Kevin gave a sigh as he stepped out of the cab, raising a hand to his eyes to shield them from the light of the setting sun peaking over the roof of the skating rink. Moving out of the way of the door, he waited for the civet to exit before thanking the driver and closing the door. “You know, I really should have thought this through before I suggested we go skating, Adi. We don’t have jackets, or hats, or anything. We’re going to have to rent the skates, but we might have to buy some heavier clothes once we get in there. They should have a little store.”

The civet smiled and chuckled as he tapped himself on the chest. “I think I can manage, my fur has puffed out. Any heavier clothing I put on will just lower my mobility at this point.”

“I’m not sure I agree with you there, man,” the pangolin shook his head as he lead the way towards the entrance to the rink. “The air in there will be below freezing. They have to keep the ice frozen, after all. I’ll let you make the judgement call, but we’re at least getting you some gloves. You’ve never skated before, so you’re going to fall a lot, which means a lot of hand contact with the ice.”

“Is it very different from rollerblading?” the civet asked. “And yeah… I’ll need gloves. How about a full-on military protective gear?”

Kevin chuckled. “Now now, I think that might be going a little bit overboard.” The pangolin paused a moment as he opened the door for Adi to enter the arena’s heated foyer. “As for your first question, it’s similar, but different. Some of the techniques are the same, but your weight is balanced on a much smaller area, and the surface you skate on gets carved away, which can cause its own issues.”

“Is it as sharp as a knife? Have to watch out for fingers being cut if someone decides to skate in one’s direction if one falls then, ya?” the civet asked, coming up with several emergency scenarios in his head.

“They can be, yeah. The sharper the blade, the easier it is to control the movements, once you’re used to it. But given that these are going to be rented blades, the probably won’t be that sharp.” Kevin led the way through the building towards the front desk. “Two for us, please. And skate rentals.”

The pangolin waited for a moment for the cashier to ring him up, then gestured towards the interior doors. “Adi, if you go through there, should be a counter to get the skates. I’m just going to pop into the store to grab us mitts and stuff. Be right back.”

“Okay” the civet replied, heading over to the counter to collect the skates for his larger friend and himself. After requesting the appropriately sized pairs civet headed towards the changing room and waited outside, studying the blades on the bottom of the boots as he waited for the pangolin.

“A skilled fighter could kill with these. Hope no one tries anything weird,” he thought to himself, tapping on the blade, testing how sturdy it was.

Kevin, meanwhile, headed to the small shop across from the front counter. There wasn’t much to it beyond a collection of coats, hats, gloves, and some smacks. Walking around the exterior, the pangolin grabbed a couple pairs of wool gloves, two hats, and at the last minute, a small fluffy jacket and a much larger one, the latter of which he was certain would not make it out of the arena alive. Only a few minutes later, he was walking towards the civet waiting outside the changing room.

“I know you said you didn’t think you’d need one, but just humour me here. You’ll thank me for the extra warmth later. And you didn’t need to wait out here, you could have gone in and gotten your skates on. All that’s really in there is a few lockers and a bench to sit on while putting on the skates.”

“Thank you Kevin, just that I don’t want to be walking around the area on knives... Or do we put these on later?” the civet asked, sheepish smile across his face. “Now you know I’ve really never gone skating before!”

“Oh, I believed you when you said you hadn’t,” the pangolin grinned. “See the floor, how it’s almost a cork-like material? It’ll help you balance on the skates from here to the ice. Generally, you’d put them on in here, and that door just over there,” he gestured to the single door on the glass-paneled wall that looked in on the arena, “will get you into the cold part of the rink, with access to the stands and the rink itself. Floor in there, at least at the ground, is this cork-like material as well.”

“Alright then,” the civet nodded. “As long as I don’t cause damage to the floor. Compared to most here, we’re larger and heavier,” he continued as he led the way into the changing area, picking up the jacket and gloves from the bigger pangolin

“We’ll be fine, Adi. It’s all down to how the skates are sharpened. It’s not really one blade, it’s two, with a little hollow gap in between them. It’ll cut the ice, and lot of other stuff, but it won’t cut through the cork because the middle of the blade would stop it.” Kevin sat down on a bench and slipped off his shoes. “You need to stop worrying so much. This is supposed to be fun. If anything’s gonna make them mad, it will be all the padding and insulation they’re going to find on the rink later.”

“Haha, I don’t think you have to worry too much, the materials for your clothing are thick, they should be okay... I think,” the civet chuckled as they approached the lockers. Adi picked one just right in size to store his backpack as he removed a long sleeved thermal shirt from it, changing from his tee-shirt into it before putting the jacket Kevin got for him on, following it with the gloves and the skates.

“I guess I’m as prepared as I can be now,” he said as he stood up, trying to keep himself balanced on the skates. “Not too different compared to roller blades, but you don’t slip back and forth as easily, thanks to the flooring.”

“Yeah, but you will once we hit the ice.” The pangolin stood with practiced ease. The front of the jacket wouldn’t come near closing, and the rest hugged his body tight. “This was the largest one they had in stock, but it will be better than nothing, for however long it lasts.”

After a few minutes to let Adi get used to walking on the corked floor, Kevin led the way through the foyer and to the door that led to the rink. With a heavy pull, the door opened against the pressurized seal, and a cold blast of air hit the two of them. “It should be a few degrees below freezing in here, this feels about right. I’ve never been in one outside Canada, but I figured it should be about the same.”

The pangolin moved towards the corner of the rink, the large wood door and plastic window opened, revealing the small step down onto the ice. Easily, the pangolin stepped down and pushed off, skating out a few metres before turning around and bringing himself to a stop next to the entrance. “Okay, that’s how you’d normally get out on the ice, better to start with motion. But you’ve never skated before, so you’d probably fall flat on your face if you tried. For now, just step down carefully and grab onto my arm if you need it. Better to get you used to standing on the ice before we try movement.”

“Alright” the civet replied, placing one arm around the pangolin’s own as one foot stepped out onto the ice, his other foot making it’s way onto the ice after he had a feel on how the skate reacted to the slippery surface and keeping his balance with the aid of the bigger pangolin and his tail.

Slowly and carefully, Kevin maneuvered himself in front of the civet, taking care to gradually extend the distance between them. “Okay, so first we have to teach you how to move. You’ll need to angle your foot a little bit and push down and back to give yourself some grip against the ice. If your foot is too straight, all it will do is slide backwards,rather than grip the ice and push you forwards.” The pangolin tilted his own foot to demonstrate without actually pushing. “You don’t need much, but it’s probably better to do too much than too little right now. For now, you can keep holding on to me if you like, but if you want to give it a go on your own, I’ll be right here if you feel like you’re going to fall. Either that, or aim into a wall.”

Slowly, the civet let himself go from the pangolin, attempting to lock his feet in place as he got the feel on how the blades cut and slid through the ice beneath his feet. It didn’t feel too much different compared to roller blading, but there was less surface area to work with and slightly less tactile feedback due to how rough roads were compared to the virtually flat ice on the ice rink.

He allowed himself to slide until he bumped into the wall on the other side of the rink. Taking a moment, he pushed himself backward, his tail acting as support as he slid backwards towards his friend.

“I think that felt okay,” he smiled. “Going to try rollerblading slowly, should be somewhat similar.”

Kevin nodded. “Pushing back off the wall was a bit risky, would have been better to turn around and go from there.” He paused, moving to the side of the civet. “But that sounds like a plan. I’ll be right here beside you. If you feel like you’re going to fall, either grab me, or ball up your fists just in case. There aren’t that many people here, but better safe than sorry.”

The pangolin started to skate, but then stopped and turned to Adi. “Oh, and to stop, you have to kinda…. Angle your skates to create friction. But it’s also kinda close to how you’d turn in some regards, so it can be a bit tricky. My suggestion would be to aim towards a wall or me if you need to stop.”

“Something like angling a bicycle to turn right? That may take some time to get used to,” the civet replied.

“Falling won’t be a surprise.” he continued chuckling a little. “And I’ll need to be extracted from the rink for a failed operation.”

Kevin chuckled in return. “You gotta stop being so serious. Being that tightly wound will only make you fall more. Letting your body be relaxed will help you keep your balance better.”

With a smile, Kevin let Adi continue practicing, never straying too far from the civet. If Adi looked like he would fall, he would be there to catch him and set him back on his feet, ready to continue their good time.

And that was all that he wanted.


----


Okay, I won't lie. Kinda a dick move for me to title it that. Kinda implies that Kevin would finally admit his crush on Adi, but I couldn't think of any other good titles. Alas, as of yet, Kevin has still not admitted his crush on the civet.

Anyways, this picture has been a long time coming. The events that this took place during happened back in like October or November, after a game with Winnipeg in Santa Ana, I think. Could actually have been before the season started, too. But Kevin invited Adi skating after catching a dinner together. It took me a few months to actually getting around to writing the story in collaboration with  adaoz, and then another few months to actually have the money in my bank account to get a pic done up for it. Thank you, horrible crappy job (and my inability NOT to buy a Switch and Zelda).

Anyways, now we have one more piece of Kevin's journey.

Many thanks to  Adaoz for both helping me write the story (he wrote Adi's parts, though I did some editing), and for drawing the picture.

Kevin belongs to me.
Adi belongs to the aforementioned  Adaoz
The FBA was created by  Buckhopper, and is currently run by  Steviemaxwell