ice skating (billy russo)
KATHERINE'S POV
Damn Billy Russo. Damn him and all of his past generations.
I can throw knives meters away from the target and hit it perfectly. I can shoot from every corner and still hurt someone no matter how uncomfortable I am. I can detect a handler with just a sentence from their mouth or a simple look. I can lie in a lie detector and get away with it. I can fight. I can torture. I can kill.
But I can't ice skate.
Billy is patiently waiting for me to enter the rink. He's with a knowing grin in his face, as if he's thinking I'll chicken out. I look at him one last time and raise my foot to take a ste—
No, not now. It'll be too slippery.
"Let's go, Mikaelson!" He exclaims in a mocking voice. "You're like this for 10 minutes!"
I analyze the ice again to see if it'll break if I step on it. I'm underweight, lighter than Billy and many of the people I'm seeing in the rink, so the ice will handle me too right? It's just 114 pounds (52kg)! It won't break by it... I think.
Testing the floor with the tip of my ice skate, I conclude it'll remain intact with my addition, which gives me courage. I let the cold air of New York fill my lungs before closing my eyes to not see me catastrophically fall in front of dozens of people. Raising my leg to take a good step on the thin ice, I feel my foot touch the slippery floor and—
Retreat it before touching it completely.
"C'mon, Kat!" Billy groans. "Just take a step as if you'd walk!"
Chicken out doesn't sound like a bad idea right now.
"Let me have my time, damn it!" I curse at him.
"I let it before we went to the line, when we were in the line, while putting the skaters and now for 10 minutes! You've had enough."
"No, I haven't."
"Yes, you have. Now c'mon! Don't make me drag you out."
I certainly don't want this. It'll be too embarrassment for an entire year. After all, I have a reputation to maintain. A reputation that make everyone think I can do everything and ain't afraid of nothing.
Okay, Katherine. You can do this.
I put my two feet on the ice before I regret it. However, it doesn't go as planned, because that slippery floor makes me stumble on my own feet and almost fall. If it wasn't for the rink's rail, I'd already had beaten my head and be freezing on the ice.
The coldness of the metal is beginning to pass through the wool of my gloves, but even though it'll burn me, I won't let it go. This is the only thing standing me and the only way I'll let it go is if I'm a corpse.
"See?" I try to give Billy a convincing smile as his dark brown eyes are too skeptical in my opinion. He can't know I've never done that. It'll be my end! "I told you I just had to have my time."
"Oh, yeah?" I nod. "Skate to me then."
I gulp, my stomach dropping in fear. "What?"
"You've heard me."
"Actually, I haven't. There's too much people here, too much noise."
"I know you've heard me, Katherine."
"No, I haven't."
He raises an eyebrow, and I try to straighten my posture to look confident. Ignoring the chills in my spine and goosebumps on my skin, I also make an attempt to do an indifferent look for him, as if I was only patiently waiting the next sentence it'll leave his mouth.
But then it happens. That damn grin that shows he completed the puzzle in his head. Billy is now skating towards me with that bloody smirk on his handsome face, and I know he discovered my secret. This is certainly my end.
He stops centimeters in front of me, and I can feel the cold leather of his black gloves on me as he touches my hips. "Have you ever ice skated, sweetheart?"
I gulp, nervousness only increasing in my body. "Yes."
This would work if I was with another person. But Billy can read me entirely. My body, my soul and my heart.
He laughs mockingly. "I can't believe it!"
"There's nothing to believe."
"You, of all people, have never ice skated!"
"I haven't denied. You're just assuming."
"And you're afraid!" He chuckles. "Of all the things you've ever done, you're afraid of this?"
"This is simple and you know I've never had an ordinary life."
"Oh my God! You're shitting me, Kat!"
"Yes, I am, because I'm very capable to do that."
"Go on, then."
I look up at him just to see that fucking grin on his face. If it wasn't for the fear of falling on the ice and breaking some part of my body, I'd already have ripped it off of his handsome mouth. "Pardon?"
"Go on", he points the rink we are, where everyone but us is happily skating and enjoying the moment. "I believe you. You can do this. You know how to do it."
I'll definitely pay someone to curse him and everyone he loves after we leave this bloody rink. If I die in the process though, at least I'll die knowing he had a feeling for me.
I nod, hopping Billy didn't notice the slight gulp I gave. I take a deep breath while closing my eyes with the intention of counting to 3 to then let go of the rail. I need to focus on this to be decent enough for Russo's taste when being stand up all by myself.
1
2
3
Nothing happens. I don't move, even after imagining my victory towards Billy. I don't want to move.
"Okay! Okay!" I scream in frustration, finally giving up. "I've never done this! And I'm afraid! And I don't want it anymore! And I—"
I stop speaking when I feel his soft lips against mine. They're cold like mine due to the freezing weather, but I don't care. I move my mouth along with Billy, accepting the sweet gesture by kissing him back and sighing passionately. My arms move to his neck, wrapping on it, and his hands tightens on my hips, bringing my closer to him.
Suddenly, all of my anger and desperation are gone.
He breaks the kiss with a sigh, and I open my eyes to meet his dark brown ones. Billy's with a small smile, not looking at me with mockery anymore. Now it's all sweet and affectionate, there's no bad intention in his face.
"I'll not let you go", I feel the warm air leaving his mouth and heating my skin even more, and although distracted, I nod. "You have to trust me, alright?" I nod again and his smile increases. "You're doing great."
I frown, confused. "What?"
He looks down at the floor and my heart drops in fear. Fuck. I let go of the rail when Billy kissed me. I'm going to fall. I'm going to get hurt. I'm going to fail and—
"Eyes on me, sweetheart", his voice is a whisper, but loud enough to stop my thoughts and make me gaze him. "Good. Now—" His hands leave my hips, and I stiffens in fear that it'll be now that I'll meet the ice. However, Billy touches my hands on his neck and holds each of them with his own. He untangles them and holds it like we were walking on the street together, not even cursing by my tighten grip.
"Billy", I anxiously mutter, already feeling the shivering on my spine and stomach.
"Relax, sweetheart. I'm not gonna let you fall." I nod with a deep breath. "Now, I'll skate backwards and you stay still. I just want you to feel."
I nod again. When he begins to move, I'm so frozen in my place that I'm sure I could be mistaken by a mannequin. It feels weird to glide effortlessly, without even taking a step.
I don't look away from Billy as an attempt to stay calm, and he's peaceful gaze helps me. Soon, I'm breathing steadily again and the shivers stop. In what feels like ages, I'm finally doing what I'd imagined; admiring the beauty of the huge Christmas tree behind the Rockefeller ice skating rink, enjoying the tiny snow flakes falling on us and looking at the laughing and chatting people without the burden of not being part of it.
It’s finally like the movies. Having Billy by my side looking after me, being in the environment and enjoying it along with people, sensing the mesmerizing energy coming off from it... It all feels like Christmas. Is that the magic everyone talks about?
"Don't let go of me", I whisper to Billy, facing him again.
His dark brown eyes are warm as ever. They're shining. "Never."
"Can you teach me someday?"
He chuckles, probably at the irony of seeing an assassin asking if he can teach her ice skating. "Of course, Mikaelson. Anytime."
Suddenly, he stops and pulls me to his chest. He kisses me again, deeply and more passionately than the previous one. His lips are still soft, yet warmer than minutes ago, and I feel my heart melting by knowing I was the cause why they heated up. Butterflies fly in my stomach in a way I've never felt, and for a slight second I wonder if I'm dreaming. After all that I've been through, I'm finally living, and no matter how ordinary or crazy my currently life seems, I'm loving it.
I've waited 27 years to feel like this. Before Billy, I've always thought those things only happened in movies and books, that they were romanticized by people to gain money. But no. Those things, those emotions, are true and I'm grateful Billy didn't let me give up. If I did, I'd never be able to experience it in first hand.
"I love you, Kat.” He says with a soft sigh after we break the kiss. Our noses and foreheads are touching as we look deep into each other's eyes.
"I love you too, Billy." I truthfully say, my heart beating as fast as a drum.
His smile reaches his eyes. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart."