I'm only doing this because I love Tao. I'm only doing this because I love Tao. The mantra kept playing over and over in his mind. You know why? Because by God, Kris was about to go ice-skating.

Tao had personally gone out and had bought a brand new pair of men’s ice skates for both him and his boyfriend. He spent over a hundred dollars a piece on the lovely pairs of footwear. Kris didn’t want his efforts to go to waste, despite having the balance of a puppy running over marbles and soap.

Dressed in a T-shirt, black hoodie and jeans, Kris felt very underdressed when Tao exited the changing room in his skating garb. Long black spandex pants attached to a skin tight – yet frilled – long sleeved top, Kris’s jaw dropped at the sight of him. They way the sleeves showed off Tao’s perfectly sculpted arms. The way the black pants clung to his gorgeously toned thighs and . Oh, Kris definitely couldn’t regret this decision.

“How do I look?” Tao asked brushing his hair out of his eyes. His hand rested sassily on his hip, striking a pose as if he were a model. If Kris’s jaw hadn’t already dropped it would’ve now. By God, that is one y piece of .

Stuttering for a response, he finally bit out, “You look… amazing!”

“I know!” Tao skipped over to him, grabbing his arm and tugging him toward the ice.

They weren’t the only ones there, so the nervous feeling crept back into Kris’s stomach. I’m just going to end up making a fool myself, aren’t I? “Um, Tao, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Tao wasn’t listening. “Not now! I want to try one of those couple spins that the pairs do.” Getting onto the ice, Tao took to the ice like a fish in water, dragging poor clumsy Kris behind him. But unlike what Tao thought, Kris was not a skater. Not one bit.

One second, his feet were on the ice. The next, his feet were in the air.

Stopping short, Tao turned around to look at Kris is shock. What happened? Why did Kris suddenly fall? He does know how to skate, right? “Oh, you’re just out of practice, aren’t you?” Tao laughed down at his boyfriend. Kris rubbed his head from the pain, staring up at Tao curiously.

“Um, Tao… I’ve been meaning to tell you…” He sighed. “I’ve never skated before. I don’t know how to skate,” he admitted.

The look on Tao’s face could be read and interpreted in so many different ways. However, the one overlying emotion was confusion. “I don’t understand. I thought you were a skater. What were you doing at the ice rink, then?”

“Well, you see, about that…”

Three months ago, the two met each other at this very ice rink, the Seoul Ice Stadium. Tao had literally run right into him on his way to practice. He’d been in a hurry and wasn’t looking where he was going. And thank God he wasn’t. Tao had bumped into the most attractive man he had every laid eyes. Handsome blond hair, a tall stature, not to mention the y glint in his eyes, oh man, Tao was star struck.

Kris had been putting away skater’s outfits when the two bumped into each other. Granted, they weren’t his. He just hadn’t realized he had to tell Tao that.

In actuality, Kris drove the Zamboni. He worked part-time here at the rink while being a full-time student at the nearby university, studying art. Tao knew most of this. Hell, they’ve been dating for a month now. Just, their meeting has been laced with a minor non-truth.

“… I drive the Zamboni, Tao. That’s why I was here.”

Tao fell silent. I mean sure, he never really asked Kris before if he was a skater. And yeah, he kind of just jumped to conclusions, but Kris should’ve known that he thought that, right? Seeing the confusion on Kris’s face said it all. Maybe he really didn’t know I thought he was a skater.

“Do you want me to teach you?”

~*~

The couple spent four hours at the ice rink trying to teach the clumsy puppy to skate. Kris fell on his a grand total of 310 times, and Tao laughing his off a grand total of 310 times. You have no idea how much fun Tao was having. He got to troll his boyfriend and show him his other love: figure skating.

Kris had never felt more tired, granted he spent three and a half of those hours on his on the ice but still. Watching Tao skate made it all worth it though. Watching Tao spin and twirl and smile and laugh made Kris just love him even more. His coworkers – several of which had come out to make fun of him – could bite it. He couldn’t care less what the thought, so long as Tao cared.

“You look like a giraffe on roller-skates,” Tao laughed as he helped Kris up for the 311^th time.

Kris pouted, “Shut up!”

Tao roared again, “You know I love you.” He leant forward to steal a kiss, only to topple them both back onto the ice. “I love you and your clumsy feet.” He kissed Kris once again, lying on his broad chest and feeling only bliss.

“I love you, too,” Kris replied, a laugh rumbling through his chest. “You and your glittering outfits that I’ll be cleaning off myself for days.”

Tao hit him. Getting off of his boyfriend and pulling him up yet again, he said, “C’mon, let’s get out of here before either of us catch a cold.”

Day one complete! Get ready for our EXO Couples as they countdown to Christmas~

~MidnightMusic96