Page 45 of A Little Christmas! 4: Song
“True dat. Just know that you’re gonna be the one icing the bruises on my ass after I fall on it a hundred and one times tonight,” Daddy declared. “This is the first time I’ve been on skates since I was a teenager.”
“A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” Song muttered beneath his breath, making Zachy giggle so hard he wobbled again.
This time Song was the one who steadied him.
“If you fall a hundred times, your ass will already be so numb from the ice soaking through the seat of your pants that there’ll be no need for me to apply more to it,” Papa commented, making Zachy laugh harder and slip around a bit, forcing him to cling to Song with desperate, grabby hands as one foot slid oneway and the other tried to slide out from beneath him in the opposite direction.
Song just held him tighter with Daddy’s help and pressed their heads together.
“Angle your toes in just a little; that will help you balance better,” Song explained, breath warm against Zachy’s neck as he nuzzled his cold nose past the tufts of hair sticking out of the side of Zachy’s warm fleece cap.
When Zachy did as he instructed, he no longer felt as off balance as he had before. While he did skate from time to time, he wouldn’t say that he was graceful or even proficient at it. It was more like when Wile E. Coyote strapped a windsail and fan to his back and roller skates on his feet, complete with windmilling arms and horrified onlookers desperate to stay out of his way as he struggled not to crash.
“Ready to go around the rink?” Song asked.
“You’re gonna hold my hand, right?” Zachy asked.
“Every step of the way,” Song replied, guiding him away from the railing. “Do you know how to roller-skate?”
“Uh-huh,” Zachy said, “I’m not great at it, but I’ve done it a lot more than I’ve done this.”
“Have you ever been to the Crystal Ball?”
“A couple times, yeah,” Zachy said. “I love their disco balls. The last time I went, I finally got the hang of doing the Electric Slide on skates; it was awesome.”
“We’ll have to go sometime,” Song declared. “For some reason, I can skate backwards on these, but I haven’t gotten the hang of doing it on roller skates yet.”
“Me either. Maybe we can figure it out together.”
“I’d love that,” Song said as Winter Wonderland began to play. “We can do more ice skating too. It’s the same movement; you just have to find your rhythm.”
The way Song said it, half seduction and half instruction, with one arm around Zachy’s waist and the other holding his hand as he guided him, made it feel like they were dancing. Instead of flailing everywhere, scared to lose his balance, he found himself gliding over the surface of the ice to the beat of the music, the tension melting from his shoulders and neck now that he didn’t have to think so hard.
“That’s it, see, you’re already getting it,” Song said as they headed around the rink the third time, catching up to where their Papa was trying to help their Daddy up off the ice only to have Daddy pull him down on top of him, resulting in a kiss and some applause and laughter from those around them.
Song guided him to a halt so they could clap and whistle too as Papa was finally able to get himself detangled from Daddy and get him back up on his skates again.
“You did that on purpose,” Papa declared, laughing as he brushed some of the ice off his jeans.
“Perhaps,” Daddy said, chuckling as he brushed at a spot of slushy ice on Papa’s hip.
“Uh-huh,” Papa said, taking Daddy’s hand again.
“I think they’re enjoying this,” Song said as he lightly tugged Zachy until they were moving again.
“They really are,” Zachy said. “I love that for them. They don’t get to spend time like this together when we’re all working. I’m just glad that our bosses have finally decided to shorten our workweek and lengthen our vacation time before people start to get burnt out. It’s so hard to be on all the time and having to be so careful about the things we do and say.”
“You don’t work in the sound booth, do you?” Song asked.
“No,” Zachy admitted, “I’m one of the characters. I’m not allowed to say which one, but I spend most of my time in costume, which can make for some long, hot days.”
“But it also means you know what it’s like to be a performer,” Song replied as he turned, skating backward while holding Zachy’s hands, still guiding him as they faced one another.
“Yup, and I love it,” Zachy said. “There have been times when I didn’t, but Daddy helped make things better, and now I’m excited that I get to slip into character each day and make people happy. It’s the same feeling you get when you’re up on stage, isn’t it?”
“Hell yeah,” Song declared with that big, happy grin of his. “With you guys I’ve never felt like I had to explain it either. Now I understand why you just get it.”
“Because we travel for the show too,” Zachy explained. “And Papa has to travel for work from time to time, since their other office is all the way out in Seattle.”