Chapter Text
“Aaah!” In response to his scream, a hissing giggle echoed from above him.
Ivan did not think this was funny. Not at all. He was wearing his new winter coat his sister had bought him. He had promised to keep it clean and as dry as possible, but now he stood, shivering and dripping wet because someone dropped snow on him.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’re about to cry!” Ivan turned and just as he thought, Gilbert was the one to drop the snow. Ivan sniffled and that sent the other boy into hysterics. “You are about to cry! You big baby. Are you mad I-”
Before Gilbert finished his taunting, something round and white hit him in the face. The boy stumbled backward on the picnic table and hit the ground with a loud thunk.
“Haha!” Mathias and Batu were laughing as Gilbert sat up and brushed himself off. “Gotcha!”
“Ha-ha,” Gilbert laughed dryly. He glared at the other two. “That was so unawesome .”
Ivan watched the three talk all the while slowly backing up.
“Come on, Gil!” Mathias grinned cheekily. “We thought you needed to liven up some!”
“Hm.” Gilbert scooped up some snow and lodged it at the boy. Mathias ducked and it hit Batu instead.
“Hey!” Batu scowled.
“Hey Gil!” Mathias shouted.
“What!?”
“We’re having a party at the lake tomorrow. There’s an ice skating competition. Wanna enter and see who’s the best?”
“Tch.” Gilbert crossed his arms. “Why? We already know I’m going to win.”
“Yeah, right.” Batu stomped his frozen foot. “You suck at hockey.”
"We'll see about that!"
Ivan listened in silence. The next day, he went to the lake early in the morning to practice ice skating. Hearing about the prize, he knew he had to win it.
The path to the lake was frozen over with solid snow. It took a little while for Ivan to finally stumble upon the lake, but a surprise welcomed him.
Gilbert was on the ice. His eyes were focused on the frozen piece of water in front of him. One step, two step, it appeared Gilbert knew what he was doing.
Ivan wanted to go back home. He didn’t want to deal with Gilbert’s insults or rude gestures. He would rather hunt with father. Ivan had turned to leave when he stepped on a branch, startling the boy on the ice.
Ivan was about to make a run for it when he heard a familiar thump . Turning back to the ice, Ivan once again witnessed Gilbert flat on his back. The boy quickly sat up and stared at Ivan.
“What?” Gilbert snapped.
“Did you fall?” Ivan asked.
“No!” Gilbert pushed himself up as if he were trying to stand, but slipped and fell once again.
Ivan giggled at the other’s misfortune. It wasn’t often that he saw the red eyed boy fail miserably at something. He felt a bit better in knowing that Gilbert was mostly hot air.
“Quit laughing!” Gilbert once again tried and failed at standing up. “I’m… just practicing! The poor suckers at the event later today will be so amazed by my skating that they will trip over themselves looking at me!”
“Right.” Feeling more confident, Ivan skated out onto the ice. At first, he ignored the struggling boy except to laugh and make the occasional jab at him. But then,
“Here.” Ivan held out his hand for Gilbert to take. From the ground, the other boy narrowed his eyes.
“I can do this by myself!”
“Really?” Ivan tilted his head. “For the past few minutes you haven’t skated at all. Other people might arrive soon to set up for the event later. I can leave you until they get here.”
By the various streams of emotions flowing across GIlbert's face, he was conflicted over whether to take the other’s hand. Pride or aid?
Gilbert took Ivan’s hand. Ivan pulled him up into a standing position. He skated a few feet away from Gilbert and turned to watch him.
“What are you looking at, Ice boy?” Gilbert asked.
“You.” Ivan laughed. “I want to see if you can skate to the edge without falling.”
Gilbert looked around. His eyes widened as if this was his first time noticing that he was on a large frozen lake.
After recovering from his mini crisis, Gilbert smirked.
“Just watch me!” He said, pointing a finger at Ivan. Gilbert took one step forward and to Ivans surprise, didn’t immediately fall, but Ivans wish soon came true with the second step. The other boy fell with a shout and Ivan laughed so hard, he hunched over, holding his stomach.
“That was just a fluke!” Gilbert somehow stood, but he put too much weight into his heels. Gilbert’s arms swung around like pinwheels as he crashed to the floor again, this time with Ivan, as the other boy couldn’t stop laughing.
“Shut up, damn…” Gilbert’s statement was cut off by a gasp that Ivan didn’t pay attention to. He figured the other boy had done something else stupid. “Ivan…”
Ivan continued to laugh.
“Ivan!”
It wasn’t until he heard the loud crack that he sat up. Looking at Gilbert, Ivan saw a large crack spreading over the surface of the ice next to the white haired boy.
Ivan froze, watching, mesmerized as the cracks zig zagged all over the ice.
“Woah!” Gilbert shouted watching as one of the cracks extended underneath him. Turning to Ivan, Gilbert held out a hand, his eyes wide with fear. “H-help me!”
Ivan took three seconds, three seconds to consider what to do. In those few seconds, the ice had already decided what it was going to do. The area of ice where Gilbert sat let out a resounding crack and disappeared.
“Gilbert!” Ivan stumbled as he hurriedly stood and skated to the edge of the hole. He had never thought it was possible, but he was concerned for the other boy. “Gilllberrrrt!”