Another story for the Alphabet Soup!

Warnings: uh... skating? Slight injury. A swedish phrase.

Tuuri was excited, Emil could tell easily. Even Lalli, although he still wore his usual blasé expression, seemed to be excited. Emil tried to pretend he was excited at well, even though his body felt cold and his legs almost refused to move. It wasn't until they had gotten to the park and Tuuri had already disappeared onto the ice that Emil made his confession.

"...I've never skated before."

Lalli raised an eyebrow, then continued tying his skates. Emil sank down on the bench next to him and fiddled with the skates in his hands. Lalli glanced at him, rolled his eyes and leaned back.

"It's easy."

"Of course you'd say that, everything is easy for you."

"Not everything."

"Pff, what could you find hard?"

"Being friends with you."

Lalli got up, stepped out onto the ice and skated around the lake. Emil watched him go, and almost before he could blink Lalli was back again.

"I can teach you."

Emil hesitated, kicked off his shoes and started putting on the skates. He wasn't sure about this, but on the other hand...

"How hard can it be?" he smiled.

He pushed himself off the bench, his legs shook when he stood up. He tried taking a step and almost fell. Lalli grabbed his hand, balanced him a little, and Emil got out at the ice. The ice was slippery and Emil's skates wanted to go in every direction he didn't want to go, but with Lalli's help he eventually managed to find a stable position.

"Now what?"

Lalli let go of Emil, showed him the basic movements and then waited for him to move. Emil moved his foot almost two centimeters and almost got his face aquainted with the ice. Lalli's hands saved him again and then Lalli was pulling him along the ice. Emil's legs trembled, but when he finally got used to balancing on the skates it stopped.

"This is pretty nice", he said.

Lalli almost smiled. Almost, but not quite. Emil looked around as Lalli pulled him along, noticed Tuuri talking to someone he recognized from public school and pulled away from Lalli when he noticed them turning in his direction. Tuuri waved to them and he lifted a hand to wave back, lost his balance and landed with a thud on the ice. He was certain he heard Lalli snigger, but the sound was drowned out by Tuuri's voice.

"EMIL! Are you OKAY!?"

Emil winced at the loudness in her voice, laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, the wind caught me off-guard!"

Lalli was definately sniggering. Emil glared at him and tried to pull himself back to his feet, but found himself flat on his stomach instead.

"...a little help?" he asked after a few unsuccessful attempts.

He couldn't tell how Lallli did it, but then Emil was on his feet again. It took a few second to get his balance, and then Lalli pulled him along over the ice again.

"I'm letting go."

"Dont let go."

"I'm letting go."

Lalli's hands let go of Emil's. Emil flailed and managed to keep his balance.

"I'm skating, Lalli!"

A large pile of snow abruptly ended his short victory. Lalli skated up to him once he finally dug himself free of it.

"...Maybe I should show you how to break."

"You think?"

Emil got to his feet, without Lalli's aid, and watched as Lalli demonstrated how to brake. Emil bit his lip.

"You know, I think piles of snow is a much easier breaking strategy."

Lalli shrugged, grabbed Emil's hand again and pulled him back out on the lake.

"You have to bend your knees."

Emil followed Lalli's instructions, and then he was on his ass again.

"Too much?"

Lalli nodded and helped Emil up again. They kept working on it, Emil wanted to give up, but after half an hour he finally figured that part out. And that's when Lalli asked him to skate on his own. Emil took a tighter grip around Lalli's hands.

"You haven't shown me that yet!"

"It's easy. You just kick. Watch."

Lalli pulled free from Emil's grip, took two turns around him and stopped infront of him again. Emil tensed his knees and took a step, to which Lalli sniggered again.

"Kick. Not step. Here."

Lalli took Emil's hand again, pullled him along. Emil swallowed, tried to kick just like he had seen Lalli do. His legs were stiff and Lalli poked his knee to remind him to keep them bent. It took Emil about ten minutes before he figured it out, but Lalli seemed satisfied once he finally did.

"Letting go."

"Do not let go."

"Letting go."

Lalli let go of Emil's hand. Emil slid over the ice, still standing. Lalli skated next to him, watched as Emil's knees tensed again. Emil closed his eyes, opened them again. If he was going to fall he wanted to see what was going on. Lalli poked him, skated around him, and Emil carefully bent his knees, managed to not fall, but he was almost out of speed.

"Kick", Lalli told him.

Emil tried to kick, but only lifted the skate from the ice. His leg trembled and he quickly put his foot down again. Lalli sniggered again and Emil glared at him before trying again. He kicked, wind ruffled his hair as he speed over the ice.

"Lall! Lalli did you see?!"

He kicked again, and again, and again. Skating wasn't bad at all. He was awesome at it. Why had he never tried this before? Another kick, just to get a little more speed. Lalli skated up to him, skated next to im, showed off by making eights on the ice, by skating on one leg, by jumping and Emil decided that if Lalli could, he could as well. More speed, then he lifted his right foot of the ice, leaned slightly forward to keep his balance. His leg trembled, but if Lalli could do it it couldn't be that hard, it couldn't...

SNAP!

Emil's leg stopped trembling, folded under him, and Emil fell to the ice, gritted his teeth and slid into the snowpile again. He didn't move, gripped his leg with his hands.

"Emil! Are you okay?"

Lalli's hands pulled at him and Emil clenched his eyes shut.

"Don't touch me!"

"Emil...?"

He opened his eyes again. Lalli sank down on his knees, looked at Emil. There was worry in his eyes and Emil had to look away.

"My... my foot..."

The pain was getting worse every second. Lalli put a hand on his shoulder again.

"I'll get help."

Then Lalli was gone. Emil opened his eyes, knew he couldn't stay in the snow but his foot was on fire, there was no way he'd be able to get up and skate back to the bench.

"Hey."

Tuuri stopped infront of Emil, crouched.

"How are you?"

"Fine, I'm fine."

"I see that", she laughed and took of her coat. "You're gonna get hypothermia if you stay like that."

She carefully pulled him into a sitting position and put her coat over his shoulders before sitting down next to him.

"What happened?"

"I decided that nosediving into a snowpile was the most fun I've ever had."

Tuuri raised an eyebrow and Emil let out a sigh.

"I lost my balance. I was... trying to impress Lalli..."

Tuuri laughed.

"Don't worry about that, nothing impresses him."

"Yeah... I know..."

They looked at the people still skating. Emil moved a little, tried to find a more comfortable sitting position, but winced as pain shot up from his ankle. Tuuri looked at him again.

"How bad is it?"

"It's nothing."

"Then you won't mind if I remove the skate and take a look for myself?"

Emil didn't answer and Tuuri smiled again.

"Don't worry, I won't."

They could see Lalli skating over the ice towards them again. He stopped only half a meter from them and dropped a bundle into Tuuri's lap before looking at Emil.

"Help is coming."

"...thanks."

Tuuri opened the bundle, found a thermos wrapped inside a blanket. Lalli helped Tuuri wrap the blanket around Emil before giving him a cup of tea. Emil felt a little better drinking it. His foot still hurt like Hel, but a feeling of security steamed from the tea and the blanket wrapped around him. Tuuri shivered a little and he realized he still had her coat on as well and he blushed.

"Do you want your coat back?"

"I'll take it when the help arrives, don't worry about me."

Both of them stayed with him and kept talking to him. Emil was grateful they did, it took his mind from the pain. He didn't keep track of time, but it felt like it had been ages before two people arrived. They carefully took the skate of Emil's foot, Emil did his best not to scream as they moved it. The foot was swollen and disfigured and Emil looked away, locked eyes with Lalli as they splinted it. It felt slightly better after that, some of the pain subsided and it felt a lot less unstable. The two people helped him onto a stretcher and carried him to a carriage. Lalli came along, waved goodbye to Tuuri, who promised she'd catch up to them as soon as possible and then they were off.

xxxxxxx

A broken leg sucked hard, Emil decided. The doctor had called him lucky, it had been a clean, although displaced, fracture and should heal without complications. Emil didn't think he was very lucky. To begin with he was stuck in bed, his foot propped up on a couple of pillows to keep it from swelling. He couldn't even get himself to the couch without it starting to throb and turn into a blob of pain. Pretty much the only thing he could do in bed was read and sleep, but sleep eluded him, pushed away by the pain everytime he moved his leg and, well, he moved. A lot. Unability to sleep didn't make him less tired, and he couldn't focus his eyes on the letters in the books, meaning reading was also out. So, being stuck in the bed sucked.

"Lucky, jo pyttsan" Emil muttered.

The morning sun was starting to creep in through the window and Emil's stomach rumbled a little. He decided to ignore it for now and pulled the cover over his head, tried to go back to sleep. His stomach rumbled a little louder and he groaned. He threw the cover to the side and heard it land on the floor with a thud. He tried reaching it, but moved his leg while doing it and retreated to his back with a wince. He stared at the ceiling, rolled his thumbs and tried to relax. He rolled his thumbs quicker, started tapping his fingers on the mattress, on the bedside table, started tapping his right foot on the mattress, pulled at the sheet, scratched his hand.

The door opened quietly. Emil normally wouldn't have heard it, but his body was searching for anything that could break the tediousness of being stuck on his back. He lifted his head from the pillow, raised himself on his elbows. Waited. Light steps, probably not a burglar. There were sounds coming from the kitchen, glasses hitting each other, plates being put in the sink, the sink being filled with water. The fridge being opened and then closed again. The door to the bedroom opened up.

"Painkiller?"

Emil raised his hand in a greeting and Lalli came up to the bed, put the glass and the painkillers on the table next to it and pulled Emil into a sitting position, his back resting against the headboard.

"Did you sleep?"

Emil shook his head, grabbed the water and the painkillers and downed it. He glanced at Lalli as he fetched a chair and put it next to the bed and focused intensly at the glass when Lalli sat down.

"Lalli... Thank you. For yesterday."

Lalli blushed, looked away.

"I broke your leg."

"Nnno, pretty sure that was all me."

Emil tried finding a more comfortable position, but winced as it sent a new jolt of pain from his ankle and stayed in the position Lalli had put him in.

"I mean, I could have not gone to the park with you, and I could have not put on the skates, and I could have not tried doing tricks like you did."

He tried changing position again, a little more successful this time.

"Either way, accidents happens. It's no one's fault."

He grimaced towards his leg, then turned towards Lalli again.

"I'm just bored."

"It's only been a night."

"Well, I couldn't sleep."

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window instead. Today was going to be another beautiful day and he let out a sigh. Lalli got up, pulled the curtains over the window and turned to Emil again.

"Want to play a game?"

"Depends on the game", Emil smiled. "But yeah. There are some in the living room."

"Know."

Lalli disappeared again. Emil moved slightly to the side to make room in the bed for whatever game Lalli decided to fetch. At least the painkillers where doing their job, there was only a slight jolt of pain as he moved. He listened as Lalli moved around in the living room, listened as he returned to the bedroom.

"It would probably have been easier to play in the living room", Emil remarked with a blush.

"Maybe tomorrow."

"Yeah", Emil smiled. "Maybe tomorrow."

Lalli had chosen a card game, something that didn't require a lot of room, and while Emil shuffled the deck Lalli disappeared into the kitchen again. He had sandwiches and two cups of tea in his hands when he returned, put everything on the small table and sat down again and Emil dealt the cards.

"Still Lalli, thank you for yesterday. For coming with me to the hospital."

He fiddled a little with the cards in his hands, almost dropped them. Lalli motioned for him to eat before starting the game.

"Still sorry for the leg."

Emil flicked Lalli's forehead and smiled towards his friend.

"Don't feel guilty about it. Accidents happen."

"Still", Lalli said. "Let me know if you need something."

"I will", Emil grabbed Lalli's hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "But don't you dare spend all your spoons on me, I can ask Siv and Torbjörn for help as well. Or Sune. Or Tuuri."

A small smile appeared in Lalli's face and Emil leaned back again, focused on the game. His eyelids were getting heavier and he rubbed his eyes, drank some tea to try and chase the tiredness away. After half an hour and two sandwiches later Lalli gathered the cards, helped Emil lay down and put the cover over him. Emil snuggled up under the cover, felt Lalli ruffle his hair.

"Don't worry", Lalli whispered, "they are my spoons to waste."

The bedroom door closed behind Lalli and Emil fell into his dream, confident that Lalli would still be there when he woke up.

A/N: "Jo pyttsan" is a Swedish phrase I have no clue how to translate. For this context it kind of reads like "I don't think so", but writing that didn't give the same feel so I decided to keep the swedish.

The story don't really feel complete, but I have no idea what more I want to write and if I let it simmer for a few days I'll just forget about it so have it like it is! :P