Written for rareshipsonbingo on Tumblr
Prompt: Trouble with technology
Pairing: Guang-Hong Ji/Leo de la Iglesia
Also written for 18OI Bingo-ber 2022
Prompt: Missing Scene (Takes place during Ep. 12)
Before The Final
Laptop?
Check.
Cell phone?
Check.
Back-up tablet in case an issue arised with his laptop?
Check.
Guang-Hong nodded his head in satisfaction. Everything he needed was in place.
His phone pinged right as he pushed the power button on his laptop. Smiling when he saw the name "Leo de la Iglesia" displayed, Guang-Hong tapped the icon to bring up the Skype app, Leo's handsome face filling the screen.
"You ready?" Leo asked.
"Almost." His laptop had finished booting up, so Guang-Hong pulled up his favorite streaming site and navigated to the correct channel. A Zamboni was in the middle of resurfacing the ice after the free dance, which had just ended a short while ago. According to the message playing across the bottom of the screen, the warm-up for the men's free program would start in approximately five minutes. "Now I'm ready," he said, setting the laptop near the foot of his bed and moving to lay on his stomach, socked feet in the air.
"Me, too."
"Are you at the rink?" Guang-Hong had to squint, but he could just barely make out someone jumping in the background through the glass behind Leo.
"Yeah, I'm in the lounge at the moment, taking an early lunch so I can watch." Leo waved a carrot stick in front of his face before taking a bite, his phone's speakers picking up the loud crunch.
Guang-Hong raised an eyebrow. "Lunch? Isn't it, like, only eight in the morning over there?" In Beijing, it was already nine in the evening. He'd already taken his shower, bundling up in the sweats he normally wore to bed when the weather turned colder.
Leo shrugged. "Okay, call it brunch. I wanted to take the whole day off to watch all of today's events live, but with Nationals coming up next month, Coach wants me to get in as much practice as I can, especially before the holidays. We're hoping to add a quad toe to my free."
"Has it been going well in practice?"
"Oh, you know, it...it comes and goes," Leo said with a weary sigh, running a hand through his thick hair. The quad had been his nemesis for the past couple of seasons. "I landed a couple of really nice ones yesterday, but I've fallen on most of my attempts today. Come on, tell me, there has to be some secret to landing them, right? Some kind of magical technique? A trick?"
"Leo…" Guang-Hong wished with all his heart he had some sort of advice to impart to his best friend. He had only recently added the quad toe loop to his jump arsenal himself, but the quad had come rather easily to him since the toe loop had always been one of his strongest and most stable jumps. "I…"
"I know, I know." Leo chuckled, resting his chin on his fist. "Practice, practice, practice. That's what everybody keeps telling me, but…"
"You're amazing," Guang-Hong blurted out, his cheeks warming when he realized what he just said. "I-I mean, your skating is incredible, even without a quad. Everybody thinks so, not just me! You won Skate America over the reigning World bronze medalist –"
"Beka didn't have his best skates because he was fighting a bad cold," he interrupted. "If he had skated like he had at Worlds –"
"You still got standing ovations for both your programs." Fired up, Guang-Hong moved back to a sitting position. "I know you were skating in front of an American crowd, but audiences all over the world love your skating! And you even choreograph your own programs. How many skaters can claim that besides Viktor Nikiforov?"
"Not many, I guess…" He bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. "Enough about me, though. What about you? Your Nationals are coming up even sooner than mine, right? Around Christmas time?"
"Yes, they start on the twenty-sixth. Practice has been going well, although I'm getting nervous about Nationals," Guang-Hong admitted, picking at a loose thread on his comfy blue sweatpants. "Cao Bin just announced he's making a comeback and intends to compete for a spot on the World team."
"Has he fully recovered from his injury?" Leo asked. A torn ACL had kept Cao off the ice for months and forced him to withdraw from his two Grand Prix assignments. There had even been some talk for awhile that he might retire from competitive skating altogether.
"He's been sharing some practice videos on Weibo. I haven't seen him do any quads yet, but the rest of his jumps look just as strong as they were before the surgery." Maybe even a little stronger, Guang-Hong thought with a frown that Leo didn't fail to catch.
"Hey, your jumps have been looking great lately, too. If not for that stupid pop on the axel in the short, you almost certainly would have won at Golden Spin last weekend. And don't forget about the bronze you won at Skate America!"
Guang-Hong couldn't resist smiling at the memory of the two of them standing on the Skate America podium with Otabek Altin. Truthfully, he'd been a little disappointed to end the competition in third – okay, more like a lot disappointed – but it wasn't a bad result for his debut showing on the senior Grand Prix, and if he had to lose to somebody, he was glad it was to Leo. In some ways, he'd been even prouder of Leo's gold than Leo himself. Still… He hugged his favorite teddy bear – the first plush a fan had ever thrown on the ice for him – to his chest. "But Cao is a former Grand Prix finalist…"
"Hey, where's the determination you showed after your free at Cup of China? It's not like you to give up hope before the battle even begins."
"I'm not!" Guang-Hong said. "I've been working really hard at practice, and I've even cut back on social media, but…" But how am I supposed to beat a former Grand Prix finalist when I didn't even manage to make the Final this year?
"I know you can do it," Leo insisted. "And even if you do only manage silver, China has two spots for Worlds, right? You and Cao are the only logical choices to make the team."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"You'll do great, and then we can see each other again at Four Continents and Worlds...assuming I make the team, too."
"You will." Admittedly, Leo had tougher competition against skaters with more difficult jump layouts, but none of the other American skaters could hold a candle to him when it came to PCS. Guang-Hong had complete confidence that Leo would be assigned to the U.S. team.
"Gracias."
By that time, the Zamboni had finished resurfacing the ice, and the finalists were taking the ice for the six-minute warm-up session. The excitement was palpable even through the screen, Guang-Hong's heart beginning to race even though he wasn't even competing. "So, who do you think will win?" he asked, setting his bear plush down on the floor by his bed and resuming his previous laying position.
"It's hard to say. I'm still in shock that JJ bombed the short program. Nobody expected him to be in last place coming into the free."
"I know." Guang-Hong wouldn't say he particularly liked Jean-Jacques Leroy, but he respected his skills as an athlete. Watching him fall apart in the short program like that, it was hard not to feel sorry for him. "He was the odds-on favorite coming in since he won both his events. The pressure must have gotten to him, just like at last year's Worlds."
"Beka could take advantage of the situation, just like he did at those Worlds. There's a reason he's called the Dark Horse. If he skates as well as he did in the short, he should at least make the podium, if not win the whole thing."
"So Otabek's your pick?" Guang-Hong asked, surprised. The Kazakh skater was currently in second place, so medaling was certainly well within reach as Leo said, but Otabek hadn't been at the top of anybody's prediction list coming into the competition.
"Why? Who are you rooting for, then?"
"Phichit, obviously," he replied, only half-joking.
Leo laughed. "Obviously! How wild is it that he actually made it to the Final, though? Nobody saw that coming."
"Except Phichit."
"Yeah, I think we could both use a little more of his confidence," Leo said. "But seriously, as much as I love Phichit, a lot would have to go wrong for him to end up with the gold."
"Hey, it happened at Cup of China."
"True…"
"I wouldn't count Yuri out, though."
"Which one?"
"Plisetsky," Guang-Hong clarified. "He is in first place after all after breaking the world record with that amazing short."
"Hmm, yeah, but even after back-loading most of his jumps and skating almost flawlessly at Rostelecom in front of a home Russian crowd, his free skate score didn't even break 200. He might be maxed out unless he really decides to go for broke and put all his jumps in the second half. Nobody's that stupid, though."
Guang-Hong frowned. "I wouldn't put it past Yuri, honestly. I competed against him a lot as a junior. He's a force to be reckoned with, and he's definitely improved over the season. Just look at the jump his short program score made – twenty points higher from a couple of weeks ago. That's almost unheard of! He might not be as maxed out as you think."
"In that case, I'll put in a word for the other Yuuri. I know he's currently sitting in fourth place, but hands down, he has the two best programs in the competition," Leo said. He paused to take a sip from his water bottle, swiping the sleeve of his sweatshirt over his mouth. "Man, lucky guy, to have Viktor Nikiforov as a coach and choreographer…"
"And boyfriend! Don't forget about that."
"How can I? I'm still not over the Big Damn Kiss!"
Neither was Guang-Hong, to be honest. With Phichit's unexpected and historic gold medal and confirmation of "Victuuri", as Phichit had dubbed the couple, his home Grand Prix event had been more memorable than anybody could have ever imagined, even if he hadn't managed to make the podium there.
"Anyway," Leo continued after taking another bite of his carrot, "if Yuuri K. manages to hit everything, including that quad flip he attempted in China, he has world record potential, I'm telling you."
"That's a big 'if'." Guang-Hong agreed that Yuuri Katsuki had enormous potential, but he was familiar enough with Yuuri's career so far to know that he rarely lived up to that potential in competition. Even if he did break Viktor's current world record score in the free, it still might not be enough to make up for his twenty point deficit from the short.
"I know, but…" Leo turned his head to the side, his dark eyes widening. "No! Oh, no, no, no, no, no…"
"Leo? Something wrong?" Guang-Hong asked in alarm as Leo burst into rapid-fire Spanish that he had no hope of comprehending.
Letting out a huge sigh, Leo slumped forward, forehead in his hand. "The stupid stream's messing up. I have no idea if Chris landed that quad lutz or not."
"He did, but...weak WiFi?" It wouldn't be the first time Leo had internet problems at the rink.
"I don't think so; not this time. I'm having no trouble talking with you on video. I think it's more an issue on their end."
"Well, let's log off anyway and see if that helps," Guang-Hong suggested.
Leo shrugged. "Worth a try."
Guang-Hong closed out of his Skype app and switched over to text messaging. Any better? he typed.
Leo: Nope. It's gotten even worse.
Leo: The video keeps skipping and going out of sync.
Leo: Gah, this is the worst timing. The warm-up's almost over!
Guang-Hong:Do you still have that VPN I recommended when you wanted to watch last year's Chinese Nationals?
Leo: Yeah.
Guang-Hong: Turn it on and try this stream.
He quickly sent Leo a link to the stream he was using. On his laptop screen, the warm-up had just ended, and the finalists were all filing off the ice except for JJ, who would be first to skate. He stood with his parents/coaches at the boards, getting some last-minute words of encouragement. Sorry, the commentary is in Chinese…
Leo: No, it's fine. Thanks, this stream is working much better. You're a life-saver!
No problem, Guang-Hong typed, happy to be of service. He then set his phone to the side, turning his attention to his laptop as JJ made his way to the center of the ice.
It was time for the fateful Grand Prix Final to begin!
DISCLAIMER: "Yuri! On Ice" doesn't belong to me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I know this story isn't all that "shippy", but believe me, Guang-Hong and Leo are totally crushing on each other. I hope you enjoyed the story, anyway!
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