YOI Multishipper Problems

[prillalar]

[ Before the ramble (or vent) begins, some signal boosting:
+ rareshipsonice - Yuri!!! on ICE Rare Pair fanwork exchange! Basically anything other than Yuuri/Victor and Otabek/Yuri. Currently in nominations.
+ yurionicefans - YOI DW comm! ]

While working on some fic that doesn't involve any of these characters, I was listening to Steve Winwood (I'm an old) and Back In the High Life Again came on and I had a mini-breakdown over Chris/Victor, mainly from frustration that it's next to impossible to write them post-canon.

I love Yuuri/Victor but I'm a multishipper and Chris/Victor is my favourite Victor ship. (Nishigori/Yuuri is my other main ship, just to get even more impossible.) And I've never been in a fandom before where the juggernaut was so juggernaut-y and soulmate-y and canon-y that to write any other end-game pairing with either of them is nearly unthinkable.

I don't want to go canon-divergent; it's not my thing. Am I doomed to never being able to write what I want? Or is there perhaps some way to break Yuuri and Victor up post-canon that I wouldn't have to spend more than about 25% of the Chris/Victor fic dealing with? (Victor dealing with it, I mean, not showing the break-up.)

I realise I will have to sign a waiver indicating I understand no one will read this fic. And that I may also be consigned to perdition. It might be worth it.

Okay, whining over, thinking begun.

Comments

[yuuago]

Ooh, I didn't know about the DW comm! Thanks for linking that.

is there perhaps some way to break Yuuri and Victor up post-canon that I wouldn't have to spend more than about 25% of the Chris/Victor fic dealing with?

Well, from my perspective - their relations, as we're shown in the show, go down rather quickly. And they don't seem to be very good at communicating. So a breakup seems like a reasonable thing to imagine happening.

As for not having to spend more than 25% of the story dealing with it - for me, it would be adequate to devote maybe a paragraph to it; say that it happened, maybe give a few details, and then move on. Setting it a couple of years after the breakup can also be useful, give things some distance. If I'm reading something for the A/C pairing, while A/B is the soulmate-y juggernaut, I'm not there for some long detailed explanation about how A/B broke up - just referring to it happening is enough. Get it over with and move on to the A/C that I opened the fic for, you know?

'Course, I don't know what you have in mind for this particular story, and I'm mostly speaking from experience with similar situations in another canon. But, yeah.

[prillalar]

Yeah, I hope the comm will get some traffic!

I was unclear about the 25% thing (and just edited the post) -- I mean time for Victor to deal with the aftermath rather than actually showing the breakup. Maybe I feel that way because I haven't worked through it at all yet. (I find it's the same with established relationship stories. I often can't start writing them until I've written at least one get-together story first.) I do feel like I want to see the fall-out for them because if I don't go through that, I won't know how the break-up changed Victor. Even though the canon only covers about 8 months of them together, it's seems pretty major for Victor and it's something I'm interested in. So, it's tricky!

(I've been thinking a lot about post-canon YuuVic break-up & get back together ideas as well.)

[marks]

Set it a year after yuuri dies, I'm sure no one at all including me would have a problem with that!

[prillalar]

You have the best ideas! I'm sure I'll see huge changes in my popularity!

DW subscribers: 0
Twitter followers: 0
Tumblr followers: 50 but they're porn blogs

[marks]

AO3 Subscribers: -1

Hal: "How did that even happen?"

[merit]

I loled.

[marks]

I'm a problem-solver.

[inkstone]

I agree with a lot of what yuuago says, but I definitely understand your dilemma. I don't know that I've ever seen the juggernaut ship be so juggernauty and canony before.

On the other hand, I am a huge advocate of writing fic that isn't on the well-worn path of fandom and canon, audience be damned.

[prillalar]

I know, YOI is just so different from what I'm used to! And do love the juggernaut, I just love other pairings too.

Maybe I need to start with the YuuVic break-up and get back together story (which would be unrelated) to get more insight into how that might happen.

[merit]

I'd, probably out of laziness, probably start a fic like that when they were already broken up. START WITH THE ANGST. And the flashbacks to any arguments they had if I felt the need. Icy meetings where they try to be civil but there's a lot of allusion to the arguments, the relationship they had, the efforts they have made to move on. Enter Chris, hanging over Victor. Possibly tracing the curve of Victor's ear with his tongue.

I'm pretty terrible at OTPs. I like to see what happens when characters clash! I develop preferences, but only read one pairing??

Followed the comm! I have been meaning to get involved more in communities, be the change and all that.

[prillalar]

Yeah, definitely good idea to start broken up. I need to work out how and why; I'm a bit stuck there for now, but I just need to think about it more. The icy meetings scene is gold! Oh, Chris!

I think I've only ever had one true OTP. So much more fun to play around, so to speak.

I've never been part of a DW comm with much traffic but maybe we can get this one moving. I would love it -- it's so hard to really connect with like-minded fans in YOI because everything is so huge and decentralized.

[merit]

I settled on the ear licking. Explicit gestures, elaborate tongue motions, grinding - the possibilities are endless! especially when you want to mess with your crush's ex.

Same! I have a fandom5k fic to finish but I should be to think of something to post while angsting over plot.

That's the problem with big fandoms! I've mostly been involved in tiny book fandoms of late so that was a pleasant surprise :)

[(Anonymous)]

"I need to know how and why"

hc: victor and chris used to be together, but they are young, etc. they break up over something and yuuri is victor's rebound fling. I find this to be canon compliant because (a) Chris can be interpreted as jealous over Yuuri and (b) I truly, madly, deeply don't buy it that a international star athlete would turn 27 without having a life and fun enough that a drunk loser humping his leg would turn into a revolutionary "OMG I was lost and lonely and had no inspiration and now I found you!" (which seems to be the main fanon interpretation of why they get together but which i find incredibly juvenile).

If Yuuri is Victor's rebound fling, it's normal for things between them to be very intense on Victor's part as he clings to what he imagines is happening in this new romance that was not happening between him and Chris. (It is normal for things to be intense on Yuuri's part because Yuuri is a fanboy).

It would also be normal for said rebound fling to come to an end, and for both Victor and Chris to come back together at a new stage of their professional lives and at a new level of maturity.

I am aware you mostly write short things whereas I'm essentially pitching you a novel, but you can totally drop the reader into the opening stages of the second time Chris and Victor get together and drop hints on the backstory as you go along.

[moetushie]

I'd read it. Although, yeah, not many people would. Outside the superheated bubble of Victuuri, the Yuri!!! On Ice fandom seems to act like any other sports anime fandom. Rarepairs don't exactly do well here, I say, as I'm currently knee-deep in a WIP about a minor sports anime character.

Anyway, I love Chris/Victor and I *can* see it working, post-Yuuri, although in my hc, it would pretty far along when they're both retired and are irascible old men (for the given value of old -- I mean, in canon a 25 and 27 year old are considered over the hill, yeesh), sitting around and judging young, obviously less talented and beautiful skaters. What has the sport come to?

After all, Victor and Yuuri's grand passion fizzled out a long time ago -- eros is never meant to last! -- and Chris, as observant as ever, makes his move?

But, whatever you chose, I'm sure it would be a great story, and worth telling. Even if not many people read it?

/also hi, hope you don't mind me subscribing to you & sorry if I'm being presumptuous

[prillalar]

Yeah, it would definitely be a passion project. :) I'm having trouble judging YOI vs other sports anime because most of my other sports anime fan-time has been on LJ. (I was on fandom hiatus for about four years until Jan 2016.) But most of those, and the others I'm in now, are team-based and I think that leads to more mid-level ship popularity.

When I figure out how to make Yuuri and Nishigori run away together, Chris can pick up the pieces. I wonder who will age better, Chris or Victor?

I'm sure I'll work out how get started eventually. Discussing it with everyone has helped a lot.

Subscribing is always fine; adding you back. :)

[clawdine]

I'm laughing at the dead Yuuri option. I would read that.

I honestly think Viktor would be really sad if they broke up. But all wounds heal in time and all that. Actually just imagining the awkward silence is giving me a lump in my throat. As long as everyone is happy in the end though!

[prillalar]

Victor sighed as the line shuffled forward. Yuuri had just died and he was very sad, sad enough that he was here in a common Starbucks like a common commoner, trying to drown his sorrows with a Unicorn Frappuccino.

"Dommage," a deep voice thrilled. "We're all out of unicorns."

Victor looked up into the barista's handsome face and the compassion in his azure eyes brought the first smile in days to Victor's lips. "Is there something else you'd recommend? I don't know what kind of coffee common people drink."

"I'm sure I can think of something." The barista reached out and took Victor's hand gently in his.

[ oh, god, I don't have an exit strategy for the coffeeshop AU ]

Anyhow, so long as we don't kill off Makkachin, we won't get jumped in a dark alley.

Victor would be devastated! Which is what I hope will be interesting. :)

[naraht]

I will be absolutely fascinated to see how you end up writing endgame Chris/Victor. I mean, I guess I'm an endgame Victor/Yuuri shipper, but I hesitate to say that because it implies being dogmatic and unwilling to read any other take on the situation, which I'm not.

Really it's not terribly difficult to imagine Victor and Yuuri falling apart in fairly short order. Maybe Victor burns out, faced with Yuuri's impossible expectations and the impossible task of coaching and competing simultaneously. Maybe that "let's end this" in Barcelona is just the start of a great deal of on-again, off-again angst. Maybe Victor thought they were engaged but Yuuri really didn't mean that at all (I disagree with this strongly as a canon interpretation but it can work quite well in fic). Maybe Victor really is as fickle and selfish as Yakov thinks, and entirely believes that he will worship Yuuri forever, but gets distracted after six months.

Maybe the fic just starts with Chris and Victor meeting in a bar somewhere and Victor shrugs and says "let's not talk about it tonight."

It's all good! And it baffles me how many people in the fandom are absolutely allergic to Chris/Victor. It must be too much mature Eros for teenage fans, or perhaps it's just because it's the only obvious threat to the juggernaut pairing.

[moetushie]

Aha, I remember that nonnie on FFA whose bugabear was untagged Chris/Victor. I don't think I've ever committed that particular sin, but you know, I'd rather earn that nonnie's wrath than disappoint anyone who was actually looking for Chris/Victor, not a line in a Victuuri fic where Victor briefly admires Chris' ass.

[prillalar]

I definitely ship Victor/Yuuri too and I feel like I'm going to have to deal with them post-canon (in an unrelated story) before I can get on to any post-canon Chris/Victor. But they have a lot of work to do, imo, to get to a long-term sustainable relationship. That's the interesting stuff. <3

Victor probably was that fickle and selfish at the beginning of canon, but he's matured a lot. I'm not sure Yuuri has, not yet. Engaged/not engaged is a huge topic! The short version of my thoughts is that Yuuri didn't consciously intend to get engaged but has a lot of deep-down strong feelings he can't fully express and actually wants this. (Also, I will never, ever be over Victor's face when Yuuri is buying the rings. Oh my god.)

I didn't realize Chris/Victor was anathema to so many people! But I get why people OTP Yuuri/Victor so I guess it's to be expected.

[ineptshieldmaid]

(here via a tumblr reblog chain)

I don't have an answer to this question but I would READ THAT FIC.

And your description of the juggernaut is... yup. I got a ton of weird pushback on a Chris/Viktor/Yuuri fic because it had strong Chris/Viktor and Chris/Yuuri sidelines - at one point in the fic the possibility of Chris/Yuuri being a thing in its own right was raised, and wow, did that ever go down badly with some people.

[prillalar]

I love Chris/Yuuri almost as much as Chris/Victor, seriously, and could see that as endgame quite easily. (As easily as anything else that's not Yuuri/Victor.) Chris is such an grea character, too. I'm more about love triangles than poly or causal three-ways, but either way Chris makes everything more interesting.

People are weird about fic, seriously! But I guess I am too. :)

[pkoceres]

Popping in late to say I would read the hell out of that story. I definitely agree that there's a basis for Chris/Victor in canon, and I'd love to see your take on it.

And I've never been in a fandom before where the juggernaut was so juggernaut-y and soulmate-y and canon-y that to write any other end-game pairing with either of them is nearly unthinkable.
I feel this in my soul, omg. Juggernaut OTPs seem to be in vogue right now.

(Also, thanks for the links!)

[prillalar]

It's a bit down the list but I do hope I can give this story a try one day. I really love Chris/Victor a lot. <3

At least I ship the juggernaut in ACCA. They have 34 of the 45 stories in the fandom tag on AO3. :D

[king_touchy]

I don't want to go canon-divergent; it's not my thing.

Damn, that's starting with a high base score. *admiration* But I sure look forward to reading.

This post and comments are gold. And I'm glad about the new YOI dw comms. Hopefully rec posts will start cropping up, because after cannonballing into Check Please! fic for the past couple weeks, I could really go for some fresh YOI, especially the rarer pairs. Yeah, sure, I could go trolling through tags, but I don't have the energy (or not quite desperate enough) to slush-read fic to find a gem.