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“TA-DAH!--”
Bdubs accentuated and stood proudly, puffing his chest out with a raised chin. The ice skates on his feet wobbled against the rubber mats, ankles bending in an unnatural way.
He sat back down on the bench.
“Good one, Bdubs. What was that? A full 7 seconds? —New record for you there,” Etho chuckled from above him. He was standing just fine in his skates and had been for the past ten minutes.
They weren’t even on the ice yet.
“BAH,” he crossed his arms. “If I wanted to stand I could! It’s a matter of choice. I am very happy here, I'll have you know. Very comfortable, uh,” the bench was tense beneath his legs. “...Plywood.”
“Uh-Huh. Come on, here,” Etho extended a gloved hand downwards, palm an open invitation. Let me help you.
Bdubs stared at it.
“If we stay here much longer I think the ice is gonna melt.”
The hand was swatted away. “Etho, commercial ice rinks don’t melt! They have…. stuff, — for that!” he grumbled, pushing off onto his feet once again with newfound fire. He was fine! A man of skill such as himself didn’t need assistance. Didn’t want it. “See? I’m standin’. Let’s go.”
“Okay,” Etho waited, watching him. He blinked innocently. “Lead the way, since you’re so capable.”
“Okay.”
…
Neither of the two moved. The dejected, overworked teenager who had given them their shoe sizes coughed loudly. Everyone else in their time slot had already made their way onto the ice without issue.
“D–”
“I’M GOIN,” Bdubs took a singular, tentative step forward. Really, it was more him sliding the skates against the floor until he was at least a pace ahead. “There!” He whipped his head round to face Etho. “I’m a natural!” An ice-skating legend in the making.
“Bdubs,” the smug bastard made a show of picking his feet off of the ground when he walked. “You know these mats are made to stop you from slipping, right?”
Bdubs did not answer, dragging his feet across the floor in a very dignified shuffle-walk. Very dignified, indeed. The squeaks of metal on plastic followed him all the way to the door. “HAH! …You comin’ or what?”
Etho crossed the room in a matter of seconds.
Oh.
—------------
The air outside was crisp as it hit his lungs. It smelt like chemicals, with faint traces of hotdogs cooking in far too much oil. The mix wasn’t particularly pleasant, but Bdubs had other things to worry about; Etho was standing by the side of the gate, holding it open for him in a mock bow.
The white expanse on the other side glittered, highlighted by string lights domed on the ceiling. Taunting him. Daring him. Challenging him.
“Hold onto the railing once you get on,” Etho offered. He was being very patient, even if he was finding too much humor in it all.
Bdubs didn’t need to use the railing, though. It was just the stupid rubber mats! Once he was on the ice it would be an entirely different story. He shuffled until the front of his skates were flush with the border of the rink.
One foot on. He slid the blade back and forth, testing it impishly. Were his ankles already supposed to hurt? Goodness.
Second foot on. Bdubs let go of the gate with bravado. “Now, what did I tell you earlier, Etho?” The words were loud as he slowly drifted inch by inch onto the ice.
“You said you were a grown man who would have no problem with a little skating.”
“Yep! And look at me.”
Etho hummed, joining him on the ice effortlessly. Bdubs still hadn’t moved by his own accord, science doing all of the work. People skated past them, a few grumbling as they went. They were blocking the wall that people with less expertise than them were using to get around. “I’m oh so sorry I ever doubted you,” he canted his head to the side. “You lead.”
Did he have to look so goddam cocky? He’d show him!
“Fine, fine, fine,” he gathered courage, held his breath, and took an experimental glide.
It was… easy? Why had he even been worried in the first place? The ice felt stable, his blades slicing through it like butter to toast. He held his arms out for stability, rolling his shoulders and—-
—------“W- AH!! his vision tilted backwards, the world spinning like clockwork around him until he felt cold, wet water against his back. “Ohhhhhh.” Bdubs squeezed his eyes shut, face burning as the laughter in his ears grew in octave.
“Bdubs!---- You,” Etho was doubled over with his hands clutching his stomach, balance SOMEHOW steady as he giggled. “You gotta use the side, man.”
…
“...Etho?”
“Yeah?”
“How do I… uhm, get up… from here?”
A hand entered his peripheral. Bdubs sighed, reaching out with his own and holding tight.
Etho tugged him back onto his feet with minimal sliding from both of them. “You can do it like that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he rolled his eyes. Their hands were still together, but he wasn’t thinking about that. “Thanks.”
Etho nodded, and he could tell he was smiling under his mask. “Okay,” he held their joined arms up in the room between them, the motion dragging Bdubs with it. “I’m gonna teach you to skate, old man. We can start slow.”
“BUT—-“ Bdubs shuddered, stray frost from his hair dripping beneath his neckline. He was definitely going to be finishing the day with bruises and hypothermia. “Freaking — stupid, — …fine,” maybe it was for the best. He would get the hang of it quickly, after all.
“Bdubs, look at me.”
He did.
“You want to bend your knees juuuuust slightly,” Etho demonstrated. “But keep your spine straight. And do not look down.”
Bdubs copied, feeling a bit silly in the half-sit. They were still very much in the way of the rest of the rink “Like this?”
“Yep, like that, and turn your feet outwards. ” Etho waited until he obliged, before he slowly pushed forward, using the inside of his skates to propel them.
Bdubs instantly death-gripped his hand, stomach lurching.
“Woa– Relax, Bdubs. I got you.”
Even through their gloves Bdubs could feel the thumb gently sweep across his own. His heart felt sick from the gesture, threatening to explode. Ice skating was awful. Etho was awful.
“And people do this for fun?????”
A laugh. “Yeah. It is fun.”
They were moving now, a snail's pace following the outskirts of the rink. If he needed it, Bdubs had the safety of the railing on his right, and Etho’s support on the left.
It wasn’t that bad.
“Feeling okay?”
“Yeah… I, —— Mmmhm. Great. Great. Good. Very… fine.”
“Want to try on your own yet?”
“NO!!!—— Ooh, uh,” Bdubs stuttered, cutting off Etho's blood supply. He loosened his hold. “Sorry sorry. No. I do not want to do that, Etho. What if I die?.”
“I’d get to skate faster if you did.”
“HEY,” Bdubs nearly fell over. Etho steadied him. They continued on. “You—— you would miss me.”
“Mmhmm,” were they getting further away from the wall? “‘Course I would.”
He stopped panic-staring at the space in front of him, turning to look up at his taller friend. Even with the mask, his usually pale complexion had a cold-tint. Rosy watercolor across his nose bridge and cheeks. “You would,” Bdubs sounded pitiful, like a wounded animal begging.
Etho steered them. “I said I would.”
“BUT YOU DIDN'T MEAN IT,” he feigned distraught.
“Hey,” his hand was squeezed. “Look,” they had stopped moving.
Huh. When had they gotten to the center of the rink?
“Oh,” brown eyes widened. “I was skating! Ooooh,” Of course he had been. He was very talented, it came as no surprise. —- None.
“You were,” Etho slipped his hand away. “You’re gonna skate back to the other side now. Alllll on your own.”
“Wha a hhha—- no, no,” he made a lunge for his fingertips but Etho skated just out of reach. He was like a fish in water, slippery and graceful.
“I’ll be right here. ——Thought you could handle a little skating?”
If Bdubs made a noise resembling a growl and a choke if you hoovered them both up then no one needed to point it out.
“I CAN.”
“Let’s see it then.”
Gingerly, Bdubs started to move. Feet shoulder width apart, knees curved. One foot, and the next. One foot, and the next. It was fine. He was fine.
He actually was fine.
A grin, wide and cheesy spread across his face. It didn’t budge, plastered until his cheeks hurt and his skates hit the barrier with a thud. “Told ya so!!! I told you I was a pro, Etho.”
“I never doubted you, ‘Dubs,” Etho’s skates came to a sideways halt, shards of ice spraying in a technicolor arc. He was lying, of course. “Ready for some more?” and he took his hand again.
Bdubs glanced down at it. There wasn’t a point in doing that, —— not now that he had shown he was perfectly capable on his own. He wriggled out of the hold, readjusting so that instead of palm in palm their fingers were laced together as one.
“WELL of course I am. This rink has NOTHIN’ on me.”
—————-
“Mmm. Soup,” Etho had his mask pulled down as he sipped from a styrofoam cup.
The Christmas market around them swarmed with people. Various wooden stalls selling fresh food and handmade goodies framing the square. In the center was a towering tree, draped in twinkling golden lights.
They sat on a bench in front of it.
Bdubs nodded, his mind drifting as he took a mouthful of his own. Tomato. It was boiling, and it burnt his tongue as it went down, but he couldn’t care less.
Etho still hadn’t let go of his hand.
“We should go ice skating every year.”