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He’d had a quite crappy week to be honest, but that still couldn’t keep Freddie from grinning as he watched Roger on the tiny bench, doing his best to lace his rented ice skates.
“Bloody things…” The drummer muttered, focusing intently on lacing them up right and nice and tight. Freddie was already done, his own ice skates impeccably laced.
He was excited. He’d looked forward to doing this since… well since the year before last actually. It just never came to pass. Since his boyfriends were all boring grumps who didn’t want to try new things. Until now!
Honestly, Freddie had been surprised he’d ended up here at all. Tension had been high at the apartment this morning. Well, tension was constantly high the last couple of days, but this day it had been even worse than usual. John had yelled at him. And then Roger had yelled at John for yelling at Freddie and then John had yelled back and then Brian had lost it.
It had been… not very pleasant. But whatever it was, Roger had been adamant that their other two boyfriends would be better off dealing with it on their own. And so, in his haste to get away from their hissing and spitting bassist and guitarist, Roger had agreed to go ice skating.
“Alright.” Roger stated proudly, gesturing at his (not as nicely as Freddie’s) laced skates. “I’m finished. So…” He gave the wooden deck between them and the ice a sceptic glance. “How are we supposed to get over there?”
Freddie rolled his eyes. “You walk over, of course.” He heaved himself off the bench to stand up with his skates on. And promptly lost his balance.
Falling to the side, Freddie grabbed at Roger in panic, managing to snag his huge, knitted scarf. The support gave Freddie enough time to maneuver his butt back on the bench, and he flopped down, frowning. That was not how it was supposed to go…
Roger was gasping for breath next to him, rubbing at his neck and glaring at Freddie. “You almost bloody strangled me!”
Freddie absentmindedly patted his upset boyfriend’s thigh and glared at the wooden deck. “How are we supposed to cross this stupid thing anyway?”
“That’s what I… Nevermind.” Roger glanced around them, at the other people at the skating rink. “I think,” he muttered, gingerly getting up and placing his skates far apart, “we kinda have to just go slowly, small steps.” He took a careful step forward, then another, arms spread from his body to keep his balance. “It’s not too bad Fred, you just have to take it slow.”
Huffing, Freddie slowly got up again, mimicking Roger’s ridiculous posture. He slowly came up beside his boyfriend and grabbed his arm. “Okay we’ve got this.”
“Yeah, just don’t fall over.” Roger eyed the giggling children next to them. “I don’t feel like getting laughed at by kids.”
They were at the skating rink at the closest large park. There were happy couples and families everywhere, skating, drinking hot cocoa, just enjoying themselves this beautiful January day. It was cold as balls, of course, but the air was clear, the sky was a stunning bright blue and the sun stood high.
Freddie was wearing a not very fancy, but very warm, jacket, ear muffs, the gloves John’s mom had given him for christmas and Brian’s favourite scarf. He was very well equipped to handle the cold. Still, Roger’s warmth pressed against him was a blessing, and he leaned happily into his boyfriend as much as he could without raising suspicion and revelled in the heat.
Roger was laser focused on getting them over to the ice without making fools of themselves and the journey was over way too quickly for Freddie’s liking.
“We did it!” The drummer exclaimed, turning to grin at Freddie, only to stop at his pout. “What? You’re the one who wanted to go here in the first place.”
Freddie shook himself out of his momentary disappointment. He could cuddle Roger later, for now, the ice was calling to him.
”Yes it was my brilliant idea. Come on!” He beamed at Roger. ”Let’s try it dear!”
Roger groaned, eyeing the ice worriedly. ”This is so bad Fred, so bad.”
Chuckling, Freddie carefully stepped out on the ice. He stood completely still, legs quite spread and arms out. So far so good.
”If I fall arse over tit and break my arm Brian is going to kill us, I hope you know this.” Roger grumbled behind him, nervously moving out next to Freddie.
”You’re worrying way too much.” Freddie decided and moved his skates, just a bit, making him move forward. ”Look, I’m doing it!” He squealed, pressed against the ice a bit firmer and glided over the smooth surface.
While he didn’t feel very gracious, yet, he was at least moving forward. Grinning from ear to ear he started skating around shakily. He soon even understood how to turn and snickered to himself. He’d make an elegant swirl back to Roger.
”This is actually quite fun!” Roger said just behind him and Freddie jumped in surprise. He turned his head as much as he dared and gaped as his boyfriend skated past him. While Roger wasn’t particularly gracious either, he’d already mastered a certain stability and swiftness to his steps on the ice.
”How are you doing that?” Freddie asked, reluctantly impressed.
Roger shrugged, performing an excellent turn and returning to Freddie’s side. ”Dunno really.” He smiled, straightening his cap. ”Just do what feels natural.”
Natural… Freddie rolled his eyes. Nothing of this was natural. But he didn’t want to lose to Roger and kicked away from the ice brusquely. Immediately he lost his balance, flailed desperately for a quarter of a second and then fell with a yelp.
His ass hit the ground hard and Freddie found himself sprawled over the ice, whining at the pain in his poor behind.
Next to him, Roger didn’t even try to not laugh. ”Sorry,” he gasped, clutching his stomach. ”Are you ok baby?”
Freddie glared at him. ”You suck. And yes, I would be, if I could figure out how to get back up again.”
”Take my hand,” Roger managed to squeeze out between giggles. ”I’ll try to pull you up.”
Roger trying to pull Freddie up, didn’t work great. Halfway up, crouching on his treacherous skates, Freddie’s almost fell over again. He wrapped his arms around Roger’s thighs in panic, clinging to him while Roger swore and started to slide away, pulling Freddie with him.
Stubbornly wrapped around Roger, Freddie let his apparently amazing-at-ice-skating boyfriend figure out how to solve this. He instead used the opportunity to nuzzle his face against Roger’s warm crotch.
”Freddie…” Roger half giggled half warned. Freddie just dug his cold nose further into his boyfriend and Roger grunted and swatted at his head. ”Don’t you dare give me a boner.”
He had managed to stop them from sliding away. The next second Freddie felt strong hands on his arms, practically lifting him to his feet. ”Thank you.” He fluttered his eyelashes at Roger. ”My hero.”
”Yeah yeah.” Roger laughed, still holding onto Freddie’s arm as he started to slowly move the both of them forward. ”Let’s try that again.”
They spent the next next thirty minutes skating around the rink, round after round. Freddie got much better, he only fell about five times more, while Roger showed off next to him, skating back and forth quickly, doing silly spins and even skating backwards at one point.
Freddie rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s antics but couldn’t help but to feel a tiny bit proud. And a bigger bit envious.
After an hour at the rink Freddie (and Roger, even if he refused to admit it) were exhausted. Freddie’s butt hurt and he was getting cold and stiff.
Roger pouted about having to leave and insisted on one last lap. Unfortunately, on that last lap, he stumbled in his tiredness, went off track and body slammed a frail, old lady.
While he managed to catch the poor woman before she was knocked over, Roger was quite stressed out and very embarrassed.
”Christ, I’m so so sorry!” He kept repeating to the old lady. ”Are you alright? I didn’t hurt you?”
Freddie just smiled and shook his head as the lady swooned in his worried boyfriend’s arms. It didn’t seem like she was too upset about the accident, not at all.
It was first when the cute lady sneakily started to grab a feel of Roger’s arms that Freddie decided to cut in. He gave the woman his most charming grin, apologized for his twat of a friend and then proceeded to pull Roger off the skating rink.
”Oh my god.” Roger moaned, head in his hands as he sat next to Freddie on the bench they’d started at. ”I almost killed an old woman. I’m the worst.”
Freddie snorted, finished with unlacing his ice skates and pulling on his boots. ”Please. You made her day dear.”
Roger didn’t look convinced so Freddie sneaked him a very quick kiss on the cheek. ”You’re fine Rog, she’s fine.”
Nodding hesitantly Roger started removing his own skates. Freddie leant back on his hands and took a deep breath, frowning when the cold bit at his nose. Sitting on this bench didn’t especially warm him up either…
Wrapping his arms around himself, shuddering, he looked around the rink miserably, until he spotted a cluster of snow-clad firs just behind him. He glanced at Roger, felt his warmth next to him and then back at the trees, an idea quickly taking shape.
As soon as Roger had pulled on his boots, Freddie dragged him up and over to the firs.
“What are we doing?” Roger asked, but Freddie just shushed him, looking out for people as he made his way between the trees. At the perfect spot, where they were out of sight from both the rink and the road, he pushed a confused Roger up against a broad trunk.
Now less confused, Roger smirked at him. “Really love?” But he still sneaked his arms around Freddie’s waist, looking at him expectantly.
“We’ve been on an ice skating date dear, a real ice skating date. Of course we have to hide and exchange secret kisses. It’s practically the rules.“
Roger chuckled, pulling Freddie in close until they were pressed up against each other. Ah sweet warmth, exactly what Freddie wanted!
“I think that’s true with nervous teenage couples Fred, but for two grown ass men?”
“Oh hush.” Freddie whispered, pushing his gloved hands up beneath Roger’s jacket and making him huff. “Don’t act like you don’t want it.”
Roger smiled widely at him. “I do want it. Been wanting to kiss you since you fell on your bum. The first time.”
“Wanker.” Freddie grinned back, making Roger laugh. He was adorably in his giddiness and Freddie felt his heart warm along with his body.
His boyfriend really was in his element this day. Not only on the ice, but in the sunny winter day in general. His cheeks were bright red and so was the tip of his nose. Some blonde locks had escaped from beneath his cap, framing his face and his eyes reflected the clear sky above.
They were glittering warmly at Freddie as Roger leant his head back against the fir and lifted his arms to loop them around Freddie’s neck. “Well come on then.” He whispered, pulling Freddie close with a wink. “We have to honour the rules.”
“Right?” Freddie smiled, brushing his lips lightly over Roger’s before remembering something and pulling back slightly. “Oh oh! And then hot cocoa? Before we go home?”
Roger laughed again and nodded. “Yes, then hot cocoa. But first kiss, and soon, or my nose will freeze and fall off.”
“Well we can’t risk that.” Freddie agreed and leant in to kiss his boyfriend and save both of their freezing noses.