a savior,

“you know, minhwan, you’ve been really fired up about this lately.”

a casual slip of the tongue, a fatal error when it came to the likes of yeo minhwan, but for once had kazuma been spared as what would have been a fiery outburst from the other male outcomes to nothing more but a glower that promptly glazes over, a gesture unknown to kazuma as his eyes remained upon the production before them and nothing else.  three days before the twenty-fourth, the kitchen had been a battleground of splattered flour, broken eggs, and scorched confections. after the fifth batch of failed macarons and minhwan catching kazuma attempting to salvage (or, as minhwan saw it, sabotage) his work by attempting to switch the salted caramel macarons minhwan had made for a far less toxic batch crafted undercover by kazuma himself,  they took a break. now, a day after christmas, minhwan had been more pumped than ever and, oddly, compliant. 

“i don’t know what you mean,” the older had commented, yet the burst of rose that dusted across his pale cheeks had practically screamed otherwise. flustered fingers had begun to sprinkle “a pinch of cinnamon” (or, as kazuma attempted to clarify, “a lot but not a lot, something that compliments the salted caramel but doesn’t overpower it, y’know?”) on each individual shell that the younger had piped out (smaller than usual, in consideration for moonbin’s health.) 

“did something good happen between you and moonbin?” 

tension suddenly flooded the area. a novice mistake, kazuma flickered his gaze over to his teammate—

and instantly regretted it. 

“pardon?” it was a simple word, but the way minhwan had vocalized it made the work akin to a bullet, deadly, and paired with the ferocious glare splitting against kazuma’s skull had swiftly made the younger male retract his steps. “i was unaware that my private life was also of your concern, kinam.” minhwan’s pale hand ceased sprinkling cinnamon and, with flashbacks zipping across his eyes of the gunslinger seizing his belongings hostage and breaking them as a consequence of testing him, kazuma had been quick to sputter as he desperately sought to salvage the situation. 

“i know i’m sorry but i— i— uhm… it’s just that you and moonbin— y’know?? you and moonbin— well… everyone’s been talking about the two of you and chanwoo found out his birthday is on the twenty-ninth and you don’t even like salted caramel and you only cook for others because you like your chef’s cooking more than your own so i found it strange that—“

“you guys have been gossiping about me?”

this was when kazuma began to quiver. 

“n-no but, i mean just a little but—“ brown eyes widened at the realization that minhwan had conveniently stood besides the knife drawer and that nimble fingers edged along the countertop, inching closer to the compartment and kazuma swore he was about to faint from anxiety. “we weren’t saying anything bad we were just curious because you’ve been so happy lately and it was a little bit weird because you’re normally so— well, you— and uhm——  we just like seeing you happy, minhwan.” ivory fingers suddenly ceased and kazuma gave a hidden sigh of relief. “and we wanted to know more about the cause of it…” a sheepish grin appeared on kazuma’s plump lips. “so…” 

“nothing happened between moonbin and i.” despite minhwan’s eloquence, the words fell quite strangely off the brunet’s lips and, giving a slight cough, the older had ruffled himself up and turned back towards the macaron shells. “I spent time with him on christmas eve and… we were simply friends celebrating, nothing else.”

but there was something else.

kazuma watched as minhwan refocused himself upon sprinkling cinnamon across the shells. he was methodical as always— yet, for once, noticeably less tense. as the older male continued, now reminded of moonbin had his expression softened. just friends, the hero had announced. and yet, with lips curling upwards and pale cheeks completely pink, reality had spoke of a completely different tale that minhwan had verbally offered.

         she couldn’t help but shiver lightly at the thought of seeing that in person but yena quickly brushed those thoughts away to stop herself from giving up on ice skating. she had been thinking about it for so long and it was such a nice day for it – it was cold, but she had always liked that, bundling up in her comfiest coats and sweaters. maybe if she had stopped to truly think about what he said, she would have given up – but yena didn’t allow that to happen.

         blinking, she stared at him for a moment. “ omo, that’s okay! ” perhaps she should have prepared for the chance that he didn’t know how to skate before inviting him but the thought didn’t cross her mind before. it would be easier if she went with someone that already knew but yena didn’t care about easy. “ do you want me to teach you?? i don’t mind and it’ll be fun~ ”

wait-- was he really tangling himself into this situation? a dumbfounded blink and, perhaps, he doubted how persistent yena could be. that or he over-estimated how persuasive his words were which, figures, probably hadn’t held any weight to allow him to weasel out of the situation to begin with. idle, the fingers of one hand wrapped ‘round the digits of his other, an apprehensive grin settling on pink lips as he teetered upon the edge of his decision. 

he loved social outings. he indulged in hanging out with others, going on small trips and events, and theoretically would he have said yes to yena had it not been for the fact that the circumstances in their exchange all related back to ice skating. he could say no, of course, but at what cost? it appeared that she really wanted to go and his fears-- well, they were baseless. slipping through the ice, what were the odds of that?

“i don’t know-- what if i end up cracking my head on the ice?” eyebrows furrowed, he gave a scowl, “or if i fall through the ice and freeze-- like jack frost from guardians of the galaxy? ...or was it rise of the guardians?” his concerns would have seen asinine had it not been for his powers of intangibility-- not that such had been obvious, either. nor would have such been possible for, unlike years ago, he had control of his powers now, it was virtually impossible for him to be entrapped in any area. inwardly, he began to chastise himself. why was he even thinking of such impossible extremes? “... sorry, i don’t think i’m making much sense.” 

a pause, as if he was unsure of the words he would soon then utter. “i meant to say that, uh, i’d love to go skating.”  (yeah, of course he meant to say that.)

           yena was scared of a lot of things in the past but, over the years, she learn to overcome some of her more irrational fears. it had been ages since she had done that last – yena could barely remember it at this point. perhaps at some point in high school, but she would repress most of her memories from that time for her own reasons. still, she found herself missing that kind of thing and she wasn’t even sure why. she thought she was too old to go by herself without dragging any unnecessary attention – but it would be much more fun with company too.

          eyebrows raised slightly at the other’s statement, not really the answer she had expected. “ where did you see that? ” the mental image that it created caused a shiver to run down the woman’s spine almost visibly. “ no, thank you. i wouldn’t like to think about that when i do go ice skating – and i was wondering if you’d wanna join me. ”

“in person.” he uttered the words, straightforward and expression hardened, unwilling to overtly pass his words as a lie. in technicality, it was in person, just through a device, otherwise known as a second party. there had been mild hope that his words would have dissuaded the other from wanting to skate but, rather than being scarred, yena appeared to be more thicker-skinned than aurel had assumed. 

“i,” his words nearly choked up, if not for a cough and a timid laugh. “i don’t know how to ice skate though...” a sheepish grin, a singular hand came to massage ambivalently at his neck. “i’d be soooo much better if you went with someone who did, right? i don’t even know how to stand on ice skates, nevertheless how to wear them!”