Here’s another sneaky snippet from my piece for @darkhorsezine - a zine focusing on all things Otabek Altin!
I posted my first snippet here. I had lots of fun exploring various periods in Otabek’s life as he grows up, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading about him too.
Pre-orders for the Dark Horse Zine will open on 13 November 2017. Mark your calendars!
He’s fifteen, going on sixteen, when Otabek realises that he might be different.
He supposes he’s always suspected. He remembers hanging out with the other boys at the rinks in America, taking turns to smuggle in those magazines to share. They’d discuss the female models afterwards, about who had the biggest tits or the nicest ass, and whether they’d rather do the redhead with the lace bra on the cover or the blonde with the furs on page thirty-three.
Otabek had joined in, because sure, the women were all kinda hot, like the brunette posing with the motorcycle on the centre-spread. But he’d also wondered why no one had said anything about the man pictured with her, about the way his leather jacket stretched across his broad shoulders or the way his ripped jeans hugged his thighs. Otabek had stared at the man’s fingers where they curled on the woman’s hip, at the way the man had dipped his head to nuzzle at the woman’s breasts, the hint of five o’clock shadow on his square jaw, and Otabek had thought that was also kinda hot too. But he hadn’t realised what that might have meant. Not then.
Now, on the other hand – two weeks shy of his sixteenth birthday – Otabek thinks that he does. The realisation weighs uncomfortably in his gut, a heavy, thorny curl of guilt and shame.
“Hey, Otabek!” JJ calls from the rink, and oh, Otabek thinks, knows, that that’s yet another problem, right there.

Title: A Story About Summer
(Yuri on Ice | Otabek x Yuri | 900 words)
Artist: @peggyshrooms (also on Twitter)
Author: @erushi (also on Twitter)
Rating: PG-13
Summary:
Summer in Hasetsu felt different from summer in Almaty.
Otabek remarked as much to Yuri, who snorted and rolled his eyes. “Big surprise. They’re different places.”
“They feel different,” Otabek insisted stubbornly. “Hasetsu’s quieter, but there’s something else too.”
—
Or: A story in which Otabek visits Hasetsu, attends a summer festival, and falls in love - not necessarily in that order.
.Originally written for the Lover/Fighter Otayuri fanzine (July 2017)
AO3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12670878
In July, I wrote 4 fics for the Lover/Fighter Otayuri fanzine, a collaboration with the amazingly talented @peggyshrooms. Here’s the second. You may find the first here.
The monochrome version of the illustration which inspired this fic is reproduced above with Peggy’s permission. The full-colour version, and all the other illustrations that were done for this fic, are only available in the zine.
If you’re following me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I’m writing for @darkhorsezine - a zine focusing on all things Otabek Altin. :D
Mine’s an introspective piece that follows Otabek’s dreams, goals, relationships etc. as he grows up. I just submitted the final draft today, and so, in celebration, here’s a snippet:
They go to a club. Otabek blinks.
“Not expecting this?” Leo laughs.
“Can we even get in?”
“I know someone,” Leo grins, easy and bright.
That someone turns out to be the DJ. Otabek’s not sure what Leo’s told him – although he won’t be surprised if it’s something like, please, cheer my roommate up, for God’s sake; his moodiness is getting all of us down – but they manage to persuade him to allow Otabek behind the turntable. Leo fits the headphones over Otabek’s ears carefully, like a crown in a strange coronation, while the DJ guides Otabek’s fingers to the mixing console. He gestures at a dial, and Otabek turns the knob obediently. There’s a split-second of silence, during which Otabek freezes, certain that he has just screwed up.
Then, the bass drops.
Pre-orders for the Dark Horse Zine open on 13 November 2017. I’ve seen sneaks of the other contributions, and the amount of talent in the zine is amazing. 10/10 would recommend getting!
Title: This World Was Not Made for You
(Yuri on Ice | Otabek x Yuri | 3k words)
Author: @erushi (also on Twitter)
Rating: R
Summary:
“I told you to stop doing that,” Otabek glared at him reproachfully.
Yuri cocked his head. A tiny smile played at the corners of his lips. “But it’s fun to watch you jump like that.”
Otabek huffed. “And you call yourself a god,” he griped as he struggled to his feet.
“But I am a god,” Yuri replied.
—
Or: A fairytale AU In which Otabek is a Kazakh warrior who falls in love with the god of the Steppe.
This is a sequel to We Dream in Prophecy (from the Lover/Fighter Otayuri zine), but can also be read as a standalone.
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12589840
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Written for @otabek-altin-week, Day 7: Birthday | Free Day. I’m a little late, but it’s still Otabek’s birthday in California!
Happy birthday, Otabek Altin, my golden boy.