World So Cold (IvanXIlia)

St Petersburg

In the car driving to St Petersburg, Ivan and I sat quietly in the back, looking at the sites out of the window.
"Oh look!" Mrs Braginski made us turn to the road in front of us where we saw a hitch hiker. She pulled over next to him and spoke something in Russian that I could roughly assume was 'where are you going?'. He replied what I knew was St Petersburg. She asked something else, seemingly if he wanted to join us. The man nodded in thanks. "Ilia, would you mind moving into the middle seat?" She questioned. I nodded and shuffled into the middle seat, doing up the seatbelt. The man shuffled in next to me as Mrs Braginski drove off. I noticed how close I now was to Ivan and could feel my heart beating faster. I begged I didn't do something stupid. We swerved round a roundabout in the entrance to St Petersburg and I felt myself leaning in towards Ivan with the turn. I tried hard to keep upright. But turning to my right, I noticed that Ivan was blushing. I blushed even more. Did he like me? Or was he just embarrassed? Nevertheless, we eventually arrived in St. Petersburg. We parked and the hitchhiker got out of the car. Ivan shuffled out and held the door open for me. I smiled shyly and follwed him. My first impressions of St. Petersburg were great. I glanced around the magnificent city. There wasn't a place I looked that wasn't beautiful. I almost felt I was staining the city with my presence.
"Okay, we'll go into this little shopping town on the outside first, and then head more into the centre to see things like the Winter Palace and Alexander's Column." Mrs Braginski spoke aloud. We nodded in agreement and Mr Braginski insisted he led the way, and turned us towards the outskirts of the city.

After about 5 minutes of walking we reached a small town area.
"If we split up here, Varona and I can go left and check out the shops down there. Ilia and Ivan can go right and look down there. We can regroup here once we're done." Mr Braginski suggested.
"Sounds good" Mrs Braginski replied. Ivan nodded as if to say yes for us. We then split up to browse the shops.

"So where do you want to go?" Ivan asked. He glanced at me and his violet eyes sparkled in the sun. Our feet crunched in the snow that had fell overnight. I blushed, not knowing why, and managed to speak.
"Uhm... I don't mind... Wherever. Is there anywhere you want to go?" I replied. Ivan scratched him head gently.
"Uhh... I don't really know either." He smiled. "I suppose we could just wander around until we find a place we want to visit." I smiled back.
"Sounds good." I chuckled softly.

We wandered around the cold yet beautiful city slowly, taking in the sights and trying to find a place to go. In the end we chose a couple of souvenir and game shops and then headed back to meet up with his parents.
"It's been a nice day so far. Even if a bit cold." Ivan smiled at me. I smiled back, blushing.
"Yeah. Do your parents have any plans for after?" I wandered aloud. Ivan thought for a second.
"I'm not sure. It's too late to head into Moscow now, or to go further afoot. So we'll probably end up heading back to the site and doing something horribly cheesy and family like. Playing charades for example. It's the sort of thing they do when we have guests." He cringed at the thought and I chuckled.
"Do you ever try to get out of it, or do you always take part?" I questioned, not knowing if I felt up for charades. Ivan smiled.
"If you ask to go for a walk I'm sure they'll let you. They're a strong believer that fresh air is as good a medicine as laughter." I returned the smile.
"Thanks. Will they be ok though?" I questioned.
"They'll probably just watch tv or do crossword puzzles, they can find a way to entertain themself." I smiled at Ivan's response and nodded.
"That's good then." Eventually Ivan's parents returned and we headed off to take in the sites. The city was beautiful. As if it was built by angels and goddesses. It seemed sparkling with magic, yet glinting with culture