Summary: "Where have you been all my life?" is a difficult question to answer. You've been lots of places. Home, school, home, that week you spent drunk in Houston because your flight was canceled due to bad weather. Spain, one time.

What the person means to say is, obviously, "I wish we'd met as children. I wish we'd met in high school. I wish we'd met yesterday. Every memory I have would be brighter if you were in it."


As busy as Yuuri is, he still has responsibilities in his civilian life. One of these comes in the form of a phone call from a local restaurant, where Minako has apparently been stood up. She's chosen to mourn this fact, the proprietor tells him, by getting very drunk and making a public spectacle of herself.

Yuuri asks the man, as he's zipping up his jacket over his Eros uniform in a nearby alley, how exactly he got this number.

"All the restaurants and bars have your number," the proprietor explains, sounding distracted. Yuuri can hear loud singing in the background. "You're the only one she listens to when she's like this. Ma'am, that won't support your-"

The call cuts out.

Sighing, Yuuri pockets his phone and jogs the rest of the way to the restaurant's front door.

It takes some considerable time for Yuuri to extricate Minako from the restaurant, in no small part because she tries to take one of the lamps with her while insisting that it's her date.

"No it isn't," Yuuri tells her, gentle but firm. "You can't date something that plugs into the wall."

Minako just laughs the way she does when Yuuri is missing a particularly filthy joke.


An hour later she's in bed and snoring loud enough that Yuuri is convinced he can still hear it three blocks away. He glances around for an alley to change in, but instead catches a glimpse of gold braid in the moonlight.

"Snowcap?" he calls, and the hero turns to blink down at him. Then a bright smile spreads across his face and he drops to the street.

"Yuuri," he says warmly. "It's been a while."

"Well, you've been busy."

"You too. What are you doing out this late?"

Yuuri lets out a huff of breath. "A friend of mine went on a bender. Apparently the whole neighborhood has my number, so the manager called me to come pick her up."

Snowcap whistles long and low. "The locals called on you to rescue a damsel in distress? And you say you're not a hero."

"The restaurant was in more distress than she was."

Snowcap laughs, and Yuuri finds himself watching the elegant lines of his face. It's a relief to see him laugh again. For a while after Polecat's kidnapping, Yuuri worried that Snowcap's smile was gone for good.

"Headed home?"

The words snap Yuuri out of his reverie. He should say yes, he thinks. Slip away and change, join Snowcap on patrol. But he hasn't spoken to Snowcap as Yuuri in so long…

Which is a stupid thought, because he spoke to him as Eros just yesterday. Still, it's different somehow. Like only feeding half of his body, or breathing with one lung.

"Not yet," he decides. "Thought I'd take a walk by the beach. The moon is full, after all."

Snowcap glances up as though he's only just noticed. "Oh! So it is." His eyes flicker over to Yuuri. "…Mind if I join you?"

Yuuri shakes his head, smiling. They stroll in comfortable silence between darkened buildings and along once-crowded thoroughfares, until the reflection of the moon on the sea blooms in front of them like a white rose. Yuuri hears Snowcap's breath catch at the sight.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

"Beautiful."

The tide is too high to walk on the beach, but the boardwalk is bathed invitingly in moonlight. They meander along it until they find a bench, chatting about nothing in particular.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I told him taking a selfie with your mugger probably wasn't the best plan, but he insists that if the guy hadn't stolen his phone afterward it would've been his most popular picture ever."

Snowcap laughs again, and it feels like a gift. "Wow! Your friends all sound so interesting."

"They are," Yuuri answers easily. "Professional figure skating selfie-enthusiasts, lush ballet instructors. And superheroes." He tosses a little smile in Snowcap's direction.

"Me?" Snowcap waves his hand dismissively. "I'm not that interesting."

"You're a crime-fighting Russian ice wizard," Yuuri tells him flatly. "That counts as interesting."

Snowcap shrugs, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well, when you say it like that." This time the laugh sounds brittle, and Yuuri realizes suddenly just how little Snowcap really thinks of his own good work.

It's easy to miss. When he's dressed as Eros, Snowcap is always bragging-putting on the peacock act for laughs-but there's no such pretension now. It occurs to Yuuri that he's spent so much time watching Snowcap glance at himself in every mirrored surface he passes that he's never stopped to think about what he sees when he looks at them.

"...Snowcap?"

The hero glances up. "Hm?"

"You know I think you're amazing, right?"

A flush colors Snowcap's cheeks, and the moonlight catches the blue of his eyes, and his breath curls out like smoke in the cold night air…

Maybe Yuuri leans up to kiss Snowcap. Maybe Snowcap leans down to kiss Yuuri. Neither of them is precisely certain afterward. The only thing they can both be sure of is that it's soft, and gentle, and sweet. Warm. And it lasts only a moment, but feels like a lifetime.

Which, they both think wistfully, isn't nearly long enough.


YK: Yuri, are you awake?

YP: i am now

YK: I need your advice.

YP: what the fuck did you do


VN: Are you up?

YP: don't say it

VN: Something kind of.

VN: Happened.

It takes Yuri a while to answer, but after a few deep breaths he stands up. Walks across the room. Picks up his phone. Critically examines the chipped paint where it hit the wall a moment before.

No cracks on the screen, he thinks. I've gotta thank gramps for this phone case.

YP: no shit


A/N: I've decided to go back and add the Ao3 summaries to the top of each chapter, because a few commenters there said it added to the experience. I hope it will do the same for yours! While I get my mad document-editing on, please enjoy this latest development between our lovely heroes.

I'm incredibly excited to announce that Danesincry, one of my Ao3 reviewers, has written a companion piece for this fic! You can find it here (just remove the spaces and replace the dot with a period): archiveofourown dot works / 9417287 /chapters/ 21317198

Makayla: Neither can I, to be honest!

ColorMeAya: It actually only takes me maybe an hour to type these up, so don't worry! I have plenty of time for sleep and work and fighting my housemates for food in a feral Hunger Games-style gladiatorial match.

Sea and Chaos: I would be thrilled beyond words to read your work if you decide to write it! And yeah, I'm still working that part out. Don't worry, I'll come up with something!

Diminuendo To A Crescendo: Nonono, it wasn't creepy at all! I love enthusiastic reviews, because they show me exactly how the reader felt when they finished reading. And if that feeling is excitement and joy, I know I'm doing my job!

Unconscious Again: Haha, I do try to keep those update alerts coming! As for the other skaters, most of them won't be showing up in this fic. If there's interest I'm hoping to do a little companion series, with a oneshot for each of them in their superhero lives.