Work Text:
Lance shivered as he stepped out into the cold. His breath left him in a puff of fog, his nose stinging as a rush of wind blew through. He cursed, burying his nose further into his scarf.
“I miss Cuba,” Lance whined, turning to give sad puppy eyes to Shiro. His boyfriend was locking the door, his keys jingling pleasantly. When he turned around, Shiro let out out a small huff of laughter before moving to wrap his arm around Lance’s shoulder and pull him in for a kiss. The two men stood there for a moment, enjoying each other’s warmth and pressing kiss after kiss to once cold lips.
“Come on, the rink is just around the corner,” Shiro pulled back with a grin. Lance simply sighed. It was hard to say no to his boyfriend when his cheeks were rosey from the cold and his eyes twinkled like that. Well, that and it was just hard to say no to Shiro period. The man had these perfect puppy dog eyes that seemed to just melt away all of Lance’s defenses!
“It seems just a little too perfect to me that the rink is just around the corner from your apartment.”
“Well,” Shiro interlocked their fingers and tugged gently so that they were walking side by side, “I know one of the coaches there from high school, and when they found out that I wanted to use ice skating as a part of therapy, they pointed me towards their spouse who owned the complex.”
Lance hummed and they walked in comfortable silence. Their hands swung between them, and Lance didn’t even try to keep the grin from his face. Before Shiro, he had been in a dark place. His ex hadn’t been very supportive and Lance had placed the blame for that on himself. Shiro — the kind, honorable man that he was — had helped Lance realize that he had been a victim. Ever since then, the two had just gravitated towards each other and then two months ago Shiro had asked Lance out to coffee.
“So how good are you at this?” Lance asked, tilting his head back to peer up at Shiro. “You said you’ve been doing this for how long?”
“About a year now!” Shiro grinned, his eyes sparkling as he stepped forward to grab the door to the rink. “I’ve gotten pretty good at this, if I do say so myself.”
Lance hummed, shaking his head fondly as Shiro steered them over to the counter.
“Ah, welcome back, Shiro!” A dark woman with long white, blinding hair leaned over the counter. Her British accent startled Lance, as they were currently in New York. “I see you’ve brought someone with you today?”
“This is my date, Lance. Lance this is Allura. She both owns the rink and coaches. In fact, she’s the one whose taught me everything I know!”
Allura laughed, her head tilting back with her joy. “Falsitudes! This man came to my program already knowing how to stand and skate in a circle.”
Lance grinned smugly. He knew how amazing Shiro was, so it was nice to see other people appreciate him the same way.
“Hush you!” Shiro flapped a hand at her, his cheeks flushing a pretty pink and Lance felt his grin widen into a love-struck smile. “Can you just give me a size 8 and my reserve pair?”
Allura just grinned, sending a wink Lance’s way as she went into the room behind the counter. Lance turned, leaning against the counter as he raised an eyebrow at Shiro.
“Pretty good, huh? According to Allura it sounds like you should be a three time Olympic gold medalist.”
Shiro giggled, stepping forward to silence him with a kiss before pulling away as Allura came back, putting the two pairs of skates down on the counter. She immediately sashayed away, leaving the couple alone.
“Come on,” Lance dragged Shiro over to the benches lined outside of the rink. “Show me how to put these on!”
Shiro bent down and pulled Lance’s feet closer, setting the blade gently on his thigh before starting to lace the skate up. Lance blushed down at the man. He’d simply thought that Shiro would explain how to tie them before helping after he struggled a bit. Honestly, he really didn’t know how to handle Shiro being all cute like this!
“There you go! See if you can stand by yourself like that. We still have to walk over to the rink.”
Lance took Shiro’s offered hand, letting himself get pulled up so that he could balance on those metal blades. When his feet didn’t immediately slip out from underneath him and Lance realized he could take a few steps by himself, he grinned. Shiro smiled back at him.
“I’m doing great so far! Maybe I’ll be a natural like you,” Lance bragged, strutting over to the gate of the rink. He looked back at Shiro — the adorable man — hovering directly behind him with a hand on his lower back.
Lance took a step out onto the ice, and then immediately he was collapsing with a high-pitched yelp. Shiro caught him, one arm going around his waist as he kept Lance from breaking his ankles. Lance pouted, clutching desperately at the railing.
He knew that he’d just been proven wrong, but Shiro didn’t have to laugh at him like that! The man was practically rolling on the floor!
He began to inch his way down the railing, his ankles shaking as he used his arms to travel. Around him, people skated by with ease, laughing and showing off the different tricks they’d learned. Lance felt himself frown, staring down at his skates.
“Babe,” Shiro skated up behind him, placing a hand on his waist, “I’m sorry I laughed at you, but in my defense I’ve never heard you make that sound before.”
Shiro smiled apologetically and Lance sighed. He couldn’t stay angry at Shiro at all! He would get these sad looking eyes and Lance honestly just folded when Shiro turned them on him.
“You, are so lucky I love you!” Lance declares, moving one of his hands from clutching at the railing to clutching at Shiro’s broad shoulder. Shiro grins in reply, ducking down to press a kiss to his cheek before wrapping an arm around Lance’s waist.
“I am,” Shiro pushed off from the wall, bringing Lance with him. “I really, really am.”
A blush raced across Lance’s cheeks and Shiro grinned as he slowly skated them in a circle. Lance leaned his head against Shiro, and Shiro grinned. He tucked Lance against his side and then began to skate a little bit faster, guiding Lance into a small circle.
“It’s calming once you’re not falling on your ass,” Lance states, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Shiro felt as if he had been punched in the sternum, his breath leaving him. How did he find someone so beautiful?
“You see why I do it for therapy.”
They skated in silence, slowly moving from leaning against one another, to skating side by side, connected only by their hands. Lance’s smile was wide and proud, both for himself and for Shiro. Shiro, well he was just grinning like a lovesick idiot.
Eventually though, they had to step off the ice to let the zamboni go through. Lance was giggling as he stumbled over to one of the benches, Shiro following after him.
“I can understand why you like this so much. It, it feels freeing.”
Lance smiled down at the ground as he fidgeted with the laces on his skates. Shiro knelt down in front of him, redoing the laces so that the boot fit better.
“It’s why I love it. At first I had told myself that it was only going to be for therapy, but once I got better at it — once I knew what I was doing — I didn’t want to stop. And, well, I wanted to share it with you.”
Lance let out a small gasp. Shiro had flushed a bright pink, his hands fumbling with the laces he was familiar with. It was rare for Shiro to open up like this — it was why Lance had been so excited when Shiro asked him to go to the rink with him.
“I know that we’ve kinda been dating for two months, but- I- I really wanted to ask you to be my official boyfriend. I don’t want this to just be a fling or anything! I really do care about you and I wanted you to know that I want this to be long term.” Shiro turned his gaze out to the rink. “I haven’t let anyone watch me skate except for my coaches. I–”
Lance leapt forward and pressed his lips against Shiro’s. He tilted his head to the side, wanting a better angle so that he could pour all of his feelings into the kiss. When they finally separated, panting, both men were smiling.
“Shiro, you absolute dork,” Lance giggled, nuzzling his nose into Shiro’s neck. “Of course I want this to be a long term thing. I like you too.”
Shiro’s grin could’ve been seen from space. He pressed a quick kiss to Lance’s cheek and then he was standing up and tugging the man back towards the rink.
They spent the night skating until they were forced off the rink for closing time.