in the warmth, you’re there.
@urianius //
ahyeon realizes that she has none, she has it where she thinks it matters, but probably not where it should matter most.
where’s that?
cue the scene.
hyuck tugging on her hand with the same youthful innocence that they should’ve left when stages got bigger and scripts got longer. he’d never let go of it and by default ahyeon understands that she never has either. it doesn’t show as much on her as it does on him, but he’s the one pulling and she’s the one following. right? that counts for something. counts for all the people who comment that she’s too serious, too strung up or caught up in what she could be and what she has to be. for herself, her parents and maybe a bit for her sanity.
that youthful innocence doesn’t leave, it just stores itself away, tides away for people like hyuck to pull tug and coax it out. wherever that may be. sometimes it’s in the corners of the backstage curtain, hyuck’s faces cheering her up before they’re scheduled to walk out and present an award. maybe it’s in the late hours of a script reading, the tick of a pencil against hers and a quirk of her lips that only he can catch and the camera couldn’t. maybe, it’s the fastening of a scarf around her neck and his hand pulling her off and into this world.
a world that lets stardom be bright as well as joyful, not just blinding and far away.
they’re not headed somewhere so abstract today though, it’s abstract because he hasn’t quite told her where it is. he’s just told her to be prepared, chastised her for how thin her jacket was and dutifully wrapped her up in an extra scarf.
any complaints on how warm she already was were lost in the feeling of hyuck yet again - pulling her to a new adventure. because that’s what it would be, that’s what it always was. amongst all the frowns, all the clicks of her tongue or the raise of her brows, somewhere along the line her hand started to squeeze back and her feet started to fall into step.
no resistance, just trust in how she feels, and how she always feels when she’s around him.
“where are we going?” ‘don’t worry about it.’
it’s warmth, despite wind cutting across her cheeks, despite snow fluttering through her nose and over her eyelids, despite how they close against icicles and the fabric of the blindfold and fits of laughter as he ignores her questions. even in the unknown of their destination, she’s almost sure it’ll include the same.
there’s steps and awkward fidgets of a lock, of doors and more steps. the air gets colder, significantly colder and she’s seeking his hand as he seeks to pull the blindfold off.
‘why are you looking at me like that?’
there’s even warmth in that - in the skeptical look he gets as she looks around and recognizes the stadium they’re standing on the edge of. a stadium she’d often come with areum, when they were younger, pliable. when areum actually had dreams for her hobbies and when they weren’t as rebellious as they became. their parents would drag them to the stadium when it snowed, because areum was more in the mood when surrounded by snow and she’d skate day in and day out. ahyeon isn’t a fan of it but she’s familiar with it, learned to laugh with it and smile at the memory.
cue her confused as to why hyuck’s brought her here and why he looks like he has no idea why she’s giving him the look she is.
“minjae taught you how to pick locks?” ‘no - no of course not. whaaaaat.’
cue ahyeon, unimpressed. though she’s also pushing back thought of how cute hyuck looks when he’s flustered and trying to hide something.
“you know this is more my sister’s scene right?”
it is, and she says that with no disappointment, no malice, she just says it with a straightness that people often mistake for such things. she’s used to that, and she’s not accusing hyuck of doing it - it’s just a regular. after meeting both her and her sister, people usually associate the exciting things, the things that girls normally like with areum. ahyeon is dolled up and girly by default, because it fits her, areum is cut-up, rough by rebellion and rebellion only.
and hyuck - hyuck knows her too well to make this mistake which is why instead of the offense most people take from her words, he’s just smiling even wider and lifting a pair of skates to her.
‘you trust me right?’
it’s the smile, it has to be the smile that has her taking them with no hesitation. it’s the smile that has her setting her jacket down and seeking his hand out onto shaky steps on the ice rink.
“why are we here?” ‘to skate silly.’
ahyeon’s not bad at it, but she’s nothing like her sister, it’s the one area that areum’s perhaps more graceful than her in. but ahyeon learns fast and they’ve both inherited that same stubbornness that even the embarrassment of shaky legs and hands gripping to hyuck’s arm cannot stop. her cheeks color with each time he catches her, with each lift that has her face far too close to his and his smile just a tad too wide.
“you’re enjoying this.” ‘why would i come here if not - to enjoy this.’ “you’re the worst.”
but she keeps it up, because hyuck’s suddenly become more encouraging, and more of an anchor. like in the ways he’s been during their journey as actors and actresses. he’s always been somewhere, even if it wasn’t right beside her it was somewhere, movement in the corner of her eye that brings relief, or a quirk of a smile.
like when she hears they’ll be at the same music station for a special, or the guest hosts for an award, or even if schedules align for him to wave at her from across the sidewalk. she’ll balk, maintain her composure but let a smile pass and maybe a text later when he admonishes her for it.
‘you’re not so bad.’ “shut up.” ‘almost better than areum.’ “shut up.”
because that’s not true and it’s never something she ever needs to hear. areum’s got this thing, about loving it when people say she’s different from ahyeon, but still as gorgeous or as demure. she’s heard that soonyoung will make such comments about how he prefers areum - and ahyeon wouldn’t have it any other way. if soonyoung ever said the opposite it’d be her fist in his face. the thing is - she’s never wanted to nor does she enjoy comparing herself to her sister since she’s long realized their differences and accepted it.
much in the way areum would never accept that there are things about her that ahyeon would long for, especially in her youth, in the freedom areum would tackle everything and the structure with which ahyeon did her own.
she couldn’t possibly be better than areum at this, skating is her sister’s domain. on the ice or on the dirt. but when hyuck says it, cheekily and knowing it’s a lie but he can say it like it’s the truth. it colors her cheeks and the warmth against the cold of the stadium makes it so obvious she wants to bury herself. except the only thing to bury herself in is hyuck’s shirt and she shouldn’t - she couldn’t but she leans forward and does it anyway.
and hyuck? he just accepts it, with a hand against her back, another atop her head and carrying the weight of her as he skates backwards and she glides forward.
“when’d you get so good at ice skating?” ‘a magician doesn’t reveal his tricks.’
and really what kind of tricks does he have? ones that can drag her out the cold into an ice skating rink in the middle of the afternoon. one that have her laughing so loud that it bounces off the arena, an arena that they’ve obviously snuck into. that has her clinging to him with no hesitation with no concept of how the proximity between them is lost and just the space between a few breaths and few more laughs.
are they tricks? they’re nothing so trivial, they’re genuine and real.
“are you going to tell me?” after a break and thirty more minutes of ahyeon skating, getting a feel for what she can do and what her sister so easily craves to do. of ahyeon realizing all the time spent with her sister in here did build some things and she’s not as clumsy on the ice as she thought. of hyuck cheering and clapping like a fool and her smiling and eating it up just the same.
‘tell you what?’ he’s packing up and making sure to fasten the scarf around her neck, something she swears she could do herself.
“why you brought me skating.” ‘can’t i take you on a date if i want to?’
that effectively - very effectively shuts up any questions for the rest of the evening. for the walk home, with his hand in hers, for all of areum’s questions and texts blowing up her phone. ahyeon’s cheeks are still warm when she gets a text from her manager.
[XX-XXX-XX ] you’ve got an audition for an upcoming drama. here are the details for the role. it’s a stretch but we’ll still go for it. don’t stress it too much!
she’s confused at first about why it’s a stretch but looks over the script anyway. she glosses over minor things, the age, the names, the plot...and she lands on a rather important feature.
.... ice skater ....
the little devil.
her heart warms even more.