Hi! I loved your post where you explained your feelings about ep. 4 of YoI. But there's something bothering me and I can't get it right in my head... when Yuuri touches Viktor's head, why does he gets so flustered? Like, why did he do it? It was cute, and maybe it was just because '?!?!?' but... is there something I am missing? Thanks!
Aah, thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve been thinking about this all day long and the honest answer is: I don’t know. I really don’t know.
I can imagine Yuuri had a weird moment in which he might have thought “Viktor is here, with me, right now. I could touch him if I want to because he is physically present here, in this very moment.” Maybe it was something like that (and I don’t know, Yuuri gets flustered about everything involving Viktor, right?). Or maybe it was Viktor’s posture, being lower than Yuuri, and Yuuri feeling weird because it’s the first time he is “above” his idol...
I don’t know. I can’t see a huge reason for Yuuri to do that, but it was really cute because it showed how bold he is getting around Viktor. Like, this is the second time he touches Viktor instead of being touched by Viktor, right? And it was in a pretty playful manner. Yuuri said “I couldn’t help it” and Viktor takes it as a joke (“Is it getting that thin?”) when he knows damn well it isn’t, and then he pretends to be hurt (“I’m hurt, I can’t recover from this”), again as a joke.
Even if there isn’t a reason why he did it, it was some sort of joke between them, and it established their relationship as growing much friendlier. The Nishigoris emphasize this idea when they say “those two seem to get along fine”. Like, Viktor is not seen as just an idol anymore, or a coach (in the sense of a strict, older coach you would be very respectful towards). There is a sort of friendship growing between them, and Yuuri just decided to do that silly thing without thinking much about it, and Viktor’s reaction was funny, and everything was cute and nice.
Like... You wouldn’t touch your coach’s head like that, right? You would do that to a friend.
I’m sorry if none of this makes sense!! I’m just kinda thinking aloud. I don’t know if there is a reason behind Yuuri’s action. I wonder if any of my followers have any ideas about this, because I’m still confused about that scene. Maybe it’s a cultural thing or something, I don’t know. I interpreted it as a joke between them as their friendship begins to grow (and it’s significant that it happened after they had the talk on the beach, when Viktor asked Yuuri “what do you want me to be to you”).
I feel like I would have to rewatch the episode to check, but I think the relationship between Viktor and Yuuri changes a lot after that beach scene, and the scene with Yuuri touching Viktor’s head is the first proof of the evolution of their relationship.
