—
“I don’t really know how to do this,” Daniel admitted, as he stepped onto the ice.
“Me either,” Isaac promised, holding Daniel’s hands. “But it’ll be fun.”
Daniel didn’t think that wobbling around with knives attached to his shoes was going to be fun, but Isaac had insisted it would be and Isaac had never been wrong about things that Daniel would like before, so they were going ice skating.
Daniel had never known Isaac to lie, but he seemed pretty steady on his skates for someone who didn’t know what he was doing. He and Daniel held each other’s hands as they moved out onto the frozen lake. There wasn’t anyone else here, so if they fell, nobody would see.
“Ready for me to let go?” Isaac asked him, once they were out near the middle.
Daniel had taken a second to get his bearings, but he wasn’t wobbling now. “Sure,” he said, and Isaac let him go. Daniel was unsteady for a second longer, but then he found his balance. It wasn’t that hard to stay up.
Isaac fell down on his ass. “Ow,” he said.
“You okay?” Daniel figured out how to move and came over to him, helping him stand.
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks. Hey, you’re figuring it out.”
Daniel nodded. It wasn’t that much different than dancing. He held Isaac’s hand and they started to move together, swaying back and forth as they skated. They reached the edge of the lake and tried to turn, and Daniel lost his footing and ended up in the snowbank.
“Oh damn,” Isaac said, crouching beside Daniel to help him up. “You okay there?” He sounded worried.
Daniel shook all the snow off himself and coughed. Then he laughed. “I think so. The frozen water really broke the fall.”
Isaac snickered too. “It’s useful like that,” he said. He helped Daniel up. “Let’s try again.”
Daniel nodded and they got skating again, moving in sync. It was kind of cool, actually, moving so easily together with Isaac. Daniel didn’t think skating was easy. He thought that moving with Isaac was easy.
And it was peaceful, and calm. They both fell a couple more times, but it didn’t matter. They movements they made when they weren’t falling on their asses were a dance that Daniel hadn’t known he could do. And it was beautiful.
And also fucking cold, but that was what the hot chocolate afterwards was for.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 