Ex-Knight

"You don't even skate!" Ezekiel sighed, recalling what she said to him earlier.

Ice Palace. Ezekiel has visited it a couple times already, but he still can't eliminate the feeling of nostalgia he gets everytime he comes here. This place was practically his everything during his childhood. A place he'd spend hours and hours at, just skating or practicing ice hockey.

Ice hockey... He glanced down at his feet, he hasn't played that for years. It always brought back memories he's been trying to keep buried away in his mind. Memories of home, his teammates, his best friend, his father...

Hikaru noticed the sudden change in his friend's mood and clasped his hands. Ezekiel looked up at him for a moment, Hikaru smiled and ushered his friend to follow him.

******

Hikaru produced his camera from his satchel. Ezekiel stood still on the ice and held the side of his arm, unsure of what to do. Hikaru frowned, "Are you just gonna stand there?"

The boy gulped, his eyes lowered to his feet. He hadn't skated at all, despite coming here a few times the past couple of weeks. All he ever did was just sit around, film the other skaters and talk to the manager, Frank; an old friend of his who was more than happy that Ezekiel had returned home after five long years...

"Any plans on getting back in the game? The Chapter Park Valkyries could make some good use out of you."

"Valkyries? What happened to the Knights?"

"Things have changed a lot since you left, boy."

"Doesn't feel like it.... Yet it does at the same time. And Valkyries sound a bit girly..."

The man laughed, "Sydney Rileys, she's the new cap'n. I'm sure she'll like you."

"Are the uniforms pink now?"

And he let out a good belly old belly laugh, "Boy you should come back!"

"I don't know... I don't think I have it in me."

Ezekiel was pulled back into reality when suddenly there was a flash and a snap, blinding him for a second. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, he frowned at Hikaru who was waving a photograph at him. Ezekiel skated over to him and grabbed the picture.

"You look like you've seen a ghost..." Hikaru laughed, "Is something wrong?"

Ezekiel shook his head and handed him the photo. He backed up then moved to the middle of the rink. There were no people around today since it was Sunday, the rink was closed but luckily, Frank allowed the two to come in anyway.

He glanced at the clock, 9:45 PM. It was getting pretty late, he then averted his gaze to Hikaru who lifted the camera to his face. "Go on." he mouthed.

Ezekiel pulled out his earphones, plugged it into his phone, and selected the playlist entitled, "Hjönk Hjönk". The song began to play in his ears, "I want your love, love, love, love..."

He took in a deep breath and began one of his first ever skating routines. As he did so, Hikaru watched by, taking a video on his phone which he left to sit whilst snapping a couple pictures on his camera.

Ezekiel was a bit rusty so it wasn't all that grand, but he still remembered the steps, each and every part of the routine he used to spend hours to perfect when he was little; the very first one he's seen his idol do.

This short skating session with his childhood best friend made Ezekiel realize how much he actually missed ice skating. Just hours and hours of skating while Hikaru would snap pictures or film him to edit it later on. It made Ezekiel giddy everytime he watched what Hikaru would come up with, sometimes he'd make it similar to memes just for a laugh or he'd make Ezekiel look insanely badass. Hikaru never ceased to amaze his best friend

Eventually the friends had to leave since it was almost midnight, plus Ezekiel still had classes tomorrow. They bid Frank goodbye and walked out of the ice rink. Since there weren't any buses at this hour, they had no choice but to walk home.

Ezekiel decided to just go with Hikaru and spend the night at his place. His mom had already arrived, she looked quite haggard, with more lines and dark spots under her eyes; she was too exhausted even bother entertaining their guest. She greeted Ezekiel but that's just about it.

"Sorry bout that." Hikaru said, pouring some lemonade. Ezekiel sat there opposite to him on the counter, tapping vigorously on his phone. Hikaru grinned and leaned over to see whatever his friend was doing; there he saw on the screen, he was texting a cute girl with short, bright bubblegum pink hair and little bangs, she possessed a light olive complexion and pretty Amber eyes. The redhead grinned and leaned closer to Ezekiel's face, "Your girlfriend?"

Ezekiel almost choked on nothing but air, he coughed and laughed at the same time, "I'm texting Frances, my sister."

Hikaru backed up and held his hands out, "Hold up! Sister? You're an only child!"

"Was." Ezekiel smiled, "My mom remarried while we were away, she's my stepdad's daughter."

"Oh..." Hikaru scratched the back of his head, "She's cute."

"I forgot you're into pink-haired ladies." Ezekiel joked, glancing at his friend as he took a sip of his lemonade.

"Not all girls... Some of them look like trolls from that kids' movie." he pointed out, putting the pitcher of lemonade on the counter.

"Harsh." Ezekiel replied. "You're not gonna try and make a move on her, will you?"

Hikaru gave him his trademark devilish smirk, which either meant he's having thoughts that Ezekiel doesn't even want to know about or is just playing around and there's nothing seriously going on in there... Hopefully the latter.

Ezekiel's old room was now Hikaru's. And he liked what he did with the place to be honest; it wasn't as messy as it was since Hikaru is actually much more organised than Ezekiel and can't stand clutter. There was a large bulletin board above his desk, filled with numerous pictures of the cityscape, people; most likely his classmates or friends and a couple cat pictures.

Ezekiel's eyes grew wide, "Mixel! Where is she?"

Hikaru lifted his shirt and slipped on a sweater, "Oh... She died."

"When?" Ezekiel asked, taking a seat on the bed.

"Couple weeks ago." Hikaru explained, adjusting his sweater then joining Ezekiel on the bed. He plopped right next to him. "So, Zek... Are you gay?" Hikaru asked, changing the subject and leaning closer that their noses touched. The blond pushed him a bit further away, "Ever heard of personal space?"

Hikaru laughed as his friend let out a sigh of exasperation and shook his head, "Even if I was... I wouldn't date you!"

"Harsh man!" Hikaru let himself fall backwards on the bed.

"I'm sleeping on the couch." Ezekiel said.

"I'm not gonna do anything weird!" Hikaru pouted. "You can sleep here!"

"I wanted to sleep there because this is your room, not because I thought you'd do anything!" Ezekiel raised a brow, "Now that you mentioned it maybe I really should sleep on the couch."

Hikaru laughed like there was no tomorrow, irritating Ezekiel slightly but it was nice to just spend time with him like this again, so he didn't bother complaining or pointing out that his friend's laugh sounded dorky.

Ezekiel sighed and lay next to him, he turned his back against Hikaru. "I'm tired, goodnight Hiki."

"Again with the nickname!"