Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Triss was sitting in a dark room lit only by the blue light from the television; the news was on and the anchorman was babbling about some stupid charity event that Triss had no interest in. The coffee table in front of her was covered in newspaper clippings and magazine cut outs that she’d been digging through to hang onto her wall. She had just finished cutting something out when the story on the news changed.

“-this morning police found the body of defense attorney Desmond Kent, who had been reported missing earlier this week. He was found outside of his law firm in West Silver and fowl play has been suspected. Sternbild PD has not released any details in the case, but they are opening a criminal investigation.”

A small smile spread across Triss’ face and she got up from the couch to walk over to the wall. A cork board hung there with dozens of articles pinned to it, and photos of three different people were pinned right in the middle; the first two photos were crossed off with red X’s. She uncapped a red pen with her teeth and aggressively scribbled an X onto the third photo, a photo of Desmond Kent. She glanced over her board and recapped her pen before dropping it back onto the table. She then picked up the new picture she had cut out moments before and turned back to the wall. She violently stabbed a pin into it to stick it to the board and she stared it down with her brows knitted close together.

“Be seeing you soon, Wild Tiger.”

“Come on, Bunny, please?!”

“I already told you, Kotetsu, I can’t.” Barnaby said, not looking away from his laptop. “I’m going to the orphanage today.”

“Buy whyyy? Can’t you go another day?”

“Did you forget already, Old Man? It’s Ryo’s birthday today and I wanted to surprise him.”

Kotetsu pushed Barnaby’s laptop screen down a little in order to glare at him. “No, I did not forget, I just didn’t know that was today.”

Barnaby glared back before pushing the screen back up and continued with typing up his email. “I already talked to Mr. Lloyds about it, and he was fine with me taking the day off as long as I come back in case of an emergency.”

Kotetsu groaned, slammed his elbows on the table, and rested his face on his knuckles, causing his cheeks to squish up against them. “You’re really gonna make me do this thing by myself?”

Barnaby glanced over and let out a small chuckle at the stupid look on Kotetsu’s face. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Kotetsu pouted. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were doing this on purpose.” Kotetsu’s phone went off and he looked over to it vibrating on the table before turning his face away to ignore it.

“You gonna get that?”

“No, because it’s probably Mr. Lloyds and I don’t wanna go.”

“Oh come on, it’s not going to be that bad.”

“Eh, speak for yourself.” He finally reached over to answer his phone. “Hello? Yeah, I’ll be right over.” He frowned cartoonishly before hanging up the phone. “I guess I’ll see ya later, Bunny.”

“Have fun.” Barnaby teased.

“Ah, shut up.” He slowly made his way out of the break room, waving sheepishly as he left. Barnaby couldn’t help but smile at his frustration; he was always so adorable when he pouted like that. He quickly shook the thought away and went back to typing on his laptop once Kotetsu was out of the room.

“What was that about?” Sky High asked as he walked into the break room with a towel around his shoulders.

“Oh, that? It’s just this swimsuit photoshoot Mr. Lloyds scheduled for us today. I can’t make it and Kotetsu’s mad because he has to do it alone.”

“What’s so bad about that? You two have done swimsuit ads before, haven’t you?”

“Well…this one is a little different.”

“How so?”

“First of all, the swim suits they’re having us wear are…” Barnaby cringed at the thought, “…tiger and bunny themed. And then the director of the shoot was going to rig us up on this contraption in front of a green screen…”

“Oh wow, that sounds…extensive.”

“Yeah…” Barnaby laughed awkwardly. “I wasn’t really looking forward to it either, but thankfully I found a pretty good excuse not to go…unfortunately for Kotetsu.” Sky High raised a brow at Barnaby. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“No worries there, my friend! I’ll keep it to the grave!” Sky High said in his usual theatric voice.

“Thanks.” Barnaby finished typing up his email and then noticed the time. “Ah, I should probably get to the orphanage.” He gathered his bag from under the table before closing his laptop and placing it inside. “See you later, Sky High.”

“Say hello to those kids for me!”

“Will do.”

“Barnaby!!” Barnaby was rushed by a stampede of children that nearly tackled him to the ground as they all came running to hug him.

“Now, now. Don’t crowd the poor man, he has only just arrived.”

“Sorry, Mother Bernadette.” They all said.

“What are you doing here?!” Marco asked excitedly.

“Well, I’m here for the party, of course!” He turned to look at Ryo and smiled before he pulled a wrapped package out of his bag. “Happy Birthday, Ryo!”

“Wow! You didn’t have to get me anything. I’m just happy you came to hang out with us!”

Barnaby shook his head with a smile. “But I wanted to.”

Ryo looked up at Mother Bernadette with a hopeful and excited expression. “Can I open it?”

“Of course you can. It’s your birthday, after all.”

Ryo smiled widely and tore into the package to reveal a small remote control car; his eyes lit up. “This is so cool! Thank you so much, Barnaby!”

“You’re very welcome, Ryo. I do hope you’ll enjoy it.”

“Woah, so awesome!” Nia said. “You’ll let us all have a turn, won’t you?”

“Of course!” Ryo smiled.

The kids all gathered around Ryo’s wheelchair as he opened the plastic box to get the car out give it a test run.

Mother Bernadette walked over to Barnaby. “You didn’t have to come, I’m sure you’re very busy.”

“It was no problem at all, Mother Bernadette.”

“I really am happy you did, though, it’s a very special day. We have a very special birthday surprise for Ryo.”

“Oh?” Barnaby cocked his head to the side. “What is it?”

Mother Bernadette smiled and clapped her hands together. “You’ll see, they should be here any minute!”

Barnaby wasn’t sure what she meant by “they”, but shrugged and watched the kids play with Ryo’s new car. He was relieved Ryo liked it because he wasn’t even really sure what to get him, but Kotetsu had suggested the remote control car might make a great gift for him since he had limited mobility in the wheelchair. Barnaby smiled at the thought; Kotetsu could be an idiot sometimes, but he had been known to be brilliant once in a while. He wondered how Kotetsu was doing at the photoshoot and couldn’t help but laugh to himself as he imagined him wearing a horrible tiger-inspired swimsuit.

“Oh, Ryo!” came Mother Bernadette’s voice from the other room. “Look who’s here to see you!” She came into the room followed by what looked to be a married couple.

Ryo immediately stopped playing with his car and glanced over. “Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez! What are you doing here?”

The two walked over to him, looking like they were hiding a gift behind their backs. “We heard it was your birthday and wanted to stop by and give you this.” Mrs. Rodriguez smiled and presented him with the gift.

“Really? You got me a gift?!” He took the present with slight hesitation but started to open it excitedly once they gave him the okay. Barnaby walked over to get a closer look at the opened package; it was a bright green knitted beanie with “Ryo Rodriguez” embroidered onto it. Ryo stared at it in confusion for a moment before he gasped and looked up at the couple with teary eyes. “You’re adopting me?!”

Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez were now also teary-eyed and they nodded happily. “Yes! We finally got all the paperwork sorted out and we were hoping that after your party with your friends, we could take you home today.” Mr. Rodriguez said through a choked voice.

Ryo, now full on crying, looked to the others like he was going to ask them if that was okay. They all started hugging him in response.

“Ryo, that’s amazing!” Jordan said, throwing his arms into the air triumphantly.

“We’re so happy for you!” Hei-Ran cried, still hugging him.

“Don’t forget about us, okay?!” Oliver said shyly.

“I could never!” Ryo barely said through his tears.

Barnaby put a hand up to his mouth and smiled widely. Never would he have guessed that Ryo’s surprise was to get adopted, and he was just so happy for the boy he could have easily joined in on all that crying. Everyone had finished hugging Ryo and he turned to Barnaby for a hug as well, which Barnaby happily gave to him.

Ryo looked up at Barnaby with hopeful eyes. “You’ll still come and visit me, won’t you?”

“Of course, as long as it’s alright with your new parents.” He looked over to them with a smile.

“Yes of course you can, Mr. Brooks!” Mrs. Rodriguez beamed, looking very star struck. “Please come over any time!”

Ryo turned to his parents after finishing his hug with Barnaby. “Mr. and Mrs…um, I mean…Mom and Dad? Can we go pack my stuff?”

“Sure, but don’t you want to eat your cake first?” Mr. Rodriguez asked.

“Yeah, but I’m so excited I just wanna get all my stuff together!”

The two smiled and nodded to Ryo and he excitedly started wheeling himself down the hall and into his room, his two new parents not far behind him.

Barnaby walked back over to Mother Bernadette. “What an unforgettable birthday gift. They seem like a really nice couple, I’m sure Ryo will be very happy.”

 “I’m sure he will, though I will miss him dearly; but I suppose that is a good thing. I would rather they all have families to go to so I can miss them.”

“Yeah, it is really such a great gift for kids like them. I really wish more people weren’t so against adoption.”

“Would you ever want to adopt any kids, Barnaby?”

“Ah, me?” Barnaby was surprised by the question. “I haven’t really given it much thought, but I suppose if I were to have kids, I’d want to adopt.” He suddenly thought about Kaede and how little Kotetsu got to see her because of his job, and he frowned. “But with how busy I am as a hero, I wouldn’t get to see them as often as I’d want. Plus, I live alone and that could complicate things.”

“Then why don’t you just get married?!” Nia spouted out of nowhere, having apparently overheard.

“Yeah, that way you won’t have to be alone.” Marco added; the rest of the orphans walked over to join in as well.

“I uh…I don’t really think that will be happening any time soon.” Barnaby responded wistfully.

“What? Why not?!” Nia frowned.

“Well,” Barnaby’s mind wandered to an image of Kotetsu smiling at him and it made his heart flip. “I suppose I’m holding out for someone in particular.”

“Then why not ask that person to marry you?” Marco suggested, as if it were the obvious solution.

“Yeah!” Peter agreed.

“Well, I just…” He looked away sadly. “I don’t think they would want to.”

“Why not?!” Jordan asked.

“Yeah, why not?! You’re super nice and…and super pretty! Anyone would be very lucky to have you as their husband!” Hei-Ran said with a small smile.

“That’s very nice of you to say, but I just don’t think they return my feelings, is all.”

Marco quirked his mouth to the side in disapproval. “Have you even asked them yet?”

Barnaby waved his hands in front of him. “No, of course not.”

“Then how will you know if you don’t try?!” Jordan asked, moving his arms around dramatically.

Barnaby sighed. “It’s not that simple…”

“Yes it is!” Lucy suddenly spoke up, crossing her arms. “You just walk right up to them and say that you like them and that you wanna marry them!”

“Now, now,” Mother Bernadette interrupted. “Stop pestering Barnaby.”

“Sorry…” All the kids said together.

“No, it’s fine…really.” Barnaby smiled, but it didn’t feel very genuine to him. His mood suddenly changed and he was starting to feel a bit dejected. Which was unfortunate because he just wanted to enjoy the party, but now he couldn’t stop thinking about Kotetsu. He knew the kids meant well, but they were also kids and didn’t understand the complexity of such things yet. There was just no way Barnaby could tell him his feelings, the high possibility of rejection loomed over his head and it scared him. He cared too much about Kotetsu’s friendship to go ruining it with a love confession.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ryo returned from packing and Mother Barnadette got the candles on his cake all lit and everyone started to sing happy birthday to him. Once Ryo got the first slice, everyone started to pass them out and Nia came over with two slices and handed them both to Barnaby.

Barnaby gave a confused smile. “Why did you get me two?” 

“You can bring one to that person you like! Everyone loves cake, so I’m sure they’ll enjoy it. Then you’ll have them all sweetened up and you can tell them you like them!”

Barnaby’s eyes softened and he took both cakes. “Thank you, Nia.”

Nia smiled and ran off to get her own slice and Barnaby sighed as he placed his second slice on the table. Kids really did have such a positive outlook on things and he found it quite admirable. If only things were that simple then Barnaby might have told Kotetsu his feelings a long time ago.

Barnaby ate his cake, which was a delicious double chocolate cake with bright green frosting, and he checked his phone for the time and noticed he had some missed texts from Kotetsu. He quickly opened his messages, kind of worried that Kotetsu was in trouble.

“Uugh this is the worst photoshoot ever please take me awayyyyy”

“You will not believe how ugly these swimsuits are Bunny omg you’re so lucky you got out of this one”

“They said we were almost done 45 mins ago will this ever end?!”

“This director is a real chatter box jeez no wonder it’s taking so damn long”

“Hope you’re having a good time at least idk when I’ll be out of here”

Barnaby let out a breath of relief, it was just Kotetsu being his usual dorky self. Ever since they both got reinstated to the first league, Kotetsu had been texting Barnaby a lot more often. He had no idea what brought that on, but he didn’t complain. Well, except when the old man would text him drunken nonsense in the middle of the night, but it still made him happy nonetheless. Especially since Kotetsu never really expected him to respond all the time, he just seemed to send them just to send them.

“Almost done with the party, I’ll tell you more about it later. And I have a slice of birthday cake for you.” He typed up really quick before he noticed the time and figured it was getting a bit late. He wrapped his extra slice of cake up in some foil and then said goodbye to all the kids. Ryo hugged him extra-long because neither had any idea when they would meet again. He thanked him again for the gift and then ran off to hug all his friends. Barnaby waved as he got into his car and placed the cake on the passenger seat, hoping it didn’t fly off at some point during the trip and get bright green frosting all over his clean upholstery.

It didn’t take him long to get back to Justice Tower and he seemed to space out in the elevator because he stood there for a few minutes before he realized he had gotten to his floor already. He walked into the break room and plopped down on a chair, setting the cake on the table in front of him. He sat there and stared at it for a while, thinking of what Nia said again. Kotetsu did love free food, but it would take more than that to win him over, if Barnaby could even win him over at all.

“You okay there, Handsome?”

Barnaby hadn’t even noticed that Fire Emblem walked into the room. “Ah, what?”

“You just had a very distressed look on your face, that’s all.”

“Oh...no I’m fine. I just have a lot on my mind.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No, I’m okay. Thanks, though.”

“If you say so.” They turned to walk away.

Barnaby’s brows knit together in frustration. If there was anyone to ask about something like this, it would be Fire Emblem. “Actually, Fire Emblem?”

“Hmm?” They turned back around and walked over.

“Hypothetically speaking…what would you do if you had feelings for someone but didn’t really know what to do about it?”

Fire Emblem looked slightly taken aback by the question, but they put their fingers to their chin in thought. “Well, first off, I would tell that person my feelings.”

Barnaby frowned slightly. He knew that’s what the answer would be, but it wasn’t really the answer he wanted. “But…wouldn’t you be afraid of rejection?”

“Well I suppose that is a factor, but for me, the regret of not taking action far surpasses the fear of rejection. You just won’t know until you try.” Barnaby’s eyes widened slightly because that was the same exact thing the kids had told him earlier today. “You should just be honest with them. Hypothetically speaking…” Fire Emblem gave a knowing smile before walking away to get a water bottle from their bag and then leaving the break room.

Barnaby closed his eyes tightly and exhaled harshly. So was this how it was going to be? He had two choices, tell Kotetsu or don’t tell him, but he didn’t want to do either. Why did this have to be so difficult? He knew Kotetsu wouldn’t judge him, but he still couldn’t stand the thought of his feelings not being requited and possibly making things awkward between the two of them.

“Woah, Bunny. What’s up?” Barnaby’s eyes shot open to find Kotetsu in the doorway. “You looked really stressed out, you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Just thinking.” Kotetsu sat down across from him. “So, how was rest of the shoot?”

“Ugh, horrible. The thing they strapped me up in was so uncomfortable, I think I’m gonna have marks on my thighs for a week.”

Barnaby laughed, trying to push the thought of Kotetsu’s thighs out of his mind. “That bad?”

“Yeah, you’re so lucky you weren’t there, but I guess I’m kinda glad you weren’t. That would have been so embarrassing.”

“You do know they’re going to publish those pictures in a magazine, right?”

“Yeah, but you won’t go lookin’ for those, will you?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. Seems like the perfect place to look if I wanted to get a good laugh.”

Kotetsu glared at him, but his eyes wandered over to the side and then lit up. “Oh! Is that the cake you promised me?”

“Oh, yeah. Here.” He slid it across the table and Kotetsu leapt up to get a plastic fork out of the cabinet. He took off the foil and made a dissatisfied face at the cake. “It tastes a lot better than it looks, I swear.”

“I’m sure it does, the bright green frosting just threw me for a second.”

“I think it’s Ryo’s favorite color. Just like you.”

Kotetsu started digging into the cake. “Mmm, delicious! So, how was the party?”

“It was nice. Ryo really loved the gift, so thanks for the idea. It was actually kind of brilliant.”

“It’s been known to happen.” Kotetsu said with his mouth full.

“Oh, and Ryo got adopted!”

“Say what?!”

“Yeah, it was a huge surprise! The couple who adopted him brought him a hat with his name and their last name embroidered on it. It was a really sweet and emotional day.”

“Wow, best birthday ever! Don’t know how a little toy car could top that.”

“Well at least he opened that gift beforehand.”

Kotetsu smiled and finished up the last bite of cake. He balled up the paper plate and threw it into the trash can, almost missing it, but it fortunately made it in. Kotetsu looked pleased with the cake and Barnaby thought back to what Nia said again, about “sweetening up” the person before confessing.

Barnaby clenched his fists, gulped, and could not believe he was actually going to try this. “Hey, Kotetsu?”

“What’s up?”

Barnaby stared at Kotetsu’s face a moment before he sighed and looked away. He just couldn’t do it, not yet anyway. It just didn’t seem like the right moment. “Sorry for ditching you today.” He settled for instead. Hopefully Kotetsu didn’t notice anything strange about his tone.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. You said you’d make it up to me, right?”

Barnaby scoffed playfully. “Yeah, what do you think I brought the cake for?”

“Really? That’s the best you could come up with? A crappy piece of birthday cake?”

Barnaby raised his brow. “Didn’t you just say it was delicious?”

“Well…anything is delicious when you’re starving, I haven’t eaten much today!”

“Fine, what do you want then?”

“I can’t just tell you that, you gotta be creative!”

Barnaby groaned and rolled his eyes. “If you give me creative control, then there’s no telling what crazy thing I’ll come up with, you know.”

“Eh, I’m not worried about that. I trust you’ll come up with something nice.” Kotetsu’s phone went off again. “Oh, it’s Kaede!” He answered it. “Hey, Kaede, what’s going on?”

“Nothing much, just wanted to see how that silly photoshoot went today.”

“Huh? How did you know about that?” Kotetsu glared at Barnaby while Barnaby looked away and sank down into his chair a little. “Barnabyyyyy.” Kotetsu grumbled.

“Hm? I don’t know what you’re talking about…” He said, trying not to smile; now days, Kotetsu tended to only call him that when he was mad or being really serious. If he told his past self from three years ago that he’d start to actually like the nickname Bunny, he would have not believed it.

“Well it went…bad, thanks for asking.” Kotetsu laughed. “Unfortunately Bunny didn’t get to suffer with me, though, the jerk.”

“Hey, I heard that!”

Kotetsu turned the phone around to face Barnaby so that Kaede could see him. “See that, Kaede? That’s the face of a jerk who ditches his partner to go to a birthday party!”

Kaede gasped over-dramatically. “Barnaby! How uncharacteristic of you!”

“A birthday party for an orphan, I might add. Does that really sound like a jerk to you?”

“Hmm, well if it was a party for an orphan then I guess I can forgive you.” She smiled, and Kotetsu turned the phone back around and they continued to talk for a while.

Barnaby watched Kotetsu talk and smiled softly at him, something he noticed he did a lot more often lately. Mostly when Kotetsu wasn’t looking, of course. Barnaby also seemed to be getting along with Kaede really well now too. They didn’t really talk all that much, but sometimes they got a conversation going when she called Kotetsu and he couldn’t answer right away and needed Barnaby to answer instead.

He suddenly wondered what she would think if she knew about his feelings for her dad. He’d like to hope she’d be okay with it since she was his biggest fan, but he had a nagging fear in the back of his mind that she’d be upset that he was replacing her mom or something. Barnaby shook the thought away. Right, even if things actually ever got that far. He hadn’t even been honest with Kotetsu about his feelings, he was just getting way too ahead of himself.

“Bunny?”

Kotetsu’s voice snapped Barnaby out of his thoughts again. “Huh?”

“Uh, Kaede just wanted to say goodbye.” He turned the phone around again.

“Oh.” Barnaby smiled and waved at the phone. “Bye, Kaede! Have a good night!”

“Talk to you later, Barnaby!” She smiled back and the screen went black. Kotetsu put his phone in his pocket and gave Barnaby a worried look.

“What?”

“You sure are spacey today, everything all right?”

“Yeah, I guess I’m just a bit tired.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that birthday party was very exhausting.”

Barnaby rolled his eyes. “I did wake up early to train this morning before that, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kotetsu stood up, raised his arms over his head, and stretched. Barnaby tried to make it a habit not to stare, but he indulged a little bit this time. It was almost a shame Kotetsu always kept his shirt tucked in. “Well, that shoot wore me out, so I’m gonna head home for the night.” Barnaby frowned a bit, not wanting him to go yet, but he tried not to make it too obvious. Kotetsu headed out of the door. “See you tomorrow, Bunny!”

“Goodnight.”

“Oh!” He ran back to the doorway. “And don’t forget…something creative!”

“Ugh. Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow, Old Man.”

Kotetsu grinned stupidly before finally leaving the room again.

“Something creative, huh?” Barnaby thought out loud. What the hell was he even going to do? It really shouldn’t be too hard to come up with something because Kotetsu was generally pretty easy to please. He could just take the easy way out and treat him to drinks or something, but that would have seemed like he didn’t put any effort in…and it definitely wasn’t very creative at all. Plus, he sort of wanted to do something nice for him for a change. Not just because of the photoshoot, but because he wanted to make sure Kotetsu was feeling appreciated.

Ever since the incident with Mark Schneider, Kotetsu had been having problems with his self-esteem. He never outwardly said it, but Barnaby could tell. Even after being completely reinstated to the first league as partners again, even with his popularity as a hero going up, Kotetsu still seemed a bit hesitant, like he somehow thought he didn’t belong. Sometimes Barnaby wished Kotetsu knew just how much the citizens of Sternbild loved him, how much Barnaby loved him.

Barnaby mentally kicked himself. “Well, of course he’ll never know that if you don’t tell him, you idiot.” He took his glasses off and put his fingers to his temples to rub them. One of Kotetsu’s main flaws was that he was really bad about telling people his feelings, and that was starting to rub off on Barnaby. He really did just need to be honest but, damnit, why did this have to be so difficult? If Kotetsu wasn’t so dense, Barnaby might have been able to just send him signals, flirt a little more, but there was no way he’d catch on to that. Blue Rose flirted with him constantly, and he never noticed; though Barnaby was a little thankful for that. No, he’d actually have to tell him outright or else it would just go right over his head.

He couldn’t believe he was actually considering this, just this morning the very idea of confessing scared him and all of a sudden he almost went and did it? In the damn break room of all places? He groaned harshly, how did he manage get so off track from his original thought? Now he’d have to come up with something “creative” and try to figure out a confession. He dropped his head onto the table and took a deep breath. He’d never get anywhere if he kept stressing out like this.

He sat there like that for a moment and then popped his head up. What if he combined the two somehow? What if he did something for Kotetsu, and then confessed afterwards? He put his fingers to his chin in thought. But how? Make like…a date out of it or something? Great, that was an area Barnaby definitely had no experience in. He hadn’t been on a date since his days at the Hero Academy, if that cold even count as a date, anyway.

“Hmm, maybe…” He put his glasses back on and decided to leave the break room. He wandered out into the gym area and was relieved to see that everyone else was gone, but Fire Emblem hadn’t left yet. He took a deep breath and walked over. “Hey uh…Fire Emblem?”

“What is it, honey?” They said while in the middle of stretching.

“I uh…I have something to ask…”

Fire Emblem stopped stretching and gave Barnaby their full attention. “Ohh?”

“What would you do to uh…plan a romantic evening with someone?”

Fire Emblem gasped and slowly brought a hand up to their face. “Oh my god, are you…asking me for dating advice?!”

“I uh…”

“He’s what now?”

Barnaby jumped at the voice and turned to see that Blue Rose had appeared. Great, just the person he wanted to know about his love life.

“He’s actually asking me for dating advice! Oh, I am so excited! All these years I’ve known you, I don’t think I have ever seen you go on a date before!”

“Uh…” Barnaby rubbed the back of his neck. “Because I haven’t…ever.”

“Really?” Blue Rose said with a light scoff. “The Barnaby Brooks Jr. has never been on a date?”

“I find that hard to believe!” Fire Emblem said.

Barnaby was starting to feel embarrassed now. “What’s so hard to believe about it?”

“Well, you’re just so handsome and charming! I’m honestly surprised no one has snatched you up yet.” Fire Emblem laughed, but then gave a cheeky smile. “So, I guess that hypothetical situation wasn’t so hypothetical after all?”

Barnaby had to stop himself from groaning. “Yeah, yeah. Do you have any advice or not?”

“Oh, I’ve got loads! You have definitely come to the right place! So, was there anything you had in mind at all?”

“I’m not really sure. I just wanted something romantic with maybe…something to also show my appreciation? If that makes any sense.”

“Ooh, well romantic lighting is always a must! Romantic music too! How about a candle lit dinner?”

“Ugh,” Barnaby groaned. “That is so cliché.”

“Yes, but that’s because it’s simple and effective!”

“And if you wanted to show your appreciation, why not a home-cooked meal?” Blue Rose chimed in.

“Huh?” Barnaby hadn’t expected her to give advice as well.

“Well, I know I would feel appreciated if someone I liked made the effort to cook me something. It really shows that you care and it comes from the heart.”

“Wow, that’s…actually not a bad idea, Blue Rose. Thank you.” Blue Rose gave a smile yet an annoyed pout at the same time. “Now that you mention it, there’s a dish I’ve been wanting to make for him for a while now.”

Fire Emblem clapped their hands together excitedly. “What a fantastic idea, I’m so—” They stopped mid-sentence.

“Wait…” Blue Rose added. She and Fire Emblem looked at each other and then gasped.

“HIM?!” They both said at the same time.

Barnaby’s eyes shot open really wide and his heart skipped a beat. He was so tired, he didn’t realize what he just said. “Um…I uh…”

“Oh, Handsome, I never knew you were interested in men!”

Barnaby actually felt himself blushing, but not in a good way. “Yeah, just…don’t go telling everyone about it!”

“Oh, of course not! I would never do something like that. You decide who knows, not me.”

Barnaby’s heart was still racing, but he was relieved to hear that. He knew he never had to worry with Fire Emblem, but he still hadn’t planned on outing himself like that. “Thanks…”

“So,” Fire Emblem got a little closer. “Who is the lucky man? Anyone we know?”

Now that was something he most definitely couldn’t tell Fire Emblem. Not with Blue Rose here anyway. He didn’t really feel like dealing with her icy wrath right now.

“Stop pestering him, Fire Emblem. He doesn’t have to tell us anything.”

Barnaby let out a breath of relief, thankful for Blue Rose’s intervention.

“Okay, okay, sorry. I’m just super curious! Will we ever get to find out more about this mystery man?”

“Maybe. If it goes well.”

“Well, good luck, Handsome! I look forward to hearing all about it!”

Barnaby smiled weakly, suddenly feeling exhausted. “It’s getting late, I think I’ll head home.” He returned to the break room to gather his bag and the two were still in the gym on his way back out. “Thanks for the advice, both of you.”

“Of course!” Fire Emblem smiled.

“Yeah, whatever.” Blue Rose said.

Barnaby waved goodnight, left the gym area, and headed towards the elevators. Well, he still wasn’t one hundred percent sure what he was doing, but it was a start. He’d have to wake up early and start figuring out all the details because he wanted to do this as soon as possible. Hopefully they weren’t too busy with calls tomorrow so he could go shopping for some groceries.

Chapter Text

“You used your power too soon again.” Barnaby nagged as he took his shirt out of his locker to put it on.

“What?” Kotetsu poked his head out of his own locker to look at Barnaby and visibly cringed at his annoyed expression. “Oh, come on! What does that matter? I saved three hostages today!”

“That’s not the point! The point is that you still have a lot of work to do on fixing your timing. You really need to be more careful.”

“I know, I know! Sometimes my body just moves on its own and I activate my power without even realizing.”

“Then maybe that should be something you need to start focusing on, Old Man.”

Kotetsu sighed. “Yeah…” He slipped on his shirt and slowly started to button it up. He looked like a kicked puppy and Barnaby groaned internally. He hated when Kotetsu made that face, and today was not the day to be making him feel bad.

“But despite that…good job today.” That seemed to perk Kotetsu back up because he suddenly looked very pleased and started buttoning up faster. “Just don’t go making a habit of it, okay? I can’t be worrying about you constantly while I’m trying to make arrests.”

“Aww, Bunny.” Kotetsu looked touched. “You don’t have to worry about me so much. I’ll do better, I promise!”

“Good.” Barnaby put his jacket and glasses on and checked the time. It was still early enough to get to the store and get some groceries for dinner, which he had hoped would be tonight, but that all depended on Kotetsu. “Are you free tonight?”

“Huh? I think so, why?”

“Well, I have that ‘creative’ thing all planned out.”

“Really? Already? That was a lot quicker than I expected! You’re not half-assing it, are you?”

“No, I just happen to not procrastinate with these things, unlike a certain old man I know.”

Kotetsu glared at Barnaby’s remark for a quick second before seemingly deciding not to say something snarky back. “Well, I’m excited! What are we doing?!”

Barnaby closed his locker and smirked. “It’s a surprise.”

“Ooh, a surprise, huh? Now I’m even more excited!” Kotetsu grinned and tightened his tie with extra enthusiasm.

“Want to meet at my place around 7?”

“Yeah, sounds good!”

“Great.” Barnaby picked up his bag before turning to leave.

“Wait, where’re you going?”

“I just need to pick up few more things for tonight. See you later.” Barnaby waved goodbye and then started smiling like an idiot once he was out of the locker room. He didn’t think Kotetsu would be busy, he usually wasn’t, but he was happy he could put his plan into motion. Once he got into his car, he took his grocery list out of his bag to review it to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. Everything seemed to be on there, so he put the list away and drove over to the nearest market.

Barnaby walked up and down the aisles and checked a few things off his list as he went, having only a few more items to go. He came to the alcohol aisle was about to skip it, but he found himself walking back to it and checking out the champagne options. Would champagne be a little too…much? A romantic evening usually called for wine or champagne, so it would fit right in with everything else, but he thought it might be a little over the top. He stared at the bottle for a minute before he sighed and just put it in his basket. He might as well just go all out with it, it was a special occasion after all.

He made his way through the next few aisles and got everything else on his list, but he looked over all the items again and frowned. He still didn’t really think the fried rice alone would make for a great meal, but he wasn’t exactly sure what else to cook with it. He knew Kotetsu wouldn’t mind either way, but Barnaby wanted to make it special. Kotetsu must have eaten fried rice for almost every meal, so he wanted to do something a little different than Kotetsu was used to.

Barnaby turned around to have another look down the aisles again and ran into someone while he turned the corner. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“No, it’s okay! I wasn’t really paying attention either!” came a frantic yet familiar voice.

“Origami! Or, I guess I should call you Ivan since we’re in public, yeah?”

“Oh. Hi, Barnaby!” Origami smiled, seeming relieved he hadn’t ran into a stranger.

“Funny running into you here. Good job with those hostages earlier.”

“Ah, thank you…” Origami said shyly. “I uh, I usually come here because it’s one of the larger Japanese markets that’s close by work. Though, I don’t usually run into you. What brings you here?”

“Oh, I’m making dinner tonight for me and Kotetsu. I figured this market would be the most logical place to get all the ingredients I needed.”

“Oh? What are you making?”

“Fried rice, it’s Kotetsu’s favorite. Though, I wanted to make something else to make it a little more balanced, but I wasn’t really sure what to pair with it.”

Origami put his fingers to his chin in thought. “Hmm, well fried rice usually only has small amounts of vegetables like carrots and peas, so for it to be more balanced I would suggest some stir fried vegetables.”

“Yeah, vegetables sound like a good idea. Kotetsu could definitely use more of those in his diet.” Barnaby laughed, thinking about a phone call Kotetsu had with Anju recently. She was always nagging him about eating more vegetables, so Barnaby wanted to help out with that. “What kind of vegetables should I get?”

“Oh! Here, let me show you!” Origami gestured for Barnaby to follow him to the produce section and was happily pointing out which vegetables would go together best and even some tips on how to prepare them and what spices would go well with them. Barnaby was so used to Origami being really quiet and shy when he wasn’t in uniform, so it was odd to see him so lively while outside of work.

In the end, Barnaby picked up some snow peas, broccoli, carrots, bell pepper, and ginger; he already had garlic in his basket. Then Origami even threw in some things to make strawberry short cake for dessert. Origami had suggested a few other desserts, but they all would have taken a lot more prep time that Barnaby didn’t have, so the strawberry short cake would have to do.

“Thanks for all your help, Ivan!” Barnaby waved as he made his way over to check out.

“Anytime! I hope your date goes well!”

“See you la—wait…” Barnaby realized what Origami just said and he turned back around to correct him, but he had already disappeared. Barnaby felt himself blush a little bit; how did Origami know?! Was he being obvious or something? And why did he have to say it so nonchalantly?! Barnaby grumbled to himself as he waited in line, trying to think of exactly what he’d said to Origami to make him think it was a date.

Well, he supposed it didn’t really matter. Origami was an odd one, but he wasn’t the type to gossip or anything, so Barnaby wasn’t really worried about that. He just couldn’t believe Origami was that perceptive to pick up on something that Barnaby didn’t even realize he might have said or did to tip him off. He laughed to himself, if only Kotetsu was that perceptive, then everything would be a lot easier.

He made it back to his apartment and laid all the groceries out on his counter. He got out all the pots and pans that he would need and tied on his apron; he was ready to get started. He started to pour the rice into a strainer to wash when his communicator went off.

“Ugh, are you serious? Right now?!” He groaned and took his apron off and threw it on the counter in annoyance. He answered the call and Agnes told him to hurry to the downtown area where a rogue telekinetic NEXT was causing havoc. He quickly put the perishables in the refrigerator, just in case, and hurried out the door. “This had better not take long.” Barnaby raced to the Apollon Media building and saw Kotetsu waiting outside already geared up and on his motorcycle. “Ah, Kotetsu! Sorry, go on ahead! I’ll meet you there!” He started running up the steps.

“You sure?!”

“Yeah! I’ll be right behind you!”

“Okay, but don’t get mad if I make the arrest first!”

“Haha, you wish!” Barnaby honestly wouldn’t mind if Kotetsu did make the arrest first, because then it would mean he could get back home to start on dinner faster. He hurried inside and got his suit on, which was always a process, and he sped downtown on his bike, only hoping Kotetsu or someone else had made the arrest already. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case when he finally got there. All the heroes seemed to be just standing around the NEXT, who looked to be in his late teens, and it didn’t look like they were trying to apprehend him yet.

“Hey, come on now…I know it’s scary, but this is not the way to be handling this!” Kotetsu had his arms up in a calming motion before he took a single step closer.

“Stay away from me!!!” The NEXT started glowing and he shot a sort of translucent force out of himself and sent all the heroes flying. Barnaby rushed over and caught Kotetsu before he hit the brick walled building he was about to crash into.

“Ah, just in time, Bunny!”

“What’s the situation?” Barnaby asked over his com channel after putting Kotetsu down.

“It seems he’s a NEXT whose powers just awakened and he’s not taking it very well.” Agnes responded. “They already tried rushing in, but his powers are very erratic and very strong, so no one can touch him. We decided to try to talk him down while we evacuated the area, but that doesn’t seem to be working either.”

“We need to find a way to distract him so he focuses all his power in one direction, then we can take him out from behind.” Barnaby suggested. “It’ll have to be a group effort.”

“Right.” Agnes agreed. “Okay, so Wild Tiger, Origami Cyclone, Sky High, and Dragon Kid, I need you to find a way to distract him. The rest of you, take him down the second you have an opening.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” They all say in unison.

Kotetsu, Origami, Sky High, and Dragon Kid got into position, half-surrounding the NEXT, while Barnaby, Fire Emblem, Blue Rose, and Rock Bison snuck around behind him, staying as hidden as possible until it was time for them to move in.

“What-what’re you doing?!” The NEXT put his hands up in defense, ready to strike again.

“Come now,” Sky High spoke up. “We’re not here to hurt you, we just want to help.”

“Yeah!” Dragon Kid added. “We know getting powers is new and scary, but we can help you get through this if you just let us.”

“No! I…I don’t want to get through it! I just want these powers to go away!” He raised his hands up to strike again, and Barnaby activated his power, ready to move in any moment, but Rock Bison had already started to charge in.

“Rock Bison, wait!” Blue Rose tried to call out before it was too late. The NEXT had already noticed him and directed his power at him, sending him flying again.

“Oh no! It seems Rock Bison jumped into action a little too soon!” Mario’s usual charismatic voice rang overhead. “And now he’s headed for…wait, what’s this?!”

Barnaby watched as Bison flew through the air and then noticed what Mario must have seen. There were two children somehow still in the area, and Bison was headed right for them. He rushed over with the help of his thrusters and scooped the two kids up just mere seconds before Bison crashed down.

“Incredible! Barnaby just saved two children from Rock Bison’s collision path!” Mario continued with the same amount of enthusiasm.

“You okay, Bison?” Barnaby asked.

“Yeah…no sweat! Sorry about that.”

“Just be more careful next time.” Barnaby hopped down the street with the kids still in his arms and set them down as far away from the fight as possible. “It’s not safe to be here right now.”

“Sorry, Barnaby!” The older kid cried. “We just wanted to see the fight up close!”

“I understand that you were excited, but please get out of here and back to your homes. It’s dangerous.”

“Yes, Barnaby!” They thanked him and ran out of there. Once Barnaby was sure they were out of the area, he hurried back to the rest of the heroes, who seemed to still be having some trouble. The NEXT was now pushing cars and street lamps all around and pushing them towards the heroes.

“Just get away from me! I don’t want your help! I just want this to go away!”

“Kid, using your powers against us like this isn’t going to make your powers just go away!” Kotetsu yelled as he tried to dodge random flying objects being pushed in his direction.

“Oh yeah?! Then how do you explain your powers going away?!”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t from using it constantly like you’re using yours now!”

“Only one way to find out!” The NEXT pushed another translucent force out in Kotetsu’s direction and both Barnaby and Fire Emblem rushed him from behind at the same time. Unfortunately, he noticed and pushed them back as well, shooting them straight into a building. Fire Emblem landed first, but Barnaby was headed straight for them.

“Fire Emblem, look out!” Before Fire Emblem had time to move, Barnaby crashed right into them and the two went tumbling down some stairs and into the basement. They laid there a few seconds as the dust settled and Barnaby groaned in pain. “…ow. You-you okay, Fire Emblem?”

“As okay as anyone who gets 200 pounds of hot hunk thrown at them.”

Barnaby gave a small laugh. “I’m not that heavy!”

“Yeah, but your suit sure makes it seem like it. That really hurt!”

“Sorry about that.”

“No worries, Handsome.” Fire Emblem slowly got up and tried to dust themselves off. “Ugh, what a mess.”

“Powers expire in 10 seconds.” The automated voice inside Barnaby’s suit warned.

“Crap, I’m almost out of power.” Barnaby tried to stand up as well, but something was preventing him from moving. “What the hell?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I think I’m caught on something.”

“Powers expire in 5 seconds. 4…3…2…1…”

“Damnit!” Barnaby tried to get free, but he wasn’t budging, and without any power, he couldn’t break out of it either. “Can you help me out of this?”

“Hmmm…I mean, I could…but then you’d probably just get the arrest so…” Fire Emblem slowly turned and started sauntering away.

“H-hey! Fire Emblem, what the hell?!” He raised his visor up. “Don’t just leave me here! Ugh, I don’t have time for this today! I need to get back home soon! Come on!”

Fire Emblem turned back around with an amused look on their face. “Oh calm down, you big baby, I was only joking with you.” They bent over and started to help Barnaby get free. “Why are you in such a hurry today?”

“Sorry. I just have plans tonight and this call is really cutting into my prep time. I just want to get this done and get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Ooh, plans? What kind?”

“Uh…” Barnaby blushed and looked away.

“Wait…” Fire Emblem gasped. “Do you have a date with Mr. Mystery Man tonight?!”

Barnaby didn’t have time to talk about this right now, so he didn’t answer.

“Oooh, you do, don’t you?! That is so exciting!!”

Barnaby groaned in annoyance. “Can you please just get me out of here?!”

“Oh, of course! We mustn’t keep your man waiting!” Fire Emblem finally got Barnaby free and the two hurried out of the basement and returned back onto the street. The situation was…well…something. “There’s something you don’t see every day.”

Barnaby brought his hand to his face out of sheer secondhand embarrassment. “Oh my god….” Kotetsu apparently was able to apprehend the suspect, but had somehow managed to get both himself and the NEXT tangled up in his grappling cable and they were both dangling from a street lamp. “How in the world did you manage do to that?!”

Kotetsu laughed awkwardly. “Well, I got my cable around his ankle, but he tried to fling me away with his power. And since he was attached to me, we uh…both kinda went flying and now we’re here.”

Barnaby couldn’t hold in his laughter, Kotetsu just looked so utterly ridiculous up there. It reminded him of their first time trying to work together when Kotetsu had gotten them tangled up. How he fell in love with this goofball, he would never know. “Well, you caught the suspect at least.”

“Amazing! While it was very unconventional, Wild Tiger managed to make the arrest!” Mario’s voice rang out again, nearly sounding close to hysterics himself.

“Can you please get me down from here?!” The NEXT whined as he was swinging about from his ankle, struggling to get free. “Seriously, my foot’s gone numb, please get me down!”

The rest of the heroes banded together and were able to get them both down, and once they were untangled, they immediately handcuffed the NEXT and took him into custody. Barnaby walked over to Kotetsu once he was standing again.

“That kid was a little punk, but I really hope he gets the help he needs.” Kotetsu said, sounding concerned.

“Yeah.” Barnaby agreed. Kotetsu was always one to worry about stuff like that, it was part of what Barnaby really loved about him.

Kotetsu glanced over at Barnaby and snorted. “You look like a mess. Doing okay?”

“I’m fine, just a little bit of brick dust…” Barnaby glanced over as well and returned Kotetsu’s gaze. “Good job today. Only you could make an arrest like that.”

“Shut up…” Kotetsu said with a playful tone in his voice.

Barnaby smiled and started heading towards their bikes. “We should probably go get cleaned u—Ah, crap, is that time?! Hey, uh, can we reschedule for 8 instead? I lost all my prep time because of this call.”

“Sure, it’s no problem, but what are we even doing that you would need prep time for?”

“It’s still a surprise, Old Man! See you in a few hours!” Barnaby hopped onto his bike and sped off.

“See you!” Kotetsu waved as he swung his leg over his own bike. Before he started the engine, he saw Fire Emblem standing nearby with a dumbfounded look on theur face. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Nothing at all.” They put a hand over their mouth and giggled before they turned away to get into their car.

Barnaby slammed the door to his apartment and made a beeline for the shower. He had to get cleaned up quickly before he started cooking. He was all sweaty and disgusting and covered in brick dust, definitely not suitable at all for a date. Barnaby scrubbed shampoo into his hair thoroughly and started to rinse. Could he really even call it a date when Kotetsu wasn’t even aware it was a date? Well, it was one to him and that’s what mattered right now. If he was going to go all out with everything else, he might as well dress the part too.

Once he was done with his shower, he quickly got dressed and hurried into the kitchen to start the rice. As the rice was cooking, he ran back into the bathroom to fix his hair. It had a pretty natural curl to it, so it wasn’t as hard to style it as everyone usually thought.

After he was done with that, the timer in the kitchen went off and he turned the stove off to let the rice sit for another twenty minutes, then he emptied it into a bowl and stuffed it into the fridge. He figured he should prepare the strawberries for the shortcake while it cooled, because it was still too soon to start anything else. He needed to cool the rice in the fridge for at least an hour before he could fry it or else it would get all mushy. He would have made the rice last night, but he didn’t have any left in the cupboard, so this would have to do.

Once he was done with the strawberries, Barnaby moved the table closer to the window so they had a nice view, and then started to set it. He didn’t really have fancy kitchenware or anything, but it was better than eating on paper plates or something, so it would have to do for now. He finally placed the candles down, but decided against lighting them until just before Kotetsu arrived. He looked at the time and was relieved; it was still only 7:15. The rice had about another 15 minutes in the fridge, so he started to prep all of the vegetables for the stir fry. He only hoped he could remember everything Origami told him.

Barnaby opened the fridge to check the rice and was happy that it seemed to be cooled enough, so he was finally able to start actually making it! He had two burners going at once and tried his best to cook the rice and the vegetables at the same time without burning anything. He looked at the time again, only about 15 more minutes till 8:00. He lowered the heat to a simmer and ran over to the table to light the candles, and on his way back to the kitchen, he grabbed the remote to turn on some fitting music. He internally groaned at the cheesiness of it all, but like he said before, he was going to go all out.

He ran back into the kitchen and put in some finishing touches to the dishes and took a quick taste test; everything was delicious! He looked at the time and let out a huge breath of relief. He had managed to get everything done with 5 minutes to spare. He decided sit and take a breather for those few minutes and he felt like he’d burnt more calories doing that than literally saving people today.

The doorbell rang and it made Barnaby jump, and he felt his heart start to race. This was it, Kotetsu was here and that meant Barnaby was going to be confessing sometime within the hour. He still could not believe he was doing something this ridiculous, and he still feared the worst. If anything, though, he would have at least given Kotetsu a nice dinner and hopefully would make him feel appreciated as well.

Barnaby took a deep breath, and headed to answer the door, making sure to check his hair on the TV screen really quick first. He answered the door and his heart flipped once he saw Kotetsu. He was all cleaned up nicely and dressed in his usual stupid suspenders and tie, but everything looked freshly ironed and Barnaby could tell that Kotetsu put some cologne on, which was unusual.

“Looks like you’re right on time, Old Man. Come on in.”

“I made sure to leave 30 minutes early so I would make it on time.” Kotetsu laughed as he stepped in and took off his coat. “Wow…something smells delicious! Are you cooking, Bunny?”

“Yeah, I wanted it to be just the two of us. Is…that okay?”

“Oh yeah, that’s fine! I’m just surprised. I thought we were gonna be going out somewhere.”

“Well go ahead and get settled. Dinner just finished, so I’ll bring it over.”

“Sounds good!” Kotetsu hung his coat up and walked into the living room area. “Haha, what’s with the cheesy music?”

Crap, Barnaby knew the music would be too much. “I uh…I just had something playing while I was cooking so it wasn’t too quiet. I can turn it off if you’d like.”

“Nah, you can leave it on. It kind of adds to the atmosphere, don’t you think?”

Barnaby nodded, feeling relieved once again. “Sure.” He opened the bottle of champagne first, so the food would stay warm while still on the stove, and then started plating the food.

“Wow, candles too?! Fancy. Kinda makes me feel like we’re in a 5 star restaurant!” Kotetsu jumped in front of the window and stretched his arms out. “Our table even has a view!”

Barnaby smiled softly at Kotetsu before he started to carry the champagne and food over. Sometimes Barnaby wondered just how in the hell he fell for this man, but it was moments like these that really reminded him. He set the stuff down on the table while Kotetsu was still looking out the window.

“Dinner’s ready.”

Kotetsu turned and around and walked over to the table as Barnaby poured them both glasses of champagne. “Goodness, champagne as well? You certainly thought of everything, didn’t you?”

“Well, you told me to be creative.”

“That’s very true!” Kotetsu finally sat down across from Barnaby and a huge grin spread across his face. “You finally made me fried rice!”

Barnaby smirked a little. “Of course, I went through all that trouble learning how to make it for you, but I just never got around to actually do it.”

“Well, I can’t wait to finally taste it!” Kotetsu scooped up a large spoonful of the rice and took a bite. Barnaby stared and waited impatiently for his critique. It was hard to mess up a simple dish, and Kotetsu didn’t really have high standards in regard to food, but Barnaby hoped he liked it. “Mmm, it’s delicious, Bunny! Almost as good as mine!”

Barnaby took that as a compliment, but he couldn’t resist teasing the man a little. “Oh please, mine is definitely better than yours.”

“As if. I’ve been making it longer than you, so mine is way superior!”

Barnaby laughed. “Yeah, you’ve also been a hero longer than me, but that doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

“Oh shut up, smartass.” Kotetsu took another bite. “Really, though, it’s very good! I’m impressed!”

Barnaby was pleased and started to eat his own food as well. It was a little quiet for a few minutes as they ate, and Barnaby noticed Kotetsu hadn’t touched his vegetables yet. “Don’t forget about your vegetables.”

“Hmm?” Kotetsu mumbled with his mouth full. “Ugh, you sound like my mom.”

“Fried rice alone isn’t a balanced meal, that’s why I made the stir fry. They’re supposed to complement each other.

“Fine, fine. I’ll eat your damn vegetables.” Kotetsu huffed before he took a bite. He made a strange face as he chewed and it worried Barnaby.

“Is…something wrong?”

“Hmmm, do you have any mayonnaise?”

“Mayonnaise? For the vegetables?? That’s disgusting, Kotetsu, oh my god. And are they really that bad that you’d need to smother them in mayo to eat them?”

Kotetsu snorted quietly before he burst out laughing. “I’m just kidding, Bunny, ahaha. They’re delicious too.”

Barnaby shook his head and half-rolled his eyes before taking another bite. “You could have fooled me, you put mayo on like…everything.”

“Yeah, but I have standards! I’m not just gonna roll into a fancy restaurant, order the most expensive thing on the menu, and then cover it in mayo.”

“Oh, so you think my cooking is that good?” Barnaby leaned forward with a smirk.

“Eh, I mean, it’s not most-expensive-thing-on-the-menu worthy, but it’s pretty good.”

The two continued with eating in silence for another few minutes, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. Just one of those where everyone is really enjoying their meal, so they focus on that instead of talking.

“This…is really nice, Bunny.” Kotetsu broke the silence and took a sip of his champagne. “Really, what exactly is all this?”

Barnaby felt his heart skip. Crap, had Kotetsu actually caught on? “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know I told you to do something creative, but I never expected a home-cooked meal! Plus, you set up everything so nicely.”

“I suppose I just…wanted to show my appreciation.” It wasn’t a lie, that was part of the reason for the dinner, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.

“What?”

“I just wanted to do something for you to show you how much I appreciate you. I know you don’t really care about getting acknowledged for all the things you do for this city, but I care. And I just want you to know that.”

Kotetsu blinked at Barnaby a few times before looking away and downing his entire glass of champagne. Was Kotetsu…blushing? He brought his free hand up to rub the back of his neck before looking back at Barnaby.

“Jeez, Bunny. That’s…extremely sappy.” He placed his glass back onto the table and gave a genuine smile. “But I am definitely feeling appreciated, so thank you.”

Barnaby smiled back at Kotetsu, feeling very accomplished tonight. The only thing left was to…Barnaby gulped. This was it, it was the right moment. “Actually, Kotetsu? There’s also something I uh…I wanted to tell you.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“I uh…” Barnaby felt his hands shaking under the table, and his mouth was so dry, but he had to resist taking a drink of champagne in case he couldn’t hold the glass without spilling it everywhere. He took a deep breath and could not believe that after years of keeping his feelings a secret, he was finally going to do this. “Kotetsu, I—”

Their communicators sounded off and made Barnaby jump. He groaned when he fully registered what had happened. Of course it couldn’t have waited another ten damn minutes.

“Aww man, right now?!” Kotetsu grumbled. “We haven’t even finished eating yet! Now all this food is gonna go to waste!”

“We should put it in the fridge before we leave.”

“Yeah! Then we can come back here after we’re done and finish eating!”

“I don’t know how good it will all be reheated.”

“Ah, you underestimate the power of leftover fried rice! I’m sure it’ll be perfectly fine.”

Barnaby nodded. “Okay, let’s just hope this call isn’t anything too serious.” Barnaby raised his wrist and answered the call. Agnes’ face popped up on the screen and Kotetsu hurried around the table behind Barnaby to listen better.

“What took you so long to answer?! There’s a group of NEXTs destroying property in the Industrial District and they’re basically challenging us to come try and stop them. I also have some intel that some of them could be a part of Ouroboros.”

Barnaby’s eyes shot open, and he heard Kotetsu gasp behind him. “Are you sure?!”

“Not one hundred percent, but there is a good chance. The only way to find out is to arrest them and see if they’ll talk.”

“And to see if any of them have those tattoos.” Kotetsu added.

“Yes. Now please hurry! We have no idea what they plan to do.”

“Right.” Barnaby ended the call and was honestly at a loss for words. There had been absolutely no sign of Ouroboros since Maverick was killed by Lunatic, and that had been a year and a half ago. Their sudden appearance worried Barnaby and he wondered why they chose now after so long to show up again; and since most of them were NEXTs, it was even more worrisome. With so many potentially dangerous powers flying around, would Kotetsu be…okay? How many would he be able to take on with only one minute of power to use?

“Well, so much for this being a quick call.” Kotetsu sighed. “Come on, let’s get this put away really fast.” Kotetsu grabbed as many plates as he could and ran into the kitchen.

“Try not to break anything!” Barnaby called as he followed, carrying the remaining plates.

“I won’t!” He opened a cabinet to pull out some tupperware and Barnaby was surprised that Kotetsu knew where it was until he remembered Kotetsu had cooked in his kitchen before. Kotetsu opened up the fridge and stuffed the containers in. “Ooh, you made strawberry short cake too?! Man, now we’ll definitely have to come back and eat that!”

“It might be a while before we get back here.”

“Ah, whatever. I don’t mind eating some cake with you in the middle of the night if you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind.” Barnaby put on his jacket. “Come on, we should get going.”

“Right.” Kotetsu ran over to the coat rack and put his coat on as well. “Oh yeah, what did you want to tell me?”

Barnaby’s breath caught in his throat. The moment was basically ruined, so there was no way he could say it now! “Uh…don’t-don’t worry about it. I can tell you later.”

“You sure?” Kotetsu had a little bit of worry in his voice.

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s just…the last time I waited to tell you something important, it didn’t really turn out all that great for me.”

Barnaby frowned. God, he really was falling into Kotetsu’s bad habits. “It’s uh, it’s not that important. I can tell you when we get back, okay?”

“All right, then. But you had better remember! I don’t want a repeat of what happened last time.”

“Understood. Let’s go!”

They headed out the door and Barnaby closed it behind them before they started running for the elevator. Barnaby aggressively pushed the “close door” button out of frustration and folded his arms as the elevator made its way down to the parking garage. The universe sure was making it hard on Barnaby today. He didn’t want to take that as a bad omen, so he settled for thinking that the universe was just fucking with him for hiding his feelings for too long; if that made any sense. Barnaby snuck a look at Kotetsu just before the elevator doors opened, and he nodded to himself. He was not going to fall into Kotetsu’s bad habits, and he was going to tell him as soon as this was all over with. As long as those NEXTs weren’t as dangerous as Barnaby feared, that is.

Chapter Text

“Why are we taking the transporter? Wouldn’t our bikes be faster?” Kotetsu complained as Mr. Saito opened the doors for them to get on.

“There are a lot of NEXTs you two are going to be dealing with.” Mr. Saito said over his microphone. “It would make me feel better if I were close by to help with anything just in case something goes wrong.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” Kotetsu said as he climbed aboard. He already had a bad feeling about this and Mr. Saito sure wasn’t helping.

“Saito’s right.” Barnaby said as the doors closed behind him. “We have no idea what kind of powers these NEXT have or what they’re capable of. And if some of them really are with Ouroboros, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”

“Yeah...” Kotetsu sighed. “That makes sense, I guess.” Barnaby walked over and put a hand on Kotetsu’s shoulder.

“So please, Kotetsu, be careful. You need to—”

“Make sure I save my power for when I really need it, I know.”

“You say that now, but…”

“Hey, I made that arrest today! And I didn’t even use my powers for that. Have some faith in me, will ya?”

“It’s not that, Kotetsu. I do have faith in you I just…” Barnaby furrowed his brows and looked away. “I worry, you know.”

“You really don’t have to worry so much about me, Bunny, I got this. If you’re out there worrying constantly, you won’t be able to focus, right?”

Barnaby looked back at Kotetsu and nodded. “You’re right.” Barnaby’s grip on Kotetsu’s shoulder tightened slightly. “Just make sure you don’t give me a reason to worry. All right, Old Man?”

“I get it already, jeez. No need to make such a huge fuss.”

Barnaby nodded again and loosened his grip. “Okay. Let’s go prep our suits.”

Kotetsu watched him walk over to the other side of the transporter and he pursed his lips in thought. Barnaby sure was acting strange all of a sudden. Of course, he always nagged him about using his powers too soon, but this seemed a little different somehow; like he was more worried than usual. Was he just worried about the Ouroboros thing? It really had been a long time since they made an appearance; if they even really were a part of Ouroboros anyway.

“You gonna come over here and get your suit on sometime this decade, or are you gonna stand there all night?” Barnaby’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“Ah, sorry!” Kotetsu hurried over and started prepping for his suit as well.

It was always such a process to get those damn suits on, but taking them off was super easy somehow and Kotetsu never understood it. Sometimes he felt like Mr. Saito did that on purpose for his own amusement; something about wanting to make it fun or dramatic or whatever. Kotetsu shook his head at the thought of that weird man enjoying the theatrics of it all. He then glanced over and saw Barnaby in deep concentration, still looking really worried.

 “Say, Bunny?”

“Hmm?” He half-answered, still looking like he was trying to concentrate.

“You doing okay?”

Barnaby finally looked over. “I’m fine, why?”

“It’s just…we haven’t heard anything from Ouroboros in over a year. I know you were still hoping for some answers and all that and I just wanted to make sure…”

“I’m fine, Kotetsu, really. I still want answers, of course, but it’s been a long time. I’ve moved past that now.”

Kotetsu wasn’t fully convinced because Barnaby still had that sad, worried look in his eyes, but he wasn’t going to bother him about it right now because they both needed to focus. Not too long after that, the transporter finally arrived at the Industrial District and the doors opened up for them.

“Good luck, you guys!” came Mr. Saito’s voice over the microphone.

“Let’s go get these bastards!” Kotetsu said before flipping down his visor and running out of the transporter, Barnaby right behind him.

“Looks like Tiger and Barnaby have finally arrived!” Kotetsu heard Mario’s voice overhead. “Now these rogue NEXTs are done for!”

Kotetsu grinned smugly at the sound of that before one of the NEXTs appeared in front of them seemingly out of thin air.

“Oh no! It’s the hero who only lasts a minute, I’m so scared!” He turned around and sped off, running away from them extremely fast.

“Hey! Come back here, you punk, and say that to my face!” Kotetsu tried to chase him, but he felt a hand on his shoulder pull him back. “What the hell, Bunny?”

“He seems to have some kind of super speed, I don’t think it’d be wise to waste your power on him. Plus, he looks like he’s just running around right now and not really harming anyone or damaging anything.”

“You—” Kotetsu stopped mid-complaint. “You have a good point there, actually.”

“We need to survey the area to try to figure out the best approach, and we need to decide which NEXTs seem to be the most dangerous to any citizens or surrounding property.”

“Good idea, Bunny!” Kotetsu pressed the button on the temple of his helmet and took a look around. The other heroes were scattered around and already fighting some of the NEXTs, a few buildings had been damaged, but there didn’t seem to be a sign of any citizens around the immediate area. “I don’t really see anything yet…”

“Hmm, me either.”

“Help meeee!!!”

Kotetsu and Barnaby both jumped at the scream. “Where did that come from?!” Barnaby yelled.

Kotetsu glanced around frantically and finally spotted a woman being dangled off the roof of a building. “Up there! H-hold on, Miss! I’m coming!” Kotetsu raised his arm and shot his cable up, attaching it as high as he could manage, and he propelled himself up the side of the building.

“Please!!! Help me!!!” The woman cried.

Kotetsu landed on the top of the building and saw a NEXT holding the woman over the ledge and laughing.

“That sure is a long way down, isn’t it? It’d be a shame if you…fell!” He let go of her hand for a second and watched her start to fall before stretching his arm down to catch her again. “Haha, I’m just kidding with you! What a rush, though, am I right??”

“Hey, Mr. Stretch!” Kotetsu yelled as he cracked his knuckles. “I suggest you let her go before I—”

“Ooh, let her go, you say? Sure, no problem!” The NEXT let her go and she started to fall.

“Ahhhh!!!”

“Ahh, crap! That is not what I meant!” Kotetsu started running towards the ledge, ready to activate his power and jump off, but Barnaby came flying up with the woman in his arms and he landed on the roof before setting her down.

“Th-thank you, Barnaby!!”

Barnaby walked over to the roof door and kicked it open. “Get down those stairs and get out of this area as quickly as possible!”

“I will!!” The woman hurried towards the door and down the stairs.

“An amazing rescue by Barnaby, as usual!” Mario praised over the loud speakers in the helicopter above them.

“Perfect timing, Bunny.”

Barnaby smirked. “Honestly, what would you do without me?”

Kotetsu grumbled and gave Barnaby a side-glare.

“Ah, Wild Tiger and Barnaby.” The NEXT said rather nervously as he started to back away. “It’s a pleasure, truly, but she’s expecting you now and I’m afraid I have to go!”

“The hell you will!” Kotetsu shot his cable at him and wrapped it around his arm before pulling him away from the ledge.

“Wait…” Barnaby said. “What do you mean ‘she’s expecting us’?”

The NEXT laughed anxiously as he struggled with the cable around his arm. “Heh, sorry. Gotta go!” He stretched his arm until it got super flat and was able to slip out of Kotetsu’s cable to escape by jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

“Hey! Get back here! Ugh, that slimy little—” Kotetsu shot his cable again and swung himself after the NEXT to catch up with him. The NEXT kept roof-hopping until it looked like he finally ran out of steam and stopped on a building that looked like it was in the middle of being constructed on. “End of the line, pal!”

“Shit…” The NEXT shakily put his hands up as though ready to surrender before Kotetsu heard a loud thud and looked over to see another potential NEXT had landed on a platform suspended by a crane right next to the building.

“Good grief, Worm, you’re always getting yourself into trouble.” Groaned the NEXT.

“Ah, T-Triss! Thank god you’re here!”

“Just get out of here, Worm. You’re seriously so embarrassing.”

“Ah, of course! Right away, Triss!” Worm hurried away, and Kotetsu was about to chase after him, but this Triss lady jumped right in front of him to block his path.

“Ah, Wild Tiger. Such an honor to finally meet you face to face.” She said rather snidely while giving a half-assed bow.

“Sorry I can’t say the same about you, Miss…Triss, was it?” 

“Kotetsu!” Kotetsu heard Barnaby call from behind him before he landed on the roof as well. “You let that other guy get away?” He said, sounding annoyed.

“Yeah, but we have bigger problems than that fidgety little guy.”

“Ugh, Barnaby!” Triss growled. “You’re not unexpected, but still unwanted.” She cracked her neck from side to side and rolled her shoulders. “Guess I’ll have to deal with both of you until my reinforcement shows up.”

“What’s this?! A showdown on a rooftop with our favorite duo and a mysterious NEXT!” Mario said excitedly as one of the helicopters flew overhead.

“Don’t activate your power yet.” Barnaby said quietly to Kotetsu.

“Why not?”

“We need to find out what kind of power she has first. You may be able to take her on without it.”

“Ah, right…” Kotetsu nodded and waited with Barnaby until Triss made her first move.

“Let’s get this party started, shall we?” Triss started glowing and she quickly shot a lightning bolt out of her finger tips, causing Kotetsu and Barnaby to split off in different directions to dodge it.

“She has a power like Dragon Kid’s?!” Kotetsu said with a surprised tone.

“Looks like it,” Barnaby agreed. “But let’s not be too hasty, we still don’t know how powerful she is.”

Kotetsu nodded. “Good idea.”

“Oh stop talking about me like I’m not standing right here!” Triss shot off a few more bolts in Barnaby’s direction, causing him to hop out of the way. “My power is nothing like little kid’s!” She shot off a few more bolts, driving Barnaby closer to the ledge. Kotetsu took her distraction as an opening and charged after her. “Haha, nice try, Tiger.” She shot a bolt in his direction and it hit him with such a force that it threw him back against the wall near the roof door.

“Oh no!! Wild Tiger was just shot into the wall by this NEXTs incredible powers! I do hope he’s alright!” Mario said, sounding concerned.

Kotetsu groaned in pain as he sat up. “Just…what the hell was that?!”

Triss gave a cheeky grin. “I told you my powers and Dragon Kid’s were nothing alike. My bolts have a little bite to them, don’t you think?”

“Jeez.” Kotetsu rubbed the back of his neck before slowly standing up. That attack was insane, how could such a small bolt throw him back that far? He was happy to have the suit at least, because he didn’t really feel the lightning itself that badly. He probably couldn’t last long against her without using his power, though, so he’d have to dodge the attacks as much as he could.

“You okay, Kotetsu?!” Barnaby started running towards him.

“Not so fast!” Triss shot her bolts in Barnaby’s path to stop him from reaching Kotetsu. Barnaby stopped and jumped out of the way. “Ugh, you really are annoying.” Triss grimaced, but her eyes glanced behind Barnaby and her expression changed to a relieved one. “Finally. Mag, please take care of Wild Tiger’s annoying little bunny for me, will ya?”

“Excuse me?!” Barnaby said, sounding extremely offended before another NEXT had appeared behind Barnaby and launched him to the other side of the roof without even touching him.

“Bunny!” Kotetsu pushed away from the wall to run over to him, but the new NEXT spotted him and pushed him back against the wall again.

“What…the hell?” Barnaby groaned as he pushed himself up.

“Ah sorry, I suppose I should introduce you. This is Mag, her ability is quite incredible, so I’d probably activate your power, if I were you.”

“Is that so?” Barnaby stood up. “I’ll be the judge of that.” He charged at Mag, but just before he reached her, she sent him flying back again.

“Just what the hell kind of power is that? Another telekinetic one?” Kotetsu said to himself as he watched Barnaby get lifted into the air and spun around before being thrown again. Well, it sure looked to be that way. Kotetsu stood up with intention to help him, but Triss stepped right in front of him and forcefully lifted up his visor to punch him in the face. “Ow, what the hell, lady?! That was a cheap shot!”

“That’s what you get for not paying attention!” She punched him again, this time hard enough to knock him down, and then she tried to drag him away. “Keep Barnaby occupied, Mag. I got what I came for.”

“What…” Kotetsu wriggled around and swung his feet underneath Triss to get out of her grasp, sending her falling back on her ass. Kotetsu stood up immediately and backed away from her. “Just what the hell is your problem?! Are you really with Ouroboros?”

“Oh that? Well, I guess I am…but I don’t really care about their cause or anything. I mainly joined them for their resources so I could get to you.”

“Get to…what?? What the hell do you want me for?!”

Triss stood up and dusted herself off before staring Kotetsu down with a very angry expression. “Does the name Lyla Richards mean anything to you?”

“Uh…” Kotetsu thought for a second, but the name didn’t ring any bells. “Not really…”

Triss gave a curt laugh. “I figured as much. Not like you heroes actually care to remember stuff like that.” She clenched her fists. “Well, she was my sister and if it weren’t for you, she’d still be alive!”

Kotetsu blinked a few times and tried to process what Triss just said. “Say what now?!” Kotetsu jumped at the sound of a loud crash beside him and he glanced over to see Barnaby on the ground again. He cringed at the sight of him struggling to get up, noticing his suit wasn’t lit up. “Bunny what the hell are you doing?! Activate your powers, you idiot!” Kotetsu started towards him, but he felt a harsh tug on his arm pull him back.

“Ugh, Mag! Do me a favor and throw Barnaby off the building or something! He’s taking too much attention away from me while I’m trying to—” Kotetsu elbowed Triss in the face and knocked her backwards onto the ground again. “Ow, fuck!”

Kotetsu turned back towards Barnaby and noticed Mag was already lifting him up and carrying him over to the ledge. “Bunny!!” Kotetsu’s body moved on its own and he activated his power without thinking as he rushed over to Barnaby’s aid. He tackled Mag to the ground and punched her in the face. “Don’t even think about doing that, you punk!” He raised his fist to punch again, but Mag pushed her hands up and Kotetsu felt his body lift up for a second before he was thrown back again. He landed about ten feet away with a loud grunt. It was strange, but getting lifted by Mag sure felt a lot different than the telekinetic NEXT from earlier today, and Kotetsu couldn’t quite understand why. “Why you little…” He stood up, but Triss immediately blocked his path.

“You…” Triss rubbed the back of her hand across her nose and a trail of blood followed. “You broke my nose, you son of a bitch…” She glanced at him and groaned. “Seriously? You just now activated your power? Uugh, that’s annoying.” She rolled her shoulders back. “Well, lucky for me, it only lasts a minute.”

Triss started glowing again, lightning appearing in her hands, and she ran at him at full speed. Kotetsu threw his arms up to block, but Triss only grabbed onto both of them and shot her power through them.

Kotetsu felt the sharp pain of the lighting sear through his arms, even with the suit there to protect him. He hated to imagine what would happen if he hadn’t had the suit on. “What the hell? I thought you just shot bolts out!”

“There are multiple ways to manipulate lightning, you know?” She pulled away from Kotetsu and back-flipped off the building, landing on the platform that was suspended nearby. “C’mon, better get me before your power runs out!”

“Youuu….” Kotetsu grumbled before looking back to see how Barnaby was holding up. He finally activated his power now and seemed to be handling himself okay. Kotetsu jumped over to the platform and it shook a little; it didn’t seem very stable.

“No way Wild Tiger will let this crazy NEXT get away!” Mario’s voice bellowed just above them as the helicopter moved in closer.

“Oh my god, will you shut up?!” Lighting appeared in Triss’ hands again and she sent bolts flying towards the helicopter.

“Look out!!” Kotetsu warned, but the chopper was already hit and it flew back a ways before it seemed to short circuit and crash to the ground. Kotetsu trembled in shock before he clenched his fists. “What the hell is wrong with you?! There were people on there! You could have just killed them all!”

“Whatever, they’re all accessories to this bullshit TV show anyway!” Triss didn’t hesitate and started shooting bolts at Kotetsu, which he dodged.

“Tiger, what the hell is going on?!” Agnes yelled over the com channel. “We lost the feed to one of the cameras!”

“This NEXT took it down with her lightning powers! It looks like it can short circuit things. Please, make sure Mario and the crew are okay! The chopper crashed!”

“They weren’t responding, so we already sent out for a rescue! We can’t spare any other cameras right now, so you’d better get good footage on your helmet cam!”

Kotetsu flipped his visor back down. “Yes, Ma’am!”

Kotetsu took a few steps forward and readied himself as Triss’ hands twitched with lighting again. They ran at each other at the same time, fists both at the ready, but they both ended up dodging at the last minute and overshot each other. Triss growled in annoyance and turned back around immediately to shoot more bolts. Kotetsu ducked and rolled to get out of the way of them, and he felt utterly ridiculous dodging these things; like in those old western movies where the bad guy shot bullets at someone’s feet to make them dance.

Kotetsu hopped back up from a summersault and Triss shot a bolt directly at his feet. He tried to dodge, but it took his foot out from under him and made him lose his balance before falling square on his face. Kotetsu groaned in pain, however he was thankful the bolt hadn’t sent him flying this time. He stood up just as Triss charged at him again, but he managed to get out of the way in time. He followed after her, fist raised, and he punched her right in the face. She screamed at the impact and fell down.

“TRISS?!”

Kotetsu glanced over and saw that it was Mag who yelled out, seeming to have heard Triss’ scream. Barnaby was on one knee, looking exhausted, but he suddenly stood up and ran over to Mag while she was distracted and kicked her so hard she knocked out.

Kotetsu grinned. “Good job, Bunny.”

Triss screamed again and Kotetsu looked back over in her direction, but she had already sent a bolt at him and it sent him backwards towards the edge of the platform.

“Ahh, crap!” Kotetsu acted quickly and raised his arm to shoot out a grappling cable, but all it did was make a strange clicking noise and nothing happened. “What?!” He tried the other one, but it wasn’t working either and he panicked as he tumbled over the edge, only barely managing to grab onto a small metal pole sticking out of the bottom of the platform before he could fall. “What the hell happened?!”

Kotetsu heard footsteps above him and eventually Triss appeared at the ledge and looked down at him. “Aww, what happened? Couldn’t use your trusty cables?”

“What…” Kotetsu gasped and remembered that she had grabbed onto his arms earlier and sent a shock through them, probably causing his cable mechanism to short circuit. He lowered his brows and growled. “Youu….”

 “Well, come on now. You gonna get back up here? Surely a big, strong hero like you can do a simple pull-up.”

“Powers expire in 5 seconds.” The voice in Kotetsu’s suit reminded.

Kotetsu grunted in annoyance and hurried to pull himself up, but he couldn’t manage it before his power ran out. “Damnit!”

“Finally out of power?” Triss sounded relieved. “Thank god, that was the longest minute of my fucking life. This will be much easier now.” She smirked and started to glow again, but Barnaby flung himself over to the platform to tackle her.

“Bunny?!” Kotetsu only saw a flash of him before he and Triss disappeared on top of the platform. He tried to pull himself up to see what was happening, but he was too far below the ledge. “Damnit, guess I’ll just have to listen…”

“Barnaby?!” Triss yelled. “What the hell happened to Mag?!”

“Sorry, but she’s incapacitated at the moment.” Barnaby said, sounding smug.

“Ugh, you really are such a meddlesome little bunny.”

“Stop calling me that!”

Kotetsu heard Barnaby use his thrusters, and assumed he had charged towards Triss.

Triss scoffed. “Why? Your partner calls you that so much, it’s almost like your second name.”

“That’s…that’s different!”

Kotetsu couldn’t help but smile to himself. Was Barnaby actually warming up to that nickname after all this time? He suddenly heard scattered footsteps all over the platform and a lot of grunting.

“Ugh, this is so annoying! I need to see what’s happening! Come on, Kotetsu, you can do a damn pull-up!” Kotetsu tried pulling up again, but he heard Barnaby yell out in pain and then a huge clanking noise started getting closer and closer to where he was hanging. Kotetsu nearly had a heart attack when he saw Barnaby’s helmet roll off the edge and fall past him to the streets below; thankfully, it was only his helmet. “Bunny?! You okay up there?!”

“Doing…fine! But it’d be nice if you came up here…and helped me, you know!”

“Uhhh, I can’t really do that…”

“Why not?!”

“My power ran out!”

Kotetsu heard Barnaby groan. “Damnit, Old Man. Use your cables then!”

“I uh…I can’t do that either!”

“What?!”

“She messed with them earlier with her power and now I can’t—ahhh!” The pole Kotetsu was holding onto suddenly started to shift downwards and he almost lost a hold of it and had to rearrange his grip. “Crap! Uh, Bunny…I have a slight problem here!”

“What now?!”

“Oh just shut up, will you?!” Triss screamed and Kotetsu could practically hear the crackling of her lighting and saw a big flash of light right above him followed by a very loud snapping sound.

“What…was that?” Kotetsu asked even though he didn’t want to know, but his question was answered when the platform suddenly started leaning downward on the same side Kotetsu had been hanging on for dear life. “Woah, woah, woah, what the hell is going on?!”

“She hit some of the cables holding this thing up!” Barnaby answered in a panic.

“Oh, goddamnit!” Triss yelled and Kotetsu saw her jump off of the platform and back onto the rooftop. “You’d better not die before I get to kill you, Wild Tiger!” She then grabbed an unconscious Mag and flung her over her shoulder before disappearing.

Kotetsu turned away from them, looked back up at the platform and tried to pull himself up, but he heard a loud clanking sound and nearly lost his grip again. “What the?!” He glanced at the pole and noticed it had started to slowly break off at the base. “You have got to be kidding me.” The pole finally broke and Kotetsu’s heart felt like it stopped and he couldn’t find any air to scream.

“Kotetsu!!” Barnaby called frantically as he appeared right above him and reached down to catch his hand just before he fell.

Kotetsu let out a breath of relief. “Perfect timing there, Bunny.” The platform jolted the two of them as another cable snapped.

“The platform! I think it’s gonna fall!” Barnaby looked back down and Kotetsu had never seen him look so scared before. “H-hold on! I’m going to swing you over to the roof, okay?!”

Kotetsu nodded. “Okay, just hurry!”

Barnaby started to swing Kotetsu back and forth and finally got up enough momentum. “Okay one…two…three!!” Barnaby swung Kotetsu over and he landed on the roof. He then started rolling and only stopped when he hit the wall by the door. He grunted and leaned up against the wall before desperately looking back towards the platform to find Barnaby, who had managed to jump onto the roof just as the platform fell. Barnaby stumbled over to Kotetsu and laid down next to him, looking exhausted and breathing heavily.

Kotetsu let out a breathy and relieved laugh. “Oh man…that was…I thought I was a goner there for a second ahaha.”

Barnaby’s brows furrowed slightly and his lip started to tremble.

“You’d think that with my track record of falling they’d implement some kind of jet pack into my suit, yeah? I’ll have to talk to Mr. Saito about that later.” He laughed again before flipping his visor up to get a better breather. “Anyway…thanks.”

“You owe me, Old Man!” Barnaby said through a choked voice before sitting up and punching him lightly on the arm.

“For what? Saving my life? If that were the case, I would owe you a lot.”

“No, for scaring me like that!”

Kotetsu was taken aback by Barnaby’s tone and noticed the seriousness of it. “Oh.” Kotetsu realized, and started to feel guilty. “Yeah okay, I know…I activated my power too soon again. I’m sorry, I just saw that you were in trouble and my body moved on its own and…” Barnaby shot Kotetsu a glare. “Woah! Hey, what’s with that expression?” Barnaby’s eyes started trembling and he moved in a little closer. “Oh come on, Bunny! Don’t tell me you’re actually mad at—” Barnaby grabbed Kotetsu’s shoulders and pulled him in to push their lips together.

Kotetsu’s eyes widened and his heart started to race. What…what was happening? Was Barnaby seriously kissing him right now? What on earth could have compelled him to do that?! Kotetsu felt like he should pull away, ask him to explain, but Barnaby’s lips were just so soft and Kotetsu wanted nothing more than to kiss back…it’s what he had always wanted. He wanted to lean in, let himself enjoy it, but there was just no logical reason for Barnaby to be doing this, was there? Kotetsu felt Barnaby’s grip on his shoulders loosen and Barnaby’s lips slowly pulled away; Kotetsu was a little disappointed that it had ended so soon. Barnaby opened his eyes and looked at Kotetsu, his expression was kind of hard to read.

“Bunny…” Kotetsu finally said after a few seconds of staring. “What…”

Barnaby’s eyes shot wide open and he released Kotetsu’s shoulders completely. “Oh my god! Kotetsu, I-I’m so sorry, I—”

“What the hell is going on with you two?!” Came Agnes’ voice over the com channel, causing Barnaby to jump and push himself away from Kotetsu.

Kotetsu laughed nervously, feeling panicked that Agnes somehow knew what had just happened. “Wh-what do you mean?! There’s nothing going on with us! We’re just all fine and dandy hahaha.”

“I’m talking about the mission, you idiot.” Agnes said, sounding exasperated. “Did you apprehend the NEXT?”

“Oh uh…no, unfortunately. She and her accomplice got away.”

Agnes sighed. “I guess we shouldn’t have expected to get them all, there were just too many. Well, get back down here so we can regroup.”

“We’ll be right down.” Barnaby responded on his own com channel before standing up and walking away towards the edge of the roof.

“Hey, Bunny!” Kotetsu stood up to follow. “Hold on a second! What…what exactly just happened?!”

Barnaby stopped and turned his head towards Kotetsu slightly, but he didn’t look him in the eye. “I’m sorry, Kotetsu. I crossed a line I shouldn’t have. Please just…” Barnaby’s voice cracked slightly. “Please just forget about what happened.” He turned away from Kotetsu and used his thrusters to hop over to the next building.

“Bunny, wait!!” Kotetsu ran over to the ledge to catch him, but he had already hopped too far away. Kotetsu sighed and reached a hand up to his face to brush a thumb over his lips. He felt his heart flip and still could not comprehend what just happened. Forget it? He didn’t want to forget it. How could he? He’s had feelings for Barnaby for so long and he never dreamed that something like that could actually happen. Kotetsu frowned…if Barnaby wanted him to forget it, then it was probably a mistake. He clenched his fist and shook the thought away. No, he wasn’t just going to assume things again! He needed an explanation. Even if it turned out to be what he assumed all along, he would have rather heard it from Barnaby instead of jumping to conclusions like he always did.

Though it was definitely not wise to get his hopes up, why would Barnaby even want someone like him anyway? He could have anyone he wanted and there was just no way Kotetsu was included on that list. He sighed again, there was no use in thinking about it now since they were still technically in the middle of a mission. He finally made his way back down to the transporters where everyone was gathered around and talking amongst each other. Barnaby looked like he just gotten there himself and was talking to Mr. Saito, Ben, and Agnes.

“Barnaby, did you lose your helmet again? Honestly!” Saito said as he fussed over Barnaby’s suit.

“Sorry about that, Mr. Saito.” Barnaby spotted Kotetsu as he approached, but he looked away immediately. Kotetsu’s heart sank a little. It was not going to be easy to get him to talk about this, was it?

Agnes sighed. “That’s disappointing. I was hoping to get some good footage from your helmet cam. Hopefully Tiger’s…” Agnes noticed Kotetsu. “Ah, Tiger, there you are.”

“Oh, Agnes!” Kotetsu ran over, remembering the helicopter crash. “Are Mario and the others okay?”

“Fortunately. They were injured pretty badly, but they got rushed to hospital immediately and last I heard they were doing okay.”

“That’s a relief.” Kotetsu would have felt really guilty had anything worse happened since he was standing right there when Triss shot them down.

“I’m glad to see you still have your helmet on! Did you get any good footage for me?”

“Uh…” Kotetsu looked at Barnaby again and suddenly panicked. He couldn’t remember if the camera still recorded or not when his visor was up and there was no way he’d want anyone to see what had happened. He’d have to skim through the footage later and find out, maybe he could cut that part out somehow. “I uh…think so! I’ll take a look at it with Mr. Saito’s equipment later!”

Agnes sighed in relief. “Good, at least we’ll have that. I still can’t believe that NEXT took out the entire helicopter!”

“Yeah, she could shoot these really powerful bolts that could push you through walls and she could short circuit stuff.” Kotetsu remembered his cables. “Oh yeah! Mr. Saito! I almost forgot to mention, the NEXT used her power on my arms and it short circuited my grappling cables! I wasn’t able to use them at all!”

“What?! Let me see!” Saito hurried over and took a hold of Kotetsu’s arms and started examining them. “That’s very intriguing yet also very infuriating. I can’t believe she managed to short circuit my equipment! I’ll have to take a closer look later when you’re not wearing your suit. In the meantime, you’ll have to switch to your back up suit until I can get these fixed.”

“So did anyone manage to make any arrests?” Barnaby asked.

“It was a successful evening for me!” Sky High said.

“Sure did!” Dragon Kid jumped in.

“I made a few arrests, actually.” Blue Rose said casually.

“Me too!” Fire Emblem added.

Barnaby nodded. “That’s good. Then maybe we can figure out if any of them really were part of Ouroboros.”

Kotetsu was surprised Barnaby was wondering that since he was right there when Triss confirmed it. Maybe he was too busy with Mag and hadn’t heard. “Uh actually…the NEXT we fought was definitely with Ouroboros.”

Everyone went quiet and stared at Kotetsu.

“How do you know?” Bison asked.

“Well she told me, but she also said that she only joined for their resources and not because she actually cared about their cause. Also um…” Kotetsu paused, still not understanding what the hell was going on. “Not to sound over-dramatic or anything, but I’m just a little concerned because I think this NEXT wants to kill me.”

“What?!” Everyone said at the same time, all looking completely perplexed.

“Why would you think that?!” Saito asked.

“Well, she just said this really weird thing before she took off. Like ‘you’d better not die before I get to kill you’ or something…”

“Why on earth would she want to kill you of all people?” Agnes said, almost sounding like she didn’t believe him.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure. All she said was that it was my fault her sister was dead, but I have no idea what the hell she was talking about.”

“That’s very strange. You’re definitely not the kind of person who gets people killed.” Ben said with concern in his voice.

“Did you happen to get any names?” Agnes asked.

“Triss.” Barnaby said, Kotetsu glanced over at him. “Her name was Triss, and her friend’s name was Mag, but I don’t recall any last names.” Barnaby looked at Kotetsu again with a worried expression, but quickly looked away once he realized that Kotetsu had noticed.

“Well, that doesn’t really help much.” Ben put his fingers to his chin in thought. “Did she say anything else?”

Kotetsu lowered his brows and tried to wrack his brain for something important. “Ah! She did mention her sister’s name! It was Lyla…something. I can’t remember.”

“We’ll try to look into it. Maybe some of the NEXTs we arrested will have an idea who she is.” Agnes said. “In the meantime, you should all head back to Justice Tower in case they decide to attack again any time soon”

“Right!” Everyone agreed before they all started to split up to their own transporters.

“And Barnaby?” Agnes added. “Make sure to watch over Tiger until we catch this Triss person. If she really wants him dead, then we can’t be too careful.”

Barnaby glanced over at Kotetsu again and Kotetsu could tell he was scared. Barnaby looked back to Agnes and nodded. “Of course.”

Agnes smiled and walked over to get inside the HeroTV van while Barnaby shot another quick glance at Kotetsu before hurrying inside the Apollon Media transporter.

“Let’s get going, Tiger!” Saito said while poking his head out of the window.

Kotetsu sighed before climbing aboard as well, and walked straight to the back to get his suit off. Barnaby passed him on the way, now wearing only his under armor, and he didn’t say anything to Kotetsu as he walked by. Kotetsu watched him sit on the couch and put his finger and thumb to his eyebrows to rub them; this was going to be a very awkward ride back to Justice Tower.

After Kotetsu got his suit off he walked back out to the main area where Barnaby was still sitting and he grunted sharply while rolling his shoulders and neck; Triss really had done a number on him.

“Are…you okay?” Barnaby said, catching Kotetsu off guard. He looked up and saw Barnaby staring at him with that concerned face again.

Kotetsu smiled, relieved Barnaby finally said something to him. “Ah, yeah. I’m fine.” He sat on the couch across from Barnaby. “I’m not really worried. About Triss, I mean. Not while I have you around to protect me.”

Barnaby gave a light scoff and shook his head, and Kotetsu was happy that things didn’t seem to be too awkward so far.

“What about you?” Kotetsu asked. “You holding up okay?”

Barnaby nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“That Mag, though…her powers were insane.”

“Heh, tell me about it. I could barely get a hit in.”

“It was kinda weird too…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like compared to that other telekinetic NEXT from earlier today. The way she lifted me up just felt…different. Kind of like she wasn’t really lifting me, but…”

Barnaby lowered his brows. “What on earth are you talking about, Old Man?”

“I don’t know! It was just something weird I noticed, but it probably doesn’t really matter anyway. It’s not like every telekinetic NEXT is going to have the same exact way of using their power.”

It grew silent for a moment, and Kotetsu didn’t want to put off this conversation any longer. Especially if they were going to be meeting up with the others soon because he definitely didn’t want to bring it up there.

“So are you…gonna talk to me about what happened on the roof earlier or?”

Barnaby’s eyes shot open again and he stood up from the couch. “I…I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

“Bunny wait!” Kotetsu jumped up from the couch and nearly tripped before grabbing Barnaby’s arm to stop him.

“Kotetsu…let me go.”

“Not until you explain to me what the hell just happened!”

Barnaby wrenched his arm out of Kotetsu’s grasp and continued walking towards the door to the other room.

“Bunny, come on! Bunny!” Barnaby ignored Kotetsu and kept walking to the door. Kotetsu frowned and clenched his fists. “Barnaby!”

Barnaby stopped at the sound of his name and finally turned around, but his expression totally shocked Kotetsu because he looked like he was on the verge of tears. “Please, Kotetsu, just forget it.” Barnaby’s voice cracked. “I’m begging you. Then we can just go back to how things were, okay?” He turned to leave again.

Kotetsu couldn’t stand seeing Barnaby like this. What the hell was going on? “Bunny, wait!” Kotetsu started to chase after him, but the transporter jolted to a sudden stop and the lights flickered off, stopping both of them in their tracks. “What was that?”

“I’m not sure.” Barnaby said looking up at the ceiling lights and back down to Kotetsu in confusion. “We should probably go see if Saito—”

CRASH!

The transporter flipped and sent the two of them careening into the wall, and it wasn’t long before it started rolling over and over again, causing them to tumble all over the place. Kotetsu tried to grab onto something to stop himself from getting thrown around, but they were just tumbling so fast and the lights having gone out didn’t help the problem either. Things were now starting to break and get tossed around as well and that only made things worse because it was just more shit for them to run into.

“Kotetsu!” Barnaby called. Kotetsu tried to find out where his voice was coming from and saw him holding onto the railing behind the couch. “Try to grab onto me!”

Kotetsu tried to control his movements and make his way over to Barnaby, but it wasn’t really working out too well. Just how the hell much longer were they going to keep rolling for? Were they rolling down a damn mountainside or something?

As soon as Kotetsu thought that, the transporter finally stopped, but unfortunately at the wrong time because he was at the top of the thing and the gravity made him fall straight down with a thud. Well, that was definitely going to leave a bruise…or ten.

“Kotetsu!” Barnaby grunted as he let go of the railing and landed on his feet. “You okay?!”

Kotetsu groaned and looked up at Barnaby rushing over to help him, and he felt extremely dizzy, but he noticed something moving behind him and gasped. “Bunny! Behind you!”

Barnaby glanced over his shoulder and was struck on the head and knocked to the ground unconscious.

“B-Bunny…” Kotetsu coughed and tried to push himself up, but he saw a pair of black boots walking towards him and he was forced back down with a harsh step on his back.

“Oh good, I’m glad you didn’t die yet.” came a familiar voice.

“T-Triss?” Kotetsu said weakly.

“You actually remembered my name? That’s flattering considering you failed to remember my sister’s name.” She reached down to grab Kotetsu by the collar and started to drag him out of the transporter.

Kotetsu glanced back at Barnaby as he was being dragged away and noticed Barnaby was bleeding and he started to panic. “Bunny! Ugh…let-let me go!” He tried to break free from Triss’ grasp, but he was just too weak from getting tossed around like he did and he was nearly on the verge of collapse himself.

“Good job on flipping that transporter, Mag.” Triss said once they were out of the wreckage and back onto the street. “Wouldn’t have been able to do that without you.”

“Thanks, Triss. It was a lot harder to lift than the hero suits earlier, but I managed okay.”

Kotetsu was struggling to stay conscious now and tried one more time to pry himself from Triss’ grasp, but was unsuccessful. He glanced over as the wreckage started to get further and further away and he clenched his jaw. “I’m sorry, Bunny…” He finally lost consciousness.

Chapter Text

Barnaby blearily opened his eyes and found nothing but the darkness of the wrecked transporter in front of him. He groaned as he tried to push himself up, but his head was pounding and he felt a sharp pain on the side of it. He reached a hand up to inspect it and felt something wet there, so he immediately withdrew his hand and saw that it was bloody.

“Ugh, great.” He groaned again as he pushed himself up to a more comfortable position. “Kotetsu, what happened?” He looked over to where he had last remembered seeing him, but he wasn’t there. “Kotetsu?” Barnaby turned to look on the other side of him but he couldn’t see much in the dark. It wasn’t like Kotetsu to just leave like that, so Barnaby sensed that something was wrong. He struggled to push himself to his feet and stumbled slightly before grabbing onto something to regain his balance. He wandered back to the door to the next room, but it was completely jammed so he figured Kotetsu wasn’t there and made his way outside of the transporter.

“Kotetsu?!” Barnaby looked around the wreckage and couldn’t find any trace of Kotetsu anywhere, which started to worry him. Where the hell did he go? He finally found his way to the front of the vehicle and leaned down to look through the windows to notice that Mr. Saito was still in the driver’s seat, Ben next to him in the passenger seat. “Mr. Saito! Ben!”

“Barnaby…” Ben said weakly on the other side of the glass.

“Cover your heads!” Barnaby brought his foot back and kicked the window in to break the glass. He knelt down and helped Saito and Ben get out of there and was relieved that they didn’t look like they fared too badly from the accident. “Are you okay?!”

Saito nodded and held a shaky thumbs up.

“Fit as a fiddle!” Ben grumbled almost sarcastically.

Barnaby sighed in relief but then worriedly glanced around for Kotetsu again. “Hey, have you seen Kotetsu anywhere?”

“No, I thought he was with you.” Ben said, sounding concerned.

“Well he was before the accident, but I blacked out and when I finally came to, he was gone.”

They both gave Barnaby a worried look before finally standing up and Saito winced at the sight of the wreckage. “My transporter…”

“What exactly happened anyway?” Barnaby asked, still glancing around for Kotetsu.

“Well, this woman just…landed on the hood out of nowhere.” Saito recalled. “So I stepped on the brakes, of course, but I guess she was a NEXT because she started glowing and then the engine cut out.”

“Then she hopped off the hood and there was another woman standing in the middle of the road in front of us…and then the transporter suddenly flipped over and I think I passed out.” Ben said.

Barnaby had an extremely bad feeling about this. “What did these NEXTs look like?”

“Uh,” Saito narrowed his eyes in thought. “The one that landed on my hood had long red hair and was wearing all black clothes…”

Barnaby’s breath caught in his throat and he felt like his heart stopped. “Triss…it was Triss!”

Ben gasped. “Triss? The NEXT after Tiger?!”

“Shit, she must have taken him!” Barnaby started to look around frantically in all directions. “They can’t have gone too far yet but…where did she take him?!” Barnaby ran around the transporter, ignoring Saito’s call after him, and looked for anything that might be a clue to where they went. He found nothing, so he glanced around the area and was frustrated that there seemed to be absolutely no one around who might have seen what happened. “Kotetsu!!” He called out desperately, even though there was no point because they were probably long out of ear shot by now.

“Barnaby, wait a minute!” Saito huffed as he caught up with him. “Was Tiger wearing his communicator?”

“Yeah, he always has it on.”

“I don’t know if you remember but it has a tracking device in it and it keeps track of his vitals as well. I would access that info now, but my laptop seems to have been destroyed in the accident, so we need to get back to Apollon Media as quickly as we can so I can access it there instead!”

His communicator, of course! Barnaby couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that. “Okay, I’ll call Agnes right now!” He called up Agnes and told her what happened. She sounded worried, but said they’d be there to pick them up right away.

Barnaby felt bad just leaving the scene of an accident, but Agnes said she’d take care of it later and that the police knew there was an urgent matter they needed to attend to, so they didn’t have time to stick around. Barnaby was just thankful that no innocent bystanders had been involved in that, otherwise he would have felt even guiltier for leaving. He thought of Kotetsu and how he would have refused to leave something like that, especially if any civilians had been hurt; he clenched his hands tighter together out of worry.

How did this happen? How did Barnaby let this happen? If he had just apprehended Triss earlier, or if he hadn’t been a complete idiot for forcing himself on Kotetsu like that, then maybe he would have been thinking more clearly and he could have done something more to prevent this. He knitted his brows together. Why the hell did he do that anyway?! He had been mere seconds away from not making it to catch Kotetsu in time and he couldn’t handle all of his emotions of fear for almost losing him, relief for his safety, and then anger at the old man for using his power without thinking again.

Barnaby scoffed at himself, like he was one to talk. His body just moved of its own accord and the next second he knew he was kissing Kotetsu, and in those few seconds everything was absolutely wonderful…until he pulled away and saw that completely bewildered expression on Kotetsu’s face. Reality had come rushing back in and Barnaby panicked. What had he just done?! He had completely ruined everything in just a few short seconds and he couldn’t take that back. Now Kotetsu was going to be uncomfortable and— “Ugh…” Barnaby heard himself mutter. Of course the last thing that had happened before the accident was them fucking arguing! Now Kotetsu was going to be uncomfortable and angry at him.

Barnaby swung his head back against the seat behind him a little too hard and regretted it immediately because his head was still hurting from his injury. He got bandaged up as soon as Agnes arrived, but it wasn’t a very well done job since Cain was a director and not a medic. Barnaby winced as he rubbed his head and tried not to think about this anymore. He needed to focus on finding Kotetsu and bringing him home safe before he worried about that goddamn kiss.

Agnes had called ahead to get a medic to meet them at the Apollon Media building so they could tend to Barnaby’s injures, and Barnaby sat there impatiently as the medic cleaned and re-bandaged his wound properly. The medic checked his eyes to make sure he hadn’t gotten a concussion and Barnaby was honestly surprised and thankful that he hadn’t, and was given the okay to rejoin the group.

Barnaby hurried into the elevator and pressed the button multiple times as if that would make it go any faster, then ran into Saito’s lab to see him typing furiously on his computer while Agnes and Ben were gathered around him and watching the screen.

“Have you found anything yet?” Barnaby said as he rushed over to look at the screen as well.

“I’ve picked up on his signal, but I’m still trying to pinpoint the location.”

Barnaby rested his hand on the desk and leaned forward a little to get a better look. There was a map of Sternbild up on the screen and it was slowly zooming in to the spot where Kotetsu’s signal was, and Barnaby was relieved that it had been picked up. “How much longer is this going to take?”

“Just a few more minutes, don’t worry.” Saito reassured as he continued typing. And, as he said, only a few minutes passed before the laptop made a beeping noise and Saito stopped typing. “Aha! I got him!” He adjusted his glasses and looked closely at the map on the screen. “His vitals seem to be doing fine, and it looks like he’s in a warehouse in South Bronze.”

Barnaby let out a breath of relief. Kotetsu was still alive!

“Okay,” Agnes said as she got out her phone. “I’ll call everyone and we’ll set up a rescue operation right away.” She started to leave the room.

“Wait, Agnes…” Barnaby stopped her. “I don’t know if I like the idea of you televising this. I have a feeling that Triss could be watching HeroTV and I don’t want her getting tipped off.”

Agnes laughed. “Do you even know me? I would never do something that idiotic. We’ll get everything set up, and once you break into her hideout, we’ll go live. And if Triss is watching, she won’t have any time to get away.” Agnes shivered in anticipation. “Now, get back into your suit and get down to South Bronze pronto!”

Barnaby still didn’t like that this was being treated like just another broadcast of HeroTV, but he nodded anyway and went to get his suit on. He was sure the other suits survived the crash, considering how durable they were, but they didn’t have time to retrieve them once Agnes picked them up, so he was thankful they had a few backups here. Once his suit was on, he checked the time and he only had about ten more minutes until his power was fully recharged, which was perfect. He’d be ready to face Triss again, and this time he had the other heroes to help if Mag was there too.

Since the transporter was trashed, Barnaby had to take his bike, but he was fine with that; he felt like he had more control that way. He hopped on and glanced over at Kotetsu’s empty bike standing next to it and he tightly gripped his handlebars before taking a deep breath to calm himself. Kotetsu was going to be okay. They knew where he was, they just needed to get him out of there as soon as possible because there was no telling what Triss was doing to him right now.

He sped off to South Bronze as quickly as he could, avoiding any traffic, and was surprised at how many cars were on the road despite it being nearly 10pm. He was the first to arrive at the specified rendezvous point, and he waited impatiently for the rest of the heroes to get there. Not like this was a life or death situation or anything!

Blue Rose arrived next and she looked like she wanted to tear Barnaby’s head off, and he couldn’t really say he blamed her; it was his fault Kotetsu got kidnapped in the first place and she was probably worried about him too. Thankfully, the other heroes started to arrive shortly after that, so he didn’t have to stand there in a tense and awkward silence with Blue Rose for long.

“Bonjour, heroes.” Came Agnes’ voice. “I’m going to be opening all com channels so you can all talk amongst yourselves easier during this operation. Tiger’s signal is still showing strong in that warehouse, so be sure to get him out safely.”

“Remember,” Barnaby started. “Triss can manipulate lightning, just not in the same way as Dragon Kid does.”

“Heh, I can take her.” Dragon Kid said, clenching her staff tighter. “Lightning doesn’t affect me.”

“Still, be careful. Her bolts may not affect you, but they have an extremely powerful punch to them. Also watch out for Mag, she’s a crazy strong telekinetic NEXT. I could barely get a hit on her when I fought her earlier.”

“Since Triss is a member of Ouroboros, there may be other NEXTs in there as well.” Agnes warned. “So be mindful of your surroundings.”

Everyone nodded. “Right!”

“Now, there are three entrances to this place and I want all of them covered. Sky High, Origami Cyclone, and Dragon Kid, I want you three at the south entrance. Fire Emblem and Rock Bison, you take the west entrance. Barnaby and Blue Rose, you take the north entrance.”

Blue Rose shot Barnaby an annoyed glance, but she reluctantly agreed to the arrangements. Barnaby wasn’t too happy with them either, but there was no use in complaining right now.

“Good luck, everyone. Be sure to catch good footage with your own cams, and we’ll go live as soon as you break through the doors.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Everyone said before they all split up to their respective entrances.

Barnaby and Blue Rose snuck off to the north entrance on the other side of the building and readied themselves for Agnes’ signal.

“Hey, Blue Rose?”

Blue Rose sighed in annoyance. “What is it, pretty boy?”

Barnaby rolled his eyes underneath his helmet and chose to ignore the nickname. “I know you’re probably blaming me for letting Kotetsu get kidnapped…hell, I’m blaming me…but we need to make sure we can work togeth—”

“Oh shut up, I’m not that petty!” She turned to look at him. “I’m annoyed at you, yes, but I’m not just gonna let that cloud my judgement while Tiger’s life is in danger!” Blue Rose turned back to the door, brows lowered. “You should be worrying more about getting him out than about me being mad at you.”

Barnaby opened his mouth to say something, but opted against it. He could care less about her being mad at him, he just wanted to be sure she was thinking clearly, but he should have figured she wouldn’t put Kotetsu’s life at risk over something so trivial.

“Is everyone in position?” Agnes finally asked.

“Yes!” Everyone responded intermittently.

“Alright, on my signal, break those doors down! Ready…and…NOW!”

Barnaby kicked the door in and the two of them ran inside, making sure not to let their guard down and check every inch of this place for any NEXTs that might try to attack. They went down a long hallway, coming to a few doors along the way, and checked them thoroughly, but found nothing other than stacks of shipping crates and dead rats.

“Ew…now that’s just gross…” Blue Rose grumbled, pinching her nose at the foul smell.

“We’d better keep moving.” Barnaby turned away from the room and continued down the hall again. “Where are you, Kotetsu?” He said to himself, worry starting to surface again.

“Hey, guys! We uh…we found a body!” came Bison’s voice over the com channel.

Barnaby nearly ran into the wall and had a moment of panic before he finally choked out a response. “Wh-what?! It’s…it’s not—”

“No, no! It’s not Kotetsu! Sorry, I should have specified right away!” Bison sputtered out.

“I think he’s a janitor or something, he has a uniform on.” Fire Emblem guessed. “Maybe he was working late and Triss took him out to…get him out of the way…”

Barnaby was relieved that it hadn’t been Kotetsu, but he felt bad nonetheless. Civilian deaths never used to affect him nearly as much, but Kotetsu really had an impact on him that way. He was just so goddamn compassionate that it had rubbed off on Barnaby over the years.

“Tiger’s vitals are still showing up fine, so stop worrying and just find him already!” Agnes yelled, and everyone went back to searching the warehouse. They came across a few more rooms, but still found nothing.

“Find anything yet?” Barnaby asked.

“Nothing at all.” Sky High responded.

“Nothing else on our end either.” Bison said.

“It’s kind of strange,” Origami said. “It just seems way too quiet. We should have come across someone by now.”

They kept walking and finally came to a large room that had windows and a few ladders that led up to the rafters. Barnaby glanced around a bit, still only seeing stacks of crates, but then he spotted someone on the far end of the room chained to a chair and with a burlap sack over their head.

Blue Rose gasped. “Is that…?”

“Kotetsu?” Barnaby nearly activated his powers to rush out. “Kotets—”

“Hey, hold on a second!” Blue Rose shot ice at his feet to stop him from moving.

“What the hell did you do that for?!”

“Don’t be an idiot! Don’t you think it’s a little weird that he’s just sitting there by himself?! For all we know, this could be a trap!”

Barnaby inhaled sharply, realizing he could have just made a huge mistake. What on earth was he thinking?! “You’re right…sorry.”

“Jeez.” Blue Rose laughed lightly as Barnaby started to break himself free of the ice. “You really are becoming a lot more like him, you know? Rushing out so carelessly like that is something he would do.”

Barnaby pouted because he knew she was right. It was reckless of him to try and rush out like that, he was just worried and was letting his emotions get the best of him; he needed to be more careful. “We found him.” He told everyone over the com channel. “He’s in this large room, I think it might be the main area of the building, but he’s chained to a chair and all alone. It could be a trap.”

“I think I know what room you’re talking about.” Fire Emblem said. “We just found it as well.”

“Same here!” said Dragon Kid. “Yeah, I think I see Tiger over there! Does he have a sack on his head?”

“Yes, I think we’re all in the same area.” Blue Rose said.

“Perfect.” said Agnes. “You should all move out at the same time, but keep an eye open for a possible ambush.”

“Okay,” Barnaby started. “Is everyone ready?” Everyone gave an affirmative response. “Let’s go!”

Barnaby activated his powers and they all rushed out together. Barnaby was very careful to use his helmet tech to look up in the rafters and behind crates as he went along, but he didn’t see anything or anyone, which was extremely off-putting. “I don’t see anything, do any of you?”

“No.” Blue Rose said warily.

“This is…really weird, you guys.” Bison said, still looking around.

“So…no ambush?” Origami asked.

“I guess not, but don’t let your guard down. I don’t trust this.” Barnaby said, glancing around one more time and not finding a single thing that seemed out of place. Just what the hell was going on? “Kotetsu?” Barnaby made his way over to him and knelt down to check the chair for anything suspicious that might be set off. He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, so he reached for the sack on his head. “Are you okay?” He tore the sack off, but was met with a face that was most definitely not Kotetsu’s.

“Oh man, finally! Took you guys long enough! That sack was starting to get a bit stuffy!”

Barnaby dropped the sack and jumped away. “Who…who the hell are you?!”

“Aww, you don’t recognize me? Well, I suppose we did only meet for a brief moment earlier. The name’s Worm, nice to officially meet ya.”

Barnaby thought hard for a second and then remembered the NEXT with elasticity from earlier that evening. “You…”

“What the hell is going on?!” Bison said as he and the other heroes made their way over. “Who the hell is this guy?!”

“Triss said you’d all try to save Wild Tiger, so that’s why she left me here instead!”

Barnaby felt himself start to shake with worry. “What are you talking about? Where’s Kotetsu?!”

Dragon Kid gasped. “Barnaby…he’s wearing Tiger’s communicator.”

“What?” Barnaby glanced down at Worm’s wrist and saw Kotetsu’s green communicator there. Barnaby’s heart fell and he started to panic again. If he was wearing that, then where was… “Damnit, where did she take him?!” Worm didn’t respond and just laughed. Barnaby flipped up his visor and grabbed the collar of Worm’s shirt to intimidate him. “Stop playing games, where is he?!”

“Now why would I tell you that? It would just spoil the fun!”

Barnaby growled and brought a fist back to punch him in the face. “Where is he, you bastard?!”

Worm looked back at Barnaby with a now terrified expression, but he still didn’t say anything.

Barnaby grimaced and pulled back his fist again. “Where is he?!” He punched Worm once more, causing his head to fly back harshly. Worm whimpered before looking back at Barnaby and his nose was now bloody.

“Barnaby, stop! We’re still on the air!” Agnes warned, sounding concerned.

Barnaby ignored Agnes’ plea and pulled his fist back for yet another punch, but his arm was stopped by Bison before it could follow through.

“Barnaby, calm down! You’re going too far!” Bison said.

Barnaby yanked his arm out of Bison’s grasp. “How can I calm down?! That bastard has Kotetsu and she’s going to kill him if we don’t find him! Do you even care what happens to him?!”

“The hell did you just say to me?!” Bison moved towards Barnaby and looked like he was going to try to ram into him. “Of course I care what happens to him! He’s been my best friend since high school, you jackass!”

“Knock it off!” Blue Rose snapped, running in between the two, and Bison backed off. “Barnaby, what the hell is wrong with you?! You’re not the only one who cares about Tiger, you know! I’m worried too, okay, we all are! But we’re never going to find him if you don’t stop acting like an irrational asshole!”

Barnaby took a step back, completely shocked by his own behavior. “I…I’m sorry.” He turned away and headed for the door; he needed some air.

“Hey!” Blue Rose yelled after him. “Don’t just walk away from—”

“Just let him go.” Fire Emblem said calmly. “I think he needs to cool off.”

Barnaby found his way back outside and punched the wall out of frustration, leaving a huge hole there before eventually leaning up against it and sliding onto the ground. He reached up to take his helmet off and then set it on the ground next to him. He covered his face with his hand and it wasn’t long before he felt his eyes start to sting with tears, and he let them fall because he needed to let this out or else he wouldn’t be able to think clearly later.

Blue Rose was right, what the hell was he thinking? How could he be acting so recklessly when Kotetsu’s life was in danger? He was utterly ashamed of himself. Now they had no idea where Kotetsu was and Barnaby shook as he sat there crying. “Kotetsu…I’m so sorry.”

Barnaby jumped at the sound of his communicator going off and was surprised to see that it was Kaede trying to reach him. His heart sank. How could he face Kaede at a time like this? She’d probably been watching the show and saw him acting like a total idiot and was definitely worried for her dad. He stared at the incoming call and contemplated not answering, but he couldn’t just do that to her. He needed to tell her what was happening.

“Kaede?” He finally answered.

“Barnaby! What’s going on?! I just saw what happened on TV, but they suddenly stopped the broadcast. I tried calling Dad a few times, but I couldn’t get through! Was he really kidnapped?!”

“Yes, he was taken by a NEXT a little over an hour ago. We tracked his communicator here but…it was a decoy.”

“D-do you think he’s okay?”

“I…I’m sure he’s fine, Kaede. We just need to regroup and do everything we can to find out where he is.”

Barnaby heard Kaede sob a little bit and it nearly broke his heart. “Why would someone take him? He would never hurt anyone!”

“I…” Barnaby took a deep breath, trying hard not to break down over the phone. “I don’t know for sure, but we’re going to find out and I’ll keep you updated, okay?”

“Okay. Please, Barnaby, find my dad!”

“I will. I promise.” The call ended and Barnaby felt a few more tears roll down his cheek. He shouldn’t have promised something like that when he didn’t know for sure if he’d even find Kotetsu, but he didn’t want Kaede to worry any more than she already was.

“Barnaby where are you?!” Agnes’ voice came over the com channel. “We’ve arrested this NEXT and we all need to get back to Justice Tower right away so we can interrogate him properly.”

Barnaby wiped his eyes and took a deep breath before putting his helmet back on and standing up. “Sorry about that, Agnes. I’ll be right there.”

Everyone went completely quiet once Barnaby walked into the sitting room at Justice Tower and it was almost like they were all talking about him just before he walked through the doors. He didn’t look at them and just walked straight across the room and went through the next set of doors. It would have been too awkward to sit in the same room right now after what he just did.

He collapsed onto the couch and just placed his head in his hands, feeling completely drained and in dire need to hydrate. He probably should have gotten something from one of the vending machines, but he didn’t think of it till now and didn’t want to walk back through the other room again. As if almost on cue, he heard the doors slide open and looked up to see Fire Emblem there with a few bottles of water.

“You doing okay, Handsome?” Fire Emblem walked over and handed him a bottle.

“Ah, thanks…” He took the bottle and nearly downed the entire thing in one go as Fire Emblem sat on the couch next to him, but made sure to give him some space. They leaned back comfortably as if they were just waiting for him to vent. Barnaby wasn’t even sure if he wanted to vent, but he probably should. It would have been better for everyone if he stopped taking his frustrations out on them. “That was our only lead…now we have nothing. He could be anywhere, he could be completely out of Sternbild by now for all we know…”

“Hey, we’ll find him. That weaselly little guy? He’ll crack, don’t you worry about that. I’m sure he’ll give us some kind of info about Triss.”

Triss. Barnaby lowered his brows and thought back to his fight with her. She had been within his reach, just a few more hits and she would have been beaten, but then that damn platform gave out! He clenched his hands around his bottle and nearly crushed the thing. “If I had just…if I had just arrested Triss earlier…”

Fire Emblem leaned forward. “Honey, no. Tiger getting taken wasn’t your fault. There was no way you could have known that was going to happen.”

“I just…” Barnaby looked away, thinking about that stupid kiss now. “I did something extremely stupid earlier and then on the ride back we…we had an argument and I don’t…” He started to tear up. “I don’t want that to be the last thing that we…”

“Hey,” Fire Emblem reached over to touch Barnaby’s shoulder. “It won’t be.”

“And then I just…lost it back there. God, I’m so embarrassed!” He dropped his face into his hand. “I haven’t lost it like that since Jake.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Fire Emblem squeezed his shoulder. “Love makes you do crazy things, after all.”

Barnaby swung his head around to look at Fire Emblem. “How-how did you—”

Fire Emblem smiled. “Well, not to brag, but I caught on a long time ago. Then when you came to me for advice yesterday, I had my suspicions. I’ve just never seen you hang out with anyone else so...who else could it have been?”

Barnaby groaned and looked away out of embarrassment.

“Also, I sort of…overheard you asking him if you could change the time for your dinner date, haha. How did that go, by the way?”

Barnaby frowned, that dinner seemed like such a long time ago now. He wished he could have gone back to it and told Kotetsu everything much earlier in the evening.

“Oh, not good?”

“No, it was actually going really well. It just got interrupted by this call before I could…”

“I see. That’s unfortunate timing.”

Barnaby laughed dryly. “Tell me about it.” Barnaby ran his thumbs up and down the water bottle and he felt tears sting at his eyes again. “I can’t…I can’t lose him, Fire Emblem. He’s the most important person in my life. Back when we fought H-01, when I thought I’d lost him, there was just no way I would have recovered from that trauma. Not when I’d already lost so many others who were important to me. I don’t want to have to go through that feeling again…”

“I know. You just need to believe that he’s going to be okay. He’s a tough guy, y’know? Even without his powers.”

Barnaby smiled and wiped his eyes. “He’s definitely the stubborn type.”

“Exactly. You know he won’t give up so easily without a fight, so why should you?”

“You’re right.” Barnaby leaned over and hugged them. “Thank you, Fire Emblem.”

“Aww, a hug from Handsome? I feel so honored!” They gave a tight squeeze before pushing him away. “But you’d better tell Tiger the truth about your feelings once this is all over, okay?!”

Barnaby almost laughed, but then nodded. “I will, I will. Don’t worry.”

“Good!” Fire Emblem hopped up and went back to the other room.

Barnaby sat there for a bit longer and finished his water before he decided to follow. Everyone looked at him again and he took a deep breath. “Antonio? Can I talk to you for a second?”

Bison looked taken aback at the usage of his real name, but he grumbled before standing up and walking over. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier. That was completely out of line. I know you were friends with Kotetsu long before I even knew him, but…”

“Hey, I get it. I’ve been close with him for over a decade, but you and Kotetsu are…it’s different with you two. I understand why you’d be upset.”

“Still…I shouldn’t have taken it out on you, you were only trying to help. So, again, I’m really sorry about that.”

Antonio smiled. “Thanks for your apology. I appreciate it.” He turned to go sit back on the couch, but stopped briefly to look back at Barnaby with a smug look on his face. “I’m sure Kotetsu will be thrilled to hear how worried you were about him, though.”

Barnaby looked away and it was hard to hide the blush on his face. Did everyone know how he felt about Kotetsu or something? First Origami, then Fire Emblem, and now Bison too! At this rate, everyone would end up knowing before Kotetsu even knew. God, Kotetsu sure was oblivious, wasn’t he? Barnaby had literally kissed the guy a few hours ago and he had to ask what it was about. What the hell else could that have meant?! He’d have to get it through to his head somehow.

Barnaby sighed, he couldn’t stress about that now. He needed to focus on finding Kotetsu first. He plopped himself down onto the couch next to Fire Emblem, figuring that would be the safest bet considering the only other open seat was next to Blue Rose and that would have been…awkward. He should probably apologize to her too, actually, and to everyone else for his behavior earlier. He sat up straight and cleared his throat, but then Agnes came through the doors.

“The suspect finally said something!”

Barnaby stood up, feeling hopeful. “What did he say?! Did he say where Triss took Kotetsu?”

“Unfortunately not, but he did give us a name. The NEXT we’re dealing with is Beatrice Richards.”

 “Bunny…” Kotetsu breathed out as he slowly opened his eyes, realizing he was now in a different location and Barnaby wasn’t there. He lowered his brows in worry as he thought about the blood he saw streaming from Barnaby’s head and he hoped that he was okay…Saito and Ben as well. The transporter had been completely thrashed and he felt completely helpless to do anything as Triss dragged him away.

He grunted and tried to move, but felt something hard and cold around him that wasn’t allowing that to happen. He blearily looked down at himself and saw that his arms and legs were chained to the damn chair he was sitting on! So he tried to move his whole body at once, but it seemed the chair itself was bolted to the ground. He groaned in frustration and lifted his head up to try to get a good look at his surroundings, but it made him feel dizzy almost immediately. If he hadn’t been chained to the chair, he probably would have fallen over. He glanced around, but his vision was a little blurry for some reason, and it being dark didn’t help either. Just where the hell was he, anyway?

“Finally awake, I see…” came Triss’ voice.

Kotetsu jerked his head up and noticed her on the other side of the room, sitting in a backwards chair with her arms resting on the back of it. He scowled and clenched his fists. “How long was I out for?”

“Ugh, way too long. I think I might have given you too big of a dosage, so I do apologize for that.” Triss said sarcastically.

So that’s why Kotetsu felt so dizzy. “You drugged me?!”

Triss stood up to bring her chair a little closer and sat in it the normal way this time. “Well, we couldn’t have you waking up before we got you here, now could we? Chaining you up would have been a hassle if you were awake and could activate your powers.”

Kotetsu laughed. “And you really think these chains are even gonna do anything? I could break them in a second with my powers.”

“Perhaps. But what would you do then? Do you really think you could beat me and Mag in only a minute?”

“Eh, I’m not worried about that. I’ll just need to hold you off a bit before Bunny gets here.”

Triss leaned forward with her chin in her hands, looking a little too smug for Kotetsu’s taste. “What makes you so sure he’s even coming? How would he know where to find you without that little tracking device on your wrist?”

“What?!” Kotetsu looked down at his wrist, and sure enough, his communicator was gone. “How did you know about that?!”

“Oh, I did my homework. Ouroboros has quite the collection of info about all you heroes. That’s the reason I joined, after all.” Triss stood up and kicked her chair out of the way. Her eyes started glowing and her hands were sparking with lighting again. “You can activate your powers now if you want…but I’d be saving them if I were you. This is going to be a long night.”

Kotetsu’s eyes widened as Triss walked closer with her hands outstretched. He tried leaning back in the chair as much as he could to get away from her glowing hands, but it was a useless effort and Triss finally reached him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and sent a huge surge of electricity through him. The pain was excruciating and Kotetsu screamed out, activating his powers immediately to make the pain stop.

He managed to break his legs free of the chains and kicked Triss off of him, sending her flying across the room. He sighed as he felt the instant relief of her lightning not rushing through him anymore and then broke his arms free and hopped out of the chair before looking around for an exit. He figured it would be pointless to face her alone, so his best bet was probably to just get the hell out of there and then he and the others could face them later. He frantically searched and couldn’t find any windows, but he noticed a small beam of light coming into the room, so there must have been a door cracked open somewhere! He followed the light to the other side of the room and found what seemed to be the source, but the door he was looking at had some kind of weird wheel on it…was he in a bank vault?!

He didn’t really have time to worry about that and just reached for the wheel and started to pull on it to open the door. It was pretty damn heavy, even with his powers activated, but no way in hell was he going to stop now. He almost had the door open just enough for him to slip through when it was suddenly wrenched from his grasp and slammed shut before locking itself. “What the hell?!” He glanced behind him and saw Mag standing at the other end of the vault. Had she been in here the entire time?!

“You okay, Triss?” Mag said, not tearing her angry gaze from Kotetsu.

Triss groaned. “Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me. The bastard...” She stood up rolled her shoulders.

Kotetsu couldn’t waste any more time and turned back around to start banging on the vault door, he had to break through. “Come on, come on!” He growled, punching as hard as he could. He needed to break through before he ran out of power! He pulled back his fist once more, but felt something wrap around it and pull him backwards. He was flung onto the floor now being dragged across it, so he looked at his arm to see that a chain was wrapped around his wrist and pulling him back. Kotetsu reached up and tried to break the chain away, but his powers ran out and he was forced back into the chair. Kotetsu glanced over and saw that Mag was controlling the chains and he grunted as the chains wrapped tightly around him, binding him to the chair again.

“Good job, Mag.” Triss said as she walked over to Kotetsu and gave him a slow clap. “Wow, you were so close! I must admit, running away was definitely a smarter idea than sticking around to fight me, but good thing I thought of that ahead of time, hm? A bank vault is the perfect place to detain you, don’t you think? Too hard to punch through, the door nearly too heavy to open, plus Mag can just use her powers to get us in and out and lock and unlock the vault from the inside!” Triss laughed, and circled around Kotetsu before her face soured. “Not to mention it’s…poetic. Since this is the very bank you arrested my sister in five years ago.” Triss stopped circling him and stared him down. “You remember her now?”

Kotetsu shook his head. “Five years was a long time ago, how the hell do you expect me to remember an arrest from then?!”

Triss clenched her fists and grimaced. “Oh, you will…” She started glowing again and Kotetsu clenched his eyes shut and braced himself for another bout of pain. He screamed out even though no one would be able to hear him inside this vault, and with his communicator gone, he was afraid that no one would be coming after him either.

Chapter Text

Barnaby paced back and forth as Agnes scrolled through some files and she was not looking very pleased. Barnaby groaned internally and knew that wasn’t a good sign. “You haven’t found anything, have you?”

Agnes sighed and looked at him over her shoulder. “Triss’ record is completely clean, from the looks of it. I couldn’t even find so much as a parking ticket.”

“Damnit…” Barnaby stopped pacing and finally sat down; he should have figured that this would happen. He looked up at the clock on the wall and it was nearly one in the morning already! They were running out of time and they still didn’t have any new information to go off of.

“Well, what about her sister?” Blue Rose suggested. “What did Tiger say her name was again?”

“It was Lyla.” Agnes said. “We’ve thought of that already and we’re running her name through the database right now. We figured that if Triss had a vendetta against Tiger, it would have to be connected to HeroTV somehow.”

“That makes sense.” Bison said. “There’s no way Kotetsu would have been involved in the death of someone unless it was HeroTV related. Even so, I still don’t see how Kotetsu would have been involved in something like that anyways. He’s always been so adamant about never letting that sort of thing happen.”

“It’s true.” Fire Emblem said. “Even if it was a criminal, he always got so upset if someone lost their life. Especially if he could have prevented it.”

That was exactly what Barnaby couldn’t understand. What on earth could someone like Kotetsu ever do to warrant such hostility towards him?

“Miss Joubert?” Cain looked over from his computer. “We found the file on Lyla Richards.”

“Let me see!” Agnes ran over to his computer and nearly pushed him off his chair to read what was on the screen. “Okay, it says here that she was arrested by Wild Tiger five years ago. She and her gang had been wanted for a string of convenience store robberies around Bronze Stage before they decided to take it up a notch and rob a bank.”

“So Triss’ motive is because Mr. Wild arrested her sister?” Sky High said in disbelief. “That seems a bit extreme.”

Agnes continued to read. “Lyla was a NEXT who could manipulate sound waves and she used that power to render people around her helpless so she and her gang could steal and get away easily. It seemed to have caused migraines, blackouts, and even temporary hearing loss, but it doesn’t look like she had seriously hurt anyone until that bank robbery when she apparently killed a civilian on accident. In her momentary confusion, she had stopped using her power and Tiger was able to apprehend her.”

“I think I remember that one.” Bison said with his fingers to his chin in thought. “None of us were able to get near her, not even Kotetsu with his hundred power. But I think it was because of his power that he was able to recover so quickly and take her down. If I remember correctly, he didn’t hurt her at all when he took her in. So why the hell is Triss so pissed off?”

“Well, Triss is seeking revenge because she thinks that Kotetsu caused Lyla’s death, but that obviously isn’t the case here.” Barnaby said, getting angrier at Triss by the minute.

“That means she must have died later and Triss blames Tiger for it for some reason?” Blue Rose said.

“Let’s see if there’s anything on here about her death.” Agnes scrolled down on the file. “Ah, here we go. It says she was killed while trying to escape Abbas Prison after being incarcerated for only six months. She used her powers, but in doing so, she caused some serious harm to some inmates and security. A few witnesses said she became extremely hostile and was screaming about her sister needing her, so that’s why her powers got a bit erratic. In the end, a security guard who was familiar with her power used some heavy duty ear plugs and managed to shoot her. She died before anyone was able to get there with medical help.”

Barnaby lowered his brows. “But Kotetsu wasn’t even the one who killed Lyla! Would Triss seriously be after him just because he arrested her?”

Agnes shrugged. “We don’t really have enough information to know that for sure yet.” She started looking at the file again and scrolled past a few images.

Dragon Kid gasped. “Wait a minute! Can you scroll back up to that first picture again?”

“Uh, sure…” Agnes scrolled back up on the file.

Dragon Kid leaned forward to look at the screen. “I recognize that man from somewhere.”

“It says here that this is Desmond Kent, Lyla’s defense attorney.” Agnes read.

Dragon Kid put her index finger up in recollection. “That’s it! I saw him on the news a few days ago! It said he had gone missing earlier this week and they had just found his body.”

“That’s a weird coincidence…” Origami said.

Barnaby perked up and felt a little twinge of hope. Maybe they finally found something! He stood up from his chair and walked back over to the computer. “Maybe it’s not a coincidence. Was there anyone else involved in Lyla’s case?”

Agnes turned back to the computer and looked through the file a bit more. “Ah yes, we have Judge Georgann Pinkerton. She’s the judge who convicted Lyla.”

Barnaby squinted in thought. “This might be a bit of a stretch, but…is there any way you can check her file or look for her name in any recent news stories?”

Agnes looked a little skeptical, but nodded anyway. “Mary, can you do a quick search on Judge Georgann Pinkerton, please?”

“Right away, ma’am!” Mary started typing away on her laptop and gasped nearly immediately. “O-oh my god…”

Agnes leaned over. “What is it?!”

“It was the first article that popped up. She was…she was found murdered a few weeks ago.”

Barnaby’s eyes widened; his theory was actually going somewhere! “They have to be connected. There is no way that’s a coincidence.”

“What about that security guard?” Fire Emblem suggested. “The one that killed Lyla.”

Agnes looked back at her computer and quickly skimmed over Lyla’s file again. “Ah, here it is. His name is Benjamin Bradley.”

Mary started typing on her laptop before Agnes could even tell her to. Her eyes scanned back and forth, looking for an article for a few minutes before she brought a hand to her face in shock. “This is crazy, but…he was found murdered too. Three weeks ago.”

The entire room went silent and they all glanced around at each other.

“So that’s what’s going on.” Barnaby said, breaking the silence. “Triss is offing anyone who was involved in her sister’s murder. Even if they were involved…indirectly. That’s why she was after Kotetsu, because he was just the next person on her list.” Barnaby clenched his fists and had to restrain himself from slamming them down on the desk in front of him. “Damnit! That still doesn’t tell us where she took him, though.”

“Well, we’d better start coming up with theories fast.” Agnes said fearfully. “Because now we know that Triss really is capable of murder and we’re running out of time here.”

“You remember her now, asshole?!” Triss growled as she continued to send painful electric pulses through Kotetsu’s body.

Kotetsu’s hands had been gripping the arms of his chair so hard, that he felt like they would be stuck there like that and they would have to be pried off. It had only been a little over an hour, Triss deemed it necessary to keep him updated on that for some reason, and Kotetsu wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. The pain was so unbearable, and it was leaving his body stiff and sore. It wasn’t even much of a relief when she stopped every so often anymore, because he swore he could feel a residual vibration still pulsing through his body. Not to mention, Mag would tighten the chains wrapped around him whenever Triss stopped, and that only made it worse.

He had activated his power again about ten minutes ago, and he used it up to help his body recover from the pain. There was just no way he’d be able to escape out of this place with only a minute of power, so he figured that was the best way to use it right now. Even though it seemed to only have helped a little because his body started aching again a lot faster this time.

“Yes, I remember her, okay?!” Kotetsu finally growled back and Triss released Kotetsu’s shoulders to shake her hands out. He dropped his head forward to take in a few shaky breaths before clenching his jaw and looking back up at Triss. “I remember her. I remember that she was a powerful NEXT and that she ended up killing someone with that power…”

Triss whipped her head around and started glowing again before she gripped his shoulders more tightly than before; Kotetsu saw a fire in her eyes and then felt her nails digging into his skin. “It. Was. An accident!!”

Kotetsu felt the searing pain shoot through him once more so he leaned forward and grit his teeth, not wanting to scream out and let Triss have the satisfaction. Thankfully, this one didn’t last too long, and Triss pulled away from him violently before walking away to take a breath. Kotetsu took a breath too and felt something wet on his shoulder. He glanced over and noticed that Triss’ nails had managed to tear into his under armor and break his skin, causing his shoulder to bleed a little bit. Kotetsu turned to look at her in disbelief. Damn, this woman sure didn’t hold back, did she?

“I must admit,” Triss said as she walked back and shook her hands out again. “You’re pretty resilient, even without your powers. I’m quite impressed. The others barely lasted 30 minutes before passing out. It was kind of annoying having to wait for them to wake back up so I could continue.”

That last part took Kotetsu by surprise. “Others?”

“Yeah, everyone who was involved in Lyla’s murder.” Triss started to pace. “You arrested her, Desmond Kent did a shitty job defending her, Georgann Pinkerton sentenced her to 20 years for manslaughter! For accidentally killing someone! How the hell is that fair?! She was only 18 and no one took into account that she had been manipulated by that gang so they could use her for her NEXT power!” She stopped pacing and clenched her fists. “And then there was Benjamin Bradley, I went after that mother fucker first. He was the one who shot Lyla, and then he just stood there and watched her die!”

Kotetsu blinked in confusion. “You…you’re telling me you killed three other people before me?! Two of which who didn’t even have anything to do with your sister’s death?! Hell, I didn’t have anything to do with that!”

Triss grabbed Kotetsu’s collar and pulled him towards her as much as she could manage with him being chained to the chair. “She would still be alive if you hadn’t arrested her in the first place!”

“She had just killed someone! Of course I arrested her! I didn’t know it was an accident! What if she had tried to hurt other people?!”

Triss’ eyes started to tear up before she released Kotetsu’s collar and pushed him away from her. “It wasn’t fair! She only turned to crime because she was trying to take care of me! I was only 15 at the time, and I know that’s the reason why she tried to escape after her conviction. I didn’t have anyone else! I was all alone!”

“Listen, Triss…” Kotetsu said sternly. “I know it seems unfair, but even as an accident, people need to take responsibility for stuff like that. She didn’t go to prison just for killing someone, she went for all those armed robberies as well! She had been putting people at risk to commit those robberies, so she should have stayed in prison to serve out her sentence. I’m sorry for what happened to her, and I’m sorry that your situation was unfortunate, but killing all these people for that…people who were just doing their jobs…that’s not going to solve anything! Do you really think Lyla would have wanted you to do this?!”

“Shut up!” Triss activated her power again and pulled an electrified fist back to punch Kotetsu in the face. “Don’t you dare talk about her like you know her!”

Kotetsu felt like he had just been hit in the face with a flaming sledgehammer, and he slowly lifted his head back up to look at her, groaning as he did so. “If you’re so intent on killing me, then why the hell are you milking it? Why not just get it over with?”

Triss leaned forward, placing her hand on Kotetsu’s wounded shoulder and digging her nails in again. “Lyla died a slow and painful death, bleeding out on the floor with no intention from anyone to help her! Those responsible for her death should suffer the same fate. It’s not my fault that you’re so resilient. The others died a lot quicker, but unfortunately for you, this is going to take much longer.”

Kotetsu glared at her before she finally let go of his shoulder and turned away from him to go sit on her own chair for a moment. If she was going to keep torturing him, then he just needed to hold out until Barnaby and the others showed up. If they showed up, that is. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back; would he even make it out of this? Without his communicator to track him down, his rescue seemed almost impossible and he feared he might actually die here.

He suddenly thought of Kaede and how she’d be parent-less. She was always so afraid of being left alone and he had no idea how she or his mother would handle it if that happened. He thought of Barnaby and how he’d be partner-less…how he had already lost everyone else close to him. He worried about how Barnaby’s mental state might be after that. Kotetsu never even got the chance to be honest about his feelings. Even if they had not been requited, he still wished he would have said something! He felt his eyes start to well up with tears, now he was going to die without ever knowing. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Well, he’d at least get to see Tomoe again…

Wait a minute, what the hell was he thinking?! Tomoe would have been so angry at him for thinking stuff like that! He couldn’t give up hope now, not when he still had so much to live for! He was Wild Tiger for crying out loud! He had to believe they would find him, and he would hold out for as long as that took.

“Come on, you guys…” He said to himself as Triss made her way back over to him, hands reaching for his shoulders again. “Get your asses over here already…”

Barnaby paced back and forth, anxiously waiting for more files to be sent over to them. They needed to look closely at the police reports to find out if there was anything in them that could tell them where Triss might have taken Kotetsu. Since the murders had not been directly involved with HeroTV, Agnes had to call the police department to get access to those police reports.

“Ah, finally!” Agnes slammed her coffee cup down on the table. “The reports were sent!” She typed away at her computer. “Okay, Cain, Mary? I just emailed you the files, I need you two to look through them as well. We don’t have much time and it would be quicker to have all of us looking them over.”

“What do you want us to be on the lookout for, Miss Joubert?” Cain asked.

“Any similarities or patterns in the cases that you think might be important to finding out where Tiger was taken.”

Barnaby continued to pace impatiently as the three of them looked through the files and he glanced up at the clock; it was a quarter to two. Why did this have to take so damn long?! He hated feeling so helpless to do anything.

“Barnaby, can you just…sit down or something?!” Blue Rose snapped. “Your pacing is starting to get really annoying!”

“Ah…sorry.” He sat back down in his chair and opted to ignore Blue Rose’s rude tone just now. They were all worried and exhausted, and since he had been an ass earlier, it was only fair for him to let Blue Rose to return the favor. He stared up at the ceiling…he was starting to really worry again and he felt his hands start to shake. It had just been way too long. They now knew what Triss was capable of, and if she wanted Kotetsu dead, she could have killed him already.

Cain hummed. “This uh, might not really help in finding Tiger, but it might ease a bit of worry.”

“What did you find?” Agnes asked.

“Well, it looks like all these people have the same cause of death: cardiac arrest. But it also says here that evidence found on the bodies, like lesions and electrical burns, suggests that they were tortured before they died.”

“So that means Triss is probably torturing Tiger right now?!” Blue Rose interrupted. “How the hell is that supposed to ease any worry?!”

“I’m just saying that if he’s being tortured, then he’s not dead yet, okay?” Cain said defensively. “I don’t like the thought of one of our heroes being tortured either, but Tiger’s a tough guy. If anyone can last a while through something like that, it’s him.”

Barnaby perked up at the sound of that. He most definitely did not like the idea of Kotetsu being harmed at all, let alone tortured, but Cain was right. If that was the case, then that meant Kotetsu had given them a bit more time, but they certainly could not waste any more. He leaned back in the chair to look up at the ceiling again. Where could Triss have taken him? He tried to think, but his eyes were getting tired so he took his glasses off to rub them. He almost wished he could take a nap because he wanted to be fully energized for later, but there was just no time for that, unfortunately.

“Wait a minute…” Mary said suddenly. “I think…I think I found something!”

Everyone looked over at her and Barnaby almost leapt out of his seat to run over and see what she had found.

“What is it?!” Agnes asked.

“It may be nothing, but when I was looking at that article earlier, it said the security guard’s body was found outside of Abbas Prison. And it just seemed a bit odd to me, like it was kind of…ironic, you know? So I looked into where the other two were found, and it had a similar pattern! The judge’s body was found outside the courthouse she worked at and the defense attorney’s body was found outside his law firm.”

“So, you think that Triss is dumping the bodies at places of significance?” Agnes asked.

“Exactly! And if she did that, then who’s to say she didn’t also kill them at a place of significance.”

Agnes put a finger to her mouth in thought. “That’s a strong theory, but where could that place be?”

It was silent again for a moment, and everyone was trying to wrack their brains for an answer.

“It would make sense if she took Tiger to where Lyla was killed…” Origami said finally. “But that’s Abbas Prison, right? There’s no way Triss would take him there.”

“Yeah, way too risky in getting caught.” Fire Emblem said.

Barnaby leaned forward in his chair and clenched his hands together. If it wasn’t Abbas Prison, then where else would be ironic enough for Triss? She obviously equated Kotetsu’s arrest to Lyla’s murder, so…Barnaby’s eyes widened and sat up straight. “Wait, what about where Lyla was arrested?!”

Agnes gasped. “A bank…”

Barnaby shot up from his chair. “Which bank?!”

Agnes was way ahead of Barnaby and already scrolling through Lyla’s file again. “I’m looking, I’m looking!” Her eyes darted back and forth, skimming through it as fast as she could. “Here we go! North Bronze International!” Agnes started typing frantically in search of an address. “Hmm, it seems they moved locations about year ago. But the old building is still there and it’s completely vacant!”

Barnaby felt a huge wave of relief rush through him. It was the perfect spot to take Kotetsu! It was vacant, it would have a vault to contain him, and it would have been completely sound proof. “That’s it! It has to be!”

Chapter Text

Barnaby was probably the first one out of the door and he rushed across the hall to get his suit on. They were all to meet up outside the bank in North Bronze to plan their attack strategy from there. Of course they weren’t one hundred percent sure that’s where Kotetsu was, but Barnaby just knew he was there! It was, as Kotetsu would put it, a gut feeling.

Once Barnaby got his suit on, he was downstairs and on his bike in record speed; he wasn’t going to be wasting any more time tonight. He revved up his bike and sped off into the night, dodging the few cars he saw as he made his way down to North Bronze.

Agnes had decided not to broadcast this live because it was apparently far too late and her ratings would drop, but Barnaby was a bit relieved by that. That way he could focus on saving Kotetsu and not have to worry about being on the air. She just told them all to get as much footage as they could on their own cams and she would broadcast it as a special in the morning. Barnaby was about half way to North Bronze when he remembered he should tell Kaede what was happening, so he called her up using his suit tech so he could keep driving.

“Barnaby?” Kaede answered, sounding very tired.

“Sorry for calling you so late, Kaede. Did I wake you?”

“No, I’ve been too worried to sleep. What’s going on? Did you find Dad?!”

“Not yet, but we think we know where he’s being held and we’re heading there right now!”

“You…you don’t think it may be another decoy?”

Barnaby smiled. “No, I’m sure we found him this time. I’m almost there now, and I swear I’ll get him out of there safely.”

“Good luck, Barnaby! I know you can do it!”

“Thanks, Kaede. I’ll call you as soon as we get him out.”

“Thank you…” Kaede’s voice cracked. “Thank you for always being there for my dad. He may not always say it, but he really appreciates you. He’s…” Kaede laughed softly. “He’s always gushing about you on the phone to me.”

This was no time for Barnaby to get flustered, but boy was he right now. “I-is that so?”

“Yeah, it gets kind of annoying after a while, but it makes me happy to see him happy, so I just let him.” Kaede gave a big yawn.

“You should get some rest and try not to worry anymore. I’ll get your dad out of there no matter what, I promise.”

“I will. Thank you again, Barnaby.”

“Sleep well, Kaede.”

The call ended and Barnaby finally arrived about a block away from North Bronze International not too long after. He didn’t have to wait long for all the others to show up, and was thankful that everyone else seemed aware of the time constraints they had.

“Okay,” Agnes said over the com channel. “Before you move in, I think the best bet would be to survey the area from the building across the street so you don’t accidentally alert anyone. There may be other NEXTs there helping Triss, so be careful.”

Everyone agreed before sneaking around to the back of the building across the street, and Barnaby hopped up onto the roof and stayed low as to not draw any attention. He pressed the button on the side of his helmet to get a closer look at the bank and it seemed pretty deserted before he noticed something…or someone...moving around the outside of it. He pressed the button again to zoom in a little more and noticed someone sitting on an old bench in front of the building, then he suddenly dashed onto the roof, and then dashed back onto the ground again. Barnaby gasped in remembrance; it was that speedster NEXT from earlier that evening!

“I see a NEXT outside of the building.” Barnaby said over the com. “I remember seeing him when we got the call earlier in the Industrial District. He’s got some kind of super speed power.”

“One of Triss’ Ouroboros friends, I bet.” Bison said.

“If he’s outside, let’s hope he’s there as a guard and not as another decoy.” Sky High added.

“I’m sure we have the right place this time.” Barnaby said, sounding the most hopeful he had all evening. “But I don’t know how we’re going to get past him without alerting Triss inside. I feel like she might escalate things if she knew we were here.”

“We should split up.” Dragon Kid suggested. “Have a few of us try to lure this guy away from the bank so the commotion won’t be heard inside.”

“I’ll do it!” Blue Rose volunteered. “My ice should be able to stop that speedster right in his tracks.”

“I can go too.” Origami said. “I can distract him and lure him away from the bank.”

“Sounds good.” Agnes said over the com. “The rest of you, try to find a place to sneak inside undetected. If you have to break in, be quiet about it.”

“Yes, ma’am!” They all said at once.

“Okay, Origami…” Blue Rose started. “I’m going down the alley by that pink building down there, try to lure him over to me and we’ll corner him and take him down.”

“Got it!” Origami responded.

“And Barnaby?” Blue Rose said sharply. “You had better get Tiger out of there safely.”

Barnaby smiled to himself. “I will. But if I don’t, then you have my permission to kick my ass.” Barnaby heard a small laugh from Blue Rose over the com before he saw her sneak down the street. Once she said she was in position, Origami transformed into a random civilian woman in a rather revealing outfit and ran over to the bank.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Origami said once he made it over to the speedster. “Please, Sir, can you help me?! My friend and I were being followed by some really creepy men and then they jumped us and trapped her down this way!”

“Huh?” The speedster said. “Get lost, lady! I’m working here!”

“Please! You look like a nice, strong man! I’ll do anything!”

The speedster looked Origami up and down with a very lewd face. “Anything, you say? Hmm, well when you put it that way…sure, sure. Lead the way, miss.” Origami lead the speedster down the street and once they were out of sight, Barnaby and the others hurried across to the bank.

“We need to find a way in without making too much noise.” Barnaby said, glancing around the building.

“Why not try the front door?” Sky High suggested as he walked over to it.

“Yeah, okay…” Bison said sarcastically. “I’m sure they just kept the door unlocked for anyone to—”

Sky High reached for the handle and pulled the door right open.

“Oh.” Bison said. “That was…easy.”

“A little too easy, if you ask me.” Fire Emblem said.

“Just stay quiet and keep your eyes open.” Barnaby said cautiously. “Triss’ friend Mag is probably in there, so we need to be prepared for her.”

Everyone nodded and slowly started walking through the door to the main lobby of the bank. It was almost completely dark except for the moonlight shining in the windows and a few lamps that were shining from across the room by the vault. Barnaby had noticed the vault door was closed and he gasped. “The vault…I bet that’s where Kotetsu is.”

“I can break that door down easy.” Bison said, hitting his palm with a fist.

“That would be extremely loud, though.” Dragon Kid said. “We’re supposed to be discreet, remember?”

“Yeah, but if I do it quick, we can all rush in before they even knew what was going on.”

“Still…” Barnaby said. “It’s a bit risky.”

“Then how the hell are we supposed to get inside the vault?” Bison asked.

A very loud and deep laugh suddenly erupted from behind them before a few loud thumps that could almost shake the building caused them all to turn around. A very large figure crept out of the shadows with a scary looking grin on his face. “You don’t.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’m not surprised you got past that idiot Zip out there, but you won’t get past me.” He started glowing and then charged right at them.

Sky High flew upwards and Barnaby used his thrusters to get out of the way just in time as this NEXT rammed right into Bison, causing him to slide back into the wall with a loud crash. Barnaby groaned; so much for being discreet.

Kotetsu heard a loud crash outside the vault and Triss let go of him immediately at the sound. Kotetsu lowered his shoulders in relief and leaned forward to get in a few breaths.

“What in the hell was that?!” Triss spat before another crash came, along with a very scary and very deep laugh.

“Sounds like Tank has some guests.” Mag said.

Triss groaned. “Damnit! Those stupid heroes actually found us?!”

Kotetsu swung his head up and felt himself tear up. They…they made it. They found him! “Bunny!! I’m in here!!”

Triss turned back to Kotetsu and punched him in the face. “Shut it!” Triss glanced behind Kotetsu. “Mag, go help Tank, will you? I’m not quite done with Tiger yet, and I’d like you to buy me some time.”

“Heh, it’ll be my pleasure.”

Kotetsu felt the chains around him loosen up little, but he definitely didn’t have the strength to do anything about it right now, plus he figured it would be better to wait before he activated his power again. Mag made her way across the vault and swung open the door to step out. Kotetsu noticed that she had forgotten to close it behind her and he mustered up a weak smile.

Triss glanced back at Kotetsu and placed her hands on him again. “Don’t get too happy, now. Mag and Tank won’t hold back, and your pathetic little friends are as good as dead.”

Kotetsu just grinned wider. “Heh, you severely underestimate how strong they are when they work together. I suggest you hurry, because they’ll be in here to kick your ass any moment.”

Triss grinned right back. “That was a very stupid thing to say, Wild Tiger.” She squeezed Kotetsu’s shoulders tightly and another wave of electric shocks pulsed through him, but he had no intention of dying yet. He just needed to hold out a little bit longer.

“You wanna try that again?!” Bison huffed as he stood up from having been knocked into the wall for the third time.

“Sure you can take it?” The NEXT taunted before he rammed into Bison once more, but Bison was able to stay on his feet this time.

As the two pushed into each other, Fire Emblem shot a huge blanket of fire over at the NEXT and caught him off guard. He yelped and pushed out of the way of the flames before running at Fire Emblem and ramming into them, throwing them back towards the window.

“Fire Emblem!” Sky High yelled as he flew over to them and caught them before they could crash into the glass.

“Thanks, honey.” Fire Emblem said as Sky High set them down and then flew up to shoot a few gusts at the NEXT.

Barnaby then ran over and started kicking the NEXT rapidly, thankful for the suit enhancements because he didn’t want to activate his power yet. While the NEXT was distracted, Dragon Kid ran at him and jumped onto his back before slamming her electrified staff over his shoulder blades. The NEXT screamed in pain, but quickly reached around and grabbed her foot out from under her and threw her across the room. Barnaby was thankful she had landed on her feet because he couldn’t reach her in time to catch her.

“You okay, Dragon Kid?” Barnaby said as he ran over.

“Yeah…” She groaned but was able to stand up straight. “Jeez, this guy is crazy strong.”

“I’m sure if we just keep attacking, we’ll be able to get through eventually.” Barnaby said hopefully before he heard a loud slam and his eyes shot over to the sound. He saw that the vault door was now open and Mag had stepped out.

“Need a hand, Tank?” Mag said as she walked over to him.

Tank grunted. “I was doing just fine on my own, but sure…whatever.” He turned back to look at Bison and Fire Emblem. “I’ll take these two.”

Mag glanced over in Barnaby’s direction and glared when she spotted him. “That’s fine by me.” She took a few steps towards Barnaby. “Barnaby Brooks Jr…”

Barnaby rolled his shoulders. “Mag. How’s your head? I didn’t kick it too hard, did I?”

Mag gritted her teeth. “That was a lucky shot, you know. I won’t be getting distracted this time.”

Barnaby grinned before readying himself. “I wasn’t counting on it.” He then used his thrusters to charge at her, but unsurprisingly, she threw her hands in front of her and sent Barnaby flying back. He was prepared this time, so was able to land on his feet. Sky High then flew at her, sending large gusts of wind in her direction. She fought hard to keep her balance, but it was wavering a bit, so Barnaby took the opportunity to charge at her again.

He was almost to her before she threw her hand up and stopped him in his tracks. She then managed to get her other hand up and stop Sky High as well while he was in midair before she spun them both around and launched them into the wall. Barnaby grunted and started to stand himself up when he saw Dragon Kid run at Mag with her staff at the ready.

Mag noticed her and dodged her attack before making sure to back away from her reach. Mag then lifted her hand and used her power to pull Dragon Kid’s staff from her grasp. She clenched her fist and broke the staff in half before discarding it. “Oops, sorry about your little toy.”

Dragon Kid’s brows lowered. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t need to that to use my powers!” She charged her hands up with lightning and jumped at Mag for another attack, but Mag only dodged again and then raised her hands up to pull Sky High towards her. She threw him at Dragon Kid, hurling them both back into the wall.

Barnaby ran at Mag again but she stopped him immediately and raised her hand to lift him into the air; he started to feel a strange pressure all around him.

“I could just crush you right now!” Mag screamed.

Barnaby lowered his brows in confusion before that pressure suddenly got more intense, but thankfully it didn’t last long because Sky High and Dragon Kid started to attack her at the same time. She dropped Barnaby and pushed him away to defend herself from the double attack. She backed away as much as she could and threw her hands up again to hurl Sky High into Dragon Kid. The two went flying in Barnaby’s direction and they crashed into him.

“How you three holding up?!” Bison yelled from across the way, still struggling with Tank as Fire Emblem’s fire balls seemed to become less and less effective.

The three of them groaned in response, but Dragon Kid was able to get up first and run back over to attack Mag again.

Sky High got up and offered a hand to Barnaby to help him up as well. “She’s just…way too powerful. How did you even defeat her the first time?”

“I was only able to get a hit in because she got distracted. But I don’t think she’ll be making that mistake again this time.” Barnaby said dejectedly. They needed to find a way to bring her down and fast, there was no way of knowing if Triss had killed Kotetsu yet or not. Barnaby clenched his jaw in worry as he watched Mag and Dragon Kid fight, noticing that Mag was still dodging her attacks for some reason. “Why…why hasn’t Mag used her power on Dragon Kid yet?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…she just keeps dodging her. I haven’t seen her get thrown around yet like Mag has been doing to us. She’s just been throwing us into her instead.”

Sky High put a hand to his helmet in thought. “Well, she used her power to destroy Dragon Kid’s staff earlier.”

“Yeah, but…” Barnaby thought back to what Mag had said moments ago about crushing him, and how he felt that weird pressure like his suit was about to collapse on itself. He squinted in thought and then remembered what Kotetsu had said earlier on the transporter.

“The way she lifted me up just felt…different. Kind of like she wasn’t really lifting me, but…”

Barnaby gasped in realization. “Wait a minute…she doesn’t have telekinesis! She has ferrokinesis!”

“What’s that?” Sky High asked.

“She can manipulate metal! She hasn’t been lifting us, she’s been lifting our suits! That’s why she hasn’t thrown Dragon Kid around, because she can’t!” Barnaby reached up and took his helmet off and got closer to Sky High. “Here, help me get this off!”

Sky High scrambled and the two of them were able to get Barnaby’s suit off a lot faster together than if Barnaby tried by himself. He was thankful Saito had made it a little easier to get off after the Robin Baxter incident. Once the suit was completely off, Sky High flew over to attack Mag and give Barnaby an opening. Mag immediately stopped Sky High in his tracks and threw him at Dragon Kid again.

Mag scoffed. “Yeah, because that totally worked the five other times you tried it!”

Barnaby laughed as he ran over to Mag. “You think maybe this will work, then?”

Mag swung her body around to face him as soon as she heard his voice, her hands out in preparation to send him across the room again. When nothing happened, she made a sound of confusion and then her eyes widened in realization before Barnaby activated his powers and kicked her, sending her flying back for once. She crashed to the floor and groaned in pain, clutching her side where Barnaby had kicked her. “What happened to your…?” She glanced behind him, seemingly noticing his abandoned suit, and grimaced. “You’re smarter than I thought.”

Barnaby smirked and started walking in her direction, but she reached her hand up and clenched her fist. Barnaby then heard a horrible smashing sound and glanced behind him to see she had completely destroyed his suit.

“But not smart enough…” Mag said weakly before dropping the crushed remnants of his suit on the ground. “Have fun facing Triss without your suit. You’re gonna need it.”

Barnaby gritted his teeth and continued walking over to her to knock her out before Sky High rushed over and beat him to it. “Don’t worry about her right now, go get Mr. Wild before your power runs out!”

Barnaby nodded and started towards the vault.

“Not so fast!!” Came Tank’s voice as he threw Bison off of him and blocked Barnaby’s path. Barnaby stopped and groaned under his breath. He didn’t have time for this!

A crash erupted to the side of them and Barnaby swung his head around to see Origami bursting through the window with Blue Rose behind him.

“Sorry we’re late!” Blue Rose said. “That speedster NEXT was trickier than we thought!”

“What the hell?!” Tank said, distracted by the sudden interruption.

Blue Rose didn’t hesitate and raised her ice gun at Tank before shooting some at his feet, keeping him in place momentarily. “Go, Barnaby! Get Tiger!! We’ve got this!”

“R-right!” Barnaby hurried around Tank and rushed into the vault. Hoping that it wasn’t too late.

Triss released Kotetsu’s shoulders once more to shake her hands out. “Ugh, doing that constantly really starts to make my fingers numb. Jeez, you really are resilient. Just give up already!”

“Not a chance.” Kotetsu said weakly.

“God, you’re annoying!” She made a fist and charged it up with lightning again. “No matter. A few more of these punches ought to do the trick.”

Kotetsu watched Triss pull her fist back and he clenched his eyes shut, waiting for that sharp blow to come…not sure how many more of those he could take. He heard a shuffle and a strange slapping sound, but didn’t feel anything hitting him. He opened his eyes and saw Barnaby standing between them, having stopped Triss’ fist in his hand. “Bunny!”

“Wh-What?!” Triss yelled, realizing what had just happened. “How the hell did you—?!”

Barnaby growled and took a hold of Triss’ arms before throwing her across the room. She hit the side of the vault and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

“Ah…ow…” Triss grunted, having a hard time getting up from that one.

“Bunny, man am I glad to see you!” Kotetsu choked out, feeling a few tears of relief roll down his cheek.

“Kotetsu!” Barnaby turned around and immediately knelt down to Kotetsu’s level and started breaking the chains off of him. He looked right at Kotetsu’s face and he looked like he was about to cry from relief as well, but his expression suddenly changed to worry and he reached a hand up to caress Kotetsu’s cheek. “You…your face…”

“Ah, that bad?” Kotetsu laughed weakly. “Triss has quite the uh…electrifying right hook, haha.”

Barnaby gave a soft chuckle and shook his head before his eyes shifted to Kotetsu’s shoulder. “You’re bleeding!”

“Oh, that? Don’t worry about that…it’s just a scratch.”

“Kotetsuuuu.” Barnaby grumbled in an almost nagging type of way.

“Really, it’s fine.” Kotetsu reassured, but changed the subject. “Anyway, what happened to your suit?”

“I had to ditch it. Mag, as it turns out, has magnetic powers…not telekinesis.”

“Huh, I knew something was up with her power. Earlier when I tried to escape, she used the chains to drag me across the room instead of just dragging me.”

“Well, you sure noticed a lot earlier than I did. Unfortunately, Mag destroyed my suit,” Barnaby broke the last chain. “So we need to get you out of here quickly.”

Once Kotetsu was finally free of the chains, he leaned forward and placed his forehead against Barnaby’s. “Thank you, Bunny. I knew you’d come…”

Barnaby’s lip trembled. “Of course I’d come, Old Man…”

“Ugh, you know I’d just hate to break up this precious reunion,” Triss scoffed as she finally got to her feet. “But I’m still here, y’know…”

Kotetsu and Barnaby looked over at Triss, and Barnaby’s expression angered before he stood up and faced her. “Kotetsu, get out of here…”

“No, I’m not leaving you—”

“Kotetsu!” Barnaby snapped.

“I am not arguing with you about this.” Kotetsu stood up from the chair, albeit with difficulty, and his entire body was throbbing, but he wasn’t just going to abandon his partner.

Barnaby grabbed onto Kotetsu’s arm. “Kotetsu, you can barely stand! You need to get out of here!”

“Too late!” Triss said as she shot one of those bolts straight at them. The two of them pushed away from each other and barely dodged the blast. Kotetsu was knocked to his ass and knew he was going to have quite a time getting up from that. Barnaby, on the other hand, went straight after Triss who quickly dodged his attack and was already charging up her hands for another bolt.

Barnaby readied himself and flipped away from the blast before rushing back over to Triss and knocking her down onto her back. Triss then kicked herself onto her feet and rushed at Barnaby with sparking hands. Barnaby raised his arms in front of his face and Triss grabbed onto them to send an electric shock through them. Barnaby screamed in pain and Triss pushed him back into the wall.

“Bunny!” Kotetsu yelled as he slowly stood himself up, using the chair nearby as leverage. God, he was in bad shape. There’s no way he could help unless he used his power, but he needed to make sure he timed it right.

“I almost had him!” Triss screamed as she pulled her fist back to punch Barnaby, but Barnaby slid underneath her and she just punched the wall instead. She grimaced and turned back to Barnaby. “But you completely ruined everything!” She charged again, fist electrified, but Barnaby didn’t have time to dodge and he was knocked to the ground. “I should have just killed you when I had the chance, then you wouldn’t have been able to interfere!” She took a few more steps closer to him. “You stupid. Little. Bunny!”

Barnaby’s eyes lowered and his jaw clenched before he stood himself up again. “There is only one person who is allowed to call me that, and it sure as hell isn’t you!” He charged at her and pushed her through the vault door, sending her flying into the other room. Barnaby chased after her and Kotetsu followed, trying to hold back his laughter at the ridiculous thing Barnaby just said.

Triss was on the floor, but she shuffled to her feet as soon as she saw Barnaby and Kotetsu running out of the vault. Kotetsu heard a commotion to the side of them and saw that everyone else was fighting this huge NEXT on the other side of the lobby. So that must be the Tank person Mag mentioned earlier. Kotetsu looked back at Triss and she was breathing heavily and glaring at them. Her fingers twitched and sparked a little bit.

“Kotetsu, get out of here.” Barnaby said as he readied himself for another attack.

Kotetsu opened his mouth to protest, but Triss finally ran at Barnaby and Barnaby somersaulted out of the way, tripping Triss as he did so. Triss fell on her face and screamed in annoyance before getting back to her feet and immediately charging her fist up with lighting again. She swung it at Barnaby, who hadn’t realized she had gotten up so quickly, and she hit him in the face. Triss swung her fist again, and again, hitting Barnaby’s face until he finally fell to the floor.

She started to charge up for another bolt when Kotetsu finally decided to activate his power and he rushed after her, catching her arm before she could attack. She glanced back in surprise and Kotetsu threw her towards the center of the lobby before she had any time to react.

“Kotetsu, what the hell are you doing?!” Barnaby griped.

“I’m saving your ass!” Kotetsu held his hand out to help Barnaby up. “Hurry, I don’t have much time and if we want to win, we need to attack her together.”

Barnaby groaned. “Fine, but once this is over, you are going to rest, Old Man!”

“Yeah, yeah!” Kotetsu turned back to Triss in the center of the lobby and they started walking towards her. She started walked towards them as well, with an expression of pure hatred, her fists clenched, and entire body looking as if it was electrified.

“You’re not getting away from me!” Came Bison’s voice as he came out of nowhere and rammed into Tank, sending him careening across the room. Tank yelled as he flew into a wall near the three of them and was knocked out instantly.

Triss jumped at the sound that had erupted behind her and she looked over at the destroyed wall. “Tank?!”

“Bunny, now!!” Kotetsu yelled, and the two of them ran towards her. Barnaby swung his leg at the same time Kotetsu swung his arm, and they hit Triss in perfect sync before she could turn back around. The force of the hit sent her crashing into the counter and she dropped to her knees before finally falling onto the floor unconscious. They stared at her for a few seconds and she didn’t move. Kotetsu let out a breath of relief as he felt his power expire and he looked over at Barnaby, who was out of breath, but still glowing.

Barnaby looked back over at Kotetsu and his eyes started watering a bit. He stepped over to him and wrapped his arms around him before burying his face in Kotetsu’s shoulder. Kotetsu was taken by surprise for a second because of Barnaby’s crying, but he returned the hug and stroked Barnaby’s back.

“I…I was so worried. Are you okay?” Barnaby finally mumbled out.

“Yeah,” Kotetsu smiled. “Thanks to you.”

“I’m so sorry, Kotetsu.”

“Sorry? What the hell are you sorry for?”

“It was my fault that Triss took you and—”

“Hey!” Kotetsu pulled away from the hug to look at Barnaby. “Don’t blame yourself for that, okay, Bunny? Everything’s fine now, right? You found me and we got to kick Triss’ ass together.”

Barnaby laughed softly and brought a hand up to wipe his tears away. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Kotetsu?!” Bison yelled from across the way. “Oh my god, you’re okay!” He ran over and pulled Kotetsu into a bone-crushing hug.

“Ow, ow, ow, Antonio stop…”

“Ah, sorry.” Bison released him. “I’m just happy you’re alive!”

“Tiger?!” Blue Rose said as she ran over as well, followed by the rest of the heroes. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Good to see you, Tiger!” Origami said.

“You have no idea how much we went through trying to find you!” Dragon Kid laughed.

“How did you find me, anyway?”

“It’s quite the story, actually.” Fire Emblem said.

“Ah well, you’ll have to tell me all about it later.” Kotetsu turned to Barnaby and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s arrest this bastard already.”

Barnaby nodded. “And then we need to get you to a hospital, Old Man.”

Kotetsu rolled his eyes playfully. “Yeah, yeah…” He looked up at Barnaby who was smiling at him, but his eyes suddenly darted behind Kotetsu and his expression changed into a startled one.

“Kotetsu, look out!!” Barnaby pushed Kotetsu out of the way, knocking him over, and was sent careening into the window behind them before he fell harshly onto the ground.

“Bunny?!” Kotetsu glanced around in confusion and saw that Triss was now conscious and on one knee, still holding her sparking hands up. Had she just shot Barnaby with one of those bolts?! Triss growled in anger and stood up to run towards Kotetsu.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Dragon Kid said as she ran over and tackled Triss to the ground. Triss wriggled around aggressively, hands glowing with lightning, but it didn’t effect Dragon Kid one bit and she was able to force Triss’ hands behind her back to bind them together. “Agnes, I’ve arrested Triss! I’m bringing her outside right now!”

Kotetsu figured Dragon Kid had it under control, so he hurried to his feet and ran over to Barnaby. “Bunny, are you okay?” He shook him a few times, but there was no response. “Bunny, what’s wrong?! Come on, Bunny, talk to me!” Kotetsu flipped him over onto his back and noticed that he wasn’t breathing. “He’s…he’s not breathing!!”

Fire Emblem ran over to help and Kotetsu spotted Dragon Kid struggling to get Triss out of the building as she thrashed around violently.

“That damn idiot, ruining everything again!” Triss spat through gritted teeth. “He didn’t even realize his power ran out!”

Kotetsu’s breath hitched. “What?!”

Fire Emblem was holding onto Barnaby’s wrist and they looked up at Kotetsu with a worried expression. “Tiger, he doesn’t have a pulse.”

Kotetsu’s heart fell and he started to panic. “Wh-what?! No!”

Triss laughed. “Well, I guess we’re even then.” Kotetsu looked over at Triss being dragged away by Dragon Kid. “You took away the person I cared about the most…and I took away yours.”

“Shut up already!” Dragon Kid yelled as she finally managed to get Triss out of the building. Everyone else was staring in Kotetsu’s direction with worried expressions.

“Is…is Barnaby…?” Blue Rose choked out.

Kotetsu looked back to Barnaby’s still body and he shook his head. “No…no I am not letting him die!” He got on his knees and made sure Barnaby was completely flat on his back before he placed his hands on Barnaby’s chest and started pumping them up and down. “Come on, Bunny…breathe damnit!”

“Agnes, we need medical assistance now!” Fire Emblem cried over the com. “Barnaby’s down!!”

“What?!” Agnes responded, fear in her voice. “Oh my god, I’ll call for them right away!!”

“Bunny, come on!” Kotetsu yelled as he continued his CPR. “Don’t…don’t do this to me! Please…I can’t lose you I…” He started to cry. “I just can’t! Please, Bunny, don’t leave me like this!!” How could this be happening right now?! One moment Barnaby was there, and then the next he…damnit, he wasn’t going to lose him! He continued pumping through his sobs for what seemed like forever, and there was still no response.

“Honey…” Fire Emblem choked out. “I…I don’t think…”

“NO!” Kotetsu sobbed. “He’s not gone, okay?! I just need to keep…to keep trying! He’s going to be okay! Please, Barnaby! P-please…”

Barnaby suddenly started coughing and it made Kotetsu jump and jerk his hands away.

“Bunny?” Kotetsu leaned back over him, tears still in his eyes.

“Ko…tet…su…?” Barnaby breathed out weakly as his eyes opened half way to look up at Kotetsu.

“Bunny!” A huge wave of relief washed over Kotetsu and he rested his head on Barnaby’s chest. “Oh, thank god…” He took in a few shaky breaths. “Thank god…” He raised his head back up and placed a hand on Barnaby’s cheek. “You’re okay, yeah?”

Barnaby smiled weakly before his eyes fluttered shut and head fell to the side.

“B-Bunny?!” Kotetsu panicked again. “What’s wrong?!”

“Tiger, calm down.” Fire Emblem said. “I think he just passed out. He’s still breathing, see?”

Kotetsu saw Barnaby’s chest moving up and down and he let himself relax. “Yeah…you’re right.” He took in some more deep breaths and glanced up at the others who were still looking concerned. “He’s okay!” Everyone let out intermittent sighs of relief just before the medic team came rushing in with a stretcher.

“What happened?!” One of the medics said.

Kotetsu stood up quickly to get out of their way. “He wasn’t breathing and his heart stopped, but I resuscitated him! He’s just unconscious now.”

“Thank you, Wild Tiger.” Said the other medic as they both placed Barnaby onto the stretcher. “You just saved his life.” She looked back at the first medic. “Let’s get him to the hospital.” They wheeled him out of the bank and loaded him onto the ambulance.

“Well, that was an interesting end to a crazy night.” Blue Rose finally said, breaking the silence. “You okay, Tiger? We never really got the chance to ask.”

“Ah yeah…I’ll be fine. Just a bit sore, is all.”

Blue Rose glared at him like she didn’t believe him, but she didn’t say anything more.

“Nice work, Kotetsu!” Bison said as he walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

“Yes, Mr. Wild!” Sky High added. “Great work, and great work again!”

Kotetsu shrugged. “Just…doing my job.” He looked over at the wreckage where Tank had been shoved through the wall. “Ah, you should go arrest that big guy before he wakes up and causes trouble again.”

“Oh! Good idea!” Bison ran over to the wall and started dragging Tank out of the building when Sky High remembered to get Mag and carried her unconscious body out as well.

Kotetsu let out a breath before deciding to get the hell out of this bank. He noticed Barnaby’s suit, or what was left of it, laying in a pile of crushed metal. Saito was not going to be happy about that. Kotetsu walked over to the heap and started sifting through it to see if he could salvage anything when he found the little bunny decal that Saito had stuck on there. Kotetsu smiled and picked that up before finally exiting the bank.

“Glad to see you’re okay, at least!” Kotetsu heard Agnes’ voice once he was outside. She was standing by the van with her arms crossed and a smile on her face.

“Aww,” Kotetsu put a hand to his chest. “Were you worried about me, Agnes?”

Agnes scoffed. “Yeah right. I’m just glad you survived so we could still air this as a special tomorrow. The ratings are going to go through the roof!” Agnes turned away to get back into the van, but she stopped before she stepped inside. “I want all of you to head back to Justice Tower to tend to any injuries you have and please…get some rest!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Everyone said as they all split up to their transporters and vehicles and left the scene. Kotetsu felt a little silly having to take Barnaby’s bike back, and he definitely shouldn’t be driving this thing without a helmet or even in his injured state, but he made sure to take it really slow. There wasn’t that many cars out right now anyways since it was nearing 3am. Jeez, had it really been that short of a time? It felt like ages ago that he’d been taken; it really had been a crazy night and Kotetsu was just happy it was over with. He just hoped that Barnaby was going to be okay.

Chapter Text

Kotetsu collapsed on the couch in the waiting room of the Justice Tower hospital, aching and exhausted. The other heroes had already arrived and were getting their injuries checked on, but all Kotetsu wanted to do was to relax for a bit; it had been a stressful day, after all. So he just sat there and stared at the ceiling for who knows how long until Bison plopped down next to him.

“Man, you look like hell.” Bison chuckled. “You should probably get those injuries checked out.”

Kotetsu shrugged, not really wanting to deal with it right now. “Nah, I’ll be okay.”

Blue Rose scoffed in annoyance. “Tiger, you were literally just kidnapped and tortured! You should really make sure that everything is okay!”

“Yeah, what if you have like…internal bleeding or something?” Dragon Kid said in concern.

“Really, I’m fine. I just need to relax for a bit.”

Fire Emblem sighed. “Honestly…what would Handsome think if he woke up only to find out that you had collapsed because you didn’t get your injuries checked on?!”

Kotetsu felt a pang of guilt at the thought of that. After all Barnaby went through tonight, he’d probably be pretty annoyed if anything had happened while he was unconscious and couldn’t do anything about it. “Okay, okay. I’ll go!” Kotetsu reluctantly stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the door. “Make sure to come get me if Bunny wakes up.”

Bison laughed. “Nah, I thought I’d just keep it to myself.”

Kotetsu smiled and rolled his eyes. “Smartass.” He started down the hallway and finally found the nurse.

“Oh, Wild Tiger. I’m glad you finally decided to come see me.” He gestured for Kotetsu to sit down. “Looks like you’ve been through a lot tonight.”

Kotetsu sat down. “Tell me something I don’t know…”

The nurse leaned forward to examine Kotetsu’s bruised face first, and it stung a little at the touch, but it was bearable. Then he checked Kotetsu’s vitals…pulse, eyes, blood pressure…the basics, before moving to Kotetsu’s shoulder. It was still bleeding a bit, but most of it seemed to have dried by now. So the nurse cut the fabric around his shoulder away, cleaned up the wound, and put a bandage on it. He then moved back to Kotetsu’s face to put some ointment on it before getting an ice pack and handing it to him.

“You should ice this for a little bit, it’ll help the swelling go down.”

Kotetsu nodded and placed the pack against his face while the nurse wrote a few things down. He flinched a little at the cold at first, but then it started to feel really nice because his face had felt like it was on fire for hours thanks to Triss’ punches. Those punches sure were something else, Kotetsu had never been punched so hard in his damn life…even Lunatic’s fiery punch couldn’t compare. Kotetsu suddenly thought of Barnaby and his eyes lowered. This was the safest place for him to be right now, but Kotetsu couldn’t help but worry.

“Well, your vitals all seem fine and you don’t have a concussion.” The nurse said finally.

“Really?” Kotetsu said in disbelief. “That’s surprising.”

“Just make sure to get plenty of rest. It would also be a good idea to take a break from doing any hero work for a few days, just to be sure.”

Kotetsu grumbled. He didn’t like the sound of that, but he knew Barnaby would scold him if he ignored the advice and tried going out to stop criminals in this state. “Yeah, okay.”

“Just keep that ice pack on your face for a while longer and then you’re free to go.”

Kotetsu nodded and thanked the nurse before the nurse walked out the door. Once the ice pack started to melt, Kotetsu figured that was long enough so he placed it on the counter and went back out into the waiting room.

“Everything okay, Mr. Wild?” Sky High asked as Kotetsu sat back down again.

“Yep! I’m all cleared! Well, except for hero stuff for a few days.” Kotetsu sighed. “He said I should just rest.”

“Good, you should.” Blue Rose said, crossing her arms.

“Speaking of which,” Origami said as he stood up and stretched. “I’m exhausted. I think I’m gonna head home.”

“That’s a good idea.” Dragon Kid said with a yawn. “It’s nearing four now, I should really get to bed.”

“Thank god I don’t have any classes tomorrow.” Blue Rose said, also standing up. “I’d probably pass out in the middle of them.”

“Yeah, we’ve all had a pretty exhausting day.” Fire Emblem said. “We should all go home and get some rest.”

Everyone nodded and one by one, they all said their goodnights and started to get up to leave; but not Kotetsu. He didn’t want to go home until he knew for sure that Barnaby was okay, and if he had to wait until after sunrise for him to wake up, then he would.

“Hey, Kotetsu,” Bison said. “You really need to get some rest too, you know. You’ve been through a hell of a lot more than the rest of us have tonight.”

Kotetsu shook his head. “I don’t want to leave until Bunny wakes up.”

“I’m sure Barnaby is going to understand that you needed to get some rest.” Blue Rose said, sounding exasperated. “You should take the nurse’s advice and go home. You can just come back later.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Kotetsu leaned back on the couch. “I can sleep just fine right here if I need to.”

“Ugh, fine. But you’d better not complain when you have to wait longer to get back to work because you didn’t rest when you should have!” Blue Rose turned away swiftly and stomped out of the room.

Kotetsu blinked a few times at the sudden outburst, but it almost made him laugh. Once she was gone, Bison was the only one left.

“I’d stay here with you, but I really need my own bed.” Bison said apologetically.

“That’s okay, go ahead and go home. I’ll be fine.”

“I can come back in a few hours if you’d like. Gotta make sure your partner’s okay, right?”

Kotetsu smiled. “Sure, if you want.”

“Goodnight, Kotetsu.” Bison waved as he started walking towards the door.

“You know,” Kotetsu said before Bison left the room. “You were pretty badass against that Tank guy tonight. If it hadn’t been for you, Bunny and I might not have gotten an opening to take Triss down before my power ran out. So, thanks.”

Bison gave a huge grin. “Of course! I wasn’t just gonna let you hog all the points!”

Kotetsu laughed. “Was there even any points involved? It wasn’t even a live broadcast.”

“Well, it’s the principle of the thing. I’m just glad we arrested all those bastards…and I’m glad you didn’t die.”

“Ha, me too, bud. Me too.” Kotetsu placed his hands behind his neck and leaned back on the couch a bit more comfortably and took in a deep breath. It was funny, because he basically risked his life on a daily basis, but this was the first time in years he thought he might actually die.

“I should get going. Also, I want to thank Barnaby for saving your ass, so be sure to call me when he wakes up.”

“Nah, I thought I’d just keep it to myself.” Kotetsu said in a snarky tone.

Bison shook his head. “Smartass.” He turned to leave again.

“Goodnight!” Kotetsu called as Bison finally disappeared through the door.

Kotetsu was finally alone and he very much welcomed the quiet, so he just sat there for a few minutes and felt himself start to nod off. He tried to shake himself awake a few times before he must have fully dozed off, because he was suddenly woken up by Blue Rose’s scolding voice.

“Here,” She threw a pillow and a blanket at him. “If you’re just gonna sleep here, you might as well do it properly…idiot.”

Kotetsu took the pillow and placed it by the arm of the couch. “Thanks.” He said with a tired smile as he unfolded the blanket. “You’re always looking out for me.”

Blue Rose blushed slightly and turned her head away. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you.” Kotetsu said as he fluffed up the pillow a bit.

“Oh, and Tiger?” Blue Rose turned back to him.

“Hmm?” Kotetsu glanced up and was taken aback at the expression on her face. It somehow looked sad but happy at the same time.

“Good luck.”

Kotetsu raised a brow. “Good luck? Good luck with what?”

Blue Rose looked down at the ground with a sigh. “With Barnaby…”

Kotetsu’s eyes widened and he felt his heart jump. How did she…there was no way Kotetsu had been that obvious about it, was there?! “I’m uh…not really sure what you mean…” Kotetsu stuttered out awkwardly.

Blue Rose smiled, even though she almost looked on the verge of tears, and looked back up at him. “It’s okay, I think I’ve known for a while now. I just…” Her voice trailed off and Kotetsu could barely hear it. “…didn’t want to believe it.”

Kotetsu leaned forward a bit to try and hear better. “What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She waved her hand around and smiled again, but this time it seemed a lot more genuine. “Try not to screw it up, okay? He’s really good for you.”

Kotetsu’s heart fell and he looked down at his hands in his lap. “I appreciate your support, but that’s…that’s never going to happen.”

“Why do you think that?”

Kotetsu squeezed his hands together. “You really think that Bunny wants an old geezer like me?”

Blue Rose rolled her eyes. “Okay, first of all…you’re not that old. Second of all…you really won’t know what he thinks unless you ask him, will you?”

Kotetsu sighed and leaned back on the couch again. He suddenly remembered that damn kiss from earlier and he still wasn’t sure what to make of that. He wanted to be hopeful, he really did, but he just couldn’t get his mind to actually believe that Barnaby would ever feel the same way. Especially with how dismissive Barnaby had been about the whole thing and wanting him to just forget about it. That definitely didn’t help things.

“Yeah, you’re right…” Kotetsu finally said, because she was. He’d never know if he didn’t talk to him about it. If he could get him to talk about it, anyways. He hadn’t really had an easy time trying that earlier, but maybe it’d be easier to talk with him after everything that happened tonight. Even so, Kotetsu’s confidence in this was not very high. “But I’m telling you, Bunny would never—”

“Well if he doesn’t, then it’s his loss!” Blue Rose snapped, causing Kotetsu jump a little bit. “He’d be lucky to have you and if he doesn’t see that he has the perfect man right in front of him, then he’s a huge idiot!”

Kotetsu stared at Blue Rose for a second and couldn’t help but laugh.

“What…what’s so funny?”

“I think that’s the first time you have ever complimented me. Though, that was quite the roundabout way to go about it, ahaha.”

Blue Rose’s face turned completely red and she turned her back to him in embarrassment. “Sh-shut up!”

Kotetsu’s laughter died down and he felt a little better, but he still had his doubts. “Thanks, Blue Rose. I’m still not completely confident that it’ll go how I want, but…I’ll let you know what happens.”

Blue Rose looked over her shoulder. “Just let me know if you need me ice him or something, because I will if I find out he broke your heart.”

Kotetsu shook his hands in front of him. “No, no. That won’t be necessary. I appreciate the offer, though.” Kotetsu yawned.

“You should get some sleep, Tiger.”

“Yeah, yeah. You should too.”

Blue Rose nodded and headed for the door. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Once Blue Rose was finally out of the room, Kotetsu flopped over to lay down on the couch and he threw the blanket over him. It felt nice to finally lay down, but he was still worried about Barnaby and couldn’t really let himself fully relax just yet. He still needed to try to get a little bit of sleep, though. He’d been awake for about twenty hours now and half of those were spent doing HeroTV stuff and dealing with Triss; he was pretty beat, to say the least. He took in a deep breath as he laid there, hoping Barnaby would wake up while Kotetsu slept so he could go in and see him. He closed his eyes and his mind wandered off to thoughts of Barnaby before he finally dozed off.

“Kotetsu?”

Kotetsu groaned and opened his eyes reluctantly at the sound of his name because he was still exhausted. He looked up to see Ben standing over him. “Ah…Ben.” He sat up and rubbed his eyes, noticing it was light outside now. “What time is it?”

“About 7:00.”

“Well, I got a few hours of sleep at least…” Kotetsu raised his arms up and stretched.

Ben sat down next to Kotetsu and gave him a big hug. “Glad to see you’re okay, Kotetsu.”

Kotetsu chuckled and hugged him back. “Ah, you know me. I’m not one to give up so easily.”

“That’s true.” Ben released him from the hug and handed him a bag. “I brought you a set of clean clothes from your locker at Apollon.”

“Oh my god, thank you! I really need to get out of this under armor. It’s pretty filthy and getting uncomfortable.”

“I brought your phone too. You have a ton of missed calls on there, so you might want to check on those.”

 Kotetsu opened the bag to dig out his phone and saw that he had about ten missed calls from Kaede and a few from his mom and Muramasa as well. “Oh. I guess I uh…I guess I worried everyone, huh?”

“You sure did…especially Barnaby. He went a little crazy there when Triss gave us the runaround with your communicator.”

Kotetsu raised his brows. “He did?”

“Yeah, I’d never seen him like that, getting so angry…it was a little scary. Agnes had to cut the broadcast to a commercial because he went a bit overboard with that fellow who acted as your decoy.” Ben laughed. “Don’t tell him I told you that, I think he was quite embarrassed about it.”

Kotetsu was a bit concerned that Barnaby had lost it, but at the same time he felt…oddly flattered. The last time he remembered Barnaby losing it like that was back during the Jake incident. He almost had a hard time believing Barnaby was that worried about him, though.

“Oh, right.” Ben reached into his pocket. “I saw Agnes on the way over and she asked if I could return this to you.” He held out Kotetsu’s communicator.

Kotetsu smiled and took the communicator. “Ah, thanks!” He slipped it over his wrist and it felt good to have it back on because he practically wore it 24/7, so it felt odd to not have it on. “I’m gonna go get out of this damn under armor now.”

“Good idea. Unfortunately I can’t stay, I gotta do some paperwork.”

“Aw, okay.” Kotetsu waved as Ben left and then grabbed the bag to find a place to change.

He really should have just taken the elevator to up to the training center so he could take a quick shower, but he was so exhausted that he felt like he’d fall asleep in the middle of it; so he just opted to change in the bathroom instead. He slipped his suspenders over his shoulders and flinched a bit because one of the straps was rubbing right over his injury, so he nixed the suspenders for now and threw them back in the bag. It’s not like he ever wore them for their function anyway, it was mainly just because he thought they looked cool.

He started to walk back to the waiting room and figured he should call Kaede to tell her he was okay. He took his phone out and dialed her number, but it went to voicemail after a few rings.

“This is Kaede, leave a message!”

“Ah, hey, Kaede. It’s Dad. Sorry for missing all your calls. It was uh...kind of a crazy night and I’m guessing you saw all that on TV, huh? Sorry for worrying you. I hope you got some sleep! Love you.”

Kotetsu ended the call and was kind of glad Kaede didn’t answer because he didn’t want to wake her up so early. He had just gotten back to the waiting room and started to lower himself onto the couch when the doctor entered, so he sprung back up to his feet and hurried over to her.

“Hey, Doc! Is uh…is Bunny awake yet?”

“Not yet, no. But he’s stable and doing well. Since his heart had stopped earlier, we have him hooked up to a heart monitor to keep track of everything, just in case. I must say, though, if you hadn’t acted as quickly as you did, he might not have made it.”

Kotetsu felt his heart drop slightly at the thought of that and was beyond relieved that that hadn’t been the case. He didn’t know what he would have done if that had happened. “Well, I’m glad to hear he’s doing well.”

The doctor smiled. “I’ll let you know when he wakes up.” She turned away.

“Uh, actually, Doc! Would it be okay if I went in and sat with him?”

“You can, but it might still be a while before he wakes up.”

“That’s okay. I’ve just been a bit worried, is all.”

“Alright, come on back.” She gestured for him to follow and brought him back into Barnaby’s room. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Kotetsu thanked her and she left the room, then he grabbed a chair and moved it closer to Barnaby’s bedside. He sat down and looked over him, his heart softening at the serene look on his face. Jeez, how could this guy still manage to be so gorgeous after everything he’d been through last night? Kotetsu laughed a little to himself and leaned forward to take Barnaby’s hand in his.

“Hey, Bunny. You probably can’t hear me, but…god, you really had me worried there, you know that? I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you. You’re just…you’re so important to me.” Kotetsu squeezed Barnaby’s hand a little tighter. “To tell you the truth, I almost lost hope back there. With Triss, I mean…and you’re part of the reason I didn’t.” Kotetsu brought Barnaby’s hand up to his face and he took a deep breath, feeling a few tears sting at his eyes. “I love you, Bunny. More than you know…”

Kotetsu nearly jumped away as he felt Barnaby stir a little, but his heart rate seemed to be steady on the monitor, so he was definitely still asleep. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed by that fact. Kotetsu sighed, what was he doing? He could barely manage saying that to an unconscious Barnaby, so how the hell did he think he could do it while Barnaby was awake? He lowered Barnaby’s had back onto the bed, but he still held it because he felt comfort in the contact.

What was he going to do? He couldn’t just confess out of the blue, and he didn’t know if he should bring up the kiss again so soon after everything that happened. He didn’t want to stress Barnaby out, but he also didn’t want to put it off any longer in case it caused any issues for them. So it just came down to what he thought would be worse. Bringing it up now while it was still fresh at the risk of stressing Barnaby out, or bringing it up later at the risk of pissing Barnaby off because he had told him to forget about it.

Kotetsu grumbled and squashed his face into the bed out of frustration, but suddenly realized how tired he still was. It wasn’t a good idea to be making these decisions while he was so tired, so he should probably head back to the waiting room to sleep a little more. He moved his face out of the blankets to look up at Barnaby and sighed again. He really had it bad for this man, didn’t he? His eyes started to close and he felt so relaxed here that he didn’t want to move back to the waiting room, so he scooched the chair a little closer to the bed and brought his arms up to lay his head on them. He took one last glance at Barnaby before he finally fell asleep.

Barnaby’s eyes fluttered open and he immediately closed them again at the bright light that was shining on his face from a crack in the curtain. He took a second before slowly opening them again and turning his eyes away from the window to try and assess where he even was right now. He reached his hand out and felt around for his glasses before finally finding them on the bedside table and he slipped them on. He heard a steady beeping sound near his head and glanced around to see a monitor keeping track of a heart rate…his heart rate. He was in the hospital?

Oh, right…Triss had shot him, hadn’t she? He couldn’t remember anything after that, he just remembered pushing Kotetsu out of the way and…Kotetsu! Was he okay?! Barnaby tried to pull himself up to a sitting position, but a weight on his left arm kept him from doing that. So he glanced over and noticed that Kotetsu was sitting there asleep with his arms nuzzled onto the bedside and his hand on top of Barnaby’s own. Barnaby was relieved to see him, but also a little flustered over him sleeping there like that and holding his hand. Barnaby wanted to wake him, but was a bit reluctant to at first because he looked so relaxed and probably needed the sleep. Sadly, Kotetsu couldn’t just stay there like that all day, so Barnaby eventually reached his free hand over and shook Kotetsu lightly.

“Kotetsu?”

Kotetsu grumbled sleepily and lifted his head up to look at Barnaby, and his expression changed from tired and annoyed to awake and happy almost instantly. “Bunny! You’re awake!” Kotetsu sat up and Barnaby was able to see the bruises on his face better, and it made him cringe a little bit.

“Are…you okay?”

Kotetsu laughed. “You’re seriously asking me that?! You’re the one in the hospital bed!”

“Still…you went through a lot last night. I’m surprised you’re not also in a hospital bed.”

Kotetsu shrugged. “Nah, I’m fine! Just a few cuts and bruises, no big deal!”

Barnaby lowered his brows, not fully believing him.

“No really, it wasn’t that bad, I swear! I got checked out by the nurse and everything. He even bandaged my shoulder, see?” Kotetsu tugged his shirt collar over slightly and Barnaby was able to see the bandages there. “He also told me I should take it easy for a few days, no hero stuff or anything.”

Barnaby let out a breath of relief. “That’s good, you need your rest. What…what happened anyway? Why am I here? Did Triss’ bolt really get me that badly? I don’t remember what happened after I got hit.”

Kotetsu’s expression changed to a slightly concerned one and Barnaby felt him squeeze his hand a little tighter. “Your heart stopped.”

Barnaby’s eyes widened. “What?!”

“Yeah. Triss sent you flying across the room and when I ran over to you…you weren’t breathing and you didn’t have a pulse. It was…it was scary. But don’t worry, Dragon Kid took Triss out and was able to arrest her. So, you won’t have to worry about her anymore.”

Barnaby couldn’t believe it. Had his heart seriously stopped? “But how? Her bolts were nasty, but I should have been able to get up from that.”

“Well, your power had ran out right before, so…”

Barnaby closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his face. “Shit, I didn’t even realize. That was…stupid of me.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it! You’re okay now, yeah? And you managed to get me out of the way, so…thanks for that.”

Barnaby took his hand from his face and looked back at Kotetsu. “How exactly did I...? I mean, if my heart stopped, then who…?”

Kotetsu grinned. “Heh, not to brag, but…I was the one to save you from that!”

Barnaby leaned forward a little and gave a playful smile. “Oh, did you now?”

“Yup! No way in hell were you gonna die if Wild Tiger had anything to say about it!” Kotetsu looked so pleased with himself and Barnaby gave a soft laugh.

“Thank you, Kotetsu.”

Kotetsu smiled at him and Barnaby felt his heart flip, so he glanced down partially out of embarrassment and saw that Kotetsu was still holding his hand. He glanced back up, and Kotetsu seemed to notice this and he quickly jerked his hand away and brought it to rub the back of his neck instead. Barnaby frowned a little at that, feeling slightly disappointed at the lost contact.

“Uh…w-well” Kotetsu sputtered. “I uh, I told everyone I would let them know when you were awake so…I should go out there and see if anyone came back yet.”

Barnaby nodded, but didn’t want him to go yet. “Okay.”

Kotetsu stood up and turned towards the door, but he stood in the doorway for an awfully long time, and it worried Barnaby a little.

“Kotetsu? You okay?”

Kotetsu turned back around and had a scared yet determined look on his face. “Bunny, I know this is probably not the time to bring this up, but…I’ve just been thinking about it all night and it’s driving me crazy! I need to know what the hell that kiss was earlier!”

Barnaby’s breath caught in his throat and he couldn’t even look Kotetsu in the eye, so he had to turn away. No. Not…not now! He wasn’t at all prepared for this conversation yet! He had just gotten Kotetsu back, he didn’t want to just…to just lose him again because he scared him away with a stupid confession! He finally looked back at Kotetsu who was patiently waiting for an answer, and all of his insecurities started rushing back and he started to feel as hopeless as he did when he first kissed him. No, he couldn’t do this yet…he needed more time!

“I…” Barnaby started, not knowing what the rest of this sentence was going to be. “I thought I told you to forget about that.” Wait…what? Why did he say that?! That’s not what he meant to say!

“How the hell can you possibly expect me to forget something like that?!”

“I just…” Barnaby noticed Kotetsu’s hurt expression and he started to panic. “I-I made a mistake! I crossed a line I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry!”

“I don’t want an apology, Bunny, I want an explanation! Why on earth would you even do something like that?!”

Barnaby’s eyes lowered and now he was panicked and annoyed. What the hell else could a fucking kiss like that mean? “God, you can be so utterly dense sometimes, you know that?!” Barnaby suddenly gasped and he clutched his chest, feeling a pain there and hearing the heart monitor go a little crazy.

Kotetsu’s expression turned to worry and he inched towards Barnaby a bit. “Woah, Bunny…are you okay?”

Barnaby took in some deep breaths and his heart monitor started to calm down. “I’m fine…”

“The Doc said they were monitoring you, so…it’s probably not the best to be getting you stressed right now.” Kotetsu turned away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought this up. We can…we can talk about it later.” Kotetsu started for the door.

Barnaby looked up to watch him leave…this was so stupid! He shouldn’t just be letting him walk away, this was only to make things worse like the last time! “Kotetsu, wait!” Kotetsu stopped and stood there for a second before finally turning around and walking back into the room. “I don’t want to argue with you about this because the last time we argued about it, you…” Barnaby looked down, trying to organize his thoughts better. Why was this so damn hard? Why did Kotetsu have to be so oblivious? “Just…just use your damn brain for a second, will you? Why do you think I kissed you?”

Kotetsu thought for a minute, and he looked like he might have finally caught on, but he just gave a sad sigh instead. “I honestly don’t know, Bunny, that’s why I’m asking you. So if you could please let me in on—”

“Oh my god, it’s because I’m in love with you, you idiot!” Kotetsu took a step back in surprise and Barnaby realized how angry that sounded. “Shit, I’m sorry. That’s not how…” He brought his hand to his face. “That’s not how I wanted to say that.” He sighed. “Nothing is going according to plan, is it?”

Kotetsu stood there in a stunned silence for a painfully long time before he finally spoke again. “Is this what you were going to tell me at dinner?”

“Yeah.”

Kotetsu pouted. “Aww, so then the dinner wasn’t to appreciate me? That’s kind of disappointing…”

Barnaby took his hand away from his face and looked at Kotetsu. How could this man change the mood so quickly like that? “No, that was definitely part of it. I just wanted to combine everything together, but that didn’t really matter since the dinner got interrupted.”

 There was another pause and Barnaby looked over at Kotetsu anxiously who had an odd combination of expressions happening at the moment, and Barnaby couldn’t really read them.

“So you…you’re seriously in love with me?”

“Yes.” Barnaby repeated seriously.

“Wow, Bunny I’m…” Kotetsu reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck. I’m really flattered, but…”

Ah, there it was. Barnaby knew this would happen. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up, but he couldn’t help it. “But you don’t feel the same…” Barnaby took in a breath and looked away, trying not to just break down in front of him. “It’s…it’s okay. I completely understand—”

“No, no, it’s not that!”

Barnaby quickly looked back over at Kotetsu. “Then…what is it?”

Kotetsu sighed and looked to the ground. “Why…me?”

Barnaby lowered his brows in confusion. “What?”

Kotetsu looked back up. “You’re Barnaby Brooks Jr! A popular, gorgeous man like you? You could have anyone you want! Some rich philanthropist, or some famous movie star, or someone…” Kotetsu looked away again. “Younger than me…”

Barnaby sat there with his mouth agape, completely dumbfounded to what Kotetsu had just said. “What the hell are you talking about? You honestly think I care about that?!”

Kotetsu sighed sadly. “You deserve way better than me, Bunny.” He looked back at him. “I have eleven years on you! I’ll only slow you down…hold you back.”

Barnaby shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. “No. That’s not true!”

“Oh, come on, Bunny. You’re serious? Why would you want with an old man like me?”

“It has to be you!” Barnaby snapped, causing Kotetsu to jump back slightly in surprise. “You’re the most kind and selfless person I have ever met. You’re driven and you never give up, even when you’re at your limit.” Barnaby chuckled softly. “You’re so stubborn and clumsy and reckless, but…I love all that about you. You’re the embodiment of what a superhero should be because you don’t care about acknowledgement or points and just genuinely love to help people. You even helped me!” Barnaby’s voice cracked a little. “You’ve helped me more than anyone else ever has because you made me see that revenge wasn’t the answer that would solve everything! For twenty years, Maverick pushed me down that path and if it weren’t for you, I would have become just like Andrew Scott…I would have been so consumed with revenge that I would have hurt other people in the process.” Barnaby felt a few tears start to well up, but he didn’t care. “I’m the person I am today because of you! So, I don’t want anyone else. I want you, Kotetsu.”

Kotetsu stood there in silence for an unbearable amount of time, and he looked as if he was trying to process everything Barnaby had said. Kotetsu’s mouth started to quiver and he placed a hand to it before tears started rolling down his cheeks.

Barnaby leaned forward in concern. “Kotetsu? Are you…okay?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just…a bit overwhelmed.” He took in a shaky breath. “That…that was the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Well, it’s true. That’s how I feel. I don’t care about the age difference, and don’t you ever think otherwise, okay?” Barnaby crossed his arms and leaned back onto the pillow. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner. I was just…”

“Afraid I’d reject you.”

Barnaby nodded. “Exactly.”

Kotetsu wiped his eyes and laughed a little. “Well, I can definitely relate to that.” He glanced directly into Barnaby’s eyes and looked on the verge of tears again. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought…” He smiled wide. “You…you really love me, Bunny?”

Barnaby rolled his eyes playfully. “Yes, oh my god. Didn’t I just make that perfectly clear?”

“Well, I’m just making sure. If you go and change your mind because I get too old or something, Blue Rose said she’d ice your ass for breaking my heart.”

Barnaby groaned. “Oh great, does everyone know now?”

“Everyone? What do you mean?”

“Well, Origami and Fire Emblem somehow figured it out. Also I’m pretty sure Bison knows too, but I’m not one hundred percent sure on that one.”

Kotetsu snorted. “Jeez, now I’m kind of embarrassed that they all figured that out before I did.” Kotetsu looked back at Barnaby with a very soft expression. “Well, I suppose they’ll be delighted then.” He took a few steps over to Barnaby. “Bunny, I—”

Kotetsu’s communicator went off and it startled the both of them.

Barnaby frowned. “Why is Agnes calling you? Didn’t you say you couldn’t work for a few days?”

“Yeah, but maybe this is important.” Kotetsu answered and Barnaby was very much annoyed at the interruption. Not like he’d been waiting years for this conversation to happen or anything. “What’s going on, Agnes?”

“Oh good, you’re awake. I need you to come over to the studio for bit. We’re almost done editing all the footage together and we want your input on a few things and maybe record a mini interview for the end.”

Barnaby sighed in relief. “Oh good, it’s just production stuff, then?”

“Oh, is Barnaby awake now?”

Kotetsu nodded and walked over to the bed so Agnes could see them both.

“Glad you’re recovering okay! I was going to ask you over as well, but seeing as you’re still checked into the hospital, I’ll let it slide.”

“Well, that’s considerate of you, Agnes.” Barnaby said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“This segment is sure to boost your popularity even more, so I expect both of you to give one hundred and ten percent once you’re recovered!”

“Of course.” Barnaby and Kotetsu said at the same time.

Agnes smirked. “Good! So hurry up, Tiger, I wanted to get this thing aired an hour ago!”

“I’ll be right over!” The call ended and Kotetsu looked over at Barnaby with a little bit of hesitation. “Uh, well…I guess duty calls.”

“Yeah...” Barnaby said sadly, not wanting Kotetsu to leave yet.

“I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”

“Well, you’d better. We uh, we have a lot more to discuss.”

Kotetsu smiled and Barnaby’s heart melted at the softness of it. “Yeah, we do.” Kotetsu turned away, but didn’t leave and just lingered in the doorway for a moment before promptly closing the door and walking back over to Barnaby.

Barnaby raised a brow. “Kotetsu, what are you doing?”

Kotetsu sat on the edge of the bed and cupped Barnaby’s face in his hands before leaning in and kissing him on the lips. Barnaby’s eyes shot open in surprise, but it wasn’t long before he let them flutter closed and then leaned into Kotetsu’s lips. He soon brought his hands up to Kotetsu’s neck as Kotetsu rubbed his thumbs over Barnaby’s cheeks to deepen the kiss. Holy hell, how was Kotetsu this good at kissing? Barnaby felt like he was going to float away and his heart was pounding like millions miles an hour; and that wasn’t a figure of speech, his heart really was pounding that fast because the monitor was going crazy again. How was he going to explain that little jump to the doctor later?

Kotetsu slowly pulled away, probably out of concern, and Barnaby leaned forward a little, lips still puckered, before he finally opened his eyes. He was slightly out of breath and in a daze.

“What…” Barnaby breathed out. “…was that?”

Kotetsu gave a smug grin. “A little payback for earlier.”

Barnaby let out a breathy laugh. “I guess I deserve that.” The heart monitor started to calm down and Kotetsu leaned his forehead against Barnaby’s. “You should probably get going. You don’t want to make Agnes mad for being late.”

Kotetsu pouted. “I don’t wanna.” He pushed a strand of Barnaby’s hair behind his ear. “I kind of want to stay here and kiss you some more instead.”

“Pfft, and whose fault is that?”

“Hmm, yours? For being so damn irresistible…” Kotetsu leaned in for another kiss, but Barnaby put a hand up to Kotetsu’s mouth to stop him.

“Stop saying such sappy things, Old Man.”

“Sorry, sorry. I just got a bit excited. I’ve been wanting this for a long time and I’m just kind of annoyed Agnes interrupted, is all.”

“I know, I am too. But I’ll be here when you get back and you can kiss me all you want then, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll hold you to that one!” Kotetsu snuck in another quick peck before getting off the bed and heading towards the door again. “Oh, and Bunny?” Barnaby looked up at him. “I love you too.”

Barnaby’s heart jumped and he felt like he was going to cry. “N-no fair! You can’t just say that and then leave!”

“I’ll be back soon!!” Kotetsu opened the door and dashed out of the room with a skip in his step. Once he was gone, Barnaby leaned back into the pillows and covered his face with his hands.

Barnaby couldn’t believe that just happened! He wasn’t still asleep, right? This was…this was actually real. He never would have dreamed this day would have come and then turn out the way he had always hoped for! He smiled wide under his hands and felt like laughing…or crying…or both. He was just so overwhelmed and didn’t stop himself from giggling like a total idiot.

“You okay there, Handsome?”

Barnaby jumped at the voice and shot back up to a sitting position to see Fire Emblem standing in the doorway with a raised brow and smug expression. “O-oh…Fire Emblem. Come in…”

Fire Emblem walked in and sat in the chair by the bed with a huge smile. “I just saw Tiger leave, who looked extremely pleased, I might add. Then I find you in here, giggling like a little schoolboy. How uncharacteristic of you, hehe.”

Barnaby felt his face heat up a bit and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Uh…”

“So,” Fire Emblem leaned forward a little, looking very eager. “Does that mean you told him?”

Barnaby smiled wide and nodded, trying hard not to just burst into giggles again. God, this really was uncharacteristic of him, wasn’t it?

“And it went well, I’m assuming?”

“Yeah, it…it went really well.”

“Oh!!” Fire Emblem leaned over the rest of the way and gave Barnaby a tight squeeze. “I’m so happy for you, Handsome! See, I told you it would all work out if you were just honest.”

“You were right. Thank you, Fire Emblem. You’ve helped me a great deal these past few days and I’m grateful.”

“Anytime, Handsome! Anytime!”

The two sat there and talked for a little longer before Fire Emblem had to leave for work, and they said they’d send the others back if that was okay. Barnaby agreed, and not long after Fire Emblem left, the other heroes came back to check on him. He received lots of well-wishes and a huge thank you hug from Bison for saving Kotetsu before they all needed to get going. He waved them all off, but Blue Rose stayed behind and waited for all of them to leave. Ugh, this was going to be awkward.

“So, I saw Tiger before he left. He said everything went well…”

“Yeah…it did.” What of it? He wanted to ask, but didn’t want to sound rude.

Blue Rose sighed. “I’m still in love with him, and that’s going to take me a while to get over, but I know how much you mean to him, so I’m not going to ruin that. He deserves to be happy, and you’re the one who makes him happy...somehow. So, you’d better be good to him, okay?”

Barnaby smiled, a little surprised by the genuineness in her voice. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have been. She’d really been pretty genuine these past few days. “I will. That’s a promise.”

“Good. But uh, don’t go thinking that this makes us friends or anything. We’re still rivals, after all.”

Barnaby laughed, there’s the Blue Rose he knew. “I wouldn’t want to have it any other way…”

Blue Rose gave a nod before finally leaving the room and Barnaby leaned back into the pillows again. He took in a deep breath and smiled, still almost not believing it. He felt himself finally relax a bit from the excitement of the past hour and started to feel a bit sleepy. So he took off his glasses and placed them on the bedside table before readjusting himself to a more comfortable position. He thought of that amazing kiss one more time before letting himself fall asleep.

“Bunnyyyyy.”

“Hmm?” Barnaby opened his eyes to see Kotetsu sitting in the chair right next the bed. “Oh, Kotetsu…” he sat up and rubbed his eyes before putting his glasses back on again. “How’d the thing go?”

“Fine! They’re gonna air it soon if you wanted to check it out!”

“I think that’ll be way too much excitement for me right now.”

“Aww, you don’t wanna watch me being all heroic and stuff?”

Barnaby scoffed. “I was the one to save you from Triss, if you remember.”

“Yeah, but I still saved you in the end, didn’t I?” Kotetsu crossed his arms dramatically.

“I’ll check it out later. You can go out to the waiting room to watch it, if you want.”

Kotetsu quirked his mouth to the side. “Nah, I’d rather stay with you. You still owe me lots of kisses, remember? Oh, also!” He picked a bag up from the floor and pulled out a large container with…the strawberry shortcake Barnaby made inside of it?! “I stopped by your apartment on the way back and I thought we could eat this together.”

“Kotetsu…” Barnaby smiled warmly. “That’s so…wait a minute. How the hell did you get into my apartment?”

“I uh…borrowed the key from your locker?”

Barnaby lowered his brows. “So then how did you get into my locker?”

“That’s…not important!” Kotetsu took out some paper plates from the bag. “What is important is that we both haven’t eaten in about 16 hours!” He put a piece of cake on each plate and handed one to Barnaby, who rolled his eyes and took it.

“Well, cake wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I suppose I’m a bit hungry.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kotetsu wasted no time and dug in. “Oh man, Bunny, this is so delicious!”

“Are you just saying that because you’re starving, or because it’s actually good?”

“No, really! It’s so good!” He took another bite.

Barnaby smiled and took a bite of his own as well. Wow, it was actually pretty tasty after all. “Thanks. I’ve never made it before, so I was hoping it would turn out okay.” He took another bite. “Actually, Origami was the one who suggested it.”

“Origami?” Kotetsu asked with his mouth full.

“Yeah, I ran into him at the super market yesterday when I was buying stuff for dinner. He actually gave me a few tips as well. I think that’s how he found out, about my feelings for you, I mean. He was under the impression that the dinner was a date, I guess.”

“Well, it kinda was a date, wasn’t it?” Kotetsu said, moving his plastic fork around animatedly.

Barnaby snorted. “I mean, I suppose. I don’t know if you’d want to count that as our first date when you weren’t even aware…”

Kotetsu shrugged. “Why not? I really enjoyed it. My beloved Bunny-chan, making me a home cooked meal! Fried rice, nonetheless! What could be a better first date than that?”

Barnaby made a face at the added honorific. He had taken a liking to just “Bunny”, but whenever Kotetsu added the “chan” he always groaned internally, and sometimes externally as well. He never really told Kotetsu to stop though, so he probably didn’t actually hate it that much.

Kotetsu suddenly choked on his cake a little and he started laughing really hard and had to set his cake on the table so he didn’t spill it all over the floor.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just…aha…I just remembered that stupid thing you said to Triss earlier!” Barnaby gave a confused look before Kotetsu continued. “Only one person is allowed to call me Bunny, and it sure as hell isn’t you!” He laughed out in his best Barnaby voice. “God, I’m so glad I remembered that, I’m gonna cry ahaha!”

Barnaby flushed. “Shut up!! I was running on adrenaline! I had no idea what I was saying!”

Kotetsu’s laughing finally calmed down and he looked at Barnaby smugly. “Admit it. You’ve come to love that nickname, haven’t you?”

Barnaby groaned. “Okay, fine…maybe I have. Maybe! Just a little bit.”

Kotetsu smiled and then retrieved his cake from the table to finish it. Not long after, Barnaby finished his own as well and Kotetsu threw away all the trash and sat back down in the chair. He then took Barnaby’s hand in his and rubbed his thumb over the top of it.

“You still owe me some kisses, you know?”

Barnaby almost rolled his eyes, but he thought Kotetsu’s clinginess was a little bit endearing, so he leaned over and gave Kotetsu a few soft kisses on the lips, which Barnaby melted into immediately and had to stop himself from falling off the bed in the process. Once they pulled away, Kotetsu smiled stupidly and sighed in content while squeezing Barnaby’s hand a little tighter.

Barnaby chuckled. “You really are weird sometimes, Old Man.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, one minute you’re all sad and in denial about my feelings for you, and then the next you’re kissing me like you’ve done it a million times and then being all…sweet and romantic.”

“Well, it’s still pretty unbelievable that someone as amazing as you fell for me, but…you’re important to me so I want to go all out! Also, I’m just a really physically affectionate person, okay?”

Barnaby shook his head and squeezed Kotetsu’s hand back. “Well, I suppose I’m gonna have to get used to that then.”

Kotetsu leaned in for another kiss. Barnaby smiled against Kotetsu’s lips and figured he actually wouldn’t really have a hard time getting used to this after all. The two pulled away again and Barnaby couldn’t help but think about what the future held and his heart fluttered at the thought.

“So…” Barnaby started. “What do we do now?”

“Hm?”

“Do we…move in together?”

Kotetsu’s eyes shot open. “Huh?!”

“Rent would be cheaper with our combined income and then we would have extra money for some other things. Then we could carpool to work easier and—”

“Woah, woah, woah! Slow down there, Bunny! We don’t have to rush things.”

Barnaby realized he had gotten a little carried away. “Ah, sorry. I just…I’ve been in love with you for so long that I got a little ahead of myself.”

Kotetsu laughed. “That’s okay. I can relate, so I don’t really blame you. I’m curious now, though. How uh…how long exactly? If you’re okay with answering that.”

Barnaby flushed a little and turned his eyes away. What an embarrassing question, but he had wanted to know the same thing with Kotetsu, so he figured it was only fair to answer. “Well, I think I started catching feelings back when you helped me defeat Jake. But I hadn’t really had everything completely figured out until I…until I thought I’d lost you when we were fighting H-01.”

Kotetsu blinked a few times in surprise. “Wow, Bunny, that…that was a long time ago.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry that I kept it a secret for so long.”

Kotetsu shook his head and squeezed Barnaby’s hand again. “Don’t worry about that, Bunny. I uh…I didn’t even have my own feelings figured out then anyways. Hell, you figured yours out a lot sooner than I did.”

“So, when did you realize?”

“Ah…” Kotetsu leaned back in the chair, looking a bit embarrassed. “I didn’t realize until after I came back from retirement. I just missed you so much during that year away and I didn’t really know exactly why until we started working together again. We had gone from not seeing each other for a year to hanging out every day, so the feelings were kind of hard to ignore.”

Barnaby smiled warmly. He never expected Kotetsu to fall for him at all, so hearing about how long he’d been smitten made him really happy.

“So, I definitely would love to move in with you eventually.” Kotetsu said. “But let’s just take it easy for now, yeah? Go on some dates, have a few sleep overs…we can even give each other copies of our apartment keys!” Kotetsu brought a finger up to scratch his chin. “I don’t really know why we haven’t done that already…”

“Yeah, that sounds good. That way you won’t have to break into my locker anymore.”

“Oh, shut up, smartass. I didn’t break into your locker. You just happen to have a really easy combination.”

Barnaby cocked a brow. “Oh, do I? And you found that out how exactly?”

“Well, it’s not like ya hid it whenever we were in there together!”

“Ohh, so you were just being nosey then?” Barnaby scoffed playfully. “Typical of you…”

Kotetsu grumbled and crossed his arms before he let out a very large yawn.

“How much sleep have you gotten?” Barnaby asked.

“Uh…” Kotetsu leaned back and started counting on his fingers. “Maybe like…four…five hours?”

“Jeez, you should probably go home and get some more rest, Kotetsu.”

“Nah, I can get plenty of rest right here!”

Barnaby glared at Kotetsu. “Go home. Get some rest. I’ll be fine.”

“Aw, you’re no fun. What if I miss you?”

“How can you miss me if you’re asleep?”

“Still…”

Barnaby shook his head. What exactly had he gotten himself into? “Then just text me a lot like you usually do. But I don’t want you back here until you get a good amount of uninterrupted sleep, okay?”

“Yeah, okay, okay. Jeez, still the same old nag, I see.”

Barnaby smirked. “Always.”

Kotetsu leaned over for one more kiss before he stood up and stretched. “Just let me know if you need anything.”

“I will. Now get out of here already, Old Man.”

“I’m goin’, I’m goin’!”

Kotetsu shuffled towards the door and gave Barnaby a loving smile before finally exiting out of the room and closing the door behind him. Barnaby sighed happily and sank into the blankets, thinking he should probably sleep some more too. He was definitely going to need all the rest he could get with the wild ride that dating Kotetsu T. Kaburagi was going to be, but he looked forward to every crazy minute of it.

Chapter Text

Kotetsu struggled with opening the door to Barnaby’s apartment while trying to balance a cardboard drink holder, two paper food bags, and a newspaper. He nearly dropped everything once he stepped inside and tripped over his own feet, but thankfully, the newspaper had been the only thing that fell. So Kotetsu went back to pick it up after he safely set everything else down on their little makeshift table made out of a few empty milk crates and an old sheet. They didn’t have any chairs, but that was okay, Kotetsu didn’t mind sitting on the floor.

“Lunch is here!” Kotetsu called into the empty apartment. Well, not like it was ever full before, but it was even emptier now with the few belongings Barnaby owned packed into less than ten boxes across the room.

“Ah good, I’m starving.” Barnaby said as he entered from the bedroom, carrying another box. He set it in the pile and headed over to Kotetsu. “That’s the last of it.”

“Already?” Kotetsu said as he pulled out his burger from the paper bag and set it down on the milk crate table.

Barnaby nodded as he sat down across from Kotetsu and grabbed his own food bag. “I told you it would only take a few hours to get it all packed.”

Kotetsu laughed. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Barnaby smiled and started to unwrap his burger.

“Ah wait, wait!! Don’t eat that!” Kotetsu said frantically as he swiped it from Barnaby’s hand.

“What the hell, Old Man?”

“Sorry, I think this one is yours.” He handed the other one to Barnaby. “It says no pickles on the wrapper.”

“Wow, thank you for saving me from that tragedy.” Barnaby said sarcastically.

“Hey, I just didn’t want you blaming me for forgetting to tell them no pickles when you just got mine on accident!”

“Well, I would have just taken them out anyway. But thanks for remembering.” Barnaby took a bite of his burger and looked down at the newspaper that Kotetsu placed on the floor next to him. “Anything interesting in there? Or did you just get it for the funny pages?”

“Oh!” Kotetsu swallowed his bite and picked up the paper and handed it to Barnaby. “Check out page four!”

Barnaby lowered his brows in confusion before flipping to page four and scanning over the page. His eyes widened and he glanced back up at Kotetsu. “Lunatic almost killed Triss?!”

“Yup!” Kotetsu said between bites. “Apparently she got ambushed by him while being transferred from the small courthouse jail after her sentencing.”

“Well, considering she murdered three people, it’s not surprising that Lunatic went after her. Why weren’t we called in for this?”

“Because he attacked and then she attacked back and scared him away before anyone really knew what was happening. Those bolts of hers sure are something.” Kotetsu took another bite. “She tried to slip away in the confusion, but thankfully she didn’t get very far before they caught her again. Sometimes we heroes aren’t needed, I suppose.”

“Well, I’m kind of glad for that. I definitely don’t want to see her ever again. Though it would have been hilarious to see her face after she found out I survived. Also, I’d rather she sit in prison and feel miserable for the rest of her life than for her to get killed off by Lunatic.”

Kotetsu smiled at Barnaby’s words. He really had changed a lot, hadn’t he? Barnaby from a few years back would have probably been disappointed that Lunatic hadn’t killed Triss. Kotetsu felt a bit smug that he’d been the one to help with that. He finished his burger and glanced across the empty room and almost couldn’t believe it was finally happening…and so soon too! They’d only been dating about a month, but they figured that was long enough and decided to finally move in together after having sleep overs almost every night.

“Well, we’d better finish this up.” Barnaby crumpled up his empty wrapper and put it back into the paper bag. “It’d be unfortunate to get a call from Agnes while we’re moving all this stuff.” He gathered all the trash and threw it into their designated trash bag that they’d take out at the last minute once everything else was moved out. Then he started towards the pile of boxes.

Kotetsu stood up. “Hey uh, Bunny?”

“Yeah?”

“So uh,” Kotetsu rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you really sure that you wanna move in with me?”

Barnaby stood there for a second before making a perplexed expression. “You’re asking me that now?! After I’ve already given my notice and after packing everything?!”

“Well, your place is so much bigger! And it’s closer to work…and it’s in Gold Stage! It’s so much classier than my place.”

Barnaby laughed. “Since when have you ever cared about class?”

Kotetsu half nodded in agreement. “Well, I guess you’re right. I just…I just want you to be comfortable, that’s all.”

Barnaby’s expression softened. “As long as I’m with you, it’s fine. I spend more time over at your place anyways. Plus, I had way less stuff to pack and move. So it works out perfectly, right?”

Kotetsu chuckled. “Yeah, that’s true. It would have been a hassle to move all my stuff again. It was a pain moving back home and then back to the city a year later. And I tell ya, it was no picnic trying to get my old apartment back, but thankfully my landlord is a Wild Tiger fan, so I lucked out. But I suppose this arrangement is okay as long as you’re fine with leaving all this behind.”

“Well,” Barnaby’s expression turned into a pensive one and he glanced out the window. “Maverick actually was the one to pick this place out for me after I graduated from the Hero Academy. He said a nice, fancy apartment in Gold Stage would be good for my image as a hero...the image he wanted me to have that I now realize was something I never really cared about. So, this place never really felt much like home anyways…especially after Maverick’s death. It was just a constant reminder that he had manipulated me and molded me into something he wanted me to be. I’d thought about just moving several times, but where would I have gone? Then when we started working together again, I started feeling more and more detached from this place, and I just wanted to spend more time with you instead.” Barnaby turned to face Kotetsu. “Your place always just felt so warm and welcoming. It was the first place I’d actually felt at home in a long time. So, yes. I’m sure I want to move in with you.”

Kotetsu blinked a few times, not having expected any of that, but he felt really touched to hear it. He never realized Barnaby felt so detached from this place, but he supposed it made sense. There was always something a little off about it, even though it seemed nice on the surface. Kotetsu smiled at the thought. “Jeez, Bunny, that was super sappy. But I’m honored that you feel that way. I just hope you know that it’s gonna be a bit cramped. We already have issues with my bed, and I don’t think I’ll be able to fit a king sized mattress up there.”

Barnaby smiled fondly. “That’s okay, I don’t mind sleeping close. Besides, I’m already getting used to waking up with you sprawled all over me, so I don’t think the bed sharing will be a problem.”

Kotetsu blushed at the sound of that. The first time they shared a bed, Barnaby seemed super uncomfortable waking up to Kotetsu clinging to him, but Kotetsu couldn’t help it! He was just a naturally clingy sleeper and he couldn’t control that. He was just happy to hear that Barnaby had started to like that now. “Well, then I suppose this month of sleepovers prepared us for that.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Barnaby walked over to Kotetsu and pulled him into a sweet kiss that Kotetsu melted into right away. Barnaby’s kissing skills had been pretty laughable at first, but he was a very quick learner. Though, even when Barnaby had been bad at it, he still never failed to make Kotetsu’s heart flip.

Kotetsu chuckled as Barnaby pulled away.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m just…” He stroked Barnaby’s cheek with his thumb. “I’m really happy. I’m glad we’re taking this step together.”

Barnaby leaned his forehead against Kotetsu’s shoulder. “Now you’re being the sappy one, Old Man.”

Kotetsu ran his fingers through Barnaby’s hair a few times, always amazed at how soft it was, and kissed the top of Barnaby’s head as it rested on his shoulder. “We should probably get these boxes moved outta here soon.”

“You’re right.” Barnaby lifted his head from Kotetsu’s shoulder and they got busy lifting the boxes and carrying them out of the apartment.

It wasn’t long before they got all the boxes in Kotetsu’s car and they went back up to the apartment to take out the trash and then do one last sweep to make sure nothing had been forgotten. Barnaby’s text notification went off as they were almost done looking around and he smiled as he read it.

“Who was that?”

“Fire Emblem. They were just asking if we were done yet because they wanted to stop by your place soon to give us a house warming gift.”

“House warming gift?” Kotetsu chuckled. “Well, it’s not really a new place…”

“Yeah, but it is our new place together. I think it’d be nice to have a little something to break it in.”

“That’s true. Tell them we’re heading down to Bronze in a bit and they can stop by anytime.”

“Will do!” Barnaby typed away at his phone and the two of them finished their sweep and thankfully didn’t find anything they had missed. They both headed to the front door and took one last look at the room.

Barnaby took a deep breath as he glanced around. “Well, I guess this is it. At first I thought it’d be a bit hard, but it feels good to finally be leaving this place.” He looked over to Kotetsu with a content expression and leaned on him. “I love you.”

Kotetsu’s heart skipped at that, like it always did. It still felt unbelievable even after a month, but he was slowly getting used to it. He leaned back and wrapped an arm around Barnaby and gave him a gentle squeeze. “I love you too, Bunny.”

The two stood there in the doorway a while before Barnaby finally moved away from Kotetsu to turn off the lights and they stepped out of the apartment and closed the door. Kotetsu couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of them literally closing the door on that part of Barnaby’s life and opening another door to their new life together. Kotetsu took Barnaby’s hand and intertwined their fingers as they walked down the hall to the elevator, feeling the most content he had been in years. He had no idea what the future held for them now, but he absolutely could not be more excited to find out.