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Heroes. That’s what the public called them. However, Otabek could definitely recall a movie that stressed you either died a hero, or lived long enough to see yourself become the villain. There were doubts about the longevity of this superhero gig, but he enjoyed it and was relatively good at it. He represented Kazakhstan in an international coalition of crime fighting, with his superhuman strength that had earned him the nickname The Bear. His official moniker was something significantly more dignified than that, but when the media took The Bear and ran with it, Otabek couldn’t find it in himself to be upset. And he would be lying if he didn’t have a teddy bear wearing his uniform.
The heroes in his division lived together, but Mila, the Russian martial artist and contortionist, was the only occupant in the common room when Otabek arrived for his shift after his scheduled rest days. Mila was curled in a human pretzel and practicing picking up a knife with her toes. “Don’t hurt yourself,” Otabek quipped as he hung his coat up. “Can’t, remember?” Mila shoot back, bending her neck and spine another 45 degrees to watch him. “I’m like rubber.” “You can still cut yourself,” Otabek raised his eyebrow. As if to prove his point, Mila turned back to her original task and - “Ouch, motherf-”
A few minutes, alcohol pads, and a bandage later, Mila flopped back against the couch dramatically with a sly look. “Sooo, I didn’t see you before left on rest, but what happened on that last mission?” Otabek froze. “Huh?” Mila rolled her eyes, “Oh, please. That new blonde hero, the one on Victor’s team. The one you pulled off the truck before it got hit. You probably saved him from a very early retirement.” “Oh, the news got that?” He groaned, rubbing his eyes. At least the cameras didn’t get what had happened next, or Mila would have brought that up first. The blonde, Yuri, had quite the temper, from what Otabek knew and rookies tended to be sensitive about being saved during missions. “Yep, and your “ship” name is Bearcat, in case you’re wondering,” Mila giggled.
Sand Cat, Yuri Plisetsky’s alter ego, was the youngest rookie on the Eurasian team. Otabek was already embarrassingly familiar with Yuri’s career thus far, because of a fateful encounter during a internationally mandated training camp. Kazakhstan sent their trainees to Russia due to outsourcing being more economical, so Otabek and a few other enhanced children were sent to fulfill their country’s requirements. Otabek had terrible time, all things considered. He couldn’t control his powers, he was too slow, he was behind on the benchmarks for his class. Looking back, Otabek probably would have given up right there if not for the golden glimmer of hope that was Yuri. Yuri clearly had natural talent, but Otabek also saw him practicing after hours almost the entire camp, and that quashed any jealousy that Otabek harbored for the Russian. Instead Otabek vowed to work as hard as he could to become the best hero he could be and make his country proud. Maybe one day they could meet as equals and even become friends.
Now Otabek was having second thoughts about everything leading up to this point. Yes, he saved his childhood idol, but what if Yuri hated him now? The media was merciless, if Yuri’s temper was as bad as rumored, he may not be amenable to being upstaged by the loser from training camp, and… Otabek’s thoughts started circling and he felt sick. “You feeling ok?” The leader of Otabek’s team, Georgi walked by. “Victor’s team is stopping by to formally introduce their rookie. Though you’ve already met him.” Obabek blanches. Georgi covers his eyes with the back of hand. “Maybe I will find love one day, as well.” He sighs dramatically.
As Otabek was contemplating just leaving the coalition now and calculating how fast the government would go after a rouge hero, the floor elevator bell dinged. First out of the elevator was Victor, pulling a smaller blond man behind him. Victor’s third team member and fiancé, Yuuri brought up the rear. Due to his tall stature and striking silver hair, Victor commanded the attention of the room, but Otabek felt drawn to the blonde, now standing at Yuuri’s side as if to escape Victor’s clutches. “Hello everyone!” Victor gave his signature heart shaped smile and waved to get everyone’s attention. “Please welcome Yurio to our team and to the coalition as a whole!”
Everyone clapped, but that didn’t drown out Yuri’s unmistakable growl coupled with a glare capable of killing. “My name is Yuri! Not Yurio, old man!” Victor looked at him like this was the first he’d heard of this and turned to the other Yuuri. “But his name is already Yuuri” Victor pleaded, with a pout and puppy eyes. Yuri growled again, shot Victor the finger, and stalked off to the kitchen, muttering curses ann something about a drink. “You’re underage” Victor cried cheerfully. Mila grabbed Otabek’s arm and pushed him in the kitchen door. “Here, Beka will help him. Show him around.” Otabek could have overpowered her but, damn she was fast. He was probably in shock too.
He found Yuri standing in front of the open refrigerator, all blonde hair and animal print, well, everything. He evidently really liked cats. “Uh, we have water, juice, milk, all kinds of drink mixes, if you need something specialized -…” You’re that guy who saved me.” Yuri looked him right in the eye. The only thing Otabek could manage was an undignified “yeah.” His voice cracked. Well, upgrade leaving the coalition to just jumping out a window. As Otabek struggled to say something, anything intelligible, he heard Yuri start to move away. “Wait, will you be my friend?” Otabek realized he was holding Yuri’s wrist and quickly let go. Nailed it. Otabek had never been so embarrassed, not even losing his pants on an obstacle course had been this bad.
“Yeah.” “What?” Otabek jerked his head up to blink at Yuri. He could swear he saw a bit of a smirk. “Really?” “Really.” The smile was bigger now, reaching Yuri’s green eyes. Otabek was shocked, was he dreaming? He discreetly dug his finger nail into his palm, and ouch, this wasn’t a dream. “You’re don‘t hate me for upstaging you, and then tripping and dropping you?” Otabek said, hesitating. “I won’t tell anyone” Yuri said, coyly gazing up through his eyelashes. “You’re the hero.”