"This is a really bad idea Steph."
The blonde laughed and did a little twirl on the ice. She moved from the middle of the rink to the edge where Tim was clinging to the wall. He had made no attempt to move from his place since skates had been strapped to his feet and he was pushed to the ice. Why did he agree to this? Dumb Dick and his brilliant ideas for a double date.
"C'mon Tim. It's not that hard. You'll get the hang of it quickly," Steph coaxed.
Tim shook his head. Instantly he felt like he was a child again and didn't want to eat his vegetables.
"C'mon. Please?" Steph skated closer to him at the edge. She grabbed his hand in an attempt to pry his death grip on the wall away.
He stubbornly clung to the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut. This was a bad idea. Bad, bad idea.
The sound of a skate stopping appeared behind Steph. Tim peeked to see his older brother standing behind Steph.
"Aww, aren't you going to skate lil' bro?" He asked flipping his blue scarf back over his shoulder.
Tim shook his head again and tightened his grip to the wall.
Another pair of skates stopped behind him. "Give it a rest Dick. He's obviously not comfortable with this at the moment." Thank God Barbara was on his side.
"This is the situation where he needs just a little push."
Before he had time to comprehend what was happening his legs were swept out from beneath him and his seat landed on, well, a seat. Tim felt the wind rushing past his face and cautiously opened his eyes.
Barbara was pushing him with a chair. A chair!
Steph laughed and skated alongside the pair. She waited until Tim's eyes were upon her before she decided to twirl and skate backwards alongside them. The squawk Tim made her giggle. Tim blushed.
They circled around the rink a few times, nodding at other skaters on the ice or standing behind the wall. Tim slowly felt accustomed to the feeling of blades against the ice. Barbara slowed to a stop and helped Tim up from the chair.
To say he was wobbly was an understatement. He nearly took Barbara down to the ice within a few seconds. Lucky for him, Barbara had good balance. She flipped the chair around and took his hands from their death grip on her shoulders and placed them in a death grip on the chair.
"It'll help stabilize you. Just give it a try, okay Timmy?" With a ruffle of his hair she skated off to find her acrobat boyfriend. Somehow he was trying to incorporate flips into his skating.
Tim stared at the chair. Then at the wall. He was in the middle of the rink. No place to go. He tried to reach for the wall, before the blades slid and he returned to his grip on the chair. He swallowed.
"C'mon Tim. It's not that hard. Here, I'll help you get started," Steph said with a smile and gripped the opposite of the chair.
"No, really, I just want to sit."
But he was already moving. Steph skated backwards, her hips doing a small dance as she moved. Tim's legs stayed straight. Steph tried to get Tim to move his knees, but they remained locked. Steph looked up at Tim's face. Her smile faltered a little.
"Aren't you having fun?" She asked. She wouldn't tell, but the skating was her idea.
"I don't know how," he mumbled. Steph raised an eyebrow for a moment before understanding.
"It's like roller blading. Have you ever done that?" She asked.
"Once. Or twice."
Steph smiled and let go of the chair. Tim slid past her.
"It's like that. Shuffle your feet!" Steph called after him. She smirked.
Slowly Tim shuffled his feet. It didn't feel like he was going anywhere. He looked to the wall, his goal destination and huffed in frustration when it was only coming in inches. He pushed a little harder on the ground. To his surprise, he slid across the ice faster. Well, he really wasn't, considering the physics of it, but at the moment, he was only focused on not falling on his butt.
"Yea-hah! You're doing it Timmy! How does it feel?" Dick asked skating up to him.
"It's weird. And embarrassing. I'm clinging to a chair, like a kid." Tim pouted.
Dick made a face, mulling over something. "I can fix that."
Before any protests could be made, Dick wrestled the chair out of Tim's grip and skated away. He gave a little wave to his younger brother.
Tim stopped dead. Almost. The momentum he had continued to carry him a little further. Experimentally, he moved his legs. He began to glide across the surface. A hesitant smile made its way up to his face.
Steph moved over. "You're doing great!" She exclaimed, smile nearly as bright as the ice beneath them.
But just as Tim was gaining his confidence, a bubble in the ice slipped under his skate. It was small; anyone with a little skating experience would breeze over it. But it was just enough to throw Tim's balance and he went down.
His hands flailed and he grabbed Steph's coat as he landed on his back. Stephanie landed with a purple oof! on top of him.
Tim's face went red with embarrassment to match his coat. Steph blushed a little pink before pushing off him and sitting on the ice next to him.
Dick and Barbara quickly skated to aid their fallen companions.
"Are you all right? Nothing's broken?" Dick asked, always the mother hen.
"We're fine," Steph answered. "There was a little bump in the ice and bird-brain took a tumble dragging me with."
Tim's flush became a deeper red.
Barbara shook her head but offered her hand to Stephanie. Dick did the same for Tim. Each gripped the respective hands. Tim looked at Steph out of the corner of his eyes and saw a familiar mischievous glint. As Barbara and Dick began to pull them up, Steph and Tim pulled them down.
The reversal of positions got the younger two laughing. It was only a moment before the elder two began as well. Tim was still laughing when he slipped again.
Steph nearly doubled over with laughter at the sight of all three of them on the ice.
Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, Tim thought to himself still laughing.