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Adam had no idea, where his coach had gone, just that it most likely had something to do with the blonde man, who he had seen multiple times at his past competitions. And every time without fail, coach Crowley had gone and talked to him and later returned back to Adam looking tense.
The very same blonde man was now crouched down on the ground in front of a mad looking girl. She must be somewhere around Adam's age, if she is competing here today.
"I will tell you the same thing I told my mum and dad. I am not wearing that dress! It makes me look like a little girl with all the ruffles and stones. I want to wear the other costume, I know my mum has it because she knows full well I am not wearing the other one!"
Overhearing the conversation Adam can't help, but agree with her. Just last month his own mum had wanted to put him into such a childish costume he can not bare to even think about it. He is whole eleven years old now! It is well past the time for bright colours and clashing patterns.
"Well why don't you do this one competition with your old dress and I will talk to your mum about it before the next competition. Will you please put it on now?" It's clear that the man is in over his head, as the girl just raised her dark eyebrow and made no move to pick the costume out of her coach's hand.
"I said I will not wear that!"
Turns out, Adam did not have to wonder about his coach's whereabouts for long. There he was towering over the man and the girl.
"I recommend you put it on. Angel here," Adam wondered about the nickname. Surely it can not be his real name, "Is pretty persuasive if he wants to be, it will save the both of your time."
The "Angel" turned to face the other man and stared at him with what must have been his best attempt of a stern face. "Just because you are easy to convince does not mean that Pepper's will is as weak," the girl -- Pepper -- smiled faux sweetly, "And perhaps I should not have said that."
"Come on! Is it your first day working with children, of course it was not a good idea. You have to make them believe that they are in charge!" the last part was seemingly meant to be more of a quiet whisper but it ended up being a mix between a shout and a whisper.
Adam was defiantly not the only person as Pepper let out a loud snort. "I am in charge."
Crowley did not let that remark bother him. "Sure thing you are. Asa, I need to talk to you." He grabbed the blonde's creme suit sleeve and led him away from Adams listening ears.
While Adam was desperately trying to hear what his coach found so important, he did not notice that the Pepper girl had made her way to him.
"Seems like our coaches are occupied. And now it looks like your coach is ready to fight with mine. Poor me, I'll have to find a new one, because he does not stand a chance. Did you know that he once teared up because he accidental flushed a spider down the drain?"
"How did you know he was my coach?" Seems like Adam is not the only one who pays attention.
Pepper just shrugs. "Its not the first time we are at the same competition," she answered simply. "The same thing happened then as well, it was just coach Fell looking for your coach."
"And not only while he is here with you," Adam raised a questioning brow, wordlessly asking about how many competitions she has possibly been to. To Adam's surprise she seems to understand him, "My mum really loves skating, so, so shall I." She couldn't help the eye roll.
Adam eyes their coaches with a calculating look. Neighter of them seem to be anywhere close to finished. Happy with whatever he learned, Adam turned to Pepper.
"How about we go and look at what they sell here? These two seem nowhere close to finishing whatever it is they do." if the look on her face was anything to go by he eighter agreed with the latter statement or does very much not want to go anywhere with Adam.
"What's your name?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
"Adam," he answered and after a brief pause added, "How about the window shopping?"
To which she simply answered: "Sure."
It did not take long for Adam to put all that happened at that one competition behind him. By that he means, not thinking about it every day he is at the rink. Three months and two days, to be exact.
And that was not entirely about Pepper, who's phone number Adam had forgotten to ask and whom would have been a great addition to his already existing friend group. He's sure that they will meet again come next season. Then he will not forget to ask. He doubts he'll make the same mistake twice.
More so it had to do with his and Pepper's coaches. Not only had they looked like they were from two entirely different worlds, they also seemed to not get along all that great. If Crowley's daunting words were anything to go by.
Still Adam was sure there had been some sort of softness in both of them when they talked at first. Its something that Adam has learned to decipher after two years with his coach. More and more often does he see it directed to him.
Despite himself he can not deny a good mystery. And now he is restlessly waiting for the season to start up again so he can dive deeper into that strange and unexpected dynamic.
Then three weeks and two days later, that means three months, three weeks and four days after he was first pulled into this thing, things took a turn.
"You have to raise your foot in the camel spin, its not level with your body!" exclaimed Crowley, barely looking in his direction. Just enough to see all the things Adam does wrong.
It is clear however, that most of his attention is on the rink door. As he is not even looking in Adam's direction, Adam can't help but follow his eyes.
He could have sworn, that his coach started moving towards the boards before the door even fully opened. "Take a break," he told Adam without even turning around.
Maybe he should be insulted, but he is used to Crowley's antics and he would never say no to a break from training. So he followed Crowley to the boards, to take his water bottle and blow his nose, when he saw two already familiar faces.
Two faces that did not belong to any of the frequent visitors of this rink.
"Oi, Pepper! What are you doing here?" he asked as the girl walked closer to the rink-side. She wore a magenta hoodie and already had her skates on.
"My old rink was closed down so now I must train here. Couldn't even get a new coach, because Mr Fell is also moving here."
Adam looked to the door, where the two men had already disappeared to. The heavy doors had long since closed and showed no indication that they were to open back up any time soon.
"Is this why they went out to talk? Are they trying to get along somehow, now that they must work together?"
Pepper looked around the rink as if to check wether there were anybody listening to them. The other skaters and coaches on the ice payed them no mind at all.
"You know what I think?" Adam shook his head. "I think they like each other."
She looked almost proud of that conclusion, before she arranged her face back to its usual stoic expression.
"Like they don't hate each other?" asked Adam confused.
"No, I mean that too, but like the "they want to be together" kind of like. They look at each other, in a certain way, when the other isn't looking. But I've seen it."
"Well then we have to do something," Adam said excitedly. Maybe if Crowley got a boyfriend, then he would not be so mad all oof the time.
Pepper, however did not look as exited. "Do we have to?"
In the end he did convince Pepper to help him. But that did not mean that she was not complaining the whole time. Maybe if she had helped him plan more of this they would not be here right now.
With coach Crowley and Fell locked inside a rarely used office. In Pepper's defence she was not the only one of his useless friends, as Brian and Wensleydale were also here and of no help.
Sure, they had no stake in this as they were both coached by Muriel, who had moved to this rink a few years ago. Funny enough turns out that they were a old colleague of Coach Fell's so the them, as they now called themselves, managed to get to know some things about Mr Fell that even Pepper did not know.
"Adam! Open the bloody door, what has gotten into you!" the shout was muffled by the door, but it must have been loud if you took into account Mr Fell's quiet "For heaven's sake".
The pounding on the door did not stop and now the children were looking at each other slightly worried. Were they going to call their parents? That was the last thing they needed.
Adam gestured for the others to run, while readying himself to do the same as soon as he unlocked the door. As soon as the key turned he was running faster than he has since he still lived next to the open fields, before his family moved to London.
It did not take him long to catch up to his friends. To the sounds of Crowley's cursing they stormed out of the glass doors of the building. By the time they remembered the bags all of them had left in their haste to get away they had already walked several blocks while giggling.
Surely he can never go back to the ice rink? His mum, who very much did not know the reason why he was so hesitant to return, though she surely suspected it had something to do with the missing skate bag, did not even try to hear his reasoning.
"Adam," said a very familiar voice behind him. Honestly Adam had expected him to be madder. Maybe even smite him on sight or at the very least shout. But he did none of these things.
Crowley ran a hand through his red unruly hair before looking at Adam. "Me and Ang- Mr Fell just want to know a few things about why you did what you did. You are a good kid, so I would just like to understand."
Adam chewed the inside of his cheek before nodding and responding: "I just thought that if you did like Mr Fell, like Pepper said you might, like properly the whole being boyfriends and all, then maybe you would be happier."
The "And wouldn't make me do all the things I don't want to do" went unsaid. Adam has a feeling that he would not appreciate that.
To Crowley's credit he seems to take it better than Adam expected. No shouting or cursing. He just looked a bit shocked. Then a small smile seemed ta appear, just a little, before he schooled his features.
"Adam, me and Asa are married. We are a bit past that boyfriend pit."
Now it was Adam's turn to be shocked. He must have looked very funny, with his jaw to the floor. "But you were always fighting with him."
"No we were just talking about things, you know adults have things they must talk about. Alone."
Adam was not impressed by that, and he hopes that his face got that point forward. "But why do you two look like you hate each other? Is that just how "adults are"?"
His coaches sighed. "Well we try to act professional while we are at work. That also means competitions and now at the rink. We have not always been the most," he made a slight pause as if looking for words, "Let's just say welcomed, by figure skating. It's just something we are used to, I guess."
Adam nodded, trying to look like he understood what he was saying. It's something he has seen plenty of adults do.
Then his coach smiled properly. "Look, I appreciate the sentiment, really I do. Just maybe next time you and your gang try to mach make somebody, please do not lock anybody into a office," he winked.
"Now hop-hop off to the ice you go. Don't forget to warm up!"
Adam had recounted his side of the story while rest of the Them listened idly in the rink's cafe that overlooked the ice.. They seemed mostly unconcerned, as Pepper had already told all about her talk with Mr Fell.
"I don't really understand, what he meant by the last part," he admitted.
Pepper piped up, "I once heard my dad talk about how it's not really good to have relationships with people you work with." They sat there quietly, considering Pepper's dad's words, before all agreeing that that must have been it.
"How about we go get ice cream now?" proposed Pepper.
The rest of Them agreed, picking up their stuff and walking towards the exit. Their coaches already forgotten, the chatter moved on to more important and interesting things. Like how many ice cream flavorous there are in the world.