Jon. “If you were more interesting maybe I wouldn’t be thinking about other stuff while you’re talking.” He did make a conscious effort to pay more attention after that, though. He’d already let his ADD distract him enough that Michael knew he should at least try to concentrate.
***
Part Two.
Author: kingzgurl
Verse: Bonds of Brotherhood (Fraternity AU)
Fandom: Olympics, Swimming and Gymnastics
Pairing: Michael Phelps/Ryan Lochte, Jonathan Horton/Chris Brooks
Word Count: 9,500
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Rush Night freshman year changed Michael Phelps’ life. It was a night he almost skipped out on.
***
The first time Michael Phelps met Ryan Lochte was on Rush Night freshman year. He met a lot of other people for the first time that night too, but Ryan was the most important.
It was a night he almost skipped out on.
“Hey Mike, are you going to Rush?” Michael’s roommate, another freshman named Jon, asked as he fixed his tie in the mirror.
Michael, at the time, was splayed across his bed with Lil’ Wayne playing from his iPod speakers and his statistics book open in front of him. “In a rush for what?” he responded distractedly without having understood the question.
Jon just laughed and turned to look at him. “Rush a fraternity, man. I heard there’s one specifically for freakishly-tall dolphin boys.”
“Which means there must be one for oompa loompas, right?” Mike rolled his eyes and teased right back.
“There is a frat that is mostly gymnasts and divers, yeah,” Jon searched his cluttered desk for a pamphlet he tossed at Michael when he finally found it. “I don’t know about oompa loompas, though.”
“Is your boy going with you?” Michael took a break from his text book to look at the flyer.
They were only in the second week of classes, but Michael had met Jon’s boyfriend on multiple occasions. The three of them usually ate together in the dining hall, since none of them had made too many other friends yet, and Mike thought they were both pretty cool.
Not that Michael was the best judge of what was or wasn’t cool, but they both played Call of Duty and didn’t have sex while he was in the room, so Mike was happy. Plus they had most of their classes together so he never had to sit alone in lectures.
“Yeah, Chris is going. You should come too-it’ll get you out of the room for a while, and who knows, you might actually have fun.”
“What about the stats homework?” Michael’s least favorite (and most difficult) class was statistics. Any excuse to avoid it was worth doing, but with the homework assignment due in the morning he needed (at the very least) to try to be responsible.
“Homework can wait a few hours. Come on, Mike-if you come out with us I’ll help you with stats when we get back.” Jon turned a ridiculous pair of puppy eyes on him from across the room, and Michael laughed because he looked like a five year old who was told he couldn’t get ice cream.
Michael knew he would have helped with the assignment anyway, because statistics was Jon’s favorite class that semester (who actually likes word problems?), but the offer was reason enough for him to shove the book to the floor. “Okay, okay. I’ll go. What do I need to wear?”
“Coat and tie, dude, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered.” Which was true, Mike realized. In the three weeks since move in he hadn’t seen the other man dressed in anything nicer than basketball shorts and a t-shirt with sneakers.
“I don’t have time to shower, do I?” Michael sniffed at his arm to judge if he really needed one. He’d showered early in the day when he got out of the pool, so he didn’t think he smelled too bad, but it was hard to tell sometimes.
“I can’t smell the chlorine from here,” Jon shrugged from the mirror. “So you’re probably fine. Besides, the other dolphin boys would probably like it.”
Michael’s muffled reply came from deep in his closet where he searched fruitlessly for a tie. “Shut up, we don’t all get horny at the smell of chlorine! I can’t even smell it anymore since I spend my life in it.”
“If you say so,” Jon didn’t sound convinced. “Word of advice, if a nice shirt is that far in the bottom of your closet, it shouldn’t be worn tonight.”
“I’m looking for a tie, dumbass.” Michael eventually gave up the search to handle his clothes instead. It only took a few minutes to get dressed, which he mused over as he changed his pants. “Why does it take girls hours to get ready? Guys have a lot more to put on and it takes less than ten minutes.”
“Oh god, Mike! Didn’t your sisters explain all of that to you?” Jon shook his head and outright laughed at him while he texted someone, presumably Chris.
“They tried to,” the swimmer grinned and pulled on a pale blue button-up that his mom insisted he take to college ‘just in case’. “But I ignored them for the most part.”
“Just know you’re lucky to be in a sport where the girls don’t have to spend forever on their hair and make up,” anything else Jon intended to say was cut off when someone knocked on their door and then pushed it open. “I was just thinking we were going to have to come get you on our way out because you were taking so long.”
“Nah, just took a while on the hair,” Chris’ voice answered from the doorway before he crossed the room to Jon’s side. Michael heard the couple kiss in greeting, but his attention was focused on the buttons of his shirt.
He couldn’t help the snicker that escaped when Chris talked about his hair, though he did dodge the rubber band ball that got tossed at him by Jon.
“Heya Mikey,” Chris ignored the antics between the two roommates, as he usually did. “Glad to hear you’re coming out tonight!”
“Anything is better than stats homework,” Michael finished with his cuffs and pulled on his coat. “Ready?”
“Been waiting on you,” Jon chuckled and grabbed his keys with his right hand, since his left was tangled with Chris’ hand. “Now come on, we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”
***
There were a lot more guys headed for Fraternity Row than Michael expected that night. They were gathered in one of the dorm lounges beforehand so a member of the Inter-Fraternity Council could explain how Rush worked and what they would be doing that night, and Michael was surprised to find that it was standing room only.
He didn’t pay too much attention to the fraternity representative, but it was easy to understand that they would split up into smaller groups of guys to visit each fraternity house and meet the brothers. If there was a house they particularly liked, they could stay longer and join up with a later group, but the IFC leader encouraged them not to stay at one house all night. Michael didn’t really think he would find a frat he liked that much, so he decided to stick with Jon and Chris for the evening.
When they were split into groups of fifteen, Michael was pleasantly surprised to find another swimmer in their group. He had seen the other guy around the pool in the morning, but hadn’t talked to him at all.
“Hey Peter,” Chris called over to the swimmer. It startled Michael and made him wonder how they knew one another, since swimmers and gymnasts don’t usually hang out.
He didn’t have long to wonder because Chris explained as soon as the swimmer approached them. “Guys, this is my roommate, Peter. Peter, meet Jon and Mikey.”
“I’ve seen you around the pool deck… it’s nice to finally meet you, dude,” Michael offered his hand.
“Same here. You’re on the team?” Peter shook hands with both Michael and Jon, though his attention stayed on Michael.
“Will be when practices start next month,” Michael grinned. “I’m a freshman, so I haven’t had any interaction with the rest of them yet.”
“I know how that is. I’ve been working out in the morning until I can join afternoon practices,” Peter continued the conversation even as their group walked towards their first destination. “Honestly, I’m only here tonight so I can actually meet some of the team at Kappa Gamma Nu. What about you?”
Michael laughed, “It’ll be great to get involved with the team. My roommate convinced me this would me more fun than a date with my statistics book, so I got dragged along for the night.”
“Your roommate’s smart. I didn’t even know Chris was rushing until I saw all of you here.”
“I guess you and Chris don’t hang out much, do you?” Michael certainly hadn’t known Chris’ roommate was a swimmer; though as he thought about it, Chris never talked about his roommate except to complain that he was a science major who was always in their room to study.
“I don’t have much in common with a gymnast who is never around except to play video games while I’m trying to study,” Peter shrugged, obviously unbothered by his lack of friendship with Chris. Michael was glad for the darkness because it hid his blush, since he played Call of Duty with Chris late at night and was obviously part of the reason the pair didn’t get along.
Thankfully Michael was saved from any further embarrassment when their IFC representative announced the first house. “Welcome to the Lambda Sig house, dedicated to sports and service.”
***
Michael wasn’t entirely sure what he expected Rush Night to be like, but what he experienced was not at all what he thought it would be. He expected there to be awkward small talk, made all the more awkward by the fact he was terrible at making conversation to kill time. He even anticipated someone would comment on his ears or gracelessness, as he was never entirely comfortable with his long limbs outside of the water.
Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine the fraternity guys would seek him out for their organization. The Lambda Sigma house had almost overwhelmed him. It seemed every member, even the upperclassmen, knew him by name and was on a mission to recruit him.
“Hey, it’s Michael Phelps, isn’t it? I’m Jeremy, Lambda Sig Rush Chair,” Jeremy was half a head shorter than Michael, but more than twice as wide. It didn’t take much thought to conclude he was probably a football player. “I’m sure you already know, but we take only the best athletes at the university. The way I hear it, you’re the number one recruit at Cypress this year. We’d like to offer you the chance to join with the best on campus. Our alumni…”
Michael tuned him out when the words began to blur together in his head and his attention went instead to the wall behind Jeremy’s head. Dozens of pictures covered the wall, some Michael identified immediately - Neil Armstrong, Phil Jackson, Eli Manning - and Michael suspected he would probably recognize others if he could get a better look.
Then he noticed a picture that made his breath catch in his throat. “Michael Jordan was in your fraternity?!” As soon as he blurted out the question, and realized that he’d interrupted the brother whose name he had already forgotten, Michael’s ears burned in humiliation. For a few blissful seconds he thought he had only embarrassed himself in front of the one brother who he hadn’t actually listened to, but of course he wasn’t that lucky.
“Um… no.” The brother stared at him awkwardly. “That’s our inspiration wall.”
“Excuse me, I should go,” Michael heard Jon’s voice behind him, and in that moment he realized all of the conversation in the room had stopped. Small hands grabbed his elbow as the flush stained his cheeks pink and he followed immediately when Jon tugged him outside.
Laughter from inside the house echoed after them as they stepped onto the porch, and Michael was just glad Jon had the decency to hold back his own laugh until they were outside and the cool air stung his heated face.
“Oh god,” Michael mumbled and covered his eyes with a hand while he shook his head, “I made myself look like a fucking idiot in there.”
His roommate was less than helpful, as the gymnast was doubled over and laughed his ass off.
“Shut up,” Michael moaned and shoved him half-heartedly, which only made Jon laugh harder.
Familiar laughter joined Jon’s a moment later when Chris stumbled out of the house and onto the lawn with them. “God, Mikey!” He punched Michael playfully on the arm, “That was awesome! There he was talking to you about partying with the Kappas and you go off about a picture of MJ? Priceless, dude.”
“I hate you both,” Michael grumbled, although some of the embarrassment had already faded as the gymnasts teased him. “I should just leave you both here and lock you out of the room tonight.”
“Don’t be like that, Mike!” Jon grinned at him and made a useless attempt to suppress his laughter.
“Seriously, you’ve gotta stay with us until you get to the KG house. After that you can leave if you make a fool of yourself again,” Chris glanced at Jon and the pair immediately burst into laughter all over again. Some friends they were!
***
Michael stayed with them in the end, because he really had no desire to return to his statistics homework. The next three houses bored him, as they catered to a demographic that neither Michael, Jon, or Chris qualified for - Alpha Epsilon Pi was a Jewish fraternity, Psi Phi Pi was strictly nerdy science (Peter appeared fairly happy there at least), and Alpha Phi Alpha was an African American fraternity.
Rather than make an even bigger fool of himself, Michael stayed off to the side at each of the three houses and talked Call of Duty with Jon and Chris. He noticed, however, that while Peter had avoided him since the incident at Lambda Sig, the other swimmer went out of his way to talk to the brothers at each house, even the houses that would never offer him a bid. Michael was more than a little jealous at how easy it was for Peter to find a connection with anyone he spoke to. In his experience, unless the conversation was about swimming or football, it was never that simple for Michael to talk to anyone because he always over-thought it.
Chris teased him and said that Michael was uptight and needed to relax. Jon agreed with his boyfriend and quietly encouraged Michael to get out more, but never pushed him either, which was something the swimmer greatly appreciated from his roommate.
“Michael? Hey Mikey, you’re doing that blank stare thing again…” Chris snapped his fingers in front of Michael’s face to get his attention back. “Good man, there you are. We don’t want you shouting out about MJ like you have Tourette’s or something.”
“Shut up,” Michael rolled his eyes and pushed his friend towards Jon. “If you were more interesting maybe I wouldn’t be thinking about other stuff while you’re talking.” He did make a conscious effort to pay more attention after that, though. He’d already let his ADD distract him enough that Michael knew he should at least try to concentrate.
***
Part Two.