It’s much too early in the day to be angry. James thought to himself as he once again fumbled a simple move that he’d had down for years.
He could hear Coach Luna in his head telling him not to practice angry, because ‘This is exactly what happens and it’s not a big deal to get angry about anyways.’ So it’s a good thing she had stepped out for a moment and he didn’t have to hear it aloud.
He let out a huff into the cool air before clambering back up, beginning another lap around the rink.
Toni checked the laces on his skates one last time before he stepped onto the rink. They were for figure skating, not hockey, and therefore so much smaller than what he was used to. It almost felt like he was skating barefoot in them, if it weren’t for the slight heel making him an additional inch taller.
He pushed himself forward, slightly uncertain in his footing with how light his feet felt, and nearly ran into someone.
“Whoah! Hey!” he exclaimed, quickly regaining his balance. “Are you okay?”
“Eh, maybe three.” He pulled a bottle of water out of his bag. “I’d get Luna and her girlfriend one too.”
“I didn’t know she had a girlfriend.” He said.
“You’ve never met Éré? Never seen her pick up Luna after your practice?”
“No.” He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Usually my sponsor wants me to stay longer than Luna guides practice. She heads out and I stay on the ice.”
He stood up, slinging his bad over his shoulder, bottle still in hand. “I’ll have to tell her to come in next time. Finally meet you.”
“That sounds nice.” He smiled. “You headed out?”
“I’ll wait for your ride, if you’ll have me.” He checked his wristwatch. “My bus isn’t for nearly another half hour.”
“Sure, I have probably about 20 minutes till he gets here.” He nodded. “I was gonna do some stretches yet, if you want to join.”
He set his bag back down. “I probably should, actually.”
“There’s a good open spot over here,” he gestured, leading them over. “I usually do some cool down yoga once I’m done training.”
He suppressed a giggle at the idea, instead letting James instruct him into position.
James guided Toni through a lighter version of his usual routine, offering pointers and tips as they went.
He gladly followed along.
Once they finished, James did his own favorite position, a forearm stand that curved his body in front of his head, feet nearly on his own shoulders, for a moment.
Upon standing back up he rolled his neck, shaking out his now-much looser limbs. “I’m always super sore if I don’t do that. Plus…a good stretch is always helpful.”
He leaned against the railing. “If you practiced it enough, you could probably shoot a bow and arrow with your feet.”
He snorted. “I’d probably have to learn with my hands first.”
“It’s mostly in the back actually.”
“Oh interesting!” He smiled. “Do you practice archery?”
“My high school offered it as a PE course.” He picked up his water bottle, set aside when they started their stretches, and absolutely covered in various queer pride stickers.
He scanned the stickers, something in his chest — that he hadn’t even noticed was tight and anxious — loosening at the sight of the trans stickers on the water bottle.
“That- that’s really cool. I’ve been home schooled most of my life, so…PE was skating.”
He tilted his head. “What was homeschooling like?”
He slung his bag over his shoulder. “The schooling itself was fine, I liked getting ahead of where I was supposed to be. The social aspect was…quieter, I suppose. My first real friends were back when I did group skate lessons, but those didn’t last long — so I really wasn’t often around people my age.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “For what it’s worth, public schools can also be quite isolating.”
“Good to know, then. I didn’t really miss out on anything.” He said with a light laugh.
“Shall we head to the doors?”
“Yes. Hang on.” He picked up his bag from where he dropped it.
He waited patiently before they both headed to the doors, not seeing his dad’s truck yet as they got to the glass. “Do you still have time to make your bus?”
He checked his watch. “If not, there’s another one that heads not too far from my place seven minutes later.”
He nodded. “You headed off, then?”
“I should, yeah.” He made no move to leave.
“I’ll - um - I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” He asked.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
He grinned brightly at the confirmation. “Great! I think Luna wants us working on turns tomorrow.”
“But not yet pirouettes?”
“Not yet, for you at least. She may work with you on turn basics while she puts me on a different task.”
A faked look of disappointment settled on his face. “Darn.”
He snorted. “Ah yes, so disappointing I’m sure.”
“At this rate I’ll never live out my childhood dreams of being a pretty princess!” he fake whined.
He laughed. “You’ll have to just live vicariously through me, I suppose.”
“The prettiest princess, in his sparkly leotard.” He took a sip from his bottle. “I wanted to be a knight as a kid anyway.”
He blushed brightly at the compliment before he nodded at the second part. “That makes sense. I always wanted to be the weird wizard…or the prince. Depending on the day.”
“Weird wizard is also great.” He nodded. “Could pull a Gandalf.”
He hummed. “Exactly, and with one of those pointy hats with stars.”
At the end of the drive-in, a familiar truck pulled in.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, and left with a wave.
He waved before jumping into the truck, ignoring his father’s gaze as they drove off.
Toni was at the rink first the next day, bright eyed and bushy tailed so to speak despite it being a Sunday morning. There wasn’t a box of timbits next to him as he was tying his laces, but an opaque Tupperware box.
James came in not long after, carrying two hot drink tumblers, sipping out of one of them like it was all that was keeping him alive and awake.
He plopped down next to Toni and handed the other cup over to him. “‘s cocoa.”
“Thank you.” He took a sip and scooted the box towards James. “Cookies.”
“Thanks.” He gave a tired smile, not reaching to take one, but taking another sip from his cup.
He popped the lid open, revealing a lot of chocolate chip cookies.
“Smells yummy.” He hummed. “Ready for today?”
He nodded as he sipped his hot chocolate. “If you are.”
He shrugged, taking another big drink of his coffee. “Meh, I will feel more ready after I finish this caffeine.”
He took a cookie from the box. “We can wait.”
“Thanks.” He replied, taking another sip.
Luna waved as she walked in, sitting down on a nearby bench to get laced up. “Morning!”
“Morning. Cookie?” He held out the box.
“Sure! Thank you!!” She took one gratefully. “Is this that recipe you were talking about testing?”
“No, just my sister’s.”
She nodded and took a bite. “Delish!” After a moment she glanced over to James, who had stayed quiet, zoning out as he tried to finish his coffee.
“You ok?” She asked him.
After a moment he replied, “Yeah, good. Late practice and study last night.”
“We should probably take it easier today,” he offered.
“Nah, it’s ok. Once I have caffeine and warmups in, I’ll be all set.” He shook his head slightly.
Luna piped up, “To be fair, this isn’t a new occurrence. I trust that he’s got a handle on it, and will tell me if he doesn’t or needs a break.”
Toni gave James a quick look over, but decided that he’d know his own body better than anyone else. He also nudged the cookies closer to him.
After one more sip of coffee, he took a cookie, closing his eyes as he bit into it. “Yummm,” he hummed.
He took a cookie for himself, and looking back towards Luna nodded.
Luna smiled fondly at the two of them, nodding back.
James drained the last of his coffee after finishing his cookie. He took a deep breath and began to get ready to go on the ice, shedding his jacket.
Toni knocked back the last of his hot chocolate and joined him.
Luna sighed as she stood up. “Alright, whenever you two are ready, meet me on the ice. I’ll have you working on two similar but different tasks for the first half of the day.”
He took one last cookie from the box before putting its lid back on.
James nodded and quickly worked to lace his skates, trying to get them right the first time today.
He waited next to him, his hands in his pockets.
He got them well-enough and then stood. “Alright, to the ice we go, I suppose.”
He bowed and held out his hand. “Shall we?”
He took his hand. “Let’s.”
They got on the ice together, Luna smiled fondly. “Alright, you two, start warming up a bit, get some laps going. You’ll want to feel limber today.”
“Alright.” He didn’t let go of his hand as they started the warmups.