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Christophe tapped his foot. Five more minutes, and then he was leaving. If he left this festival alone, he was never going to forgive Viktor. It probably wasn’t Viktor’s fault that this guy hadn’t shown up, but Christophe wasn’t exactly in the mood to be fair.
He was just about to leave when he saw a guy looking around. Dark hair in an undercut, leather jacket, wearing a circular pendant… must be Viktor’s guy. “Hi! I’m Christophe. Want to go explore?”
The guy looked him over coolly, and then shrugged. “Sure. Otabek.”
That wasn’t the name Viktor had given him, but then again, he wouldn’t put it past Viktor to give him the wrong name accidentally. After a moment’s hesitation, Christophe fell in beside him, leading the way into the festival grounds. “Nice to meet you. How do you know Viktor?”
Otabek shrugged again. “Doesn’t everyone know him? I’m friends with Yuri Plisetsky and Mila Babicheva.”
“Yuri Plisetsky has friends?” Otabek just gave him a cool glare. “Sorry. It’s just that somehow Yuri managed to piss off Phichit Chulanont enough that Phichit refuses to be friends with him, and I didn’t know that was possible.”
“Yeah, that was a misunderstanding, but Phichit refuses to back down.” The corner of Otabek’s mouth twitched slightly. “It would probably help if Yuri would just apologize, but he’s stubborn. What do you want to do first?”
“Either the rides or go see the animals. What about you?”
“Either of those is fine by me. Some friends of mine are playing the festival, but not until this afternoon. Other than being there to watch them, I’m good with whatever you want to do. Do a couple rides and then go look at the animals when we’re ready for a break?”
“That works!” Christophe led the way to the swinging Viking boat. As they fastened the restraints, he realized the problem with this idea – it was going to be hard to talk. He was saving the Ferris wheel for last, obviously, but what other rides would be good for talking? Oh well, sitting beside someone while experiencing an adrenaline rush would probably be a good bonding experience.
Otabek barely made a sound as they swung back and forth, and he looked the same as ever when they got off. “Your turn to pick one! Where to?”
“Do you get dizzy easily?”
“No. I’m fine getting on any of these rides. Why do you ask?”
“Because I want to ride the spinning teacups, but not if you’re going to be disoriented afterward. Come on.” Otabek led the way over, and Christophe followed. The teacup right was a lot of fun, and once again, Otabek was completely cool throughout. Christophe didn’t understand – for him, half the fun of the rides was screaming – but hey, opposites were supposed to attract, right? Afterward, Otabek asked, “Another ride or go see the animals?”
“Animals. I wonder if they’ll let us pet the sheep.”
Otabek raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t petting zoos normally meant for kids?”
“It probably depends on if they have any… in the spring and summer, sure, but in the fall? Wouldn’t most of them be past the kid stage by now? Goats are born in the spring… what?” Otabek was looking at him funny.
“I meant human kids,” Otabek explained. “I take it you’re interested in livestock?”
“My aunt raises sheep, and I had a pet goat for awhile when I was a child. What about you?”
“I’m a city boy. The most I know about most farm animals is which ones go moo and which ones we eat.”
Christophe laughed at the joke. “At least you know that much! I’ve met people who honestly didn’t know that their meat comes from animals. They thought it magically appeared at the store or something.” Christophe took Otabek’s hand and started toward the barns.
The petting zoo operator looked at Christophe a little oddly when he paid his admission and got his sheep food, but didn’t say anything. Otabek followed Christophe to the sheep, where Christophe crouched to pet it. “I always loved visiting my aunt when I was little. She never let me actually use the clippers, but I’d go out during shearing season to help watch the sheep while everyone was busy with shearing.”
“Sounds boring. No offense, but sheep aren’t exactly the most entertaining of animals.”
“Maybe not, but they’re peaceful, and the lambs can be adorable when they get frolicking.” Chris stood back up. “Horses more your thing? Or, you’re Yuri’s friend, I’m guessing you like cats too?”
“Cats are nice. My favorites are birds, though. Falcons and stuff.” Otabek looked down at a goat that had come over to investigate him, and hesitantly patted its head. “What’s next?”
“Rides or lunch. When do your friends play, so we can make sure not to get in line for anything too close?”
Otabek checked his phone. “Their set starts at 3:45. Let’s get lunch.”
After lunch, they did a few more rides, and then headed to watch Otabek’s friends. Their show wasn’t to Christophe’s taste, but the talent was undeniable. “You like them?”
“Not really. They’re good, they play a lot of shows, but I’m more into electronic music than rock. I still go to their shows to support them.”
“Fair enough. What’s next?”
Otabek shrugged. “It’s your turn to choose. How much longer were you planning on staying?”
“I was kind of figuring this was an all-day thing, and we’d leave when we either got tired or wanted to go do something away from the festival. What about you?”
Otabek looked at him oddly. “We?”
Christophe tilted his head, squinting at Otabek. “Well, if we weren’t getting along, one of us would bail, but that hasn’t been a problem today, has it? I’ve enjoyed spending the day with you!”
“I’ve had a good time, too, but you make it sound like this was a planned date. I’m confused.”
“You…” Christophe’s mouth hung open as he stared at Otabek. “You’re not the guy Viktor set me up on a blind date with for this? The description he gave me matched, and you were looking for something…”
“I was just looking around to see what was here. Plan my day. Then you walked over and acted like you wanted to hang out with me, and since I was here on my own, I figured why not roll with it?”
“I feel kind of bad for whoever your date was supposed to be,” Otabek said.
Christophe scoffed. “I don’t. I’d been waiting for him for forty-five minutes when I spotted you. I was just about to give up.”
Otabek nodded. “I see.”
“I don’t suppose you know anyone named Jim Jack, do you?”
Otabek stared at him for long enough that Christophe was starting to get a little uncomfortable. “…You don’t mean Jean-Jacques, do you?”
“Well, Viktor told me Jim Jack, but Viktor is not the most reliable with names. Jean-Jacques is certainly a more plausible name for him to have gotten Jim Jack out of than Otabek, I’ll admit.”
Otabek shook his head. “Jean-Jacques is a friend of mine. Originally he and I were planning on coming together, but he said something came up and I might see him around the fair but he was going to be with someone else. Then he texted me this morning that his plans had changed again and he was skipping the fair entirely.”
“Nice of him to get a message to me before I wasted 45 minutes waiting for someone who wasn’t going to show up,” Christophe grumbled.
“Yeah, that was a dick move and I’ll make sure he realizes that and apologizes, to you and to Viktor. He was just excited… he’s had a crush on Yuri forever, and Yuri finally agreed to hang out with him. I don’t know why Yuri suddenly changed his mind about JJ, I haven’t had a chance to talk to him since finding out that he did.”
“Well. Good for them. I hope things work out for them.” Christophe looked over at the Ferris wheel. Even if Otabek wasn’t the guy Viktor had meant to set him up with, he liked the guy, and wouldn’t mind not calling the day a waste. “What do we do now? Date or no date?”
Otabek shrugged. “You’re cool. This can be a date.”