Work Text:
Michele and Sara sat across the table from each other, staring in silence while they ate breakfast. Sara was almost wishing they had practice today to distract them from this awkward silence. “All right, Mickey, this is stupid. Just ask.”
Michele set his fork down. Sara braced for the interrogation. “Older or younger?”
That was not what Sara had expected. She’d figured he just go straight for the obvious question. “Younger. Sixteen. What about you?”
“Older. Twenty-three.” Sara had a fleeting wish that she and Michele could trade soulmates. Sixteen wasn’t awful, but she wasn’t sure how well he could handle Michele. “Italian?”
“Not even close. Pappa’s gonna hate them.” Their mother probably wouldn’t like him either, but at least that was because really, her soulmate was kind of a dick. “What about you?” she prompted when Michele didn’t seem inclined to say anything.
Michele shook his head. “European, at least, but pretty much as far from Italian as you can get and still say that. Russian.”
“Your soulmate’s a twenty-three year old Russian? What, did Viktor forget to check for other soulmates after he found Yuuri?” Sara teased.
Michele ignored her, not at all a surprise, really. “Where’s yours from?”
“Korea.” Sara waited, expecting Michele to react to that. He didn’t. “Um… what do they do? Since they’re probably out of college…”
“Yeah. Skater.” Sara raised an eyebrow, trying to think of other Russian skaters who were the right age, because she didn’t think Viktor was actually that forgetful. Or, at that time, that enamored with Yuuri. Now, of course, she wouldn’t put anything past him, but now he and Yuuri were married. “It’s not Viktor. Shut up. What does yours do? Still in school?”
“Also a skater. Imagine that. Private tutoring so he can focus on the ice.” Once again, Sara waited. There really weren’t that many Korean skaters who were good enough. Michele, though, didn’t seem to want to guess – or maybe he had and was just delaying having it confirmed. “Um… discipline?”
“Men’s singles, and yes, it’s not Viktor.” Sara grinned at that, but couldn’t come up with anyone else. “Why are you avoiding talking about yours directly?”
“Because…” Sara tried to figure out how to explain. “I know you’re going to be a dick to him, and he’s had quite a bit of trouble with bullies. He doesn’t even want me to come to him until he’s eighteen, because he doesn’t want to deal with you.”
“…Oh.” Sara rolled her eyes. Of course, no apologies, no promise to at least try not to be a dick to her soulmate, not even an acknowledgment that her soulmate was right to be worried. “You’re not going right away?”
“Of course not, he doesn’t want me to and we’ve got the Grand Prix coming up fast. What about you? When are you going to talk to yours?”
Michele shrugged. “We’re both in Skate Canada, so probably then, but don’t get too excited. He has a girlfriend, and is still a little weirded out that his soulmate’s a guy. Plan is to be friends, he stays with his girlfriend, I just forget dating altogether. Which I am perfectly fine with, don’t give me that look. I know everyone thinks I’m oblivious to flirting because I’m so focused on protecting you, but they’re wrong. I’m not oblivious. I just have no interest in any of that.”
Now Sara felt like a complete idiot. “Georgi. I can’t believe I didn’t think of him!”
“He’s used to it. People overlook him because of Viktor all the time. Are you going to be rude to him because of me?”
“No, I’m not, but I bet he’s gonna have a lot of trouble with Viktor. You know, if you don’t wanna wait, I have Mila’s number and she can tell Georgi to call you…”
“No, that’s… actually, yeah, go ahead, why not? He may not realize it’s my birthday, but he’ll probably at least have some idea what it’s about.”
The tickets to the Trofeo Lombardi made Sara curious. It’s not that she minded watching skating, and she had friends competing in juniors still, but she couldn’t understand why her coach would approve of Michele giving her the tickets. He was coming too, of course, even with Canada only a couple weeks away. “What’s going on, Mickey?”
She didn’t get an answer until they were watching the skating. When they announced the next skater as Lee Seung Gil, Sara turned to Mickey. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I talked to Phichit, and as long as I promise not to be a dick, Seung Gil’s fine with you coming now.” Michele paused. “Well, he’d probably be mad if you stood up and shouted ‘Seung Gil I’m your soulmate’ now, but you know what I mean.”
“How do I convince him? How did you check with Seung Gil without telling him it was me?”
“I didn’t. He knows it’s you, and agreed that the only possible reason why I would not only accept him talking to you but be working to make it happen is if I’m telling the truth.”
“So we’re starting off with you going behind my back to ignore what he said in my dream?” Sara was so not impressed with her brother right now.
“You said he didn’t want you to come because he had problems with bullies and figured he’d have to deal with another one to deal with his soulmate. When I called Phichit to talk, it was mostly to figure out how Phichit stands him so that I could try not to be too big a dick despite him kind of being…” Fair enough, Sara had to admit. “And then Phichit said that one of the things Seung Gil got bullied about was not having a soul, so he couldn’t have a soulmate. It was his idea to call Seung Gil and ask him what he wanted to do here.”
That wasn’t too horrible, really. “What’s going on with you and Georgi? Have you talked yet?”
“We’ve talked, and it’s pretty much what I said was going to happen. We’re getting to know each other, intention is to be friends. He says that Yuuri and Mila are keeping Viktor from being too much of a dick about it, at least in Georgi’s hearing, and Anya is happy to know I’m not gonna threaten her.”
Seung Gil finished with gold, giving him a trip to the Finals. To her surprise, Michele let her go to meet Seung Gil alone. It worked out as well as could be expected – Seung Gil was still Seung Gil, after all. The problem was that neither of them felt the way they thought they were supposed to about their soulmate. They bonded nicely as friends, but there was no spark there.
Years passed. Sara would occasionally date someone, but nothing ever felt right for long-term. Michele seemed perfectly happy not to date. Seung Gil didn’t date, either, and when Sara asked, he said he was fine with the situation. The only people he’d ever been even remotely interested in either weren’t interested or were in happy, stable relationships with their soulmates. After a bit of drinking, Sara was able to get names. Most of them, she just kind of felt bad for him for. JJ LeRoy. Nishigori Takeshi. Phichit. But then… “Mickey? My brother?”
“Exactly. He’s aroace. No interest in dating anyone, and he sees me as a brother. It’s fine, Sara. Just because I’m not dating doesn’t mean I can’t hit a bar and get laid if I want to, and with you and Mickey, I’ve got the one thing I used to think I’d never have.”
Sara let it go. After all, if they both said they were happy… not her place to question that. Georgi was happy with Anya, so it was just finding herself something to make her happy.
Then drama exploded at Russia’s National Championships, and Georgi and Anya broke up. Michele started practically living with his phone in his hand, talking to his soulmate, and at the beginning of April, Georgi was in Italy for a change of scenery. Sara half-expected to need to remind Michele that he didn’t need to protect her, but instead, Michele encouraged the two of them to spend time together.
The more time they spent together, the more Sara understood why. Michele had been paying attention to the people Sara dated, and Georgi had a lot of similarities to them. With Michele not interested… “Mickey? Do you think fate got confused and gave us each other’s soulmates?”
“No, I think fate knew what it was doing. If Seung Gil had been my soulmate, I’d have been a dick about ignoring him to protect you from Georgi. He’d never have forgiven me, and we wouldn’t be friends, let alone whatever you want to call what we are. And then by making Georgi my soulmate, I know him. I love him. I know I can trust him to be good to you. I’m just sorry you had to wait so long, and that Georgi had to get hurt so badly with the whole Anya thing.”