A/N: Thank you so much for your kind reviews, everyone! They make me so happy! -chu- Enjoy the next chapter!

Midorikawa sneezed and hid his face inside his scarf. "Desarm wasn't kidding about the weather," he grumbled.

Hiroto flashed him a smile and gently squeezed his hand as the two of them walked their way to the lake. Snow was still falling, but the shower had toned down and the small flakes added little to the already present pile.

"The trick is to move as much as possible," the redhead pointed out. "It distracts your body from the cold."

"Sitting inside with a cup of hot choco distracts your body from the cold too," Midorikawa retorted with a pout. He perked up when his boyfriend suddenly stopped in his tracks and barely had time to blink before a kiss was stolen from his lips.

Hiroto pulled back after a few long seconds and sent him a loving grin, eyeing the blush that slowly appeared on his cheeks. "Better?"

"Y… yeah," Midorikawa stammered, and he lowered his head shyly. It was amazing how a kiss from Hiroto still managed to send his heart racing after two years. He carefully glanced around them, wanting to make sure no one had seen the kiss and was now staring at them. When the coast was clear, the boys continued walking and soon arrived at the lake. The water was frozen solid, and Aphrodi turned out to be right: on it was skating a single person, an adolescent with hair coloured just a little darker than the white snow. Gazel held his hands on his back as he flowed across the ice, seemingly lost in thought. The boy had always been a pro when it came to this sport, and in all these years, he hadn't lost one bit of his touch.

"Gazel!" Hiroto called out, and he smiled when Gazel heard his name and glanced up at him. The silver-haired boy seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then made his way to the couple. Hiroto and Midorikawa widened their eyes when they noticed it at the same time: their friend's left eye was beaten black.

"Holy cra-! Gazel, are you alright?" Midorikawa stammered.

Gazel stepped into the snow and raised an eyebrow, wondering what the boy was getting at, but then he understood. "Oh, this," he pointed at his bruised eye, "don't worry, I gave Burn one right back."

That's not a good solution! Hiroto and Midorikawa sent each other an uncertain frown, almost sharing the same thoughts through eye contact. Neither of them had seen the pair in so much conflict before; it was almost tragic that they had fallen so deep from the point where they would fly around each other's neck and tease one another gently, just because that was their way of expressing their love.

Hiroto cleared his throat. "It's a good thing you mention him. We've actually come to talk about your relationship."

Gazel sent him a glare that made any further words unnecessary. "I don't wanna talk about it." When Hiroto opened his mouth, he added: "It's none of your business!" and was about to turn back to the ice when the redhead grabbed him by the wrist.

"It is our business, Gazel," Hiroto told him strictly. "Or at least it's Aphrodi's. Your fights cause him pain as well. And because we're all friends, it affects all of us."

"So he went to your place," Gazel muttered, to himself rather than to his friend. "I was wondering where he disappeared off to last night…"

"He came to us," Hiroto confirmed with a nod. "He asked for our help, to get you back together."

Gazel ripped his arm out of his grip and avoided eye contact. "I don't want to get back together," he answered bitterly. "It's over between us."

"You know as well as we do that's not true," Hiroto told him. "You still love him, Gazel."

Gazel narrowed his eyes in sharp stare. "Watch your words, Gran. You shouldn't recklessly tell others what they feel."

"It's not reckless, it's the truth," Midorikawa spoke up, determinedly. He had a tendency to defend or at least support his boyfriend when he felt he was being snarled at.

Gazel sent him the exact same stare. "I repeat: it's none of your business. Why don't you two go and be a be a jolly, happy couple yourselves. It's Christmas; do us all a favor and leave me alone."

Hiroto sighed when he heard a hint of jealousy in those words. That boy was madly in love, so much so that talking about other couples angered him to a surprising extent. "We can't celebrate Christmas in all comfort when we know you two are in pain, Gazel."

"I'm not in pain!" Gazel snapped. "I'm fine! Just go away!" Aphrodi's description was flawlessly accurate: the boy broke out of his shell and raised his voice in a way that seemed very unlike him. It was usually Burn who would lose his temper and shout whatever came up in his mind, while Gazel perfectly kept his cool and let the words bounce off him. This time, though, they clearly hit him like a slap in the face. The pain was visible in his teal eyes.

Hiroto exhaled another sigh and placed his hands on Gazel's shoulders. "Sit down," he told him in a friendly tone. He refused to obey Gazel's words when his friend harboured this much pain in his heart. He wasn't going to leave before he opened up to them and agreed to reconcile with Burn.

The other boy shot him a glare, but did as he said. The three of them sank down in the snow and glanced across the lake, none of them saying a word. Surprisingly, it was Gazel who broke the silence, and he looked at his lap while he did so. "… I… don't think getting back together is a good idea," he whispered.

Hiroto and Midorikawa conversed through telepathy once more – the translation of that sentence was, without a doubt: "I want to get back together, but don't know how."

"Why not?" Hiroto inquired. He looked at his friend's face and saw it suddenly looked very fragile compared to a moment ago. His heartache was so strong that Gazel was already lowering his defenses. Assuming they were low enough for him not to lash out again, the redhead placed one hand back on Gazel's shoulder to comfort him. Instead of pulling away, as he usually did, Gazel frowned even deeper and bit his lip before he answered: "… Burn… hates me. And I can't stand how he's become either. He's suddenly so careless, and reckless… He's always been like that, but now, he barely shows that he… loves me. It only shines through when he becomes overly possessive out of nowhere. It's as if he thinks I'm ready to cheat on him with the first person I meet. Everytime we go out, he refuses to let go of my hand. It's like he's trying to show the world that I'm his, but as soon as we're home, he stops caring."

Hiroto and Midorikawa looked at him with sympathetic eyes. It didn't surprise them that such harsh behavior could hurt even the cold-blooded Gazel.

"Have you told him what you think of that?" Midorikawa asked.

Gazel nodded. "A few times… He first called me whiny, and he added "bitch" to that the second time. Whenever I brought it up after that, along with his childish answers, he just got angry. He said that I worry over nothing and that I "should just shut up"… I didn't let that fly, so I told him to stop being so immature. We've had this conversation a couple of times… The last one ended with him throwing a book at my head." When he saw his friends' shocked faces, Gazel quickly added: "He missed, though."

"Instead, he resorted to violence," Hiroto filled in the end of the story. When Gazel nodded, he said: "Gazel… I think Burn is… afraid, of losing you. When you tell him about your problems, he takes it as a sign that he's no longer the one you desire, or that you even want to end things. That's why he avoids the problem by telling you to shut up."

Gazel looked up at him, frowning. "But that doesn't solve anything…!"

Hiroto answered him with a serious expression and asked: "Do you love him, Gazel?"

Gazel blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I don't believe you hate him," Hiroto explained. "You can try to convince yourself of that all you want, but in truth, what you really want is to get back to the way things were, don't you?"

Gazel took a moment to answer that. He looked back at his lap and bit his now trembling lip once more. Hiroto's words reminded him of the past, of much better times when he and Burn were happy together. When it came down to it, he missed that side of his boyfriend so much that it made his chest hurt. He missed holding him, kissing him, just all around loving him, and being loved back without a care in the world. He wanted those moments back… but his belief that Burn no longer did was enough to send tears down his cheeks. Gazel lifted his knees, embraced them and sank his head into his arms. "… I-I still love him," he admitted. "It hurts… This all hurts… too much…"

Hiroto lowered his hand and gently brushed his friend's back. Midorikawa followed his example, sharing the sadness and pity he felt for Gazel. The two of them knew how hard it was to reduce him to tears, but if anyone could do it, it was Burn. Gazel loved him more than anything in the world, and in reality, he was scared to death of breaking up with him.

"Gazel…" Hiroto said slowly. "How would you feel about talking this out with him? Desarm and Aphrodi are trying to talk some sense into him as we speak, they'll make sure he won't attack you again."

Gazel looked at him, having little regard for how embarrassing his tears might be, and sniffed: "I-I don't think that'll work… He told me we were done last night… He's probably happy to be free from my "whining"."

Hiroto shook his head. "It's the exact opposite, Gazel. Didn't I tell you that he's scared of losing you? His words contradicting his actual thoughts is his entire purpose; he doesn't want to appear weak."

"But I'm his boyfriend," Gazel whispered. His voice reached a high, desperate note when he spoke that last word. "He shouldn't worry about things like that with me…"

"He's probably just ashamed," Hiroto explained. "He hates his own fear, and therefore refuses to express it. He gets especially defensive in front of you, because talking about it with you increases the chance of his fears coming true."

Gazel brushed away some of his tears and managed to send the lake a glare despite everything. "That idiot…"

His friends smiled a little at that classic remark and Midorikawa said: "How about it? Wouldn't it be great if you could celebrate Christmas with him normally?" He lifted an index finger towards the sky and winked: "You know, Earth has a saying that goes like this: "nothing ventured, nothing gained"."

Gazel nodded in agreement, not surprised to see Midorikawa's habit of spouting sayings on the right occasion was still present after a few years. Celebrating Christmas with Burn would be great… He would be so happy if he could just spend evenings with him again the way they used to, cuddled up on the couch or studying together. If Hiroto said there was a shot at returning to those peaceful moments, he didn't need time to decide whether he would take it.

"… alright," Gazel said softly. He rubbed the last tears out of his eyes, which had started to light up with a little hope. "We can try…"

"Excellent," Hiroto smiled. "How's tonight sound? We'll arrange for a meeting here, and we'll stay nearby in case you need help."

Gazel nodded once more. "That's fine." He reached out for his shoes that he'd left in the snow and put them back on. Deciding he would sit with his friends just a little longer, Gazel managed a small smile and muttered: "Thanks, guys…"

Hiroto and Midorikawa sent him a reassuring smile back. "No problem."

A/N: Next chapter, you guessed it, Burn time! XD Hope you enjoyed it so far, minna-san!