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“Alright, thank you very much! Ah - yeah, I know, I’ll take good care of him. Yes, yes, two weeks, I understand. Bun- ahem, I mean Barnaby will be in great hands, trust me! Alright. Uh-huh. Okay. Talk to you later. Oh! And, uh, happy holidays to you too!”
Kotetsu hung up his phone with a theatrical sigh, head thrown back as he closed his eyes to add to the drama. He then turned to look at Barnaby, who was giving him a very familiar raised eyebrow.
“So I’m stuck here for two weeks? And during the holidays no less? I doubt I’ll be able to survive being in constant proximity to you for that long,” Barnaby crossed his arms over his bandaged chest as he laid against the armrest of the couch.
Kotetsu let out a hearty laugh while he stood up from his spot on the staircase.
“Ah come on, Bunny! We already see each other every day! How bad could it really be? Plus, we’ll finally get to have some good ol’ fashioned bonding time! ‘Tis the season, right pal?” Smiling, he walked over to plop himself down onto the couch next to Barnaby’s feet. He tried to give his partner his most convincing smile while patting the tops of Barnaby’s feet . All it earned him was an unimpressed look.
“All I ask is that you don’t douse your fried rice with mayo every meal. Can you do that?” Barnaby challenged Kotetsu, and Kotetsu was never one to back down from a challenge. Standing up with purpose, he shot out his hand towards the other man to shake.
“Deal!”
For the first few days, Barnaby tried his best to take it easy. Kotetsu had brought him some magazines and books to read, the TV played mindless sitcoms and action movies that he could zone out to, and if all else failed, he could just sleep his time away.
By day three, he was restless. He had already read through everything he was given, Die Hard was playing for the fifth time (and Barnaby was really starting to question how much violence was allowed on TV these days), and he couldn’t get himself to relax enough to nap anymore. It was already evening, and Barnaby was about to go stir-crazy. He had to do something.
“Kotetsu?” Barnaby called out from the couch, fingers anxiously playing with the fringe of his blanket. Maybe he could convince his “nurse” to let him train, or at least go outside for a walk. Something, anything to get him off the damned couch.
A few moments passed, and then the sound of dull footsteps grew louder until Kotetsu came into view. His face was twisted with concern, and his eyes darted all over Barnaby’s body to check for any problems.
“Bunny? What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” He rattled off, hands reaching towards Barnaby to check his bandages, only to be gently interrupted by Barnaby’s own hands.
“I’m fine, Kotetsu. I appreciate the concern, old man,” He gave him a small smile to reassure him. Kotetsu let out his held breath, shoulders dropping back down to their normal position.
“Don’t scare me like that, Bunny! I thought something had happened to you! I mean, not that you can’t take care of yourself, but- well, you know what I mean,” He admonished, before he rolled his eyes playfully and sat down next to Barnaby. “So, what did you need, Bunny?”
A moment of silence passed, then two. Barnaby wasn’t looking at Kotetsu whatsoever, which was not something Kotetsu had ever encountered before from him. Usually, he was very direct about what he wanted, and would even go out of his way to make eye contact so that he knew Kotetsu was paying attention to what he was saying.
Well, that he was trying his best to pay attention, at least. In Kotetsu’s defense, Barnaby could be very distracting while he was talking! His eyes would flash such a bright green when he was passionate, and when Kotetsu could get him to genuinely smile and laugh about something, it made him feel like he had won a grand prize. But, that wasn’t the point right now. Right now, a certain bunny was being weirdly nervous, and Kotetsu was about to get to the bottom of it.
He began to poke all over Barnaby’s legs, trying to get a reaction out of him.
“Bunnyyyyyy, what’s up? Why aren’t you saying anything?” He asked quietly, searching all over Barnaby’s face for any sign of a clue.
Barnaby couldn’t help the small smile that graced his face. What a dork. Meekly, he looked up at his partner.
“Uh… it’s. I just-” Barnaby sighed, collecting his thoughts together to make a proper sentence. He wasn’t used to asking for help, especially when he had gone about most of his life only relying on himself. It was hard for him to even just get the simple words out. But, he knew that Kotetsu had always been by his side, through the good, the bad, and especially the ugly. He could trust him with this.
“Canwegoforawalk?” He rushed out in one breath.
Nailed it.
Kotetsu blinked a few times at his partner, processing the request.
“Uh, yeah, sure! Lemme just, um. Get our jackets, uh, real quick,” he fumbled out while standing up. He was still trying to understand what all the fuss was about when Barnaby was just asking for a walk, but he also felt relieved that he trusted Kotetsu enough to ask for this.
As Kotetsu gathered some jackets and winter wear for them, Barnaby couldn’t help but smile to himself. He felt really lucky to have someone like Kotetsu. Someone that cared about him so deeply, that treated him as an equal, and that trusted him so wholeheartedly, just like Barnaby trusted him. He had never really had someone he could trust like this, at least not since Samantha. It was strange, honestly. He was so used to only relying on himself that being able to ask for help is actually kind of nice. It would take time for him to not struggle so much with asking, but Barnaby knew it was going to be worth it.
In the time it took Barnaby to come to his conclusions, Kotetsu had come back with everything.
“Alright Bunny, here is a jacket, hat, gloves, and a scarf. I looked out the window earlier and there’s a decent amount of snow on the ground, and I know I would get my ass handed to me by the doctors if I let you catch a cold, or slipped on the ice, or-” A hand on his shoulder stopped his ramble.
“Thanks, Kotetsu. I really appreciate it,” Barnaby gave him a genuine smile that almost blinded the poor man. And then he had the audacity to wink at him as he took the clothes! “Okay, old man. Don’t forget to grab your keys before we leave. I don’t want to be stuck out in the cold all night.”
Once the two were ready, Kotetsu led them to a nearby walking trail. He found the trail after Tomoe had passed, and it had become his own little escape. The gently falling snow gave the path a dream-like quality, and soft light from the streetlamps guided them as they walked side by side.
“Ya know, it’s weird. I haven’t been here in a couple years, but it really hasn’t changed that much,” Kotetsu remarked, glancing at their surroundings. The trees had grown a little bigger, the bushes fuller, and the dirt path had become slightly overgrown. “It feels like it was just yesterday that I was running this path. I’d run for hours when I could. Helped me take my mind off everything when it felt like too much,” he told Barnaby, kicking at a rock while he spoke.
“Oh. I, uh, used to do a similar thing when I was growing up. It’s why I enjoy running so much, honestly. I can just focus on where I’m going, and leave the rest up to my body,” Barnaby told him. His eyes were focused on the ground in front of them, feeling oddly vulnerable as he shared this part of himself to his partner. “I don’t do it as much anymore, and sometimes I can get the same effect from our Hero work. But every so often, I’ll go to the gym and just run on the treadmill until I can’t run anymore.”
“Ohhhh, so that’s where you go off to! I always pictured you as the kinda guy to write in a diary he hid under his pillow, but I guess not. Unless…?” Kotetsu turned towards him with a shit-eating grin, and Barnaby couldn’t stop himself from bursting out laughing at the idea. His hands came up to his chest as he laughed the hardest the older man had ever seen him laugh before, and it felt like a moment of fireworks going off in his heart. And in that moment, he made a promise to himself - to get his partner to laugh like this again, as many times as he could. Barnaby deserved to be this happy all the time, and Kotetsu would not stop until that was achieved.
The heartwarming bubble around their moment was burst when Barnaby’s laughs turned into coughs, and the hand on his chest tightened into a fist over his sternum.
“Woah, woah, okay Bunny!” Kotetsu rushed forward, lightly touching his partner’s back to guide him to a bench nearby. “Let’s sit you down, partner. Can you take deep breaths for me?”
Barnaby continued to cough, but gave a shaky thumbs-up, and tried his best to breathe in and out. Slowly but surely, while Kotetsu rubbed his back in circles, he was able to get the coughing fit under control.
“Geez, Bunny, you’re on a roll with scaring me tonight! I didn’t think I was that funny…” The older man admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly with his free hand. Barnaby raised his eyebrow at him, and then rolled his eyes.
“Come on, old man. Even I can admit that you can be funny - sometimes,” He gave a knowing look to the other, who had already begun to grin like a kid on Christmas. He chuckled to himself - man, Kotetsu was such a dork. He really loved that about him.
That thought made Barnaby’s brain halt in its tracks. Love? Had he really used the word “love” about Kotetsu? He knew he cared for his partner, but loving him was a whole different situation. But, the more he pondered the concept, the more he began to realize that it was true. He really did love Kotetsu. Sure, he could be a stubborn bastard sometimes, but he always meant well. They had gone through a lot together, and had both changed for the better because of it.
Taking a deep breath, Barnaby decided to throw caution to the wind, just a little bit. He scooched closer to his partner, who blinked questioningly at him.
“Bunny? Everything okay? Oh, are you cold? Here, I can give you my scarf if you want-” He was interrupted by a very brief kiss.
It only lasted a moment, but it rendered him absolutely speechless. Kotetsu stared wide-eyed at his partner, who was looking off to the side with a bright red face. Well, he assumed it was bright red, seeing as how he could only see the upper half. The bottom half of his face was being hidden by the collar of his jacket - Kotetsu had never seen Barnaby hide like this before. It was cute.
Said cute man suddenly stood up, and began to walk down the trail, back towards Kotetsu’s apartment.
“Better hurry up, old man! Or I’ll lock you out for the night!” He called out, picking up his pace slightly. He didn’t have to turn around to know that the other man was still sitting slack-jawed on the bench. He smiled to himself when he heard the snow begin to crunch from rapidly approaching footsteps.
“Hey! Wait a sec, Bunny! You can’t just do that and run away! You don’t even have the keys to the door! … Or do you?! W-wait up, Bunny!” And thus, the race back home began.