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For quite possibly the first time in his life, Barnaby didn’t second-guess the looks people gave him as he walked by.
It was the middle of the night, to be fair, and he could live with the one or two strangers giving him strange side glances. While most of the time Barnaby would be spiraling down the panic of ‘They’re looking at me, what did I do what am I doing wrong-’, He was more than a little preoccupied at the moment.
Kotetsu whimpered at his side.
“I know, buddy,” Barnaby’s voice came out not much more than a whisper, and his free hand reached out to pet the Saint Bernard as the two trudged down the street. Kotetsu nudged at his open palm, both a reassurance and a plea to keep moving.
His other hand was gripping his side, the blood that was still seeping through his favorite sweater vest being the only thing that kept the hand warm.
Where was he going? He didn’t know. Barnaby had been following Kotetsu’s lead for the last several minutes. Maybe he should have found another hero for help, but to be frank, he didn’t want to deal with that right now. Most of the other heroes didn’t respect him whatsoever, he was just a D-tier, after all.
‘Sidekick materiel’ Echoed a familiar face in his head. Not an inaccurate one, though. D-Tiers were typically either assigned side-kick roles or became heroes of their own fruition. Barnaby was lucky enough to do the latter, but that didn’t mean he had a single ounce of respect from most of the other heroes.
Asking one of them because he needed help with a stupid injury wouldn’t help at all.
Besides, he told himself, it was just a scratch.
He stumbled on the sidewalk, the unexpected movement jostling his side and causing him to inhale sharply. Kotetsu moved fast enough to stop him from falling to his knees, almost all of Barnaby’s weight being held up by the loyal dog.
It took a few moments for the world to stop spinning around him as he attempted to steady himself. His head was getting more numb by the minute, and he couldn’t hear anything over the pounding in his ears.
Barnaby inhaled slowly, blinking away his hazy vision.
Kotetsu pushed him up gently before nudging him forward.
He wasn’t sure how much longer the two of them continued walking, but he followed Kotetsu’s lead, trusting the loyal dog to guide him somewhere safe. Eventually, Kotetsu stopped, and Barnaby blinked himself out of his semi-aware state to see where the dog had led him.
He looked up to see an all too familiar apartment.
Barnaby shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, but Kotetsu gave him a look (not that unusual, Kotetsu was far from a normal dog, after all) before nudging him towards the door and clawing at it.
Barnaby sighed, relenting. “Fine.”
It’s not like there was anywhere better to go, anyway.
Now inside, he made his way slowly to the apartment number he had memorized for very different reasons than showing up needing help with an injury.
This really wasn’t a good idea. Morgan was his nemesis. He should know better than to show clear weakness to the enemy. It was like, Heroing 101.
Though.. Deep down he knew that Morgan would never purposefully hurt him, especially in this state. In fact, they would probably help him.
Morgan wasn’t at heart a bad person.
It didn’t take long until Barnaby stood in front of Morgan's door. He shared a glance with Kotetsu (again, not unusual) before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door, moving his arm as little as possible to not further aggravate the injury.
The door opened and cold golden eyes greeted him.
Barnaby had expected Morgan. A villain, yes, but not a cruel one. Instead, he now stood face to face with the most powerful and feared being in the known universe.
He had met Alex more than a few times, It tended to go hand in hand with him being their partner in crime/best friend/lover/soulmate’s nemesis. But being on Alex’s no-kill list did not mean he was safe. Far from it, actually.
“Why are you here,” Alex hissed, their eyes almost glowing with anger. A chill of fear down Barnaby's Spine and he stumbled backward half a step. Kotetsu growled at Alex, but Barnaby knew full well the dog wouldn’t be able to stop Alex from killing him if they wanted.
“I-I-” Barnaby stuttered out, mind blanking.
“Are you here for Morgan? Think you can ambush them?” They said, growing impatient with his fumbling words.
Barnaby tried to open his mouth but Alex suddenly grabbed his vest and slammed him against the wall, clearly about to snap out another threat. Barnaby couldn’t restrain a sharp inhale at the burst of pain that shot through his side.
At the sound, Alex loosened their grip.
“What-.” Their eyes scanned his body, gaze landing on the hand that was still gripping Barnaby’s side.
“You’re injured.” They stated, almost confused.
“T-Thanks for noticing” Apparently, Barnaby’s self-preservation had flown out the window.
Alex let go of Barnaby but the sudden movement made his head spin. Well, more than it had been before, anyway.
His vision swarmed with black, and he didn’t notice he had fallen over until something caught him. Kotetsu, probably. Wait, no- now steady arms were dragging him inside the apartment, which meant it had to have been Alex. But that didn’t make any sense, Alex would never go out of their way to save any hero, much less him .
“Why would you come here? ” Alex asked all previous anger in their voice no longer present.
Barnaby hummed. “Nowhere else to go,” He said with a mumble. That was only half true. It was more like there wasn’t anywhere else he wanted to go. There was a reason Kotetsu lead him here, after all.
He could feel Alex’s frown as they placed him on the couch with surprising gentleness.
“Stay there,” They said. “Try not to get blood on Morgan’s couch.” They paused for a second as if considering. “Well, try not to get more blood on there.”
And then they left.
Honestly, Barnaby was surprised to get even this much from the villain. At least he was out of the cold and had a somewhat comfortable place to sleep. Maybe Morgan would be here later and make sure he doesn’t die.
Kotetsu hopped on the couch next to him and Barnaby rested his head on the large dog. Hopefully, Alex and Morgan weren’t picky about having animals on the furniture, but Barnaby decided he didn’t really care right now. Kotetsu was comfortable to sleep on.
In just a few minutes, he had almost completely drifted off before a hand shook him awake. Barnaby opened a single eye to glare at whoever dared disrupt his much-wanted sleep.
Alex was back.
Before Barnaby could even register the panic of ‘oh shit, they changed their mind and are gonna kill me right this second for thinking I could enter Morgan’s apartment with no consequences’ Alex spoke. “Try to stay awake for now, at least until I can actually take care of your injuries.”
Barnaby just stared at them.
Only now did he notice the first aid kit and various other medical supplies that Alex had grabbed and placed on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Alex frowned. “What? Did you think I was just gonna leave you bleeding out on Morgan’s furnature? That’s-” Alex paused, thinking about it for a moment. “That’s fair, actually.”
Barnaby almost snorted at the bluntness of that. The one thing you could maybe trust Alex to be was honest. Well. Okay, maybe not.
“And even if I did want to, Morgan would be mad at me if they came back home to your dead body on their couch. So.” Alex shrugged, as if any of that explained the absurdity of this situation, before grabbing some bandages, soap, and water off of the table. Glancing back at Barnaby, they said. “I’m gonna take your shirt off. Don’t freak out.”
Before he could interject, Alex snapped their fingers and all at once both Barnaby’s button-up and sweater vest teleported bloodstain and tear-free onto the coffee table.
Alex gave no warning before they kneeled in front of him and started cleaning the injury, and Barnaby hissed as the rag made contact with the wound. Alex appeared unpreterbed about his discomfort, yet they did seem to apply the rag a bit more gently.
After a few moments, they paused, anger lacing their features for the first time since entering the apartment.
“This will need stitches. What happened?”
Barnaby grimaced, trying to remember the details. “I, um, I s-stopped a robbery. Some th-thug was threatening a rich-looking couple and their kid. The family got away, but I got uh. Lightly stabbed.”
Alex looked up from his wound to give them an unimpressed look. “Lightly stabbed? Oh god, you’re just as bad as Morgan, aren’t you.”
Barnaby couldn’t help a small chuckle that escaped him. “No one is as bad as Morgan.”
Alex actually grinned at that as they turned to grab the medical needle and thread. “Finally. Someone gets it.”
When Alex turned back, they gave a look of sympathy, and Barnaby decided to not think about how weird seeing The S-Tier villain looking Sympathetic , of all things. “This might hurt. Well-” Alex paused, head tilting a little awkwardly. “It’ll definitely hurt. Try not to pass out.”
“Y-your bedside manner is terrible.”
“Thanks.”
Alex was right, it did hurt. A lot. Barnaby had to bite his tongue to prevent any noise of distress. It wasn’t like he had never gotten stitches before, but usually, he was in a hospital. Or medicated. Not in a dirty apartment with a villain tending to his wounds.
He tried to keep his attention on Kotetsu for the time being, the feeling of the fur between his fingers causing a much needed distraction. Kotetsu nuzzled against him in an attempt to provide some comfort.
Strangely enough, Alex seemed to know what they were doing. Their hands moved precisely and without hesitation, Barnaby was curious as to how and why Alex knew how to do this.
"You’re g-good at this."
Alex huffed. "When you're as close to Morgan as I am, you need to be. That dumbass gets themself injured every other week, I swear."
That… made sense actually. "I wish I could say I was surprised"
They scoffed in response at that, though any possible annoyance Alex had wasn't aimed at Barnaby.
It was only a few moments of not quite awkward but not quite comfortable silence later that Alex tied the knot on the surgical string before cutting the thread and backing away slightly to admire their work. They gave a single nod, then grabbed a clean rag to clean around the wound one last time.
Barnaby inhaled at the sting, but it didn't last long and soon Alex was turning away to clean up the supplies. He sighed with relief and leaned fully onto Kotetsu, ready to fall asleep an any given moment.
After a minute, Alex spoke, though their back was still turned away from them. "You can ask, by the way. I know you're wondering" they said, though their voice was carefully void of any emotion.
Barnaby blinked his eyes open, confused by the sudden change in Alex’s demeanor. "I- wasn't going to say anything?"
Alex sighed, turning to face him. "I saw how you were looking at me when I started taking care of the wound. You want to know why I didn't just heal you."
Barnaby opened his mouth, then paused with a frown, considering his response.
"That wasn't what I was confused about." He said, choosing his words carefully.
Alex tilted their head to the side, wordlessly asking him to continue.
Barnaby explained further. "I wasn't expecting you to come back, much less take the time to stitch me up. If you had the ability to heal me you would. So I didn't think anything of it."
Alex blinked as if shocked. "..oh." They said, as an afterthought.
Alex stayed like that for a few awkward seconds, eyebrows furrowed as they looked at him with a strange yet considering expression.
Barnaby cleared his throat in an attempt to clear away the uncomfortable silence. “Y-you can pet Kotetsu. If you want.”
Alex's head shot up, all prevoius confusion vanishing in an instant. "Really?"
Barnaby nodded, forcing back a smile as he shifted a bit away from Kotetsu. The dog, while still somewhat suspicious of Alex, perked up immediately at the mention of pets.
Alex grinned as they teleported to Kotetsu's other side and only hesitated the barest amount before petting the dog. They moved tentatively at first, but quickly turned enthusiastic as they realized Kotetsu was actually allowing it.
"Finally!" Alex said with a laugh. Even Kotetsu was happy now, his tail thumping against the back of the couch.
Huh. A mass murderer petting his ghost dog, both equally excited about the situation. This was the most surreal thing Barnaby had ever experienced.
But that was a problem for later.
Alex looked back at Barnaby after a few minutes. "You should really get some rest now. I'll stay with you to make sure you don't like, die, or anything. Morgan will be back sometime tomorrow morning, and I'm sure they'll have questions."
Barnaby nodded, already closing his eyes and once again using Kotetsu as a pillow. Alex begrudgingly slowed down his petting to a barely noticeable scratching behind Kotetsu's ears, which Kotetsu still seemed to appreciate.
Before he knew it, darkness overtook him.
He wasn’t sure how long he was asleep, but when he woke up the sun was peeking through the blinds, the thin strands of light enough to illuminate the apartment with a soft glow. It was just enough to see the entire room without the lights turned on.
Barnaby shifted as he became more aware, wincing at the pain still present at his side. It was only then he noticed the other person standing on the opposite side of the coffee table with their phone in hand.
Morgan had noticed it too, it seemed. "Oh, shit, sorry. Did I wake you up?” They pocketed their phone before walking a bit towards him. “I just got back a few minutes ago from a… well, no offense, but I'm not gonna tell you. Anyway, I may have been a little loud coming in, sorry."
Barnaby blinked, mind still numb with sleep. Slowly, the events of last night caught up to him. "No it's…" he trailed off as turned his head to see Kotetsu, but was almost shocked to see Alex still sitting on the other end of the couch, fast asleep, with one hand still resting on Kotetsu's head.
"...fine." He finished dumbly, unable to look away from the jarringly domestic sight.
"I was a little shocked too," Morgan said, instantly picking up on Barnaby’s internal distress. "Though, more because I wasn't expecting you to be here. Alex sleeping on the couch is a pretty frequent occurrence. Why are you here, anyway?"
Barnaby turned back to look at Morgan. "Got injured stopping a robbery. Didn't want to deal with heroes."
Morgan furrowed their eyebrows, confused. "And you asked… Alex...for help?"
He almost barked out a laugh at that. " God no. I actually came here, uh, f-for your help."
Morgan blinked. "Oh." Then the implication dawned on him. "Oh! Aww, Barnaby! We're friends!"
Barnaby frowned. "N-no, that's not-"
"We're totally friends."
"I-I-I am your nemesis, we can't be-"
"You showed up to my apartment unannounced, injured, and then my partner fixed you up and stayed with you all night." Morgan grinned, folding their arms with the ‘I’ve won this one, sucker’ expression. "We're friends."
Barnaby just groaned, turning his head to hide his embarrassment in Kotetsu’s fur.
After a few moments of silence, he looked back at Morgan. "Why did Alex take care of me, anyway? They've made it very clear in the past that my life or d-death means nothing to them."
"Oh yeah!" Morgan exclaimed. "Forgot to tell you. You're on the Must Protect List now. Congrats."
Barnaby blinked. "I-I'm sorry. What?"
Morgan sighed. "Yeah. They claim it was for the dog, but if what you say happened last night is true, that's definitely not the only reason." They rolled their eyes, but the fond look aimed at the still-asleep Alex did not escape Baranaby’s notice.
Okay. This was too much.
Morgan must have been able to read the panic on his face because he laughed and waved his arms in a relax motion. "Really, don't worry about it. Basically, just know you probably won't die any time soon."
He just stared at them for a few minutes before saying. "Yeah. I'm not gonna think about this before I get some c-coffee"
"You really are just as bad as Morgan." Alex yawned, but the sudden interjection startled Barnaby badly enough that they flinched and gave a sharp inhale as the movement less than kindly reminded him about his injury.
"Sorry," Alex mumbled, sleep still laced in their voice, before turning to Morgan. "You only just got home, didn't you." It wasn't a question.
Morgan's only response was a sheepish grin.
"Bed." Alex said, pointing to the hallway across the room. "Now."
Morgan rolled their eyes. "Cmoooon. It's only-"
"Six forty-seven am. You have been awake almost twenty-four hours. Go. To. Sleep."
Morgan opened up their mouth, but Barnaby interrupted before they could say anything.
"If it really has been that long, you should really get some rest. W-wouldn't want our next fight to be too easy for me."
Morgan narrowed their eyes, half glaring at the two of them. "This is unfair. I'm outnumbered." Then they stifled a yawn and sighed. "Fine. I'm going to bed. But only if you" They pointed to Barnaby, "Also get some more rest. Stay until lunch, at least. Lord knows I won’t be awake until then."
It was Alex’s turn to look at him. “I can make you breakfast on top of that if you want. Either way, you’re staying until I can check on your stitches.”
Barnaby sighed. Two meals with his nemesis and the highest-ranking villain ever wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened on the last day. "A-alright. I suppose."
Morgan looked at him with a hopeful expression. "Really? Yes!"
Even Alex looked a little pleased.
Yeah. This was really fucking weird.
____________
Hours later, after lunch and a long argument about how Barnaby was to get home (which ended in Alex just snapping their fingers and Barnaby and Kotetsu back at their place seconds later), Barnaby relaxed into his living room couch and turned on the TV, resolving to take a break for the rest of the evening.
His phone buzzed, and a notification from Morgan popped up on his home screen. Frowning, Barnaby unlocked the phone and clicked on the message.
What appeared on his screen was a grainy, low-quality photo of Alex and Barnaby, both asleep on either side of the couch with Kotetsu snug between the two. Alex was leaning back against the back corner of the couch and the armrest. They faced the other two almost protectively, one hand still resting on Kotetsu’s head.
It was. A kind of adorable picture.
Barnaby glared at the screen, instantly typing out a response.
[img.file]
Sent 4:04 PM
Delete this immediately!
Read 4:05 PM
No <3
Sent 4:05 PM
Barnaby huffed in annoyance and totally didn’t save the picture to his phone before throwing it on the ottoman in front of him. And if he did it was 100% exclusively for blackmail purposes.
He turned his attention back to the TV. There was some news broadcast going on about some thug that had been brutally murdered earlier this afternoon. It was rumored that the S-Tier Villain themself was the one to do the job, though nothing had been confirmed, and it seemed unlikely they would stoop so low as to kill a random, powerless thief.
Barnaby had to agree. If anyone asked them, they’d say Alex had nothing to do with it.