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winter. the coldest time of the year, yet one of the most loved. maybe not in tsukasa's opinion, though. sure, he liked the snow and the festivity, but he disliked the cold. it wasn't that he was bothered by it (he was generally a warm person), so much that cold weather usually brought sickness. thus, he'd never stayed out in the snow for too long, ever conscious of saki's health. it was only this year that he'd started to hang out with his friends during winter, since saki seemed to be improving steadily. still, he didn't have much of a reason to like it (aside from being rui's designated space heater. not that he'd admit it to anyone.)
but of course, you can't have winter without ice skating! according to emu, that is, leading to the rest of them being dragged down to a local rink that had opened for the holiday season. once they had arrived, emu grabbed nene by the hands and took off with her towards the ice, yelling something along the lines of 'this is going to be wonderhoi!'. if tsukasa was being honest, he wasn't paying much attention to her, more focused on the fact that he'd never been great at ice skating. he'd only ever been a few times in his life, all of which ending in complete disaster. he could never manage to get his balance right, usually settling for clinging to the wall as a guide. which he was doing right now, no surprise there, while his friends sped around the rink (somewhat) flawlessly. emu seemed to know what she was doing and was helping nene learn how to keep her balance, never once letting go of her hands. what came as a surprise to him, though, was ... rui. the way he effortlessly glided across the ice reminded tsukasa of something you'd see in a fantasy film. the smile on rui's face as he elegantly spun around was breathtaking. tsukasa had to tear his eyes away from the sight, a light blush dusting his cheeks, instead focusing on attempting to let go of the wall.
it wasn't to say that tsukasa was bitter about being unable to skate, but, well, he was bitter. as enjoyable as watching rui was, he felt a little bit jealous. he wanted to be the one to impress the other boy, not the other way around. he bit his lip, taking both his hands off of the wall and managing to move forward slightly ... before losing his balance and falling forward onto his hands and knees. his failure had attracted rui, it seemed, as he watched the other boy glide towards him, offering up a hand. tsukasa graciously took it, shivering slightly from the ice on his clothing and leaning back against the wall for stability. he thanked rui, looking everywhere but him in embarrassment.
"tsukasa-kun, can you not skate?" rui questioned, cocking his head to the side in confusion (kind of like a cat). tsukasa shook his head, red dusting his cheeks for the second time that night. he heard rui laugh and looked back at him, only to find both of his hands held out for tsukasa to take. "here, i'll teach you." he offered.
placing his hands in rui's, tsukasa allowed himself to be gently pulled towards the centre of the rink, marvelling at how easy it was for rui to skate backwards so that he could face him.
"now," rui instructed, "try to mirror my movements. when i move my foot backwards, move it forwards." tsukasa nodded, trying his best to do what he was asked. eventually, he managed to get into a secure rhythm, rui even letting go of one hand to move to his side. they stayed like this for a while, before tsukasa came to the realisation that rui was holding his hand. the blush on his face increased tenfold and he tripped, losing his balance once more and falling backwards. however, instead of hitting the ground below him, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and hold him in place, making sure he wouldn't collide with the ice. rui laughed once more, pulling him up and leading him towards the edge of the rink and onto solid ground. "how about we take a break for now, hm?"
if tsukasa wasn't so flustered, he would have noticed the way nene shot rui a thumbs-up from the other side of the ice.