fic: skating lessons

[chasingkerouac]

Title: Skating Lessons (AO3)

Fandom: The Mandalorian

Words: 1.9k

Characters: Din Djarin/Cobb Vanth, Grogu,

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Winter, Family, Ice Skating, Fluff & Humor

Summary: Cobb Vanth is good at so many things.  Ice skating is not one of them.

 

Cobb should’ve said something as soon as Din suggested it.  Should’ve shot him down and redirected to something where he could have both feet firmly on the ground.  The zoo is fun in the winter, with the decorations twinking and the critters rolling in the snow.  Could’ve gone to the Christmas market, and then at least he’d get to drink something warm while Din inspected every single handcrafted ornament and Grogu insisted on saying hello to every dog that passed by.

But no.  Din suggested ice skating as a fun way to get outside and enjoy the season.  Grogu was taking lessons and wanted to show off his new skills.  And Cobb… well, Cobb was too distracted by whatever he’d been doing to say anything other than an offhand ‘sure, sounds like fun, I love ice skating’.

Like a liar.

To be fair, Cobb had a pretty good track record of ‘fake it till you make it’ in life, so why would ice skating be any different?  He was athletic and ice skating was a sport.  He could do this.  He could absolutely do this.  

“Cobb, you have to come out onto the ice eventually.”

Cobb clutched the low wall of the rink in what could probably be termed a ‘grossly undignified manner’, but dignity had gone out the window as soon as he’d put on the skates and realized that ice skating was not just another sport and there was a good chance he was going to celebrate this fun family outing by breaking his hip in front of Din, Grogu, and everyone in town.  

Din, who was skating - no, gliding - in a wide circle as he spoke.  Din, who looked completely comfortable on the ice.  Din whose idea of a ‘fun family outing’ was to court bodily injury on a frozen sheet of death.

“I’m technically on the ice,” Cobb replied, locking his knees to hopefully prevent any surprise movement by his feet as a group of overeager ten-year-olds pushed past him through the door.  “I’m having a great time just watching y’all. Besides, you should probably be watching the kid, make sure that he’s okay.  The last thing we need is for him to fall and get injured.”

Din grinned warmly as he made his way back over to the wall.  “I’m sorry,” he said, unable to hide the amusement in his voice.  He wrapped an arm around Cobb’s waist to give him another point of support.  “I just assumed you knew how to skate when I suggested this.”

“Why would you assume that?”

“Because when I asked if you wanted to go ice skating, you said, and I quote, ‘I love ice skating’.”

“And I do,” Cobb tried, utterly unconvincingly.  “Whenever the Olympics come on?  It’s one of our favorites.”

“Cobb…”

“And so many spinny jumps.  Truly majestic.”

“You’re deflecting…”

Cobb groaned in both defeat and slight personal anguish.  “Darlin’, where I grew up, the only ice on the ground was when someone tipped over the cooler after all the beer was drunk.  Why would you believe me when I said I had any clue what I was doing?  I was running my mouth.”

Din smiled and shifted to lean back against the wall, still holding Cobb as firmly as he could to keep him upright.  “You’re just so good at everything, it made sense to me that you’d be good at this.”

Cobb fixed him with a look.  “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“It usually gets me somewhere. ”

He had a point.  “Well…” Cobb mused.  “I… figured I might magically figure out how to do it once we got here…” he trailed off, realizing how ridiculous it sounded as soon as he said it.  “Since I’m usually so good at everything.”

“Usually.”

Cobb took a deep breath.  This was ridiculous. There were literally children skating rings around them.  Grogu was making circles around the rink, waving eagerly at them with each pass, and weaving in and out of groups of older and bigger kids with just a helmet and a fearlessness in the face of death to keep him upright.  Moving just like Din would be if he wasn’t stuck here babysitting the one member of their little trio that could usually fend for himself.  

There was no reason why he couldn’t conquer this death trap.  Cobb Vanth was no coward.

He straightened up and wrapped his own arm around Din’s waist - although his left hand stayed firmly gripping the wall.  

Cobb.  Vanth.  Was.  No.  Coward.

“Do you trust me?” Din asked.

Mostly not a coward.

“I’m not sure that I like where this is going.”

“Do you trust me?”

…maybe a little bit of a coward.

“We could grab a drink while Grogu tires himself out,” Cobb suggested.  “Something warm.  And maybe that has a lower risk of death than being out here and expecting me to stand on knives taped to the bottom of my shoes.”

“What?”

“Or, I could warm you up in… other ways?” he tried.  “You know I’m very good at it. I could even do the thing that-”

“Cobb,” he interrupted.  

Ok, in this instance, and this instance only… Cobb Vanth was indeed a coward.

“Yes, darlin’?”

“Do you trust me?” Din asked softly.

There was obviously no way of getting out of this.  “You know I do.”

Din placed a light kiss on his cheek and turned them both so that Cobb’s back was to the wall, offering both hands to him. “You have to let go of the wall eventually.”

“I’m gonna break a hip,” Cobb murmured, letting go of his death grip on the wall and placing his hands in Din’s.   

“Okay, push off gently outwards, one foot then the other,” Din instructed.  He pulled Cobb ever so slightly forward and smiled as he pushed off the wall for the first time. “We’re going to do this slowly.  There we go,” he murmured. “Easy does it.”

Cobb, for his part, tried to follow the instructions.  He also tried not to grip Din’s hands so hard that his knuckles turned white.  

He was marginally successful at both.

He also tried not to think about the group of ten-year-olds who pushed past him at the wall, and who were now skating circles around them while pointing and laughing at him.  At least, that’s what he assumed they were doing. He didn’t turn his head to look up at them as they passed. 

“Cobb, you can look up at any point,” Din said.

“That’s easy for you to say.”  Cobb forced himself to look up from his skates and into Din’s warm brown eyes.  “You’re not the one who’s inevitably gonna cause a ruckus as soon as he’s on his own and crash into another person, or… what’s the thing that cleans the ice?”

“A zamboni?”

“Right.  You’re not the one that’s gonna skate right into a zamboni.”

Din laughed.  “I’m going backwards, so if anyone is going to accidentally skate into a zamboni, it will be me.”

“I’ll tell Grogu you loved him and your sacrifice was honorable.”

Din dropped one of his hands and shifted so that they were skating side-by-side now.  “Now we’ll both be protected from random zamboni attacks.”

“That’s a big assumption,” Cobb laughed.  It took him a moment to realize that his grip on Din’s other hand had loosened once they were beside each other, to the point where Cobb almost - almost - considered dropping it all together.  There was a rhythm to skating. One foot pushing each time.  One foot in front of the other. He could do this.

He could do this.  

He was doing this!

Cobb didn’t realize Din let go and was no longer holding him up.  They were moving together side-by-side, but he was moving on his own power. Slowly, sure, but he wasn’t holding onto the wall and he wasn’t leaning against Din. 

He was conquering this icy death trap by his own power.

Grogu caught up to them and grinned his toothy six-year-old grin as he slowed down to keep pace on Cobb’s free side.  “Cobb!  You’re doing it!” he exclaimed.  

“Of course I am, little man,” Cobb beamed.  There was nothing he couldn’t do.  Nature was no match for him.  He was an athletic powerhouse.  Cobb fucking Vanth could do anything he set his mind to.  “I told y’all, I love ice skating.”

“I knew you could,” Din chuckled.  “You’re talented at anything you put your mind -”

They all celebrated too soon.

A divot in the ice caused Cobb to lose his footing, and he toppled onto the ice before Din could reach out and catch him.  “Cobb!” Grogu gasped, as Din circled around to check on him. 

'“Cobb, are you alright?” Din asked, the worry evident in his voice as Grogu started ‘helpfully’ poking Cobb’s shoulder.

“Do you need a bandaid?” Grogu asked as he pulled one from his jacket pocket.  “I can fix it.”  He unwrapped it, considered the placement thoughtfully, and selected right in the middle of Cobb’s forehead.  “There, you’re all better now.”

Cobb laid there, sprawled out on the ice, looking back and forth between Din and Grogu… and started laughing.  Din knelt down beside him looking so concerned, Grogu taping a bandaid to the middle of his forehead and declaring with confidence the problem solved… and all Cobb could do was look up at them and laugh.  “Well, we can all agree a gold medal is not in my future.”

“I fixed it,” Grogu repeated.

“That you did, buddy, that you did,” Cobb agreed.  “Thank you.  Dad’s got you all prepared to fix me any time I go ass over elbow.”

“It’s not a real skating lesson until someone eats it on the ice,” Din said, the relief evident on his face.  He took Cobb’s hand and helped him back up, before wrapping an arm around his waist again to hold him steady.  “Maybe we should take a coffee break.”

“Are you sure?” Cobb asked.  “I don’t want to take you and Grogu away from something fun.”

“Can we get hot chocolate?” Grogu asked, taking Cobb’s free hand and placing it on his shoulder to help steady him too.  “Please?”

Din gave Cobb a light squeeze.  “That’s two to one in favor of taking a break.” 

Cobb smiled and huffed a small laugh at their attempt to spare his pride.  “Let’s make that three in favor.”

“With marshmallows?” Grogu pressed.

“Absolutely with marshmallows,” Cobb agreed.  “Is there any other kind?”

“Yes!” Grogu cheered, bolting out from under Cobb’s hand as soon as they reached the opening in the rink wall.  

Once safely off the ice, Cobb took a deep breath and leaned against Din’s side.  “So… that was fun.” 

“You did such a good job,” Din murmured, pressing a kiss to Cobb’s cheek.  “Such grace, such skill.”

Liar.  But Cobb couldn’t help but smile.  “You know, flattery will get you everywhere.”

“Will it get me the chance to give you a second lesson?”

“Don’t press your luck.”