for boogiedown
He knows it's going to be a disaster the moment he sets foot on the ice.
He's been trying. Celestino knows that he's been trying, everyone in Detroit knows he's been trying. He's at the rink more than he isn't. He's skating more than he sleeps. He's gotten back down to competition weight... more or less... and he's dedicated as anyone can be. But his heart's not in it and anyone who looks at his skating can tell that.
Jumps have never been where he got his points at.
His short program had been a disaster and he's not known for pulling out of those and he doesn't here, either. It's one of the worst free programs he's ever skated and he barely makes it out of the kiss and cry without the crying part... except once he can escape to the locker room or a bathroom or wherever he can manage to get alone, he's more left feeling completely numb. He tries to feel anything and there's nothing at all. There's nothing left.
He's been trying. Celestino knows that he's been trying, everyone in Detroit knows he's been trying. He's at the rink more than he isn't. He's skating more than he sleeps. He's gotten back down to competition weight... more or less... and he's dedicated as anyone can be. But his heart's not in it and anyone who looks at his skating can tell that.
Jumps have never been where he got his points at.
His short program had been a disaster and he's not known for pulling out of those and he doesn't here, either. It's one of the worst free programs he's ever skated and he barely makes it out of the kiss and cry without the crying part... except once he can escape to the locker room or a bathroom or wherever he can manage to get alone, he's more left feeling completely numb. He tries to feel anything and there's nothing at all. There's nothing left.
Bear the Weight of Well-Tailored Clothes (for davaidavai)
The idea takes a while to come to fruition.
Life moves on in the meantime. The exploration of this thing that's happening between them happens, as most things do, slowly. It's not full-force training season yet, but they're ramping up, getting back in shape, spending time at the rink just working on the basics. Life isn't without it's quiet moments, but it's getting more hectic, and Yuuri has slowly expanded the list of Places in the Apartment That Feel Like Home from the bedroom to include the master bath, and the kitchen, at least, even if he often feels like something of an interloper into the space that he poured over in a magazine in the rest of the house. But it's his toothbrush in the bathroom and his favorite mug in the sink and his side of the bed, and it's good. It's better than good.
So even though he was originally thinking about it as some kind of reward for something in particular, he finds it's a more general thank you, for helping him to settle, on one of their last free days before the real training starts. Viktor's been talking about going clothes shopping for a week now, but hasn't done it yet, so when he suggests that maybe they should go, Yuuri shrugs and agrees to go with him.
Simple. Except that, with the notable exception of Barcelona, Yuuri has never said yes to going shopping for Viktor, except for grocery shopping.
Life moves on in the meantime. The exploration of this thing that's happening between them happens, as most things do, slowly. It's not full-force training season yet, but they're ramping up, getting back in shape, spending time at the rink just working on the basics. Life isn't without it's quiet moments, but it's getting more hectic, and Yuuri has slowly expanded the list of Places in the Apartment That Feel Like Home from the bedroom to include the master bath, and the kitchen, at least, even if he often feels like something of an interloper into the space that he poured over in a magazine in the rest of the house. But it's his toothbrush in the bathroom and his favorite mug in the sink and his side of the bed, and it's good. It's better than good.
So even though he was originally thinking about it as some kind of reward for something in particular, he finds it's a more general thank you, for helping him to settle, on one of their last free days before the real training starts. Viktor's been talking about going clothes shopping for a week now, but hasn't done it yet, so when he suggests that maybe they should go, Yuuri shrugs and agrees to go with him.
Simple. Except that, with the notable exception of Barcelona, Yuuri has never said yes to going shopping for Viktor, except for grocery shopping.
for wauuu
Yuuri cracks open his eyes, blearily, to an unfamiliar ceiling. His head feels like it's either on fire or full of bees or possibly both and his stomach does a slow, sickening roll as he opens his eyes, but it settles, at least for the time being. Not just his head but everything hurts enough that, at least at first, he more just moves on auto-pilot, looking around for his glasses and taking what is obviously a pair of Paracetamol on the bedside table. There's a little note with them but he doesn't parse either the message or recognize the handwriting, so he just drinks about half the glass of water and looks around.
Memories leak back in slowly-- Vicchan, the competition, calling his mom, going back to the room, Celestino insisting that he had to go to the banquet afterwards, possibly worried he was going to do something stupid if he didn't. But he remembered saying no and refusing to open the door. So... shouldn't he be in the hotel room?
This is not the hotel room.
In fact, he swears he's seen this room before, somewhere, actually, but he's too tired and bleary to figure out where. So he just walks over to the bathroom, which he, for some reason, is able to guess the location of, and splashes water on his face rubs at it until he somewhat resembles a human being, and then goes in search of more clues to where he is.
The bedroom door creaks open and there's another sense of deja-vu as he looks around the apartment it opens on, but the pieces refuse to slot into place.
"He-Hello?"
Memories leak back in slowly-- Vicchan, the competition, calling his mom, going back to the room, Celestino insisting that he had to go to the banquet afterwards, possibly worried he was going to do something stupid if he didn't. But he remembered saying no and refusing to open the door. So... shouldn't he be in the hotel room?
This is not the hotel room.
In fact, he swears he's seen this room before, somewhere, actually, but he's too tired and bleary to figure out where. So he just walks over to the bathroom, which he, for some reason, is able to guess the location of, and splashes water on his face rubs at it until he somewhat resembles a human being, and then goes in search of more clues to where he is.
The bedroom door creaks open and there's another sense of deja-vu as he looks around the apartment it opens on, but the pieces refuse to slot into place.
"He-Hello?"
for aidreamofsenpai
America is... tough. Tougher than Yuuri was expecting. He's enjoying college quite a bit, actually, and loves being able to get even more serious and focused on his skating. But even though he'd taken all the test to prove he was fluent in English, and doesn't have any trouble with it in his classes, he's got more issues with the social nuances of it-- both understanding them and conveying them. So... aside from getting dragged out on the weekends by some of the other skaters (and once by a pretty girl in one of his classes that wow did he completely misread), he mostly ends up keeping to himself. Pretty par for the course, although he does manage a bit of the exploration that comes with college-- mostly fueled by also discovering there's a remarkable amount of alcohol that's relatively freely available at pretty much every party he goes to.
He's still not too much of a party animal, though, which might be why one of the female skaters in their group asks him if he'd mind getting up early Saturday to come with her into downtown. She's from Morocco, nearly as shy as he is, and her English isn't nearly as good-- she speaks with a heavy accent and she doesn't like to go downtown on her own, but her brother is here from back home, part of an international meet of some kind. She makes it sound like a competition, but also maybe like it's some kind of training camp? Yuuri knows nothing about swimming, so he's not really clear on the details, but he agrees because someone needs something from him for once and he's a sucker for a sweet smile.
And then they're there and wow there are a lot of people from all over! He even overhears snippits of Japanese, even though he doesn't see where they're coming from.
He doesn't know anything about what's going on, and she's got to explain everything to him, but the longer the meet goes on, the more he kind of gets into it, another cheering voice in the stands for her brother, and for anyone who gets called from Japan.
He's still not too much of a party animal, though, which might be why one of the female skaters in their group asks him if he'd mind getting up early Saturday to come with her into downtown. She's from Morocco, nearly as shy as he is, and her English isn't nearly as good-- she speaks with a heavy accent and she doesn't like to go downtown on her own, but her brother is here from back home, part of an international meet of some kind. She makes it sound like a competition, but also maybe like it's some kind of training camp? Yuuri knows nothing about swimming, so he's not really clear on the details, but he agrees because someone needs something from him for once and he's a sucker for a sweet smile.
And then they're there and wow there are a lot of people from all over! He even overhears snippits of Japanese, even though he doesn't see where they're coming from.
He doesn't know anything about what's going on, and she's got to explain everything to him, but the longer the meet goes on, the more he kind of gets into it, another cheering voice in the stands for her brother, and for anyone who gets called from Japan.