Spiderman Oneshots

Ice Skating

Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates, and I hope everyone is having a great day! Enjoy this holiday special :D

The field trip was going remarkably well. That thought probably immediately jinxed his so-far good luck, but he doubted it made an actual difference. After all, he was Peter Parker, and this was a school trip. Something was bound to go wrong.

But the past thirty minutes had passed in relative peace. It was after school hours, in the time they'd usually have a decathlon meeting, but because the competition had been last week and it was the last day before the holidays, Mr Harrington had arranged a trip for them instead. The team had piled into the school bus and chattered excitedly on the way to the ice rink, comparing notes on who had and hadn't been before. Peter admitted to Ned that he'd never actually ice skated before, and was convinced he'd instantly fall on his face. Ned had tried to reassure him that it wasn't that hard. Flash, who was listening in from his position on the back row, snorted but didn't give any further comment. A Christmas miracle, indeed.

At the rink they all piled out, hired their skates, and stood still for one last head count before Mr Harrington unleashed them onto the ice rink, making them promise to meet him back by the entrance in an hour and a half. Most of the team burst straight onto the ice, whooping and skating around the mostly-empty space with varying degrees of skill. Peter only realised his skates were the wrong size after he did them up and tried to walk (it was easier than he'd imagined it would be, standing on blades). Ned waited for him as he returned to the hire desk and got the right size.

"I can't believe you've never come here before - have I never brought you here? I swear all my birthday parties were here as a kid," Ned asked as Peter laced up his new skates.

"Nope. Is it hard?" Peter asked.

"Not that bad. Have you ever been roller blading? It's very similar, only colder. No?" Ned looked shocked at Peter's head shake. "How have you never- oh, you're done, let's go." Peter had finished his laces and they stood together to head to the rink. Peter only wobbled a little on the walk over the the door. He almost tripped over the threshold - it was higher than he'd expected - and then he was on the ice.

Ned let out a chuckle, and Peter realised he'd instinctually crouched on the slippery surface, arms outstretched for balance. Blushing slightly, he straightened and instantly clutched at the bar that ran around the edge of the rink as his feet threatened to slide from under him. It was through sheer force of will that he didn't leave hand-shaped dents in the metal pole.

"Angle your feet slightly," Ned told him, and continued to give advice until Peter felt able to take a few shuffling steps, his hands never leaving the bar. "Nice," his friend smiled and pushed away from the wall, gliding effortlessly across the frozen water. Peter gaped a little - Ned had never told him he was so good at ice skating - then watched his friend's movements carefully.

Ned positioned one foot forward, blade pointing in his direction of travel, angled the other foot behind him, and used its resistance to propel himself forward. He moved in a sort of zig-zag, like the other skaters in the rink. That made sense, from a physics perspective (What? Peter's a nerd, or did you forget? He is here with the AcaDec team, after all). Gritting his teeth and forcing his hands to release their death grip on the metal bar, Peter attempted to copy Ned's movements.

Instantly he lurched forwards, tilting dangerously at the misjudged force behind the push. He managed not to pinwheel his arms (that would only make it harder to find his centre), and thanks to his speedy reflexes regained his balance rapidly. Ned gave him a thumbs up and skated closer to match pace with him on a slow lap of the rink as Peter adjusted to the sensation and got the hang of the repetitive movements. The technique wasn't too hard, he supposed, but he could feel leg muscles he didn't know existed working and knew they would ache later.