Chapter Text
“Lads it’s time for the après-ski bar, I’m tired,” Will announced while strapping on his snowboard. They were sitting in the snow, getting ready to go down the hill for the who-knows-how-manyeth time today. ‘They’ were a rag-tag team of Youtubers who had made the splendid decision of going on a skiing holiday together. None of them actually skied though and they definitely spent more time in bars than on the slopes.
“That is the best idea you’ve had today,” said Chip who was already on his feet and adjusting his goggles.
“Nah, mate! The sun isn’t even setting yet. We’ve got to use our time here,” came from Harry of all people. Normally Harry was the first to jump at an offer of alcohol and music.
Chris had to agree. “I’m with Harry on this one.” He for one had come on this trip to snowboard, since it was the only time a year, he could practice his actually quite impressive snowboarding. Cal and Theo sided with Will as well and thus the group split up. Harry and Chris would go for one more ride and meet with the other guys after.
It was a nice day to snowboard. The sun was shining in their faces on the way down and the snow was soft and pliable. Since the regular slopes had gotten boring in the span of the last few days, they used the small pathways on the sidelines of the slopes. They were full of jumps and drops others before them had carved out.
Chris managed to only land on his bum once before arriving back at the bottom. Seeing as there were barely any people waiting by the lift, their friends seemingly weren’t the only ones swapping snowboards for beers.
A hand suddenly grabbed Chris’ shoulder. As he looked over, he recognised Harry who was holding onto him for balance.
“Man, I can never get these straps to open.” Harry finally freed his foot and they slid through the turnstiles to the gondolas. Chris absentmindedly rubbed his shoulder were Harry’s hand had just been.
Normally there was space for six people in one gondola but since barely anyone was getting on, Chris and Harry had one to themselves. Either one of them took a bench on either side of the gondola. Harry immediately put his feet up on it but took them down apologetically as he noticed a lift attendant giving him a stern look. “You have a gondola to yourself one time and you can’t even enjoy it,” muttered Harry and orderly put his two feet on the ground. Chris smirked. Harry, ever the child, sulked.
“I betcha the others will already be hammered when we join them,” said Chris.
“Probably,” mused Harry. “You can definitely drink a decent amount of shots in half an hour.”
“You would know.”
Pretending to be annoyed Harry retorted, “As if you don’t.”
“True,” said Chris with a conceding smack of his lips. “And the cranberry shots at that place really bang. Maybe we are missing out.”
“Pfff, we still have all night. It’s only four-thirty.”
They were silent after that. Chris looked out the window watching the white landscape pass by. At the highest point, he started to wonder, “What do you think would happen if we just dropped down right here right now?” And as if he had spoken directly to the ski-lift-gods the gondola stopped. Right there right then.
“Oh my god,” exclaimed Chris “I’m a cable car whisperer.”
While Chris took the situation with humour, Harry paled. “What the fuck, mate?”
“Uhh, looks like we’re going to plummet to our deaths,” Chris said jokingly and rocked slightly to make his statement even eerier. The gondola amplified the gentle rocks and started swinging noticeably.
“Stop doing that,” said Harry, somewhat green in his face.
This only spurred Chris on. He got up to put more momentum into the swing. He knew the ski lift was safe. Everything was built with maximum security in mind. The imagined scenario he had predicted a moment earlier was impossible. It was just a little fun.
“No seriously Chris, stop!” Harry’s knuckles were white where he was holding onto the bench.
The use of his name finally got to Chris. Harry looked ill at ease, he was blankly staring at the floor and breathing shallowly. Chris stopped and took a wider stance to counteract the swinging motion. “Sorry, I didn’t know…” Yeah, what did he not know? What was happening with Harry? “Are you afraid of heights?”
Harry didn’t seem to be able to speak. He just shook his head.
Chris crouched down before him. “Hey, it will be fine. This happens. It’s just a momentary standstill. We’ll be moving again in no time.” He thought hard of other things to say. “It was probably just some stupid child that couldn’t get out in time, so they had to stop the ski lift. Nothing to worry about.”
But Harry didn’t relax. Chris wasn’t even sure he had heard him. “Harry?” Harry’s gaze finally wandered to Chris. “Are you alright, mate?”
“I don’t know.” He seemed to wake up from his daze but that didn’t mean he was getting any better. His breathing started to quicken and his face grew even paler.
“Everything’s alright,” repeated Chris and looked around helplessly. He didn’t know what would help Harry at this moment. Harry’s hands were shaking, so Chris took them in his. That forced Harry’s attention on him. Trying to sound steadfast he said, “Listen to me. We’re fine. We’re safe. Nothing is going to happen.”
To his surprise, this seemed to work. Harry’s face looked less panicky. Chris took a deep breath and gestured for Harry to copy him. Together they practised breathing slowly in and out for a while. Harry’s breaths were still shaky, but finally he was calming down. Too late Chris realised he was still holding Harry’s hands and let go of them in a hurry. Instead, he sat down next to Harry and put a – he hoped – soothing hand on his back.
“Better?”
Harry just nodded and leaned his head back on the glass with a small sigh. His eyes were closed. If Chris hadn’t known what had just happened, he’d almost describe it as peaceful. Harry’s lashes cast a shadow on his cheekbones, the fine veins on his lids prominent in the sunlight. Now they fluttered open. Quickly Chris averted his gaze. He didn’t want Harry to think he had been staring. Which he most definitely hadn’t.
He fixed his eyes on a tree in the distance. “So, what just happened?” Chris couldn’t help his curiosity.
“I just get like that sometimes. In new stressful situations. Or apparently, potentially dangerous ones.” Harry shrugged. He still wasn’t quite back to his normal self. He looked exhausted. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for,” Chris hurried to say. “I’m glad you feel better.” He smiled tentatively at him.
“Thanks for your, uhm…” Harry seemed to be searching for an appropriate word. Handholding? Oh no, he knew he shouldn’t have done that. Chris could feel his ears grow hot. “Help,” Harry finished.
“Oh, yeah no problem. Bro,” he added for the sake of it. Luckily Chris’ ears weren’t on display for the rest of the world to see as they had taken on a worrying shade of red. He looked down at the metal floor and tried to will the gondola into taking up its function again, but this time it didn’t want to listen. No cable-car-whisperer then.
Chris considered Harry’s hunched form. “Do you still want to meet up with the others? Or would you rather go home?”
Harry sat up straighter to show how much better he was feeling. “No no, I still want to go out. Once I’m back on the snowboard I’ll be as good as new.” He waved Chris’ concerns off and put on a brave face.
“Okay…” Chris wasn’t convinced but before he could voice his doubts, with an abrupt jolt the gondola started ascending again. He could see the relief wash over Harry’s face and decided to say nothing.
Back at the top they put their boards on again and made their way down. Without really talking about it they skipped the jumps and thus soon arrived at the bar, quickly depositing their boards and heading in.
“Ey, there they are,” shouted Will from the table he was stood on. Their assumption that it didn’t take longer than half an hour to get pissed seemed to be correct. Though they had taken much longer than half an hour due to the ski lift incident.
“What took you so long? Having a shag in the bushes?” Cal seductively wiggled his eyebrows. Again, Chris was glad for his helmet.
“Exactly, mate,” answered Harry and jokingly slapped Chris’ butt on the way over to the table. Now Chris’ blush finally reached his face. He played it off by laughing and sat down next to Chip, ordering a beer.