Chapter Text
Sunghoon has always loved Christmas. Ever since he can remember, his days have been spent on the ice rink from early in the morning until the sun sets. But, even though his life has always had a winter atmosphere, nothing compared to the real season, where the snow fell outside the ice rink, the houses were decorated with warm lights, the gifts waited under the Christmas tree and everyone prepared to see the Christmas festival organized by the company where he skated.
His enthusiasm was so great that he always decorated the ice rink with garlands, colored lights, and spheres of different sizes and shapes long before December began. Normally, his Christmas spirit was reborn as soon as the pumpkins were removed from the doors of the houses, which was at the beginning of November. All his classmates shared the same feeling as him, even the little ones who took classes from time to time, but that year, there was a party pooper who had stopped all his attempts.
It was November 20th and the rink did not have a single decoration, not even a single sphere.
—Sunghoon-ah, you’re getting distracted again. — Sunghoon rolled his eyes as he heard his coach’s voice penetrate his ears for the third time that day. He didn’t respond this time, just shrugged and got back into his starting position, waiting for his short program song to play again. —Sunghoon-ah, come here.
Sunghoon made a sound of annoyance before breaking his position and skating unwillingly to be scolded by his coach back to where he stood at the railing. He couldn’t even remember the first time the scolds had started.
—How many more times do I have to tell you to focus? — Heeseung spoke, adjusting his plush, boring coat over his chest as he handed him a bottle of water without interest. Sunghoon took it and took just a sip before handing it back to him a little roughly.
—The same times I'll tell him we should decorate the rink. — Sunghoon knew he had hit the nail on the head when Heeseung closed his eyes with exhausted patience and two of his fingers held the bridge of his nose. — I understand that he came this year to train us, but we have trad...
—Sunghoon, it's not even Christmas. — Heeseung sighed tiredly, then his eyes looked at him intensely, something the younger boy didn't flinch at. — We've already talked about this, the decorations will be put up a day before the festival and that's it.
—We've done this since I was four, literally my whole life, Heeseung-sii... He can't do this to us. — Sunghoon pouted, having the nerve to answer when Heeseung had already put an end to their conversation, but they were his ideals, it was his tradition and he was going to fight for it. That's why when he had an idea of how to provoke him, he started with caution. —It's not our fault that you don't like Christmas and you're a party pooper...
—Sunghoon-ah! — Heeseung reprimanded, his furrowed eyebrows emphasizing more the wrinkle that had been left by all the years of training he had given to different companies. —I like Christmas, but I take my job seriously, I came here to train them and train you especially to enter the national team. Christmas is being a distraction for you and it has been reflected in the last rehearsals.
—It wouldn't be a distraction if it at least let us continue with our tradition. — Sunghoon looked at Heeseung with some annoyance at the incoherence of his words. If it bothered him that he wasn't focused and the reason he wasn't was because there were no decorations and he explicitly told him there wouldn't be, how did he want them to solve the whole matter? —And you don't have to lie, Heeseung-sii, we all know here that you hate Christmas.
—Sungh... I don't hate it, you know? — Sunghoon froze at the sincerity in his coach's voice. The annoyance on his face had vanished and only a bit of guilt and defeat remained. —It's just that it seems absurd to me, no offense, of course. That gift-giving thing is an idea of consumerism and I don't want to mention the falseness of people who pretend to be good. Why would I want to waste a day of my life with people I don't even love?
Of all the answers Sunghoon expected to receive from Heeseung, he didn't expect that one. Maybe he expected him to talk more about how Christmas was an invention of shopping malls to sell a lot more and get money from large families or that it was all to leave society without money after receiving bonuses at work, but he had no idea that Heeseung, his coach who had dedicated his entire life to skating and who seemed to be perfect at everything, had problems that reached such a degree of making him think that way.
Maybe Heeseung read the confusion on Sunghoon's face because he immediately straightened his posture and cleared his throat a little. He looked clearly uncomfortable.
—Sorry for rambling, go back to your training now — Heeseung ordered, but as always, Sunghoon didn't listen to him and ended up leaving the rink to put the guards on the edge of his skates so he could walk up to Heeseung, who seemed relaxed, as if he didn't care that Sunghoon was disobeying him and as if he wasn't nervous.
Once Sunghoon was in front of the coach, he hesitated a lot to take the older man's hands, but finally he did. He wanted to assume that they had the confidence to do so after living together for a whole year, otherwise, Sunghoon wouldn't hesitate to run away.
But Heeseung didn't move away and simply looked at him with some surprise disguised as indifference.
—Christmas isn't just about giving and receiving gifts, but about opening our hearts. Christmas isn't as bad as it seems, I'll prove that to you myself, but please do this for us. No one is going to focus on their training if there isn't that Christmas spirit. — Another of the qualities that Sunghoon had and wasn't very proud of, was that his mouth and body used to move before his mind, so he acted without thinking. That was why he quickly let go of his coach's hands and took off his guards in the same way to almost throw himself back onto the rink.
And just before he set foot on the ice, Heeseung stopped him with his voice.
— Tell the others that tomorrow they can decorate and I want you to stay extra time to practice everything you did wrong today. — Sunghoon rolled his eyes in response and hoped that his coach wouldn't see him as he returned to the center of the rink.
Well, at least it was progress and Sunghoon would take it as an affirmative answer to show Heeseung that Christmas was amazing.