Splatix

•••

[Character Role Assignments]

Skaters:

[Sorry for the country erasure, I couldn’t find a fitting reason to keep some of the Skater’s countries the same for the TGCF characters. I’m trying to stick with countries in the vicinity of one another, or countries that put out a lot of skaters. Ugh, it’s so hard to do this AU justice when I have to change so much. Suggestions welcome if anyone thinks any of these country placements should be changed.]

Yuuri: Xie Lian [China]

Viktor: Hua Cheng [Japan]

Yurio: Qi Rong [Japan]

Otabek: Lang Qianqiu [United States]

Phichit: Shi Qingxuan (Moved to Thailand and trains abroad under Xie Lian’s former coach.) [Thailand]

Christophe “Chris”: He Xuan [Taiwan]

Jean-Jacques “JJ”: Pei Ming (His fiancé can be Xuan Ji, she gets a happy ending here I guess.) [Canada]

Guang Hong Ji: Banyue [China]

Leo: Pei Xiu [Canada]

Michele “Mickey”: (?)

Sara: (?)

Seung Gil Lee: Yin Yu (Altering the dynamic a bit to have him be good friends with Hua Cheng.) [South Korea]

Emil: Quan Yizhen (Instead of hanging around Banyue and Pei Xiu, he hangs around Yin Yu.) [Vietnam]

Georgi: Jun Wu (I hate them both, so it’s fitting.) [Japan]

Mila: Jian Lan [Japan]

Minami: Tian Sheng [China]

•

Yuuri’s Circle:

Yuuri’s Parents: Shi Siblings’ Parents (Xie Lian’s parents die in the place of Yuuri’s dog.)

Vicchan [Dog]: E-Ming [Cat] (Named after Hua Cheng’s signature scimitar, he collects blades as a hobby.) (Does not die.)

Mari: Shi Wudu

Minako: Yushi Huang

Yuuko: Feng Xin

Takeshi: Mu Qing

Axel•Lutz•Loop: Guzi + Cuo Cuo + Lang Ying (The only three kids in the novel, LMAO.)

Celestino [Former Coach]: Mei Nianqing

•

Viktor’s Circle:

Yakov: Bai Jing (This is the best I’ve got. Let’s just pretend he’s not incompetent here.)

Makkachin [Dog]: Ruoye [Cat] (Named after the ‘lucky silk ribbon’ Xie Lian wears when skating. Nicknamed ‘Dianxia’ around Xie Lian.)

•

Other Characters:

Yurio’s Grandpa: Qi Rong’s Mother

Morooka [TV Announcer]: Heaven’s Eye (for fun.)

Lilia [Yurio’s Ballet Instructor]: Ling Wen

•••

TGCF Characters without placement:

Ke Mo… | Rong Guang…

TGCF Characters with uncertain placement:

(None at this time)

•••

Plot Changes:

If anything is left out, it’s because it will remain unchanged, or any changes made aren’t significant.

• Xie Lian: 26 | Signature move(s): Hydroblade (with Ina Bauer + Beillmann Spin as other preferred skills.) - Hua Cheng: 22 | Signature move(s): Quadruple Axel [1st to land in competition] (with quads as a whole being other preferred skills.)

• Xie Lian resides in China, thus the events of the story that take place in Japan will occur in China for this plot.

• (Extra Details) Xie Lian’s hair is black in this AU like his canon novel colour, and his eyes are a stormy desaturated grey-blue (my signature headcanon colour.)

• Hua Cheng is from China, but I intend for him to have left to settle in Japan for further training.

• Hua Cheng is missing his right eye, and it won’t necessarily be explored but it made skating even more challenging for him. He wears a fully red prosthesis with a slit pupil, though he parades it around under the guise of a contact lense rather than a prosthesis.

• Xie Lian finds out his parents passed from a tragic accident during the scene in the bathroom stall post-Grand Prix Final downfall. His cat is unharmed. Qi Rong finds his cousin in the stall and proceeds to smirk upon his downfall.

• Has been living at “Shi-Topia” hotspring inn prior to the Grand Prix due to a falling out with his parents over college plans.

• Post-Grand Prix Final he vanishes to finish up college for the sake of his parents, staying abroad for college after ending things with his coach. (Rather than continuing to try and qualify for more competitions like Yuuri did after the Grand Prix Final.)

• Upon returning to Xianle (Hasetsu), it has been 5yr since he was last there (3 months post-Grand Prix Final) he is welcomed back home by his found family, then poked and prodded for becoming too thin and frail.

• The morning after his rendition of Hua Cheng’s free skate went viral, he wakes and finds a familiar white cat playing with E-Ming, leading to him finding Hua Cheng in the hotspring. (Video posted by Guzi.)

• Hua Cheng’s first goal is to help Xie Lian regain the muscle mass and flexibility he lost from his terrible diet caused by his grief and college stress. Unlike Viktor, Hua Cheng does not joke around about Xie Lian’s condition, he expresses worry instead and opts to work at Xie Lian’s pace in order to go easy on his body. He gets to know Xie Lian better and begins to call him Gege.

• Hua Cheng’s abrupt departure to coach Xie Lian led to a huge media uproar his coach had to deal with, and abrupt social media posts reveal his location. This leads to Qi Rong angrily coming to China to get what’s owed to him.

• Unlike the original series, Hua Cheng never meant his promise to choreograph a program for Qi Rong that scene instead depicts Hua Cheng’s sarcasm and false “promise” to coach Qi Rong in an “as if” way, but Qi Rong took it seriously.

• A week after discovering Hua Cheng was in China, Qi Rong appears and angrily makes his way to the rink after hearing that Hua Cheng was likely there. It goes the same way as in the series, except for more personal aggression since Xie Lian and Qi Rong are related. Qi Rong confronts Hua Cheng and demands he return with him to provide what he owes. Hua Cheng is entirely furious at his audacity, but Xie Lian (in his self consciousness) steps up in Qi Rong’s defense and states that Hua Cheng should go ahead, albeit being internally devastated about the idea of Hua Cheng leaving.

• As a compromise for the sake of Xie Lian, Hua Cheng follows the original plot by deciding on the Ice Castle competition, highly confident that Xie Lian will win against a lowly brat like Qi Rong.

• As of now, Qi Rong does not receive an embarassing nickname. (Suggestions welcome.) Also welcoming suggestions for the nasty nickname Qi Rong uses for Xie Lian. (I recall he had one in the novel but I forgot it.)

• Xie Lian and Qi Rong are assigned their arrangements, to the bafflement of both of them. Hua Cheng totally didn’t do this to embarrass Qi Rong, and see Xie Lian try to hone his “Eros.” Though he did hesitate at Xie Lian’s intial reaction, but was surprised that Xie Lian became determined despite the arrangement’s theme.

• Self discovery goes as usual for YOI’s plot after Hua Cheng shows them their choreo. Currently unsure of what will inspire Xie Lian for his Eros performance. Definitely not pork cutlet bowls like Yuuri. (Suggestions are welcome.) Qi Rong’s will likely remain whomever is his ‘Grandpa’ figure. Qi Rong does smugly teach Xie Lian how to better execute a few difficult moves such as the Quadruple Salchow after the latter gets the guts to ask.

• Hua Cheng provides his collection of old costumes for Xie Lian’s perusal, but tosses Qi Rong an old costume of He Xuan’s he had mixed up with his own. (It’s white and green, vaguely fish themed, are we surprised.) Xie Lian ends up picking one of the very few pieces sporting the colours white and gold, but it is still heavy in the black and red colouration. (Little does he know that this costume was inspired by him.)

• The tissue box cover Hua Cheng uses is a black cat. With one red eye and one black, Xie Lian finds that it reminds him of E-Ming.

• Rather than leave before the results, Qi Rong stays to witness his loss and leaves angrily.

• Free Skate program music is called “Xie On Ice” (Boring, I know. Just trying to stick to the original. Suggestions are welcome though…)

• In reference to the scenes where Yuuri is incredibly bold with Viktor (usually prior to his performances) Xie Lian is a bit more toned down, yet still adamant when telling Hua Cheng to keep his eyes on him, though it’s more of a gentle plea. He is still physical in these moments, but less harsh when pulling Hua Cheng in.

• During the tense moment in Ep.7 where Viktor makes Yuuri cry, I am quite against having Hua Cheng threaten Xie Lian with resigning as his coach. I’m unsure of an alternative for that scene that carries the same impact without such an awful misunderstanding between Hualian. (Suggestions are very welcome here.)

• Afterwards in the free skate, Xie Lian attempts a Quad Axel (Hua Cheng’s signature), although he doesn’t land it, the failed jump wasn’t botched that badly and Xie Lian managed to land sloppily after not quite reaching the proper amount of rotations. This is what deeply stuns Hua Cheng and results in their first kiss. (A subsequent confession will be added after this, though honestly the parallel to the novel is hilarious with how they act like a married couple before even confessing… lmao.)

• Unsure of how to implement the bond between Yurio and his Grandpa, along with the pirozhski and subsequent pork cutlet bowl themed pirozhski in the future. Ideas welcome.

• Potentially altering the Rostelecom Cup into NKH Trophy (Japan), to align with this being on Hua Cheng and Qi Rong’s home territory.

• Overall much less camaraderie between Hualian + Qi Rong as the story progresses, compared to Viktuuri and Yurio. Xie Lian supports his cousin quietly but Hua Cheng couldn’t care less, and acts coldly towards him.

• Yurio’s theme with his fans is of a cat and his fan club is called Yuri’s Angels. Suggestions welcome for the Qi Rong alternatives.

• The Yurio JJ hatred persists but instead it’s Qi Rong hating Pei Ming.

• Hua Cheng’s cat manages to get into medical trouble at the Shi-Topia hotspring, much like in the original. (Though Xie Lian recalls how he found out about his parents after the Grand Prix Final since his own cat never passed away like Yuuri’s dog. After extreme internal conflict, Hua Cheng assigns Xie Lian to his former coach while he’s gone.

• Hua Cheng and He Xuan have the fun little pool scene in Barcelona with Hua Cheng’s POV for this chapter (EP), albeit with their characterization rather than Viktor’s and Chris’. The scene isn’t changed per-say, just their characterization. (Though He Xuan very much planned to skinny dip in the pool like the fish he is.)

• Otabek and Yurio interactions with Qi Rong and Lang Qianqiu are still highly subject to change. I intend to try and keep them as close to YOI’s plot as possible.

• Unsure how to address the whole Birthday in December thing, given that Hua Cheng and Xie Lian have canon birthdays in summer. Suggestions welcome. I may go with Holiday presents, given the time of year.

• The “totally not a marriage proposal” scene occurs as usual. Just wanted to put that here. Though I may make them more forward since they are very much dating and aware of it at this point. The writers might’ve put their relationship on the down-low but Hualian aren’t built to be subtle. Only difference is that I’m either going to make Xie Lian’s ring gold while Hua Cheng’s is silver. Or they’ll both be a split of silver and gold with a red border between the metals (representing their red thread.)

• The previous GPF Banquet shenanigans will stay. He Xuan is totally wild when drunk. Xie Lian absolutely humped Hua Cheng while wasted. Hua Cheng is a little shocked, but he realizes he’s not too surprised but more-so amused that Xie Lian doesn’t remember. He Xuan pole dancing. Woah, who said that…

• Really debating on making the Shi Qingxuan as Phichit route work because they WOULD loudly congratulate Hualian on their marriage. Xie Lian is in gay panic denial about the rings being engagement rings (like Yuuri) while Hua Cheng states that they’re getting married after the Grand Prix Final, but rather than saying “if he wins the gold medal” he says “after he wins the gold metal.” Implying they’ll get married either way, he just wanted to piss off the other skaters at the table.

• Honorable mention of everyone leaving when Pei Ming arrives.

• Viktor and Yurio scene the next morning will go somewhat differently with Hua Cheng and Qi Rong. It’ll be mostly the same though given that it’s just Yurio taunting Viktor. Hua Cheng just isn’t going to be nice like Viktor was near the end of their conversation.

• As we witness Phichit’s story continue to unfold at the GPF, I wonder how I can give his role to Shi Qingxuan without erasing everything that gives Phichit his character. Like his determination to skate for his country. Suggestions welcome.

• Rather than Qi Rong peaking at his skating abilities here, I am going to alter the story just a bit. He will have enough success to get on Hua Cheng’s nerves here, provoking his inspiration to return to skating (to beat Qi Rong’s ass off of that high horse.) Unsure if he will beat Hua Cheng’s short program world record here. Still debating. But he does surpass his personal best.

• The ending scene of this chapter (EP) + beginning of the next, will remain the same. With Xie Lian announcing that he wishes to end his skating career after this GPF, and Hua Cheng beginning to cry, inquiring as to how Xie Lian expects him to return to the ice when he’s not there. This conflict will remain unsolved for now as it was in the series.

• At the end of his performance, Xie Lian manages to near-perfectly land a surprise Quadruple Axel, enough for the jump to be counted as one. (This is incredibly impressive given that Hua Cheng here is the only one who’s ever landed it in competition.) This reduces Hua Cheng to tears of joy.

• Xie Lian breaks Hua Cheng’s free-skate world record.

• Upon announcing his return to skating to his former coach with Qi Rong with them, he gives Qi Rong an incredibly devious grin (in YOI, Viktor hugged Yurio instead).

• Huge alteration to the plot: Xie Lian wins gold instead of Qi Rong, who places second. (The opposite outcome in YOI was important for Yurio, but in this AU, it does not matter.) Hua Cheng gets to kiss Xie Lian’s gold metal.

• Enter: Hualian exhibition pair skate. ❤️🤍 Imagine the same outfits that Viktuuri are wearing but they’re red and white instead. Hua Cheng having silver accents while Xie Lian has gold, with lighter coloured pants.

• Final ending clip does not take place in Russia, but wherever I place Hua Cheng, and Qi Rong is not there. This will be the point where the extras begin.

• Any ideas for extras welcome. If I don’t add nsfw anywhere in the main story I may do an extra here. I might also do a wedding extra. Or Hualian completing and placing on the podium together. (Maybe in the Olympics.) It all depends on if I can even get this far, haha…

[The End.]

I’ve figured out the gist of Xie Lian’s situation. He lives in a hotspring inn in China owned by the Shi family lovingly dubbed “Shi-Topia”. Rather than the death of his dog at the end of that awful Grand Prix final, Xie Lian… loses his parents instead. (Ouch.) The Shi-brothers’ parents would take the place of Yuuri’s parents, taking him in fully after the deaths. Xie Lian had already been living with them shortly before that Grand Prix due to a clash with his parents over his career. (Let’s say he was slacking on college because of his pursuit of figure skating, and while his parents had highly supported his skating career, they’re convinced his time as a skater is almost up and he needs to find a “proper career” befitting of the family.)

Shi Wudu could take the slot of Yuuri’s sister. Shi Qingxuan could take the place of ballet instructor Minako, especially since they’d be very inclined to match her excessive drinking habits. Xie Lian’s situation will be a bit different to Yuuri’s, rather than being a relatively unknown skater, Xie Lian was a fan favorite up until he crashed so hard at that Grand Prix final. Xie Lian had become a fan of Hua Cheng a little later in life compared to Yuuri, since Hua Cheng is a couple yrs younger. Unbeknownst to him… Hua Cheng is also a devoted fan of Xie Lian, who inspired him to keep skating after an encounter at a training camp in their youth. He keeps this from Xie Lian though, and pretends they’d never met as to not reveal himself as the pathetic kid he once was. (Or something like this.)

As for the whole family-owned skating rink thing… (“Ice Castle Xianle”?) I have no idea. I was thinking Yushi Huang, but I don’t want to pair her up with a guy… and those triplets are an entirely different situation where I have no options, which puts me in another situation because WHO will post Xie Lian skating Hua Cheng’s routine?! I might just do Yushi Huang by herself, and give her a coworker/roommate to liven things up. Though it’s still a hard decision given the fact that Yuko is supposed to be Yuuri’s best friend, and the one who got him obsessed with Viktor. Maybe I’ll find someone else to be Minako and make Shi Qingxuan Yuko… But who will follow Xie Lian to support him during the Grand Prix?!

…With Shi Qingxuan already taken, we hit another roadblock. There is nobody else fitting enough to be Phichit since they’re the only one who’d match his vibe. But if I put them as a competitor then the whole Shi family thing makes less sense. So I’m at a loss here.

Xie Lian’s former coach could easily be Mei Nianqing, but Hua Cheng on the other hand… I have no damn clue who his coach would be. Genuinely. I could make him coach-less after he peaked at skating and decided he didn’t need one. But he would still need a former coach. Someone to tie him to whoever is gonna be Yurio.

On the subject of Hua Cheng, I really have no idea who would take the place of Yurio. I was thinking Mu Qing (ugh) (+Feng Xin as Otabek)… but Hua Cheng would never promise to coach, nor would he be supportive of him, so absolutely not. But nobody else as far as I know fits that vibe. They’d also need a family member that they show their soft side to. We also need Hua Cheng’s (former?) coach’s ex spouse to be the ballet instructor for whoever gets Yurio’s role.

Maybe I could make Fengqing own the rink. The rink couple are Yuuri’s childhood friends after all, but they’re supposed to be older… and the one guy used to pick on Yuuri so it’ll have to be someone who’d do that.

Now… Christophe. Viktor’s gay best friend. The very horny one. The only one Hua Cheng could even get close to being amicable with is He Xuan. But… He Xuan… he’s nothing like Chris, that’s for sure. I suppose it won’t matter if I change the personality there, it wouldn’t be the only time I’m doing so. But who’s going to pole dance with Xie Lian… Maybe He Xuan has an interesting drunk side, I don’t know…

As for Yin Yu… I genuinely have no clue where to fit him in. Viktor, albeit fitting for Hua Cheng, does not have many people close to him. So it’s harder to find a proper fit for the characters who are close to Hua Cheng. Yin Yu will remain pending for now.

JJ is an easy one. Pei Ming. That bastard. But this just makes it even more important that whoever takes the place of Yurio absolutely HATES Pei Ming.

Of course… we would also need at least some of our other international skaters for a proper cast.

Otabek (Yurio’s close friend), Guang Hong Ji (close with Leo), Michele “Mickey” (& his sister Sara), Minami (younger skater), Seung Gil (antisocial), Emil (likes to pester Michele), Georgi (Yurio’s edgy rinkmate), Leo, & Mila (Yurio’s rinkmate).

Now thinking that Shi Wudu and Shi Qingxuan would be fitting as Mickey and Sara because unhealthily overprotective brother. But that removes Shi Qingxuan from the Xie Lian friend-pool entirely, so no…

As an extra note, I only just found out that apparently, men aren’t limited to black skates (and vice versa)… it’s just a “gender norms” thing that nobody wants to go against. Since Xie Lian would only wear white or light coloured costumes, he gets skates that suit his vibe and style. I mainly associate the shade of blue you see above as Xie Lian’s “third colour” (Hua Cheng’s being red/black/silver and Xie Lian’s other two being white/gold), but salmon is also a suitable colour that I pair with him on occasion.

•••

Our extravagant king with his show-off skates. He customized the boots himself with his artistic prowess. Rhinestones as a bonus. He jumped (haha) through hoops to get those blood-red blades…

The rear of his blade has “Hua Cheng” engraved. The middle displays “Crimson Rain Sought Flower” along with two butterfly silhouettes.

•••

Sorry if Hua Cheng’s blade looks janky. I couldn’t for the life of me find a decent image of this blade at the right angle and made entirely of unpainted metal.

If you’re wondering why I picked the skate configurations I did, honestly it’s mostly based on what professional skaters prefer, and also based on which style of these boots and blades I thought would fit them. Am I a figure skater? No, which is why I’m hesitant to even start working on this AU because I fail to retain much about the details of the sport. I’m merely a man who mourns a sport I never got to participate in, and now I’m too old to get anywhere with it if I started now. Thus, I display my love of it here, alongside my favorite pairing.❤️🤍

Anyways… If you think he’s fitting, and have no input to leave as a result, just feel free to drop a like. Bonus fun fact: I headcanon him with dimples as well. Hua Cheng is so charming with dimples. I need to edit this to have him smile so I can add them…