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Sunoo always laughed when someone mentioned the "Ice Prince." He couldn't help it. The nickname was so funny, and a giggle escaped him. None of his teammates seemed to understand the joke.
The truth is, he found the nickname really stupid. There were no princes on the ice rink. No king. Nor commoner. You either had talent, or you didn't. It was simple. No one was higher in the hierarchy. On the rink, everyone was always equal in front of the judges.
However, everyone seemed determined to call Park Sunghoon the "Ice Prince." Several times his teammates tried to explain why, which made a vein in Sunoo's forehead throb, which he hid with a mocking laugh. Once, Sunoo walked past him, and although Park was very handsome, that was it.
Sunoo had seen him in videos, and yes, the guy was good at skating, but only because he was extremely handsome did they call him prince, not because he was at a higher level than the others. He hadn't even been called up to the national team the previous year. Sunoo was hopeful that he would be called up that year, after completing his exhaustive schedule of national competitions.
Perhaps because of his arrogance, or perhaps because of the brutal sincerity with which Sunoo faced the world, he could never have mentally prepared himself to meet Park Sunghoon in person.
In fact, nothing could have prepared him, because the son of a bitch ruined his favorite sweater.
"Seriously? Do you even look where you're going?!" Sunoo exclaimed, looking up from his sweater spilled with tea at a boy who was at least half a head taller than him. Great. Now maybe someone would also kick his ass on his way out of the stadium.
A pair of indifferent black eyes stared back at Sunoo. Thick eyebrows emphasized the lack of life and interest behind them. Sunoo recognized him after a moment, but he didn't move.
"Don't you have anything to say?" Sunoo insisted, feeling his throat itch to say something more and get some reaction from that stony face. Ice Prince? More like Emotionally Refrigerated. "Is your tongue frozen?" He almost laughed at his own joke.
"You were carrying a glass of liquid. You should have been more careful. You could have hurt someone, it was boiling hot," Park Sunghoon finally replied, staying unfazed.
A small group of skaters had formed around them, watching the scene. Sunoo looked down at the puddle of tea on the floor and then back at Sunghoon, the fucking moron.
"Are you blaming me?" He laughed, not knowing whether to be outraged or throw the rest of the tea in his face. He decided not to be so cruel and threw the rest of it straight at his jacket. Sunghoon's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at him as if Sunoo had grown a third eye. "Well, now you can rightfully blame me."
And without giving Sunghoon a chance to say anything else, he turned around and walked away, feeling several pairs of eyes on the back of his head.
*
Twenty minutes later, Sunoo was mopping the floor, muttering under his breath every insult that came to mind at the moment. His favorite sweater was soaked in tea and smelled disgusting. And now he'd made an enemy. Judging by the academy's group chat, the Ice Prince had been asking for his name after he left. He didn't care if the guy came looking for him to apologize; he was never going to back down.
As he mopped the hallway—he never did a half-assed job—he wondered exactly what Park Sunghoon was doing at the stadium. Sunoo knew he trained in another part of the city; some of his teammates even went to see him after practice because they were idiots and stalkers. He knew the guy had a big fanbase and all. Sunoo wasn't that well-known, but he hoped to gain a following that year when he started competing officially.
Well, maybe he'd finally earn his reputation as one of the team's bullies. He’d thrown tea on Sunghoon’s jacket on purpose after the guy pissed him off. He was going to get famous for all the wrong reasons.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard footsteps approaching. He thought his teammates were on the rink, and generally no one walked through the halls during practice, so he didn’t know who it could be.
But then Park Sunghoon appeared again around the corner of the hallway, the same one they had collided at, and froze when he saw Sunoo. Sunghoon was holding a mop. His stony face finally changed to one of surprise when he saw Sunoo cleaning.
"You can go to practice, I’ll handle the cleaning," Sunghoon said.
"I don't do things halfway!" Sunoo exclaimed. "When I'm done, I'll go. You can go."
"I don't do things halfway either," Sunghoon said, walking towards him.
Sunoo, having been the clumsiest child of his generation when he was little, sensed danger immediately.
“Careful, it's slippery-….” His face twisted in pain as Park Sunghoon, the immaculate and perfect Ice Prince, slipped like a cartoon and fell backward onto the floor with a loud crash.
A second later, Sunoo was deflating with laughter.
He earned a look of pure venom from Sunghoon, but he couldn't stop laughing. How could someone who skated so gracefully fall in the most clumsy and idiotic way when he wasn't on his skates?
"You're so silly," he exclaimed, laughing, approaching Park to extend his hand.
“You barely know me,” Sunghoon snorted, but his face had softened, perhaps at the sweet sound of Sunoo’s laughter. “Thank you,” he said, taking his hand. However, instead of standing up, he pulled Sunoo to the floor.
"Hey!" Sunoo shouted, falling on top of him.
Sunghoon easily caught him, his body firm and he held him with ease. Sunoo blushed, quickly moving away from him.
"Now we're even," said Sunghoon. His gaze was amused. He was smiling. Suddenly, there was no trace of ice left on his face; it was pure warmth, even his fangs were visible.
Sunoo felt his heart pounding as he counted the moles on his face. For a moment, he almost forgave him for ruining his favourite sweater.
Now he understood the whole Prince thing.
He didn't dislike it at all.