can i just say? i really love charley and yuri's dynamic and i want to CRY just thinking about them so here's my churi thinkpiece for the night :)
from the beginning, charley invites yuri to be his authentic self.
yuri, who notoriously hides from the other ghosts in the school, opens up around charley. he asks charley about his regrets. he calls him brave. yuri breaks his 47-year-long vow of silence because charley is openly authentic, funny, and kind.
yuri's wab-sabi speech ("the cracks and the scars only make it stronger. more interesting. more beautiful") demonstrates just how caring and accepting he is. charley flirts back, "you feel the same way about people?" and yuri goes quiet because one—it's true—and two—he hasn't been vulnerable in a long time.
truthfully, charley needs someone like yuri, who accepts him wholly. yuri understands, not just that charley has trauma, but that his trauma (in all of its complexities) makes him stronger, more interesting, and more beautiful as a person.
charley pushes yuri to be vulnerable, and any time charley shows doubt, yuri finds a way to reassure him. this happens from DAY ONE.
after charley makes the "same way about people" comment, his face falls and he goes quiet. yuri, reassuring charley, invites him to make pottery. charley freezes and says, "another time, maybe." yuri turns charley's hesitation into a positive, "yeah, any time. definitely." he wants him to stay.
after maddie returns charley's key, charley remarks that maddie would go into her scar, no matter how scared she felt. yuri senses his hesitation and says, “you’re already dead, you know. what’s the worst that could happen?” yuri pushes charley to face his trauma, and in entering his scar, charley begins to heal.
later, when yuri is scared to leave the pottery room, charley pushes him to be vulnerable, using yuri's exact advice from before. for yuri, leaving the pottery room means confronting the life he left behind, and he does it because of charley.
in the library, yuri is really vulnerable. he starts talking about his interests and his anxiety and his asthma attack. they bond over dying in the same way. they understand each other.
when charley shows doubt about liking yuri, yuri dispels it. charley invites yuri to wally's reunion, but backtracks by saying, “it’s not like it’s a date or anything.” yuri challenges his anxiety with, “why can’t it be?” charley makes yuri feel comfortable enough to confirm he does like him.
then, at wally's reunion, charley learns that wally was a homophobic bully in the eighties. yuri recognizes that charley feels uncomfortable, and he offers that they dance (asking "is this okay?"). he shares his own experience to make charley feel better about being anxious.
charley (in typical charley fashion) lashes out. yuri returns to the safety of the pottery room, but charley won't leave him there alone. he recognizes that he hurt yuri. he calls him brave. he apologizes.
yuri acts on his reflex to be guarded. he's snarky. he doubles down, saying, "i’ve got everything i need." and charley, like he's done all along, shows yuri that it's okay to be vulnerable. it's okay to let him in. he asks, “room for two?” what he means is, am i what you need?
and yuri folds IMMEDIATELY. this is the moment where the "love" switch flips in his brain. for me, this is the birth of s3 yuri. if yuri acts guarded from this point forward, it's never with pointed snark. it's soft and honest. he loves charley, and that love encourages him to comfort others. it pushes him to be his authentically confident, kind, and nurturing self.
in yuri, charley finds someone who will love, cherish, and accept him for all that he is. in charley, yuri finds someone who pushes him to love and be loved, and most importantly, to be himself.
