mander3_swish (mander3_swish) wrote in qaf_giftxchnge, @ 2012-12-31 15:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2012 gift exchange |
Gift # 30 of 36
TO: wren_kt7oz
FROM: galeandrandy
TITLE: Waltzing in a Winter Wonderland
GIFT REQUEST: Christmas Brian and Justin fiction.
NOTE: This takes place post-513, present time. Brian, Justin, Gus centered fic.
Wren, I hope this constitutes what you are looking for. I had a lot of different ideas for stories but this is the one that ended up being completed. I really hope you like it.
Waltzing in A Winter Wonderland
Brian loathed most cold weather geared activities. He’d rather be hot, sweaty and sticky than wet, blue and frozen. But as a child, that was a different story. He far preferred playing soccer when it was cold outside. He loved building ice forts, snowmen and assassinating unsuspecting neighbors with snowballs. He’d stay outside for hours, even in a blizzard he’d go sledding down a sixty foot hill at the neighborhood park, only returning home when his entire body was completely numb from the cold.
When he was seven he began running with a crowd of neighborhood kids who were all at least three years older than him. They weren’t aware of his age because Brian was taller than most of them and he went to private Catholic school while the others went to public schools. One day, the self-appointed leader of the group dared everyone to climb a tall, frozen, snow-laden tree. With the exception of Brian, all the other kids refused the dare, receiving wedgies in return for their cowardice. The danger of the limbs breaking under his weight due to the frost and possibly sending him plummeting to the ground was made worse by the fact that the branches he’d have to use to climb up most of it were hanging over a deep frozen pond. He’d blamed the cold for his hands shaking, which may have been a part of it, but really it was the adrenaline rush he was getting as the boys cheered him on with every scramble up the tree. After he reached the top of the tree, he climbed back down and was surrounded by his friends who where hooting and praising him. That victorious moment sparked the competitive nature within him and his love for taking risks was born.
Brian had always thought that ice skating over a pond which could very well collapse out from under you was a pretty bad ass thing to do. So, he saved the money he made from shoveling driveways and bought a pair of ice skates from a hand me down store. As awkward as his tall lanky body often made him feel, he felt the total opposite when he skated. His skills were honed by critically watching the other kids and soon he glided across the ice so gracefully his friends were in awe of his abilities.
Brian hadn’t worn a pair of ice skates since he was thirteen and his father threw them away after catching Brian skating. He called Brian a fairy and told him that if he wanted to skate, he’d have to play hockey. The game had never appealed to Brian, not even when his friends had begged him to join him when they played it at the pond. The sport was even less appealing when he watched a game on TV and found out that half of the game was spent with the players throwing punches and subsequently sitting in a penalty box watching as their teammates made plays they couldn’t be a part of. Brian dealt with enough fighting at home and he wasn’t interested in doing it for sport only to be locked in a cage like an animal while he waited to play like an unruly child who was put in time out. No, hockey wasn’t for him, so he didn’t ever buy hockey skates and didn’t ever go on the ice again.