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Ichigo suppressed a shiver and pulled his coat around him tighter. The hall was cool, but he forgot about it soon enough when the dramatic music suddenly blasted from the speakers. Rukia exploded into action, gliding across the ice with ease while living the music, her usually guarded face now glowing with open joy. Her glide slowed down and she launched herself into a twirling jump. She landed gracefully and continued into a long slide and then turned to skate backwards for a moment before she started spinning on the spot, her other leg rising in the air, extending perfectly behind her.
It wasn’t the athleticism or the effort she put into it that made her skating so captivating to watch. It wasn’t even how expressive she became on the ice, how the smallest of her movements told a story.
It was the elegance. How she made it all look so easy even when Ichigo knew she had been honing her skills for over ten years.
Rukia had slowed down on the ice, the orchestral music finally fading. She stopped moving and struck a pose. Ichigo straightened and rubbed his hands together before applauding the performance. Rukia flashed a quick smile and then skated over to where Ichigo was leaning against the side of the ice rink.
Her cheeks were flushed.
“So, what do you think?” she asked him breathlessly.
“I think you were awesome, but then you always are awesome.”
Rukia huffed and playfully slapped his arm.
“Fat load of good, you are,” she complained. “Why do I even keep you around?”
“So you can always have a punching bag at hand,” Ichigo grumbled, rubbing his arm.
“I still need to practise the axel and the lutz, so you can go,” Rukia said, idly playing with the end of Ichigo’s muffler.
“Nah, I’ll stick around. We could go and grab a bite together afterwards, like last time?”
“Sure,” Rukia smiled.
Silence fell and they stood close together, trying to ignore the tension. Then, Rukia let go of Ichigo’s muffler and slid back to the centre of the ice.
“The same family restaurant from last time okay?” Ichigo asked when they met in the lobby of the ice rink.
“I’m absolutely famished, I don’t care where we go as long as there’s food.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’, then,” Ichigo smirked.
They stepped outside in a companionable silence.
Rukia gasped, looking up to the cloudy sky.
“Look, it’s snowing!”
“The first snow,” Ichigo said, drinking in the joyous smile on Rukia’s face. “Well, it’s already December.”
“Yeah. Christmas will be here soon,” Rukia murmured, pulling her muffler to cover her chin.
She started to regret bringing up Christmas, when the silence suddenly fell over them. She had hoped, of course… They’d become cozy with one another and they spent a lot of time together, both at school and outside school, but no matter how close they were, they still were just friends, although she hoped…
Well, maybe she hoped in vain.
She watched the soft white flakes flutter through the air. The snow was a welcome sight, but she knew it wouldn’t stay on the ground.
“Do you have any plans for Christmas?” Ichigo asked after a while, his voice uncharacteristically hesitant.
Rukia bit her lip, clutching she strap of her duffel bag tighter. The confession was bubbling under the surface. What would happen if she voiced it? What would happen if she didn’t?
Rukia took a deep breath.
“None,” she admitted.
The silence descended again, curling around them.
When it was broken, it was because the two of them had started to speak at the same time.
“Maybe… you could spend Christmas with me?”
“I was hoping we’d spend it together…”
The words rang in the air. They both stopped and turned to stare at each other. Ichigo’s cheeks were pink – and not only from the cold. Rukia felt giddy, and her lips were twitching.
“So…?” she prompted.
“So you wanna spend Christmas with me?” he repeated.
“Yes,” she breathed, closing their distance.
Her hands wrapped around him on their own accord, her smiling face turned upwards.
A snowflake landed on her cheek. It tickled.
But not as much as his lips, firmly pressing against hers.