Underheard

Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice
Title: Stairwell (part one of Vodka Tonic)
Pairing/Character Focus: Christophe Giacometti/Georgi Popovich
Author: prillalar
What makes this a gem:

Georgi looks up. "Go fuck yourself," he says, more or less, in Russian. He lifts the bottle and takes a drink, chokes a little before he gets it down.

"If only I could." Christophe leans on the metal handrail. "If only we all could."

So hey, have you ever considered Chris/Georgi? If not, that's okay, neither had I; and neither has Georgi; and neither has Chris, until halfway through the Cup of China, when he happens across Georgi drinking and crying in a hotel stairwell and decides to take it as a challenge. This starts as a PWP of the can-this-ship-work variety, and then the characters turn out to be in such a complicated place that the story grows an emotional arc. And then the arc grows beyond the confines of one story! I like what this fic does on its own but I love what happens as it grows into a series. It turns out that the sex machine and the angst monster have some stuff to deal with, separately and together, and it's fascinating watching them both try to figure out what on earth they want and how to get it.