─── ⋆⋅ jesper sungmin jeo
" i'm told you're elevating ! " ⋆⋅ former olympic figure skater. 'the threat'. 37. ⋆⋅
─── ⋆⋅ do you wanna take a skate on the ice inside my veins?
the soft pitter-patter of his heart is replaced with with a violent throb the second the numbers appear on the screen. i'll come in second. i'll come in second. i'll come in second. an unusual mantra for a highly ambitious figure skater competing in his first olympics. there is a reason for it, and it is staring him right in the eye – or rather would be, were jesper's gaze not so fixated on the scores. jesper jeo, the screen reads. short program: 106.63. free skate: 201.38. it merely takes him seconds to calculate his final score, even though there is no need. even though the number on the very left of the screen announces that–
"–and we have our final result for tonight! the 2006 olympics have found their men's single olympic gold medallist, and against all odds, it is jesper jeo who pushes oliver jeo off of his throne in his last official olympics! oliver jeo now leaves the olympic stage without a single's skate gold medal, and he does not look like he will forgive his younger brother for that anytime soon! celebrations will be held–"
"jesper, honey?"
wood grates wood the second his mother's voice reaches his ear. his eyes fall shut, a pathetic attempt at banishing the imagery of his olympic medals stuffed into the drawer of his desk from his mind. it doesn't close properly, and when his eyes open again, they're met with a trapped blue lanyard. the sigh that leaves his lips is accompanied by slender nervous fingers, attempting to trap it back where it belongs. it's his mother that gently pushes his fingers away, re-opens the drawer and carefully puts the lanyard back into it's place. she doesn't comment on it, as she never does, why would she start? but then, against all calculated odds in his mind, she does comment on it. "if the sight bothers you so much, what stops you from throwing them away?" her head is crooked to the sight – seah jeo merely reaches the mark of sixty-five, and yet her eyes carry something wise he has always admired.
"fear?", jesper guesses, "fear to forget." "but you want to forget." seah gestures around the room, the various medals and prizes draped on the wall, placed on shelves, "this room isn't missing a single one of your achievements. everything has it's place, all those medals and trophies are showcased, and yet the most prestigious of them all are tucked away in a drawer for no one to see." seah pauses, then gifts her son a questioning gaze, "everybody knows they exist. you know they exist. jes, darling. it's been years." she pauses again, calculates her own words and his possible reactions to them, "he knows they exist." of course he does.
oliver jeo realizes his brother is becoming a threat the day he turns sixteen, and his parents talk about nothing but his most recent competitions while he unpack his presents. it is not jesper's fault, he sees as much – his younger brother is excitedly leading him through which presents to open first, explaining the reasoning, the color choices, the thoughts behind each gift. they were as gushed about his first wins and competitions as well, it is just that jesper never minded. he enjoyed not being in the spotlight as much, and he still does years later, when the first olympics come around.
"i won't compete.", he told oliver when they hung back training one evening, all on their own and without their parents around. "what?!", oliver had asked, completely baffled, "why would you not?", "'cause i'm not ready.", jesper had answered. a lie, but he had always been a fantastic liar, and so oliver had taken off alone to salt lake city, scoring his first olympic medal – a silver, celebrated like it had been gold. a difference between the siblings becomes noticeable the day before they take off for the 2006 olympics – oliver skates for glory, and jesper for passion, artistry, love.
"my last olympics.", oliver had muttered on the plane, when he had finally managed to get tired enough to sleep, "i need to win." "you will win.", jesper had answered, "promise me?", oliver had asked. "promise." "what if you will win?" "i won't. i'll be one point off, and i'll kick my ass for it, but i'll be okay, because i've got another try. you're retiring, old man, i won't let you leave without a gold."
i'll come in second. i'll be able to take it. i'll be able to get over it. i'll be happy for him. he won't. he will not, he never will.
he doesn't. jesper jeo, with a score of 308.01, becomes the threat to the runner up, the 307.01 – oliver jeo, who at 25, cuts all ties with his younger brother and leaves the town. a sore loser.
and jesper?
jesper moves on – or tries to, through helping younger athletes feel everything during their competitions but what he felt on february 16th in 2006, and every single year after.
─── ⋆⋅ tldr;
jesper jeo, 37, olympic gold medallist x2. younger brother to oliver seo (40), a former olympic silver and bronze medallist in men's singles figure skating. trained alongside his brother and fell in love with the sport, was never meant to excel at it, but did nonetheless. beat his brother in the 2006 olympics for gold after promising he wouldn't, which resulted in oliver calling their familial relationship quits. moved back to town two months ago in order to train a new figure skater (open wanted connection, any gender, any age below 25).
