Send Help pv Alec Mason closed

The beautiful season of leaves gracefully dancing to the ground was beyond them now. Gone were the vivid colors of autumn, the cool fooling of a gentle breeze tickling your skin, replaced with the harsh Scottish winter. Trees were bare, and all at once the world felt to have lost its liveliness in one fowl swoop. Alec used to find it hard to contend with the isolating feeling winter brought. The constant reminder of what one did not have ached in a way nothing else ever could. Jealousy was a nasty little bugger and had felt hard to be anything but bitter last year.

Heading into winter, there was a feeling of ease that came with the rotation of seasons. A constant like no other. There was solace to take in the way the snowflakes drifted to the ground. The Scottish landscape of Hogwarts covered in a blanket of white snow. Though it felt the word outside had come to a halt, lacking the buzzy business of spring, there was peace to take in from that time of pause. Trees losing leaves only to gain them anew in spring was an ever-so splendid and poetic cycle of rebirth. Alec had been cooped up inside the castle's walls since the beginning of December. Classes and homework, reading books upon books for studying until Alec felt his eyes would fall out. All keeping Alec from the splendor of the outdoors.

The more Alec found himself stuck inside the more he found himself daydreaming of going outdoors. There was much to do and Alec had oh so many ideas. Now was the time to take advantage of the freedom a school like Hogwarts provided and experience something new with the elements the freezing weather provided. Wyatt was fortunate to have a friend like Alec for he would never allow Wyatt to miss such an opportunity as ice skating.

Getting Wyatt to agree was the easy part and before Alec knew it, the two were heading out to the great lake to ice skate on a chilly morning. When the two met up, Wyatt, much to Alec's confusion had insisted Alec take his jacket. If wearing a jacket out in the cold was a requirement- or even important for that matter, Alec had not been informed. He had gone out many times like this and hadn't died yet. Still... He relented and wore the jacket to appease Wyatt. Putting it on, Alec would find himself relieved he had accepted it. He hadn't realized how much warmth a jacket could provide. The jacket was somewhat large on Alec. Wyatt was so tall.

Stumbling out onto the ice Alec skated across the ice like a toddler learning how to walk for the first time. After many merciless crash landings and a few bumps and bruises here and there, Alec found himself able to skate on the ice without incident. Wyatt wasn't as lucky, and Alec grimaced each time he had to accept the reality he was too far off from Wyatt to catch him and help him regain his footing before he fell. It didn't take long before Alec continuously found himself hovering near Wyatt like a helicopter parent making sure not to be too far off in order to help catch him each time he fell. Though Alec's look had a face of pure bliss as he enjoyed himself and seemed to be in his element, Wyatt was not enjoying this little adventure into trying something new as much as Alec was.

Alec was enjoying himself, it had been a long time since he had felt this light in the winter and he wanted to savor every bit of it. They had just barely been out on the ice for ten minutes when Wyatt asked how long it had been. Continuing on to suggest that it was about time they head in soon. Alec pursed his lips as if trying to work out how to respond. He blinked before his lips formed a slight pout. “You want to go in now? We could, but it hasn't even been fifteen minutes.” Alec rubbed the back of his neck. “I was hoping we could stay out longer.” Was he cold? Wyatt had been broom racing in worse weather conditions but he had to be cold. Alec could give him back his jacket. Although, he wasn't sure if Wyatt could take it back. Alec paused watching as Wyatt struggled to turn, almost tripping over himself. Alec's lip quirked up in a half smile at Wyatt's trouble.

Wyatt asked how Alec wasn't falling and the Gryffindor hummed thoughtfully in turn. “You know, you can still enjoy something even if you are terrible at it.” Spoke Alec, gently teasing his friend. Pulling up the sleeve of the jacket Wyatt had given him, Alec reached to untie a long narrow piece of cloth tied that has been tied around his wrist as if it were a bracelet. He used it to tie his hair back so as to not have it continuously blown into his face by the wind and skated closer toward Wyatt. “You're not going to quit that quickly. Are you?” Alec asked, his eyes challenging Wyatt, Alec would reach out, offering both of his hands to Wyatt, “here, we'll do it together.”

@Wyatt Starkey

wearing | hex: #3a5948

“You want to go in now? We could, but it hasn't even been fifteen minutes,” Alec said, pouting. Wyatt’s purely unfiltered double take at that news was truly a monument to how comfortable he felt around his friend. He figured thirty minutes was an over-estimation, but the fact they hadn’t even made half that was intensely shocking. He’d have to wait it out a little bit. With that dreaded look of both curiosity and disappointment in his eyes, Alec added, “I was hoping we could stay out longer.”

In a lighter form of defeat, Wyatt conceded, bowing his head in a more curt nod than he would usually offer to Alec. When he almost tripped as he asked how Alec wasn’t falling, Wyatt would have been an incredible half-wit to miss his friend’s flash of a smile. This is Alec, he’d remind himself. Calculating the odds of Alec’s intentions being malicious–which were conclusively low–calmed his nerves, but even on a less serious level, Wyatt was not a fan of being laughed at.

“You know, you can still enjoy something even if you are terrible at it,” Alec mused with a lighthearted jab. Immediately–almost reflexively–Wyatt scoffed. Alec was getting too good at dealing with him. How was Wyatt meant to respond to such a statement? His jack of enjoyment and his lack of talent in ice skating were both irrefutable facts. Contradicting either would, of course, make Wyatt a full-on liar. But he couldn’t just let the statement sit there without a response of any sort! Damn you, Mason.

“You're not going to quit that quickly. Are you?” Alec teased, reading Wyatt’s mind. Screw him for sensing Wyatt’s internal debate between being a quitter and sticking it out. Feeling backed into a corner while simultaneously recognizing how low the stakes were, Wyatt felt an intense glare make a brief appearance on his features before he could stifle the reaction. The look Wyatt’s brain told him was pity on Alec’s face didn’t help things whatsoever, and when Alec reached out to offer Wyatt both his hands for stability with an assuring, “here, we'll do it together,” Wyatt could’ve puked.

He was offering to hold his hands like Wyatt was his clingy girlfriend, exactly the way Wyatt feared! He gave Wyatt the choice so if Wyatt chose to accept, it would be a conscious decision to do something straight up romantic. If Wyatt declined his help, though, would Alec hate him forever? Maybe that would be a bit overreactive, but anything is possible! Wyatt’s stomach churned in his abdomen. Big decisions like this were not Wyatt’s favorite to make. Hell, any decision with Alec made him anxious.

“Of course I am not going to quit,” he said defensively. The cold was really getting to him. And so was the fact that he sucked at ice skating. Whatever, it’s not like in some dystopian future they’d choose who got to live based on your proficiency in ice skating. What really stung was the comparison, though. Alec and Wyatt both started out pretty rough, but Alec got it after some light trial and error. Wyatt was stuck in that phase. “I thought we’d been here longer than we have, is all.”

Tentatively, Wyatt reached for Alec’s hands. Before he left his dorm room, he had gone back and forth between wearing gloves, and eventually settled on ditching them. He was wishing he’d worn them right about then, since it would have put a comforting layer between his and Alec’s hands. They were cold, since it was freezing. Wyatt imagined his hands were somehow colder.

“If you drag me down with you, I swear, Alec,” Wyatt warned. After a beat, he added with a smirk, “If I take you down, well, you knew what you were getting into.”

Interacting: @Alec Mason
Mentioning: N/A

Wyatt was struggling, and like any good friend who noticed their friend struggling Alec offered to help. Perhaps Wyatt could better keep his balance with Alec there to directly support him. The Gryffindor's light teasing was preceded by words that came in an instant. Wyatt wasn't going to quit. And it was true. Wyatt put a stain on the quitter name with how stubbornly persistent he was, though in this case his stubborn persistence was for the wrong reasons when all he was focused on was not quitting. The other went on to give an excuseexplain how he simply thought they had been there longer. Alec smirked.

He let his eyes linger on the other for a moment before he nodded. Though his hands were held out to Wyatt Alec raised his palms just slightly, as if holding up his arms in defeat. Speaking, there was amusement in the young man's tone. “Alright,” if that's what we're going with. Alec wriggled his fingers in order to make a show of his hands, a reminder that they were there. “Are you going to accept my help; or is that a pride thing too?” Alec teased. It was funny, to even think he had the ability to make a jab at Wyatt over actions to save ones own pride for Alec had done it far more than he would ever be willing to admit.

Of course whether or not it was a pride thing, Wyatt accepted Alec's help, how could he not? If he didn't get help soon Wyatt was going to faceplant into the ice and need a trip to the hospital wing. A trip to the hospital wing where Wyatt would be once-again accompanied by Alec. Wyatt warned of if Alec were to drag Wyatt down with him and well, if Wyatt dragged Alec down with him, Alec knew what he was getting into.

“Don't jinx it!” an alarmed Alec screeched out, eyes wide. Wyatt clearly didn't understand what unseen forces he was telling to curse the two of them. “You're practically asking for one of us to fall down.” He warned with a shake of his head. If either of them fell, It was Wyatt's fault he jinxed them.

Feeling the chill of Wyatt's hands, Alec glanced down in mild concern. Alec gently squeezed Wyatt's hands in an attempt to warm them. Alec didn't bother to explain himself, instead, he said, “Your hands are cold. Is the rest of you cold too?” Alec inquired as he continued. “If you want your jacket back all you have to do is ask. I don't mind.” Wyatt would be able to keep warm with the jacket on and who knows, maybe the cold was why Wyatt kept falling.

Except, of course, even with all these good reasons to give the jacket to Wyatt, Alec lied, he did mind giving the jacket to Wyatt. Not because of the cold, no, Alec's reason was far less sensible than such. Alec wanted to keep it for as long as he could because the jacket smelled like Wyatt. Inhaling his familiar scent was comforting.

Realizing he'd been staring at Wyatt, Alec's face flushed. “Do you feel steady?” Holding Wyatt's hands Alec could pick up Wyatt's slack. Wyatt should have been able to better hold his own and keeping from falling, for now anyway. “Are you ready to move?” When Alec received the okay from Wyatt the Gryffindor would begin very slowly gliding backwards.
@Wyatt Starkey

wearing | hex: #3a5948

“Are you going to accept my help; or is that a pride thing too?” Alec teased. Wyatt matched his teasing with a raised brow and a questioning glance.

“Please, Mason, your pride is so abundant it’s a wonder the sorting hat couldn’t make out enough to sensibly put you in Slytherin,” Wyatt jabbed, lightheartedly using Alec’s last name. The statement partly came from a place of pure honesty, as there were some moments where Alec seemed like more of a Slytherin than Wyatt. He certainly had more tact when it came to setting up pranks than Wyatt did, something that took more than a bit of that classic Slytherin cunning.

Wyatt’s little jab allowed him to slip back into a comfortable place; making fun of people was his favorite pastime and his most well-honed talent (most notably placing before his ability to speak parseltongue). Immediately after he stopped talking, he felt anxious again. Though he reached for Alec’s hands rather quickly, knowing that if he didn’t accept his help he’d surely break a bone or four, his hesitation was apparent. Was this what friends did? Did it even matter? He was uncomfortable, and since it worked so well the last time, Wyatt made another joke. This time, about falling.

“Don't jinx it! You're practically asking for one of us to fall down,” Alec responded, almost grimly with a wide-eyed expression, taking Wyatt’s joke far more seriously than he expected.

Wyatt was so shocked that he let out a full, audible laugh. Alec looked cute all startled like that, warmed by Wyatt’s jacket… which was only slightly too large for him and looking a bit out of place with the rest of his outfit. His eyes were always quite nice, but when he opened them so wide, they were on full display. They perfectly reflected the light the Sun shone onto the Earth in a way that made it seem like the Sun was shining just to enhance their beauty. It certainly wasn’t shining today with the intention to warm Hogwarts, judging by the freezing temperatures.

“Your hands are cold. Is the rest of you cold too?” Alec asked. The Sun’s failure to do its job today didn’t go unnoticed by Alec either, apparently. Before he spoke, he squeezed Wyatt’s hands in a rather silly attempt to warm them. They didn’t warm, but Wyatt could’ve sworn he felt something, like an electric shock. Or did he simply imagine the feeling? His thoughts were interrupted by Alec’s famous considerate-ness. “If you want your jacket back all you have to do is ask. I don't mind.”

Wyatt shook his head, no, assuring, “I’m alright. I always have cold hands, anyway. The jury’s still out on whether it’s because I live in a dungeon or if it’s this aura of corpse I can’t really shake off,” he smirked. He must’ve been imagining things, but Wyatt thought Alec was looking at him oddly. It was as if he’d zoned out but he knew just who he was looking at. His expression was soft, almost fond, but he wasn’t entirely present. He must’ve been lost in his thoughts; not an unusual thing for Alec.

“Do you feel steady?” Alec asked, suddenly flushing. Alec shifted, firmly holding Wyatt’s hands, and suddenly Wyatt felt far more stable. Wyatt almost forgot to respond, but he eventually remembered, and slowly tipped his head forward in a single nod. “Are you ready to move?”

“Yes,” Wyatt answered shortly, hoping he sounded more sure than he thought he did as the sound reverberated in his own head. They began to glide, with Alec gracefully skating backward, pulling Wyatt along who couldn’t help but glance down at his feet every other second to make sure he was still upright. Alec, however, seemed so at home on the ice, and Wyatt looked up at him with curiosity plain on his face. He wondered if Alec’d ever skated before, and decided to ask.

“This can’t possibly be the first time you’ve ever skated, can it?” Wyatt prompted. “If it’s raw talent, we should get Jackie on ice as soon as possible. If it runs in the family, she could give you a run for your money after a lesson or two,” he joked, simultaneously seeing the validity of the suggestion.

Interacting: @Alec Mason
Mentioning: N/A