❅First Kiss❅

 Kim Jongdae was now eight years old. He was too old now to be sleeping with a nightlight anymore (not that he didn’t anyway) and most certainly he was too old to have stuffed animals (not that he didn’t own a pink, stuffed dinosaur named Chen). With his age came responsibility - that’s what he believed. He had no time to be afraid of anything; not monsters under his bed (clearly, Chen helped to fight those off at night while he slept), not basement stairs, not girls and clearly not ice skating.

The boy teetered on his heels as he stared down at the frozen pond. The colours of his clothing casted strange shadows on the white ice. Just beneath the surface he knew lay freezing, dark waters that would consume him. In fact, they had once. Nearly a year ago. The memory caused Jongdae to shudder in discomfort. Had it not been for that man, he would’ve drowned. He didn’t want to be afraid of the ice anymore.

He took one large gulp before carefully toeing at the edge of the pond with the tip of his shoe. It seemed sturdy enough.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Came a voice that shocked Jongdae into stumbling back onto the grass, falling flat on his bottom.

“Who…?" the boy looked around in confusion and then spotted him, "Oh!”

“Hey, kid,” Minseok managed a small smile before shoving his icy-blue hands into his suit pockets, “Did you get taller?”

Jongdae gaped at the man, “It’s you!”

Minseok looked down at himself curiously and then back at the boy with a grin, “Who else would I be?”

“I mean, I never thought I’d see you again!”

“I said next year, didn’t I? I meant it.”

Minseok wasn’t sure why, but he had felt the need to come back and see the boy. Perhaps it was the way that the small child stared up at him with those doe-eyes of his. Or maybe it was the gentle touch to the face that made Minseok feel an inexplicable warmth inside his chest - unsual for someone of his talents. It could also just as easily have been that no one had ever seen or acknowledged Minseok before in his entire existence aside from this small child.

“You did,” Jongdae grinned, “I can’t believe you’re back, mister!”

“I won’t be here for long,” Minseok said tapping against the edge of the icy surface of the water, swirls spreading from his fingertips and across the top, dancing like figure skaters.

“How did you do that?!” The boy excalimed, astonished and thoroughly entertained.

“Magic.” Was Minseok's mysterious reply.

Jongdae was bewildered. This man was the coolest man in the whole world, he decided.

“Can you teach me how to use magic?” the boy’s voice was filled with absolute wonder and awe.

Minseok smiled and laughed amused, “This isn’t something that can be taught, kiddo.”

“Jongdae,” the boy corrected.

“Jongdae,” the man mused, “I was born with it, sort of. It’s a talent of mine, you could say.”

“A gift!”

A curse, was what Minseok wanted to respond with, but he settled for a nod instead.

“What are you doing out here in the cold anyway?” Minseok asked quirking an eyebrow in interest.

The boy sniffled and blushed lightly, “I was going to face my fears.”

Minseok had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from grinning ear to ear, “You were going to face your fears by jumping out onto the pond? What if the ice were to break again?”

The boy thought about this and then shifted awkwardly, “What do you suggest I do then?”

The man picked up a nearby stone and rolled it in his hands slowly, covering it in frost, before tossing it out onto the pond’s frozen top. The small rock smashed right through as if the ice had been simple glass. The boy sighed and plopped down into the grass with a frustrated sigh.

“I’m so stupid,” he muttered.

“Hey, kid,”

“Jongdae.”

“Jongdae,” Minseok sat beside him slowly, “We all make mistakes. You just have to be more careful, that’s all. I’ll help you get over your fears, but,” he looked down at his watch, “Maybe next year. I have to get going.”

“But, why?” the boy huffed, “You only just got here!”

Minseok felt a pang of pain in his chest at the saddened tone used by the young boy, “I have work to do, k- Jongdae.”

“Do you promise though? Next year you’ll help me out?”

Minseok nodded. Jongdae held out his hand, a small pinky finger stretched out towards Minseok. The man looked at it curiously before getting the hint and hooked his own, much larger pinky with the boy’s. Jongdae shook his finger vigorously and smiled happily at the confused expression on the man's face.

“Don’t forget!” Jongdae giggled.

“I won’t.”

And he didn’t.

❅❅❅

“It’s alright,” Minseok smiled, his voice calm and reassuring.

The man had been with Jongdae for more than an hour now, trying to coax him out onto the pond’s frozen surface. Minseok knew that the frost this year would be late if he kept this up, but he couldn’t help himself. He was patient with Jongdae, he had to be.

Jongdae was, however, being overly hesitant. He was nine now and no longer slept with his nightlight, was not afraid of girls, could climb down the stairs of the basement (but had to run back up them) and owned a total of zero stuffed toys (not including, Chen - Chen was his friend). He was, however, still terrified of the ice.

While he loomed over it, his mind kept wandering to the memory of the feel of ice waters enclosing around him and trying to pull him deeper into its depths. He gulped at the thought of being slowly suffocated, lost in the deathly grasp of freezing waves. The boy shivered involuntarily at the thoughts and then he drew his arms tight around himself in a comforting hug.

“I can’t, Minseok, I can’t…” tears were b in Jongdae’s eyes, “Please don’t make me.”

“I’m not going to make you do anything,” Minseok smiled and skated in a loop around the pond, “It’s not going to break. I made sure.”

“Can you just… Tap it again? One more time. Just to really make sure it’s safe. Please, Minseok-hyung.”

Minseok didn’t question the boy’s pleas. He felt that somehow it was his duty to make sure this boy was no longer afraid of the ice. It may or may not have had something to do with the fact that ice was Minseok's whole life. And he most certainly didn't want to scare the boy away with his powers of frost. He reached down with his hand and pressed the palm flat against the surface. Swirls of frost stretched from his hand and around the water again, almost freezing the entire thing to the core. Minseok looked back up at Jongdae who was busy staring at the swirls as they looped about and settled like the dust on the old bookshelf in his Father’s office.

“Take your time, Jongdae, there’s no rush. I’ll be right here for you.”

“You promise?” Jongdae looked up at Minseok with those same doe-eyes when he’d made his last promise.

Minseok nodded and outstretched his pinky finger towards the boy, “I promise.”

Jongdae’s stoic expression softened and a smile spread on his face. He stretched out his little pinky finger and wiggled it around in the open air, the promise passing between the two silently. Then suddenly, rather bravely, Jongdae took his first step onto the ice.

The boy’s heart was pounding inside his chest, hard enough that he believed it might break out at any moment. He burst out into a sweat as he tried to get both feet firmly on the slippery surface, legs wobbling underneath him. He reached for something to hold onto as he felt himself falling. His right hand reached out to nothing and he gasped when he realized that he was surely going to go down onto the ice, possibly break it open with a solid smack and then be lost in the pond’s waters again.

That's when two strong hands came down on his shoulders and straightened him up, stablizing him, “I’ve got you,” Minseok whispered.

Jongdae felt the pounding in his chest slow and he let out a shaky breath of relief. He looked up at the man, tilting his head back so that his head hit the man’s stomach. Twinkling eyes stared up at Minseok, a contented smile plastered on Jongdae’s face.

“I did it!”

“I’m proud of you.”

Jongdae’s cheeks tinged a pale pink, “Thank you.”

❅❅❅

At ten years old, Jongdae's parents divorced. His Father moved out to live with his mistress leaving the entire property to Jongdae and his Mother. The only thing that helped the small boy through the heartbreak of losing his Father was the thought of Minseok coming to see him again. It calmed him to know that at least when that man left, he would always come back no matter what. It made him happy. Made him believe in promises.

Jongdae found himself waiting every single day for the first frost of the year. He rocked on his heels in anticipation near the pond. When his friends asked him to come play, he said he was too busy. When his Mother called him in from the cold, he said he was fine.

One morning, Jongdae woke up to a freezing cold rush of wind about him. He stirred and pulled the blankets around him tighter, squeezing his eyes shut. The frosty air sent a chill down his spine - a comforting one. He recognized it almost immediately and sat up, blinking the sleep away from his eyes and squinting into the pale light of dawn.

The window was open and the curtains swayed gently in the breeze. Jongdae ran to it, sticking his head out into the cool late November air. Minseok was there by the pond. The boy watched him wave and turn on his heels disappearing with a snowfall.

Jongade frowned and shut his window, locking it tight. Why had the man disappeared without so much of a word to him? That's when he noticed it. There, on the pane of the window, was a white frost, making the boy's smile suddenly returned. For within the frost there was a drawing of a snowflake and the words 'I promise' scrawled beneath it.

❅❅❅

Years passed like this.

When Jongdae turned eleven, Minseok taught him to skate. He held the boy's hands in his own gloved ones, gliding gracefully across the pond. The boy followed in pursuit, a little less elegantly than the elder. They still smiled and laughed together, especially when Minseok fell on his back and Jongdae landed on his chest.

"You're warmer than I thought you would be." Jongdae smiled and closed his eyes, comforted by the way Minseok's arms encircled him.

Minseok blushed at the compliment. He felt his heart slowly melting.

When Jongdae was twelve, Minseok made it snow just for him. The snowflakes powdered the little boy's hair and he caught one on his tongue. Minseok watched in amusement as the boy tried to compare the snowflakes to each other. Three, four, five or more flakes landed on the black sleeve of his wool coat and he observed them intently.

"Is it true that there are no two snowflakes alike?" Jongdae asked in admiration.

Minseok smiled, "I create each one special."

The next year, Jongdae turned thirteen. Minseok gave him an extraordinary belated birthday gift. It was a silver necklace with a snowflake on it. Jongdae was excited and embarrassed by the gift, but he wore it every single day after he'd received it.

The snowflake, the boy noted, matched the one hanging around Minseok's neck.

"I thought no two snowflakes looked alike," Jongdae wondered allowed, tracing the pattern of the one hanging around his neck.

"I made these two for us." Minseok smiled, touching the one around his neck, "A symbol of our friendship."

Best friends, Jongdae thought to himself, Minseok is my best friend.

He reached up on tiptoes, hands resting on Minseok's shoulders for leverage as he pressed timid lips against the man's cold cheek.

"Thank you," Jongdae said shyly, face flaming red and the ground suddenly very interesting to look at.

Minseok couldn't respond. He only touched his cheek, the tingle of warm lips still there.

❅❅❅

At the awkward age of fourteen, Jongdae began to grow curious. He wanted to know more about the man named Minseok. He wanted to know why he always kept his promises to return. He wanted to know why he had a special gift. He wanted to know why he could see him when others couldn't. But, most importantly, he wanted to know why he always had butterflies fluttering in his stomach whenever the man visited.

"You always come back," Jongdae said curling up against Minseok's side, "Why?"

Minseok smiled and rubbed Jongdae's arm soothingly, "I made a promise with you."

Jongdae sighed happily, "But why? Why me?"

"You can see me and no one else can."

"But why?"

"I don't know, Jongdae. Maybe it's because you're unique."

Jongdae's hand reached up to tug on his snowflake necklace, "How do you make frost?"

"I told you before," Minseok grinned, "magic."

"You said you were sort of born with it. What does that mean? Were you born with it?"

"No," Minseok sighed, his grip on Jongdae's shoulder slackening, "I was born cold, but not with this." he outstretched his palm and a small snowflake formed before flittering away in the cool air.

"Then how?" The boy asked wiggling against the man's side until his hand wrapped firmly around the boy's shoulder once more.

"It was a curse," Minseok breathed out slowly.

The word curse caused Jongdae to quiver.

"How?"

"It's a long story," Minseok chuckled, "I don't have enough time to tell you now. Maybe next year."

Jongdae nodded, "Before you go can I..." He trailed off and his gaze slowly dropped to Minseok's lips, "Would you mind if I..." He didn't even finish his question before he quickly pecked Minseok's lips, the man disappearing under the soft touch.

Jongdae whined at the loss of contact and sighed at the mild bliss of smooth lips that he barely had the chance to feel.

So, I wrote this chapter while at work - please forgive any spelling errors that you probably will come across. I hope that you're liking it so far maybe? Also, if you have any requests, don't hesitate to ask me via PM or comment, etc ~