You cupped your hands in front of your face, blowing warm air in to them to stop them from going numb, then quickly shoved them down into the pockets of your thick winter coat. It was a nice day out, you had to admit, even if it was a little cold. There were thick blankets of snow on the ground, the sun was shining brightly from above, and everyone around you was enjoying their time at the festive Christmas markets.
The Christmas market was one of your favourite things about the holidays, with hundreds of stalls dedicated to selling baubles and mulled wine, toys and chocolates, everything you could possibly need at Christmas time. But the shops weren't the only things you liked about the market. There were also the events that went on, such as the best dressed Santa competition, the ice-sculpting competition, and of course the bonfire at night where everyone came together to sing festive songs. Yes, it was safe to say that the Christmas market was one of your favourite things about the holidays.
Turning away from a small stall selling Christmas cookies, you grinned, hearing a sudden childish scream of delight coming from the frozen lake, not too far away. You decided then to go and watch, feeling that maybe it was a little too cold for you to go ice-skating, but warm enough for you to, at least, see others having fun.
You walked over to the railing that separated the frozen lake from the street and leant on it with your arms dangling over the other side, a smile on your face as you saw some of the other children you knew skating around in circles – some more successfully than others, as you watched a thin boy with short blonde hair try to do an intricate spin on one foot to try and impress his female friend, only he quickly lost his balance and ended up on the floor, his female friend and his other, more rounded friend with spiky brown hair, laughing at him.
There were couples on the ice as well, skating hand-in-hand with each other, and even a set of instructors to teach the little ones how to skate for the first time. The instructors were all dressed in black coats, some with fluffy black hoods up, hiding their faces, to cover them from the chill.
Too busy staring at the many people skating together, you did not notice someone skate up to the railings that you were leaning on. You only noticed the person after they had turned round, leant their elbows against the railings, next to you, turned their head and had started to speak,
“Do you want to have a go?”
You turned your head to look at the person, only there was a black, fluffy hood hiding their face,
“What? Oh- well I don't know. It's a little cold to be-”
The person raised their hands to the hood, pulling it down, revealing their - slightly more beautiful than you had been expecting - face.
“Excuses, excuses. I've heard them all before.” The hood was dropped low enough for you to make out a mass of red, spiky hair, and a pair of bright green eyes that looked playfully at you, “The name's Axel.” He tapped the side of his head with a finger, smirking, “Got it memorised?”
Surprised by Axel's confident personality, you laughed, but then when you noticed he was looking confusedly at you, you decided not to be rude, and gave a half-hearted attempt to defend yourself,
“That wasn't an excuse; it is too cold.”
Axel shook his head, grabbing hold of the railings with one hand, then pushed away and span around so he was facing you, his hands coming to rest so that both of your hands were boxed in by his,
“So what's your name?”
“____,” you replied, giving him what you hoped was a friendly smile, despite the fact that your teeth were chattering slightly. He nodded, giving you another smirk,
“Okay, ____, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you've never skated before?”
Well, that wasn't entirely true. You had been skating quite a few times before, actually, but never on a frozen lake. You were used to skating on levelled-off ice-rinks where there was no chance of hitting a bump and falling flat on your face. Axel noticed your hesitant expression and smiled again, this time in a more reassuring manner,
“Come on, it'll be fun! If you're worried about the cold, then I've got enough body heat for the both of us, and don't worry, you won't fall. I'll make sure of it.”
You pursed your lips, weighing it up in your mind. You were a little cold, yes, but from the happy sounds you could hear coming from the natural ice-rink, you decided, what the heck, you may as well. You nodded at Axel, smiling,
“Okay,”
Axel, happy he had coaxed you into skating, pushed back from the railings slightly, grinning,
“Great.”
“Oh! But I don't have any skates with me.”
As Axel began to skate sideways, motioning for you to follow him, he said,
“Don't worry. You can borrow some from us.” He pointed to a small shack by the edge of the lake, where a man with bright pink, overly-flamboyant hair was sitting behind a screen, taking money and handing out skates to customers.
“Okay then,” You could tell that there was no way you were going to get out of this, even if it was too cold - and it was too cold; you could see your breath as a white cloud in front of your face.
Axel, seeing you following him, skated off ahead, over to the shack. At the point when any normal person would have crashed into the shack for travelling at such a high speed, Axel managed to do a hockey stop, spraying ice-shavings into the screen, behind which sat the man with pink hair. He looked quite alarmed.
“Axel, what are you doing?”
“Showing off,” he said bluntly. Axel turned to the screen, placing his hands on the small ledge in front of it, then said, “Marluxia, take the price of a pair of skates out of my wages, would ya'?”
“Sure,” he said, already beginning to scribble things down onto a piece of paper, “but why?”
When there was no reply, Marluxia looked up, only to find that Axel had already skated off and was currently stood with a pretty girl by the side of the shack, helping her to find some skates that fit. He rolled his eyes.
Now wearing a comfortable pair of skates – already broken in by the many uses of other people – you walked across to the edge of the lake with Axel just ahead of you, then he stepped out first, skating just a short distance away, then turned and waited for you. You were quick to follow, quite confident in your ability to skate. You stepped out onto the ice, giving yourself a bit of a push with the railings, and came to a gentle stop in front of Axel. He raised an eyebrow, a hand finding its way onto his hip,
“Well, it's good to know you have the basics sorted out.”
You thought so too, right up until Axel turned and started to to skate away with you following, where you began to realise that this was nothing like a levelled-off ice rink. There were bumps everywhere and you had to slow down for fear of falling and breaking something. Axel noticed your lack of position behind him and turned, seeing you slowly making your way to catch up to him. He chuckled. He skated back to you, coming up behind you, then took hold of each of your hands and held them out from your sides, holding them there with his own as he guided you along in front.
Luckily, with your back to him, Axel could not see that your face had turned a brilliant shade of pink. He was so close to you, and dear God he had been right about having enough body-heat for the both of you. He was like a walking (or skating in this case) hot-water bottle. He guided you round in a large circle, your confidence slowly building on the slightly bumpy ice, then you both began to pick up speed. Once you were skating past the shack again, Axel's hands left yours and he let you go, testing to see if you would be okay on your own.
By now you were confident again and now, with the freedom you wanted, you sped off ahead. Axel watched you go, an eyebrow raised in amusement, then he picked up speed to try and catch up with you, avoiding falling into other people skating as he did. You smiled, having missed being on the ice for so long. It had been a good twelve months since you had last been skating, and you had to admit you had been a little rusty at start, but now, back in your stride, you began to weave in and out of people, occasionally risking it and turning to skate backwards, catching Axel's eye each time you did. He was quite close behind you, just-in-so keeping his distance to make sure he wasn't crowding – no one likes a clingy instructor, after all. Though, seeing you smiling back at him and waving, he felt he couldn't really call himself your instructor. You were probably just as good at skating as he was.
Watching the groups of people around you, some holding hands as they skated as couples, you turned back to the front and broke away from the main skating circle, heading more to the centre of the lake. There you could see someone you recognised – a friend with blonde spiky hair, trying to teach a couple of tiny children how to stand on their skates. Watching the scene, you only seemed to notice the bubble of heat appear behind you at the last second, hearing Axel say,
“Well, I guess I was wrong about you never skating before, huh?” You were surprised, spinning round to look at Axel mid-stride, skating backwards without intending to. You were so surprised at Axel's sudden appearance that, whilst wondering how he had gotten behind you without you noticing, you accidentally missed your footing. You span around to try and correct it, only it was at this point that you noticed how close you were to your blonde-haired friend, and, in an attempt to try and stop yourself from crashing into him, you forgot about correcting your feet, and then, seeing him raise his hands in a pitiful defence you realised that this was it for the both of you. You were about to end up as a pile on the floor. You felt your legs start to do the splits, unable to stop them doing so, but then, with your front foot half an inch away from connecting to your friend's, a pair of arms calmly wrapped themselves around your chest and pulled you up, hauling you off to the side, out of harms way. Now skating away, stunned that you had not collided, you managed to turn and call over Axel's shoulder,
“Sorry, Roxas!”
The blonde-boy watched you being guided off, still looking scared for his life, forgetting that he had two tiny tots attempting to stand upright on their skates next to him.
Axel, still with his arms wrapped around your middle, smirked and said,
“Told you I wouldn't let you fall.”
You smiled, appreciating that Axel had just saved you from a very embarrassing experience. Poor Roxas; neither of you would have lived it down. Axel gave you a sudden squeeze, pulling you out of your thoughts, so you looked over your shoulder at him – still half concentrating on not falling over even with Axel's arms around you. He said, nudging his head back towards your friend in the middle of the lake,
“I didn't know you knew Roxas?” then he added with a cheeky grin, “I didn't think he had any friends.”
You gave a small chuckle,
“Oh very nice.” Next you nodded, turning to look back in front of you (though not really needing to because at the moment you were strictly on auto-pilot, Axel insisting on doing all of the work), “Of course I know him. I know everyone who lives around here.”
When Axel spoke next, you heard a hint of surprise,
“Seriously? You know everyone?” He chuckled, “Sounds like way too much time and effort to me.”
You gave a soft smile, Axel guiding the pair of you through a group of couples skating,
“It's no effort at all. I like meeting new people, and it helps them feel welcome if they're just moving in.”
“Heh, you remind me of this girl, Naminé. She's one of these nice-y-nice people too.”
You raised an eyebrow again,
“Why did that sound like you were mocking her?”
Axel laughed loudly, pulling you backwards into him to avoid colliding with a set of three friends who had just run out onto the ice. Barely missing you, the boy at the front with brown hair turned and waved sheepishly,
“Sorry, ____!”
You waved back, barely having time to make eye contact before Axel had whisked you off again,
“Hi Sora! It's okay!”
You heard Axel chuckling again,
“Hell, you really do know everyone.”
You laughed softly, not even having to use your own feet now, as Axel, since he had not loosened his grip on you since pulling you in, was skating around, guiding you both, with your feet barely in contact with the ice.
“Told you.”
* * *
Within half an hour the sun had set and the sky was turning dark, the lights ever-dulling. By now you had pulled away from Axel and were skating along side him, talking between yourselves quite merrily.
It was then that you heard the church-bells ringing, and you stopped; nearly tripping over again but Axel put an arm to stop you.
“Steady, ____.” he said with a smirk. You nodded, giving him thanks, then stood upright. You looked over to the church, seeing a group of people congregated there already. You checked your watch.
“Well, I better get going.”
Unbeknown to you, still looking at your watch, Axel's face dropped. Nevertheless he managed to say,
“Okay. I'll take you back to the shack.”
You looked up, nodded with a smile, then you both turned on your heels and skated slowly over to the little shack, you, personally, making sure not to fall over. When you got back onto solid land, it felt almost strange. Having been on the ice for the good part of an hour, you had lost your land-legs and wobbled the whole way over to the little bench, thankful to sit down to take your skates off.
Axel came onto land too, finding it much easier than you as he was used to being on and off all day. As you unfastened your skates he walked over and leant against the side of the shack, folding his arms. The street-lamps were already beginning to flicker into life, and high up above, tiny starts were twinkling in the early night sky. Axel almost smiled at them.
He looked back at you and said, trying to make conversation,
“So what are you going to do now, ____?”
You, after a bit of effort pulling one of the skates off, said,
“I'm going to watch the fire,” you started to unfastened the second skate, “and sing some carols, of course.”
Axel chuckled,
“Of course.”
When you were out of both skates, you handed them to Axel and gave him thanks – knowing fine well he had paid for your time on the ice, even if he would not admit it – then waited for him to put them away, leaning on the outer-side of the railings, as you had done earlier in the day. Once they were back in their rightful places, Axel shuffled across the ground to the railings, resting his elbows on them next to you.
“So,” he said with a playful smirk on his lips, “Will I be seeing you here tomorrow?”
You giggled, seeing a hopeful expression hidden in his eyes.
“Maybe,” you teased. At this, Axel gave another smile, knowing he might see you the next day – and yet, somewhere, that did not feel like it was enough for him.
You gave him a final wave, saying good bye, then turn and walked away into the lessening crowds. Those who were still about town were travelling in the same direction as you, probably going to the same place as you. You looked about, noticing a lot of the locals, so you assumed you were right.
A short moment's walk away and you found yourself at the foot of the church where a large bonfire was still in the process of being built. It was tall, and no doubt nearly finished. This year's fire was going to be better than any before it, you could tell. You could tell simply by how tall it was. The top branch lay just to the side of the telephone wires, running high up in the air.
As you were staring up into the air, a friend came along side you and tapped you on the shoulder, grinning,
“Hi, ____.”
You turned to look at them, startled by the touch – it had become apparent to you throughout the day that you had lost your ability to sense other people around you. You smiled, seeing who it was,
“Oh, hey Roxas.” You laughed suddenly, remembering your near-miss earlier, “Sorry about before. If Axel hadn't moved me I'm sure I would have flattened you.”
Roxas laughed as well,
“Yeah, I think so too.”
You feigned a hurt expression,
“Hey!” You attempted to swipe at him, but he moved just in time to have you swipe at the air instead. He laughed, turning his head when he was sure you would not attack him again, to the stack of firewood,
“They're going to light it soon, huh?”
“Yeah,” you nodded with a grin on your face, “Got your singing voice warmed up?”
He rolled his eyes,
“Oh yeah... absolutely.”
“Lip syncing again this year?”
He grinned, giving you a thumbs-up,
“You bet!”
You both let out a laugh. It was only as your laughter was dying away, leaving Roxas' to carry on alone, that you realised something. Roxas was here. Roxas was here – he wasn't on the ice any more.
“Roxas,” you exclaimed, cutting his laughter short, “Why aren't you on the ice any more?”
He gave you a surprised expression,
“Well, the way you're saying it, it sounds like that's a bad thing!”
“No, no,” you waved your hands about, correcting yourself, “I didn't mean that. I just meant why aren't you on the ice any more?”
“Well, because we've closed for the night, obviously. It is seven-thirty.”
“Oh,” you said, realising that most of the shops had shut by now so that the workers could join in the festivities.
Well then, you thought, if Roxas had closed up shop for the night, then that meant that a certain someone else was also off work n-
“Time to light the fire now, don't ya' think?”
As the crowds around you began to cheer, your head whirled round so fast you almost gave yourself whip-lash. There, standing on the podium in front of the large pile of wood, was a man in a long, black, winter coat, the hood down to reveal a large mass of red, spiky hair. He was grinning.
“I thought so. Well then,” he looked around, “stand back!”
You wondered what he was doing, watching him look around to make sure everyone was out of the way. You assumed he was going to light the fire, but he had no flaming torch, no blow-flame, not even a box of matches. How then...?
Roxas tapped you on the shoulder, telling you to watch because it was “gonna' be good”. You did as you were told. Axel, after making sure everyone was absolutely out of the way, pulled both arms up from his sides and held them out in front of him, palms facing the pile of wood. Everyone around you had stilled, watching the scene. He seemed to be concentrating. Stood so far away, you did not see the immediate action; however, when you saw the shot of flames erupt from his hands, hitting the first few bits of wood - setting them alight, which, within a few moments had set the entire pile aflame - you took a step back in shock.
People all around were clapping and shouting, cheering “bravo” in Axel's general direction. He smirked, took a bow, then jumped from the small podium into the crowd. With him no longer in your sights, you turned to Roxas, open-mouthed,
“What just happened?”
Roxas smiled innocently, shrugging,
“He calls it his 'party-trick'.”
“And one hell of a party-trick it is...” you said, turning to look up at the large furnace of heat, that, moments ago, had been a simple pile of wood.
“Why thank you, ____,” came a voice from just in front of you. You looked away from the pile of flames, already knowing who it was by the tone of smugness in his voice. You never noticed Roxas disappearing with a smile on his face. You grinned, clapping,
“You're welcome.” you pointed to the tower of flames, “How did you do it?”
He shuffled to stand next to you, letting the heat fan his face,
“Oh, y'know, I just did this and that.”
You could tell he was being vague for a reason, so you didn't bother to force your point.
“So,” you said quickly, changing the subject, “It's nice to see you're off work. Are you going to be singing with us tonight?”
Axel shrugged, turning his head lazily to look at you,
“Well, it's not really my thing, you know?”
“Oh?” you said, giving him a suspicious eye, “So how come you're still here then? You could be catching the train out of town now.”
Axel passed you a mischievous smirk,
“I have hidden agendas.”
“Oh,” you laughed, “that's reassuring.”
“Yeah,” he said as if agreeing, “and one of them is making sure you don't trip and nearly fall flat on your face again.”
You turned to face him fully, your hands on your hips but a smirk on your face,
“Ha, nice try, but I'm not on bumpy ice any more, so I hardly think I'm going to-”
Before you could stop it, Axel's foot had found itself behind you, and had kicked you in the back of the knees, sending you toppling forward in front of him, your body spinning towards him so you could look at him in surprise. He smirked for a second as if to say 'ha, I was right', then reached forward, leaning over you to catch you behind the waist with an arm, feeling you grab onto his forearm for dear life with one of your hands, the other taking hold of his free hand as if to support yourself. To anyone else it looked as if the pair of you had just finished a dance together; Axel dipping you low and elegantly over the ground, your chest raised and your head close to the floor.
He smirked again, this time his smile being more alluring than smug, and he spoke softly, the words dancing in and out of your ears as he leaned down, his face close to yours,
“I told you you'd fall without me. Commit it to memory.”
He leaned forward that little bit more, his warm breath tickling your neck. His eyes caught yours, then slowly, softly, his lips pressed against yours, his arm holding you that little bit tighter.
Had you been paying attention to anything other than Axel and how soft his lips were, you might have noticed that you had missed the introduction to the first Christmas song of the evening.
Ah well, it seemed you had a new favourite part of Christmas now, any way.
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