Warning: May cause accidental pie loss

[Quill]

Quill had never felt this way about a girl before. I'm talking about Bell of course. She is his girlfriend after all. When he was with her, he actually felt things other than "blah" and "whatever." Not that she knew that, because he probably didn't act any different. But to make up for his inability to tell her how he felt, he took her out to do special, fun things.

Like today he was taking her ice skating. But not boring, normal ice skating in the rink where everyone else went. No, he was taking her to the pond in the ruins, where they would have their own private ice skating rink, away from the crowds. Quill didn't like crowds. He was even worse at public displays of affection than private ones.

"Okay, we're here," he told her. She was closing her eyes so it would be a surprise. Even though he told her to bring her ice skates, so she obviously knew they were ice skating. She just didn't know wheeeere.

[Isabella]

Bell had been excited when Quill told her he had a surprise for her. He was so apathetic about everything, it was nice to know that he cared enough to put in effort to make her happy.

She stood, after he had stopped her, and waited in anticipation for when he told her she could drop her hands.

"Can I look now?" she asked happily when he told her that they were there.

[Quill]

"Yeah--" Quill said, before stopping himself. Before Bell had a chance to look, he quickly added, "Wait, wait, not yet." It would look pretty lame if she just opened her eyes and saw the pond, as if that were the special part. "One more sec."

He walked over to the edge of the water and put his hands near the surface. The water near his hands started to freeze, and slowly the ice spread out until about about an 8 by 8 foot area of the pond was ice. He couldn't freeze the entire pond because he wasn't, like, godly powerful with his eilemaiden, but he could freeze whatever water was underneath their feet as they skated, which was enough.

"Okay, come closer," he said, put his arm around her shoulder and leading her closer. Instead of having her look first, he just lead her right onto the ice.

"Okay, come closer," he said, leading her to the ice's edge.

[Isabella]

Bell slowly followed where Quill led her. It was a few steps down hill. She was just about to ask if she could open her eyes again when her feet slipped out from under her.

"Ah!" she gasped, as she fell backwards. As she fell her eyes flew open out of instinct.

[Quill]

Quill wasn't just about to let Bell fall, so he reacted quickly and caught her around the waist. He had leaned down to be able to catch her, so their faces were about an inch apart. Quill had a small smile on his face as he straightened back up, pulling Bell with him, so that he was holding her close.

"Surprise," he said, sounding slightly amused.

[Isabella]

Bell was confused as to what her surprise was, because she couldn't tear her eyes away from Quill's deep blue ones.

She smiled slightly, before looking around. A small portion of the pond by the ruins had been frozen, probably by Quill, and they were now standing on it. Ah, he had wanted to take her ice skating, so he had taken her here instead of the Tilis Rink in Cuir.

"Wow," she said, hoping Quill wouldn't let go of her, and holding on to him just in case he did. Maybe he could hold himself straight, but she was a little clumsy, and chances were she'd slip again if he let go.

"Did you do this?" she asked with a smile, looking back at him.

[Quill]

"Obviously," Quill replied. How else could a small portion of the lake be frozen while the rest of it was still nearly warm enough to swim in? He knew he should've had her put her skates on first, but it was funnier this way. Plus this way he got to catch he and hold her, and have it be more natural. "Do you like it?"

I guess he's as good at reading emotion as he is at showing it. Of course she liked it, she was smiling.

[Isabella]

"Yeah," she said. She leaned up and kissed him before hitting him playfully on the arm. "You coulda warned me first," she said with a half smile.

[Quill]

"Well," Quill replied, looking down, "it was more fun this way." He led her back onto the land, his arm still around her. He figured she would put her skates on now so that she could stay on the ice without falling.

[Isabella]

Bell sat on a log and pulled on her ice skates. She wasn't wonderfully coordinated so she held on to Quill's shoulder as they walked back to the partly frozen pond.

"I'm not so sure if I'll be good at this," she admitted. "I haven't done it since I was little..."

[Quill]

"That's okay, it's more fun that way," Quill assured her with a cute smile. It would be fun if she was all wobbly and uncoordinated, because it meant he could hold onto her. "Here..."

He turned around so he was facing her and took a few steps backwards onto the ice, then took both her hands in both of his.

[Isabella]

"Ooh," she said in a whimper-y sort of voice as she let Quill lead her. "Don't let me fall, Quill," she said. She held on tightly because this was even if she did slip, she wouldn't fall on the ice.

What she was really afraid of was that she'd fall to the ground, and then through the ice.

[Quill]

"Don't worry," Quill assured her in a gently, soothing voice. Bell seemed genuinely afraid. "I promise I won't let you fall." He slowly pulled Bell further out onto the ice. Whenever he got near the unfrozen part of the lake, he just froze more of it, while the ice farthest away melted to allow this.

"See? This is easy," he told her casually as they started actually skating, while she held onto him tightly. Not that he minded.

[Isabella]

"Oh," she said as they started gliding forwards. She wondered how they could keep skating when only part of the pond was frozen, but for now she was too scared to look down. Maybe later when she was feeling more couragious she'd look down to see how it was being done.

She kept her eyes locked on his and let him pull her forward. Of course she was skating with him a little, but mostly he was helping her glide around. "This is nice," she said finally, offering a smile. She really was having a good time, she was just a little nervous.

[Quill]

"Wanna try it on your own?" Quill asked playfully, loosening his grip on her just a little bit to see how she'd react. It was so cute how she was nervous about ice skating.

[Isabella]

Isabella shook her head slightly. "Uh, not yet," she said quickly. It would have been one thing if they were on a rink, but because they were in a pond that wasn't even totally frozen, it was a little nerve racking. She knew of course that Quill was in Ughdarras and would save her if anything happened, but it was still a little scary.

She stole a quick glance down, and noticed how the water behind Quill was solidfying as they skated towards it. She could only imagine that the ice behind them was unfreezing into water too.

"Wow, Quill," she said, looking at the transformation of liquid to solid. "That's so pretty."

[Quill]

"Um...thanks?" Quill replied, not sure how to respond to that. He was pretty happy with himself for having such good control over his Eilemaiden. Not to sound full of himself, but he was pretty talented, and he was glad he had impressed Bell. "But you're prettier."

[Isabella]

Bell blushed at the compliment. "Thanks," she said shyly, stealing a quick glance at him but then returning her gaze to the ice.

She was embarrassed about stuff like that, I don't know why.

[Quill]

"You know, you'd better get used to me calling you pretty," Quill told her half-jokingly. He didn't understand why, but she always got all quiet and embarrassed whenever he complimented her.

[Isabella]

Bell looked back up at him with her shy smile. "Thanks for this," she said, referring to the date, and the fact that he made her feel special. She loved spending time with Quill, just like she always had, but lately she had come to love it even more.

[Quill]

This time it was Quill's turn to look away. "Yeah well," he said awkwardly. He was better at showing affection with his actions than with his emotions, if that makes any sense. (It makes sense in my head.) And sometimes he worried that Bell wouldn't want to stay with a guy who didn't act like he cared. "I want you to know that I care about you, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes."

[Isabella]

Isabella smiled cutely. "You're doing a good job," she said honestly. He did hurt her feelings some times, but she knew it wasn't on purpose. Plus, it was nice when he did things like this, it almost made up for it all.

[Quill]

Quill smiled out of relief, despite himself. "That's good," he replied quietly. "Sometimes I'm worried that...nevermind." He shook his head. For some reason he decided he didn't want to tell Bell how sometimes he worried that she'd leave him since he was so bad at showing emotion. He didn't know for sure that he had ever hurt her feelings, but he felt bad just knowing he could have.

"Let's just keep skating," he said, hoping to change the subject to something less deep and meaningful.

He was skating backwards, holding Bell's arms as she skated forwards, so he didn't notice a large stick that had been floating in the pond. It was frozen to the ice, sticking up just enough that it caught Quill's makeshift iceskate, tripping him. He fell backwards, inadvertently pulling Bell with him. Luckily the pond was frozen enough where they landed that they didn't end up in the water. Instead Quill ended up lying on his back on the ice, his arms holding onto Bell tightly, who was laying facedown on top of him.

[Isabella]

Bell had screamed sharply as they fell, and uttered an "umph!" when she landed on him.

"Oh, Quill!" she said as soon as she realized what had happened. "I'm so sorry!" She tried to back up off him, but her knees slipped and she fell back on him.

Oh! She was so sure she had been the one to make him fall. D:

[Quill]

"It's okay, Bell," he told her when she apologized. He was just about to sit up as she moved to stand, but then let out an 'oomf' when she fell on him a second time. She tried again, obviously having trouble getting back on her feet. "I think we're gonna be stuck like this for a while," he said with a laugh.

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