#Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bigskydreaming · 6 years ago

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LOL, quick jaunt over to Marvel land, to engage in a rant about one of my very specific Bobby Drake pet peeves, but good God, this one has been around forever.

I don’t expect comic book writers to have a master’s degree in physics or whatever, but I mean, I’m a college drop out myself, and it doesn’t take a PhD to remember that cold is not an energy.

Its the absence of an energy. It results from thermal energy leaving an area. You don’t produce cold. You take away heat.

Ergo, mutant powers and high tech armor that absorb energy as a defense should not be in any way, shape or form protected against Bobby’s powers - if anything, he should be the ultimate defense and offense against them.

Because he doesn’t ‘shoot ice beams,’ he doesn’t project cold energy that they can then absorb and like, suck up the energy that his powers produce...his powers are moving energy in the opposite direction! He’s the ultimate absorption power/tech! Any time there are Sentinels that are adapted to absorb energy attacks, or there are villains with that powerset, or with energy-draining tech....none of that should in any way be able to stop him from simply using his powers to drain the heat energy from the area, plummeting the temperature until it’s all entombed in ice from whatever ambient moisture’s in the area he freezes. Or if there isn’t enough moisture, simply dropping temperatures until the machinery or armor is brittle enough to crack or shatter.

Like, this is basic stuff. What’s the point in making a big deal about the omega level powers of a guy that’s been around for sixty years, if in all that time barely anyone who writes him can bother to learn the most fundamental things about how hot and cold work?

No, fire should not be the Iceman’s ultimate weakness, lmao, because the Iceman doesn’t need actual water or ice to put out a fire, he can simply just move the thermokinetic energy around until the fire being fired at him goes bye-bye, because he took all the thermal energy away.

Also, he’s quite definitively done this before. Mike Carey at least tried doing some new things with his powers, and showed how Bobby could basically turn off the powers of mutants with fire powers or even just powers that relied on chemical reactions igniting...because his command of thermodynamic forces, or at least his outright neutralization of them, meant he could keep Sunfire from generating the plasma he bases his name on.

Like, Bobby was just like lol no, and kept the dude who projects thermal energy at the same temperatures as the sun from using his powers at all by simply going..."yeah but what if I just don’t let it get any hotter no matter how much plasma you try and generate? Whatcha gonna do then, Shiro?” And it turned out, what Shiro did then was nada, because all the literal firepower in the world doesn’t mean squat when a guy who violates the laws of thermodynamics for goofs sits on all the thermal energy in the vicinity and goes “nah, nobody’s getting up until I say so.”

Similarly, no, being in a desert or some location with very little ambient moisture in the air shouldn’t in any way be a hindrance to Bobby, limit his powers or make him weaker, because he doesn’t just make ice, and never has...its simply the most common and efficient usage and combination of his dual powerset....which is thermokinesis and hydrokinesis.

I know he’s hardly ever referenced as having the latter, and its not like he’s ever been shown moving water itself around like a waterbender or Hydro-Man, but its a necessary part of his powerset to do the things he does. He forms ice in highly specific shapes, and the only way he can do that is if he’s not only dropping the temperature and freezing things (thermokinesis). He has to be at the same time moving water molecules into the specific arrangements and patterns needed in order for his freezing of those water molecules to result in the specific ice configurations and shapes he makes all the time.

There’s absolutely no way his power could ever work the way its always shown to if he doesn’t have the ability to mentally manipulate the placement of water molecules, even if he’s not consciously directing them into the shapes he’s picturing in his mind when he makes ice shapes.

Point being, just because he usually uses his powers in the specific combination that results in him freezing water, specifically, and forming ice, specifically...doesn’t mean he’s ever been limited to that. His thermokinesis works perfectly well without him directing it at water molecules in specific, and this too has been long established.

Its not like water is the only thing that freezes. Everything freezes if you get things cold enough. Bobby’s the walking equivalent of liquid nitrogen, even though he’s hardly ever used that way (ironically, it was Claremont who first showed him using his powers this way, which is funny to me because Claremont famously hates his character and usually nerfs him every opportunity he gets, like, purely out of annoyance that he exists, lol).

But I mean, he quite literally can make even the strongest metals shatter without even touching them, by just flash-freezing his environs and letting everything go kabloo-ey under its own weight, once the rapid reduction of thermodynamic reactions makes even metal’s structural integrity go ruh-roh and then like....just collapse.

Even without taking things in that direction, the whole ‘put Bobby in a desert and he’s useless against the bad guys’ trope has always been dumb purely because of the fact that the human body is largely made up of water. As long as there’s anyone around him, it doesn’t matter how much or how little ambient moisture is in the air...he can just as easily focus his powers on just the moisture in peoples’ bodies. And it doesn’t have to be big or flashy or dramatic either, he doesn’t have to rip the moisture out of them and use it to make ice like he did in that one arc with the demons that we pretend didn’t happen because Chuck Austen was a mistake....like....all someone with Bobby’s powerset has to do when faced with living human beings and not a lot of surplus moisture in the air is just...drop the temperature of the bodies around him, nudge them towards hypothermic conditions.

*Shrugs* Things get cold enough, the blood flow in a human body starts to slow down, eventually they pass out. If you can control how quickly the temperature drops and how much that temperature change is focused most specifically on the parts of the body most dependent on moisture and biochemical reactions that require thermal energy to catalyze or function, you can make that happen very quickly.

Hell, they write Magneto using his powers to control the iron in peoples’ blood, slow the flow of blood to their brains and knock them out that way. Its really the same basic principle with Bobby’s powers, just asserting a little pressure on the moisture in peoples’ blood to produce the same effect. If anything, it should be easier for Bobby not because of different power levels, now that they’re both confirmed as omega level, but rather simply because there’s more water in the human body than there is iron. Everything Erik can do directly to human attackers, Bobby should be able to do even more easily, purely because he has more to work with directly.

LOL sorry, but this is where my critical-ness manifests most with Bobby’s writing. Scott, Dick, Kyle, I have actual Issues with how they’re written and received....Bobby, other than how various writers handle his sexuality or don’t, as the case may be....my ire is really ultimately just Nerd Ire. Because it makes me cranky that you give a guy one of the single most versatile powersets in superhero comics, make a point to establish that this dude’s powers are amped all the way up to the literal highest degree possible in comics, with virtually no limitations on the ways he can use them or the scope he can apply them to......

And then you do practically nothing with them, beyond the same handful of basic tricks that he’s been doing for decades, like that’s the sum total of his abilities or the only possible applications, when that’s really barely even the tip of the iceberg, yes pun intended. I admitted I was a Nerd, get with the program.

I honestly don’t give a shit about him being The Most Powerfulest Ever, especially since it results in him being sidelined more than he’s used, just because writers don’t want to deal with why Bobby can’t just....snap his fingers and start the next Ice Age and be like all done here, let’s go home. But it is Irksome when you tantalize me with the possibilities inherent in a superpower and then continue to use that power in the most dull way imaginable instead of just going nuts with it, because I am at the end of the day, above all other things a Superpower Nerd and like. Superpowers are so fucking cool, why must writers insist on not using them in cool and unique and interesting ways, and instead just being all....and then the one character shot a laser at the other and a third character punched everyone else super hard with their superstrength and that’s it, that’s the end. Until next time, intrepid adventurers!

Sigh. Its just so booooooring. And like, death by a thousand papercuts, lol, every time a writer clearly thinks they’re on to something when they come up with a ‘workaround’ to essentially neutralize Bobby in a fight or sideline him, so that his omega-ness or whatever doesn’t make everyone else’s present irrelevant before he solos the situation. And I get that, but this is not the solution they’re looking for, and hasn’t been the last hundred times they used it either, its just like. Please, please, please, even just wiki source how ice and cold work for a change. Its not rock, paper, scissors, where like, fire and heat automatically beat ice, lmfao. Its like nails on a chalkboard, seeing behind the page to like, how proud you can tell that writer is for their ‘solution’ to Bobby’s uber-poweredness, while meanwhile, I’m just like...dudes, that does not work the way you are trying to claim it works, and its making it really hard to suspend my disbelief.

Which you would think would not be that hard, given that I’m talking about a comic book with superpowers, but if you’re gonna do superpowers, at least do them in a way that makes some sense, which is not, in fact: “fire is the greatest weapon against the guy whose power is more accurately described as eats thermal energy and shits out ice cubes.”

Its literally the other way around, uggggggggh. Same with energy absorption being trotted out constantly to beat or neutralize the guy whose power is literally the opposite of energy projection. As Bobby is himself, actually, technically, ironically, the ultimate omega level energy absorption mutant, albeit primarily focused on thermal energy specifically.

(Though of course, at the base levels that Bobby’s powers have repeatedly been shown to operate at, all energy is fundamentally the same anyway, so even that qualifier isn’t quite applicable. Hey, don’t look at me, I’m not the one who decided to make the dude omega level and then define that as meaning the uttermost expression of a particular mutant powerset, with no apex ceiling or limit on their usage or scope. Maybe you guys should’ve put like, ten minutes of actual research into why water is cited as one of the basic primary building blocks of carbon based organic life, and how the kind of control over thermal energy Bobby’s powers require in order to even function at their most basic levels, once unrestricted in scope or degree, like....pretty much results in limitless applications across the board).

I mean shit, in a lot of ways, Bobby’s kinda the mutant embodiment of a physically realized Maxwell’s Demon. And if you put some thought into how that particular thought experiment could effect reality were anyone actually capable of creating a mechanism for violating the laws of thermodynamics in the specific ways postulated by good old JCM back in the 1800s, Bobby’s powers would really be less "hey check it out, I make ice and cool people off on a hot summer’s day" and more like "lol, Proteus who? Legion what? Wanda where? Phoenix, please!"

BUT I DIGRESS.

....oh shit, whoops, now I’m thinking about how Wanda’s powers when amped up to allow her to pull off the House of M reality warp, like, were basically defined as the ultimate expression of chaos magick/chaos energies, the psychic harnessing of entropy itself, using Wanda’s basic probability manipulations to hack quantum possibilities themselves and superimpose the pictured reality of her choice over her current reality at a quantum level.....and whereas if you look at Bobby’s powers in the vein of Maxwell’s Demon, and the theoretical applications for decreasing entropy, like...huh. Whoops, I think I just accidentally made my brain explode, hang on, I gotta think about this now.

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deanmiles13 · 6 years ago

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BLUE CHEER (JUST A LITTLE BIT)

My time working with Blue Cheer.

“Bridging the Digital Divide” That’s what I’ve heard it called and much like Evel Knievel, I love to try and bridge that divide. If we have the technology to “Reach out and touch someone” like AT&T said, then we surely must honor the convenience and follow through with furthering a connection, if it calls for it.

Old friends, fellow collectors of Rock and/or Wrestling Icons.They’re all out there to be tapped. Its happened for me....many times!

Here is one such instance where I got off my butt and let my fingers do the walking.

It all began with that show we all know and love, Antiques Roadshow.

The segment had a poster collector, so that had my ear as I continued to read in bed. I love paper and posters and books. Always have since I was a kid and started “collecting” KISS posters. Then my mother threw these all out one winter and I’ve never been the same. I hold onto everything. NEATLY…

But I digress….

A fellow was going through some posters he had on this particular segment and he had some San Francisco Psychedelic posters. That was interesting, BUT the one that caught my ear/eye was a Blue Cheer poster from Tastee-Freez. I was blown away.

THE POSTER THAT STARTED THE WHOLE GYPSY BALL ROLLING....

First of all I LOVE BLUE CHEER and the juxtaposition of BC and Ice Cream was too much. I had to have it. I ran to my Mac G3 and dialed up that modem as fast as it would dial. Early daze… Then I proceeded to Google BC and see what they were up to these days. We all watched that killer Closet Classic on MTV of Summer Time Blues and that is where I fell in love with them.

I sought out the records later in life, but here I was in the 2000’s? and where were they? I found a website and it had a contact for North American management for the band. I just threw out a quick email stating that I was a fan, owned a T-shirt printing company and was more than willing to help out if the EVER needed it.

The NEXT morning, I had an email from Rosalyn, the woman handling them here in the States. See, BC had relocated to Koln Germany and were doing just fine over there and in Japan. They never really stopped. She was so excited that I had reached out. She said the band loves it when their 1%’ers (BC fans) reach out to them, and especially if they offer help. I immediately got together with a friend I had at the White Eagle named Thomas. He was a super chill guy and struggling artist. He had a knack for retro 60’s looking stuff and he was up to the task.

He cranked out a 1% design and a logo and some other stuff. We printed up a variety of sample t-shirts and started the process of sending them to the band via Rosalyn in L.A.

This part got to be a bit tedious so she eventually just gave me Dickie Petersons’ mailing address in Koln. We had a procedure for getting them to him and for getting his feedback (pun intended). In all the back and forth with Rosalyn, she mentioned that “I’m just gonna have to have Dickie give you a call some time! Don’t forget to ask him about the 3 legged dog and the boat!”

I was pretty sure that she was just building me up and stringing me along…

...but she sent me an 8x10 of Dickie and a letter out of the blue.

She also warned me to ignore ex-guitarist Randy Holden. Dickie was and is BC, and no one else represents them. Got it!

THEN, one day at work, I had a call on my old flip phone and the number was a dazzling display of digits. I was like “Who and what the hell could this be?!?!” I answered it and the voice on the other line asked “Dean Miles?”

Uh… yeah! “This is Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer!”

Holy crap, it was him and I could tell just from his voice. I was stunned but played it cool as a cucumber. Man, if I told you we talked for over an hour and a half, you probably wouldn’t believe me. But we got on like a house on fire. He was so casual and just comfortable with me, that I just kinda did an interview. Of course, I had all sorts of questions outside of the t-shirt we were working on. I don’t really recall the story of the dog and the boat, but he did bring it up without my asking.

I feel okay talking about some of these things because he has passed and so has pretty much anyone he was talking about. He mentioned his addiction issues and how he regretted letting that waste a bunch of his time and money. He said Janis Joplin turned him onto the junk. They were all at practice and she wanted some alone time with her boyfriend Paul (BC drummer). The band had work to do so Dickie objected. She said “Shut up Dickie, and just try this.” He said that was the beginning of the end.

I’m not trying to dish dirt, or re write Rock & Roll history with any of this. Just to share my story. That’s all.

I asked him if he liked “Stoner Rock” and he replied that he was more of a blues guy. Which is totally true. I let him know that tons of bands out there worshipped at the Marshall altar of Blue Cheer. He seemed to like that.

I just have bits of stuff that I remember because it flowed so effortlessly. He was a real cool cat. I picked up the phone at the shop and talked for a bit, closed up, drove home (talking still), got home, walked in and mouthed to Darcy

“IM ON THE PHONE WITH DICKIE PETERSON!!! and we continued to talk.

By the end of our talk, he offered to put us up in Koln at their rehearsal spot. He gave me his phone number and address. I mean, Damn!!! Old School!!!

One of the coolest things I wanted to impart on you from our phone call was the 1%er thing. I asked him about that and the “Biker” connection, and he proceeded to tell me this story…

“You know, we were playing a gig way back in the day and it was a biker rally. Shit broke out and so did the guns. We dove under our truck that we brought all the gear in. Man, when the dust settled and we got back out from under there, we had holes and shit shot in our brand new amps. I was pissed and started to stomp around asking who was in charge here. Well, the biggest, baddest looking cat steps forward. I stood my ground and politely explained we had just bought the amps and we can’t work if we don’t have gear. He looks at me and says ‘How much do think they cost to replace?’ I gave him a figure and without hesitation he starts peeling hundreds off a money roll from his pocket. He says ‘Is that fair?’ I said ‘more than fair’. He just went back to hashing it out with the other club president that they had just gotten into it with. We loaded up and got the hell outta there. Let me tell you one thing though, a lot of people call those dudes outlaws and whatnot, but I’ll tell you the only people who stole from me were in 3-piece suits. Those outlaws were righteous when I needed them. The only OUTLAWS I know wear 3 piece suits.”

WORD!!!

Another cool thing that happened with this was I shop at a local record store called Vinyl Resting Place. Toby, the owner, has a bulletin board up and at the top is an OLD Blue Cheer picture of them playing outside to like 20 people behind some apartments. I would always just stare at this picture and wonder about the scene that day.

Well, the whole t-shirt thing was happening so I explained it to Toby and asked if I could borrow the picture for an hour. I wanted to go home, scan it and share it with the band. He had no problem with this. I sent it to Dickie and he couldn’t recall anything. He just remarked at the hair cuts and busted sticks on the ground. I was hoping they would get a kick out of it and circulate it on the site or something. No dice….

Fast forward to 2007 and BC is touring the States. I immediately start in on the promoter here in Portland and Rosalyn for a back up. My band at the time (Legend of Dutch Savage) has GOT to play this one. We actually secured an opening slot and couldn’t have been happier.

The ads hit the paper and our name is there. It’s really happening. I can thank Dickie for the call and meet him in person. Maybe even secure the t-shirt for the tour?!?!

I knew I shouldn’t expect too much….

The shirt thing was a no-go because they already had that in the works. Rosalyn was in L.A. and could get them done dirt cheap.

Okay, cool… We still got the gig.

NOPE…. some friends had just started a band named Red Fang and they were invited to play the show. At first we all were on the show, but somewhere along the line Dutch Savage got bumped from the bill. Probably so it was just 2 openers.

Hell of a bill…

Meanwhile, I was crushed. I have opened for tons of great bands but that’s about the only success I’ve enjoyed in my 35+ years as a working musician. Records, tours and the usual bull that a band goes through is all well & good, but when you get a slot playing on the same stage on the same night as your musical heroes, it just makes it all worth it.

I’ve played shows with Roky Erickson, Hawkwind, Dead Moon, Steel Pole Bath Tub, White Stripes and on & on.

I was bummed beyond belief and just refused to deal with the whole night. I didn’t go to the show, didn’t go meet Dickie and didn’t drag my drums out on stage. I just sat home and moped. The scene was moving on, and no matter how tight we had it nailed for that show, we still got the shaft. No biggie. Dusted myself off and kept moving. Aint no cure…

I don’t really have many regrets in life but not going down to Dante’s that night is one of them.

I should have gotten over my self-entitled ego and just went down there. I will never forgive myself for blowing off the opportunity to meet the guy who took time to call ME to chat and just be a cool dude. I’m sorry Dickie!!! I know you had to leave this earth not too long after this gig, but the music lives on my brother. Always has/Always will.

Like a true bluesman.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

On October 12, 2009, Peterson died in Germany after the development and spread of prostate cancer. After Peterson's death, longtime Blue Cheer guitarist Andrew MacDonald wrote on the group's website that "Blue Cheer is done. Out of respect for Dickie, Blue Cheer (will) never become a viable touring band again.". Under ten years later, in January 2019, drummer Paul Whaley died of heart failure.

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thissupposedcrime · 8 years ago

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otayuri as... batcat....

Fam, I am so sorry. I wrote 2k of Otayuri dramatic superhero AU before realizing you requested Batman/Catwoman dynamics. If it helps, picture the Hero of Kazakhstan having no idea how to handle Yuri dressed like Chat Noir from Miraculous Ladybug. Maybe I should write that next?

Superhero AU

In which there is very little skating but the universal constants in Yuri Plisetsky’s life are Victor ruining everything and Otabek Altin’s distracting jaw line.

Before Yuuri Katsuki, Yuri Plistsky is happy.

All he has ever wanted is to be a superhero, and his dream is real after years of injuries, training, and trauma.

They have a good thing going, a well-oiled machine of badassery and rage. Yakov has been training superheroes for decades, since the 1970s when having a secret identity was still outlawed in Russia. He and Lilia even lead the revolution and protests for heroes to retain separate personas.

(And like everything Lilia involves herself in, she wins.)

Lilia’s elastic bones enabled a terrifyingly electric career as a ballerina.

Yakov’s power of flight and telekinesis made him a masterful hero and a terrible task master of Russia’s secret hero development program and leader of St. Petersburg’s heroes.

Civilians know him as a businessman. A few assume mob connections but Yuri’s hung out in enough malls, alleyways, and schools to know people pretend ignorance of Yakov’s identity. Because it means something to him. Jesus.

Under Yakov and Lilia, Yuri P (20, abnormal flexibility, spite, and ability to communicate with animals) thrives, protecting St. Petersburg with:

Mila (23, controls fire, and makes jokes about having no chill that Yuri would rather kill himself than hear again).

Georgi: (27, an actual fucking witch who can’t keep his shit together depending on his heartbreak or the lunar cycle)

The lunar cycle thing is bullshit, just an excuse for his really emotional days.

And…the ice-man cometh himself.

Victor (28) is a dick. Victor is a dick, thinking with his dick. Only that asshole would go to charity dinner celebrating the Sochi Grand Prix and fall in love with a fucking ice skater named Yuuri Katsuki (24) INSTEAD OF GUARDING THE PLACE.

The dude was drunk and likely doesn’t remember who Victor is, but did that stop him from rushing home to Yakov’s training space, squeeing about soulmates? No.

Victor trashes the place in his haste to pack, leaving destruction and a garish, proud note, “Retiring to Japan for love!” in his wake.

Years prior, when Victor was 14 and successfully adopted by Yakov, he asked if Victor would like to continue skating or go into ‘the family business’ of protecting St. Petersburg

The dick just had to become the best superhero Russia ever had. Fuck people with ice powers in Russia. They have to do nothing and get all the credit. Fuck Victor.

Naturally, they can’t let Victor go without a fight, but, plot twist, THE ONLY ONE TO REMAIN IN RUSSIA IS YURI P.

Yakov follows his dipshit son out of foolish, displaced loyalty (everyone knows he wants to meet his prospective new in-law)

Lilia looks on with disgust. Yuri inherited this look from her.

In hysterics, Mila and Georgi are not missing out on this. Besides, Mila knows about the hot springs. She’d literally light anyone on fire who tried to stop her. Georgi lives to see Victor get yelled at. Yuri can relate.

“We deserve this Yuri. We’ve dealt with him longer.”

“Assholes, you didn’t live with him and Yakov for the past decade!”

So Yuri P stays home with Lilia because someone needs to actually do their damn job around here.

“Are you sure you’re not jealous that Katsuki threw himself at Victor and not you?”

“Shut up hag!” There are not posters of Yuuri Katsuki’s skating in his bedroom, despite what she insinuates.

There are. Many.

More importantly, Katsuki’s a fucking civilian. Dating those is a death sentence. Look at half the superhero community for proof.

Yakov isn’t irresponsible. Just his children are. So he contacts a few old friends to see who wouldn’t mind covering for his missing team while they’re out of the country.

Yuri isn’t good at interacting with the teen girls who mob crime scenes during danger.

Yuri thinks if they’re stupid enough to stay when someone is shooting thunderbolts from the sky, he doesn’t need to save them. This is natural selection trying to work things out.

Honestly, part of the reason they want Victor to come home is because he’s the only one who handles the public well.

When Yuri was 17, he was nearly strangled by a supervillain because Mila and Victor were busy entertaining the crowd by melting ice to water and then freezing it into ice sculptures.

Yuri should have stayed in Moscow

(Tragic backstory of civilians-heroes dating in his family and always dying)

“Fuckers, I can protect the city on my own. I basically do already!”

“Language!”

“Lilia, it’s true! Last month Georgi was too busy crying and almost let a bank robber escape.”

Despite his compelling arguments and temper tantrums, no one listens to Yuri. The story of his life.

On a bleak January morning, two foreign gifts arrive for Yuri:

A postcard from Mila describing how amazing Yuuri Katsuki and his town are. Using a lighter, he watches it burn with deep satisfaction.

A man from Kazakhstan, flanked by a duo of pale losers, marches into Yakov’s training center, unarguably the prime superhero compound in the country.

(”In Europe,” Victor has been known to drunkenly proclaim until reminded it’s a secret, asshole)

The two men are dressed in nondescript suits, clean-cut but scuffed shoes. Bureaucrats from Russia to help the paperwork and assistant coaches.

Ugh.

The other man? He’s broad shouldered, compact but graceful as he navigates the wild superpowers and children training under Yuri’s less than watchful eye. He’s at least three centimeters shorter than Yuri yet intimidating and imposing, standing in front of a window as the gray skies outside outline his body.

Yuri is disgusted to note the man is wearing sunglasses indoors, and uses that fact to justify ignoring that his jaw is better cut than any diamond or how large his biceps appear under his leather jacket. This man stares at Yuri, like an old friend rediscovered. Yuri growls.

“Who the hell are you?” Yuri asks, hackles raised while the bureaucrats realize they’re in over their heads in assuming Lilia hasn’t been running things with brutal effectiveness since Yakov left.

It does not matter that people have been collapsing in exhaustion or crying during training. Fucking Yakov has clearly been coddling people if three weeks with Lilia has broken their spirit.

Yuri despairs of what will happen once he retires.

This city is going to wither and die.

“Otabek Altin,” the stranger replies, taking off his glasses and tucking them into a pocket. At least he didn’t put them on his head. Hesitating for a short moment, he reaches a hand out to Yuri, who decides to grasp it as firmly as possible.

Altin doesn’t even wince, handshake powerful and strong. Impressed, Yuri smirks and thinks Altin won’t be so bad.

Naturally, Yuri is right. Otabek, Beka, proves himself an indispensable revelation, a gift from Kazakhstan requested by Yakov to help out in training.

His scowl terrifies their cockier recruits but calms the students skittish when people without powers train them. Unlike countless others before him, no one questions if Otabek should be present, despite his lack of laser beams or telepathy.

Proudly, Yuri calls Mila and tells her to keep enjoying Japan, for Beka is doing a better job than any of them ever had in training and supporting him.

“How rude Yura!”

In the background of one such call, Victor is building an impromptu ice rink for Yuuri on a beach while Yakov and his beloved scream about his usage of powers.

“Do they know who Victor is?” Yuri already knows the answer to this question.

“Well. They love him regardless, and that’s all that matters to Yakov,” Mila offers brightly.

But back to Beka, wonderful, thoughtful Beka who understands what Yuri wants before he asks, patiently listens as he whines about the villains he has faced and his annoying colleagues.

Beka hums encouragingly every time he collapses against his warm shoulder during practice, allows him to nestle his chin against his collarbone.

Lilia doesn’t hate him. Clearly Beka isn’t a regular civilian but powered by miracles and effort.

Occasionally, when he stops raving about Beka to Lilia during dinner, he delicately broaches the topic of keeping him once those losers come home from vacation.

“He’s good for you,” Lilia states. He takes it as tacit approval to amp up his efforts to show off St. Petersburg.

Yakov will be overjoyed he’s found someone so capable to make up for the defects he calls teammates, Yuri decides.

It is a shame he cannot keep the Hero as well.

Nearly a month after Victor fled, Yuri breaks up a museum heist. Most of the criminals are normal, powerless, but the leader shoots plasma from a gauntlet on his hand.

Ice Tiger has successfully knocked out all but the jackass leaking liquid from his wrist, and cautiously moves around the columns at the front of the museum when jackass gets a lucky shot, and sends the columns Ice Tiger rests between into a crumbling mess.

Before Yuri can start swearing, and dodge, a man clad in all black, save for a dark blue belt, steps next to him and presses a palm against each column, steadying them. His mask spans the bridge of his nose, circling around to the back of his neck.

Yuri scampers away with, not stupid enough to hesitate or question during battle, and sends plasma jackass flying with a well placed kick to his upper chest.

He might have given him a collapsed lung, but Yuri cares more for the man standing behind him, nonplussed as he holds up tons of weight.

Once the police arrive and danger settled, Yuri impatiently drags the stranger up to the rooftop.

“Who the hell are you?”

The man blinks, but his dark costume and the pale snippets of moonlight make it impossible to determine the color of his eyes. Alarmingly, he pauses to consider his answer and Yuri wonders if debris concussed him. “Hero.” He finally settles on.

“Hero. Hero of what?” Yuri rolls his eyes in frustration.

“Hero of a far off land, where I use my strength to protect my people.”

“Why. are. you. here.” Yuri grits out between clenched teeth, frustrated he’s been saved, by the slowness of his conversation, and over the powerful upper body of this super-strength junkie. He’s shit at upperbody power, known for his lithe form and kicks. Mila regularly outlifts him.

“Yakov requested-”

“Motherfucker,” he yowls. Alley cats in the street below make noise in unison.

“Sorry for rescuing you,” Hero replies placidly.

“I had it under control!”

“Of course you did. You’re an excellent hero, but I thought it best to avoid more damage to the museum.” Yuri’s shoulders relax slightly at the sincere, admiring tone of Hero.

“Whatever. If Yakov sent you, I might as well make sure you don’t accidentally destroy my city.” For some reason, Yuri doesn’t loathe this guy, despite his nondescript costume or the assumption Yuri can’t protect the city alone.

“Thank you for your confidence,” he replies, tumbleweed dry, and Yuri muffles a laugh, oddly charmed and at ease.

“Do you normally dress like that?” Yuri can’t help but ask as he paces across the roof, preparing to jump down to a fire escape.

“No, I reserve my real costume for home.”

“Oh. Alright.” Better than nothing.

Cue a night of Hero being impeccable and charming and the best partner Yuri ever asked for

In the morning, Yuri will call Yakov and tell him how slowly the Hero aid he requested arrived but he doesn’t disapprove.

When Yakov hangs up the phone, he’ll turn to Mila and wonder if he imagined Yuri’s praise of Otabek Altin for the past week.

Mila laughs uncontrollably, once she pieces it together.

Victor is impossible to drag away, but Yakov refuses to give up, and Mila and Georgi refuse to abandon the show. Georgi might be trying to fall in love with a local girl. Yuri doesn’t want to know.

It means perfect weeks with Otabek in the day, sharing brunch. Beka takes on some of Yuri’s instructor duties (something he’s shit at anyway) so he can train with the upper level students.

Whenever possible Yuri tugs him out of the training center early, desperate to show off his city and give Beka a reason to stay.

Among the many perfect things about Otabek is his understanding of time. He never calls Yuri until the afternoon on weekends, because his week is busy with training in the day, fighting for half the evening.

He even orders “more sleep” when Yuri awakens before 1 PM on a Sunday and calls him. Beka is so thoughtful.

It means perfect weeks with Hero in the night, silent communication and a fearlessness Yuri’s never understood before. The crime rate keeps low so they explore St. Petersburg in the dark or sometimes they play, chasing each other across the rooftops or seeing how many cats Hero can carry, along with Yuri perched on his back.

Hero shares secrets more freely than Beka, the only complaint he has.

He’s waiting for someone to remember him.

His laugh is ugly when Yuri tells him no one is worth his time if they can’t remember Hero.

Yuri falls in love in the mornings, falls in love during the night.

Yuri doesn’t realize the trouble he’s in until early April, when Mila disrupts an early dinner with Beka to announce their return.

“A man held a gun to Yakov’s head and Yuuri punched him! Oh Yuri, you should have seen it. Victor’s still crying over his fiancee throwing himself into such peril for the family.”

“Did Yakov already disarm the gun with his powers?”

“Well yes, but Yuuri didn’t know that! Yakov’s charmed and helped Victor shop for a ring.”

“Wait, what?”

“Vakov approves! We’re coming home.”

A dial tone interrupts Mila’s explanation of their flight details.

Yuri has this huge night long panic as he figures out he’s in love with two people, doesn’t know what to do.

Falling in love with civilians is a death sentence. Just look at his family.

He loves Otabek far too much to put him at risk. So he lets him go.

Ultimately, he cares about Hero because he’s powerful and shares everything with Yuri. Yuri feels safer than he ever did with Mila or Victor or even Lilia who treats him like her own.

Someone needs to tell Yuri the only reason he feels this way is because part of him must realize its Otabek and only trusts him because its Otabek but god help him, he is slow and still doesn’t connect the two after over a month.

But then Yuri remembers Hero belongs to his own country, to another person. So he lets him go as well.

If a gun was put to his head, he’d pick Otabek anyway

The following few nights are awkward, as both understand there’s a countdown for Hero to leave.

On the final night, it is silent. Neither speaks as they guard the town. There is no goodbye, and Yuri feels like a failure.

The days are worse, as Yuri has the option to ask Otabek to stay because he doesn’t belong to Kazakstan the way Hero does to his country. Yuri nearly bites his own tongue off twenty times as he swallows down how badly he wants to beg Otabek not to leave.

He remembers every hero who loved and lost a civilian and refuses, even as he drives Otabek to the airport.

Otabek keeps staring at him, waiting for something he can never offer.

He departs, taking parts of Yuri with him.

Uh this is getting long and we’re at risk at me deleting this in favor of a 10k actual fic version of this so let me wrap up

Yuri sulks for weeks, is a beast to everyone

Beka returns after a month, as does Hero

(the person I’m waiting for is still here. Yuri is still clueless)

Beka’s life is at risk somehow as a civilian but separate from Yuri

Yuri realizes that danger can come regardless and commits to dating Otabek

Yuri tries to confess to Beka, but fucks up horribly, accidentally makes it seem like he’s settling for Beka because he can’t have Hero.

A lot of fucking drama, so much crying

Georgi screaming in the background about how he just left Japan, why is he dealing with this again

Eventually Yuri proves he’s wanted Beka the entire time, long drawn out love confession where he offers to leave Russia and being a superhero (what he loves most) behind if Otabek will have him

Beka is weak, so weak by love

Reveals he’s the Hero, specifically the Hero of Kazakhstan (super famous, super skilled, kick ass costume inspired by his skating uniform) and has known Yuri since they trained together as kids

Traumatic backstory where people always loved Hero, not Otabek

Yuri’s like “I love you for you, you could retire tomorrow, I still want to be here…WAIT NO YOU GOT TO RETIRE RIGHT NOW I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU HURT OH MY GOD RETIRE”

Beka eventually calms him down and they live happily ever after. They spend vacations in Kazakhstan

“Beka, do they even have villains here?”

“Beka, do they even have a training program for heroes here?”

And a lot of time in Russia, where Otabek takes on Yuri’s training duties of baby superheroes/kids with powers while Yuri scouts and fights

Victor is offended no one thanks him at their wedding for setting this entire thing in motion.

I frantically typed this out so sorry for the bad spelling and sorry again for not following the prompt. Should I make this an actual fic?

Update 1/16: Here, it’s becoming a fic.

#otayuri #oturi #otabek altin #yuri plisetsky #my writing #answering anon #anon #superhero au #batcat!au

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