Chapter Text
Ryuji couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched his fearless leader step on the ice. Yeah, he knew it was mean, but…shit, it was so funny watching Akira’s confident expression change to one of abject terror as he nearly lost his balance. The contrast between Joker’s artful flips and dives within the Metaverse and his current shaky steps were like night and day. Ryuji kinda took pity on the guy.
He pushed himself in Akira’s direction, his expression a goofy imitation of suaveness. “Need a hand?”
“I would like you to know that I am imagining exploding you with my mind.” Akira replied mildly. The phantom thief hung onto the side of the rink for dear life, while his poor legs continued scrabbling for purchase like a cartoon character.
Ryuji snorted. “Dumbass. C’mon.” He grabbed Akira’s gloved hands in his own. They’d shopped for them together, wanting to make sure that the colours matched their thief outfits to a tee.
“Are you-“ The sentiment was cut short with a yelp, as Ryuji pulled Akira from the wall, skating backwards to accommodate for the other’s lack of balance. Akira, once he’d recovered from the shock of being pulled from the wall he was groping, seemed impressed.
Ryuji shrugged. “What? It’s nice cardio in the off season. Haven’t done it in a while, but you never forget. S’like riding a bike!”
“It’s nothing like riding a bike.” Akira stared down at his loaned hockey skates with impressive concentration.
“Hey, well, you had to learn that too, right? It’s like that. Just remember the hardest thing about skating.” He let the silence drag on, grinning goofily.
“…and that would be?”
“The ice!” Ryuji crowed, nearly drowning out Akira’s groan with his peals of laughter.
“If you keep making awful jokes like that, I’m not letting you have any of the hot chocolate I brought.”
Ryuji beamed, squeezing his hands. “Naw. You couldn’t do that to me. I’m too cute.”
“You’re too cute,” Akira agreed with a sigh, which was rudely interrupted when he nearly fell flat on his ass when running over a bump on the ice. “SHIT.”
“Give it time.”