Yuuri turned to Rei after their task had been given to them. None of them were sure of the way the Back Layout was working. They had seen the others do it, but Yuuri had noticed how Rei started sinking almost immediately.
"Should we try?" Yuuri just asked.
"We should," Rei replied. "Can you do it, Katsuki-san?" he asked.
"It shouldn't be too difficult," Yuuri said. "How about you, Ryuugazaki-kun?" he asked.
"As you said, it shouldn't be difficult," Rei said before he attempted to float. It did go better, in fact so well that Yuuri thought he could start floating too when Rei started sinking.
"Ryuugazaki-kun!" Yuuri exclaimed and Rei stopped floating to stand up again.
"I thought I was over this," he muttered.
"Do you sink often?" Yuuri asked, not exactly able to comprehend how a swimmer could sink so easily.
"I only started swimming when I started high school, and at that time, I was sinking like a rock all the time. If it weren't for the others, I wouldn't have learned how to swim at all," Rei said, smiling as he looked around at everyone else. They were all working hard to perform the task they'd been given.
"I see," Yuuri said. "But you can't float?" he asked.
"Doesn't look like it," Rei said.
"Then, let's start by that. Get up and… I guess… try and sustain your balance?" Yuuri said, not entirely sure on how to handle the matter.
Rei went to try and float again and started sinking after some time. Yuuri tried putting an arm under his lower back to help him sustain balance. It seemed to work. As he moved it after a few seconds, Rei kept floating.
"I'm going to attempt floating on my own," Yuuri said. He let himself float. It didn't go well at all. He wasn't entirely rigid, but at least he didn't sink.
A little away from where Yuuri and Rei were floating around, Makoto was just lowering his leg and bringing himself into a standing position, looking at Yuri as he did so.
"Now you, Plisetsky-kun," Makoto said.
Yuri turned away his head. His long, wet hair sending water drops flying in every direction. "This is stupid," he muttered in English this time.
"It's… little stupid," Makoto said, still trying his best to speak English. Yuri just thought he seemed stupid, and the soft smile on his face didn't exactly make Yuri's view on him any better.
"You're stupid too," Yuri muttered.
Makoto looked a little hurt and then smiled. "Sorry. Let's try?" he asked, trying to change the subject away from stupidity.
"No," Yuri said. "I don't wanna."
"We have to," Makoto said. "Please."
Yuri sighed. He still didn't want to do it because he still thought it looked stupid and he really didn't see the point in all this, but he knew that he couldn't bail out now. He would have to do this, whether he wanted to or not. So he decided to do it, just to apiece Makoto and the smiling guy on the poolside.
That man on the poolside was currently watching as Phichit and Nagisa were working out how to do the Bent Knee position. Both were all smiles as they worked on it.
"Phi-chan, which knee did we need to bend?" Nagisa asked.
"The one of the outstretched," Phichit said.
"Which outstretched?" Nagisa asked.
"The one that's not parallel to the surface?" Phichit asked, then looked up. "Viktor, which knee has to be bent?" he asked.
"The one up in the air," Viktor replied. "You two doing okay?"
"We're fine," Phichit said. "Can you get my phone and take a photo of me doing this though?" he asked.
Viktor didn't see why it was so important, but he didn't have anything better to do at the moment, so he might as well do as Phichit requested.
"Let me be on it!" Nagisa said.
Viktor put himself in an ankle that would ensure that both Phichit and Nagisa would be on the picture and then he took one, as they were both in position. He smiled as he looked in the background of that photo. There he could see Rin and JJ standing and talking in what looked like a peaceful manner.
But what was on the picture, didn't correspond to what was actually going on. In reality, Rin was pretty irritated with JJ, and JJ was just as irritated with Rin.
"You're too full of yourself," Rin said.
"You're worse," JJ said.
"At least I can live up to what I say," Rin snapped.
"Why do I get the feeling you take my words a lot more seriously than anyone else?" JJ asked.
"I'm used to people at least doing what they say they can do, but you said this would be easy and then you can barely do the Back Layout!" Rin yelled.
"Tune down the emotion," JJ said, sighing.
Rin sighed too and none of them said anything for about a minute.
"Try again," Rin said.
JJ went into the back layout and attempted to float.
"Start by raising one leg, once that's up, you raise the other," Rin said in as patient a tone as possible as not to create more conflicts. He didn't really care, this guy was irritating, but for the sake of this project, he would have to pretend to get along.
JJ did as he was told, and he actually managed to float and then Rin attempted the position as well, accomplishing with success.
A couple that was much less successful was Haruka and Otabek. They were trying individually to do the Flamingo position and especially Otabek wasn't doing well. He was wondering when Haruka would offer his help, but the other didn't do anything. He was wondering if this partnership was going to work out at all. They were both the silent type it seemed. Haruka clearly wasn't going to take the first step, but Otabek didn't feel like doing it either.
Asking for help was a sign of weakness, that was part reason why Otabek didn't want to start the conversation, and certainly not about that. But if he wanted help, he might have to swallow his pride.
But to his luck, Haruka stopped practicing and when Otabek failed the flamingo for the sixth time, he stood up to find himself looking directly into Haruka's face.
Without saying a word, Haruka gestured for him to go back in position, and Otabek tried and failed once more.
"You're not very talkative," Otabek stated.
Haruka only sent him a strange look while muttering something in Japanese. Otabek didn't understand that, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to or not, but he decided to leave it and continue the teamwork as it was, just relieved that the wall was broken and he was now finally about to get the hang of the Flamingo.
"Have you gotten comfortable with your respective positions?" Viktor asked as their time was up. He had been happy to see how the five pairs were starting to get more comfortable with one another and improving their assigned position.
"We're good here," Yuuri said, waving.
"We too," Makoto said.
"We've got it down too," Phichit said.
"Think we did too," Rin said.
Otabek just nodded his head and Haruka was quick to do the same.
"Okay, now it's time to show this to everyone else," Viktor said, sounding cheerful.
Every group performed, one by one. They were starting with Yuuri and Rei and ending with Haruka and Otabek. After this, Yuuri and Makoto exchanged a few words, agreeing to call it a day. Once Yuuri discussed this with Viktor, he agreed, saying he would like to get settled in too before they thought of doing much more.
