Victuuri: the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts
I think it should go without saying this, but Yuri on Ice is special, because it gave us a beautiful romance that we all want to strive for. But there’s something so so special about it beyond that. It’s that… Yuuri and Victor truly were meant for each other.
Because they are both disasters, but fill in those disastrous parts perfectly with each other. What do I mean by this?
We’ll start with Yuuri Katsuki. Our boy is… kind of almost uncoachable. He falls apart at the Grand Prix Final, and Celestino, despite his best efforts, can’t make Yuuri see beyond “I am a failure,” “I deserve to retire,” “I humiliated myself and should stop.”
Yuuri runs away. He breaks ties with Celestino by just stopping talking to him. He does not prepare in the least for Nationals, and therefore carries the failure anxiety from the GPF to an “easy win” for him and falls apart all over again.
Yes, when we see him, Yuuri is trying to find his motivation again. Minako, who has known him since he was a kid, is not going to let him off the hook. But to Yuuri, the only thing that does manage to get him back on the ice is skating Victor’s routine.
Well… we’ll get to Victor in a second but… Yuuri Katsuki is really really lucky that Victor decided to become his coach. First off, Yuuri can’t exactly fire him, because Victor isn’t charging him a coaching fee. This means that Yuuri can’t hide by just… stopping paying him. Second, showing up in Hasetsu means Yuuri can’t even run away there, because… well, when he tries, Victor rips his door open and makes the boy talk to him. Victor doesn’t take Yuuri’s avoidance as an answer. (Even though he does respect Yuuri’s boundaries around his sex life).
Victor really is a genius with choreography. He helps Yuuri put together programs that highlight his skating, and challenges him to rise to Victor’s level, which is Yuuri’s cornerstone motivation.
So he skates for Victor, like he always has. And slowly, in part by realizing that Victor is human (oh and in love with him…), Yuuri starts to feel that fire, that confidence, that “I want to make you swoon by doing a quad flip for you.”
Yuuri skates for Victor. He always has. And skating for Victor, now the fully fleshed person that loves him, is the one thing that found Yuuri’s extra gears in his skating. Only Victor Nikiforov is capable of finding that extra gear in Yuuri, because Victor is the one person that can break through Yuuri’s many layers of stubbornness and anxiety.
Victor Nikiforov is a skater. That’s what everyone thinks of him as. Yes, he can put together an extraordinary program, but… (and I quote Yakov) “that man only thinks about himself!!!”
Victor feels empty. So he takes up the Japanese skater he was thirsting after’s invitation to come and be his coach.
Boy howdy was Victor lucky that the uncoachable Yuuri had begun to avoid Celestino and severed ties. And that he worships Victor. And that… well, he is a way way better skater than he thinks he is.
Victor puts together two insane short programs. Ones that it’s probable that not even the other GP finalists could skate. And he does this for a cantankerous teen (who has already made it clear he doesn’t listen to Victor’s notes…) and Yuuri.
There were a million places that Victor’s inexperience (and um. ego.) would have made a skater fall apart. From putting together programs too difficult, to not paying enough attention to the skater he’s supposed to be coaching…
But Yuuri is no ordinary skater. Yuuri worhips Victor, but Yuuri also is keenly aware that Victor might be taking a brain vacation, might be a little unserious, might even be someone who fails at coaching. And Yuuri, kind of doesn’t care. He’ll work with it. He won’t worry about Victor’s selfish motivation. Because to Yuuri, getting coached by Victor is a dream.
It means that Yuuri didn’t storm off and quit on Victor when he made it about himself, or when he royally screwed up in motivating his pupil. And because Yuuri stuck with it, stuck by Victor, and even very loudly and honestly told Victor what he needed to do, Victor was able to get past the initial “look at me! I’m a coach!” roleplay that it started out as, and realize that he liked coaching. Without Yuuri, who rose to the occasion over and over, who was patient with Victor even when he was being dumb, (who refused the fake Victor), Victor got to fall in love with coaching, and develop a little bit of humility, which would make him an outstanding coach when he finally did retire.
It sure as hell helped that his first (experimental) pupil went from good to record-setting in a single season.
They fell in love; they deserved to. They were made for each other, yes. But… they were ultimately two who helped each other reach a destiny that they would never have been able to reach without the other.
I think this is the reason Victuuri fills my heart so much, because it’s not often something is crafted with such perfect and loving complements to one another.
Yuuri is going to realize his extraordinary potential as a skater because Victor Nikiforov coaches him.
Victor is going to have a fruitful and exciting career as a top notch coach when he hangs up his skates, because Yuuri Katsuki was his first student.
I love this almost as much as I love them.
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