#ref: joel x derya

[marimelwrites]

Closed Starter: @erstwhles Plot: Derya and Joel have been friends for a while. He's a hockey player, she's a figure skater. They both love the ice. They like to be a little competitive.. maybe a little flirty? But here's a little contest to see who is best.

The rink had cleared out, for the most part. It was open to whoever still wanted to practice and work on their respective skills. There was a little net set up for the hockey players who wanted to use half the ice, the other half was wide open in case any figure skaters wanted to practice on skills. Derya loved this part of the day. Most everyone who had used the open ice time had cleared out, and gone home. Only the most dedicated remained, or the most insane of the most dedicated, she hadn't decided which.

Looking over at the hockey side, she wasn't surprised to catch sight of her friends. Taner was there, so was Joel, although it appeared like Taner was being called away by his older brother. She offered the brothers a wave before skating over to Joel, only to skate a lazy circle around him when she did reach him.

"And then there was one..." she observed in a sing-song voice before coming to a stop with her hands on her hips. "Tell me, hot shot, with all this practicing that you do and that I do... who do you wonder is better on the ice overall?"

[marimelwrites]

“🌿🍒” / honestly, I would take this for anyone, but can you imagine how cute ava and emir would be? (also, taner and liliana/henrik and mediha if you're feeling it)

From this Mistletoe Christmas prompt meme here!

>>>Emir & Ava

Whenever the holidays came about, Ava always loved the change of pace that came along with it. Was she the sort of person who would take all of that time off without seeing the ice? No, but she did know how to scale back ice time and allow herself a moment to enjoy the holiday with the people she loved and cared about most. An added bonus? This was a time that she even still got to spend with Emir.

A part of her considered that maybe they needed a break from each other every now and again, but she never needed it. She never wanted it, if she was being completely honest with herself. Emir was the person she could always guarantee she'd never be sick of. On this particular occasion, Ava's parents invited Emir and his family over for their annual holiday party. Family came, friends, plenty of people Ava had seen countless amounts of times over the years.

With the party in full swing, Ava snuck away from the commotion in hopes of a little quiet. Despite participating in a sport that was televised, and had a decent following, particularly during the Olympics, she never had handled crowds and attention well. That was why Emir was so vital to her. He had always been her stability, her calm, her strength. Stopping in the middle of her parent's home, a place she hadn't lived now for years, she took in all the beautiful decorations with a smile all while breathing in a sigh of relief.

The sound of another person joining her caught her attention. Perhaps it was the years spent with one person, that she was able to know exactly who it was from the sound of their footsteps. The realization that it was Emir only made the smile on her face grow before she turned around to face him, and held a hand out for him to take.

It had always felt easy, being around Emir, excluding their moment of difficulties. Things were better now. Wonderful. And even with that familiarity, she still had a shyness to her, as if everything were always new. Her cheeks flushed, and she felt the same butterflies in her stomach that always appeared at the sight of him.

"Look up..." she whispered, looking up after he did. Her gaze fell to his and she touched a hand to either side of his face to guide him towards her gently as she lifted up on her toes so she could kiss him softly before pulling back just the slightest bit and adding, "Merry Christmas, Emir."

>>>Liliana & Taner

It had been no secret, Taner's interest in Liliana. He wasn't the sort of man to hide something like that, confident as he was. Some would say, obnoxiously overconfident. In fact, when he thought about it, he was pretty sure that "some" would be Liliana. Still, that never stopped him from trying. After all, she had always been worth it. He'd known that from the moment he'd met her.

Taner assumed that, at some point, Liliana would understand that his attention towards her wasn't fleeting. Maybe then, she might want to give him the time of day. No matter what, he never turned his attention elsewhere, he couldn't.

Despite that, he wondered if his little plan for today might take things a little too far. In fact, it might end up with him being smacked. It was worth a shot. After all, it was the holidays and sometimes a little good cheer would help things along. Maybe. Possibly. Probably not, but he was still going to try.

He had effectively dragged Liliana outside with him, and he'd been shocked to hear her agree. Nevertheless, he stopped with her in front of the outdoor decorations that had been set up for all the tourists to see and grinned. "You know, the sight never gets old," he muttered as his eyes took in the giant tree all lit up and decorated.

Turning to her, he stuck his hand in his pocket, "That's not all though, I've got a few more stops to see, but before that..."

He pulled out a piece of mistletoe and held it above their heads. "Gotta keep up tradition, right?" Not wanting to get himself thoroughly beat for taking too many liberties, he bent down to place a kiss on her cheek.

As he pulled back, he held out the mistletoe for her, "Here, I'll even let you have it in case you wanna pull that trick on other people. Either way, Merry Christmas. Thanks for joining me out here." What he didn't say is that sometimes it got lonely when he couldn't really go back home and visit his family for whatever reason, and that having her company today meant more than he could say.

>>>Henrik & Mediha

As far as holidays went, Mediha had never really felt much of the spirit. Her family had never included her much, which was no surprise, considering the number of them that there were. She wasn't even close to the favorite, but she'd never complained. Being in a whole different country with another family was an entirely new experience. In some ways, it was so much better. In other ways... worse. It didn't matter that her betrothed was almost never at events, parties, dinners with her. In the end, she had Henrik's company, even if a part of her was sure it was likely solely out of pity. He had always been kind to her, and for that she would be grateful.

With the celebrations winding down, she found herself strolling through corridors beside Henrik. Glancing over at him, she felt herself flush at just the mere sight of him, and quickly turned her attention to the corridor ahead. It always surprised her how her heartbeat would speed up around him, or at the sight of him. How she felt flushed every single time she was near him.

Gathering up the courage, she said, "That was a lovely dinner... I think everyone was enjoying themselves with the celebrations." She tried not to cringe at the silly conversation, and slowed them to a stop.

After a moment, she spoke again, "Thank you for your company today. I hope that I did not stop you from enjoying the festivities." Her eyes went from him, to all the decorations around them, catching sight of the mistletoe hanging above them. She wondered if she should simply ignore it, and move on, but when her gaze found Henrik again, she realized he had noticed it as well.

Mediha stood quietly, considering her options. She could wait for him to do something, she could ignore it, or... she could act. There was a certain level of propriety that was expected of her when she was around the brother of her intended. Her own feelings were unimportant. Despite that, she couldn't help but wonder, for the millionth time, if things would have been different if she had been promised to him.

She stepped towards him, placing a hand on his arm gently before leaning up to kiss his cheek softly, lingering for just a moment before pulling back. She blushed as she pulled back and then looked in the direction they'd been walking before taking a couple of steps and pausing again. "We should probably continue walking... and Henrik..." She looked back at him once more, "Thank you for a beautiful Christmas..."

>>>Bonus because It's Christmas! Joel & Derya

The holiday party for the rink was always a good time of the year. Everyone from athletes of all the sports, to the coaches, to all the staff and trainers who worked there. People were encouraged to bring friends, family, or dates and it always seemed incredibly more chaotic than any other time of year. It always surprised her, how well the staff were able to decorate a place they spent every single day of their lives.

Derya, being a figure skater who wasn't paired with a partner, always found herself alone for this party every year. Her parents never came, and she didn't have friends who weren't already other athletes, really.

She had just come from a quiet room where she had tested her levels to make sure she wouldn't have some sort of episode while trying to enjoy herself. No matter what, she always had to watch for her health, that had to come first.

As she exited the room, however, she ran directly into a very solid body, causing her to stumble for a step back before she looked at who she had run into. "Oh my gosh, Joel. You're like running into a whole brick wall," she teased with a soft laugh. Their height difference left her looking up at him in order to see his face, that line of sight showed her an object hanging over the both of them. Something that caused her to gasp.

Her gaze immediately fell back to Joel's face. Her face was red, showing her embarrassment before she could register any other emotion. "Is that mistletoe... or did I imagine it?" She asked, pointing above their heads, and waiting for him to verify. Derya didn't actually need him to verify whether it was, or not, but when he did, she felt as if the floor below them had dropped out.

Okay. That was fine. It was okay to have to kiss someone you had a crush on because of mistletoe, right? It wasn't a big deal. This might be her one pass where nobody tried to read more into it than she was sure Joel would want. The last thing he might want is for her to kiss him, but she could make it quick.

"I..." He was tall, so much taller than her, and even with her wearing very high heels, she still noticed the height difference between them. Still, the added height allowed her a chance to reach up, touching the side of his face opposite from where she placed a quick kiss on his cheek before drawing back and clasping her hands together before her. "For the sake of tradition," she breathed out.

Her eyes chanced a look up before dropping when she lost her nerve to see what his reaction is. "Um... Merry Christmas, Joel and... uh... sorry, about the whole. I... maybe we should get back to the party?" She bit her lip. "You look really nice, by the way..." With that she spun around and rushed away before she made a bigger fool of herself.