Chapter 5: Bridging the Gap

It was the fifth week of this teaching nonsense, but it wasn't so bad. After a tense conversation with Acier Silva, Zora and Kirsch admitted that the kids gave them untold amounts of trouble and were not listening to them. The very next lesson all of the children were on their best behavior—it seemed that Acier had a "chat" with the parents, who in turn warned their kids to be on their best behavior. With the kids under control and still doing basic exercises (mainly holding on the sides of the rink and going around in a circle for an hour), Zora had time to breathe and not feel stressed doing this job.

He and Kirsch skated around the rink, correcting the children's footwork, and bickering with each other about said footwork.

"All I'm saying that if the kid's left-handed, it goes left foot first then right," said Zora, skating backwards to glare at Kirsch.

"What hand the child writes with doesn't matter, it's always right foot then left," said Kirsch, arms crossed and scowling on his pretty face.

"Put one foot in front of the other," sang several of the children off-key, and the others giggles.

Kirsch and Zora looked at each other confused.

"Santa Claus is Coming to Town, it's only been on every Christmas season for the last fifty years," scoffed one of the kids.

"Whatever you little—"

"We're not allowed to call them names," Kirsch reminded Zora. Kirsch rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I can remember the last time I watched anything other than the news."

"Same," said Zora, wearily. When was the last show he watched? He didn't even know.

"They're so old," muttered the kids, snickering to themselves.

Zora scoffed. Kids were so annoying. He couldn't wait for his arm to be healed and to be back out on the hockey field. He had payback to give the stupid Golden Dawn.

"Thinking about hockey again," said Kirsch, once the kids settled back down and continued with their exercises.

"Saturday is the Black Bulls against the Silver Eagles," said Zora, grimacing. The Silver Eagles were a nasty crew—they were a team built for speed and efficiency in getting goals.

"Ugh, I hope the Black Bulls win. Nozel will be so obnoxiously smug if his team wins. He's already that, but if he wins, Aunt Acier will make a big deal out of it at Sunday family dinner," said Kirsch.

"It says a lot that you prefer your cousin in a bad mood than a good one," said Zora.

Kirsch laughed, golden eyes filled with mirth—Kirsch was really way too pretty. "It's also to stop my mom and Aunt Acier trying to one-up each other again. Their rivalry is a bit intense."

"Sounds terrifying," said Zora.

"Do you remember when Noelle and Mimosa both had crushes on Asta," Kirsch asked.

Zora raised his eyebrow. "Yeah. That was awkward, especially since the Shrimp was unknowingly pining over Yuno the entire time."

"It's like that with my mom and Aunt Acier, just about everything," said Kirsch, sighing.

"Like I said, terrifying," said Zora. "Did you find a teacher for your sister?"

"Not yet," said Kirsch, sighing. "Most coaches are taken already."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

The lesson continued and Zora didn't mind the way that Kirsch stuck nearby him as they instructed the kids on trying to stop holding on to the wall.

The strange thing about this whole teaching kids things was that Zora didn't hate working with Kirsch. To his surprise, he had been less annoyed and irritated with Kirsch as they spent time together. In fact, Zora got to know Kirsch a bit better without anyone else from their mutual friend group nearby. Kirsch wasn't so bad. Kirsch was far less arrogant that he normally let on and only called himself beautiful once or twice instead of every sentence.

He was still way too pretty for Zora's liking in a very distracting kind of way where Zora caught himself watching Kirsch and the graceful way he moved.

Once the lesson was over and Kirsch and Zora did the brief clean-up from the snacks, skates and quick sweep of the ice for loose bits, it was nearly 1pm. Zora stretched his arms as he and Kirsch walked out of the locker rooms.

"You wanna get food," asked Zora to Kirsch.

Kirsch looked surprised, but said, "Sure!"

"Zora, my boy," said his dad, immediately when Zora and Kirsch entered the bistro. It was just after the lunch rush by the time they got there, so there weren't many people at the tables. His dad always let propriety out the window and came out from behind the counter to hug Zora.

"Hi, Dad," said Zora, sighing, but hugging back nonetheless. "You remember Kirsch, right?"

"Ahhh, yes, Mimosa's older brother," said Zara, enthusiastically shaking hands with Kirsch, who smiled. "You boys need some lunch I take it?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind, Dad," said Zora, sighing, hoping his dad wouldn't embarrass him too much.

"Coming right up," said his dad. "Come and sit. What do you two want?" Kirsch and Zora ordered meals, which were on the house because his parents were stubborn and never let Zora pay when he ate at the restaurant.

They sat at the table closest to the counter.

"Your Dad is always so cheerful," said Kirsch, complimentary.

"He runs on sunshine and happiness," Zora said, deadpan. "So, do you think the brats will be ready for a presentation in four weeks?"

"No, but we got to have something," said Kirsch, pouting. "If we can get them off the wall and skating for like a minute without falling on their butts, I'd call it a success. It's only a beginner's course."

"Getting them to let go of the wall is gonna be hard," said Zora. "Some of them still bitch that it's too hard."

"Honestly, kids these days are not appreciating the thrill of ice skating," said Kirsch.

Zora snorted. "Well, we're strange. We were basically raised on the ice."

"That's the truth, alright," said Zara, carrying two plates. "Zora hated leaving the ice rink when he was a child. He'd cry and throw the biggest temper tantrum…"

Feeling a bit warm in the face, Zora cut his dad off and said, "Okay, thanks, Dad, go back to work."

Zara grinned. "Right, right. Enjoy, boys." He quickly went back behind the counter to talk to his sous-chef.

Kirsch had a big grin on his face. "Oh, did little Zora cry because he couldn't always be on the ice?"

"Like you didn't," Zora shot back, because Zora bet his lunch that Kirsch did the same exact thing as a child.

"Well, at least, I know I was beautiful crying," said Kirsch, smugly.

Zora snorted. "There ain't no one who cries pretty, Kirsch."

"Except me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Zora said, rolling his eyes.

While they ate, they discussed the various tactics that their own parents used on them when they had first started learning ice skating, except they both came to learn that their parents were not the best example. It was a fun lunch. Zora liked talking about ice skating, whether it was about hockey or not. After they finished, Kirsch happily complimented Zora's dad's cooking and insisted on leaving a tip.

"I'll see you next week. I've to meet up with Mimosa," said Kirsch, nodding.

"Later," said Zora.

Once Kirsch left, Zora asked if his dad needed help in the kitchen. Except his dad was still grinning at him like a madman.

"So, you're not gonna walk your lunch date home," his dad asked.

Zora threw a napkin at his dad. "It wasn't a date! I'm not dating him. We were talking about the lessons."

"I don't know, you two seemed quite chummy," said Zara, amused. "What do you think, Akimo?"

Akimo, his dad's sous-chef and his mom's assistant manager, smiled and said, cheerfully, "I think that Kirsch was quite smitten by our Zora!"

"When did you join the family, Akimo," Zora demanded. She was always getting way too familiar with him.

Akimo flashed a peace sign. "Since I was in college. I'm like the daughter Miss Amalia and Mr. Zara never had."

Zora rolled his eyes. "Really, Dad, Akimo, I'm not dating Kirsch."

"Sure, sure."

"Wow, lame," said Zora, entering the rink for the Black Bulls' training hours and sitting Luck crashing himself into Magna on purpose. It was a normal training day for the Black Bulls. He skated over to his teammates, who were in the middle of fighting each other.

"Zora! Where you been, man? We've missed you," said Magna, pushing Luck off of him. "Can you train properly?"

"No," said Zora.

"Definitely not," said Yami, glaring at Zora. "He can watch only. Arm's still not healed."

"He's just here to heckle us," said Gauche. "Asshole."

"Sister Complex, I see you haven't died from blood loss yet," said Zora, quipping back. He and Gauche's relationship was built on threats and insults.

"How's…the…class…with…the…kids," Henry asked.

"Not a raging tire fire," said Zora.

"Yeah, 'cause you get to spend time with Mimosa's pretty older brother," Finral interjected. "He's easy on the eyes."

"I'm surprised Zora hadn't murdered him yet," said Luck, far too cheerfully. "And Finral, you're married!"

"I'm still a bi-disaster, Luck," said Finral. "And I can appreciate true beauty when I see it."

"Kirsch is an okay guy," said Asta, who never thought badly of anyone ever. He really was a good kid, though Zora would never say that out loud to him. "And besides, Kirsch is always really nice to Zora!"

"Nice for Kirsch, you mean," said Gauche, rolling his eyes.

"It makes sense that Kirsch wants to impress Zora," said Magna, nodding. "He's like a peacock."

Zora didn't follow the conversation, and said, "He's the same as always."

Gordon, their creepy, silent, yet well-meaning teammate, said out of nowhere, "It's because Kirsch loves Zora."

Gauche, Yami, Luck and Magna laughed, while Henry gasped dramatically. Finral put his hand on his forehead and shook his head. Asta titled his head. "I thought we weren't supposed to talk about Kirsch's crush on Zora."

"He doesn't have a crush on me," said Zora, immediately. His ears warmed in embarrassment. "And aren't you idiots supposed to be training for the match against the Silver Eagles this Saturday?!"

"Dude, he definitely does have a crush on you," said Magna, grinning.

"Oh, yeah, he always watches you," said Gordon, softly.

"He gives himself pep talks in the locker room in order to talk to you," said Luck. How did Luck know that?

"Mimosa told me," said Asta, shrugging.

Gauche sneered. "Guess you didn't know. Aren't you supposed to be smart and cunning, Zora? Can't recognize someone having feelings for you."

"Says the guy who didn't realize that Grey had a crush on you for years," Yami said, cuffing Gauche on the back of the head in reprimand. "Enough harassing Zora. Looks like we might have broken him. Back to training, dumbasses!"

Zora skated to the edge of the rink as his team got into positions for a mock match. His mind raced with the information. Did Kirsch really have a crush on him or were the guys just pulling his leg? Surely, Zora would have noticed. Kirsch wasn't a subtle person and Zora generally wasn't that oblivious.

Then again, Akimo's comment earlier gave him pause.

They're joking, they have to be, Zora thought to himself. He had seen who Kirsch dated in the past—tall, curvy supermodels and pretty boy-band types, all of whom dated Kirsch for like a week and then they dumped Kirsch. Zora wasn't either type.

I'd be flattered if it was true, I guess… but what was he supposed to do now? He'd have to observe Kirsch and see if the guys were really telling the truth.

~to be continued