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“Why are we doing this again?” Johann asked, finishing the laces of his ice skates.
Unlike his boyfriend Caesar, who knew how to skate, the golden-eyed male didn’t know a single thing about skating. He was a little bit reluctant to go out onto the ice, but Caesar had a way of convincing him to do new activities for fun rather than for education.
“Because it’s fun!” Caesar laughed, his laces already tied, “I won’t get to keep you for Christmas so I have to settle for now.”
The blond’s voice had a bittersweet tone to it for that last bit, but it quickly went back to the excitement and wonder that he had for their dates. Johann had made plans to take his mother and step-father out for a Christmas dinner, thinking that Caesar already had Christmas plans. Little did he know the sap had canceled all his plans and planned for them to travel together. That however was now out the window much to Caesar’s dismay, but Johann didn’t know how to fix the situation so he chose to leave it alone for now.
With as much balance and grace as he could muster, Johann stood up on the metal blades and tried to make his way to the wall of the rink. Almost face-planting into the floor if it wasn’t for Caesar’s quick reaction time.
Caesar’s chest was much better and warmer than the floor.
“I’m not even on the ice.” Johann hummed in dissatisfaction, looking up at shining blue puppy-dog eyes.
“You’ll be fine. I got you.”
Caesar, with the grace of a nobleman, guided Johann out onto the slippery ice. Their hands glued together in part due to the shorter’s balance and the coldness of the air. When the blond was about to let go Johann tightened his grip, not out of fear of falling, but of letting go.
“Don’t let go.”
Like a pro, Caesar skated in front of Johann and proceeded to connect their free hands together before skating backward, “How about this?”
Basically, Caesar was pulling Johann with him as he taught the basics of ice skating, telling him how to move his feet. It took all his willpower to not fall. He would not embarrass himself over a stupid thing like ice skating. It worked for quite a few laps. Johann came close to falling back, but Caesar, giggling, tugged him upright and stole a kiss. The blond was definitely doing most of the heavy lifting as he had to keep Johann upright and keep an eye behind him, but he found he didn’t mind. Johann was deadly cute when he was focused and this time was no expectation. His golden eyes were zoned in on their feet and his hands tightening around Caesar’s in a possessive fashion.
“Darling relax.” The blond suddenly called. Which made Johann flinch and twist his feet in the wrong way and before he knew it he fell into Caesar, who in turn was brought down onto the ice. A loud thud made its way across the ice rink and the few people around looked to them before looking away. Johann pushed himself off his cushion of a boyfriend and was about to apologize when he met his boyfriend’s half-lidded gaze.
“Caesar?” The blond continued to watch Johann with a fascinated look, lifting a hand to cup one of his cheeks.
“Hmm... yes?”
“Are you alright?”
What scared Johann was the slow response time. Caesar was usually quick to the punch when it came to talking to Johann. Usually wanting the last word, so it was eerie just how long Caesar stared up at him as if he was seeing double. Slowly, Johann moved his hands to the back of Caesar’s head feeling only the cold of the ice and nothing wet, thankfully.
“...I’m fantastic.” He said smiling up at Johann dumbly as if he was some sort of angel coming down from heaven.
“I think we finished skating today. Come on.” Johann stood up before offering his hand for Caesar to take, but after a few minutes under the blond’s gaze, he realized he had to get Caesar up and out of the rink mostly on his own. He sighed, bracing himself as he took Caesar’s cold hands, and lifted him up. Cradling him against his body as he slowly inched them to the safety of the wall. Then, as irritatingly slow it was, Johann dragged Caesar out of the ring and sat him on the bench to take off their skates. He took off his own first before gently removing Caesar’s.
“Baby,” Caesar called lightly tapping Johann with his foot. “Relax.”
“I’ll relax when I get you home.”
“But I don’t want to go home,” Caesar whined, looking away from Johann’s stern golden-eyes in favor of looking back out to the rink. The sunset created a soft glow over the rink and the remaining skaters and there was a ping of need to get back onto the ice. Johann was surprised at how soft Caesar looked, how his hair glittered like gold from the winter sun and how his fed cheeks matched his scarf.
“Come with me.” Johann blunted out, clasping Caesar’s hand. His thumb grazing over his knuckles as he brought it to his lips and blew on cold fingers. “For Christmas. My mother won’t mind.”
A smile graced Caesar’s face as he looked down at Johann, “I thought you would never ask.”