Chapter Text
Being a superhero wasn’t an easy task, Yuuri knew it all too well, the pressure of having a city, no, the whole world over you shoulders could be too much. Not everyone with powers was suited to be a real hero, like one of those who appeared on television and had comic books and movies based off them. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ someone had said, and it was nothing but the undeniable truth.
Fortunately, humanity had nothing to worry about, for the greatest hero of all times was there to save them from despair. The Great Prince of the Ice would be able to defend everyone!
Yuuri felt butterflies in his stomach whenever he got news about the Ice Prince. He bought most of the comics and collectibles of his idol he could find, well, to be honest, everything with his face on it was good enough. Every time he came back from school and his mom told him that there had been a crisis and he had appeared on the news Yuuri dashed through the inn to his sister’s computer to find any leaked information that had to do with the Prince.
The little 12 year old boy could barely keep his breathing steady, focusing all of his senses on the screen, waiting to catch a glimpse of that long silver haired man in action. The video was recorded shaky and with low-quality, probably from a passerby’s phone, so even managing to spot the hero would be reward alone.
He had to give more credit to the video though, it wasn’t all too bad considering that a giant building-sized amorphous mass of goo was attacking them. Yuuri even felt a little anxious for the people screaming in the background, normally the news silenced it to avoid panic, but he reminded himself that if something bad had happened, the video wouldn’t have been uploaded. Yuuri bit his lip waiting for the moment of appearance, it had been almost two minutes and nothing.
Not too much after he saw the lightest traces of snowflakes fall from the sky; Yuuri grinned mischievously, that was his trademark move. The horror cries transformed into cheers of joys, and even the guy holding the camera flipped out as the flurry of snow became a whole storm.
Riding what seemed more like an ocean wave, the Great Prince of the Ice gracefully walked over the air, the snow under his feet looking soft as a cloud. Yet, no one would dare to touch it, since the speed at which it moved could make a snowflake cut like a knife.
Yuuri gasped loudly, unable to contain the excitement. His racing heartbeats were becoming louder each time, how much he wished they could stop for a moment so he could dive into his imagination, and feel as if he was the one just a mile from the scene.
The camera captured the movement of a little arm in the distance, but the tornado that it caused could’ve been easily mistaken for a missile. Needless to be said, the monster couldn’t stand strike after strike against the world’s most promising rookie, who after not much after his debut, had conquered the hearts of millions around the globe.
Everyone knew that Russia was the european powerhouse when presenting the best of the heroes to the world. There were countless conservatories and independent masters, such as the one the Prince came from.
Still, even if there were another thousand heroes, no one could top the Ice Prince, at least not in Yuuri’s heart. In the past he had wished to be in danger, if only that would make him see the Prince. Then he remembered he was in another continent and that putting himself in pointless danger was an irrational thought. So he was happy looking from far away, thousands of miles and a screen away.
The video left him craving for more, the adrenaline rush he experimented was thrilling to say the least. He read the articles that were out, struggled because most of them were not in japanese, yet an online translator and his foreign language school classes came in handy.
Yuuri kept looking up for more updates of the hero world, of course, the Ice Prince was a major reason of why he was a fan, but he wasn’t the only reason. He kept scrolling on the hero tag, kept clicking every next conspiracy theory, and he felt pumped enough to rewatch some of his favorite movies.
Mari returned to her room later when he was in the final scenes of Civil War, he tried to hide his ugly sobbing but it was pointless, she knew her little brother too well. She took the laptop to the bed and snuck under the covers, telling Yuuri to come over or he would miss Bucky. They both finished the movie and continued on to the next one. Mari admired superheroes but wasn’t too into the latest gossip of their lives and times, she still loved to hear Yuuri ramble excitedly though.
Their marathon finished a couple of hours later, Yuuri understood it had to be over at a reasonable hour because his sister still had to go to high school. He went downstairs to grab something to eat, he kissed his mother goodnight and finally felt a little of his hype drain.
He yawned and relaxed his neck in the last steps of the corridor before he arrived at his room. He turned the lights on and saw one of his few Ice Prince posters smile back at him, Yuuri felt a warm comfort and thought how wonderful would it be if it that image was the real deal. He changed his clothes without any particular thought on his mind and laid on his bed.
He looked up to the ceiling, although there were no lights, moonlight slipped into his room through his curtains. Yuuri extended his arm upwards, remembering the video from earlier and the powerful blast that had saved that city.
Only in the middle of the night, without any sound to return him to reality or any witness that could betray his thoughts, Yuuri allowed himself to remember those times when he was even younger, when he gathered with a couple of kids that lived nearby and they played to be heroes. He had wished to be one of them, to have the power to save someone, to be something bigger than just himself.
Most of the people who had powers manifested when they were much younger than what Yuuri was, he saw an interview where the Prince said that he started at 7, and people were saying he was a late one.
After fruitless hours of watching tutorials and reading blogs in the past, Yuuri accepted his destiny. Still, he had to admit, only a few hours prior he was tempted to search if there was a new entry regarding the matter in the wikihow.
He sighed and put his hand down, he rolled to the side and made the thoughts vanish.
"Yuuri? Yuuri are you awake?" The distant unamused voice became louder and more real as he felt his peaceful state interrupted, Yuuri heard his older sister knock his door, which meant it was awfully early. Wasn’t it illegal to be disturbed so early during summer break? Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door and entered the room. "Your little friend has come, get changed already and go play with her."
Even if the words were meant to make him excited, Yuuri couldn't help but feel a slightly burdened; he liked Yuuko but he'd rather spent the day in his room.
Sure, almost immediately after Mari left him, he sat on the side of the bed and straightened his back, moving mostly automatized through the power of compromise and a hint of guilt. After all, Yuuko wasn't to be blamed for his bad decisions last night on continuing reading comic books for some more shameless hours.
Yuuri got ready and waved goodbye to his parents on his way outside, summer vacations had recently started, but Hasetsu was still chilly in the mornings. Yuuko was standing outside the entrance door and greeted Yuuri once he got in her eyesight. They began simple chatter as they started walking towards the usual park.
"I see you're still a night owl, vacations must be pure bliss for you since you get to sleep in for as long as you want." Said Yuuko with an innocent smile, though it hurt more that way.
"D-don't say it that way, please! I mean, it's true that I've been sleeping later than usual, but that's not it. It's just, I forgot that we were supposed to meet today, sorry..." Yuuri truly felt apologetic, after all even before yesterday's events he didn't remember that they were supposed to hang out.
"No big deal, it's not like I have anything else to do, but it would be nice if you remembered." That was when Yuuri knew she was doing this on purpose, but honestly, he kinda had it coming. "Hey, I was just teasing, now we're even."
They laughed it off if only a bit awkwardly but continued walking in a more comfortable silence. "By the way, I've been reading the issues you lent me, I love superhero stories so much! They're filled with action and adventures, I can only wish of living something like that." Yuuko punched the air in front of her to empathize her point.
Yuuri laughed softly with a bittersweet taste at his friend's statement. "Yeah, I get you. Sometimes it's kind of underwhelming living such a normal life."
"Of course!" She changed to a more serious, thoughtful tone. "Only sometimes, I have to admit, I'm glad I don't have to risk my life on a daily basis but it's nice to think in the 'what if?'."
What if...? It wasn't the first time Yuuri thought such things himself, was Yuuko also, not to call it disappointed, but melancholic thinking about her life?
Thinking like that wouldn't bring any good, once they were older they would be able to make the world a better place in other ways. They changed subjects to more trivial ones as they were approaching their destination. Yuuri suggested that they started with the swings, while they waited the sun to get higher in the sky, and also Takeshi who would join them after his morning jog.
They stayed swinging for a while, eventually, Yuuko told him that she would go over the climbing wall. Yuuri was a little too comfortable so he passed. Still, after she moved they weren't that much apart from the other, if they raised the volume of their voices a bit they could listen to the other from their respective locations.
It wasn't much after that that each teen fell into silence again, both of them deep in thought but still reassured by the company of the other.
Yuuri continued swinging aimlessly, almost in a pattern, and he looked at the sky. A cool breeze went through him and ruffled his hair. It was something uneventful but that matched his train of thought.
What would the Ice Prince do? If he was never meant to wear the mask. Would everyone still love him? Would Yuuri himself still love him?
His mind continued to overthink unnecessary things, it was becoming painful so he cleared his mind. Yuuri followed the wind direction with his eyes and scanned most of the park.
Asides from the recreation area they were in, there wasn't anything else but trees and a path. Some trees were taller than others, some wider, some thinner, but every one of them had a purpose. He looked between Yuuko and back to the trees a couple of times.
"Hey...Yuu," said Yuuri, with a voice that asked for permission, weird, because his body was already moving.
"Yuuri? Is there something…? Where are you going?" Yuuko returned to the ground and followed Yuuri away from the games.
"Have you ever climbed a tree? I just noticed that I've never tried and I was curious."
"Well, yes I have, are you sure you want to do this?” the girl raised an eyebrow at her friend’s unusual behavior. “If that's what you really want then I can teach you and try to catch it if you fall..."
"I think that'd be ok." Yuuri reached the tree and ran his fingers over the bark. Yuuko kept her word and taught him the basics of how to grip. Yuuri positioned himself in front of the tree, his friend intertwined her fingers to give him support when he was ready to climb.
He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with as much of the cool breeze as he could and accepted the push.
Yuuri went upwards, he couldn’t reach the first branch yet, so he gripped more tightly the trunk. His mind was completed blank at the moment, he was thinking with his body and absorbing as many of the nature sounds, smells and sensations he could.
He heard Yuuko say something, he was distracted and didn’t hear it, but self-conscious enough to be embarrassed to ask her to repeat her words. Maybe she said something about where to place his feet, yeah, he’d roll with that.
Once he reached the beaches it became much easier, he got on top of one and swung his feet, pulled up and repeated the progress. He looked out the distance and met the other trees’ leaves. He wondered what kind of view he would see form the top.
He continued ascending using large, live branches, Yuuko was shouting at him from below, maybe because he was going too fast? But it was better this way, he’d get up and to the ground quicker.
The trunk was getting thinner with each foothold, he could almost smell the ocean from this height. He looked sideways and saw he had passed most of the smaller trees. There was peace inside his chest, why hadn’t he tried this before? If he had done this since much younger he would’ve come to climb trees whenever he needed to vent out.
He stopped and leaned on a branch, he was at a nice height. The ninja castle and the mountains, the ocean was further away but he could still feel the salty humidity in the air. Yuuri closed his eyes and relaxed his body, letting the sensations take over him. He smiled, alone in the heights the world didn’t exist, there was no one else to worry about. Except maybe for Yuuko.
Yuuri opened his eyes and looked at the ground, he was higher than he initially thought but surprisingly he didn’t feel anxious. He got distracted by Yuuko and Takeshi, when did the later arrive? He had no idea but that wasn’t important. Slowly he returned to reality and finally heard that his friends were screaming, they looked horrified, and with their hand motions were sending messages between ‘come down immediately’ and ‘but be careful’.
Yuuri became still, he didn’t mean to make them show such desperate faces, he only wanted to enjoy himself. He decided that the best thing would be to come back down, and he did so, with the same fluid movement he used to climb up. Which apparently wasn’t something good because the teens’ expressions became worse, Takeshi became so pale Yuuri was sure he’d faint at any moment.
He tried to fix his movements but that only made the descent sturdier, it seemed to calm the other two so Yuuri tried to get used to it. With any sudden action his friends gasped with concern, which only made Yuuri more anxious and made his muscles freeze a little more.
The previous calmness had disappeared completely by now, he could only think about the faces and screams his friends had because of him. As he got closer to the floor they became quieter, but when the branch under Yuuri’s feet broke, they shrieked in a way he wished he never had to hear them.
He was falling, it felt as if his body was now like a doll, he fell backward so he now was seeing the world upside down. Yuuri didn’t have enough time to think about it before all of his force left him and his vision turned black.
A loud thud came with his landing, Yuuko and Takeshi weren’t fast enough to catch him, but they were at his side now. Yuuko held his face to her chest, Takeshi held tightly his hands, and they both started loudly crying.
Yuuri regained consciousness quickly and saw how his friends restrained his movements but he was too afraid to ask them to move.
"Guys...," they opened his eyes, still unable to control their sobbing, but now their confusion was greater than their grief.
“Yuuri?” Takeshi was the first one to snap out of his dumbfounded state. “How is it possible? That you’re still, umm…”
“That you’re still alive! What were you thinking?!” Yuuko’s concern now had transformed into fury. “I agreed to teach you how to climb a tree but I’d never have thought you would do something so reckless.” She punched him hard in the arm, but he didn’t react to the pain, she continued punching and punching. “Why don’t you flinch! I want you to realize how much it hurt to see you in free fall, I could almost feel how your neck snapped.”
“Hurt? It hurt more to see your faces full of despair,” Yuuri said nervously. “Because it actually hurt, this doesn’t hurt, nor the fall hurt.” Yuuri now was confused as well, why would anything physical hurt to begin with?
Yuuko stopped punching him. "Why don't you? You're not even swollen." She looked the ground silently, deep in thought. “Takeshi, can I punch you?”
“Wait, what?” Both of the boys looked at here, even more puzzled. “But why though?”
“I may want to try something.” Said Yuuko, nothing but seriousness displayed by her eyes.
"And you need to punch me for that." Yuuko rolled her eyes unamused at the comment. “Sure, I guess?” And so Yuuko punched his arm with the same strength, Takeshi groaned and winced slightly.
"So, did it hurt?"
"You don't say." Yuuko frowned at him, irritation starting to boil within her. "Okay, okay. A little? But yeah, it did."
“Yuuri, so you’re telling me it didn’t hurt when you fall? Nor when I punched you?” Yuuko’s mind was toying with an idea. “Did you feel it at all?”
“Well, of course I felt it but, it didn’t hurt. Was it supposed to hurt?”
“So you’ve never felt physical pain? When I pester you, you sound like you can feel it, right?” Takeshi also intervened, Yuuko elbowed his ribs for being an asshole.
“I did it because that’s how other people react, I don’t know why, though.” But he knew how physical pain felt like. “I remember once I cut my hand while trying to help my mom make dinner, there was blood and it hurt, but while my mom went for the first aid kit the wound disappeared.”
“And that was your only experience with pain?”
“I guess? I had felt it before, but after that, I grew numb out of it, I thought everyone did.”
“What? No.” Takeshi couldn’t believe Yuuri was so dumb to think like that. “No one ‘grows out of feeling pain’, not even superheroes do. They train to endure it but they still feel it.”
Yuuri opened his eyes with bewilderment. That meant that the Ice Prince felt all of the pain he was inflicted? Yuuri’s chest tightened, it hurt just to think about the suffering of his idol.
“So wait, Yuuri, you’re telling me you had superpowers all this time?” Yuuko finally reached a tempting conclusion.
“What? No. That doesn’t count as a superpower.” Yuuri was confused as to why she thought like that. Maybe yeah, he was different and couldn’t feel pain but that wasn’t a quirk.
The three of them sat under the tree’s shadow, continued to talk about the matter and how to prove or disprove if it was a real power.
They decided to go to Minako, she was just a human; but had worked before in hero academies. She used to be a famous reporter and travel all around the world, and now she was their closest and most reliable connection to that world.
Minako received the kids in her house, she still liked to work on local news and had an unused studio as her office. They presented their inquiry and she looked at the boy in question closely.
“When did you manifest for the first time?” Yuuri was confused with the question, but his friends told him she meant about when he cut his hand. Yuuri told her the story, he added more details and his inner thoughts at the moment. She listened closely with a rather unimpressed look, but she wouldn't disprove him while he was explaining.
After Yuuri finished, Minako excused herself and left the three friends, moments after she returned with a kitchen knife. “You can back out now, if this is your power then I want to prove it myself. If you’re not sure then I suggest that you leave, we will act as if this never happened and you can continue on with your life.”
Yuuri felt curiosity, he hadn’t been hurt by something so sharp since that time, but he didn’t see the problem. If their theory was correct then it would be the same as with the punches or with the fall, he extended his hand, his palm facing Minako, and nodded.
Minako held his hand, a stern look in her eyes and a hard grip on his hand. Yuuri saw the blade come closer to his hand and relaxed his body awaiting the contact. Minako first only pushed slightly on his finger and it tingled Yuuri. He did feel it, he now had proof that he could, but he wouldn’t compare it to what he felt the other time.
Minako eased her face and continued the slicing motions above his skin, each one deeper than the last, but none of them left a mark.
“Ok, I see there’s something going on here. If you let me I would like to try once more, this one may hurt worse than the others, but I promise that it will be the last.” Yuuri nodded again, it hadn’t been bad at all so he didn’t see the problem.
Those were his thoughts until a sharp pain slowly started to cut across his hand. It was a pain bigger than that other time, much stronger than anything Yuuri had ever felt. He could sense it piercing through his bones, it was so unbearable he had to scream.
Yuuko and Takeshi heard the painful screech and ran to try to get near, maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all, but Minako dared them to move a step closer.
Each second felt like hours, his knees were giving in, and once the pain stopped he collapsed on the ground. His forehead was drenched in sweat, Yuuko and Takeshi now ran to him and fell to their knees too, embracing his friend, trying to protect him from that crazy woman.
“Show me your hand.” Said Minako on her still calmed tone. Yuuri’s arm still felt limp, but he regained quickly the strength to pull it up.
There were no lacerations, no evidence of the agony he had just felt.
“I have to ask your friends to leave, you can leave too because I think you already have your answer. If you choose to stay though, I won’t let you change your mind.” Yuuko and Takeshi understood what she meant, but their bodies would not move, they didn’t want to leave Yuuri alone through this.
Yuuri sighed and slowly stood up, he reassured his friends that he would be okay. Before they left Minako told them that they couldn’t tell any of this to no one, not even Yuuri’s parents. They made the promise and bitterly left, leaving the other two in a deep thoughtful silence.
“You already should know but in case you need reassurance, yes, you do have superpowers. You can ignore them or start training to become a superhero, I will support your decision but if you decide to start, you can’t back down.” Becoming a superhero…he always had dreamt about it but now that he had a real chance he started having second thoughts.
He always had dreamt about it, but it never was anything more than a fantasy. What she was telling him was that he had a real chance? He started having second thoughts, or better said, he couldn't even grasp the idea.
Minako explained him the perks and sacrifices of the hero lifestyle and the importance of a secret identity. Yuuri heard her carefully until well passed noon, but he still couldn’t relate the information to himself.
She could see the troubled look on his face and invited him to have lunch to ease the tension. She asked him to talk about himself, about his friends and family, his goals in life, his likes and dislikes, and his passions.
Yuuri timidly started talking about his school, the most impersonal aspect of himself, and carefully continued to other topics. It was obvious that Minako was a reporter, talking to her was so soothing, she listened and made commentary, encouraged him to continue talking and discreetly asked the important questions.
Probably she didn’t expect that the inner core of Yuuri, was about the Ice Prince. In the aspect of being reluctant and more embarrassed to talk about him. He told her about his idol in tiny bits at first, but once she told her she had met him Yuuri couldn’t contain himself. Minako wasn’t as hardcore a fan as Yuuri was, but she also had that guilty pleasure of spending hours on the internet looking for information about him. Yuuri felt so jealous, and Minako took the opportunity to tell him that if he did become a superhero he would have real chances to meet him.
The single thought brought chills to Yuuri’s spine. To actually meet him?… Could he do that in the future?
Yuuri continued talking to her until almost dinner time, he waved her goodbye and assured her that he’d come to her when he had his answer. He thanked her for listening and she thanked him back for opening his heart.
Yuuri returned home with contentment, his family asked about his day but he only said he spent time with his friends. They ate dinner and Yuuri left early to his room, he was greeted by the familiar smile on his wall, and Yuuri reminisced about his day.
He laid on his bed and looked to his ceiling again, he started to entertain the idea that he had powers…
Wait. He actually had powers!
Oh no, no, no, no, what could he do with them? He could go ask Minako but if he returned it meant he was agreeing to begin the training, right?
He still was convinced his powers weren’t real powers, but he shoved the thought aside, he had all the intentions to avoid it as much as he could. Right now he had other things to worry about.
Like, he had powers? What? Why? Since back then? All this time his fantasies were meant to come true? Because yeah, he had dreamt about this but he never thought about which power he would’ve liked to have, but now that he realized, his power was just lame.
He sighed and snug under the covers because still, he could be a super, right? Maybe if only maybe he was good enough he would become a big shot and be able to get to know…him? The Ice Prince, his Ice Prince, Yuuri had a helpless idolization crush over that russian boy, but he never expected it would come true, not even now he dared to think about the possibility, but…no, he better went to sleep and think about this mess in the morning.
A week later Yuuri had his resolution, without informing anyone he returned to Minako’s office with sports clothes, she opened the door and looked at him, and couldn’t help the smirk that crept on her face.
Once inside Minako brought Yuuri to the room they had been before. “Let me introduce myself formally," she cleared her throat and began with exaggerated mannerisms. "Minako Okukawa, former international reporter, retired superhero and currently a part-time local journalist, nice to meet you.” She raised her eyebrow as Yuuri opened impressed his mouth. But he had to continue the act, so he restrained himself and straightened his back.
“Yuuri Katsuki, middle school student, part time employee in my family’s inn, and also,… a hero in training, the pleasure is mine.”
Being a superhero wasn’t an easy task, and now Yuuri was completely certain of it.
He was lying on his hotel bed, his body full of energy but mentally exhausted, as usual. He didn’t remember how Japan could be so troublesome; before Minako sent him to an official master in Detroit he spent his late teens as a normal defender. He wasn’t a big hero, he just saved people from fires or trains, he jumped off buildings with the necessary dashing smile that reassured everyone.
People thought he was invincible, that he felt no pain, and got no injuries. The later was truth but early in his adolescence he discovered he only had more resistance to normal pain than the rest of the humans, as Minako was sure to teach him, but that alone wasn’t special, any hero had that. His ‘power’ was only that his body didn’t get damaged, but the hurt sometimes became psychologically unbearable.
It was easier in Detroit, for a reason in America there were a lot of heroes, almost one per corner, most were more experienced and more powerful, so Yuuri was happy doing his community service climbing trees to save cats and helping old people cross the street. He was also good dealing with robberies, but the sensation that bullets left was weird and uncomfortable.
Now back in Japan, it was something completely different. He had returned after his training had ended and decided to cut ties with his master Ciao-Ciao; he thought about leaving the business but Minako immediately dismissed the idea. She went on and on about how he was too young to act that way, that he was a valuable force to maintain the order in society. Yuuri also thought about that, he was becoming more relevant but after what happened in the congress, realization hit him like a bucket of ice water, he could save the people but he wouldn’t be able to defeat anyone.
So, he returned to his home country, he convinced himself that the best would be to keep doing patrols on the big cities and aid as many people as he could. He didn't complain much, he had been in the same room as his childhood idol, who he had to admit, was way more majestic in person; and had met other superheroes who became his friends. He still had contact with his former roommate, if only texting him with his superhero line, because secret identities were a thing.
And now, his problem was that even if Japan had old heroes and promising rookies, for some reason Katsuman was their preferred option. He had only returned to the country a week prior, he only spent a couple of days in his hometown and now was staying at hotels doing the usual superhero deeds. That were not usual at all, and honestly? were exhausting.
Yuuri stopped his self-pity and changed out of his suit, he piled the black spandex in the corner and returned to the bed to finally get some rest.