who: ty + carter (@rollercoasterush) where: centennial park (specifically the ODR)
things had picked up over the last several weeks. ty and carter had gone public at the new year's eve party, but since then, they'd had several more public sightings. she'd been caught attending one of his games at msg with one of her girlfriends and he'd brought her coffee on set. they'd both posted some carefully curated photos on instagram. they'd been seen grabbing brunch or leaving each other's apartments. more recently, though, they'd been in las vegas for the super bowl and some of the after party footage (including a particularly embarrassing video of ty singing love story at carter from across a crowded room) had gone viral in a way that ty wasn't really expecting. his follower count had been climbing steadily but it had blown up over the last week. someone stopped him on the subway on the way to practice to ask about carter. a fan of hers turned around in the starbucks line and told him he better not hurt her.
so, things were going well. well enough that their agents wanted them to be spotted again together in public doing something more date-like. ty had agreed on one condition: he got to pick what they did. he didn't mind sporting events. hell, he loved movie premiers, too. but he liked carter. he didn't want to parade her around like some kind of trophy. he just wanted to do something fun with her.
so that's why he'd dropped a pin to her earlier that day and told her to meet him at the park. what carter didn't know was that he was waiting on the bleachers of the outdoor rink, dressed casually in a thick sweater, a puffy vest, and a red sox knit cap, skates already on and laced. he'd had one of the team's equipment guys grab him a spare pair of women's skates. 'hey." his breath curled into the air as a white puff as he waved her over. "are you a seven and a half? i guessed." a sheepish smile turned his mouth as he stood up, tramping down the bleachers with his skate guards still on. "if not, we can rent a pair for you." once he reached carter, he pulled her into a one-armed hug, the other hand still gripping the borrowed skates by their laces. he dropped a quick kiss to her lips. this has become more natural after the first few times. he felt less weird about it now, even if it still seemed like a bit of a business transaction. "how are you?"
