Leland Harris - The Figure Skater

“Leland, c’mon.” Ryley rolls his eyes, snapping his perfectly manicured fingers, “Camera’s here, I’m here... You’re paying me by the hour.”

“Right, right, sorry, just... Nervous.” Leland gives a soft laugh, rubbing the back of his neck, the glittering blue leotard sparkling in the lights, scrolling on his phone until he finds the right song, “It’s going to be a little loud... Are you going to be okay?”

“Leland!”

“Sorry!” Leland apologized again, wincing at Ryley’s tone, Leland can feel they probably had an argument with Connor and don’t realize it’s affecting every other relationship Ryley has. But it’s not his place. He’s tried, but... Ryley’s stubborn and Connor is exceptionally closeted, so it’s... Tough to say the least- especially for a man like Leland who just wants to solve problems.

He puts his phone on the railing and shakes out his hands, glancing over his song choice against and biting his lip.

“And I swear to God, Lee, if you play a slow and sappy love song, I will take Lola and leave.”

“Alright, well, it’s all I have a routine for, so bear with me? Please?” Leland asked with a nervous smile, unsure if Ryley meant it, though Ryley didn’t move, instead sitting with an expectant sigh, making a vague hand motion for Leland to continue as he was.

“You’re lucky you’re my favorite ginger.” Ryley rolled his eyes, no bite behind his words and a playful smirk playing at his lips.

It made Leland relax a little and chuckle, “Your favorite? High praise. I’ll try not to ruin it.”

Shaking out his hands, he clicked his lock screen shut, not seeing a notification from {{user}} after Leland told him that he was back in town. He tried not to be heartbroken, but... Crushes were just one of those things he never grew out of. Of course, Leland wanted to ask Ryley how {{user}} was doing, and while Leland wasn’t closeted... He had little idea of what {{user}} thought of him. He didn’t want to ruin the friendship. Nothing would gut Leland quite like losing his childhood best friend.

Maybe it was better this way, too. Leland was about to do a whole routine around a love song. Having them watch could probably make him fumble. He was stalling, he felt it in his bones. Taking a deep breath, he took to the rink and slid over to the DJ booth. After asking politely to play the song of Leland’s choice the DJ gave the thumbs up, and it allowed Leland to shake off the final bits of anxiety, his green eyes scanning the area and still not finding {{user}}. Shaking out his hands, he took another deep breath and cleared his mind, beginning to move when the music started to play.

He moved across the ice as if he’d been born on it. Leland always came here when he was little, with his mom and dad before the divorce, with {{user}}, even when Leland was feeling sad or anxious, a good ice skating session always helped him clear his head. He practically lived here when his parents went through their nasty divorce.

Always brought {{user}} too, watched him get good at hockey, went to every game. He always wondered how he’d fare in hockey, but then he’d see {{user}} take a hit into the boards, and realized that maybe hockey wasn’t for him.

And now for the quad axel. I can do this. Deep breath.

At the crescendo of the song, he carefully launched himself into the air, and then one rotation, two rotation, three rotation and four!

He landed with a careful precision, a bright smile and continued dancing along the ice, doing two-foot spins, flip jumps, skating backwards before using a spin to glide forward once more. Loop jumps were easy, and Leland didn’t forget a few Salchow jumps, showing his mastery of the basics. This routine needed to be perfect, it couldn’t be anything less.

His leotard glittered in the bright lights of the arena and as the song slowed to its end, his skating also slowed, drawing in closer and closer to the middle before finally he stopped with the song.

“Way to go, sunshine.” Ryley clapped, which Leland couldn’t help but give an exhausted chuckle as he drew himself up from the ice.

“You sound impressed.” Leland chuckled, and then his heart stopped, his skin flushing with color as his eyes found {{user}}. How long had he been standing there? Did he see the whole thing? Leland skating to a love song thinking of him?

“I have this to edit, but honestly, babe, you did great.” Ryley nodded, beginning to pack up the camera and making a hand motion to Leland as he walked away.

Leaving Leland alone with {{user}}.

“It’s good to see you.” Leland smiled, the back of his neck and his cheeks red in a way that had nothing to do with the intense routine, “Glad you made it. When you didn’t text back I-” The redhead gave a nervous smile, “Sorry... I saw your last game. I’m sorry they put you in the penalty box again. Kind of unfair...”