[YURAGIL] Yuri week - Day Two - Rarepairs
“You don’t do a lot of SNS, do you?” Yuri asks him as they wait for slots to be drawn for Skate America and Seung-gil frowns.
He’d flopped down into the chair next to Seung-gil and hadn’t said anything for the first hour but it hadn’t been that awkward. Seung-gil debates answering then figures he doesn’t hate Yuri; he wants to win and it’s frustrating that Yuri ends up on the podium more often than he does.
“No. Why?”
“Do you answer texts?”
“If I need to,” Seung-gil says. He has an idea about where this is going but he can’t find any reasons to refuse. And it would be handy to have another contact within the skating world, especially one like Yuri Plisetsky. Sure enough Yuri holds out his phone.
“Put your number in.”
“Alright,” Seung-gil says. Yuri blinks.
“That’s it?”
“It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“Uh. Yeah.” Yuri watches him type his name in. “I thought you would say ‘no’.”
Seung-gil shrugs.
“Will it make you feel better if I say you’d be a useful connection?”
“That’s more of what I was expecting,” Yuri admits. He takes his phone back and texts the number right away.
Seung-gil looks down to see a string of emojis; he’s not sure what the meaning of them all together is and he’s only slightly tempted to ask. It would be easier if Yuri wasn’t sitting right here.
“It wasn’t fake.”
“I didn’t think it was,” Yuri says and then he’s silent again.
He doesn’t text again until Skate America is over and they’re all back in their respective countries. It starts off reasonable, Yuri’s next message being a confirmation of his name and the number. Seung-gil appreciates the cat photos, which he absently wonders if they’re just for him because they never match up with what Yuri posts on his instagram or twitter. He responds in kind with photos of his dog and then eventually photos of himself with her.
It leads into photos of himself everywhere, because Yuri asks over and over again. And then it turns into posting those same photos to twitter. Yuri insists it’s important to have an online presence and while Seung-gil feels like it’s a waste of time, he’s interested once Yuri starts explaining the different times to post to get the most eyes on his tweets and the way it factors into sponsorships.
It becomes something more concrete, something he can comprehend and figure out. He can’t completely understand the appeal but he can see the results.
Then at Worlds, before the short program, Yuri texts again.
‘Come over. Everyone’s here.’
There’s a map link to a diner not far from the hotel the skaters are staying at. Seung-gil stares at it for a minute then sets his phone aside and stares at the ceiling for another five. He contemplates himself in the mirror for seven minutes then finishes getting ready and heads over.
Yuri lights up at seeing him and Seung-gil’s stomach twists; there’s a pit there but his heart is in his throat. There’s only one number here that matters and it has been in his phone for months.
“You play a long game, don’t you,” Seung-gil says as he sits next to Yuri.
“What?” Yuri asks, frowning. “I invited you out to be social. It’ll be good for your timeline. Here, take a picture and then tag me.”
Seung-gil lets him take the photo then covers Yuri’s phone with his hand.
“Not this photo.” He swallows. “Let this be for us.”
Yuri blinks at him then looks back at the photo, to see Seung-gil far more content than he’s comfortable showing to the public.
“Hell no, we’re posting this one. You look good in it.”
“I’ll let you take another one. But send this one to me and don't post it,” Seung-gil says.
Yuri huffs a little but complies.
“You know, I bet a lot of people would have liked that other one more,” Yuri says, not fishing for anything, but simply stating a fact as the social media expert that he is.
Seung-gil shrugs. He’s more at ease at navigating social networking nowadays. But this is something entirely different.
“It’s not for them,” he says.
Yuri shrugs and pries no more. He knows Seung-gil will explain it later through text once he finds the words he wants. Seung-gil relaxes once more and let’s himself enjoy listening to Yuri, his attention rapt as he watches him talk with the other skaters. Texting is adequate but there’s something more about being in person; he might have to happily give in to Yuri’s requests to skype.
@lazyblizzarddefendor for u darling <3
