It would be patronizing and incorrect to tell Yuri he's wrong. He sees it all the time, as comments on his social media profiles, fans asking when he'll be coming back, hears it from reporters and coaches and other skaters. When the World Champion suddenly drops out of competition, it rocks the boat more than a little. There's a large hole in the line-up that the skaters this season are scrambling to fill, and none of them, even Yuri, are quite managing it.
It's even more complicated here, in Russia. He's belonged to them, given them something to boast about, the strength of the Russian figure skating programs, the collection of gold medals that were nearly as much his country's as his own. After years of hard work and strife, rotten ice, crooked judges, dismal training facilities, he'd risen to become their favorite son.
Then he'd left, but they haven't given up on him, still call him their own, and maybe that's all a little more than one person should have to shoulder, but he'd never considered it a burden. Still doesn't, even now, even if thinking about it all makes him feel a little uneasy, like he'd forgotten to call an old friend and was past the point of being able to apologize about it.
So Yuri isn't wrong, but even if Victor has to admit it's probably true, it isn't the entire story. "But not once you've finished."
Eros will win them over. Yuri will win them over. Eros is all about the seduction of someone who doesn't want or expect to be seduced, isn't it?
His thumb runs up and down along Yuri's side, a small motion meant to comfort. "They'll never be able to resist you once you start skating."
no subject
It would be patronizing and incorrect to tell Yuri he's wrong. He sees it all the time, as comments on his social media profiles, fans asking when he'll be coming back, hears it from reporters and coaches and other skaters. When the World Champion suddenly drops out of competition, it rocks the boat more than a little. There's a large hole in the line-up that the skaters this season are scrambling to fill, and none of them, even Yuri, are quite managing it.
It's even more complicated here, in Russia. He's belonged to them, given them something to boast about, the strength of the Russian figure skating programs, the collection of gold medals that were nearly as much his country's as his own. After years of hard work and strife, rotten ice, crooked judges, dismal training facilities, he'd risen to become their favorite son.
Then he'd left, but they haven't given up on him, still call him their own, and maybe that's all a little more than one person should have to shoulder, but he'd never considered it a burden. Still doesn't, even now, even if thinking about it all makes him feel a little uneasy, like he'd forgotten to call an old friend and was past the point of being able to apologize about it.
So Yuri isn't wrong, but even if Victor has to admit it's probably true, it isn't the entire story. "But not once you've finished."
Eros will win them over. Yuri will win them over. Eros is all about the seduction of someone who doesn't want or expect to be seduced, isn't it?
His thumb runs up and down along Yuri's side, a small motion meant to comfort. "They'll never be able to resist you once you start skating."
He certainly couldn't.