Hi guys! Cho here with my first fanfiction that I'm gonna post here. I miiight post some of my older stuff. Maybe. Anyway, this was originally a secret santa gift for the tumblr Ameripan Secret Santa Exchange 2014, but I'm really proud of this one, so I decided to post it here! I'm still somewhat new at this, but I hope you enjoy the pure fluff nonetheless.

"Hey, Keeks, you sure you're cool with this?"

"A-Al-chan, it is ok, I-I think I can handle this."

He couldn't handle this.

Kiku always loved winter. He adored the snow, the excitement of the people during the holiday season, the beauty of the scenery, he loved it all. But his boyfriend's lovely idea of a ski trip was something far outside his comfort zone. He wasn't used to these kinds of things. At all. Especially since Alfred requested they go straight to the black diamond runs, even though Kiku had no clue what he was doing and Alfred wasn't very good at the harder runs himself.

So, here they were, at the top of a black run near the top of the mountain, even Alfred begining to regret this descision.

"Welp... There's no other place to go but down now, isn't there?" asked Alfred, a small laugh resounding from his lips.

Kiku pursed his lips, a visible movement beneath his ski mas. He let out a long breath through his nose, the warm air leaving a blurryness on his goggles. Before he knew it the Yank had already sped off, his nervousness seemingly forgoten as he sped down the slope, leeting out a loud whoop as he glided across the snow.

There was no going back now.

He sped off into the snow, a trail of puffy snow coming from his skiis, and he hoped he wouln't crash.

Guess what happened.

Kiku had no control over his skiis, and had no clue how to stop or turn. So when he got to a steep part...

Solution, purposefully ram yourself into something and fall, that would at least help you stop. He had rammed almost head-first into a tree near the edge of the trail and, although he had a few bumps from the impact, he at least managed to stop. Suprisingly there wasn't much damage done.

Alfred, who Kiku had somehow managed to catch up to (considering his jarring pace and lack of control), skidded to a stop, popped off his skiis, and hobbled over as fast as he could (damn these awkward ski boots) to where his boyfriend lay in the snow. He helped Kiku to his feet, not knowing what to honestly say in that situation. Although, his general expression, an odd mix of concern and 'what where you thinking?!', said enough. Although Kiku couldn't see Alfred's face beneath that ski gear...

There was silence, a long pause between the two lovers, before Alfred decided to break the tension between the two.

"Shit, man, I shouldn't have picked a black run..." He said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Kiku looked up at the taller man next to him, still unable to read his expression. "Ah, do not blame yourself completely..." Began Kiku, rubbing some of the snow off of his arm. "I-It was my own fault for not saying anything earlier... and for swerving into a tree" He mumbled the last part, adveriting his gaze to his skis, which by some miracle were still on his feet.

Another pause beffel uppon the pair, both shifting awkardly where they stood.

"Hey... you think we could get someone to call ski patrol for us? You know that we don't have to ski down the rest of the-"

"I would prefer to ski down the rest of the way, if that is alright with you." Kiku suddenly replied, sounding serious. Alfred blinked, surprised at Kiku's unwillingness to back down to this. Honestly, why was he surprised in the first place eluded him.

"I... are you sure? You don't have to go through with this is you really don't want to..."

"Alfred, I assure you I want to go down this mountain." Concluded the older nation, dropping the cute honorific. This, again, took America aback slightly, and for a good reason this time too. Suddenly, a non-visible grin burst on to the American's hidden face, the movement of his lips noticable beneath his mask.

"Alrighty, then!" He suddenly exclaimed, his enthusiasm returning to him. "Uh, we might wanna run down the whole 'skiing mechanincs' thing again, alright?" Quickly, Kiku nodded, suddenly eager to overcome the challenge placed before him.

As the pair stood of to the side, it only took a few minutes for them both to go over the basics together. It felt like forever, but otherwise, neither of them would have really been able to go down the steep run. They... did surprisingly well. While Alfred did try to breeze through the run, he himself had stumbled and fallen on more than one occasion (to the concern of the people on the ski lift, to which he responded by getting up as quickly as he could, giving a thumbs up, and shouting "I'm alright!", earning him a loud whoop). Kiku had taken a much... slower, approach. Turning often gracefully down the hill, restraining himself from going too quickly in fear of crashing.

After what felt like a century and a half the two found themselves at the base of the mountain, back at square one all over again, both extremelly relieved. They decided to take a small break before hitting the slopes again, as they went back to the lodge for some downtime, and to warm up.

"Hey, Keeks?" Said the blond, vying for the smaller man's attention. Kiku's head jerked up, showing the American that he had his full attention. His features were flushed from his own cup of hot chocolate warming his frigid face (a ski mask can only do so much).

"Ya know, for a newbie, I'm really impressed with how you handled that." Minus the I-slammed-into-a-tree-because-i-forgot-how-to-stop moment, both responded in their minds.

"A-ah... thank you, Al-chan. For teaching me, as well." Replied the raven-haired boy, his features flushing slightly redder as he brought the warm drink to his lips once again.

"No, really! I mean, that was a black run. A friggin black run!" Exclaimed the American, a broad smile bursting out on his face. "That's one of the hardest courses in the park! I mean, really, we should have started with a green, or at least a blue..." While Alfred was still beaming exitedly, those last words had become somewhat of a murmur. The embarassing part about the situation for Alfred was that he himself was mostly used to blue runs, but had insisted to try a black run to try to push himself. He momentarily forgot his own boyfriend barely knew how to ski himself... "A-anyway, that was cool! Your a natural at this already! I mean, sure, you could improve a little, but your just starting out," Concluded Alfred, stopping himself from rambling any further.

At this point, Kiku's cheeks were even redder than they were when they walked in. He looked up at his excited lover from across the table they were seated at, and smiled himself, setting his hot cocoa down. "Ah, well then, I do not suppose you could teach me?" He proposed, although at this point he knew the answer was going to be a deffinite "yes". "I wish to try that run again someday... when I am much more skilled, of course. It was a little fun, I must admit." Japan finished, his small smile growing slightly.

America's entire face seemed to light up as he ran over to Kiku's side of the table (more like speed walking. damn the awkwardness that are ski boots) and gently tugged on his arm, resisting the urge to jerk the man from his seat. "Well, come on then! The resort closes in a few hours, and we don't gave all day!" He exclaimed, tugging on Kiku's sleeve like an exited child would to his mother's. Kiku laughed that quiet little laugh of his, which Alfred found adorable, and set down his hot chocolate to let himself be dragged outside by his boyfriend. Not without putting on the gear again, of course... and without America stealing the oportunity to kiss Kiku on the cheek before he put his ski mask on.

The lessons began, and the day came and went, and this was a fond memory the two would always remember.

Ever since that day, the pair had agreed to visit this skii resort every january for a little vacation together. They both improved much, and their experience with retrying that first black run? Well... I suppose that is a story for another day.

Was it any good? Gah, that took a lot of energy. Anyway, please review if you liked it. Maybe even favorite this story? Thank you so much!