---

Three weeks later, Kyungsoo finds himself tightly holding onto Jongin's hands for dear life.

It's a Saturday afternoon and the two of them are downtown on an ice-skating date. Others are skating past them as the two of them stay near the railing; Jongin trying to teach Kyungsoo how to glide confidently across the ice and Kyungsoo not having any of it. Jongin's apparently ice-skated plenty of times before with his friends while this is the first time that Kyungsoo's ever set foot in ice skates, much less on an ice-rink.

"You can do it~" Jongin says with an encouraging smile.

"No-no-no!" Kyungsoo exclaims, his voice cracking as Jongin moves them both away from the railing.

Jongin laughs as Kyungsoo continues to groan in fear and Kyungsoo tightens his grip on Jongin's hands and glares at a teen who chuckles at him. Then, the teen looks at a girl standing near the rails with her friend and winks at them before doing a quick spin on the ice--eliciting a few claps from some of the people watching. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and unknowingly tightens his grip on Jongin's hands even more.

"H-hey...it's alright," Jongin says, grimacing a bit at Kyungsoo's grip.

Kyungsoo curiously looks up at him before his eyes widen when he sees his expression and realizes how tight his grip must be right now. Immediately, he loosens his grip and apologizes.

Jongin just blows out a puff of air in response before giving him a small smile to show that it's alright.

"So strong," Jongin says flirtatiously.

Kyungsoo can't help but giggle and they smile at each other just as a little kid slowly skates by while holding onto a penguin-shaped skate-helper thing. Kyungsoo's eyes flit to the kid and his eyebrows raise at the sight of the short penguin-helper. Then he looks back up at Jongin and says, "I need one of those!"

Jongin laughs in surprise, his eyes cutely crinkling and his dimple showing, and shakes his head. "You're so cute."

His eyes then do that sparkling thing that gets Kyungsoo's heart beating faster and Jongin stops them at the corner of the entrance to the rink. Kyungsoo lets out a scared sound as Jongin lets go and he latches onto the rink railing as he feels his legs wobbling. He blushes and quickly adjusts his glasses while Jongin looks at him with a small smile. Then, the teen from earlier skates by again and Kyungsoo glares at them while imagining himself being able to do flips and spins and the like.

"Show-off," he grumbles while watching the teen.

While he does that, Jongin turns his head to watch as more people pass by and the little kid from earlier skates towards the entrance too. Jongin looks at the penguin-helper and immediately remembers Kyungsoo wanting one and so he calls out a Hey, kid to get the kid's attention. Kyungsoo then turns to see what's going on and the kid stops near the entrance and looks up at Jongin with wide eyes.

"Hi there," Jongin says with a smile.

"Hello..." the kid shyly repeats back.

"Um, so this is kinda random but my friend here--" Jongin turns to Kyungsoo before looking back at the kid. Kyungsoo's eyes widen at the sudden eye-contact. "--was kinda wondering if he could use that penguin for a few."

"A few?" the kid asks.

"Yeah, just for a few circles around," Jongin explains, doing a circling motion with his index finger. "Is that okay?"

The kid looks from him, to Kyungsoo, and then to their dad who's sitting on the bench nearby before looking down at the penguin. "Okay," the kid says, looking up at them with a smile.

Jongin grins wide and thanks the kid before reaching for the penguin-helper and bringing it over for Kyungsoo to place his hands on its handles. The kid then leaves the rink and stomps on the rubbery surface towards their dad who's calling their name and praising them for sharing.

Kyungsoo bashfully lowers his head to the penguin and thanks Jongin before slowly letting go of the railing and grabbing onto the penguin handles. His eyes instantly widen as he feels himself sliding backwards on the ice with it and he lets out fearful noises as his stance starts widening without him wanting it to.

"J-jongin...!" he cries.

Jongin turns away from the kid and dad that he was waving at to look at him. "Woah, look at you!" Jongin says, beaming.

"Ahh...!" Kyungsoo wails, gripping onto the penguin for dear life and sliding further towards the ice.

A few parents look at them with smiles on their faces and Jongin moves to help Kyungsoo get back to a proper height while laughing. He then positions him and the penguin around so that they can skate around the rink and pushes Kyungsoo a bit to get some momentum going.

Kyungsoo groans in fear again and swears that once they get off the ice, he's gonna punch the out of something. But instead of letting go like Kyungsoo had thought he would--Jongin keeps his hand on the small of his back and Kyungsoo wants to cover his own face with his hands because he's a hundred percent sure that his face is as red as a tomato right now.

----

A few more circles around the rink and Kyungsoo finally has to call it quits.

In the end, he had a lot of fun feeling the wind on his face and listening to Jongin's excited laughs next to him. But, his feet are aching like hell now and it's been kinda awkward having to bend down to hold onto the penguin's handles. Jongin pouts but agrees to leave the rink after seeing Kyungsoo's expression. So, Kyungsoo leaves the penguin-helper by the entrance and grabs onto Jongin's hand to walk towards the bench around the outside of the rink. Jongin smiles (and squeals for the umpteenth time today on the inside) and they both sit down to rest their feet.

"So, didya have fun?" Jongin asks, turning to Kyungsoo who's bent over trying to untie his skates' laces. "Wait--we gotta do that inside."

Kyungsoo looks up at him, about to say that, but is taken aback by Jongin's serious expression. He feels his own stomach flip-flop and gulps because Damn. He looks so good.

His eyes then flit to Jongin's pouty lips and then back up at his eyes and Jongin blinks rapidly and looks at his lips too with a shy smile slowly blooming. The rest of their surroundings blend into fogginess as they focus on each other, and they simultaneously lean in towards each other to kiss. The kiss stays light but Kyungsoo wants it to be way more and pouts when Jongin pulls away.

"Um, let's go in," Jongin says after looking a bit around them.

He stands up and Kyungsoo looks around too and agrees after he sees a few parents looking at them in shock and a few kids pointing to them with either smiling faces or gaping mouths. He gets onto his feet and Jongin holds his hand as they walk (or in Kyungsoo's case waddle) to the place to return/get skates.

When they've returned their skates and have gotten their regular shoes back, Kyungsoo lets out the deepest sigh as he steps back into his own black shoes. Jongin turns to him with an amused half-smile on his face while he puts on his own shoes and Kyungsoo asks, What?

"Oh, not