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You cup your hands into your face, blowing warm air between them to stop the numbness setting in, then hide them in the pockets of your thick winter coat. It’s a nice day out, you have to admit, even if it is a little cold. Thick blankets of snow cover the ground, the sun is shining brightly from above, and everyone around you is enjoying their time at the festive Christmas markets.
Your town’s Christmas market is one of your favourite things about the holidays, with hundreds of stalls dedicated to selling baubles and mulled wine, toys and chocolates, everything you could possibly need at Christmas time. There are also events such as the best dressed Santa competition, the ice-sculpting competition, and of course the bonfire at night where everyone comes together to sing festive songs. Yes, it’s safe to say that the Christmas market is one of your favourite things about the holidays.
Turning away from a stall selling Christmas cookies, you grin, hearing a childish scream of delight from the frozen lake. This year, the ice is thick enough to skate on. You decide to go over and watch, feeling it’s maybe a little too cold for you to go ice-skating, but warm enough for you to at least see others having fun.
You reach the railings separating the frozen lake from the street and lean on it with your arms dangling over the side, a smile on your face as you notice some children skating around in circles, some more successful than others. A thin boy with short blonde hair tries an intricate spin to impress his female friend, only he quickly loses his balance and ends up on the floor, the girl and his other, more-rounded friend with spiky brown hair, laughing at him.
There are also couples on the ice, skating hand-in-hand with each other, and even a set of instructors to teach the little ones how to skate for the first time. The instructors are dressed in black coats, some with fluffy hoods up, hiding their faces to shelter them from the chill.
Too busy staring at the skaters, you miss someone skating towards you. You only notice when the person skids to a halt beside you, pivoting around on their heel so they can lean back on the same railings you’re resting on.
“Do you want a go?”
You turn to look at them, only there’s a fluffy hood hiding their face.
“What? Oh. Well, I don't know. It's a little cold to be--”
“Excuses, excuses. I've heard them all.” The person lowers the hood from around their face. You notice the strikingly red hair first, spiking up and out from his head, then a pair of bright green eyes playfully watching you. “The name's Axel.” He taps the side of his head with a finger, “Got it memorised?”
His confident attitude catches you off-guard, and you can only giggle in response, unable to think of a proper comeback for a moment. When the shock of his personality, and his strikingly captivating face disappear, you half-heartedly try to defend yourself.
“It's not an excuse. It is cold.”
Axel shakes his head, as if he cannot believe the cold could put you off, then pushes away from the railings, spinning to face you, then grabs the barrier with both hands and pulls himself towards you, trapping your hands between his.
“So, what's your name?”
“____,” you reply, pulling back so his hair cannot tickle your face in the mild wind. He nods, smirking again.
“Okay, ____, I'm going to take a wild guess. The reason you don’t want to skate is because you’ve never done it before. Am I right?”
He’s wrong. You have skated quite a few times before, actually, but never on a frozen lake. You are used to skating on levelled-off ice-rinks where there is no chance of hitting a bump and falling flat on your face. Axel notices your hesitant expression and his smirk grows.
“Come on, it'll be fun. If you're worried about the cold, I've got enough body heat for the both of us. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall.”
You purse your lips, glad the cold weather has already stained your face pink, hiding your blush as he mentions sharing body heat, then you weigh up his offer in your head. Eventually you nod, smiling.
“Fine.”
Axel pushes back from the railings, grinning. “Great!”
“I don't have any skates, though.”
He motions for you to follow him, then skates slowly along the barrier.
“You can borrow some from us, don’t worry.” He points to the small shack by the edge of the lake where a man with bright pink, overly-flamboyant hair is sat behind a screen, taking money and handing out skates.
“Fine.” You know there is no way to get out of this, even if it is too cold for you. You can see your breath as a white cloud in front of your face. Axel, aware that you are following him, skates off ahead, over to the shack. At the point when any normal person would have crashed into the shack for travelling at such a high speed, Axel manages to perform a hockey stop, spraying ice-shavings into the screen, alarming the man with pink hair.
“Axel, what are you doing?”
“Showing off,” he says bluntly, placing his hands on the small ledge in front of the ticket booth. “Marluxia, take the price of some skates out of my wages, would ya'?”
“Sure,” he agrees, looking down to scribble the deductions onto a slip of paper, “Why, though?”
After a few moments with no reply, Marluxia looks up, only to find himself alone. Axel has already skated off, and is now standing with a pretty girl by the edge of the lake, helping her to find some skates that fit. He rolls his eyes.
Now wearing a comfortable pair of skates – already broken in from other peoples’ use – you walk across to the edge of the lake with Axel just ahead of you. He steps onto the ice first, skating just a short distance out, then turns and waits for you. Quietly confident in your skating ability, you are quick to follow him. You step onto the ice, giving yourself a bit of a push with the railings, then come to a gentle stop in front of Axel. He raised an eyebrow, his hand resting loosely on his hip.
“Well, it's good to know you have the basics nailed. I almost feel like you don’t need me.”
You think so too, right up until Axel skates away and you try to follow. You quickly realise that the lake is nothing like a levelled-off ice rink. There are bumps everywhere and you slow your pace for fear of falling and breaking something. Axel notices the gap between the two of you growing and turns, seeing you slowly making your way to catch up to him. He chuckles. He skates to you, around you, then when he’s behind you, he picks up your hands in his, lifting them out to your sides and holds them as he guides you from behind.
Luckily, with your back to him, Axel cannot see your face has gone from wind-burnt pink to the colour of his hair. He’s so close to you, and dear God he was right about having enough body-heat for the both of you. He is like a walking (or skating, in this case) hot-water bottle. He guides you around in a large circle, giving your confidence time to build as you find your frozen-lake-legs, then you pick up speed. When you skate past the shack, Axel's hands leave yours and he lets you go, testing if you will be okay on your own.
By now, your skating confidence has returned and now, with the freedom to do so, you speed off ahead. Axel watches you go, an eyebrow raised in amusement, then he picks up speed to catch up with you, narrowly avoiding hitting other skaters as he does. You smile, having missed being on the ice for so long. It has been a good twelve months since you last skated, and you have to admit you were a little rusty to start, but now, back in your stride, you begin weaving in and out of people, occasionally risking it, turning to skate backwards, catching Axel's gaze each time you do. He is close behind you, just-in-so keeping his distance to give you space – no one likes a clingy instructor, after all. Though, seeing you skating backwards, grinning at him and waving, he hardly thinks he can call himself your instructor. You are probably just as good at skating as he is.
Watching the groups of people around you, some holding hands as they skate as couples, you spin to face forwards then break away from the unofficial circle circuit everyone is moving in, heading more towards the centre of the lake. You can see someone you recognise. Roxas, a friend of yours from town, is trying to teach a couple of tiny children how to stand on their skates. Watching the scene at a slowed pace, you only notice the bubble of heat appear behind you at the last second, hearing Axel say,
“I guess I was wrong when I said you’d never skated before, huh?”
His sudden appearance surprises you, and you spin mid-stride to look at him, skating backwards without intending to. He grins in greeting. You are so surprised at Axel's sudden appearance that, whilst wondering how he has got behind you without you noticing, you accidentally miss your footing. You spin forward in an attempt to correct it, but when you’re facing the way you’re moving, you notice just how close you are to Roxas and his tot pupils. There is little you can do to stop yourself crashing into him, less so when you are still trying to catch your footing. He raises his hands up to his face in a pitiful defence. To make matters worse, you feel your legs start to do the forward splits. With your front foot a few moments away from wiping Roxas out, a pair of arms calmly wrap themselves around your waist and pull you up, hauling you off to the side, out of harm’s way.
Skating away, stunned that you have not collided, you manage to turn and call over Axel's shoulder,
“Sorry, Roxas!”
The boy watches Axel steering you away, shocked at having been spared, forgetting the two tots attempting to stand upright on their skates beside him.
Axel, still with his arms wrapped around your middle, smirks.
“Told you I wouldn't let you fall.”
You chuckle, appreciating Axel for saving you from a very embarrassing experience. He gives you a sudden squeeze, pulling you away from the thought of you and Roxas lying in a crumpled, broken heap in the middle of the lake. You look over your shoulder at him, still intent on not falling over even with Axel's arms around you. He says, nudging his head back towards your blonde haired friend in the middle of the lake,
“I didn't know you knew Roxas?” then he added with a cheeky grin, “I didn't think he had any friends.”
“Oh, very nice.” You giggle, then nod, returning your gaze forward. Really, though, you have no need to look where you are going. You are strictly on auto-pilot, Axel insisting on doing all of the work, “Of course I know him. Everyone knows everyone who lives here.”
When Axel speaks next, you hear a hint of surprise.
“Seriously? You know everyone?” He chuckles, “Sounds like way too much time and effort to me.”
You give a soft smile, Axel guiding the pair of you through a group of skating couples.
“It's no effort at all. Meeting new people is fun, and it helps them feel welcome if they've just moved in.”
“You remind me of this girl, Naminé. She's one of these nice-y-nice people too.”
You raise an eyebrow. “Why does that sound like an insult?”
Axel laughs loudly, pulling you backwards into him when a group of three friends suddenly skate onto the ice in front of you. Barely missing you, the boy at the front with brown hair waves and grins sheepishly.
“Sorry, ____!”
You wave back, barely given time to make eye contact before Axel whisks you off again,
“Hi Sora! No worries!”
Axel chuckles again. Everything you do seems to amuse him.
“Hell, you really do know everyone.”
Although you are moving around the ice, it is not by your own feet. After pulling you into him to avoid the collision, Axel has not loosened his grip around you, and is skating the pair of you around the large, unofficial circuit.
“Told you.”
The only problem with winter is the sun setting too early. All too soon, the sky has lit with brilliant oranges, purples, reds and yellows, and now the light is starting to fade. By now, you have pulled away from Axel and are skating alongside him, talking to one another quite merrily. Suddenly, the church bells begin to ring. You stop, listening to them, but nearly trip again. Axel puts out an arm to stop you.
“Steady, ____.” he says with a smirk. You give him your thanks, and pull yourself upright. You look towards the church, seeing a group of people congregating already. You check your watch.
“Well, I better get going.”
Unbeknown to you, still looking at your watch, Axel's face drops. Nevertheless, he offers coolly,
“Okay. I'll take you back to the shack.”
You nod with a smile, then you both spin on your heels and skate slowly back to the little shack, you, personally, making every attempt not to fall over. When you are back on solid land, it feels almost strange. Having been on the ice for the best part of an afternoon, you have lost your land-legs and wobble the whole way across to a bench, thankful you can sit down to take off your skates.
Axel comes onto solid land too, finding the change much easier than you as he is used to being on and off it all day. As you unfasten your skates he walks over and leans against the side of the shack, folding his arms. The street-lamps overhead are already beginning to flicker into life, and high up above, tiny stars have started twinkling in the early night sky. Axel almost smiles at them. He looks back at you and asks, trying to make conversation,
“So, what are you up to now, ____?”
After a short struggle with one of your skates, you reply,
“I'm heading over to the fire,” you start unfastening the second skate, “to sing some carols, of course.”
Axel chuckles.
“Of course.”
When you are out of your skates, you hand them to Axel and give him thanks – knowing fine well he has paid for your time on the ice, even if he won’t admit it – then wait for him to put them away, leaning on the outer-side of the railings, as you did earlier today. Once he has put your boots away, Axel shuffled across the ground in his skates to the railings, resting his elbows on them next to you.
“So,” he says with the same playful smirk you spent today growing accustomed to, “Will I be seeing you here tomorrow?”
You feel your cheeks hotting up and giggle it off, noticing the hopeful expression hidden in his eyes.
“Maybe,” you offer. You have stuff to do tomorrow, presents shopping and the like, but it would be nice to skate with him again. At the thought of seeing you again, Axel’s smirk melts into a genuine smile.
You give him a final wave, saying good bye, then turn and disappear into the crowds. Those who are still about town seem to be travelling in the same direction as you, probably heading for the bonfire. You look about, noticing a lot of the locals, and feel a warmth in yourself. Your town is friendly at the best of times, but at Christmas you become family. One who shares in tradition and sings together near the warmth of a tall fire.
After a short moment's walk, you end up at the gates of the church where a large bonfire is waiting to be lit. It is tall, and no doubt nearly ready. This year's fire is going to be better than any before it, you can tell. You can tell simply by its height. The highest piece of wood is just to the side of the telephone wires, running high up in the air.
As you stare up into the air, a friend comes up alongside you and taps you on the shoulder, grinning.
“Hi, ____.”
You turn to look at them, startled by their touch. It has become apparent to you from today that you have lost your ability to sense others around you. You smile, seeing who it is.
“Roxas!” You laugh suddenly, remembering your near-miss earlier, “Sorry about before. If Axel hadn't moved me I'm sure I would have flattened you.”
Roxas laughs too. “Yeah, I think so.”
You feign a hurt expression.
“Hey!” You swipe at him, but he moves just in time to have you swipe at the air instead. He laughs, turning his gaze when he is sure you will not attack him again, to the stack of firewood.
“They're going to light it soon, huh?”
“Yeah,” you nod with a grin on your face, “Got your singing voice warmed up?”
He rolls his eyes.
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely.”
“Lip syncing again this year?”
He grins, giving you a thumbs-up.
“You know it.”
You both laugh. Then you notice something. Your laughter dies away, leaving Roxas' to carry on alone. Roxas is here. Roxas is here – he isn't on the ice any more.
“Roxas,” you exclaim, cutting his laughter short, “Why aren't you on the ice?”
He looks at you weirdly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t I live there now.”
“No, no,” you wave your hands about, correcting yourself, “I didn't mean that. I just mean how come you’re not instructing now?”
“We've closed for the night, obviously. It’s too dark to see anything, and it’s late anyway.”
“Oh,” you say, realising that most of the shops have shut by now so the workers can join in the festivities.
Well then, you think, if Roxas has closed up shop for the night, then it means the ice rink has closed. Which means a certain someone else was no longer instructing.
“Good evening, folks. It’s about time we got this fire lit, don't ya' think?”
As the crowds around you begin to cheer for the fire, you look away from Roxas, up at the figure on the podium besides the bonfire pile. He is shrouded in a black winter coat with the hood up, but only for a moment. He pulls it down, revealing his large mass of spiky, red hair. He’s smirking.
“I thought so. Well then,” he looks around, as if checking the distance of everyone around him. “Stand back!”
You are happily delighted to see Axel, but cannot help but wonder what he is doing. You assume he is going to light the fire, but he has no flaming torch, no blow-flame, not even a box of matches. How then...?
Roxas taps you on the shoulder, telling you to watch him closely. He knows you like theatrics, and this will make your Christmas. You do as you are told. Axel, after making sure everyone is absolutely out of the way, pulls both arms up from his sides, holding them out in front of him, palms towards the pile of wood. Everyone around you stills, watching him. He seems to be concentrating. Stood so far away, you do not see the immediate action. However, when flames erupt from his hands and launch towards the pile of wood, setting them alight, quickly engulfing the entire pile, you step back in shock.
People all around clap and shout, cheering “bravo” in Axel's direction. He smirks, takes a bow, then jumps from the small podium into the crowd. Now he is out of sight, you round on Roxas, open-mouthed,
“What just happened?”
Roxas smiles innocently, shrugging it off like he has no clue.
“He calls it his 'party-trick'.”
“That’s one hell of a party-trick.” you look up at the large furnace of heat which, moments ago, had been a simple pile of wood.
“Why, thank you, ____,” gloats a voice from beside you. You look to where the voice came from, already knowing who it is by the tone of smugness in his voice. Roxas slips away, smiling at the pair of you.
“You're welcome,” you say, honestly, then point at the tower of flames, “How did you do it?”
He shuffles the last few inches to stand next to you, letting the heat fan his face,
“Oh, you know. I just did this and that.”
You can tell he is being vague on purpose. You let the question drop.
“So,” you say quickly, changing the subject, “It's nice to see you're off work. Are you going to sing tonight?”
Axel shrugs, turning his head lazily to look at you,
“Well it's not really my thing, you know?”
“Oh?” you say, giving him a suspicious eye, “How come you're still here then? You could be catching the train out of town now.”
Axel passes you a mischievous smirk.
“I have hidden agendas.”
“Oh,” you laugh, “that's reassuring.”
“Yeah,” he say as if agreeing, “One of them is making sure you don't trip and nearly fall flat on your face again.”
You turn your whole body to face him, your hands on your hips but a smirk on your face,
“Nice try. I'm not on bumpy ice any more, so I hardly think I'm going to--”
Before you can stop it, Axel kicks you in the back of the shins, pulling the ground out from under you. You topple backwards, surprise plastered on your face, and manage to catch Axel’s eye before you fall. He smirks for a second as if to say 'ha, I was right', then reaches forwards, leaning over you to catch you across the lower back with an arm. You grab his upper arm for dear life, then his free arm darts out to grab your free hand, yanking it up into the air to stop you hitting the floor. To anyone else it looks as though the pair of you have just finished a dance together; Axel dipping you low and elegantly over the ground, your chest raised and your head close to the floor.
He smirks again, this time more charming than smug, and speaks softly, the words dancing in and out of your ears as he leans down whilst simultaneously lifting you up into him, his face close to yours,
“I told you I’ll catch you when you fall. Got it memorised?”
He leans down that little bit more, his warm breath tickling your neck, then captured your lips in his, his hand squeezing yours that little bit tighter.
Had you been paying attention to anything other than Axel and how soft his lips are, you might have noticed that you were missing the first Christmas song of the evening.
Ah well, you have a new favourite part of Christmas now, anyway.