"Are we there yet?" Elena sighed.

"Not yet, but we're reeeally close," Mateo answered, leading her by her hand.

Elena sighed again.

"Mateo I really appreciate what you're doing for me, I think, but I simply don't feel festive this year," she spoke in a tired voice. "And you shouldn't have left your mamá on Nochebuena just for me."

"Come on, Elena, we've finished celebrating a few hours ago and she's probably already asleep." Besides, I would do much more, if you'd just ask me. He thought but didn't dare to say such a bold line out loud.

Elena frowned slightly and gave up on convincing Mateo to let her go back to the palace. Instead, she tried to figure out where exactly he was taking her.

The magical blindfold didn't let any light through so her sense of sight was useless now. Still, she could hear the crumpling of grass and old leaves beneath their feet, so she deduced that they've left the city area. She extended her free hand a little and felt something hard and coarse brush against it. A tree? She asked herself. A few minutes later, she brushed against another tree and then another, so she realized that they must have entered the forest. But why would Mateo take her blindfolded, in the middle of the night, to a forest outside the city?

A shiver ran down her spine as the thought cleared up in her head. But then Mateo squeezed her hand and whatever worries she had, disappeared. It was Mateo after all, so whatever reason he had, it couldn't be anything evil.

Finally, she felt them slow down and after a few more meters Mateo stopped. He let go of her hand and Elena heard the familiar rustle of fabric, typical to unsheathing a tamborita.

"Okay, we're here!" Mateo tried to sound enthusiastic, but he couldn't fight the lump in his throat. He cast zanamo and the magical barrier disappeared from before Elena's eyes.

"Feliz Navidad!" He said with an unsure smile and moved aside, revealing his surprise.

Elena gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Just a step away from her, the whole forest clearing was covered in ice and snow. The silver sheet, rounded by a trim of white fluff, reflected the silver stars and the dark sky above them, only the moon shedding its cold rays to light the scenery.

"It's really…" Elena took an unsure step and felt her foot slide. "It's a real ice rink… Mateo, you're fantastic!"

She launched herself at his neck and Mateo returned the hug. He could almost feel the previous fatigue leaving her, replaced by (he hoped) joy.

"I know the past months were hard, especially hard for you, but when I saw that you weren't celebrating even a day before Navidad, I- I had to do something for you… You deserve to have a happy holiday, Elena." He said, not daring to look at her, so she wouldn't see him blushing.

"They're happy, thanks to you." She didn't look at him for the same reason.

They stayed in the hug for a long, long moment. Mateo was the first one to let go as he spoke up.

"Don't you want to try it?" He grinned encouragingly and the atmosphere changed from melancholic to excited.

Elena laughed as an answer and finally stepped further onto the ice. At first, her steps were slow and careful, but as she felt memories from the simpler times of her childhood coming back and the familiar joy bubbling inside her, she started gliding, faster and faster, remembering all the tricks and figures she'd learned all these years ago now. She raised one leg, balancing carefully… but she didn't fall so she leaned forward, extending her other leg into the air, forming a perfect swallow. Straight from that, she put her leg back onto the ice and turned almost in place, so she was gliding backwards. Then she turned front again and put one leg before the other and the other way around, in a shuffle kind of move, from which she crouched down, still perfectly keeping her direction, and finally after spinning a masterful pirouette she stopped before Mateo.

Her cheeks were flushed from cold and emotion, and big clouds of steam covered her whole face as she panted. But her face was lightened up by a smile Mateo hadn't seen in months. He couldn't stop himself from giggling.

"What's so funny?" Elena asked, catching her breath.

"Nothing, you look…" Beautiful crossed his mind but he didn't dare to say it out loud. "Happy."

"Mmm, you know what would make me even happier?" She glided closer to him, so close he could see the stars reflecting in her eyes. And she could probably see him flush red.

"What?" He whispered, quieter than he wanted to.

Elena moved even closer and… grabbed his hands pulling him onto the ice rink.

"He- hey, hey, what are you doing?! I've never- I can't-" He shouted, the words incoherent as he tried to just stay on his feet.

And Elena laughed. He shot her a glare, but she just continued to laugh.

"Come on, it's not that hard."

She turned to stand right in front of him and still holding his hands, started to slide backwards, so Mateo would go forward. And so he tried very hard. He knew the basics, so he knew what to do, at least in theory. He kept making sure to keep his feet pointed in the right direction, his back straight and his knees bent so he wouldn't fall. He was tense and shivering - telling himself that it's from the chilly air, not from anything else.

"Hey, don't look at your feet," Elena reminded him, pulling his chin up by her hand. "Look at me."

Mateo complied and as he did, he completely forgot about the need to answer. In fact, as he looked at her, he forgot about everything. His body relaxed and his moves became smoother. They've fallen into a rhythm - right leg, left leg, right leg, left leg… They made a few laps around the rink and he didn't even notice when Elena went from in front of him to behind him, as he was still lost in her eyes.

"You know, you should probably look where you're going." Elena laughed.

"But then I'd have to look away from you." He answered absentmindedly.

A hot blush immediately bloomed on her face, probably the same as on his. She sheepishly looked down but her lips curled up into a smile. And finally, as he was about to comment on how beautiful she looked, something hit him in his shins.

He let out a stifled yelp as he fell, pulling Elena with him. Stifled, because he'd fallen face-first into the snow. Squealing from sudden fall and cold, instead of getting up, they rolled away, slipping and pulling one another down. Finally, they gave up and laid down in the magical snow, gasping for air and laughing, louder and louder, the colder and more wet their clothes became.

Finally, their laughter died out and Elena turned her gaze towards the sparkling, dark sky. She sighed deeply but a wide smile adorned her face. Though suddenly it turned into a look of confusion.

"Is that… a mistletoe?" She pointed at the tree right above them.

Mateo finally looked away from her and at where she was pointing. He sat up to see better, and she followed.

"Huh, it seems like it, I had no idea they grew in this climate," he answered, a matter of fact tone hiding the trembling of his voice.

"Yeah, and it's exactly above us…" Elena bit her lip but her eyes fell, even though a blush on her face became even more prominent.

"Um, well, it's after midnight so, I guess it's technically Navidad already." Mateo scooted a little closer but also didn't dare to meet her gaze.

"Yeah, and tradition is tradition…" Elena looked up. "...Right?"

And their eyes met.

^^^^^^^^
Merry Christmas, AAA_siren!