jingle bells!!!! merry christmas!!!! :)
After breakfast, most of the skaters head down into Rittberger, the little town tucked away in the vale just below the chalet. It’s a ten-minute drive through fields and forests of snow, but eventually they’re pulling up amid the little town with its wooden buildings capped with soft blankets of white, so brightly painted they almost resemble gingerbread houses.
“The biggest building in this town is the ski resort,” says Christophe as they pile out of the van. It pulls away to find parking, leaving them in the middle of a snow-covered but crowded little square with a frozen fountain, a giant Christmas tree, and pigeons cooing for food. Cars full of holidaymakers pass to and fro along the edges, heading towards the resort. Other tourists are gathered near the tree or the church steps, taking pictures. “It was a canton seat, but they moved that to somewhere more populous, so now it’s a rapidly expanding hotel.”
“Convenient,” says Sara. “How long did you say we have here?”
“Until 3PM,” says Christophe, “because that’s when the shops close anyway. It’s Christmas Day, after all. Ideally they shouldn’t have to work, but this is a tourist trap town specialising in winter holidays, so it’s kind of an inevitability.”
“Why don’t we meet back here at 2:30?” suggests Phichit.
“And we can all team up, too!” adds Viktor, taking Yuuri’s hand immediately as if to stake a claim. Yuuri feels his cheeks reddening.
“Yes, friends don’t let friends shop tourist traps shops alone,” declares Michele, though he seems a little peaked at Emil’s proprietary nuzzling. The other teams begin to depart, but before she heads off with a still-complaining Mila, Sara takes Yuuri aside with a small wave.
“Don’t let Viktor go back to the chalet until 5PM,” she suggests.
“What’s going on?” asks Yuuri, and Sara shushes him.
“You’ll find out,” she promises. “But just keep him away from the chalet, okay? There’s a lot to do here until then.”
“The shops close two hours before,” Yuuri points out.”
Sara scoffs at that. “You haven’t been on the sleigh tour, have you?” he wonders. Yuuri shakes his head, and Sara beams.
“Oh, it’s so pretty! You get to go through the all these forests and see such lovely nature -- there’s a stream that feeds into the pond through the small forest, and it’s absolutely romantic. I bet Viktor would love it.”
It’s a very clear setup. But Yuuri nods anyway, watching Sara beam and twirl away to tend to her ailing girlfriend. Up ahead, Phichit and Christophe have gone into a tea-shop, Christophe’s hand just short of the small of Phichit’s back.
“Do you think they...?” Viktor’s voice asks suddenly, trailing off with a pointed silence at the tea-shop’s door. Yuuri turns, a little surprised; Viktor slips an arm around his waist with a small smile.
“I don’t know,” Yuuri admits, leaning against his fiance’s shoulder. “Maybe?”
“They were sitting next to each other at breakfast, too,” Viktor points out.
Yuuri laughs, as they walk up to the window and press their faces to the glass. Inside, Phichit and Christophe have taken up a booth, deep in conversation with one another. Viktor beams at the sight before he nods at the door, but Yuuri shakes his head.
“Let’s give them some space,” he suggests. “How about the chocolate shop over there?”
Viktor raises an eyebrow, but he follows Yuuri without hesitation.
asks for this are now closed, happy holidays!
