Vlogmas: a YouTube Christmas Special [YouTube]

Day 12

On the twelfth day of Vlogmas, YouTube gave to me:

She'll Say "Are You Dating?" We'll Say "No, Man! But You Can Ship Us Hard In Tumblr Tags." (Charlie McDonnell, Emily Diana Ruth, Dean Dobbs, Bethan Leadley, Evan Edinger, Dodie Clark, Jack Howard [charlieissocoollike, emilieofnewgloom, DeanDobbs/OMFGitsJackandDean, MusicalBethan, EvanEdinger, doddleoddle, JackHoward/OMFGitsJackandDean])

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When you accepted Jack's invitation to go ice skating with him and "a group of friends", you didn't realise that every person in that group was a couple. You watch them subtly from the corners of your vision as you lace up your skates; Charlie and Emily, Dean and Bethan, even Evan and Dodie, who aren't actually dating (at least, not yet), have instinctively paired up. That only leaves you. You, and Jack.

Just don't be weird about it, you tell yourself, taking a bracing breath. Don't be weird about it and maybe Jack won't even notice. Right on cue, the man himself approaches, sitting next to you on the bench to put on his own ice skates.

He smirks at you. "I didn't even think about the fact that this is kind of an accidental quadruple date. Sorry about that."

You mentally facepalm. So much for pretending like everything is normal. "Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything but it is pretty awkward." You frown as Dodie slips on the ice and Evan grabs her hand to steady her. "Ice skating is, like, one of the most romantic things you can do in the winter if you're a couple, but if you're not..."

Jack stands up. His eyes are dancing as he offers you a hand. "Stop overthinking things and just have fun." He raises an eyebrow in challenge. "Unless you're just waffling to hide the fact that you can't ice skate."

That makes you scowl. "Oh, shut up, Howard," you grumble, grabbing his hand and pulling yourself onto your feet. "Just because you're Mr Good-At-Everything. I'll have you know I'm brilliant at ice skating." To prove your point, you push away from him, skating quickly across the rink, but when you try to do a fancy little about-face to rub it in, your ankles cross and you fall smack onto your ass with a jolt.

Jack's laughter rings across the rink, bouncing off the ice. You have to smile a little at yourself, you guess that's what you get for trying to show off. He skates over to help you up, grinning smugly. You roll your eyes, but take his hand.

"Okay, so maybe my ice skating is a little... rusty - "

"Yeah, I'd call that more than just rusty. 'Brilliant at ice skating', huh?"

You shove him away, laughing. " - but I'm better than you at a lot of things! Childbirth, for example." The two of you begin to skate alongside one another.

He snorts. "I'm not sure that childbirth really counts, as I physically have no chance at having any talent in that category," he points out.

You tut, shaking your head. "You know, it's 2014, Jack. There's nothing stopping males from achieving the aspirations that outdated gender norms have kept from them in the past." That earns a chuckle from your skating partner.

"Well, far be it from me to hold back progress with my backwards mindset," he says, holding up his hands with palms turned out. You nod sharply, which makes him laugh again. Something about Jack's laugh makes your chest feel bubbly, like someone's filled it with foam.

You skate for awhile, chatting and joking around idly. From time to time Jack tries to do tricks, and you make a game out of guessing which skater will fall next to entertain the two of you for a bit, but eventually you get tired and let Jack know that you're going to sit down for a minute or two.