Written for rareshipsonbingo on Tumblr
Prompt: Free
Pairing: Sara Crispino/Georgi Popovich
Also written for 18OI Bingo-ber 2022
Prompt: Free
Such A Fool
Sara tapped Mila on the shoulder, turning her attention away from the cute Canadian pair skater she was dancing with. "Hey, have you seen Seung-Gil anywhere?" she asked, almost having to shout to be heard over the pounding music.
A familiar look of pity crossed Mila's face. "Oh, please, Sara, don't tell me you're still hung up on that guy! I know he's hot, but –"
Sara didn't want to hear it, having heard more than enough from Mila over the past few months about how she could do so much better than Seung-Gil Lee – as if Mila had some great track record herself. Mila was one of her closest, dearest friends, but her judgment, quite frankly, sucked when it came to choosing her own partners, Sara often having to console her over Skype whenever Mila inevitably got dumped or discovered they were cheating on her.
"Have you seen him or not?"
Sighing, Mila threw her thumb over her shoulder. "I think I saw him talking to Phichit a few minutes ago. They were heading toward the restrooms?"
"Thanks!"
"Wait, Sara, there's – "
Brushing Mila off, Sara headed in the direction of the restrooms, located near the back of the banquet hall. Along the way, she stopped to grab a couple of flutes of champagne from a passing server.
There was no sign of Seung-Gil or Phichit when she got there. Either they had already rejoined the party or they were still inside the restroom. Deciding to wait a couple of minutes, Sara leaned back against the wall and took a large sip of her champagne, hoping for a little liquid courage.
After all, with the World Championships over, the competitive skating season had come to an end. As they weren't currently scheduled to skate together in any ice shows over the summer, this would be the last chance she would get to see Seung-Gil in person for possibly months, and Sara was determined to finally confess her feelings for the handsome South Korean champion. She'd even coerced Emil to keep her overprotective twin brother Mickey occupied for the evening so she wouldn't be interrupted in her mission. The two of them were playing a card game together at their table, along with a Polish ice dancer and a German pair skater whose names Sara couldn't remember off-hand.
Inhaling a deep breath, she smoothed down the fabric of her clingy scarlet minidress. Mickey had nearly had a heart attack when he saw what she was wearing, but she had bought it specifically for the banquet after reading in a recent magazine feature that Seung-Gil's favorite color was red. Paired with matching lipstick and golden stiletto heels, Sara hoped it was enough to catch his eye.
Her heart jumped in her throat as the door to the men's room creaked open. This is it! She pushed herself off the wall and held out the other glass of champagne as she stepped forward.
"Seung-Gil! I –"
Gasping, she almost lost her grasp on the flute, catching it just in time.
The door had opened to reveal the figures of Seung-Gil and Phichit locked in a passionate embrace. Phichit's dress shirt was partially untucked, and Seung-Gil's hair was all askew, making it as clear as day what the two had been up to. Neither of them seemed to register her presence, Phichit laughing as he tried to retie a blushing Seung-Gil's bowtie.
Choking back tears, Sara snuck away before they noticed her.
She was such a fool! No wonder Seung-Gil always kept her at arm's length, rarely responding to her texts or DMs. She'd always assumed he was one of those cool loner types, and that if she just tried hard enough, one day she'd be able to break through his cold exterior to find the warm heart beating inside. The fact that he might not even be attracted to women hadn't even crossed her mind!
No, he could still be bi, she told herself. After all, Mila, Emil, and Otabek Altin were. Just because he had fooled around with Phichit didn't mean he only liked men.
But even if he was… Seung-Gil had never looked at her like he did Phichit.
It was time to face the facts. Seung-Gil just wasn't into her.
She made her way back to the group of tables in the middle of the room. The majority of them were empty, almost everybody out on the bustling dance floor, but Mickey and the others were still in the middle of a poker game at their table, downing copious amounts of alcohol. Not caring to join them, Sara pulled out a chair at a random table and slumped in the seat, burying her face in her arms.
Maybe this was a sign that she wasn't meant for romance. Maybe she should give up on her dream of finding her handsome Prince Charming and become a nun. That would certainly make Mickey happy, if nothing else. To his credit, her brother was trying to respect her desire to live her own life and not be so overprotective when it came to other men interacting with her, but after so many years of being sheltered under his well-meaning wings, Sara was finding it difficult to fly off on her own….
"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?" a deep voice asked in accented English.
"What?" Sara slowly lifted her head, meeting the blue eyes of Georgi Popovich. She blinked, then glanced around at the placards set upon the table. Sure enough, she had unknowingly taken refuge at the table assigned to the Russian skaters and was, in fact, sitting in Georgi's seat. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she said, starting to stand. "I didn't realize –"
Chuckling, Georgi held up a hand. "Please, you don't need to leave on my account." He took a seat in the chair next to her. "Come, sit back down. I don't mind the company."
Sara hesitated for a moment before taking him up on the offer. She wouldn't mind the company either, although she and Georgi had never spoken much before, usually only when his rinkmate Mila was with her. They followed each other on social media, but Sara liked to follow most of the skaters she met a competition. It was a good way to keep in the loop when it came to who was training which new elements...and, on a less pure note, all the gossip.
"Bad night?" he asked as she took another sip of champagne.
Sara arched an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Georgi nodded to the second untouched champagne flute sitting in front of her, the one originally meant for Seung-Gil. "I've never known you to be much of a drinker."
"Oh, no, that's…"
"Matters of the heart?"
"…perhaps," she admitted, shoulders dropping. "Is it that obvious?"
"Well, you certainly have no reason to be upset about your results yesterday. A World silver medal with a new personal best?" He raised up his own glass of whiskey. "Congratulations are in order."
Smiling, Sara tucked her hair behind her ear and clinked their glasses together. "Thank you. The gold would have been even better, but I can't deny that Mila out-skated me. If I had to lose to someone, I'm glad it was her."
"Perhaps Mila out-jumped you, but I must confess, I preferred your programs, especially the free," Georgi said. "I suspect there was some personal inspiration behind the choice of music? You don't see many skaters doing programs to Heart's 'Alone'."
Sara lost some of her smile, tracing her finger around the lip of her glass. "There...may have been."
No, there definitely had been. Her coach and choreographer had tried to convince her to go with something more classical and tried-and-true, a warhorse along the lines of Swan Lake or Carmen, but the moment she heard "Alone" randomly playing in a store on a shopping trip in Rome with Mila over the summer, she'd been struck by how well the lyrics conveyed the overwhelming longing she felt toward Seung-Gil. Sara had immediately contacted her choreographer and informed her that they would be using the song for her new free program. She had even contributed a bit to the choreography herself, putting her heart and soul into every performance in the hope that Seung-Gil would realize she was skating for him and finally chase away her loneliness.
Ha!
Georgi's eyes drifted toward Mila, who was pressed up against her Canadian dance partner. "Mila?"
Sara almost spurted out her champagne. "What, Mila? Oh, no. No, no, no." She waved her free hand in front of her chest. "We're only friends."
"Forgive me, you two always seemed so close. I just assumed…"
"No, it's fine," she said, laughing. If she did swing that way, Mila probably would be at the top of her list, but she was pretty sure she was only into guys. "It's...Seung-Gil."
"Lee?" It was Georgi's turn to be taken by surprised. He coughed as some of his drink went down the wrong pipe, waving an alarmed Sara off when she moved to pat his back. "You like Seung-Gil Lee?" he asked once he recovered. "But he's..."
"...dating Phichit Chulanont?" Sara sighed. "Yes, I know. I caught them kissing a few minutes ago as they were coming out of the restroom."
"Ah, yes. It's been...a bit of an open secret back at the rink, since Yuuri is now training with us. Apparently, they first hooked up during Four Continents."
"Oh." Was that what Mila had been trying to warn her about earlier? So much for social media keeping her abreast of all the gossip… Seung-Gil must have asked Phichit to keep their relationship private; otherwise, Sara couldn't imagine Phichit not shouting about a new boyfriend from the rooftops. Groaning, she rubbed at her forehead. "God, I'm such a fool," she mumbled once again.
"Join the club," Georgi said in an unexpectedly bitter voice, bringing his glass to his lips and taking a large gulp.
Sara blinked. "Trouble in paradise?" It was no secret that Georgi's break-up with Anya Ivanova shortly before the season started had fueled his new programs, but lately his Instagram had been filled with romantic photos of him with a new love, a pretty blonde he had met back in December. Just a couple of weeks ago, they had celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday with a weekend trip to Moscow, staying at a fancy, four-star hotel. As far as Sara knew, the two of them seemed madly in love.
"We broke up." His shoulders slumped as he sat back in his chair. "Or rather, she dumped me, right before I left for Helsinki."
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
Georgi shook his head. "Nobody does. You're actually the first person I've told. I've...been trying not to think too much about it, you know? Keep my focus on the competition...not that it did a lot of good."
He hadn't been considered a medal favorite, but after winning a surprise bronze medal at Europeans behind Yuri Plisetsky and Christophe Giacometti with two of his best skates ever, hopes had been high that he might break into at least the top six. Instead, a fall and a popped axel had buried Georgi in eighteenth place after the short program. He had managed to claw his way up to eleventh place with a decent free skate, just barely saving the third spot for Russia at next year's Worlds and Olympics thanks to Yuri's silver medal, but it had to be a huge disappointment, especially with Viktor Nikiforov set to make a comeback next season, all but assuring Georgi would be left off the roster in the Team Event.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, reaching over and covering his hand with her own.
"Thanks, but there's really not much to say. I thought we were happy, but she said she was tired of feeling like a substitute for Anya, that I still hadn't completely gotten over her…"
"Have you?"
Georgi shook his head and took another drink from his glass. "I don't know. I'd like to think I have, but…"
His eyes once again turned toward the dance floor. They had a clear view of Anya with her new boyfriend, the two of them grinding against each other in a way that almost made Sara blush. Seung-Gil and Phichit weren't too much farther away. Their dancing wasn't as...risque as Anya's and her beau's, but very little space remained between their two bodies as they sensually swayed together in time to the music, staring deeply into each other's eyes. If they had been trying to keep their relationship under wraps beforehand, there was no hiding it now, a few skaters snapping pictures on their phone from the sidelines.
"Oh, the hell with this!"
Startled, Sara jumped as Georgi suddenly slammed his almost-empty glass on the table and pushed back his chair, the legs scraping against the hardwood floors. "Georgi?"
He extended a hand toward her like some gallant prince. "Sara, may I have this dance?"
Sara stared at Georgi's hand, taken by surprise. In all her twenty-two years, nobody had ever asked her to dance before. No, that wasn't entirely true. A boy had tried asking her to dance at the first banquet she'd ever attended as a senior skater, but Mickey, of course, had intercepted before he even finished the question, making it clear that she was off-limits with some rather...colorful threats. From that point on, the other guys had kept their distance, even at banquets where Mickey wasn't present, much to her annoyance.
But Mickey was otherwise occupied at the moment, chugging down a mug of beer as Emil and the others egged him on. There was no one to stop her from accepting...
"Um...sure," she finally answered. "I mean… Yes, you may."
She placed her hand in his and allowed Georgi to lead her onto the dance floor. The music seamlessly transitioned from the previous sultry R&B song to a modern cover of the romantic classic, "Can't Help Falling In Love With You". As the couples around them adapted to the change in mood, Georgi pulled Sara close and placed his hands on her waist.
Sara sucked in a breath. From her many years of skating pairs with Mickey before they both decided to concentrate solely on their singles careers, she had been used to him touching her in that area to perform their throw jumps and lifts, but he was her brother; it hadn't meant anything. Georgi's touch, however, was different...more electrifying, sending a pleasant shiver up her spine.
"Sorry," Georgi said, starting to pull his hands away. "I didn't mean to –"
"N-No, it's fine." To prove it, she bridged the small gap between them even further, taking Georgi's hands and boldly placing them even lower, over her hips. She then wrapped her own arms around Georgi's neck, tilting her chin so that she was looking up at him.
Sara had never noticed before just how pretty his eyes were, a bright cyan blue surrounded by long lashes that almost made her jealous. Without the theatrical, over-the-top make-up he tended to wear in competition, Georgi was actually quite handsome, she had to admit. He didn't share Seung-Gil's Kpop pretty boy looks, but he possessed his own cool, mature aura….
Sara, what are you thinking? she berated herself, lowering her gaze. She'd just gotten her heart broken for the first time less than fifteen minutes ago! This was no time to get the hots for another guy, especially one who was most likely still hung up on his ex-girlfriend. She may be a fool when it came to love, but she wasn't an idiot. Georgi had only asked her to dance in order to try to prove to himself that he actually was over Anya. She was only someone convenient, a warm body to dance with. Had Mila or some other woman been standing nearby, he could have just as easily asked one of them instead. No doubt, Georgi was probably staring once again at Anya over her shoulder, mooning over his lost love...
Sara glanced back up at his face, her heart skipping a beat when her eyes met his. He wasn't paying Anya any mind at all. In fact, the way he was looking at her, it felt almost as if she was the only person in the room. Her cheeks warmed under the intensity of his gaze, but she didn't mind it at all.
"You're a good dancer," Sara said, feeling the need to say something. His steps weren't complicated, but he danced with assurance, making it easy to follow his lead even with her severe lack of experience.
"Ballroom lessons with Anya," Georgi replied. "She insisted I learn how to dance."
"Oh." Stupid, stupid, stupid! "Sorry, I shouldn't have – "
"No, it's okay." He guided her into a small twirl. "I'm grateful for those lessons, if it's enough to impress you," he added with a small grin that Sara couldn't help but return. "You're not so bad yourself, you know."
"Oh, no, I can't dance at all! At least, not this kind of dancing." She took ballet a couple of times a week to help with her skating, and she had done a bit of tap dancing as a little girl, but that was the extent of her dance education. "I honestly have no idea – Ah!"
As if on cue, Sara tripped over her stilettos, barreling straight into Georgi's chest. Luckily, he managed to catch her before she fell and made a bigger fool of herself than she already had.
"Whoa, are you okay?" he asked, helping her stand back straight. The concern was evident in his voice. "Does anything hurt? Did you twist your ankle?"
"I'm okay, I think," Sara said, taking an experimental step. Both her ankles seemed fine; nothing damaged except for maybe her pride. She hoped nobody had taken video of that… Imagine the new World silver medalist wiping out on the dance floor, of all places!
"Good, I'm glad."
Sara's heartbeat raced as Georgi reached up, tenderly brushing back a strand of long hair that had fallen in front of her face. He was staring at her yet again, but his previous intensity had softened. No longer dancing, the two of them had yet to move apart, so close that Sara could smell the faint scent of his aftershave.
Cupping her chin in his hand, Georgi lifted up her head, Sara's heartbeat racing as he drew closer. Was he…? Her eyes fluttered close as he brought his lips –
"Sara!"
Sara and Georgi jumped apart at the sound of Mickey's booming voice. He lumbered over to them, using Emil as a living crutch as he swayed back and forth on his feet.
"Sara, there you are. I've missed yooooou!" Letting go of his hold on Emil, Mickey threw his arms around her in a hug. Sara crinkled her nose, detecting the strong smell of alcohol on his breath,
"Sorry, he...he may be a little drunk," Emil said sheepishly, confirming her suspicions. "Our poker game kinda turned into a drinking game, and well..."
"I keep tellin' you, I'm not drunk," Mickey insisted as he turned and slung one of his arms back around Emil's shoulders. His slurred words and glazed-over eyes conveyed otherwise. "Italians don't get drunk."
They do if their name is Michele Crispino… Sara fought back the urge to roll her eyes, holding three fingers of her free hand right in front of Mickey's face. "How many fingers do you see?"
Squinting, Mickey attempted to focus. "Five? No… Maybe seven? Oh, for the love of – Will you keep them still for a minute? I can't count when you're wavin' them around like that!"
"Oh, you're definitely smashed." Sara sighed, shifting her arm so that she had a better hold on her brother. "Come on, let's go. The party's over for you."
"Do you need any help?" Georgi offered, reminding Sara of his presence.
And of the possible kiss Mickey had unwittingly interrupted…
"Thanks, but I think we can manage to get him back to his room," she said, looking at Emil past Mickey's head. "Right?"
Emil grinned, giving a thumbs-up with his free hand. "Yeah, we can handle him. No problemo!"
Georgi nodded his understanding. "In that case, if I don't see you later, good night."
"Yes, good night," Sara echoed, wishing she didn't have to leave the party so soon. Oh, why did Mickey always have to ruin things for her? Even when he wasn't trying to play the over-protective big brother, he still managed to get in the way. "And, um, thanks for the dance."
"My pleasure." As they turned to leave, Georgi called out. "Wait, Sara?"
She looked back over her shoulder, her heart leaping. "Yes?"
"Would it be okay if I sent you a message sometime?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.
Sara smiled. "Sure, I'd like that."
DISCLAIMER: "Yuri! On Ice" doesn't belong to me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Is it kinda cheat-y to use the free space on both my bingo cards to write this fic? There's no rule against it, so… *laughs* Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story!
Feel free to follow me on Tumblr! My username is kaleidodreams.
