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For the nth time that afternoon Arian found himself wondering just why he'd thought this would be a good idea.

He'd been walking past the local ice rink, Techno Ice, when he'd spotted the posters proclaiming that for today only it would be 15% for those using the ice rink between eleven and two and had ended up impulsively buying a ticket.

It wasn't normally something he would do, after all what he knew about ice-skating could probably fit onto one hand, actually forget the hand and make that his little finger - however Arian had handed over the requisite money, locked his rucksack away in one of the provided lockers and with locker key attached to a wrist band on his right wrist, had made his way onto the ice.

Well okay more he had wobbled his way onto the ice and started to instantly regret his earlier impulse of buying a skating ticket, an impulse that was starting to look more and more like a temporary lapse of sanity.

Unfortunately having handed over the money, Arian didn't feel that he could up and leave as tempting as the idea seemed given that he really hadn't been there too long, instead he stayed by the rail running round the edge of the rink, with his left hand holding on to said rail with something of a death grip.

Arian had maintained his death grip on the rail at the edge of the rink for a few moments longer and then had come to the decision that spending what was left of the time he had time paid for stuck by the edge was probably as silly as his impulse to buy the ticket had been.

In fact he had been edging towards the decision of making his slow and halting way over to the exit of the rink, his grip on the rail no longer as clinging as he contemplated seeing if he had any money left over for a sweet treat and a cup of coffee, when he was suddenly bumped into from behind - hard.

The bump had been enough to cause Arian's hand to part company with the stabilising factor the rail and send him forward a little, hands flailing as for a moment he fought a mini battle in which to keep his balance, a battle he ultimately ended up losing as instead he ended up landing inelegantly on his rear.

He had been about to try and get up feeling cold and embarrassed when the cause of his tumble with a lot of apologies held a hand out in his direction. Although mostly caught up in his feeling of embarrassment at taking said tumble in the first place, Arian managed to get out a quiet thank you as he reached out to grip that hand, said embarrassment causing him to miss the startled expression that suddenly appeared on the other boy's face.

It seemed that getting up and off the ice wasn't in the cards however, Arian managing one minute to get up partially from the ice and his would be rescuer managing to slip the next causing them both to slip and subsequently topple over, causing him to be once again reintroduced to the ice.

Arian was contemplating that it was a sign that skating was most definitely not for him, when the first chuckle started causing him to look over in the other boy's direction. It was quite obvious that the other's humour was directed towards himself. He shook his head at the other's apology, his voice quiet as he said "There's nothing to forgive, you only took the tumble because you were trying to help me up" his lips quirked ever so slightly, his quiet voice turning slightly rueful as he added "And I guess we do make something of a pair."

He nodded at the other's query at whether he could give him a hand up "I can try," he said simply noting that they were both close by the railing. It took a bit of slipping, but Arian managed to pull himself up, making sure that his grip was tight on the rail, trying to brace himself as much as possible before he extended his free to the other boy - after all he'd already two tumbles to the ice in short order - Arian didn't particularly want to repeat the experience a third time.

Bracing himself seemed to do the trick and Arian was able help his would rescuer up from the ice, without either of them taking another tumble. Something that Arian was pretty thankful about - given that the previous tumbles had been two too many.

With them both up and off the ice, Arian had been expecting the other to let go off his hand, so he had been a little surprised when the other had kept hold of his, the other's gloved hand warmer than his own chilled gloveless one, although he put it down to the other being busy cheerfully catching his breath (at least that's what he seemed to be doing) and not having noticed that they were still holding hands.

At least that's what his assumption had been before the other tugged at said hand, leaving him not really knowing whether the other had noticed or not, a slight bemused look slipping onto his face as the other started speaking enthusiastically although Arian waited until he had finished before asking "Do you always make friends with people you've just met?" He was honestly curious given that he was sure that this the first time he'd seen the other, pretty sure that he'd remember the boy if only for the unusual gold-coloured eyes that the other had.

He followed up his question with a slightly rueful smile as he admitted "And I wouldn't mind a hand off the ice" after all the way off the ice did seem, to his hopeless at ice skating self awfully far off, before adding quickly "But I don't want to put you to any trouble." After all as long as he kept a proper death grip on the rail then Arian knew that he'd eventually make it over to the rink exit, knew also that he'd probably wasted enough of the other's time.

Arian wasn't sure if he'd personally count a chance meeting of a stranger at an ice rink as an extraordinary circumstance, even if they had both fallen over - twice .

The other was kind of right about them tumbling being a shared experiences, although bum meeting ice rink floor was an experience that Arian could personally have done without, not that it was one he was planning to experience again soon - even Saffy in a wheedling mood was going to find it hard to convince him to ever step foot in an ice rink again - at least not once he'd gotten off the ice.

For a moment Arian's cheeks reddened as he realised that the other's plan to get them off the ice involved essentially skating them across the distance between their current position and the exit, but after a couple of moments he gingerly let go of the rail and held out his other hand to the other figuring that he'd already been impulsive in buying the ticket here, so what was one more impulsive action. Although it didn't stop him from quietly admitting "I have to warn you that I'm really not great at skating" even as he was holding out his hand.

Skating over to the exit was certainly a faster way to do it and Arian was relieved that they managed to make it to the rink exit without any further mishap.

As soon as he was on normal (make that) non-ice ground, he made it over to the nearby bench and removed the boots while silently promising himself that he was never trying ice skating out again.

The other boy had chosen a nearby bench to take off his skates too and Arian looked over at the other as he said quietly, "I don't think I thanked you for helping me skate off that thing, but it would probably taken me twice as long on my own so thank you anyway."

He remembered the other mentioning something about coffee earlier, mayhaps it had been coffee and sweets but Arian knew that he could probably do with something warm to drink and having some sort of sweet treat to go along with it would be even better so when the other asked about coffee and sweets, he smiled slightly and nodded his quiet voice friendly "I wouldn't mind something hot to drink" he admitted, adding "I'll get you one too as thanks for helping me out. I just need to pick up my bag and shoes from the locker" he thought he had enough money left over in his wallet for it, even with the money he'd shelled out earlier for the rink ticket.

"That is if you'd like me to..." Arian's voice tailed off as he realised he had no idea of who the other was, before adding "Although if I'm going to buy you coffee then we should probably introduce ourselves." After all it was kind of awkward otherwise and referring to someone as hey you was pretty rude. Still in his socks, he stood and offered the other boy a hand "I'm Arian, Arian Laith."

"Well it would have been kind of pointless getting angry" Arian said quietly and left it at that. After all it had been clear that it had been an accident - the other had apologised about it - and it seemed pointless getting angry over an accident, well at least to him it did.

He hadn't yet retrieved his shoes and was therefore still in his socks when he finally got a name to put to the other's face. "Nice to meet you Nischal," he said quietly, as the other shook his hand, his grip firm but not squeezing and noting that the other's grip was not squeezing either.

In answer to the other's new comment he offered "I kind of know that feeling" and then admitted "I'm not native to this city or even to the country really, although I've been here long enough to get used to it."

He followed after the other, pausing to collect his rucksack and put his shoes back on before meeting the other over at the check in counter so that he could return both skates and and locker key, although he quirked a slightly rueful smile at Nischal's comment "Actually I was suggesting that I treat" he admitted. "After all you helped me off the ice, but mayhaps we can split - I can buy the coffee and you the sweet treat? Or vice-versa." Dutch but not quite dutch. "And I think I know of a place we can go."

Nischal was right, his English was unaccented unlike Arian's own which was something of a cross between the West Country where he had grown up and the Public schools that he had attended prior to his move to Destiny City two years back and then realised with a sudden start that it was now about two and a half years back, it having been summer when he had first made the move from England to the States.

There were two people at the skates return counter and so Arian was able to finish up checking in both skates and locker key at around the same time Nischal finished up, stepping to the side and out of line so that the next in the queue behind him could shift up and take his place.

At the other's enthusiastic words, Arian had been unable to help the startled expression had flitted briefly across his face, part of him wondering if it was one of those joke-things that tended to go over his head - after all he had never had someone tell him that they felt comfortable around him - well at least not that he could recall and certainly not on a first meeting.

But Nischal had sounded pretty matter of fact about it as he started heading towards the skating rink's exit and Arian realised he'd better make a move on following after the other, given that the other wouldn't know about the place that he'd had in mind for them to pick up the aforementioned coffee and treats - given that twin facts of him not having mentioned the place and Nischal's own admission of being new to town.

He caught up to the other by the doors, nodding at Niscal's suggestion that he lead "It makes sense" he agreed as he absently held the door open for an approaching woman and her kids, before continuing to hold it open for Nischal. With them both out, he turned right and started walking keeping his pace an easy one as he added "It's not too far from here".

It wasn't - ten minutes walking and two crossed streets later and he was pushing open the door to a small shop called the Dough Knot, a bell tinkling cheerily inside as smells of sugar and cinnamon crept out invitingly from the open door, Arian's friendly smile of welcome to the middle-aged lady who came out from the back suggesting that the dark-haired teen had maybe come to the place more than once.