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They said Christmas was a time for miracles. Maybe that was true, but if it was, Michele had never experienced it. At least they didn’t have Nationals over Christmas, like the Russians, but visiting Russia over Christmas was not how Michele wanted to spend the holiday. But Sara had wanted to go watch Mila in her competition, and Michele didn’t want to be away from Sara over Christmas, so he agreed to go too.
Surprisingly, Seung Gil was there, too. Which meant that Sara insisted on sitting by him in the stands. Seung Gil didn’t look very happy about that, but he couldn’t really do anything about it.
“Why are you even here?” Michele asked when Sara went to the bathroom. “I’m here for Sara and Sara’s here for Mila, but you?”
Seung Gil shrugged. “I was bored, I’m fighting with Minso over my programs for next year, and Yuri and I are sort of friends. Social media, mostly.”
Michele stared at Seung Gil. “You’re fighting with Minso over programs for next year already?”
“Next year’s Olympics, they’re in PyeongChang, as Korea’s top skater in men’s singles there’s a lot of pressure on me to do well and therefore on Minso to have me ready. I understand why she feels that way, but it’s not the fact that I haven’t landed a quad Lutz that’s holding me back, it’s my artistry. So I guess it’s not so much the actual programs for next year as it is what to work on between now and the next Grand Prix.”
“Oh, I see. You do need to bring up your presentation scores. Do you have a plan for how you’re going to do it?”
Seung Gil shrugged. “I have ideas, but getting Minso to let me go through with them is hard. How do you do it? You always do well on your presentation.”
“I create something I can really put myself in, and I don’t think about anything but that when I’m out on the ice. I think of it as being like a play or something. Take acting lessons, maybe?”
“That was one of my thoughts. Acting and dance. Minso thinks it would be a distraction, but I disagree.”
“You’re probably right. What are you doing after the skating today? Plans with Yuri?”
“No, Otabek’s here too. They both say they’re not dating and I could join them, but it was awkward last night so if you’re offering to make plans it gives me an excuse to get out of there.”
Michele’s jaw dropped. “Otabek Altin? He’s socializing?” Seung Gil nodded. “What’s with Yuri and making friends with the antisocial skaters?”
“Well, he’s kind of antisocial too. He either terrifies or annoys most of the others. He’s even managed to piss off Phichit.”
“I didn’t know that was even possible.”
“Apparently it is.”
“Anyway, I was going to offer to try to teach you some acting basics. Minso doesn’t have to know anything about it.”
Seung Gil smiled. “Sounds like fun to me. What about Sara though?”
“She and Mila are hanging out. I was going to third wheel, but I’m sure they won’t mind.”
“Who won’t mind what?” Sara settled back into her seat between Michele and Seung Gil.
“You and Mila won’t mind me hanging out with Seung Gil tonight instead of you two.”
“Oh, no! No, we won’t, have fun!”
Michele was a patient teacher, having worked with kids before, and it was a good thing, too. Seung Gil struggled a lot with even simple things. After two frustrating hours, Michele called a break. “You’re doing fine, Seung Gil. Don’t give up on yourself.”
“I won’t. It’s just hard to let go and express emotions, after spending all my life working to keep everything hidden.”
“Why do you do that?”
“I was never a popular kid, and the more upset I got, the more the bullies picked on me. My mom said that if I didn’t show how upset I was, they’d get bored and leave me alone.”
“Did it work?”
“No. It made it worse, but by the time I realized that, I didn’t know how to stop. It at least gave me a feeling of control. It did help when I changed schools and they didn’t know me. Since I was boring, they left me alone.”
“No wonder you have trouble acting. If you don’t feel safe, you’re going to struggle to let go. Hard enough to portray an emotion when you feel safe. Would it be easier if I weren’t in the room? We could set up a Skype thing…”
“No. You make me feel safe. Even when you’re clearly frustrated you aren’t taking it out on me. If you’d be willing, maybe you could help me practice over Skype though?”
“Sure. I can do that.” Michele smirked. “Although if you end up beating me all over the place… competition’s bad enough with Viktor coming back and Yuri coming up and Yuuri… I still don’t know what got into him this year.”
“Viktor, apparently. You’ve heard they’re engaged, right?”
“Yes… wait, they’re serious about that? I thought Viktor was joking. At the Finals, they said the rings were a good luck charm!”
“They’re serious about it. Yuuri’s moving to Saint Petersburg after his Nationals, moving in with Viktor.”
“Huh.” Michele shook his head. “Who knew that getting laid would be all Yuuri needed to improve.”
“I think it’s more than just the getting laid, or I’d try that myself. Maybe next year I should keep the same costume for my short program and choreograph something based on avian mating dances?”
If Michele had been drinking something, he’d have just spat it all over the room. He coughed a few times. “Minso would never let you do that. At least, she’d make you save it for the exhibition skate.”
“Now there’s an idea, actually…” Seung Gil checked his phone. “I should probably get to bed. Thank you for this. Do you have my Skype?”
“Sara does, I can get it from her.”
Over the next few months, Michele and Seung Gil talked through Skype a couple times a week, becoming more and more frequent. At Worlds, the Christmas miracle came to fruition. Seung Gil finished fourth and was invited to skate in the exhibition.
There was a lot of confusion when Seung Gil took the ice in his short program costume. “What’s he doing?” Sara asked. “He’s not doing his short program again, is he?”
“No. He’s not.” Michele could barely contain the laughter as Seung Gil’s music started – “Free Bird”. Seung Gil’s skating was hilarious, as his moves were very reminiscent of a bird trying to attract a mate.
Mila lost it. “Wow! Seung Gil has a sense of humor! I had no idea. He looks ridiculous, but like he’s actually having a bit of fun out there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him skate like this.”
Once Seung Gil got out, Michele caught him with a hug. “That was great! How did you get Minso to let you do it?”
Seung Gil shook his head. “I didn’t tell her what I was doing. If I don’t make our next Skype session, send help.”
“And you’re okay? It can’t have been easy to do this…”
“I’m okay. I never have cared what the press says about me. Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes! I loved it.” Was it Michele’s imagination, or did Seung Gil look pleased? “You did great, the audience loved it, you have a killer sense of humor.”
Not Michele’s imagination. Seung Gil looked pleased. “Thank you.”
“Was this a response to all the comments about you looking like a parrot in that costume?”
“My mom designs my costumes. I rarely see them until it’s time for fitting. The first thing I said when I saw it was that it looked like a gay pride parrot. The comments about it never bothered me because I agreed with them.”
“What does your mom think about it?”
Seung Gil smirked. “If Minso doesn’t kill me, Mom just might. This was not what she had in mind for the costume.”
When Michele got home, he was surprised he already had a missed call from Seung Gil. "What is it?"
"There's a rumor going around that my mating dance was successful in attracting a mate."
If Seung Gil was calling Michele about it, there was only one thing that made sense. "Sara? Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything. I know you better than that."
"Michele. The gay pride parrot wouldn't attract a female mate. They're saying you."
"Oh." That one set Michele back. But... he had to admit, "They're not entirely wrong. It wasn't the mating dance, but I have been developing feelings for you."
"Idiot," Seung Gil said.
"I know." Michele certainly felt like one. Seung Gil was not interested in romance, at least not that Michele had ever heard of.
"Why didn't you say something in Helsinki? You know Minso's not going to give me much of a break so that my programs can be at the highest possible standard for the Olympics."
"But... you..." Michele facepalmed. "Don't express your emotions much so of course there wouldn't be anything in the way of signals. I should know that. I thought you were aromantic."
"I'm not. Just too focused to get distracted until something worthwhile came along. It's not all your fault, you know. I could have said something, too, but I didn't even know you liked men that way. I could have asked, but I didn't want to scare you off."
Michele shook his head. "I don't scare easily. I know you won't get much of a break, but I will, and there's no reason I can't come to South Korea. I'll let you know when I've worked out dates with my coach and figured out flights."
"What about Sara?"
"I'm not planning on inviting her. She can handle herself now." Michele was still getting used to thinking like that, but it was true. He just had to keep reminding himself. "Unless you want to see her too?"
"No. If this works I know I'll have to deal with her eventually, but it can wait until we've made sure this is actually going to work."
"Yeah. Sounds good to me. I'm going to call my coach and let her know what's going on. Bye." Michele hung up with a huge smile. Seung Gil liked him back.