Jacky

The ice rink wasn't as busy as Jacky had expected, given how excited Billiana had been. They walked in and only had to wait behind an annoyingly affectionate hetero couple before they could get their own skates, and there were plenty of lockers to stash their shoes and seats to sit in to put the skates on.

Jacky was given a pair of black hockey skates, which was fine with him, but when Billy was given the same, he handed them back and said, "Oh no. I need a pair with a toe pick." Not knowing what that was, Jacky left to get a head start on putting on the skates. Tying shoes with one hand wasn't easy and he didn't want to hold anyone up, or worse, have someone decide they needed to help him.

The feat was made more difficult because his usual method involved trapping one lace under his other foot to hold it tight, which was not something he wanted to do with blades.

A shadow loomed over him. "Need some help?" Braedyn asked.

"I'm fine," Jacky snapped. Great, now he had an audience. He was still on the first skate lace. The problem was how tight he knew skates would have to be to give enough ankle support that he wouldn't immediately fall on his ass, and it was hard to get that amount of tension with the one-handed tie. He finally finished skate number one. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Braedyn staring at him. Braedyn didn't even need to look at his own laces to tie them, the fucker.

Billy and Liliana arrived, just as Braedyn said, "I could just tie the other—"

"I'm fine!" Jacky snarled.

"Oh, honey." Billy put a hand out to Braedyn. "Don't you worry, he does this every day. Albeit with more swearing."

"Fuck off," Jacky said.

"See?" Billy's phone buzzed. Swiveling in his seat to look at the entrance, Billy said, "Stavros is here!" He waved.

Beside him, Braedyn hunched for a moment before pushing himself off the bench. "Cool. I'm gonna go hit the ice."

"Wait for me!" Liliana linked her arm in Braedyn's and they clomped away.

"Do you think it's working?" Billy asked in a low voice.

Jacky tugged on his laces. He was most definitely going to roll an ankle. "Sure."

"Really?"

Another tug, and Jacky sat up, collapsed against the back of the bench. "I don't know, dude. You'd be better off not playing games with him."

Billy stared at him, eyebrows furrowed. "But that's not fun." Switching gears, he spun to face Stavros. "Hi!"

Rolling his eyes, Jacky stood up and clomped toward the ice.

There were already too many people on the ice. He stepped aside while a big group of giggling girls piled out there, one of them immediately falling and taking half her friends down with her. Pulling out his phone, he texted Ryan. I'm about to step on the ice... Wish me luck.

While he waited for the traffic jam to clear, he looked for Braedyn and Liliana. They were skating quite happily – and gracefully – arm in arm. Liliana waved as they glided past. Jacky seriously considered staying here all night. It wouldn't be bad. The concessions stand wasn't that far away, and spotting the klutzes who were about to eat it was like playing Where's Waldo, where half the people were Waldo.

But on their next lap, Braedyn did one of those sideways stops that hockey players did, and Liliana neatly stopped near the entrance and grabbed Jacky's arm. "Let's go."

"I'm not ready—" Jacky started to say, even as he was already being towed along with Braedyn skating backwards in front of them.

For about thirty seconds Jacky thought he would be fine. He managed a smile.

Then his ankles wobbled and he tried to windmill his arm, only Liliana was holding onto his arm.

"You've got this," Liliana said, somehow keeping him upright.

Once he had reasonably regained his balance, Jacky said, "You should go on ahead. I'm only to take you down when I fall."

"I've fallen before. It's no big deal."

"Lily!" came a high-pitched shriek. A streak of purple hair flew past.

"Addy!" Liliana called back.

Without speaking, Braedyn took over for Liliana, and she sped off to join her friend.

"You're doing okay," Braedyn told him.

"You're literally keeping me from falling," Jacky said. He wobbled again.

Braedyn made a face. "You're doing better than Billy and his boyfriend." He had never sounded so bitter.

It took Jacky a few glances around the rink to find Billy and Stavros while remaining upright on his skates. When he did find them, he smirked: they were both tangled up on the ice. Jacky had to snap his attention back to keeping himself from falling. "Stavros is more of a one-night stand situation."

"Really?" Braedyn gazed wistfully at Billy.

"If you like Billy, you should tell him," Jacky said.

"I don't like Billy," Braedyn said quickly. "Not that way."

Jacky raised his eyebrows. He couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Sure, okay."

"I don't!"

They stopped talking for a bit, and Jacky felt brave enough to let go of his death grip on Braedyn's arm. Braedyn stayed with him, still skating slowly backwards.

Liliana and her friend Addy, joined by a few girls from their floor and others Jacky had never seen before, skated by in a big clump. Liliana blew a kiss as she passed them.

Braedyn waved at her. "I mean, is that Billy's type?"

Windmilling slightly, Jacky asked, "What type is that?"

"You know. The exotic model type."

Jacky laughed at the very idea of being in a category called exotic model – he'd fit more into freak show or unapproachable angry type. "Thanks."

"For what?"

He pressed his lips together, trying to hold in a smile. "Did I not tell you that Billy and I dated in middle school?"

Braedyn stared at him. "Really?"

"I mean, it was before..." He gestured vaguely at his left side and the obvious missing piece. "You know."

"Really?" Braedyn said again. "Sorry. I mean, now that I think about it, you guys have a certain... chemistry."

"Chemistry?" Jacky laughed. "We broke up. A long time ago."

"You know what I mean. Like, I could tell there was something, but I thought it was just because you were both gay and shared a room."

Jacky looked around. No one was close enough to hear this ridiculous conversation. "We basically hated each other at the beginning of the year, is that the chemistry you're talking about? Or do you just think if two gay people share a room they're inevitably going to fuck?"

"No..." The reddening of Braedyn's face made it clear that this was exactly what he'd thought.

Finally Jacky'd had enough. He carefully steered himself over to the side and clung to the wall like a life raft. "Look, I don't want to go all middle school on you here, but Billy likes you. He's a Gemini, so he thinks playing games like taking some hot rando from LGBTQ club here is the best way to show it."

Braedyn opened his mouth and then shut it, then glanced over at where Billy was being half-dragged down to the ice by his date. "Toe pick!" Billy was screeching.

Jacky was about to continue his tough love speech when Braedyn took off. "Fuck," Jacky muttered, watching Braedyn speed-skate the length of the rink.

Skating by with the grace of someone who had clearly done more than a few classes when she was little, Liliana gestured with her arms as if to say Where's Braedyn? Jacky nodded across the rink, where Braedyn was barreling straight for Billy and Stavros. Liliana darted toward him, but there was no way she could avoid people and catch him in time.

At the last moment, Braedyn swerved, then did a spin in the air that Jacky somehow knew from years of half-watching the Olympics with his mother was a single axel. While it wasn't as awe-inducing as the Olympics, it was still pretty impressive to see live in person.

In response, Billy grabbed Stavros by the arm and staggered until he fell to the ground. Stavros managed to stay upright, but couldn't quite extract himself from Billy's grip.

Jacky was still trying to see Billy's reaction – it looked like Billy was spread eagle on the ice repeating, "I'm dead" over and over – when Braedyn flew by and stomped off the ice.

It was a hard choice, between seeing what Billy would do next and checking in on Braedyn. Braedyn was closer, so Jacky turned and followed in his wake. "That was awesome!" he said. "How did you learn how to do that?"

"Youtube," Braedyn snapped, and sat down.

"For real?"

Braedyn laughed suddenly. "I've never actually done it on the ice before," he said, and his hands were shaking. "Just, like, floor skating in my bedroom."

"Well, shit."

Jacky looked back out on the ice for Billy, saw Liliana instead. She was racing off the ice to grab Braedyn's shoulders.

"That was THE MOST AMAZING THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" Lilian squealed. She dropped her voice low and leaned in. "If you were trying to make him jealous, it totally worked." Then Liliana darted back onto the ice.

Braedyn watched her go with the dumbest hopeful look on his face that Jacky had to smile and text Ryan about it.