"Did you get them on?" Hinata asked from Komaeda, who just frowned as he nodded. Hinata leaned over the counter to look at him, as Komaeda hesitated standing up from the chair. He had never worn ice skates before and he had a feeling he wasn't going to be good at this. When he didn't get up apparently fast enough, Hinata skated over to leave the ring and walked over to him.

"Here, I'll help you up," he said as he offered his hand. Komaeda took it hesitantly, and as the other pulled him up he immediately felt regret over the decision as he almost wobbled over. Hinata was there to keep him up and to support him on the walk over to the ring.

As he stepped on the ice, Komaeda kind of wished he hadn't agreed on coming here. Hinata had gotten free tickets from his work and since he hated to leave free things unused, he had coaxed Komaeda into coming with him. There had been just no way for him to refuse when he had seen how determined Hinata was to have him as company, even though Komaeda had offered that he should take someone else with him since he didn't know how to.

"I'll hold your hands, alright? You just get used to the feeling," Hinata said as he took Komaeda's hands in a firm grasp, standing up in front of him. Like it was easy thing to do, Hinata began to slowly skate backwards while pulling Komaeda along. He was feeling ridiculous being pulled like that, and he tried to stand as straight as he could despite his wobbling legs. He wanted to have at least some dignity.

"I'm not sure if I can do this," Komaeda said after a while, as he tried his best not to make any sudden movements to prevent falling down. "I'm going to just fall down as soon as you let go." Hinata squeezed his hands encouragingly.

"Come on, you can do it if you try. I know it must feel weird right now but it'll get better," he said as he slowed down their pace a little bit. Komaeda furrowed his brow as he stared at his legs to figure out what he was supposed to do with them. In comparison to Hinata's smooth skating, his constantly buckling knees felt ridiculous.

"I don't know, my luck has been really good lately so I wouldn't be surprised if it hit back now…," Komaeda complained as he pursed his lips. He had never been anyhow sporty either, so he didn't have anywhere to base this.

"It doesn't stop you from trying, does it? You shouldn't look at your feet too much, you won't be able to—" Hinata's words got cut off when Komaeda stumbled and almost fell down. Hinata managed to hold him up however, but Komaeda's mood had gone even sourer.

"You know that I don't have a lot of strength in my legs, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

"Hey, just look at me okay—"

"I'm sure you'd rather go skate properly as well, instead of hanging back with me…," Komaeda said as he glared at his feet. He should have refused; Hinata could've come here with someone who knew how to ice skate and had much more fun than he was most likely having now.

"That's not true, just look at me," Hinata said impatiently and Komaeda held his hold tighten around his hands.

"You're getting angry," Komaeda said as he recognized the signs, and the other held his hands even tighter. It was starting to feel uncomfortable, and Komaeda glanced at Hinata from his feet for a moment.

"You're being difficult," Hinata said tightly as he frowned.

"I know, I'm really bad at this," Komaeda said instantly, lowering his eyes back to his feet. "You should have asked someone else to come with you. I'm sure Naegi-kun or Souda-kun would have joined you, or maybe even Nanami-san if you had managed to convince her."

"Look, that's not it. Can we just focus on the skating now?" Hinata said curtly, and Komaeda realized he shouldn't speak anymore, but the words kept spilling from his mouth like a waterfall.

"The tickets are going to waste like this. I'm sure it's not too late to call someone else over, I can just go home and look after Hope—"

"I said that's not it," Hinata said harshly as he stopped skating completely. Komaeda turned to look at him to see Hinata glaring at their hands. "Are you an idiot? I didn't want to come here with anyone else." After saying his words, Hinata sighed and let go of Komaeda's hands before skating off. Komaeda quickly grabbed a hold of the side of the ring before he fell down. The other had his back turned on him, and he didn't seem to mind the gazes he was gaining from some of the people.

Komaeda dropped his head. He had messed up again by being unnecessarily negative. Now that he was leaning against the rail, he felt a lot better about standing on his skates already from when he had started: at some point he had actually started to get used to it while he had been running his mouth.

He glanced at Hinata, who was deliberately skating on the other end of the ring, and he straightened his back as he hesitantly tried to slide on the ice. It was a lot harder to move than he had anticipated, but he bit his teeth together as he just continued trying. That felt like the best action to do now: he wasn't sure if it was enough to calm Hinata down but at least he was trying to compensate for his lack of trying earlier.

It didn't take too long for him to feel stable enough to let go of the rail, though his progression onwards was really slow. Occasionally he almost fumbled, but he stuck close to the side to be able to catch on it quickly, as he made his way towards the other end of the ring. Hinata had stopped skating – apparently having noticed him coming – and was looking at him with his arms crossed.

He wasn't entirely sure, but Komaeda got the feeling that the other wasn't that angry anymore.

"See, it's not that hard is it?" Hinata said when Komaeda got close enough to hear.

"I'm sorry, I was being negative again and ruining your fun—" Komaeda started to apologize, but Hinata interrupted him as he dug out his phone from his pocket.

"Smile!" he said as he pointed the phone towards him. When Komaeda just stared at him in wonder, he repeated his word and Komaeda tried to pull off a smile as well as he could, and the phone clicked as his photo got taken.

"Is there a reason you needed my picture…?" Komaeda asked as he skated the rest of the distance to Hinata.

"The one who actually gave me the tickets was my mother. I was talking with her on the phone the other day, and when I told her you're mostly home every day she gave me the tickets. She apparently got them from her friend as a gift but my father didn't want to go with her, so she told me to take you out and send her pictures," Hinata said as he showed the picture to Komaeda.

Komaeda looked at the picture and the wonky smile on his lips. He hadn't talked a lot with Hinata's parents even after they moved together, but whenever he had seen them they had been very kind and accepting towards him. And while it made him always feel guilty, it always made his heart squeeze and he just found himself stuck in a loop of conflicting emotions. He furrowed his brow as he thought of what to say, and Hinata poked him in the forehead.

"So I have to properly teach you how to skate, so that she'll get the absolute best pictures of you. So how about you stop being so negative and I stop being so cranky and we have fun, alright?" Hinata said with a smile and Komaeda nodded as he returned the smile hesitantly. He didn't see any value to pictures of him, good or bad, but if that's what Hinata's parents wanted then the least he could do was agree.

So when Hinata offered his hands again, Komaeda took them and let the other pull him along willingly.

Thank you so much for reading! The Christmas specials will still continue and the next one will be up in few days again~!