CHAPTER FOURTEEN
RADIO turned on a low volume while kihyun was sorting out the skates.
knowing that tonight changkyun would be helping him with the sport, he put aside his size shoes. he was kind of scared to fall on the ice and break his entire body, but he was more afraid of embarrassing himself in front of changkyun, because apparently, he happened to be extremely good at that.
maybe, causing humiliation on himself was his own special talent. but he couldn't exactly go far in life with that.
huffing, kihyun stood up, finally done with arranging the bladed boots in perfect order. he walked over to the counter, turning the radio up more. he began to hum to the song. boredom struck the boy quite frequently, so until changkyun and nayoung would walk through those double doors, he would clean and listen to music. sometimes, he would finish his work early, only to read a book- it was really because it gave him more time to spend with changkyun when he was there.
giving a quick glance around the empty place, kihyun started to sing to the song that played.
he tapped his fingers on the counter top, even dancing in his seat a little. now, the world around him was completely zoned out, and when the rapping part came on, kihyun was like a superstar.
"singing at work, huh?"
"nayoung!" kihyun yelped out of shock. flailing his arm, he accidentally hit the radio in the process, making it stop the music. "no, no, i-i was just..."
for about eight seconds, all that was coming out of kihyun's mouth was incoherent sounds and words.
"i thought you sounded nice."
changkyun.
"th-thanks." kihyun could basically see the heat emitting from his skin.
in that moment, kihyun thought the earth opening up and swallowing him whole would be a fantastic idea, silently begging for it to already hurry up with. but then changkyun spoke up once more, asking if he was ready to learn skating. the dark haired boy grabbed the shoes, following the other two towards the rink. kihyun kept telling himself don't screw up. yet, he also knew it was probably inevitable that he would.
lacing up the boots, he awkwardly shuffled to the door, looking at the girl and boy already doing tricks.
i'm totally screwed, he thought.
"a little help here," kihyun said, stepping a foot on the ice.
suddenly, changkyun was in front of him, and it was as if all the oxygen was kicked out of kihyun's lungs. the boy seemed to have grown even more gorgeous out of the blue, making kihyun's heart turn into honey.
"hold my hand."
"what?"
changkyun rolled his eyes, holding out his hand for kihyun. "i'm going to help you skate."
hesitantly, kihyun put his hand on changkyun's. the latter instantly tightened the hold, then steadily, led the dark haired boy onto the ice. kihyun's honey-coated heart felt like it was in his throat now, knees trembled once both of his feet were slowly sliding across the cold ground.
changkyun grabbed onto kihyun's other hand, keeping him balanced.
the whole time, nayoung was watching them. mostly because she needed to make sure changkyun was staying safe, but also because the situation was downright amusing. which, it was; kihyun kept giggling, letting out a bunch of strange, inhuman sounds as they got closer to the middle of the rink. although, changkyun was trying to focus on being careful, he couldn't stop himself from chuckling at how kihyun was reacting to everything.
changkyun entwined his fingers with kihyun's. it was to keep him sturdy, obviously.
he was being so patient, kihyun noticed. even when he stayed frozen on the ice for one whole minute because he was too scared of moving, of slipping, changkyun never got angry. he just held his hand tighter, telling him how he used to be the same.
it made kihyun feel, somewhat, more calm about skating- even if he wasn't exactly moving much.
kihyun knew embarrassing himself would happen sooner or later, but the fact that when he decided to take a step, he fell, changkyun tumbling down along with him. the boy landed across his stomach, repeating are you okay?'s over and over again.
"i'm fine," kihyun squinted his eyes open, letting out a breathy laugh. "what about you?"
changkyun shifted his body off from kihyun's, landing backwards on the ice. he also let out a chuckle, "i think i'm okay."
"you only think?"
carefully, kihyun got on his knees, shuffling over to changkyun. then, asking him if he hurt anywhere, to which to boy pointed to his right arm. being extremely gentle, kihyun wrapped his fingers around changkyun's arm, rolling up the jacket sleeve. he saw a faint blue mark already beginning to blossom on his wrist.
"you have a bruise," kihyun pulled the fabric back down.
"great," he spoke sarcastically. "don't tell nayoung, she'll go all 'protective mode' on me."
as if the girl knew she was being mentioned, and the fact that she saw everything that happened, nayoung made her way over to them. she had her hands on her hips, muttering how she couldn't believed she witnessed that 'mess'. but, as expected, the girl immediately helped changkyun up first, asking him a few times if he truly was okay. then, the girl pulled kihyun to his feet, helping him over to the railing.
sitting down now, kihyun and changkyun didn't talk. it wasn't uncomfortable, but the dark haired boy couldn't help but think of a bunch of different things to say to him.
i fell for you pretty hard back there, huh? probably wasn't the best conversation starter.
instead, he went with, "do you like frozen yogurt?"
changkyun giggled, and kihyun's cheeks turned pink, lips automatically turned upwards at the sound.
"i do," he smiled.
"great!" kihyun let out a breath, then rambled on about how there was a small convenience store close by that was open even that late at night, which had fridges stored with frozen yogurt, also adding how he was going to buy them both the desert tomorrow night.
changkyun's smile only seemed to grow brighter.
and kihyun only fell harder.
—
a/n: smol reference to send for all those loyal fans out there
