He's grateful for Minako, familiar and focused, and glad she was able to come, not only to cheer Yuri on, but to coach him and correct him as she has been for the last eight months. Getting to know her was a big leap forward in understanding Yuri: unlike Yuuko and Hiroko, she doesn't cast an affectionate eye on Yuri's weaknesses, and she doesn't pussyfoot around. Her manner is blunter than he'd expected in Japan, and her demand for precision rivals that of his own past ballet instructors, Bolshoi legends with ice in their veins and what seemed like a physical inability to smile.
Minako is in many ways very nearly Russian, and that makes her easier to understand and to talk with, and she's and excellent instructor, which makes her useful ... and she knows Yuri better than anyone else, and that makes her invaluable.
So he doesn't miss the glances she slides his way, but waits on them as she patiently corrects Yuri's posture, his shifting weight, the line of arm and neck and back and leg, how to let his fingers drag gracefully through the air. Everything looking like it should, and Yuri almost beginning to relax, but it doesn't last. Not Minako's time with them, and not the slight reprieve from tension for Yuri, but she does pull Victor aside briefly as she heads on her way out.
It's nothing he doesn't know –– that Yuri looks and is tense, that his nerves act up before a competition, but that he looks good, and that Minako will be cheering for them in the seats –– but he appreciates it nonetheless, and tells her they'll see her after the performance, but he doesn't mention what he saw, in their practice.
That what she taught Yuri, the backbone he wrapped this program around at Onsen on Ice, picturing himself as the beautiful woman who seduces the playboy, isn't working anymore. Was never supposed to work. It was always just a method of getting Yuri back to that place, that golden, perfectly unbreakable place, winning on the ballroom floor. If he had to imagine katsudon and women to get there, that was fine, but Victor built this program with one purpose in mind: for Katsuki Yuri to sweep in, and steal the hearts of everyone watching. Not a character. Him.
Letting the thoughts roll about his mind in a calm circle without trying to pin them down, as Yuri warms up and the tension in the room stretches and stretches. He's glad to see Yuri pauses to watch his friend Phichit, at least. That doesn't seem to be preying on him: he looks stressed, but not with the performance on the screen. So it's internal, then.
And the reprieve doesn't last long: soon, Yuri's jogging up and down the short hall as Victor stands nearby, but he goes longer than usual, like he's forgotten how many miniature laps he's done. It's odd enough that even Chris, in the midst of his own warm-up routine, leans over to ask Victor if Yuri's alright, but Victor only shushes him, smile mild as ever. Yuri is alright, but he's something else, too. Something Victor hasn't see before, some shade of his anxiety that has simply never shown itself in the last eight months.
He's never seen Yuri quite like this, before, but their mission is the same, and hasn't changed, and neither has his certainty, which remains unwavering and clear.
He seems to be focusing better now, at least, and that's good, because on the television, Guang-hong is finishing, and that means it's just about their turn.
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Minako is in many ways very nearly Russian, and that makes her easier to understand and to talk with, and she's and excellent instructor, which makes her useful ... and she knows Yuri better than anyone else, and that makes her invaluable.
So he doesn't miss the glances she slides his way, but waits on them as she patiently corrects Yuri's posture, his shifting weight, the line of arm and neck and back and leg, how to let his fingers drag gracefully through the air. Everything looking like it should, and Yuri almost beginning to relax, but it doesn't last. Not Minako's time with them, and not the slight reprieve from tension for Yuri, but she does pull Victor aside briefly as she heads on her way out.
It's nothing he doesn't know –– that Yuri looks and is tense, that his nerves act up before a competition, but that he looks good, and that Minako will be cheering for them in the seats –– but he appreciates it nonetheless, and tells her they'll see her after the performance, but he doesn't mention what he saw, in their practice.
That what she taught Yuri, the backbone he wrapped this program around at Onsen on Ice, picturing himself as the beautiful woman who seduces the playboy, isn't working anymore. Was never supposed to work. It was always just a method of getting Yuri back to that place, that golden, perfectly unbreakable place, winning on the ballroom floor. If he had to imagine katsudon and women to get there, that was fine, but Victor built this program with one purpose in mind: for Katsuki Yuri to sweep in, and steal the hearts of everyone watching. Not a character. Him.
Letting the thoughts roll about his mind in a calm circle without trying to pin them down, as Yuri warms up and the tension in the room stretches and stretches. He's glad to see Yuri pauses to watch his friend Phichit, at least. That doesn't seem to be preying on him: he looks stressed, but not with the performance on the screen. So it's internal, then.
And the reprieve doesn't last long: soon, Yuri's jogging up and down the short hall as Victor stands nearby, but he goes longer than usual, like he's forgotten how many miniature laps he's done. It's odd enough that even Chris, in the midst of his own warm-up routine, leans over to ask Victor if Yuri's alright, but Victor only shushes him, smile mild as ever. Yuri is alright, but he's something else, too. Something Victor hasn't see before, some shade of his anxiety that has simply never shown itself in the last eight months.
He's never seen Yuri quite like this, before, but their mission is the same, and hasn't changed, and neither has his certainty, which remains unwavering and clear.
He seems to be focusing better now, at least, and that's good, because on the television, Guang-hong is finishing, and that means it's just about their turn.