Xingyun Oneshots

26 - Ice Skates and Warm Feelings

The scraping of ice skates as they zipped across the frozen surface came to a halt as the wearer stopped just in front of Xingqiu, strong and steady.

"Xingqiu, do you know how to ice skate?" Chongyun asked him cautiously. He'd been going ice skating regularly for years, and he decided to bring Xingqiu along with him this time so they could have a change of scenery. He didn't even think to ask if the other had ever ice skated before though.

"But of course, my liege. Just give me a moment and I'll be as fast as you. I haven't skated in a while." Xingqiu smiled cheerfully, patting his companion on the shoulder and hoping his lie was believable.

"Ok. I'm gonna loop around a few times while you do that."

Chongyun turned and started moving across the ice with ease, the scraping of his ice skates sounding across the rink along with the music.

Once he was sure that Chongyun was off, Xingqiu started to panic. The truth was, he'd never ice skated in his life. He didn't know Chongyun was so good at it either, so he thought they were both going into this blindly. But here he was, left holding tightly onto the side of the rink so as not to slip on the ice.

He could have easily told Chongyun the truth, but he chose not to to keep his "yeah, I'm pretty cool aren't I" persona going around his crush. He was determined to try and impress Chongyun, even if only a little, and nothing would stop him.

Except maybe inexperience. 

He pushed himself out onto the ice and stood in one place, struggling to keep his balance. After he was steady, he tried stepping off in one direction before he slipped and fell back on the ice.

"Ugh... this may be harder than I anticipated..." he groaned.

Looking around, there were people doing laps far faster than he could ever imagine doing, even people doing spins and tricks across the slippery surface. Surely there had to be some trick to this, right?

"Xingqiu! Did you fall? Are you alright?" The voice that always gave him butterflies asked.

"Just a little fall, that's all. I'm fine, really. Still just... warming up." He lied.

"Maybe we should go around the rink once then. That way you're not stuck against the side the whole time." Chongyun smiled without knowing how Xingqiu's stomach dropped at that sentence.

"S-sure, that sounds good." He responded nervously.

"Great. Just follow me at your own pace then."

Chongyun gracefully skated backwards slowly away from Xingqiu, his hands cautiously at his sides just in case the other fell.

"This is it. C'mon, I've got this!" Xingqiu thought. He once again stepped forward, this time far more confidently and recklessly. And once again, his foot slipped and flew out behind him, sending him crashing into the other and the both of them crashing to the floor.

For a moment, Xingqiu just stood frozen with his head buried against the other's chest. On one hand, this was making his face burn bright red from how close he was, how his arms were on either side of him. But on the other hand...

"Xingqiu, you don't know how to ice skate, do you?"

Sitting up quickly and trying to warm him hands, Xingqiu shakily stood back up on the ice and rested his hands on his hips. "Nonsense, I know
what I'm doing."

Chongyun sighed and followed suit, standing up with ease. "The way you push off isn't right, and you can barely move without falling. It's okay to admit you don't know how, I can teach you! I really don't mind." He blushed.

Xingqiu didn't know if it was because of the cold or something else, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. "I don't know how to, that much is true. But I didn't want you to know because I wanted to, well, impress you." He admitted shyly.

"Impress me? Why would you need to impress me?"

Chongyun took his cold hands and held them in his warm ones, his face turning pink again. "You already impress me Xingqiu. There are plenty of things that you're amazing at that I think are impressive, like the stories you write and your dedication to sword fighting."

He paused before continuing. "What I'm saying is, you don't have to try and impress me. I already think that you're amazing, and not knowing how to ice skate isn't going to un-impress me." He laughed lightly.

With every word he spoke, Xingqiu felt like he was going to explode. Was this a confession? No, not quite. But maybe a little?

"Anyways, I'll teach you now so you can skate with me." Chongyun brought him out of his thoughts.

Still holding one of his hands, he interlaced their fingers and pushed off with one foot, differently than how Xingqiu had.

Xingqiu copied his actions and found that this time he didn't have as much trouble staying upright, already getting excited about being able to skate.

"See? Pretty good. Let's try going steady."

He pushed off with one skate on one foot and then the other, Xingqiu repeating his actions again and finding that he was really skating.

"Woah!" He smiled continuing to push off with one foot then the other.

"Fun? Let's try this."

Chongyun moved in front of him and held both of his hands, skating backwards and imploring Xingqiu to keep moving forward.

Together they moved in sync, skating around the rink until they had went all the way around.

Xingqiu let go of his hands and leaned against the side of the rink, his face in a permanent smile.

"I think that was pretty impressive, wouldn't you say, Chongyun?" He asked teasingly.

"I'd say so, yes." He smiled back, skating close to him just so that the tips of their skates were touching.

"Oh? Were you thinking of giving me some kind of reward?" Xingqiu asked him quietly, his heart in his throat. The other was so close that he couldn't think of any other reason why.

"Mmm... only if you're okay with it." He nodded, picking up their hands again gently.

"I am." He breathed.

With Xingqiu's approval, Chongyun closed the small gap between them, resting his lips on his.

A moment he had been waiting for for too long, Xingqiu kissed him back and smiled against his lips, making the other smile shyly as well.

"It seems someone must have had hidden feelings for me~" he murmured before softly kissing him again.

"I could say the same about you." Chongyun replied, kissing him once more before pulling away just enough that then were still close together.

Suddenly remembering where they were, Xingqiu took his hand and skated about, bringing the other with him. "We can kiss again later when we're not, ahem, here. For now though, I don't suppose you'd still like to skate?" He asked playfully.

With an upbeat song now playing in the rink, Chongyun simply couldn't refuse, especially to Xingqiu.

"Of course."

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Here's a nice little chapter before I continue working on that part 3 for jaw dropping 👍

Written: June 24, 2022

Finished/Published: July 7, 2022

(Word Count: 1,213)