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"But then what if I wanted to go fast?" Izzy hated to admit it, but he had little patience when it came to speed and skates. Toby was certainly an anchor holding him back from maximum velocity, but a nice anchor, one that he was kinda, sorta, maybe happy to keep up with.

"What if I wanted to tease you and skate circles around you like you were a cute little giraffe trying to figure out how to walk? That wouldn't be too mean, right?"

“Okay fine, a cute baby fawn then. You’re not that tall anyway.” A wobble too far earned Toby an arm wrapping around his waist, holding him up steady.

“Hmm... I’m not too sure if I should let you go... Should I? I’m getting worried about you Tobes.”

“Alright, I’m right here if you need me.” To help encourage Toby’s independence, he let his waist go, trailing his arms up, following the curve of his side all the way down to his hands. And once he reached them, he held them loosely, more of a guiding point to brace against for balance, rather than holding them like he had before.

“We’e gonna move forward, around in a circle a few times. If you need a break, let me know. I’m sure your legs will get tired fast.”

“Yeah you can! You’re doing great!” It wasn’t long at all before Izzy was able to let Toby go completely, skating small circles around him and making sure he had plenty of space between his friend and the rest of the skaters that were slowly filling the rink.

Maybe he was being a little too protective... After all, anyone who skated too close to Toby got a little bit of a stink-eye.

“Don’t worry one little bit, I’ll make sure you have all the space you need. And you can always grab me again if you need it. I’m really impressed though, you’re a natural at it! Before you know it, you’ll be skating around me.”

"You never know until you give it a shot." Another person came by a little too close, bumping him and then speeding off. While any other time he'd run after them and give them a good ol' piece of his mind, he slowed to a stop instead, taking Toby's arm and pulling him closer to the wall.

"Ugh... This place used to be cool... now it's just full of assholes who just want to go fast and run over the newbies..." Izzy would ignore the fact that he, too, used to be one of those assholes. "Do you like it so far? We don't have to keep doing this if you don't like it."

“Mmm... If you say so.” Even if Toby seemed okay with those people, it still made Izzy uneasy.. Having Toby hurt in any way, shape, or form on his birthday was the very last thing he wanted.

Probably for his own comfort more than anything else, he laced his fingers with his friend’s and pulled him along at a nice pace.

“A few more loops, but I’m not letting you go this time, okay?”

Round and around and around they went, following the music and skating around with little other issues. The entire time, Izzy held on fast, before leading Toby safely out the rink and off to the side.

“How are your legs doing? Are you having fun? I know, I know, I keep asking and bugging you, but I want to make sure you’re having a good time.” He had to check and see how Toby was, and what better way to do that than to thread him fingers through that shaggy blond hair and check for sweat?

.... Hindsight thought it was pretty gross, but hey, he was a gross kid.

“Wanna eat or get something to drink or something?”