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Viktuuri Winter Collection
Summary: Christmas, Yuuri muses as he watches his temporary dorm-mate down another mug of hot cocoa, may not be as dull as he thought it would be. [College AU]
Day 1: Christmas Carols
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xoxoxox
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They're all terrible liars, Yuuri thinks as he watches his family fumble for words through his laptop screen.
"It's not that we don't want you to come home," his mother murmurs softly while fidgeting with her wedding ring. "It's just that we're receiving more visitors at the inn this year, more than ever before and for you, there won't be much time..." she trails off, averting her eyes from the camera out of shame.
"It's okay mom," he smiles reassuringly. "I understand."
After all, he has always known how much the inn meant to his family. Ever since he was a child, he would watch his mother rise early to cook meals and his father to maintain a clean onsen when they could easily hire someone else to do these simple tasks. So now, that their efforts were finally paying off and being recognized, the last thing he wanted to do was trouble them with his desire to spend the holidays together.
"Thank you, Yuuri," she beams, the relief evident in her eyes as she brings Lutz, one of the Nishigori triplets, into her lap. "I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, darling."
Her words are echoed by the rest in the room with the addition of large grins and loud promises of a time to remember, the following Christmas when he returns from college in Detroit."Until then!" he hears his sister, Mari, shout before the call ends and he shuts his laptop to a much needed close.
When he's sure that he is completely alone, he drops onto his bed and lets out a long sigh.
"What do I do now? he wonders, thinking about the plane ticket he had booked to Kyushu months ago and the presents he was planning to shop for in the coming weeks. Despite telling his mother it would be alright, he was beginning to question whether staying on campus, a desolate area during the holidays, was really such a great idea after all.
He sighs once more.
It's not like I have a choice, anyways he reminds himself and instead reaches for the blankets, deciding that he'd rather sleep than have these pointless thoughts invade his mind for much longer.
When he's wrapped in his bedsheets and less than a wink away from sleep, Yuuri hears it.
At first he shakes it off as a hallucination, thinking that there was no way someone else could be in the same situation as him and on top of that be playing Christmas carols out of all things.But a few moments later, his thoughts are confirmed when the music shifts and Mariah Carey's voice begins to croon through the thin walls of his dorm and into his ears.
However that's not all, he realizes.
There's a second, much deeper yet smoother and very off-key voice singing along to the winter classic with an unexplainable kind of joy, as if they were purely delighted to be staying on campus and away from their family for the holiday season.
Yuuri shakes his head in disbelief and hugs his pillow closer, thinking that eventually this unexpected burst of Christmas spirit will wear out and go to sleep as well.
He can't say he isn't surprised when he finds himself awake an hour later, listening to the same song, still being sung by the same obnoxious soul.
"Why," he mumbles tiredly, groaning as the horrible, horrible, horrible organism two floors above him experiences a voice crack and feels the need to rewind the music to perfect the line that they have been murdering for the thirty-seven times the song had been played that night.
"Make my wish come true..." The Christmas enthusiast belts out, with no sign of fatigue and at this point Yuuri is simply so done that he thinks why not join in for all it's worth and perhaps that's not exactly the best choice but honestly, when was a good decision made at one in the morning?
So, Yuuri joins in... and suddenly it's a duet.
With loud mixed and matched lyrics, three minutes go by quickly and Yuuri doesn't even realize he is singing the last line until it's over and all that's left is the melodious laughter resonating from the person two floors above him.
"That was fun," The voice sighs happily. "Thanks for joining in."
"No worries, " He finds himself saying, despite being troubled by it only a few minutes ago. "It's my pleasure."
His words send the person, who he suspects is male from the throatiness of his voice, into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. "Ah," The voice sighs when they finally regain their composure. "Quite the smooth one, aren't you?"
Yuuri doesn't respond, still too flustered to say anything and it's almost as if the other understands with the small string of giggles that leave their mouth.
"You must be tired," The person muses softly. "Let's call it a night."
Yuuri's mind reminds him that the only reason he was up in the first place, was because of this person's shenanigans but he pushes that thought away with a yawn.
"Night," he calls out without truly meaning to.
He's fast asleep when the response comes from above, minutes later.
Sleep well, love."
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xoxoxox
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Author's Note
Thank you to everyone who has spent time reading this chapter. I apologize if I let down any expectations and hope that you'll choose to continue reading for future updates. I plan to give this story a total of 31 chapters (one for each day of December), although I am a little behind at the moment. Feedback is greatly appreciated, as always. Thank you, once again, for reading the beginning of this story. I hope you enjoyed :)