"Oh, this is a terrible idea," Hakyeon said in horror.

Taekwoon glanced down at him. They were both bundled up to the ears in coats, scarves, hats, and mittens, but the biting winter air was still making both of them shiver. At some point during their long walk Hakyeon had taken hold of Taekwoon's hand, which he had held onto tightly. Taekwoon hadn't told him where they were going, just that it was his Christmas present to Hakyeon.

Now, as they stood on the bank of a frozen pond, Hakyeon dropped Taekwoon’s hand.

"Let me guess, your present to me is teaching me how to ice skate, which means there are ice skates in that duffle bag you wouldn't let me look into," Hakyeon said, gesturing to the bad Taekwoon had slung over his shoulder when they left the house.

When Taekwoon didn’t reply Hakyeon shook his head, backing up several pace. "No, no, no, I don't skate. Never have, never will. Very bad idea."

He turned to leave, but Taekwoon caught his wrist, stopping him. "It's hardly any different than dancing," he said softly with a small frown.

"It's very different!" Hakyeon said indignantly. "When I dance the ground usually isn't made of ice, which means there's an infinitely smaller chance of me falling."

"I'll catch you," Taekwoon murmured.

Hakyeon glared at him for a moment. "You're not going to let me win this, are you?"

Taekwoon shook his head.

"Fine!" Hakyeon threw his hands in the air in defeat and trudged over to the frozen pond. "But if I fall and break one or both of us, it's your fault."

Taekwoon hid his smile as he pulled out the skates that he had carefully selected for Hakyeon the day before. They were pure white, a stark contrast to the black ones he had selected for himself.

Hakyeon had seated himself on a semi dry patch of graound next to the pond and Taekwoon knelt in front of him. He took one of Hakyeon's feet gently in his hands and began to switch the shoe for an ice skate. Hakyeon flushed.

"I can do it myself," he protested in a mumble.

Taekwoon silently ignored him as he could hear the pleased note in Hakyeon's voice. After he had changed them both into their skates, Taekwoon pulled Hakyeon to his feet and led him onto the ice, both of them clumping clumsily on their skates.

Taekwoon slid onto the ice first before turning to pull the reluctant Hakyeon after him. As soon as Hakyeon's skates hit the ice he shrieked, grasping wildly for Taekwoon.

"I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall!"

"You're not going to fall," Taekwoon said patiently, wrapping an arm around Hakyeon's waist as he began to skate slowly away from the bank of the pond.

Hakyeon kept his tight grip on Taekwoon, but began to move his feet. They began to glide, with Taekwoon directing them, circling around the pond slowly, but gracefully. Hakyeon began to loosen his death-grip on Taekwoon so that, eventually, they were just holding hands. As they skated, Hakyeon's smile widened and Taekwoon found it more and more difficult to watch where he was directing them as he got more and more distracted by Hakyeon's smile.

Fortunately, they were near the bank when Hakyeon finally slipped.

Taekwoon felt their feet getting pulled out from under him and he turned mid-air so that Hakyeon landed on top of him. The snow on the bank had cushioned their fall so that Taekwoon's landing wasn't as hard as it could have been.

Hakyeon was laughing as he looked down at Taekwoon and brushed some snow out of his hair. "You really did catch me, did you?"

Taekwoon shrugged. "I told you I would," he murmured.

"This was the best Christmas gift ever," Hakyeon said, still smiling. "Thank you, Taekwoon. And Merry Christmas."

Taekwoon didn't reply exect to reach up and pull Hakyeon's head down for a long, deep kiss.

When Taekwoon pulled back, a smile shy smile spread over his lips.

"Merry Christmas."