Saturday came a bit too quickly for Nico's taste. He still wasn't sure how he felt about hanging out with Will again; on one hand, he was excited for what would undoubtedly be a fun outing. But on the other hand, there would be plenty of opportunities for him to make a fool out of himself. What if he tripped Will by accident on the ice? What if he couldn't think of something interesting to say and Will realized how lame he actually was? What if…?

This spiral of negative thoughts continued through Friday night, consequently depriving him of the little sleep that he tried to get each night. When he looked into the mirror on Saturday morning the circles beneath his eyes were a bit darker than usual, making him look like even more of a drug-addict than before.

With a sigh of defeat Nico turned away from the mirror and headed out of his apartment, the brisk winter air hitting him like a slap to the face. Tiny flecks of snow drifted from the sky, landing in his hair and on his jacket. Nico hoped the snow didn't look like dandruff against the darkness of his hair.

What was wrong with him? During the two years he had been traveling he hadn't once given his appearance any thought. He had gone for days without showering, sometimes sleeping in barns or forests at night. It had never bothered him before. But now?

The ice skating rink had begun to fade into focus, creeping closer with every step. A twist of anxiousness flashed through him and his pace slowed momentarily. Why was he doing this? This was a mistake. Will would be so much better off without him—

"Nico!"

Nico turned around, one foot forward in preparation to begin the journey home and avoid a potentially embarrassing situation.

"Hey Nico! Nico DiAngelo!"

Hesitantly, Nico turned, just in time to see Will weaving through the throngs of people crowded around the rink. He was wearing a ridiculous knitted sweater patterned with reindeer and an equally ridiculous grin on his face.

Will stopped before Nico, looking down on him with enough light in his blue eyes to make the anxious weight in Nico's stomach diminish slightly.

"Hi," said Nico, trying to keep his voice even.

"I thought that you wouldn't come," said Will, a bit out of breath from hurrying through the crowd. His cheeks were rosy from the cold. "Which was stupid of me, obviously."

"Yeah," murmured Nico, shifting on his feet nervously.

"We should get in line. There's a surprising amount of people here."

Will began walking back toward the rink and Nico fell into step beside him. Too late to turn back now, he thought fleetingly.

"Were you expecting there to be less people?" asked Nico after a pause, figuring that a normal person would probably keep the conversation going.

Will shrugged and glanced at Nico, his smile a bit lopsided.

"I was hoping there wouldn't be anyone here," he said, nudging Nico with his elbow.

Nico stared at him blankly, wondering what he was missing.

They reached the line and picked out their skates. Nico slipped his on, immediately noticing that the skates were significantly less comfortable than his well-worn combat boots.

"Ready to skate up a storm?" said Will, glancing up at him as he laced up his own skates. His blond hair fell over his eyes in soft waves.

"I guess," said Nico noncommittally, trying to hide his nervousness. He hadn't skated in years. Hopefully he still remembered how so he didn't make a complete fool of himself right away.

They joined the group of people waiting to go onto the ice, Nico trying not to stumble in his skates.

"Isn't it weird how we can walk in these on normal ground?" said Will, turning in a complete circle to emphasize his point.

Nico found the corners of his mouth creeping upward ever so slightly as he watched Will. A few other people were giving him strange looks, but Will didn't seem to notice. Or if he did notice, he didn't seem to care.

They reached the front of the line, the smooth white expanse of ice stretching out in front of them.

"I should probably tell you now, I don't know how to ice skate," said Will, leaning down and speaking into Nico's ear.

Nico looked at him incredulously as the attendant signaled them forward.

"You are kidding, right?" said Nico. The mischievous grin on Will's face told him the answer.

Nico went first, taking a few tentative steps onto the ice. To his delight he remained standing. He wobbled slightly for a few seconds before regaining his balance. He turned to face Will.

The other boy put one foot on the ice.

"I'm doing it!" he yelled triumphantly.

It was then that he put his other foot on the ice and promptly lost his balance. He flailed for a moment, his arms spinning frantically. Nico made no move to help him, but merely stayed stationary. He couldn't tear his eyes away, in the same kind of horrified fascination that one might have while witnessing a train crash.

Then, Will fell forward, sliding forward onto his stomach.

"Wow, you really weren't kidding," said Nico, skating over so he stood right over Will.

Will lifted his head, a sheepish smile on his face as he pushed himself into sitting position.

"A little help?" he said, holding out his hand.

Nico took his hand, stumbling a little as he pulled Will to his feet. For a moment he was terrified that they would both fall. But then Will put an arm around Nico's shoulders and they remained upright.

"Phew, that was close," said Will, panting a little.

Will's arm around his shoulders was surprisingly welcome, considering that Nico had a strict no-touching rule with everyone he met. He could feel the warmth of him through the thick material of his reindeer sweater.

"I guess we're just going to have to skate like this," said Will, laughing his musical laugh.

"Seriously?" said Nico, though his tone was that of amusement and not frustration. "Well, I have to warn you—I'm a speed demon."

With that he took off, pushing off the ice with enough force that Will's arm slipped from around his shoulders. Instead, Will grabbed his arm and Nico pulled him along.

It wasn't long before they had picked up enough speed to rocket around the rink at a dangerous pace. Nico knew he should slow down, but Will was howling in delight like a child loosed in a candy store and his heart pulsed steadily, encouraging him. The other ice skaters were forced to scurry out of their way or face being run over.

Nico was having so much fun that he almost didn't notice Will's grip tighten on his arm.

"Look out!" he yelled.

A small child sat directly in their path, oblivious to the oncoming skaters. Nico veered quickly to the side, losing his balance in the process. Will slammed into him and they went flying, both of them skidding over the ice.

Nico lay still for a moment before regaining his senses. Will lay half across him, his weight pinning him to the hard ice.

"That was close," said Will, pushing himself off of Nico. Nico sat up as well, his head spinning.

Will stood up first and brushed the ice off of his clothes. He held out his hand and Nico took it, letting Will pull him to his feet.

"We probably shouldn't go so fast next time," said Will, a smile still plastered on his face despite the fact that they had both just face-planted in a public skating rink.

"You think?" said Nico, only a hint of his usual sarcasm filtering through his words. He realized with a start that he was still holding Will's hand and let go of it quickly, the tips of his ears turning red. He looked away hastily, hoping that his face didn't give anything away.

He could feel Will's gaze on him but he refused to look at him. Instead, he sped away, easily gliding across the ice.

"Catch me if you can!" he yelled over his shoulder. He heard Will swear under his breath.

Nico turned back to look. Will looked like a newborn deer with ice skates; his arms and legs were spread wide and he moved slowly, awkwardly.

"A little help here?" he asked, holding out his arms.

Nico rolled his eyes but skated back to him nonetheless. Before long they were flying across the ice once more, this time on the lookout for stray children.

In the end, they got kicked out of the ice skating rink. Something about "disturbing the public peace" and them being "menaces to the system." Nico didn't really mind. For once he had been racing forward without trying to flee from anything. When he and Will parted ways at the end of the day, Nico couldn't help but feel a rush of warmth towards this boy he had just met. It had been a long time since he had felt joy pulsing through his veins, and an even longer time since he had held someone's hand.