Chapter Text
Living in a foreign country for college was a big adjustment for both Yuuri and Phichit, but they luckily had each other.
At first, the two were only pleasant with each other, saying the usual “How was your day” and “Have you eaten” greetings whenever necessary. While Phichit was outgoing and already made a few friends around campus - unsurprising considering he was a mass communication major, even if he was just a freshman - Yuuri preferred to be by himself and only left their room when necessary, mostly to take pictures and videos for one of his video production classes. It was hard for Phichit to find an in when they didn’t have much in common with the junior.
Then Phichit saw one of Yuuri’s posters.
“Is that Viktor Nikiforov?!” Phichit exclaimed. He had walked into Yuuri’s bedroom to ask about dinner, but his eyes immediately zoomed in to the poster hanging above his roommate’s bed.
“Y-you know who he is?” Yuuri said, his eyes wide open.
“Know him? I’ve been a fan since he was competing in Juniors!”
That led to an all-nighter where both roommates would find their favorite programs on YouTube and go on a rant detailing exactly why they liked them. While it started with Viktor, it quickly moved on to his competitors like Christophe Giacometti and Cao Bin. When they started bringing up lesser-known names like Emil Nekola and Ji Guang Hong, both Phichit and Yuuri looked at each other with stars in their eyes.
It was the start of something great. Phichit felt it in his bones.
[Selfie of Phichit and Yuuri in their dorm room’s common area. Phichit’s grinning widely while Yuuri has a softer smile.]
15 likes
phichit+chu Roommate selfie! ✌️#firstofmany
In his second year of college, Phichit took a class on digital media, where he learned about professional vlogs, podcasts, websites, and everything in between. One of his running assignments for the class was to produce a piece of digital media on his own, which could be about anything he wanted. Phichit immediately knew that it was going to be about figure skating, and it didn’t take him long to come to the idea that he would make a vlog raving about the top performances of a competition.
The Grand Prix series was ongoing, and both him and Yuuri already had a tradition of dedicating a whole night to watching the men’s singles competition and raving about the programs. He wanted to bring that in front of a camera, similar to all the reaction videos he and Yuuri have been watching in their free time, and Yuuri thought it was a great idea—except for one part.
“Uhh, why would you want me to film with you?” his roommate asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense if I was the one behind the camera?”
“Yuuri, raving about performances alone doesn’t hit the same way as raving about it with my best friend in the world!” Phichit replied with a grin.
“But I’m a lot more awkward than you! I could barely form a coherent sentence when talking to people!”
“You’ll just be talking to me!”
“I’m still gonna be an awkward mess! I don’t want people to see that.”
“It’s only gonna be my professor and my classmates, and we’re just a class of 20.”
“That’s 20 more than I want!”
The entire week went that way, with Phichit telling Yuuri why it was a great idea and Yuuri shooting each argument down. While Phichit knew that he could always just film it alone, he also knew that it wouldn’t be half as good as if he were talking about the programs with Yuuri.
“It’s just gonna be like what we do after every competition we watch, but it’ll be recorded!
“Just think, there might be another skating fan in my class, and we could fanboy with them!”
“Come on, Yuuri! How can you be great behind the camera if you don’t know what it’s like to be in front of one?”
By the end of the week, Yuuri let out a deep sigh while he was washing the dishes, and Phichit knew exactly what that meant.
“You owe me katsudon for this.”
Phichit uploaded the video on YouTube under an account he created for the class, much to Yuuri’s dismay (“Prof said it needed to have a public audience!” Phichit said by way of explanation, though Yuuri knew he withheld that part until after posting for a reason). He ended up naming the channel after a song from his favorite movie: ShallWeSkate.
They decided to react to the Cup of China, as that was the most recent competition when they started filming. It coincidentally also had Viktor Nikiforov as one of the competitors, which made it very easy for Phichit to bring Yuuri out of his shell. When they started talking about Viktor’s performance, it was like Yuuri forgot that there was a camera in front of them.
The video got high marks, and while the professor made several suggestions on how to improve it—from making his energy more consistent to making the video composition more appealing, which Phichit took note of for Yuuri—she praised how knowledgeable they were of the subject matter and how they made it easy to follow, even if she didn’t know anything about figure skating.
While there weren’t any figure skating fans in the class, Phichit was surprised to receive a few comments on the video over the next few days.
Raving about the 2014 Cup of China!
83 views | Posted 3 days ago
Bladesgowhoosh: AAAAAHHH i finally found a good reaction channel for my figure skating obsession!!! TELL ME THERE’S MORE
nikiforlife: lol watching yuuri freak out about viktor was like looking in a mirror
QuadAxelWhen: This was sooooo fun to watch! Please tell me you’re doing this for the rest of the Grand Prix!
When the two of them had set up their room to livestream the Grand Prix de France, Phichit had put one of Yuuri’s video recorders in front of them.
“The channel wants more, Yuuri!” Phichit explained before Yuuri got the chance to ask. “And I thought we could add some of our live reactions in between our ramblings to spice it up.”
Yuuri only gave him a look and a sigh, but Phichit knew that Yuuri enjoyed filming the Cup of China video as much as he did. And true enough, there were some reactions he got that Phichit knew meant Yuuri wasn’t even thinking about the camera.
(Yuuri immediately shot down including them in the video when they watched it back, but Phichit still had the recordings. Just in case.)
Raving about the 2014 Grand Prix de France!
75 views | Posted 7 hours ago
QuadAxelWhen: Yay you’re posting more! Looking forward to Rostelecom!
Bladesgowhoosh: you’re SO RIGHT about christophe!!! he’s known for his sex appeal but he has a LOT of skill backing it up!!! SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
theskaterandtheking: 6:55 phichit’s gasp when they zoomed in on seung-gil’s face is the biggest mood
They subsequently uploaded their reactions to Rostelecom Cup and the NHK Trophy, and while waiting for the Grand Prix final, they also uploaded retrospective reactions to that year’s Skate America and Skate Canada. Those six videos got them their first 50 subscribers, and the two celebrated with tom yum and a The King and the Skater marathon.
While both of them mostly raved about how great the performances looked and how amazing the skaters were, they didn’t hold back in explaining exactly why they liked them. Phichit highlighted how much each skater had improved in terms of the difficulty of their jumps and always pointed out when he could feel their energy from the screen. Meanwhile, Yuuri focused a lot on artistry, and he was a lot more interested in the skaters’ step sequences and spins instead of their jumps.
It made for a great combination, as many comments pointed out. A lot of them also said that they liked how positive and feel-good the whole thing was—while they acknowledged mistakes, they never dwelled on them and instead pointed out how the skater made up for them.
They brought that same energy when they reacted to the Grand Prix Final, and it turned into their first video to reach 500 views. The video began with a snippet of Yuuri’s reaction to Viktor’s win, much to the viewers’ delight and to Yuuri’s dismay.
Three days after they uploaded that video, Phichit saw a tweet that made him stop whatever he was doing.
“YUURI! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”
Leo de la Iglesia @leodelaiglesia
Thanks for the kind words ShallWeSkate! youtube.com/watch…