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“WILLIAM!” Dakota’s voice rings through the training room.
William had simply assumed Dakota and Vyncent had both gone to sleep, but that’s what he gets for assuming…
“Dakota- it’s super late what the hell are you doing-”
“We have to go roller skating!” He says, coming up behind William, taking the bar off his shoulder and setting it on the ground for him. William clicks his tongue and sucks air through his teeth.
“Sure we can go tomorrow,” William says, tugging on the end of his tank top, looking in the mirror, and running a hand through his hair.
“No- right now!” Dakota tugs on his arm, but William says put.
“Now? Dakota- it’s- it’s dark outside, we can’t-” William reasons.
“But- I made you custom roller skates!” Dakota smiles, running to the door where he set down everything in his hands. He shows him specially black, blue and purple painted roller skates. They certainly look hand-painted.
William feels his face heat up for the first time in years, instinctively he quickly puts a hand over his face, then drops it just as fast as he put it up to protect his furious blushing, “they’re perfect, Dakota- but- are you sure we can’t just go in the morning?” William takes them from his hands anyway.
“I am not sure! We have to go now! The city is prettier at night,” Dakota reveals his own custom roller blades. Black and red because he wouldn’t want them any other way.
William engages in a staring contest with Dakota for the next however many odd minutes- honestly it could be years for how long it feels.
William groans, “Fine!” He slips off his tennis shoes, revealing his black socks with skulls on them, “but only because- I like the roller skates…” He mumbles as he walks out of the training room to the front steps, Dakota skipping happily behind him.
“Oh I’m so glad you said yes, William! I’m so excited- I mean- I haven’t gone skating in so long- and skating around Freedom City when it’s all lit up like this- oh it’s gonna be great! And I’ve never skated Freedom City before! And- I’m so excited, William, you don’t even know!” Dakota speeds through his speaking as he laces up his roller blades.
“Just- be quiet, Vyncent can’t know we’re sneaking out, Kota…” William grunts as he squeezes his foot into his brand new skates. At least he can tell they’re brand new based on the way the shoe is squeezing his foot to oblivion.
“He sleeps like a rock, we’ll be fine Will! C’mon!” Dakota grabs his hand, skating backward down the sidewalk.
He drags William through the suburbs until they get to the heart of Freedom City.
“Dakota, maybe now is a good time to tell you I’ve never roller skated before,” William winces every time he goes over a crack in the sidewalk.
“That’s why you have me, duh!” Dakota grabs both of his hands, spinning William around and slingshotting him forward. “Fly, my songbird!” He says, laughing as William wobbles down the street.
William fumbles, practically walking on his wheels, “I need a- a helmet- and kneepads- and elbow pads- this is- not safe- especially not at night! We’re gonna get- get murdered or something, Dakota!” William looks over his shoulder to shout at Dakota only to find him a few strides away from Williams face.
“I would never leave you alone, William, I’ll always be right behind you!” The way Dakota was talking to William took away the fact he was practically being thrown around like a horseshoe across the empty streets of Freedom City. His face burns the blue of his blood that Dakota, in fact, gave him.
“Yeah- uh- thanks,” William flails his arms around helplessly only to have Dakota to come to the rescue, pressing up right behind him, grabbing William by the waist, then swiftly spinning himself around him to skate backwards and guide William down the road.
Dakota wasn’t lying when he said the city was prettier at night. William always knew that fact was true considering that was really the only time he would go out, but Freedom City was far more beautiful than Deadwood.
But- William isn’t really focused on the sight of the city, but rather on the fact his friend was holding his hands, spinning around him, and pulling him down the silent nighttime city that they currently resided in. It’s needless to say William is slightly distracted.
“Can I let go?” Dakota smiles, encouragingly nodding at William, slipping his hands from his wrist down to his palms.
“Uhh- sure…” William looks around for any object he could possibly hit, even the tiniest pebbles he could break off of his bones on.
“It’s a straight path, Will, and don’t worry! I’ll be right behind ya!” Dakota lets go of him and quickly gets out of his way.
William feels his heart rate spike. He’s not even going that fast, but without the safety of Dakota in front of him, keeping him stable, he feels like he’s going to spiral.
His fate was decided the second Dakota let go of his hands, William is gonna crash and fall and go ghost and nobody will every see him ever again. How is Dakota supposed to explain that William died after they snuck out while Vyncent was asleep? And then Dakota is going to go to jail- and Vyncent- what is Vyncent gonna do to Dakota? William couldn’t bear to even think about.
And just like William had predicted, the tiniest pebble could throw him off of his balance, and it did. William feels his wheel catch on a rock, then on an unpatched crack in the road.
“Shit!” William winces, bracing to never feel the impact of the ground, preparing to see the wisps surrounding him. He closes his eyes, fully ready to taste the release of life again.
Instead he feels the warm skin of Dakota Cole. His face burns a bright blue as he slowly opens his eyes and meets with the amber irises of Dakota. His breathing hastens, Dakota’s face becomes filled with worry as he drags William onto the sidewalk, stopping them both, grabbing William’s shoulders and sitting him down on the curb.
“William, it- it’s okay! I told you I’d be right there to catch you if you fell!” He rubs his hand on William’s back as he hyperventilates and rests his head in his knees.
William doesn’t respond for a while, simply because he can’t. He sinks further into the touch of Dakota’s inhuman warmth, and into Dakota’s side before his breath can slow down.
“I- I don’t really know what happened,” William gives Dakota an unsure and wobbly smile that eventually turns into a frown.
Dakota fully frowns at William, “Well, don’t worry! You’ll get better as we practice more, everybody falls at some point, Will, it’s okay!”
William just nods. Dakota pulls him tighter into his side, wrapping a hand around his waist.
“We can start heading back whenever you’re ready!” Dakota still sounds so excited. It doesn’t really matter that they’re sitting on the sidewalk inside of rollerskating. As long as they’re together Dakota doesn’t mind.
William takes a shaky inhale and nods, holding onto Dakota’s arm as they stand up together.
“Let’s go home,” William smiles. Dakota nods eagerly and hooks his arm around William’s, ensuring he’s tight in his grasp.
Dakota is practically dragging William behind him as soon as he gets going. William is… Not fast… At all. And- well- he can skate beside Dakota, but Dakota is definitely leading this whole operation. If William’s sweat glands hadn’t quite kicked in again since regaining a functioning heart, there is definitely no doubt that they’re at work now, despite the coolness of the night and the fact he was in a tank top and shorts, he was sweating his ass off keeping up with Dakota.
He doesn’t say anything about this though, because Dakota just seemed so happy to be rollerskating beside him, so William let it be. Burning a few calories is fine.
Eventually, they find their way back to their house. William’s face is flush and he’s out of breath, but any ailment he had goes away as soon as he’s set face-to-face with Dakota who’s smiling ear to ear.
“Home sweet home!” Dakota says, walking on the toe stop of his rollerblades.
“Wait- Kota-” William panickedly looks at how Dakota is walking, but stumbles as he tries to replicate it. He continues to catch up with him anyway, grabbing onto his arm and turning him around.
“Huh-”
Before Dakota can even ask what William wanted, William wraps him in a tight hug. Dakota is slightly taken aback, but he wraps his hands around his waist slowly, squeezing William back as tight as he can. His smile only grows wider. William’s face burns that familiar navy color as he feels Dakotas hands slip around his waist. He leans his ear on Dakota’s shoulder, humming contentedly.
“Thank you, Kota…” William pulls away from the hug, fidgeting for a second before leaning up and kissing Dakota on the cheek.
“Oh!” Dakota blushes for the first time this night, “You- You’re welcome!”