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All the skaters and coaches were crowded around the door to the ice while watching. Whoever was going next would take off their gloves and jacket while the person before them was skating. This is so that they could go through the list smoothly, and not have to wait for the next skater to get ready.
During every performance Sirius would be glancing at the little list that had been taped to the wall indicating the order even though he already knew when he was supposed to go.
When the person before him went on the ice, Sirius walked up to stand right next to the door and was trying to watch while taking off his jacket and placing it over his shoulders to keep him warm for the two minutes until his turn.
Filius stood beside him and reminded Sirius to breathe and to get up and keep going if he falls.
Lily came over and played with the tassels a bit to straighten them out, they were a little crinkled from being squished under the jacket.
Everyone watched in near silence and clapped whenever a trick was done well. Sirius knew she was getting closer to the end of the song and started deep breathing to calm down, bouncing on his feet to keep his knees loose.
Sirius handed his jacket to Filius and laid his gloves on the ledge behind the glass, he stepped onto the ice as the girl before him came off and waited for his name to be announced.
Lily patted him on the back “you’ll do great, we can all get pizza after too!” she said, Sirius ran a hand through his hair and nodded, unable to really talk properly, then his name got announced and he skated to his starting spot.
Sirius was glad his starting pose made it so he was looking at the ice instead of up at the audience while he waited for the music to start.
When the music started, his arms and legs were still trembling a little but ten seconds into the performance, most of his nerves were gone and it became fun, everything was muscle memory at this point.
Everything was going as planned, but then Sirius got to the couple of steps leading up to the axel, he began to overthink all of his steps and fell while doing a bunny hop.
His brain didn’t really process much as his gut instinct was to get up and keep going but Sirius could hear the crowd gasp and say ‘oh’.
That didn't last long though because after he got up, he nailed the axel and the crowd clapped for it.
The rest of his solo went well and he was almost on time the entire time.
When he stepped off the ice, someone else got on, the girl before Lily’s turn. Sirius grabbed his water bottle and took a drink between breaths for air, his throat was burning from the cold and having just done his best.
“How did that feel?” Filius asked as he handed Sirius his jacket, “good, other than the fall” he said, “you did really well” Lily told him and he nodded as acknowledgement.
Lily took off her jacket and wore it around her shoulders, by the time she had to go on, Sirius’s breathing calmed down so he could talk properly.
“Just have fun and everything else will sort itself out” Sirius said, Minerva stood closer to Lily who was on the ice and told her “don't forget to smile” then smiled as demonstration, Lily nodded and copied. “I'll do something goofy if you dont look like you're enjoying yourself when you skate by!” Sirius had to say the last bit louder as Lily was skating away while her name was being announced.
Lily’s skate went really well, she ended up being ahead of the music which was to be expected because of nerves, and she cut one of her spins off early, but her little improv at the end to fill the rest of the music was worth it.
When Lily came off the ice, Sirius handed her her water and Minerva returned her jacket and asked many of the same questions as Filius had to Sirius. Minerva and Lily both worked out which areas she could improve on or something that could be added.
“Hey Sirius! Lily!” Sirius heard someone whisper-shout from above them in the stands somewhere, he turned around to see Remus and James crouched near the railing of the stands.
There was still about four or five people who had to skate. Sirius and Lily stepped closer to the wall and Remus and James stuck their hands out under the railing to give them both high fives.
“You guys were awesome” James whispered, Sirius and Lily were both still sort of trying to watch the girl who was skating now, they nodded and smiled sheepishly.
Sirius took two steps forwards to take his and Lily’s hard guards off the boards, handed Lily hers then put his own on.
Lily took the hint and put on hers too, “give us a sec” Sirius whispered to Remus and James who were still crouched to talk to them.
Sirius tapped Filius on the shoulder “me and Lily are gonna go up in the stands for a bit” he told him, Filius waved his hand as an indication that it was ok with him and Sirius gave Lily a thumbs up.
Together they walked up the side stairs so as to not draw too much attention away from the skater. Remus and James had also walked over to the side stairs to meet them and James offered a hand to them both.
Lily gave Sirius a smug smile and took James’s hand with her right hand and held the railing with her left. Sirius knew what she was trying to do but continued to just hold onto the railing with his left hand while looking down at the steps.
Remus sort of sidestepped awkwardly to make his presence more known to Sirius and the crowd began cheering as the skater came out of a difficult and cool looking spin. “Do you want help?” Remus asked and held out his arm at a funny angle.
Sirius had climbed stairs in skates before, he was doing pretty well on his own, but part of him just wanted to hold Remus’s hand and the other part thought it would be embarrassing if anybody he knew saw. Sirius paused and glanced down at where all the skaters were standing near the ice, then looked at the fact he only had about half the stairs left.
Fuck it he thought and took Remus’s arm to stabalize himself up the last half of the stairs.
The four of them made it to the top of the stairs as the next girl started her routine. James and Remus had let go of their arms now and were leading them along the top of the stands to where their stuff was.
James and Remus had picked a nice spot about three quarters of the way up the stands and at the end of the row so they didn't have to walk in front of people or ask anyone to get up so they could sit down.
They had somehow managed to save a third seat so Lily sat and Sirius crouched at the end so he was still close by but wasn’t blocking anybody's view of the ice.
Lily rubbed her legs to make friction in a vain attempt to warm them up, Remus handed her the blanket that was on his seat and she took it.
“Sirius, are you sure you're good over there?” James asked “yeah no I’m fine, there's not many people left anyways” he said, James shrugged and turned back to the ice.
The four of them sat in silence to watch, one of the boys occasionally asking about specifics, and applauding whenever someone finished their routine or did something really cool.
Peter was the last person to skate. He did very well, Sirius hadn’t been watching him like a hawk at every practice but he could tell that Peter had improved.
Peter even looked like he was having a good time once he got his tricky step sequence over with. The crowd cheered for him as he struck his ending pose, the announcer lady thanked all of the skaters and coaches for putting in the work, and thanked the audience for coming as the zamboni door opened again to flood the ice.
The slow shuffle of people getting up and walking towards the lobby began.
“I’m going to take my skates off cause sitting like this is killing my feet” Sirius said with a laugh to indicate the situation wasn't that dire. Lily nodded “I’m gonna go too” she said and got up, handing Remus the blanket back.
James and Remus also stood up and the four of them started walking to the stairs that lead to the doors to the ice instead of the one to the lobby because there is more traffic on those stairs.
“Hey Sirius can we come down with you guys and see your outfits up close?” James asked and gave Remus a sort of look that Sirius couldn't decipher but by the mortified look on Remus’s face, Sirius could guess that James was asking for him.
“Uh yeah sure, maybe wait until Peter leaves though, he's got a head start and is usually pretty quick to untie his skates anyways so you won't have to wait long” Sirius answered as they got to the staircase.
Going down the stairs is harder than going up the stairs, but James and Remus didn't rush them and let them take all the time they needed.
Sirius got down first, followed by Lily, he took off his hard guards as soon as he was on the rubber floor because they're annoying to walk in. “I’ll be in room three if you're looking for me” he said as he walked through the rubber strips that separated the hallway from the stands and ice.
As he walked through the door he didn't hear the sound of the rubber being walked on again like he expected, nor the sound of the other dressing room door opening and closing.
Lily was right behind me? Maybe they wanted to talk to her on her own, Sirius reasoned and sat down on the bench.
Peter already had his skates off and was in the middle of changing his shirt.
“You did good Peter, see it wasn't so bad was it?” Sirius said as Peter pulled a solid grey t-shirt over his head. “Yeah, it was fun, and I didnt fall,” he said.
Peter quickly wiped off the snow from his blades and put his skates away, put on his winter coat and hat, then whisked out of the room like he had somewhere really important to be.
Sirius pulled out his phone to occupy the time between Peter leaving and James, Remus, and maybe Lily coming in.
Sirius looked up from his phone at the sound of the door closing for a second time, now the tall brunet stood in front of the door.
“Hi” Sirius started, now nervous for no reason, he looked around Remus for a second “where’s James? I thought you were both coming?” he asked in an attempt to hide his surprise.
“He decided to see Lily’s dress first, would you rather him be here than me?” Remus asked, still standing by the door.
The change in Remus’s facial expression made Sirius cringe, of course he wouldn’t rather have James here, he was just surprised. “No, I guess I just misunderstood what we all decided, that's all. It's cool that you guys are interested at all” Sirius hoped that covered it well.
“Lets see the shirt then” Remus said and took a couple steps into the room, Sirius stood up, skates still on, and unzipped his jacket.
He struggled with the sleeves for a little bit but managed to get them off on his own. Sirius held his arms out to his sides and twisted them to uncrinkle the tassels again so Remus could see them properly.
The room was silent but when Sirius saw Remus’s face, he knew it was a good shock type silence.
Remus came closer which made Sirius’s heart twitch a bit. “It looks even cooler up close” Remus said, taking in all of the sparkles and colour.
“Can I feel?” he asked, looking into Sirius’s eyes, those eyes made him so weak Sirius could have fallen to the ground right then and there.
You can feel whatever you want to, he thought.
“Yeah sure” he managed to say and thankfully Remus broke the eye contact. Sirius followed Remus’s hand with his gaze as he fiddled with one of the tassels.
“Is it comfy though?” Remus asked, letting go of the tassel and looking at the rest of Sirius’s body again, “it's not the worst, some parts are slightly itchy though” he said.
Sirius could feel his face go red as the other boy kept looking him up and down. He wanted to hold his hands up to his cheeks to cool them down and hide them but that would be too obvious so he settled for toying with the glitter and rhinestones on the bottom right side of his shirt.
“Are you nervous?” Remus asked, which seemed like a stupid question for him to be asking, the hard part is over, all thats left is for Sirius to take his skates off and leave.
You make me nervous
“No, of course not, I already skated, I just have to take my skates off now” Sirius replied. Remus looked at him in the face again, “you are nervous, just not about the skating” Remus was chewing on his bottom lip, “who's nervous now” Sirius said and smiled which made Remus laugh.
Remus dropped the subject and pointed at a spot on Sirius’s shirt with lots of sequins, “can I touch them?” he asked again, “I already said you could” Sirius said but gave him an appreciative look.
He took one of the sequins near Sirius’s right shoulder and fiddled with it between a few fingers, careful to not pull it off by accident. He watched the light hit it and shimmer away.
“So you're gonna get changed then join us in the lobby?” Remus asked and dropped his hand, Sirius nodded his head in the direction of his skating bag.
“Just gonna take my skates off, I forgot to bring a spare shirt to change into after” he stated. Sirius could have sworn he heard Remus mumble something like “you can have mine” but he must’ve imagined it because Remus didn't acknowledge it and instead asked about his skates.
“Can I see them?'' Honestly, had it been anyone else, Sirius would have been annoyed and probably said no, but he can't do that to Remus, he's too cute when he's curious to not feed his curiosity.
Sirius took the few steps to the bench and motioned for Remus to take a seat next to him.
Sirius bent over his right leg, the one closest to Remus, and flipped the bottom of his pants up, which unleashed a small waterfall of laces to unfurl.
“I didn't know your laces were that long, is that why your pants go down that far?” Remus asked, looking at the skate. Sirius smiled at Remus’s interest in laces, which was hidden by his hair, he continued to untie his skate while talking. “Kind of, some people’s laces are shorter than mine, some are longer, but the pants cover the boot for looks and so I don't trip on the laces, and so I don't get them caught in the hooks of the other skate” he explained, Remus nodded.
Sirius figured that those laces facts were pretty common knowledge for someone who's been skating since they were little, even if the type of skating is completely different. He didn't put much more thought into why Remus would have been asking.
Probably so it doesn't feel so awkward to untie my skates in silence, with someone else in the room.
As soon as he handed the skate to Remus, the dressing room door opened and Lily, followed by James walked in.
“How's it going in here?” Lily asked, Remus was looking intently at the picks and testing them with his finger.
Sirius looked at Lily, “pretty good, you guys?” “also good, did you give Remus a stinky skate for fun?” Lily asked and nodded at Remus who still hadn't looked up.
Lily saying that made Sirius realise that might not have been the best idea but it was too late now. “He doesn't seem to mind,” he said.
“Sirius show me that shirt,” James said. Sirius got off the bench and nearly fell over due to the now four inch difference between his left and right foot.
Lily caught him by his right arm, let Sirius get his balance again and let go.
Sirius held his arms out and twisted them a bit for James too.
By now Remus had noticed they had company and stood up to ask to see Lily’s dress, she took off her jacket and did a little twirl on the spot to show it off.
“You guys both look great” James said, “I was thinking the same” Remus added as if his responses were on autopilot, he was too busy looking between them.
“Selfie to commemorate the great outfits” James said and pulled his phone out of his pocket, “ok fine but next time you guys have a game, we’re doing the same thing” Lily said, it sounded like a threat or that she was annoyed but Sirius knew that it was all light hearted.
“Guys get over here, I can't take a selfie with all of us if three of you are on that side of the camera” James said and everyone walked over to be in the shot.
Everybody smiled and they took a slightly goofy picture after. “I’ll send them to the group chat so all of you have it too” James told them then put his phone away.
“Ok I’m gonna go take this dress off now cause I’m freezing and kinda uncomfortable” Lily said and began towards the door “can I come?” James asked to which Lily gave him a mock-offended face and said no cause there are still other girls in there and she would rather change in peace without him there.
“Hey Lils, can I hang my shirt in your dress bag? I forgot mine and I don't want it to get wrinkly, can't exactly iron it” Sirius explained his situation while Lily backed up and gestured for him to unzip the dress, which he did absent-mindedly. “Classic Sirius always forgetting something, sure though, there's space” Lily said and left the room.
Sirius reclaimed his spot on the bench, standing with one skate on is not the most comfortable thing in the world. Remus pointed at the one skate on the ground “nice skates” he said, “I guess we’ll see you in a couple minutes then” James said and walked him and Remus out of the dressing room.
Sirius let out a breath as soon as the door shut. He took off his other skate first, put on his running shoes and packed up his bag.
Sirius reasoned that wearing his skating jacket with no shirt underneath was better than wearing the skating shirt underneath so he managed to get it off and got goosebumps immediately. He threw on his skating jacket and his winter coat then walked out of the dressing room, shirt in hand and found James and Remus in the hallway outside the dressing rooms.
As soon as they saw him, James made an off-handed joke about how long it takes for girls to get changed but Sirius had to defend his friend “I already had one skate off, Lily has an entire dress, two pairs of tights, and skates to take off, so it's gonna take longer, I had an unfair advantage”
James raised his hands in surrender “it was a joke”, Remus ignored him and asked Sirius where they were going.
“Not that the café isn’t great and all but me and Lily haven't really had supper yet so we’re gonna go to a pizza place instead” Sirius answered, “pizza’s good” James concluded.
A short while later, Lily popped out of the dressing room and the four of them began to walk to the lobby.
Sirius and Lily fiddled with the coat hanger and Sirius’s shirt to get it in the dress bag while they were walking and they got it eventually.
The lobby had calmed down so they had no problem getting outside and into the mild cold.