" "Oh, there's no way you can reach there first!" The swift boy tainted his maroon-haired friend. Under the starlit sky, two friends hastily made their way through an old, broken amusement park, racing each other to the park's small lake. Despite being in such an empty world, the two friends' joy and energy seemed to revive the park of life: their cheers and laughs ever so boisterous.

Then, they had reached the tiny lake by the rollercoaster entrance. Quickly, Crow had hopped over the fence and landed straight onto the ice. Arms raised, he struck a victory pose and laughed merrily. Seto, on the other hand, remained on the ground and sighed at his defeat.

"What can I say?" Crow smirked, "I was always the fastest." He began to make his way around the ice, in a running motion, but soon found himself slipping and falling on his front. then it dawned on him: he forgot about the shoes. He was so caught up with tending to his loser friend that he totally forgot to snatch himself a pair of ice skates. If he were like any human, this would have been the moment Crow's face would turn beet red. Quickly he turned to see if Seto had seen him fall, but Seto was nowhere in sight. Crow let out a relieved sigh before calling out for his missing friend, "Hey Seto! Where'd you go?"

"I'm still here!" Seto's hand went up and waved. From Crow's angle, it was rather hard to see Seto, but it looked like he was sitting the entire time Crow was "skating." "I just needed to put on my shoes. I'll be down!"

"You better hurry!" Crow yelled. "It's getting a little boring when I'm the only one down here skating." Crow kept himself on the wall, so he wouldn't slip and fall again and make a fool of himself in front of Seto — not after all those times he called Seto out for being rather weak.

Soon, Crow saw Seto starting to climb over the fence and make his way down to the lake. He landed almost perfectly on the ice with his new shoes. Crow looked at Seto's entire figure: the maroon-haired boy seemed so steady and well-balanced on the ice. His arms were raised to help him balance, and his legs were shoulder-width apart. Seto's indigo eyes were fixated on the ground, trying to focus on his center of balance.

Once it seemed like he was well-balanced, Seto began to chuckle. Remembering the old photos and stories his grandfather told about ice-skating, Seto began to understand why people seemed to love the activity so much; it was challenging but maybe that was what made it so fun. For Seto, what made it fun was that it was new to him: to be able to do the things that people used to do. He imagined many people gathering to the same lake a long time ago to ice-skate together — how people would have crowded around and how noisy it would have been there. People of different ages gathering together with friends and families alike to make memories together on this tiny lake. Just the thought of it made Seto feel blissful.

Yet, Seto failed to do the major part of the whole activity: to move around the lake of ice. So, he walked. Wrong move. Immediately, he fell on his face, his cheeks and nose burning upon impact. He heard his dark friend laughing against the wall and turned to see him.

"Oh man, how's falling?" Crow snickered. Seto pouted but he knew that he shouldn't let Crow's bicker bother him. He knew Crow was just joking around — it's just the way he is.

Seto continued to ignore Crow, focusing on trying to master the form of ice skating. As he continued to skate around the little lake, pushing himself against the walls to skate, Seto eventually began to find his balance. He began to fall less and less and began to skate easily, even swiftly. The longer he skated without a fall, the more Seto found himself smiling to himself and laughing. The feeling of the slight cold breeze as he skated around simply made him feel so free. It was as though he were just gliding, hovering on the ground. A sense of flight.

And Crow was enjoying the sight of Seto having fun from where he stood. Seeing Seto's smile and excitement as he moved across the ice was almost refreshing to Crow. He hasn't really seen that much joy in a long time — or really, any sort of liveliness from a being in a while. It made him smile away in the midst of a decaying world. It made him forget that the world really is dying out around him. All he wanted to do right now was forget about that world and just keep watching his happy friend glide freely across the ice.

"C'mon, Crow!" Seto began to skate over to his smiling friend, who was caught rather baffled in the middle of his thoughts. Crow's expression quickly turned into his signature smug look, trying to hide the smile he's been giving to Seto while Seto was trying to teach himself how to skate.

"Hah! You think I'm going to do that? Way to childish for me!" Crow huffed. Seto rolled his eyes and turned back.

"So you're going to back out of a challenge? That's a surprise…" Seto smiled slyly. Crow was shocked by Seto's sudden taunting attitude. He arched his brows, trying to figure out what was happening. Immediately, he clicked his tongue, grabbing Seto's shoulder and turning Seto to look at him.

"Hey, I didn't say I was backing out of this challenge, got it?" Crow narrowed his eyes. "If it's challenge you want, then fine!" Crow let go of Seto and tried setting forth upon the ice with such determination to prove to Seto he was capable of doing so silly. But of course, as soon as he made a couple of steps on the ice, the raven-haired boy slipped uncharacteristically. At this, Seto tried his hardest to cover up his laughter, but Crow could hear the boy's giggling. Embarrassed, he bit his gum and got up, trying to cover up the accident, "That was just an accident. I'm usually better than that!"

"But I thought you didn't know what ice-skating was," Seto refuted.

Annoyed at Seto's comment, Crow turned away and tried again. He attempted to copy Seto's movements, but when he did, his leg slipped and gave out — another fall.

Seto quickly ran over to help his friend get up, but Crow avoided Seto's touch, embarrassed and frustrated that he couldn't get this one stupid action. Once both had gotten up, Crow was about try again, only to have Seto pull at his sleeve.

"Here. I'll show you," the shorter male smiled, taking Crow's gloved hand into his own cold hands. Despite his hesitation, Crow let his friend take control. Chuckling, Seto led Crow on the ice. He started slowly so Crow would learn and get used to the motion. He felt Crow's grip on his hand tighten as though the other male was afraid. That's a first. Seto smiled to himself.

They continued to skate slowly on the tiny lake, even after Crow perfected ice skating. Crow didn't want to tell Seto that, though. He just wanted to enjoy that quiet moment with Seto, holding his friend's warm hand as they glided together upon the ice. To enjoy that warm moment with Seto: that's what Crow wanted the most.

"What are you thinking about?" Seto asked Crow, who was subconsciously smiling away in his thoughts. Crow kept smiling as he turned to Seto.

"You know," he looked up at the night sky, "It's such a big world and anything could've happened to both of us and yet," he turned to Seto again, "We winded up together."

Seto smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, but I'm glad that we're together." Crow was taken aback by Seto's words. "I wouldn't have been able to meet a great friend like you."

"And a great friend I am!" Crow smirked, making Seto giggle. Playfully, Seto pushed Crow away from him; the other boy gliding away rather gracefully. However, soon after, Crow began to make his way over to Seto, much to Seto's surprise. Crow was still rather unbalanced in his skating, but he was certainly fast. Instantly, the raven-haired boy tackled Seto, both losing their balance and falling onto the ice. The sound of gasping and groaning filled the air, but soon that sound was replaced by the chimes of laughter between the two boys.

On the icy cold ground, the two laid together. Crow had moved himself so he was lying side by side with Seto, rather than right on top. The two happily smiled and held hands as they watched the stars together. For Seto, he wanted this moment to last forever. That liveliness of the moment. That sharing of moments and bonding with others. It was soothing for him. It's been such a long time since he had felt the presence of another, and having it now was the most comforting thing for him.

Seto gripped Crow's hand, almost afraid that this moment would end. He realized that he still has to continue his journey and perhaps he would have to part ways with his friend, who needed to find his home. He wanted to shake that thought away, but it kept bugging him. He just wanted to enjoy this moment, and yet these thoughts of an oncoming future haunted him.

Crow could feel Seto's hand shaking in his own. Turning to see his friend, Crow saw that Seto was teary-eyed. He wasn't sure what to do about his crying friend. Crying was such an odd emotional action to him. Humans could cry out of both joy and sadness. What was it that Seto was feeling then?

Unsure of what to do, Crow let go of Seto's hand, causing the other to quickly look over, but Crow soon wrapped his arms around Seto and hugged him tightly. He didn't really have the right words to say to Seto, since he knew that some of his words may come out harshly to the boy. This was really the only thing that he could offer to Seto as a sign of comfort of some sort.

Seto was very tense from the sudden action, but he too hugged back. He rested his head on Crow's chest and gave out a small smile, muttering, "Thanks, Crow."

Crow couldn't help but smile - not his casual smirk, but a genuine smile - before petting his friend's head, "Don't mention it, Seto."

They continued to hold each other in the middle of that icy lake, enjoying each other's presence under the starry sky until dawn approached.