Yuri on Ice

Ooh, an angsty one to start us off.

Say, Yuri was raised by his grandpa since he was 4. He doesn’t really have any clear memories of his parents and so he doesn’t miss them in the same way that most people miss someone who’s passed.

Instead of missing them, Yuri just feels longing. As a kid, he sees parents picking their kids up from school, walking home hand-in-hand, and that’s something he never had. His grandpa was too old and walking was hard for him, and so he would usually make the journey home alone. He couldn’t talk with his grandpa the way he sees kids talking to their parents. He was too busy trying to keep the hot springs business standing on it’s last legs.

He feels scared. He is scared that if he gets close to someone again, they will leave and he will have to learn, yet again, how to live without them. He’s scared of the future. There are so many fundamental things that a child learns from a parent. How will he learn right from wrong, or learn to love someone unconditionally?

There were the stories from his grandpa and family friends, and the photos that were dotted around the house, colours fading. He knew his parents existed. They had good lives, despite them being cut short, but when Yuri heard the anecdotes, he wasn’t met with the flashing memories that everyone expected him to have. To Yuri, they’re just characters in a storybook - and the ending was never written.

People he encountered would ask if he misses them. He doesn’t really have a true answer to that, but he sighs and says he does, because that’s easier than explaining the other feelings that are floating around his head.

And slowly but surely, as Yuri grew and finally began to let people into his life, he came to realise that parents aren’t the only people who can care for you. He meets Victor. And Victor is intense. He pops Yuri’s personal bubble and makes himself right at home. And that is what he soon becomes to Yuri - home. He finally comes to realise that what he always thought was wrong. Yes, parents can help someone grow and learn. But he is now an adult and he is successful and in love and he is all the things he thought he’d never be without parents to teach him this. He has survived growing up, and he only continues to learn from every new experience, every person he meets, and every place he sees.