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Max was spread out on a lounge chair on the back deck when he heard Leah, “Max, do we have roller skates?” His eyebrows climbed up to his hair line as he watched Leah saunter out onto the deck, her phone in one hand, a pair of roller blades in the other.
“You’re holding a pair?”
“These” she brandished the roller blades at him, “are not roller skates. These are roller BLADES. I want the ones with the four wheels side by side. You know, like the ones in old movies?”
Max shrugged, pushing his sunglasses onto his nose and nuzzling back into the lounge chair. There’s a moment of silence when he heard Leah move closer to him, standing in his sun. “Aren’t you going to ask why I want roller skates?” he can hear the grin in her voice.
“I was trying to avoid falling for the bait” he sighed, raising his sunglasses again, “why do you want roller SKATES babe?”
She plopped down on the edge of the lounge chair, eliciting a laughed huff from him as he moved down to sit beside her, head on her shoulder. “I want to organize a BBQ PALS roller rink excursion” she said the group chat name seriously, her thumb hovering over the chat on her phone.
“You know I would love to see Scott try and roller skate” Leah mused.
“You don’t think he can?” He watched as she clicked into the group chat and started typing.
“He definitely cannot”
“Leah, have you ever seen that roller rink on a Saturday night?” Max had his feet kicked into Leah's lap, a terrible action movie playing on their tv lighting up the darkened living room.
“I have and that’s why..” she held up her phone to him, an email glaring on the screen, “I have booked the entire rink for a Saturday night” her grin was contagious and Max sent one back to her as he grabbed for her phone. The details were there, the whole place to themselves.
“Oh my god. The sound system too?” Max asked, eyeing the reservation email.
“Yes babe, the sound system too”
Leah: WHO WANTS TO GO ROLLER SKATING?!
Kip: Absolutely yes! Name the time and placeeeee
Ryan: I'll talk to Fabian, but it'll probably be a yes.
Harris: HECK YAH WE DO
Troy: We do?
Kyle: 100%
Shane: I guess...?
“You know, I used to be in a roller skating drag troupe” Eric’s head shot up from his cellphone to see Kyle rummaging through the front closet.
“What?”
“Yeah. It was great”
“You going to show everyone your moves?”
Kyle smirked, reemerging with a neon green pair of rollerskates in his hands, “Yeah, probably. Are goalies just as bad at rollerskating as they are at ice skating?”
“I’ll have you know,” Eric had come up behind Kyle, his hands slotting around his waist, “I am still great, and was great, on a pair of skates”
“And how well do you think that translates to wheels hmm?”
Kyle turned around in Eric’s arms and smiled into the kiss he pressed to his lips.
“Extremely well. Now–” Eric moved them toward the stairs, –”let’s go get ready to skate”
“I can’t believe you left this until the last minute” Scott stood sentry outside a change room, listening to Kip complain about whatever pants he was pulling on.
“Technically, I didn’t leave it to the last minute. I thought I had the right pair of pants for roller skating. Turns out–” Kip grunted and pulled the door open, causing Scott to fall backwards into him, “I didn’t. Move–” swatting Scott out of the way, Kip moved around him and did a turn in the full length mirror.
“They do make your ass look great”
“See! Priorities while roller skating” Kip smoothed his hands down the jeans, nodded, and turned back to Scott.
“Now we need to find you something”
“Kip! We don’t have time!” Scott moaned, grabbing Kip’s bag as he followed him back out into the store.
“How many playlists did you pick?!” Max is at one end of the roller rink, Leah at the other, head buried in a bin of mismatched roller skates.
“I don’t know? A lot?” throwing a random child sized skate behind her Leah huffed, falling down in front of the bin with her back against the hard plastic. “This” she waved her hand around the rink as Max slid down beside her, having finally figured out the sound system, “is a lot more work than I thought”
Max chuckled, gripping her knee in one of his hands, “You know” he paused to turn his head and smile at her, “everyone is going to have a great time. There’s no reason to be nervous”
Leah breathed in and nodded, “I know. It’s just–you know how I love to worry”
Max looked at her for a minute, bringing his hand to her cheek.
“I know”
There were a few minutes of silence as Leah worried and Max held onto it for her. “Anyway” he said, knocking their knees together, “how could they not have fun at a party meticulously planned by you”
Harris was covered in dogs fifteen minutes before they were supposed to be downtown at the roller rink.
“Uh, Harris?” Troy had walked outside onto the back porch, Harris’ name on lips when he saw the dogs and Harris’ leg sticking out from beneath them.
“Troy!” Harris squeaked, laughing as one of the dogs barked and snuffled into his hair. “I’d say help but I do not want to be rescued”
Rolling his eyes, Troy carefully picked his way over the grass, avoiding stepping on any stray tails. Looking down at Harris, he could only smile, his reply about being late forgotten.
“Do you think we should bring them?”
Harris laughed louder, carefully pushing away a small terrier who bent down as if getting ready to play.
“Can you imagine? If only” Troy stuck out his hand to help his boyfriend up, brushing dog hair from his shirt as he stood.
“I can imagine, and honestly, it would be great”
“Wear something you can move your legs in!”
“What does that even mean Ilya?!” Appearing from around the corner, Ilya demonstrated roller skating in their bedroom doorway, his legs shuffling back and forth.
“If that’s how you roller skate then I am in for a great night”
Frowning playfully, Shane watched as Ilya sauntered into the room, coming to stand between his legs where Shane was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“You do not think I can roller skate kotenok?”
“Probably not as good as me”
“Ah. Okay” Ilya bent down, his breath tickling Shane’s ear, “I will be sure to go easy on you then”
Ryan watched as Fabian pulled on a pair of billowing pants, pressing the palms of his hands into the fabric as he stood in front of their bedroom mirror.
Coming up behind him, Ryan snaked his arms around Fabian’s waist and smiled at their reflections in the mirror.
“It will be nice to have a night out that doesn’t involve a gig” Fabian breathed out, smiling widely as he turned in Ryan’s arms. “I love playing, obviously, but sometimes I just need time to unwind, you know?” he pressed his head into Ryan’s chest and Ryan huffed out a laugh.
“Not sure how relaxing it will be with Ilya and the Pike horde”
“Well, at the very least I can hold your hand and skate around a roller rink for a few hours”
Fabian stood on his tip toes and punctuated Ryan’s smile with a kiss.
Leah watched as the flashing lights and music swirled around the roller rink, casting her friend's faces in stark contrast to the nerves she had felt hours before.
The rink was cavernous with just them, giving everyone so much room to be together or alone in a huddle of two. As the Scissor Sisters began to play, Leah reached out her hand and dragged Max onto the rink.
“Harris, buddy. I have weak ankles!” Kip spread out his arms, windmilling them toward Harris as he tried to keep up.
“Kip, babe. No one has weak ankles. Just do this” Harris demonstrated a little twirl that elicited a confused huff from Kip.
“Scott, man. I’m not sure I’m cut out for this?” Troy glanced at his roller skates, up at Scott, then back down at his feet.
“Well buddy–” Scott clapped him on the back as he shuffled toward the rink, “I’m not sure you have much of a choice”. In a surge of laughter, Scott is pulled onto the rink.
Kyle and Eric are huddled in a corner, scheming in stage whispers, “Do you remember any of the numbers?”
“Eric, it’s been like, 5 years…”
Ryan, whose eyes are shining in surprise, is sputtering out a laugh as Fabian clasped his hands and pulled him around the rink.
“Isn’t this like moving a house?” Ryan does his best not to topple into the dasher boards as Fabian makes a zig zag motion along the floor. “Hmm, more like a luxury R.V” Fabian winked, towing Ryan along faster.
Leah and Max form a loose circle in the middle of everyone, Scott and Troy fumbling over each other. “You both play professional hockey. It shouldn’t be this hard”
“It’s not the same!” They both gripe, clutching each other's forearms like they are kindergarteners at their first day of school.
Ilya, gliding effortlessly around everyone, was drifting past Shane when he gave his ass a playful swat. “Ilya! Are you serious?” Executing a perfect twirl, Ilya’s eyes glint from across the wide venue, “Solnyshko” grabbing his chest in mock hurt, “I am always serious”
The front entrance door banged open and a flurry of legs and pigtails flew into the building, squealing and yelling, “Uncle Shane! Uncle Ilya!”. Jade and Ruby seem to appear with their roller skates already on, throwing themselves into the fray.
“Ah, my favourite party animals are here! Everyone else must go home” Ilya’s laugh was blending with the music, lifting Jade onto his shoulders, Ruby screeching as she followed them around the rink.
“Rozanov! Don’t drop my kid! Hey buddy” Hayden slapped Shane on the shoulder as he carried Arthur onto the rink, twirling, top heavy for a moment before Max grabbed his shoulders, pushing him off toward Ilya and the twins.
“Hey sweetheart” Jackie clambered up behind Shane, kissing him on the cheek, “Hold Amber please. Ruby! Don’t try to trip your sister! Ilya! Stop encouraging them!”
From beyond the rink, Leah collected the pizza from the delivery guy and smiled.