“Ready to go?” Chanyeol bounced up and down as best as he could while wearing skates. You tugged at your laces, finally satisfied by the snug fit of your shoes, and stood up, making a face as you adjusted your balance. You were fairly confident in your ice-skating abilities, but it had been a year or two since you’d last been – regaining those skills would probably come at the cost of a few falls, which you weren’t too enthusiastic about. Falling on ice hurt.

Still, you were genuinely excited as you grinned back at Chanyeol. “Yeah, let’s go!”

He beamed back and the two of you stomped off towards the entrance of the skating rink. Some of your friends were already on the ice, which, considering the size of your group today, was only natural. It was a rare occasion that all the boys had been able to come, and all twelve of them plus a semi-open invite made it hard to keep track of everyone. It was by pure chance that you had ended up sitting next to Chanyeol, whom you hadn’t seen for almost a month now.

With a good grip on the barrier, he stepped confidently onto the ice, taking only a few moments to adjust to this new way of moving before skating a few paces away and turning to watch you. “Are you coming?” he called cheerfully.

“Yeees,” you replied mockingly, dragging out the sound as you put one foot on the ice. Instantly it began to slide away from you, so you hurriedly latched onto the barrier and stepped out. Your skates were on the verge of slipping out from beneath you, so you propelled yourself alongside the barrier with your hands, slowly getting used to the feel of the ice. It was like riding a bike – it had been a long time, but your body still remembered how to do it.

That, you had no fears about. While you weren’t Kim Yuna, you were more than capable of skating in a large circle, which was the only thing leisure skating demanded. It was a far cry from some of the other members of your group, who were skating with varying degrees of success. Poor Kris was stumbling and slipping, even as he held onto the barrier for dear life; Seulgi was doing well – she looked to be at the same skill level as you – and Kai was probably on his 10^th lap of the rink by now, as he’d been the first to enter.

He looked in your direction, as if thinking about him had caught his attention, and spotted you from across the rink. You smiled and waved at him, unable to stop a blush from spreading across your cheeks. Although the two of you had confessed your feelings towards each other only two weeks ago, you hadn’t had many opportunities to go out together without your friends. Still, even from this distance you could see him smiling shyly at you, and you wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day skating with him.

“Hurry up,” Chanyeol whined. “Stop looking at your boyfriend.”

“Shut up,” you muttered, feeling slightly chastised. You really hadn’t been able to spend much time with some of the other guys in the group, Chanyeol included, and you had been meaning to use today to catch up with them, not Kai. “Sorry, I’m coming. Anyway, he’s not my boyfriend. Yet.”

Tentatively moving away from the barrier, you began to skate towards Chanyeol. With every push-and-glide movement, you felt more and more at home on the ice. “Geez, I haven’t been ice-skating in ages,” you confided, blowing warm air on your hands and rubbing them together. “Can’t believe I forgot to bring gloves.”

“Yeah, that was pretty dumb,” Chanyeol agreed. You snorted and smacked him lightly on the shoulder, only to wobble slightly as you lost your balance. With a squeak, you grabbed his arm until you both slowed to a stop.

“Rude,” you retorted, once you’d regained your balance.

“You’re welcome,” Chanyeol quipped back.

Rolling your eyes, you began skating again, falling into an easy rhythm. The two of you chatted for a bit, but it wasn’t long before Baekhyun caught up to you, grabbing your hand as he sped past. “Hey, let’s skate together?”

“Hey!” Chanyeol protested. “What about me?”

“Hey!” you protested, but he was already dragging you along. He was going way too fast for your liking, so you grabbed onto his wrist with your free hand and prayed as he pulled you around the rink. “Please slow down!”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Baekhyun pouted, but he slowed down, to your relief.

“Safety,” you answered sarcastically, eyeing your death grip on his hands meaningfully. “If you want to race someone, go ask Minseok. Or Chanyeol. Literally anyone but me, please.”

He sent puppy dog eyes your way. “Don’t you want to spend time with me?”  

“You’re so clingy, I saw you two days ago,” you teased, finally letting go of his hands.

“Fine,” Baekhyun huffed, snatching his hands back to cross his arms disapprovingly. “I’ll go bother someone else with my attention, since you–”

You swore when another skater sped past, too close for your liking. Swerving instinctively, you reached out to Baekhyun to steady yourself but he’d already moved away to avoid the other skater. With another curse, you went sprawling onto the ice, your hands and knees taking the brunt of your fall.

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun demanded, crouching unsteadily beside you. “Do you need any help?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you said automatically, but as you sat up and considered, you realised it was true. Your palms were a little tender but there was no bleeding; damp patches on your knees were the only sign that you had fallen.

Sighing ruefully, you began the arduous process of getting upright, bringing your right foot up so you were half-kneeling on the ice. With your hands resting either on your knee or on the ice, you shifted more weight to your supporting leg to test your balance – precarious but probably enough to get you standing. You straightened your legs tentatively, arms flailing a little as you tried to stand before a warm hand caught yours.

“Are you okay?” Kai asked, his free arm slipping around your waist to pull you closer. Pressed up against him

You glanced up and blushed slightly now that Kai was here to witness your tragic loss of coordination. Still, it wasn’t your fault and he looked adorably concerned, eyes darting frantically from you to Baekhyun to one of the nearby supervisors even as he extended his arm.

“Thanks,” you said, taking his offered hand after a slight pause but just as you began to stand up, Kai pulled you upright. Not expecting the movement, you ended up crashing into his chest, his other arm wrapping around you as you clutched as his shoulder to steady yourself.

“Sorry,” Kai said quickly, cheeks bright red, but he didn’t move away. You were feeling quite warm and cosy pressed up against him and with his arm around you. It was a welcome change from the unforgiving cold of the ice, and as if reading your thoughts, Kai said, “Your hands are cold.”

 You knew that already, of course, since they were practically numb from your fall – practically, because you could still feel a slight stinging sensation.  “I wonder why,” you said dryly.

“Don’t be rude,” Kai teased. “I’m the one who’s warming them up.” He brought your joined hands to chest level, just as the mischievous look in his eye faded to something more serious. Slowly releasing his grip, he flipped your hand over to examine your palms, which were still a little red. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” you told him seriously, but you weren’t able to stop the silly grin from spreading across your face. You brought up your free hand so you could grab onto both his hands, squeezing them reassuringly. “Seriously. It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’d be a pretty bad boyfriend if I didn’t worry about it,” he said softly, before abruptly ducking his head to press his lips to your knuckles. When he met your eyes again, you were both blushing furiously.

You had to bite your lip to stop yourself from giggling, even as you blurted, “But you’re not actually my boyfriend!”  Kai gaped at you, so you hastily added, “I mean, not yet! You haven’t actually asked!”

“Not yet,” he repeated slowly. “So…if I asked you now, what would you say?”

“I would say yes,” you said seriously, watching him carefully for his reaction.

Kai smiled brightly, his eyes curving into crescents. It was such a genuine, happy smile that you couldn’t help but smile in response. “Well, in that case…will you be my girlfriend–”

“Yes!” you interrupted, not even letting him finish the last word. For a moment, the two of you stared at each other, still smiling stupidly before you spoke. “Um, can you please lean down?”

He obeyed cautiously, leaning down until you could whisper in his ear. The close proximity made you shiver a little, but before you could lose your courage, you kissed his cheek. You only had a moment to marvel at the softness of his skin before he pulled back in surprise. To your amusement, the skin where your lips had touched was going bright red as he blushed.

“I, uh–” Kai stammered, ducking his gaze and reaching up with his free hand to ruffle his hair. You squeezed his hand gently, drawing his attention back to you.

“You okay?” you asked, tilting your head to the side. When he nodded and smiled, you beamed back. “Good! Better get used to it,” you said cheerfully.

He snorted, finally shaking off the surprise from your kiss. “Same goes for you,” he murmured, leaning down to press his lips to your cheek.

You didn’t think your face could go any warmer until Baekhyun cleared his throat. “Soo, I guess you don’t need any help?”