Chapter Text
The next day, they have a full audience: Jesper, Wylan, Jordie, Nina and even Matthias are on the sidelines watching Inej and Kaz while they do some exercises. When they take a break to drink water, Nina tells them:
“You two look good. Have you thought of skating together outside of physical therapy? Some ice dancing, perhaps?” Kaz only glares at her and Inej shakes her head in Nina’s direction. “Don’t look at me like that, Kazzle Dazzle, I was just saying.”
“Don’t call me that.” He says, but his voice is drowned by Jordie’s laugh.
“Kazzle Dazzle! I love it!” Nina winks at him and Jordie winks back.
“Disgusting.” Kaz tells them, while Matthias just looks confused.
When they’re back on the ice, far away from the others that they can talk without any of their friends eavesdropping, Inej tells him: “I didn’t ask her to say that.”
“I never said you did.” They skate in a silence that has become comforting for both of them, with just a few whispered instructions when they switch exercises. After a while, Kaz asks her: “You miss competing, don’t you?”
“I do.”
Kaz seems to mull her answer over. “When did you say that show for the brats was?”
“In a few weeks, why?”
Kaz takes a big breath. “My darling Inej, treasure of my heart, won’t you do me the honor of ice skating with me?”
Inej stops in the middle of the ice and is almost knocked over by an enthusiastic child. “What?”
“I said, do you want to–”
“No, I heard, just… What made you change your mind?”
Kaz looks at his brother, who is talking animatedly with Matthias about saints know what and says: “Well, I’ve been informed that I need to get out of my comfort zone more often and stop moping about so much.” Inej laughs quietly. “I hate the idea of skating in front of a crowd again, but it’s something you want to do, and I want to do that for you.” Kaz looks her in the eye. “So what I’m trying to say is that if it’s with you, I think it might be okay.”
Inej smiles so big and so beautifully that Kaz’s heart squeezes a bit. “You mean it?”
“I’m sure I’m going to hate every second of it and will never want to repeat the experience, but yes, I’ll skate with you.”
“Kaz! Thank you!” Inej hugs him tight and he is startled for a moment, not knowing what to do, but after a bit he puts his hands on her back and holds her in return.
“Just know… I can’t do jumps, or anything complicated.”
“I know, I know, don’t worry. It’s just for fun, it’ll be alright.”
For the rest of the hour of physical therapy, Inej’s smile doesn’t vanish, and Kaz thinks to himself that exposing himself to what he is sure will be a tortuous experience will be worth it just to see that smile on her face.
~
When the hour is up, Inej and Kaz skate to the edge of the rink where their friends are waiting for them and Kaz approaches Wylan. “Wylan?”
“Hi, Kaz!” He says excitedly.
“You still have that piece you mentioned the other day?”
Wylan looks like a deer in headlights for a moment before responding: “Yes!”
“What’s going on?” Jordie asks with a knowing smile on his face.
“I’m helping Inej with something.” Jordie merely raises an eyebrow at his brother and then turns to look at Inej.
“Saints bless you, Inej. How did you manage to make him do something fun?”
She just laughs. “We’re putting up a little show for the parents in a few weeks, and I asked Kaz to skate with me. Just for fun, something simple. You should all come watch, and I think we both will really need your help with this.” Nina’s eyes seem to be about to pop out of her face looking back and forth between the two of them.
“I think that’s a great idea.” Jordie smiles at the both of them.
“I love it! We’ll have to make sure you don’t strain your leg too much, though.” Jesper says, in his physical therapist voice.
“I’ll help with the choreography!” Wylan peeps up.
Kaz rolls his eyes and Inej just laughs at their friends. “We can stay another hour each day after your therapy session to practice, Kaz.” She tells him.
“Won’t you get in trouble?”
“No, they won’t even notice us with all the other people here. They didn’t call me ‘The Wraith’ for nothing. I can be stealthy.” She says conspiratorially and winks at him, and he is sure he’s about to faint, even though he hadn’t seen any blood recently.
~
The next day, they have a full audience once again. Wylan blabbers excitedly about the music he composed and the ideas he has for the choreography, with Jesper piping every now and then reminding Wylan that no, he can’t do a quad, no Wylan, no jumps, not even a little jump, drop it. Nina and Matthias give them advice on skating in pairs, with Nina dragging Matthias on the ice several times (even when no one asked them to) to show the passion and chemistry a skating pair needed to display on the ice. Matthias kept getting progressively more flustered with every one of these ‘demonstrations’.
After setting on a general idea for the choreography, Kaz and Inej decide to let the dancing flow and get on the ice to practice. They settle for an easy beginning pose, with Inej’s back to Kaz’s chest, their hands clasped on her waist. When the music begins playing on Wylan’s speakers, Inej unfurls herself from Kaz’s grasp and after a twirl, tries to roll up to the same position as the beginning, but Inej, not used to having another person’s strength in consideration while doing her choreographies, puts a bit too much energy on her turn and ends up slamming against Kaz’s chest. She hears him huff and immediately turns around, apologizing profusely.
“Kaz! I’m so sorry.”
“I’m okay, don’t worry.”
“Did I hurt you?”
“Only my pride, a little bit. Let’s try that again.”
They continue dancing, the choreography flowing seamlessly between them. There are many more mistakes, but after that first mortifying crash, they don’t let their slips bother them anymore. Each missed step, each crash into each other only gets a laugh from them and a teasing jab in each other’s ribs. They have almost forgotten that they’re not alone on the rink until they hear Jordie’s voice from the sidelines.
“So sorry to interrupt this lovely moment, but Nina has some more ideas.” Kaz flushes at his brother’s comment, but hopefully his exertion can justify his red cheeks, though he notices that Inej’s darker cheeks look pinker than a few moments ago.
They skate to where their friends are watching them and Nina tells them.
“You look good out there, no one would guess that you two hadn’t skated together like this before.” Inej visibly blushes now, which Kaz finds charming. “But your choreography is still a bit boring.”
“Thanks, Nina.” Kaz tells her sarcastically.
“I’m not saying it’s bad, this would look good for any of the other students, but you’re professional skaters, you need more pizzazz!” Nina tells them. “Look, Matthias and I can–”
“No!” Everyone yells.
“Please, dear. I think they get the idea, no need to demonstrate any more passion in public.” Matthias pleads with her.
“Fine!” Nina relents. “What about some lifts?”
“Nina”, Inej sighs, “Kaz can’t lift me.”
“Why not?” Kaz sounds offended. “I hurt my leg, not my arms.”
Inej looks up at Jesper for help, who looks deep in thought. “I don’t see why not, as long as you’re both careful and you, Kaz, don’t put too much strain on your bad leg.”
“Yes, Kazzle Dazzle, swipe her off her feet!” Jordie yells from his place by the speaker.
“Stop calling me that! You’re so annoying.”
“I love you too.”
“What do you say?” Kaz now turns to look at Inej, who still seems hesitant.
“If you’re sure… we can try a simple lift, and if you feel any pain whatsoever let me know.”
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. C’mon.” He grabs Inej by the hand –which gives her a near heart attack– and leads her back to the center of the ice to get in position.
They dance part of the choreography leading to a crescendo in the music where they thought a lift could look good and then Kaz has his hands on Inej’s waist, lifting her up a bit. Inej instinctively squeezes her body tight to make the lift easier and raises her hands in the air while arching her back slightly. The movement must have caught Kaz off-guard because Inej faintly feels him quiver and immediately asks to be put down.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Kaz looks flushed. “You looked… that looked good. Just caught me by surprise a little bit, the movement. But you didn’t hurt me.” He gives her a rare smile.
“Yes girl! You look so hot!” Nina bellows from the sidelines and they turn around to watch Matthias give them an awkward thumbs up and Jordie looking proudly at them.
“How did your leg feel, Kaz?” Jesper asks.
“Fine, it didn’t hurt. I think if I lean on my other leg I can lift her higher without problem.”
“Yes, okay, just remember to listen to your body and not to force your knee too much.”
They try the lift again, this time more confidently. And Kaz, suddenly feeling bold, decides to dip Inej after lowering her to the ice, with one of his hands cradling her head and the other one supporting her back. Inej looks up at him with wide eyes and slightly parted lips. The moment ends too quickly when Kaz straightens her, but her heart is still beating wildly, and she isn’t sure it’s all from the exercise.
They continue skating and, for some reason, they silently agree that they don’t need to let go of each other’s hands for the choreography, only for the few jumps they decide to include, but those encompass Kaz’s warm hands on her waist and her back, so no one is complaining.
After practice, all of their friends talk over each other complimenting their progress, Nina seems to be wiping tears from her cheeks while hugging Inej tightly and Jordie slaps Kaz’s back hard enough to make him stumble.
“Look at you, little brother! A professional ice dancer. Who knew you had those moves!”
“The music's alright? What did you think? I composed it just for Kaz, but it seems to work for the both of you, right? Maybe I should add some other notes, yes, I think–” Wylan turns towards the door, dragging Jesper with him, muttering about keys and tempos, Jesper waving them goodbye over his shoulder, happy to be hauled away by his boyfriend.
“You two did great, we might even have some competition if you two decide to do this professionally.” Nina tells them, waggling her eyebrows, while Matthias just smiles at them from behind her.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Zenik.”
“We’ll see, Brekker.” The pair say their goodbyes, and then it’s just Jordie, Inej and Kaz.
“Want to come have dinner with us, Inej?” Kaz asks this time.
“Sorry, not today. My parents are arriving later and I want to spend some time with them.”
“Of course.”
“But maybe… Maybe after our presentation all of you could come to my place to celebrate? I did promise a dinner and embarrassing pictures of me.” She smiles at Kaz.
“That sounds good.” He smiles back. “Take care, Inej.”