Rusty Skates PV Closed

Elsians stomach churned at thought, face twisting in a disgusted wince. “Eww,” he hissed, giving the other a pained look, “Kim that's disgusting!” It was a whine at best; how could the younger Gryffindor put this horrible fact into existence for Elsian? He’d never be able to gain that blissful ignorance back, he’d have happily gone the rest of his life without hearing those words.

“You are horrible.” A grumble as the other voiced his find. “The absolute worst-”

The rest of the words were cut off as the other grabbed his hair, Elsian pulling an exaggerated face at the other when the feeling of his hair being styled in a way it wasn’t used to. “You’re gonna make me look stupid aren’t you.” He deadpanned, squinting at the other when he pulled back with a smile. He turned around to catch his reflection in the store fronts window and yep, it looked ridiculous! He took a sip of his drink, half listening to Kims talk of braids as a stronger burst of wind blew past them, the little air bun that was his bangs stayed strong however. So hey, it worked!

“Well your hairstyling skills are allowing me a hair free drink so I guess you can braid my hair.” Another sip, and by God if it wasn’t amazing being able to actually drink his hot chocolate, as he twisted back around to face Kim as they spoke. “Just don’t get any funny ideas about dying it,” a playful squint at the other, “spell my hair green or pink and it's a prank war. You will never know peace again.”

Elsian eyed the other with a raised brow when the silence dragged out, smirking when Kim finally seemed to catch up to what he was saying. “Yeah, it might be something cool if it’s still drawing attention.” He took another mouthful of the warm drink as he stood, emptying it with one last sip before going to throw it into the trash. “C’mon,” he scraped some of the ice off his shoe before looking back up, “while it’s not too crowded yet.”

It wasn’t too far of a walk.

Not usually at least. But the icy sidewalk and cold bursts of wind made it seem longer than it usually would. That plus the closer they got the more crowded it seemed to get, the curse of popular shops and cafes in this cold weather. He huffed when a group shuffled by, bumping into him and his bag, throwing a glance over his shoulder. It was clear to see trying to stay together in this crowd was harder than he originally thought when he realized just how far away he’d gotten from his friend.

Pressing himself against a storefront he waited for a bit for the other to catch up before snatching onto the other's sleeve, fumbling a bit before grabbing their wrist. “Sorry,” he called over the noise of the shop they were near. He’d totally almost lost sight of the other. And bloody hell, that would’ve been a nightmare to deal with. “Let's try that again, this time without me leaving you behind.” He joked as they continued to walk, mostly side by side.

Thankfully it wasn’t long before some of the worst of the crowd broke free and they finally reached their destination. It kinda looked like a park but all dolled up in decorations to match the festive tones of the nearby shops of the semi open shopping district located right here. Light’s were starting to turn on as it began to grow a bit darker, a large Christmas tree still put up with fake presents underneath and what seemed to be said festivities that’d been drawing the crowds.

It was an ice rink.

As they got closer and the crowds gave way to more open space Elsian finally gave up his grip, giving the other boy a bit more space as Elsi went ahead and leaned on the little wall barrier surrounding the outdoor rink. “Huh.” He mused, eyes a bit wide with curiosity as he watched people skate. It made sense now that he thought about it, this was the season for it after all and; he looked up at the strands of lights illuminating the dimming area and snow, it was pretty too. Of course a bunch of people would be ice skating right now but somehow he hadn’t really thought this is what they’d find. “I…didn’t really think it would be an outdoor ice rink.”

Kinda a shame.


It looked fun but…He glanced down at the ice, wincing a bit when someone lost control and fell, tripping their friend with a laugh.


He didn’t know how to skate.


“Well, that’s a bust.” He mumbled, eyeing the rink.

WOW! Just-

“Wow,” Elsian gave the other a haughty look, tossing some of his hair about for dramatic effect. “Thanks for nothing, tweedle dee, I’ll remember this slight against my honor when you're at your weakest, mark my words.” He threatened just to be dramatic.

“Perhaps I’ll cut my hair,” he sniffed, fingers tugging at a stray lock by his ear, “just chop it all off to rob you of your braiding dreams.”

Hmm. But if Kim was promising…then he supposed it’d be okay. But just in case- he held up his pinky with the utmost seriousness, “pinky swear then.” The act would only be dropped upon the other swearing once again, in which case Elsian would shrug at the others question with an easy smile. “I dunno what to tell you, I just like my hair and-” Well he tried to imagine it. Colorful hair though…it just wouldn’t suit him. He just knew, had this uncanny feeling. Maybe it was silly, and the boy perhaps wouldn’t be against spelling a strand or 2 a color to show house pride or for a holiday but otherwise… “I just think it’d look bad. Most colors really, I don’t think they’d really suit me.” He was much too plain for it.




As far as activities went, ice skating had never been high on the priority list. He hated deep water, especially if there wasn’t a boat nearby. Sure if he was close to shore it was fine but every time he’d seen people skating it was on natural ice, lake, pond, which- hah, no.

Just no. You could not pay him to go stand, let alone fumble uselessly about in skates while on the ice. Ice where he knew there was a deep, icy death trap right under his feet just waiting to swallow him up the moment the ice broke. No, no, no. A million times no.

He huffed, startled out of his thoughts at the others arm around his neck. He hummed in reply, curious as the other spoke-

Ah…

“Oh…um.” Did he? He’d never given much thought to actually trying in the past, but that was then, and this was-

Well frankly the idea made his stomach twist anxiously.

But this wasn’t natural ice over a lake. It was a safe, boring muggle rink! No deadly water waiting to swallow you up, so safe-ish, if you could ignore the pains of falling on the ice and the blades of the skates… they couldn’t actually be that dangerous right?

It kinda looked fun! In a scary, distant sort of way…

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he laughed, bumping into the other, “seeing how I have NO idea how to skate.” Maybe he could learn eventually. But- “I’d probably just be dragging you down.” He admitted. “Like, literally. I’d probably fall down a lot on my own, probably not the most fun for you.” He offered with an embarrassed grin.

As if Kitty wouldn’t recognize him! “She would know,” he sniffed with a petulant look, “she’s the best, my perfect spider child, she’d know me through anything.” Perhaps. But Elsian liked to think so anyway and would stand by it.

Contracts and pros and cons aside, the other boy had a point. Elsian didn’t much care for too short hair and even if he did…well he was a bit lazy about getting it cut.

He raised a brow at the other as Kim spoke, smiling with a tiny chuckle as his fellow skating failures were mentioned. “And I’ll put them all to shame with my beautiful face planting I’m sure.” But Kim was right, it wasn’t like there wasn’t room and it wasn’t like this was a competition…he was just making excuses. They weren’t even very good ones. It made him feel a little silly honestly even as his stomach did a little flip as he watched a skater take a tumble, waiting for the ice to crack or show signs of giving out-

But it didn’t. Obviously it didn’t. And maybe that plus Kim's words did give him a little courage…

“Yeah,” he swallowed, grin a bit weak but still real enough despite what he was agreeing to, “yeah, you’re right. It might be fun.”

Pushing off the barrier he gave Kim a friendly bump in the shoulder as he moved, “and I do feel a little braver.” A teasing but nonetheless honest statement. “C’mon let's go rent some skates before I think better and back out.” Because if he thought too much he just might try.

But it was fine! Fine, fine, fine… It wasn’t like he was internally beginning to freak out the tiniest bit as they looked through the options at the ice rink booth. And trying on the skates and already feeling his legs wobble uncomfortably totally wasn’t a problem! Not at all, it was fine. This would be fun, great even! “I hate this.” He laughed, high pitched and slightly maniac; they weren’t even on the ice and he was struggling as he stared at his own feet. “This is fine,” he lied to himself aloud as he took another step up to the ice, and with willpower that was quickly dwindling he stepped onto the ice before he could overthink it, before Kim could offer help or advice as he also got his skates and put them on, before he could back out and wasn’t that the worst fucking decision he’d ever made.

He clung to the side, feeling as if his feet were only one slip of movement away from giving out under him. “It’s not fine, it’s not fin-”he slipped, half disappearing behind the rink's walls as he barely succeeded in catching himself and dragging his sorry self upright. “It’s not fun, Kim help me-!” he whined demanded with a hiss and look of betrayal, as if Kim’s had known this would happen and was therefore all his fault. Everyone could shut up and ignore how he hadn’t actually moved from his claimed area, latching on with would could only be described as a death grip.

The moment Kim was within easy grabbing distance Elsians would flail an arm out towards the other, snatching Kim's hand, arm, hell even the back of his coat would do so long as he had the other to stabilize him.

Damn logic. Damn balance. If he was going down Kim was going down with him!

“I’m going to fall. I’m going to fall, Kim I’m going to fall and break a bloody ankle and I’m taking you down with me.”

“It’s too late,” he hissed, fingers practically like claws as he clung to the side, “I’m panicking.” There was a itty bitty hint of hysteria in the crack of his voice as he somehow pulled himself back up, only for his leg to fly out from underneath himself, “I’m falling, I’m panicking. Kim-”

Elsian clung to the younger boy, fingers digging into the fabric of the other boy's coat from where he had a death grip on Kim's arm. He wasn’t letting go. Refused to let go.

It was lucky that Kim was level headed enough to help him. If it’d been any other Gryffindor there was a high chance Elsian woulda just brought the poor fool down with him.

He grit his teeth, wobbling as he tensed before catching himself with Kim’s help. It was hard to think positive. Hard to think at all beyond the shakiness in his limbs and the stuttering beat of his anxious heart. What thoughts that did linger were unpleasant. The wild imagination of the ice somehow cracking to break and plunge them into freezing water, the way his limbs shook and how little control he had, how it’d only take one wrong mov-

“I’m positive I’m gonna break something.” He growled bleakley before scoffing lightheartedly at Kims words, “yeah well…I was positive I’d be able to at least stand. Goes to show how good thinking positive is-” A slip. His foot flying out from under him before Kim helped stay upright. It was tough. Really tough. Tougher than learning to fly, than staying awake in astronomy, dare he say worse than all the stairs at Hogwarts.

Still, listen he did. Lazy he may be, Elsian hadn’t ever been a quitter. Not really.

Death grip on the rail he slowly let his other arm drift up to help him shakily balance. Some witty banter was on the tip of his tongue as they slowly, very, very slowly got to a point Elsi wasn’t in danger of taking them both out with a single, wobbly slide but it got dragged into a laugh instead. A small, shaky thing but a laugh nonetheless. Maybe because of how ridiculous the thought was? Because no, he hadn’t. His horrible lack of skill on the ice was probably proof enough, anyone with eyes would be able to tell Elsi was new to this, struggling too, and any other time that might’ve made Elsian feel at least the tiniest bit of embarrassment but it was quite hard to feel ashamed when you were more worried about falling and dying.

“No.” It felt like an eternity before he was able to slowly drag his eyes away from his feet and briefly shook with the effort as he looked to his friend. “Never I-” The thought of frozen ice and deep water made his heart jump to his throat. Green eyes looked towards the ice. Both their feet. “I don’t…” A pause.

“It’s stupid. And unlikely…” A small bit of sheepishness made its way into the older Gryffindors tone, “but I was always too afraid the ice would break.”

As they spoke, he didn’t even realize his nerves began to relax the more he forced himself to respond. To focus on Kim instead of his feet and the iron grip he had on the side of the wall.

“Stupid right?” He joked.