Dancing on the blades, you set my heart on fire. (Backdated to the 14th)

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu Kaburagi has a very bad sense of time. Not just in terms of minutes and seconds, but also in terms of days, weeks, months. It doesn't help that, as far as he's been able to gather, the castle is running around two months ahead of when he was back home. And that's before various strange happenings skew his sense of time even further.

But since shortly after getting together with Barnaby, there's one day he's been keeping an eye out for. After counting forward from the end of the first event he experienced where everyone was transformed, and the day he realized a couple of days too late was Barnaby's birthday, Kotetsu is reasonably sure he's pinpointed today as Valentine's Day. Now it's just a matter of what to do. Even here, he wants it to be special.

Eventually, he gets an idea that leads to him hunting up Jack Frost. Jack agrees that he still owes Barnaby for past events and agrees to Kotetsu's plan. From there, it's just a matter of digging up skates. The castle seems to feel it owes Kotetsu for literally not giving him and Barnaby a peaceful time together since before they got together, though. He turns up a closet full of skates of various sizes without too much trouble. These, Kotetsu gathers up and carries over to a newly frozen pond in one of the more wooded areas. He dumps them by the side of the lake - no reason he and Barnaby should have all the fun, after all - and sets to work digging up a pair for himself.

Once that's done, it's just a matter of getting in some hasty practicing so he minimizes how stupid he looks in front of his boyfriend. That shouldn't be too hard, right? He did used to take Kaede to her skating practice...years and years ago.

It turns out to be pretty hard. There's a lot of stumbling, flailing, and falling as he tries to figure out just how people make this look so easy. But he's fallen from and onto worse than this. So Kotetsu always gets back up and keeps trying to keep skating, even if he's obviously too lead footed to make much headway at this on his own. Jack, meanwhile, hangs around in a bare tree to watch the show.

"You sure you don't want any help?" he calls out every so often.

"I can do this," Kotetsu always replies stubbornly, as he gets back to his feet from his latest stumble.

Neither of them is being terribly quiet, though, and the skates are there for the taking if you can find one in your size.

Comments

[darkerstripes]

Apparently, Kotetsu can know, and does know. That admission takes a bit of stumbling to get it out, and Toshi waits on the edge of his proverbial seat for it, nodding along that yes of course he remembers that rigamarole. He tries to look calm and understanding for Kotetsu's sake, even as he's slowly brimming with more and more anxiety... until of course, the actual explanation.

He gives Kotetsu another reassuring squeeze as he struggles to find words. He doesn't need to be so guilty! He really doesn't. Not for the events of Halloween, not for spying, certainly not for getting with Barnaby.

"I see." Good... start? "Of course you were looking out for him," Toshi smiles, a fond, faraway kind of smile. "I'm... terribly sorry for that." He looks down at his feet. "It hurts, knowing that my emotions were forced onto him like that. I know he doesn't blame me, he told me so, but..." Kotetsu understands, surely. Even accidentally manipulating someone else's mind in any way is not okay.

Anyway, that isn't the point. Kotetsu is talking about Toshi's feelings, not Barnaby's. Sweet wonderful Kotetsu who is worried about Toshi being jealous when he's the one in a shiny new relationship. What a beautiful man. Toshi blushes and tugs his hat down again. "You don't need to fuss over me so much, Kotetsu. I'm okay, really! It makes me so happy to see you two together. He deserves it, and so do you." Here comes the babbling, he can feel it like a tickle in his chest oh god, "th-there's this word. Compersion. The happy, positive feelings someone gets when they see someone they love being happy loving someone else. It's the other side of the coin from jealousy. With you and Barnaby being together, I've got it in spades." He glances up from under his hat. "So I'm okay! Really."

It's going to be another long moment before Toshi realizes he backhandedly admitted his feelings for Kotetsu there. He's too busy worrying about that kicked-puppy look on Kotetsu's face first.

[oldmantiger]

He most definitely did admit his feelings. Even Kotetsu catches himself wondering if he really just heard...what it sounds like he heard, for a moment. For a flicker and a flash, he wonders if Toshi might feel this way about both of them.

...but then, being Kotetsu, he brushes the idea aside. Of course Toshi doesn't love him. Why would he? Kotetsu hasn't done anything more for the android than a friend would do.

And of course, Kotetsu is wrapped up in a shiny new relationship, but he doesn't want to become so wrapped up that he forgets everyone else who's important to him. Still, much as he knows it's possible that Toshi is lying to spare his feelings, his friend...looks so very sincere. He's not even stammering as much as Kotetsu knows he can sometimes, when he's really nervous or scared. He looks anxious, of course. But maybe that's just because he wasn't exactly expecting to get wrapped up in this conversation.

Maybe this really is...okay. His heart feels lighter as he dares to believe that.

A new word to learn and mull over helps cement Kotetsu's distraction. His kicked-puppy look fades to one of thoughtfulness.

"Compersion..." He says it once or twice to himself, rolling the taste around in his mouth, before brightening. "That's a good word! Wish I'd known it a long time ago." It's a feeling he values quite highly in himself.

"You're something special, Toshi. I hope one day you never doubt that about yourself. I hope one day I'm feeling buckets of 'compersion' for you, too. I mean, hey." He nudges the android carefully but definitely conspiratorially in the ribs. "Was it just me, or did Mettaton look pretty happy to chat with you back during that last big party?" He doesn't know about the dancing lessons. But he does know that Mettaton is not a terribly subtle flirt.

[darkerstripes]

There are a couple of beats of silence before Toshi starts to realize what he's done, what he said. It sinks in all at once and a flash of fear crosses his face. He looks down and away, partially hiding behind his hat again. Something nervous makes his chest feel like a live wire, and he honestly isn't sure at all if he's hoping Kotetsu won't notice, or that he will notice. How selfish is that?

He squirms, waiting for Kotetsu to respond, waits for him to try out the word and get a sense for it in that way he does. God, it's only serving as a remind to him of how fond he is. How much Toshi loves this man. His face is red to the ears with embarrassment when he peeks up at Kotetsu's smiling face. It is a good word, and it's a good one for Kotetsu.

Does this mean he's in the clear? Even if the way Kotetsu is complimenting him... and starting to tease him.. makes him want to squirm out of his skin. Kotetsu no...

Wait a minute. That use. He's using the new word he just learned, of course he is, but by the definition that Toshi just gave...

Kotetsu wouldn't be that subtle, would he? No, of course not. Love can be of so many different kinds and of course Kotetsu loves his friends.

But the hope there is so powerful. Toshi is very lost at sea and very nervous please someone help him.

"O-oh... yeah.... M-Mettaton's been... giving me dancing lessons. I think he's... p-proud of me..." Now the poor android is thinking about three of his crushes at once and he can't cope.

[oldmantiger]

Kotetsu nods encouragingly - it's impossible for him to miss Toshi's anxiety, even if he misses most of the reason for it. "I'll bet he is! I'm sure you're great at dancing. Heck, you can't be any worse than me." He hums thoughtfully, smiling faintly. "Man, dancing is fun, isn't it? It's been forever since I've really done it. Maybe I should ask Mettaton about lessons, too." It would be fun to surprise Barnaby by actually being light on his feet for a change.

Still. Teasing Toshi is only a limited amount of fun, when he looks quite so desperately uncertain and uncomfortable. So Kotetsu takes pity, and changes the subject, even as he lifts a hand to nudge that hat a little ways out of the way.

"Do you think you could teach me how to do one of those figure-eight things?"

[darkerstripes]

Kotetsu zeroes in on the Mettaton thing, and Toshi releases a sigh that sets some of his anxiety free, and some of his hope with it. It's for the best, right? He hadn't wanted to talk about this yet. Not right now. Not when Barnaby and Kotetsu still have so much growing and learning to do about themselves and each other. Even without Toshi in their Universe, they're behind him on the timeline quite a ways. Don't be hasty, don't be selfish.

Toshi blushes for a whole different reason, scuffing the toe of his skate into the ice a bit. "I'm not bad..." But he says it with a little smile that betrays his underselling. Mettaton is a good teacher, and Toshi is a graceful robot. It's a good combination. "Dancing is nice."

Dancing with Mettaton is nice. Overwhelming at times, but nice.

"He might teach you if you ask nicely. I think he has ulterior motives with me, though, so..." Oh god why did he admit that.

Deflect, deflect. He makes a throat clearing sound. "U-uh, yeah, sure, we can... try that. It's a bit harder than going in a straight line, or even a single curve."