When Jonah showed up to the rink at 9:45, Doris was already waiting behind the door just like Nicky had promised she would be, reading a book.

He gave the glass a little tap with his knuckles and waved to Doris, who immediately put her book down and jumped to open the door for him. "Jonah Moshe! How's my favorite little hockey boy?" She asked, pinching his frozen cheeks with her little old lady fingers.

"I'm alright," he replied, stepping inside. He couldn't even pretend like he was embarrassed by Doris' adoration of him— she'd been somewhat of a grandmother to him since he started playing hockey when he was little. "My friend said he was meeting me here."

She smiled and placed a hand over her heart. "Nicolas, right? The one with the freckles? Oh he's just the sweetest."

Jonah nodded, although he wouldn't necessarily call Nicky sweet. "Yeah, him. Do you know where he is?"

"Red rink," she told him, pointing to the ice rink behind him with big red doors.

He thanked her and gave her a little wave goodbye before going to open to red door, but before he could, Doris spoke up, saying, "he really likes you, y'know."

Jonah spun around to see her smirking with her eyebrow raised at him. "You think?" He asked.

"No doubt about it, kiddo. He was so nervous when he walked in, talking about how he needed everything to be perfect for you. Of course I said 'oh honey, it doesn't take much to win my Jonah over,' but the poor boy's ears were bright red anyway."

Jonah imagined his grin was scarily wide, but he couldn't help himself. As much as he had wanted to give Nicky the benefit of the doubt, he had been nervous this was all just an elaborate prank, or another ploy to get him to admit his feelings so they could be used against him. Now, though, he felt better. He pushed the door open with confidence, taking a deep breath of the cool air that rushed past his face.

The first thing his eyes landed on was Nicky sitting on a picnic blanket laid out in the middle of the ice. He was struggling to lace up the rental skates on his feel, muttering curse words to himself loud enough that Jonah could catch a few. Nicky only noticed his presence when he let out a chuckle.

"You're early," he pointed out.

Jonah shrugged. "I didn't want to wait any longer. How'd you get out to the middle of the ice without lacing your skates?"

Nicky looked down at his feet and sighed. "I... I scooted."

"You scooted?"

He nodded dejectedly. "I scooted."

Jonah immediately doubled over in laughter, feeling most of his nervous jitters melt away.

"Asshole!" Nicky called out to him, but he was fighting a smile himself. "I have rental skates for you, if you wanna scoot out here and help me with mine."

Jonah grinned and held up his skates that had been tied together and slung over his shoulders. "Brought my own. I figured if you asked me to meet you at a rink, there'd probably be ice involved, and I'm useless without these."

After putting on his skates and gliding out to the middle of the rink where Nicky sat helplessly with a grin that was badly repressed into an unconvincing scowl, he kneeled down on the ice in front of him, ignoring the cold that seeped through the knees of his jeans. He looked down at the knot Nicky had somehow created with the laces and got to work, carefully undoing it so it wouldn't get any tighter.

It only took Jonah a minute or two before he started to wrap the laces around the little metal hooks on the sides of Nicky's skates, but he stopped suddenly when he felt Nicky's fingers carefully run through his hair, pushing it out of his face and behind his ears.

Jonah peered up at Nicky— now that he could see better without his overgrown curls blocking his vision— and smiled slightly. "Hi," he said.

"Hey," Nicky replied softly, quieter than Jonah's ever heard his raspy voice go. That's when Jonah remembered he was supposed to be angry. Honestly, he still was. His heart still ached and his stomach was still all twisted up, but he was starting to realize that Nicky had made a mistake, and that's all. It wasn't some sick joke that Jonah had been the victim of a few times before, it was just a mistake.

He took his time finishing up Nicky's skates, mostly because he thought if they were too loose and Nicky fell down and broke his leg, it'd really ruin the night, but also because Nicky kept his hand tangled up in Jonah's hair and he didn't want to give him a reason to pull away.

"Thank you," Nicky said, breaking the silence, "for coming, I mean. I knew you would because you're Jonah and you're way too nice to stand someone up, but even if you did, I would've kept trying."

"You would've? Even if I didn't show up?"

Nicky breathed out a nervous laugh. "I don't give up easily, Jo."

"I know that, but... why would you go through all that trouble?"

He looked confused, pulling his eyebrows together. "Because you're worth it," he said like it was obvious.

It wasn't to Jonah. He didn't think he was worth it. Hell, he didn't think he was worth anything. He didn't think he was worth the hockey fame, or Doris' love, or Priya's friendship, or Drew's attention. He didn't get why everyone paid attention to him, whether it be for good or bad reason, and he mostly definitely couldn't see why he was worth it to Nicky.

As if he read his mind, Nicky told him again, "you're worth it," this time no longer looking confused.

He felt his face heat up with little tiny tingles, so he ducked his head and tried to focus on Nicky's skates. Once he finished, he helped pull Nicky to his feet and wrapped his arms around his waist, just as he had done the last time they went skating at the pond by Happy's.

"I could probably do it by myself," Nicky told him stubbornly, but he didn't make any move to pull away. In fact, he wrapped his arms around Jonah's neck and pulled himself a bit closer. "Hey, it's like we're dancing, remember?"

Jonah tried to look disinterested, he really did, but Nicky was grinning from ear to ear and his eyes were bright and smiley and Jonah never got to see him like this. So, he smiled too, and bit back the laugh that was threatening to bubble past his lips.

"When did you get all cheesy?" He questioned jokingly.

Nicky shrugged. "I don't know. Since I met you, I guess. You make me feel like I can be cheesy sometimes, like I don't always have to be on the defensive."

He decided he couldn't possibly stay mad after that.

"I like it when you're like this," Jonah admitted. "You smile more. I like your smile."

"Really?" Nicky asked. Jonah didn't miss how his smile got wider, more confident. "You do?"

"I like everything about you, Nicky," he blurted out.

Then, Nicky's eyes lowered until they were on Jonah's lips, and Jonah's heart shot up into his throat.

"Hey, Nicky?" He managed to ask.

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna kiss me?"

Nicky's eyes didn't move as he nodded. "Kinda."

Jonah slowly let hit vision drop down until Nicky's lips were the only thing he could focus on. "Then do it," he whispered.

And then, Nicky's lips were on his, and Jonah felt so electric he could've lit up an entire building.

It didn't last more than two or three seconds, but those few seconds felt like forever to Jonah, and he wasn't complaining. He never thought he'd have his first kiss with a boy, but now that all of his senses were overloaded with Nicky, he couldn't imagine it any other way.

They pulled apart for a few seconds, both boys left staring at each other with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. Jonah could feel Nicky's breath fanning his face, and he saw the tiny golden flecks swimming in his chocolate brown eyes, and all he could think about was how much he wanted more. So, he leaned in again, this time capturing Nicky's lips in his own and deepening the kiss beyond just a first peck. Nicky responded almost immediately, taking his hands from the back of Jonah's neck and running them through his hair, while Jonah grabbed tighter onto his waist and pulled him so their bodies collided.

Jonah felt like he was on fire, and he loved it.

He had no idea how long it lasted, but eventually they broke away from each other, letting their lips linger together for a few extra seconds before finally moving away.

Then, they looked deep into each other's wide eyes, and burst out into laughter.

Nicky leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together as they giggled like little kids, neither one really knowing why, but both of them too ecstatic about their kiss to care.

It took them a few minutes to calm down and catch their breathes, but when they did, Nicky was the first one to speak up, telling Jonah, "y'know, I thought I'd have to get a lot cheesier for you to kiss me. I had something planned."

"What was it?" Jonah asked, grinning ear to ear at the idea of Nicky devising a well thought out plan to get Jonah to kiss him, something that didn't seem so far fetched. Nicky was never one for spontaneity, Jonah had noticed.

Nicky sighed playfully and removed one hand from where it rested tangled up in the hair at the nape of Jonah's neck so he could dig around in the pocket of his sweatshirt. After a few seconds, he pulled out a remote. "Don't laugh."

"I won't."

"You swear?"

"I swear," Jonah lied.

The other boy squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the big green play button on the remote and seconds later, Forever Young by Bob Dylan echoed out across the entire rink. Almost immediately, Jonah fell back into another fit of giggles.

Nicky covered his face with his free hand, but even he was laughing again. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I know," Jonah said once he'd caught his breath. "I just wasn't expecting it. I like it, though."

And he wasn't lying. He loved it. He loved everything about the night they were having, so much so he was afraid it was just another one of his daydreams, and he'd snap out of it soon enough to find himself half-listening to one of Priya's stories.

But the tingles on his lips were most definitely real, and the boy in front of him— as perfect as he was in Jonah's eyes— was not a figment of his overactive imagination. This was real.

And, for once, so was his smile.

———————

I LOVE FIRST KISSES.

Actually that's a lie. My first kiss was ASS. Like straight booty. But I like the idea of a successful first kiss. What do you guys think of Nicky and Jonah's first kiss? Are you still mad at me from Suffocation, or have I been forgiven :))))))

I'm not even gonna lie to you guys, the reason this chapter came out so late is because I spent literal weeks trying to write the few paragraphs where they kiss, and I physically could not do it. Every time I went to type a word, my brain would malfunction and then I'd black out, wake up, and find myself knee deep in a tik tok binge. It was rough. But we made it!

OH ALSO ONLY ONE CHAPTER LEFT!

Thank you for reading!!

~Teddy