Fanfiction: Kotetsu Kaburagi's Greatest Hits (Tiger & Bunny)
Title: Kotetsu Kaburagi's Greatest Hits
Series: Tiger & Bunny
Pairings:: Kotetsu/Tomoe, Kotetsu/Barnaby
Words: 4,771
Warnings: Language (including at least one instance of the F-bomb). Fluff. Mild violence.
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete
Spoilers: Up to episode 13
Summary: Five of Kotetsu's happiest memories.
Notes: This fic is totally unrepentant fluff. If it was food, it'd probably be fattening. ;) Written for this prompt at the anon meme.
::Kotetsu Kaburagi's Greatest Hits::
The past was nothing but a procession of memories, a record of the events that built you, broke you, forged you into the person you are and laid the foundations for the one you could someday be. Kotetsu had learned long ago to accept the bad with the good, but when he lay awake at night and the world was quiet, it was the good ones that always played across the theater of his mind.
I. A Hero’s Hands
Kotetsu had never been so scared in his life.
This was insane. He was insane. He wasn’t a hero; at best he was just a crazy kid with delusions of grandeur. At worst he’d be a corpse in blue pajamas.
Itchy blue pajamas.
Fuck.
A hand on his back and a voice in his ear speaking words he couldn’t hear over the deafening whump of helicopter blades and the scream of sirens on the street below. “What?” he bellowed, only half-caring. He was dead man. This hero business had seemed like a good idea until about twenty minutes ago, but now Kotetsu was giving serious thought to a change of vocation.
He heard accountants had a relatively low fatality rate.
A hand on his neck and Ben pulled him close. “I said go get ‘em, Tiger.”
Then he pushed Kotetsu out of the helicopter.
That son of a bitch pushed him out of the goddamn helicopter.
Kotetsu screamed like a little girl, and had the space of a heartbeat to hope no one had caught that on camera before he slammed onto the roof of one of the squad cars, staring at the startled face of the driver through the windshield.
Ouch. Kotetsu shoved himself upright with a wince, holding onto one of the flashing lights for balance. In hindsight, he probably should have activated his powers before he landed.
“Rookie Wild Tiger is first on the scene!”
The voice was distant and tinny in his ear, and Kotetsu squinted against the wind and tore out the stupid earpiece, tossing it aside. The last thing he needed was running commentary when he needed to focus.
Focus, right. The stolen van was tearing down the cleared freeway three cars ahead. Two bank robbers, both armed. Christ, where were the other heroes?
The van suddenly swerved, an arm and a red head poking out of one of the windows and vanishing back inside with an aborted scream.
A woman’s scream.
They had a hostage. No one had said anything about hostages, dammit! Where were the other heroes?
Screw it.
Kotetsu reached inside, to the place where his powers slept. They answered his call, strength flooding his limbs and the pain of his landing becoming distant, inconsequential. The hostage was in danger, and the other heroes were nowhere to be seen. He’d have to do.
Kotetsu leaped from the roof of the squad car to the next, nearly ripping the lights off as he attempted to stabilize himself. The moment he had his footing, he launched himself to the next car, then the next.
No time to be scared as he landed on the wide rooftop of the van. Kotetsu poked his head down, peering in the back window. He got a quick glance of a tear-streaked face and the barrel of a gun before he rolled away, a spray of bullets puncturing the roof where he lay a moment before.
He was such a dead man.
Just... not until he got the girl out. He could die later, but not until the girl was safe.
A flash of color, and Kotetsu could have cried; Blaze was gaining on the them. The other hero caught Kotetsu’s eye and nodded once, putting on a burst of speed and drawing the level with the getaway van. Drawing gunfire, Kotetsu realized, and he wasted no time in reaching down and tearing off the back door. It hit the ground in a shower of sparks, and he took advantage of the criminal’s startled distraction to grab the girl.
She screamed as Kotetsu tucked her against his chest, protecting her as best as he could as they tumbled to the pavement. They hit hard, rolling several feet before skidding to a stop. The police cars wailed past, and after a stunned moment, Kotetsu managed to struggle upright. His suit was a complete write off, and the flesh beneath it not much better, but he was more concerned about the girl still clutched against his chest.
“Hey. Are you okay? I can call an ambulance or-” Except he couldn’t, because he’d thrown his headset away like an idiot, but a rescue crew should be along soon, right? They had cameras everywhere, they knew what was going on.
The girl didn’t immediately answer, but before Kotetsu could say anything, she threw her arms around his neck and strangled him in an iron grip, sobbing loudly. “I was so scared! So scared!”
Kotetsu gave her hair an awkward pat, still not sure if she was injured or not. “H-hey. Don’t cry, you’re safe now.”
She didn’t listen, so Kotetsu sat there, looking and feeling a lot like ground beef, and let her cling to him and cry.
He’d saved her. Never in his life had Kotetsu ever been responsible for the welfare for another human being. She was alive, and more or less okay, because of him. He stared down at tangled red hair and blinked dazedly.
That was... kind of awesome.
Maybe, just maybe, he was cut out for this hero business after all.
II. Lucky in Love
The sun was setting, the park nearly empty, and Tomoe was late.
Kotetsu bounced on his toes, slipping one hand into his pocket and trailing fingers over the soft velvet of the box, reassuring himself that it was still there. It was something of a habit these days; the box had been living in his pocket for almost three months now. Three months, and he’d wussed out on asking Tomoe to marry him twenty-seven times and counting.
It had to be some sort of pathetic record.
It wasn’t that he was scared. Well, no, that was a lie. He was pretty well terrified out of his mind that she was going to turn him down, but Kotetsu had never been the type of guy to let something like fear stop him from charging in and mucking things up.
Maybe that was the problem. He really, really did not want to muck this one up.
The velvet on one corner of the box had been worn away to almost nothing by constant, nervous rubbing. The ring inside was modest, partially because Tomoe wasn’t the type for extravagant gifts, but mostly because after damage fines, Wild Tiger’s take home pay was kind of pathetic. Not that he was worried she’d turn him down because of the ring. No, there were a thousand reasons why she might say no, but Kotetsu knew her well enough to know that a bit of wire twisted in a loop would have been enough.
It wasn’t the ring that froze the words in his throat every time he thought he’d finally mustered the courage.
Some hero he was. He could handle guns, explosions, and all sorts of daily threats to his person, but he didn’t even have the balls to propose to his own girl. It was just sad. If he had to sit through one more night out with Antonio listening to his friend rib him about being a pansy, there was a good chance Kotetsu might snap.
And yet, twenty-seven times. He sighed.
“Sorry I’m late!” Kotetsu was startled from his thoughts as Tomoe threaded an arm through his, beaming up at him. “Got caught up at work. Where are we eating?”
She looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful to him, even when she’d just rolled out of bed in the morning, bleary-eyed and hair doing impossible things. Why she wanted anything to do with him was still something of a mystery. “Anywhere you want.”
She hummed thoughtfully. “How about that little Italian place on the other side of the park? We can just walk.”
“Sure.” His feet found the path, and he looked down at Tomoe’s head. “How was work?”
She made a dismissive sound. “Boring. I work in an office, Kotetsu, the most exciting parts of my day are paper cuts and misplaced staplers. Tell me about your day.”
“Hey, I think your work is interesting!” Tomoe just stared at him until he relented. “Eh, pretty quiet today. Blaze and Witchdoctor still aren’t talking to each other. Poseidon Line is making noise about hiring some kid who can fly. Oh, and Ricochet is retiring next month.”
“What? Really? I hadn’t heard about that.”
“They’re going to make the official announcement sometime next week.” Kotetsu shrugged. He liked Ricochet, but it was impossible to deny that the old man was past his prime. “He’s older than Mr. Legend was when he retired.”
“I suppose so,” Tomoe said. They walked for a minute or two, the silence between them simple and easy. “Kotetsu?”
“Hm?”
“When are you going to ask me to marry you?”
Kotetsu stopped short, choking on nothing. “I- you- what. What?” How did she know? How did she know? If Antonio had ratted him out, Kotetsu was going to wring his neck and oh god, Tomoe was looking at him with her big, beautiful eyes and the ring in his pocket felt like it weighed a million pounds. He made a sound not unlike a dying camel.
She pulled away a bit, planting her hands on her hips. “I found the ring months ago, you know.”
Kotetsu wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He managed a strangled, “Oh.”
Tomoe rolled her eyes and huffed in that exasperated, fond way she often did. She reached into Kotetsu’s pocket before he could react and snatched up the ring box with its bare spot. Kotetsu could only watch in dumb amazement as she flipped it open, took the ring out, and slid it onto her left ring finger. Thrusting her hand in his face, Tomoe waggled her finger for effect and said, “Yes.”
Kotetsu’s brain felt like it had crashed and was trying to reboot with dubious success. “Yes?” he repeated dumbly.
Tomoe laughed, slipping the empty box back into Kotetsu’s pocket. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
She said yes. Holy shit, she said yes. Not that Kotetsu had actually asked but that was totally not the point because she said yes and he was getting married. A hundred thoughts all collided at once, and he wanted to tell her how happy he was, how scared, how lucky. He wanted to ask if this was real, if she was crazy, if she had him confused with someone else. All he managed was a stuttered, “That- that’s good.”
And then he kissed her, because he wasn’t great with words most of the time but he wasn’t too bad at this. Tomoe let him, laughing against his lips, and Kotetsu was pretty sure this might just be the happiest day of his life.
III. Fatherhood
Two eyes, two ears, one nose, ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. Kotetsu cradled the red, wrinkly, perfect little person like she was made of glass and wondered how it was possible to love someone so much when you’d only just met.
Her name was Kaede, and Kotetsu knew his life would never be the same.
He was surprisingly okay with that.
Tomoe was sleeping. She’d earned it after more than thirty hours of labor, and if Kotetsu had ever had reason to doubt that women were strong and ferocious and downright amazing, he sure as hell didn’t now. Tomoe had taken it like a champ, and if he’d had to activate his Hundred Power to keep her from breaking his hand, well, he wasn’t going to complain.
Especially when she’d had the good grace not to mention that he’d fainted. Twice.
Kotetsu felt a peculiar sort of peace sitting in that dark hospital room, his daughter cradled in his arms.
His daughter.
Nine months of preparation, and it still felt so surreal. Almost impossible to believe that he was half responsible for making the tiny person sleeping in his arms. She was so small. Were babies supposed to be that small? Kotetsu shifted, brushing a finger across the so-soft skin of her cheek, the fuzz of her hair, and down along her tiny nose. Kaede slept on, oblivious, and Kotetsu grinned what had to be the biggest, dopiest grin of his life.
His daughter.
He looked up to find Tomoe watching him, eyes half-lidded and a fond smile on her lips. “I didn’t know you were awake,” he said, keeping quiet although Kaede showed no signs of waking.
“I didn’t want to interrupt,” she replied, voice a little raspy but just as soft.
“How did we do this?” he asked, feel a little awed and a little humbled, like he’d been given a gift he didn’t quite deserve. Tomoe huffed out a laugh, and Kotetsu grinned. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know,” she said, curling around a pillow and looking as content as he’d ever seen her. “But here we are. You’ll be a wonderful father.”
Kotetsu couldn’t help but puff with pride, just a little. She sounded so much more sure than he felt. “You think so?”
Tomoe yawned, eyes sliding closed once more, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “I know so.”
IV. Partners
Kotetsu didn’t see much of Bunny for a week or so after the Martinez incident. Partially because the media wouldn’t give Barnaby a moment of peace, and partially since Kotetsu was still recuperating. His Hundred Power bluff had been necessary, and he didn’t regret it by a long shot, but once the imminent threat to the city had been dealt with, his battered body had more or less called it quits on him.
Which hadn’t stopped him from trying to go back to work the moment he could haul his sorry carcass out of bed. Nathan had caught him just as he was coming in and had dragged Kotetsu right back out again, all thunderous and terrifying in that way he got. Nathan had taken him home and bundled him straight into bed, fussing and lecturing the entire time. When he’d finally left, it had been with the deceptively mild suggestion that Kotetsu not show his face back at work until the doctor had given him the all clear.
Kotetsu had taken the suggestion to heart. He might be crazy, but he wasn’t suicidal.
So the time had been spent puttering around his apartment, catching up on sleep, watching old Hero TV reruns, and trying not to go stir crazy. The other heroes popped in from time to time with offerings of homemade cookies (Keith), beer (Antonio), and a mile high stack of old kung-fu movies (Pao-Lin). He was happy with the gifts and happier for the company, so much so that he wasn’t even annoyed that the other heroes who’d gotten their faces kicked in by Martinez had bounced back twice as fast.
Okay, maybe he was still annoyed, but only a little.
Even Bunny had managed to extricate himself from Lloyds’ media frenzy long enough to pop in.
The doorbell startled Kotetsu out of a light doze. He blinked blearily at the clock. Almost midnight, who could it be at this hour? Levering himself off the couch, Kotetsu ignored the twinge in his side and hobbled to the door.
Bunny was standing on his doorstep, looking a little tired but otherwise pretty good. Something about him just seemed... lighter, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It was good to see. “Heeey, Bunny. Come in, come in.”
He stepped aside, and Barnaby asked, “How are you feeling?” before he was through the threshold.
Kotetsu ran a hand through his hair and tried his best not to look like a hobo who’d been living on his couch for a week. Probably failed. “Good as new!” he declared, flashing a wide grin, and it was only a tiny fib.
Bunny hummed in reply, quirking an eyebrow that said ‘I know you’re lying’ in no uncertain terms. Kotetsu deflated a little. “Well, my side still hurts a little, but it’s no big deal. I’m going crazy being cooped up all day!”
Bunny’s expression softened a bit, but before he could reply, his bracelet went off.
Kotetsu’s didn’t.
Snarling at his wrist in a way that would be funny in hindsight, Bunny took a step towards the door and hesitated, looking back at Kotetsu. He looked somewhere in the middle of angry, reluctant and distraught, and the realization that his partner didn’t want to leave warmed Kotetsu to his toes. “Go on,” he said with a smile. “Go catch some bad guys.”
Bunny nodded. “Get better soon, Kotetsu. It’s not the same without you.”
Then he was gone, which was for the best, so that he wouldn’t see Kotetsu grinning like a fool after him.
V. Second Chances
They were on their way to lunch when it happened. There was this great little deli a few blocks from work; a hole in the wall joint if Kotetsu had ever seen one that made sandwiches as big as his head. Bunny usually had a salad, which Kotetsu not-so-privately thought was criminal when there was meat to be had, and teased his partner about eating like his namesake at every opportunity.
Hitting the deli on their lunch hour had become something of a habit, and that was probably the mistake. Forming public habits for someone as visible as Barnaby made it easy to predict where he’d be, and when.
Or more importantly, where he’d be without the protection of his suit.
“I really just wish Mathilda would stop trying to grope me,” Bunny griped, shading his eyes with one hand and waiting for the light to change.
Kotetsu choked on a laugh. “Isn’t that the old lady in charge of wardrobe? The one that looks like she’s at least a hundred?”
“That’s a generous estimate, but yes, that’s her. I’ll be glad when we’re done with this photoshoot series.” The light changed and his stepped off the curb.
Kotetsu grinned, trotting to catch up. “It’s what you get for being such a heartthrob. Your charms aren’t limited to pretty young girls in an acceptable age bracket, you know.”
Barnaby shot him an unimpressed stare. “Tell me that when you’re the one getting felt up by a wrinkled old prune.”
“I dunno, Bunny.” Kotetsu scratched his beard and pretended to give matter great thought. “I don’t get much action these days. I might like it.”
“Ugh.” Barnaby wrinkled his nose in distaste. “That was mental imagery I did not need. Thank you for that.”
Kotetsu chuckled. “Anytime, partner.” He was climbing in the rankings, getting along with Bunny like they were old friends, and there was a massive sandwich in his immediate future. People were even buying his trading cards! Life didn’t get much better than that.
Later, he wouldn’t be able to say what about the the man had caught his attention. Maybe it was the way he hovered nervously in a shadowed alcove, maybe it was the long coat completely out of place on a hot summer day, or the way he stared at Bunny like the rest of the world had simply ceased to exist. Whatever it was, something about the man made him take notice.
Kotetsu would never have seen the gun if he wasn’t looking straight at him.
A flash of movement, the glint of metal, and Kotetsu didn’t have any time to think. He dove at Bunny, shoving him out of the way with a shout, just as the gun went off and white hot pain tore through his shoulder.
He dropped like a stone, people were screaming around him, and goddamn, that was a lot of blood.
Bunny was at his side in an instant, face contorted in fear. “Kotetsu!”
Kotetsu struggled to sit, but thought better of it, pain lancing through him like molten spikes. “Don’t let him get away.”
“To hell with him,” Bunny snarled savagely, shrugging out of his shirt and wadding it against the wound, pressing hard.
Pain spiked at the sudden pressure, and Kotetsu moaned as his vision whited out briefly. “He tried to shoot you,” he argued weakly, trying to ignore the pain and failing kind of miserably. Being shot really, really hurt.
“I said to hell with him,” Barnaby replied. “I’m not going to leave you bleeding on the sidewalk to chase him.” His voice was suspiciously thick.
“Oh.” When he put it that way, it sort of made sense. “Okay.”
Kotetsu watched Bunny pull out his cell and bark something that sounded urgent at it, letting it drop to the pavement with a clatter when he was done. He blinked dazedly up at his partner. “I feel woozy.”
Bunny laughed, and it sounded a little manic. “You just got shot, you idiot. Of course you feel woozy. Ambulance is on the way.” He shifted a little, and the change in pressure on his wound made Kotetsu whimper. Bunny winced and let out a shaky breath. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” Kotetsu vaguely recalled that talking was a good idea when you were injured. Or was that only for concussions?
“Shove me out of the way!” Barnaby’s voice rose an octave, sounded almost hysterical, and wasn’t that odd? He was usually pretty cool in a crisis. Kotetsu patted the hand holding the compress, smearing blood over the back of his partner’s hand. Whoops.
If he wasn’t so busy being shot, Kotetsu might have considered his reply a little more carefully, but as it stood blunt honesty was all he was capable of. “I couldn’t let him hurt you.”
Barnaby made a wounded sound. “Idiot,” he said, taking Kotetsu’s hand with his free one in spite of the blood and squeezing hard. “Stupid, stupid, noble idiot. If you die, I will never forgive you.” Bunny hunched over him protectively, and Kotetsu couldn’t remember ever seeing him look so scared.
“Hey,” he said, lacing their fingers together because he didn’t have the strength to squeeze. “I’m not gonna die. It’s just my shoulder. A few stitches and a pint of blood, and I’ll be good as new.” If he wasn’t as confident as he made out to be, well, Bunny didn’t need to know that. Kotetsu felt dizzy and fuzzy, his shoulder hurt like a son of a bitch, and that really seemed like way too much blood for such a small hole. Still, Kotetsu wasn’t about to give in that easily.
“Yeah,” Bunny replied, and didn’t seem at all convinced.
The distant scream of sirens was a welcome sound. “Hey, it’s the cavalry.” Kotetsu’s eyelids felt heavy, and they closed without any input from him. “That’s good.”
“Kotetsu,” Barnaby’s voice, high and thin and very wrong. “Open your eyes.”
He tried to comply, anything to erase that edge of panic in his partner's voice, but his eyes just wouldn’t obey. He felt kind of floaty, and the pain was strangely distant. “Sorry, Bunny.”
”Kotetsu.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
* * *
Kotetsu woke up to white sheets, white walls, and one hell of an ache in his shoulder. He blinked at the ceiling for a few groggy moments, waiting for his brain to catch up. It wasn’t the first time he’d woken up in a hospital with no memory of how he’d gotten there. In fact, it was a distressingly regular occurrence.
Oh right. He’d been shot. Hadn’t even thought to activate his powers before diving in front of the bullet.
Kotetsu glanced around and was surprised to find Barnaby curled up in the only chair, fast asleep. Even in repose he looked worried, the faint line of a frown between his brows. “Bunny?”
Barnaby started awake, blinking owlishly at Kotetsu for a moment before practically diving at him, crushing Kotetsu in an awkwardly positioned hug that nonetheless spared his wounded shoulder. Startled, Kotetsu patted Bunny’s back with the arm that wasn’t immobilized. “Hey. Good to see you too.”
“You idiot,” Bunny snarled, pulling back so that they were practically nose to nose. “You’re not invincible, for God’s sake! What were you thinking?”
Kotetsu would be lying if he said he wasn’t touched by his partner’s worry. A small, affectionate smile pulled at his lips. “I wasn’t,” he said honestly. “I saw someone about to hurt you, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
Barnaby deflated at that, slumping forward and resting his forehead against Kotetsu’s collarbone. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days,” he muttered.
Kotetsu chuckled, shoulder protesting the action painfully. He leaned his head against Bunny’s and put his free hand on his head. “Hazard of being my partner.”
Bunny laughed a little at that, a tiny, barely there sound, and didn’t move. Kotetsu frowned, concerned. This kind of lingering worry wasn’t like him, not at all. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
That got him moving, and Barnaby pulled back enough to give Kotetsu an incredulous look. “What’s wrong?” he repeated in a tone of voice that asked are you simple? “I-” He shook his head once, and before Kotetsu had time to react Bunny grabbed his face and kissed him, hard.
It was short and ferocious, more like an attack than a kiss, and by the time Kotetsu wrapped his head around what was happening it was over, Bunny glowering at him and swallowing hard. “What wrong,” he bit out, eyes blazing, “is that the man I love dove in front of a bullet for me like the heroic idiot he is, and I thought he was going to die before I got a chance to tell him how I feel. I think I’m entitled to a few hysterics.”
Kotetsu stared.
Oh.
That was. Well, a pretty damned good explanation, actually. Except for the part where Bunny said he was in love with him, because that made no sense whatsoever. What would he want with an old man like him? “You what?”
Bunny flushed red to the tips of his ears and stared somewhere in the vicinity of Kotetsu’s chin. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”
Kotetsu studied him for a long moment, letting that revelation sink in. Bunny was in love with him. Bunny, who could have practically anyone he wanted, was in love with him. No accounting for taste, but Kotetsu wasn’t about to question. Gift horses and all that.
Despite the fact that Barnaby had spent the last few months becoming one of the most important people in Kotetsu’s life, he’d never entertained the notion that there could be anything but friendship between them. If he’d ever wanted it to be something more, he’d dismissed it as a passing fancy.
“I should get shot more often,” he said, still a little stunned.
Bunny’s head snapped up with a frown. “What?”
“It’s a small price to pay for hearing that,” he said softly, a little awed. He’d all but given up on love after Tomoe died, but it seemed determined to find him again anyway. Kotetsu was distantly certain he must’ve been a saint in a former life to have generated the karma to have not one, but two utterly amazing people in one short life.
“What? Bunny repeated, features painted in the shock of someone who had braced for rejection but hadn’t gotten it.
Kotetsu fisted a hand in Bunny’s shirt and then paused abruptly, a stray thought temporarily derailing the others. “Did they ever catch the guy? The shooter?”
Bunny choked. “You’re asking that now? Yes, the police picked him up almost immediately, can we get back on topic?”
“Just wanted to make sure you were safe,” Kotetsu explained, tugging him in for another kiss. The opposite of their first, it was soft and gentle and almost surreal, and the hopeless romantic in him was fairly certain that it was the best kiss of his life.
For this, Kotetsu would gladly take a thousand bullets.
Series: Tiger & Bunny
Pairings:: Kotetsu/Tomoe, Kotetsu/Barnaby
Words: 4,771
Warnings: Language (including at least one instance of the F-bomb). Fluff. Mild violence.
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete
Spoilers: Up to episode 13
Summary: Five of Kotetsu's happiest memories.
Notes: This fic is totally unrepentant fluff. If it was food, it'd probably be fattening. ;) Written for this prompt at the anon meme.
::Kotetsu Kaburagi's Greatest Hits::
The past was nothing but a procession of memories, a record of the events that built you, broke you, forged you into the person you are and laid the foundations for the one you could someday be. Kotetsu had learned long ago to accept the bad with the good, but when he lay awake at night and the world was quiet, it was the good ones that always played across the theater of his mind.
I. A Hero’s Hands
Kotetsu had never been so scared in his life.
This was insane. He was insane. He wasn’t a hero; at best he was just a crazy kid with delusions of grandeur. At worst he’d be a corpse in blue pajamas.
Itchy blue pajamas.
Fuck.
A hand on his back and a voice in his ear speaking words he couldn’t hear over the deafening whump of helicopter blades and the scream of sirens on the street below. “What?” he bellowed, only half-caring. He was dead man. This hero business had seemed like a good idea until about twenty minutes ago, but now Kotetsu was giving serious thought to a change of vocation.
He heard accountants had a relatively low fatality rate.
A hand on his neck and Ben pulled him close. “I said go get ‘em, Tiger.”
Then he pushed Kotetsu out of the helicopter.
That son of a bitch pushed him out of the goddamn helicopter.
Kotetsu screamed like a little girl, and had the space of a heartbeat to hope no one had caught that on camera before he slammed onto the roof of one of the squad cars, staring at the startled face of the driver through the windshield.
Ouch. Kotetsu shoved himself upright with a wince, holding onto one of the flashing lights for balance. In hindsight, he probably should have activated his powers before he landed.
“Rookie Wild Tiger is first on the scene!”
The voice was distant and tinny in his ear, and Kotetsu squinted against the wind and tore out the stupid earpiece, tossing it aside. The last thing he needed was running commentary when he needed to focus.
Focus, right. The stolen van was tearing down the cleared freeway three cars ahead. Two bank robbers, both armed. Christ, where were the other heroes?
The van suddenly swerved, an arm and a red head poking out of one of the windows and vanishing back inside with an aborted scream.
A woman’s scream.
They had a hostage. No one had said anything about hostages, dammit! Where were the other heroes?
Screw it.
Kotetsu reached inside, to the place where his powers slept. They answered his call, strength flooding his limbs and the pain of his landing becoming distant, inconsequential. The hostage was in danger, and the other heroes were nowhere to be seen. He’d have to do.
Kotetsu leaped from the roof of the squad car to the next, nearly ripping the lights off as he attempted to stabilize himself. The moment he had his footing, he launched himself to the next car, then the next.
No time to be scared as he landed on the wide rooftop of the van. Kotetsu poked his head down, peering in the back window. He got a quick glance of a tear-streaked face and the barrel of a gun before he rolled away, a spray of bullets puncturing the roof where he lay a moment before.
He was such a dead man.
Just... not until he got the girl out. He could die later, but not until the girl was safe.
A flash of color, and Kotetsu could have cried; Blaze was gaining on the them. The other hero caught Kotetsu’s eye and nodded once, putting on a burst of speed and drawing the level with the getaway van. Drawing gunfire, Kotetsu realized, and he wasted no time in reaching down and tearing off the back door. It hit the ground in a shower of sparks, and he took advantage of the criminal’s startled distraction to grab the girl.
She screamed as Kotetsu tucked her against his chest, protecting her as best as he could as they tumbled to the pavement. They hit hard, rolling several feet before skidding to a stop. The police cars wailed past, and after a stunned moment, Kotetsu managed to struggle upright. His suit was a complete write off, and the flesh beneath it not much better, but he was more concerned about the girl still clutched against his chest.
“Hey. Are you okay? I can call an ambulance or-” Except he couldn’t, because he’d thrown his headset away like an idiot, but a rescue crew should be along soon, right? They had cameras everywhere, they knew what was going on.
The girl didn’t immediately answer, but before Kotetsu could say anything, she threw her arms around his neck and strangled him in an iron grip, sobbing loudly. “I was so scared! So scared!”
Kotetsu gave her hair an awkward pat, still not sure if she was injured or not. “H-hey. Don’t cry, you’re safe now.”
She didn’t listen, so Kotetsu sat there, looking and feeling a lot like ground beef, and let her cling to him and cry.
He’d saved her. Never in his life had Kotetsu ever been responsible for the welfare for another human being. She was alive, and more or less okay, because of him. He stared down at tangled red hair and blinked dazedly.
That was... kind of awesome.
Maybe, just maybe, he was cut out for this hero business after all.
II. Lucky in Love
The sun was setting, the park nearly empty, and Tomoe was late.
Kotetsu bounced on his toes, slipping one hand into his pocket and trailing fingers over the soft velvet of the box, reassuring himself that it was still there. It was something of a habit these days; the box had been living in his pocket for almost three months now. Three months, and he’d wussed out on asking Tomoe to marry him twenty-seven times and counting.
It had to be some sort of pathetic record.
It wasn’t that he was scared. Well, no, that was a lie. He was pretty well terrified out of his mind that she was going to turn him down, but Kotetsu had never been the type of guy to let something like fear stop him from charging in and mucking things up.
Maybe that was the problem. He really, really did not want to muck this one up.
The velvet on one corner of the box had been worn away to almost nothing by constant, nervous rubbing. The ring inside was modest, partially because Tomoe wasn’t the type for extravagant gifts, but mostly because after damage fines, Wild Tiger’s take home pay was kind of pathetic. Not that he was worried she’d turn him down because of the ring. No, there were a thousand reasons why she might say no, but Kotetsu knew her well enough to know that a bit of wire twisted in a loop would have been enough.
It wasn’t the ring that froze the words in his throat every time he thought he’d finally mustered the courage.
Some hero he was. He could handle guns, explosions, and all sorts of daily threats to his person, but he didn’t even have the balls to propose to his own girl. It was just sad. If he had to sit through one more night out with Antonio listening to his friend rib him about being a pansy, there was a good chance Kotetsu might snap.
And yet, twenty-seven times. He sighed.
“Sorry I’m late!” Kotetsu was startled from his thoughts as Tomoe threaded an arm through his, beaming up at him. “Got caught up at work. Where are we eating?”
She looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful to him, even when she’d just rolled out of bed in the morning, bleary-eyed and hair doing impossible things. Why she wanted anything to do with him was still something of a mystery. “Anywhere you want.”
She hummed thoughtfully. “How about that little Italian place on the other side of the park? We can just walk.”
“Sure.” His feet found the path, and he looked down at Tomoe’s head. “How was work?”
She made a dismissive sound. “Boring. I work in an office, Kotetsu, the most exciting parts of my day are paper cuts and misplaced staplers. Tell me about your day.”
“Hey, I think your work is interesting!” Tomoe just stared at him until he relented. “Eh, pretty quiet today. Blaze and Witchdoctor still aren’t talking to each other. Poseidon Line is making noise about hiring some kid who can fly. Oh, and Ricochet is retiring next month.”
“What? Really? I hadn’t heard about that.”
“They’re going to make the official announcement sometime next week.” Kotetsu shrugged. He liked Ricochet, but it was impossible to deny that the old man was past his prime. “He’s older than Mr. Legend was when he retired.”
“I suppose so,” Tomoe said. They walked for a minute or two, the silence between them simple and easy. “Kotetsu?”
“Hm?”
“When are you going to ask me to marry you?”
Kotetsu stopped short, choking on nothing. “I- you- what. What?” How did she know? How did she know? If Antonio had ratted him out, Kotetsu was going to wring his neck and oh god, Tomoe was looking at him with her big, beautiful eyes and the ring in his pocket felt like it weighed a million pounds. He made a sound not unlike a dying camel.
She pulled away a bit, planting her hands on her hips. “I found the ring months ago, you know.”
Kotetsu wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He managed a strangled, “Oh.”
Tomoe rolled her eyes and huffed in that exasperated, fond way she often did. She reached into Kotetsu’s pocket before he could react and snatched up the ring box with its bare spot. Kotetsu could only watch in dumb amazement as she flipped it open, took the ring out, and slid it onto her left ring finger. Thrusting her hand in his face, Tomoe waggled her finger for effect and said, “Yes.”
Kotetsu’s brain felt like it had crashed and was trying to reboot with dubious success. “Yes?” he repeated dumbly.
Tomoe laughed, slipping the empty box back into Kotetsu’s pocket. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
She said yes. Holy shit, she said yes. Not that Kotetsu had actually asked but that was totally not the point because she said yes and he was getting married. A hundred thoughts all collided at once, and he wanted to tell her how happy he was, how scared, how lucky. He wanted to ask if this was real, if she was crazy, if she had him confused with someone else. All he managed was a stuttered, “That- that’s good.”
And then he kissed her, because he wasn’t great with words most of the time but he wasn’t too bad at this. Tomoe let him, laughing against his lips, and Kotetsu was pretty sure this might just be the happiest day of his life.
III. Fatherhood
Two eyes, two ears, one nose, ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. Kotetsu cradled the red, wrinkly, perfect little person like she was made of glass and wondered how it was possible to love someone so much when you’d only just met.
Her name was Kaede, and Kotetsu knew his life would never be the same.
He was surprisingly okay with that.
Tomoe was sleeping. She’d earned it after more than thirty hours of labor, and if Kotetsu had ever had reason to doubt that women were strong and ferocious and downright amazing, he sure as hell didn’t now. Tomoe had taken it like a champ, and if he’d had to activate his Hundred Power to keep her from breaking his hand, well, he wasn’t going to complain.
Especially when she’d had the good grace not to mention that he’d fainted. Twice.
Kotetsu felt a peculiar sort of peace sitting in that dark hospital room, his daughter cradled in his arms.
His daughter.
Nine months of preparation, and it still felt so surreal. Almost impossible to believe that he was half responsible for making the tiny person sleeping in his arms. She was so small. Were babies supposed to be that small? Kotetsu shifted, brushing a finger across the so-soft skin of her cheek, the fuzz of her hair, and down along her tiny nose. Kaede slept on, oblivious, and Kotetsu grinned what had to be the biggest, dopiest grin of his life.
His daughter.
He looked up to find Tomoe watching him, eyes half-lidded and a fond smile on her lips. “I didn’t know you were awake,” he said, keeping quiet although Kaede showed no signs of waking.
“I didn’t want to interrupt,” she replied, voice a little raspy but just as soft.
“How did we do this?” he asked, feel a little awed and a little humbled, like he’d been given a gift he didn’t quite deserve. Tomoe huffed out a laugh, and Kotetsu grinned. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know,” she said, curling around a pillow and looking as content as he’d ever seen her. “But here we are. You’ll be a wonderful father.”
Kotetsu couldn’t help but puff with pride, just a little. She sounded so much more sure than he felt. “You think so?”
Tomoe yawned, eyes sliding closed once more, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “I know so.”
IV. Partners
Kotetsu didn’t see much of Bunny for a week or so after the Martinez incident. Partially because the media wouldn’t give Barnaby a moment of peace, and partially since Kotetsu was still recuperating. His Hundred Power bluff had been necessary, and he didn’t regret it by a long shot, but once the imminent threat to the city had been dealt with, his battered body had more or less called it quits on him.
Which hadn’t stopped him from trying to go back to work the moment he could haul his sorry carcass out of bed. Nathan had caught him just as he was coming in and had dragged Kotetsu right back out again, all thunderous and terrifying in that way he got. Nathan had taken him home and bundled him straight into bed, fussing and lecturing the entire time. When he’d finally left, it had been with the deceptively mild suggestion that Kotetsu not show his face back at work until the doctor had given him the all clear.
Kotetsu had taken the suggestion to heart. He might be crazy, but he wasn’t suicidal.
So the time had been spent puttering around his apartment, catching up on sleep, watching old Hero TV reruns, and trying not to go stir crazy. The other heroes popped in from time to time with offerings of homemade cookies (Keith), beer (Antonio), and a mile high stack of old kung-fu movies (Pao-Lin). He was happy with the gifts and happier for the company, so much so that he wasn’t even annoyed that the other heroes who’d gotten their faces kicked in by Martinez had bounced back twice as fast.
Okay, maybe he was still annoyed, but only a little.
Even Bunny had managed to extricate himself from Lloyds’ media frenzy long enough to pop in.
The doorbell startled Kotetsu out of a light doze. He blinked blearily at the clock. Almost midnight, who could it be at this hour? Levering himself off the couch, Kotetsu ignored the twinge in his side and hobbled to the door.
Bunny was standing on his doorstep, looking a little tired but otherwise pretty good. Something about him just seemed... lighter, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It was good to see. “Heeey, Bunny. Come in, come in.”
He stepped aside, and Barnaby asked, “How are you feeling?” before he was through the threshold.
Kotetsu ran a hand through his hair and tried his best not to look like a hobo who’d been living on his couch for a week. Probably failed. “Good as new!” he declared, flashing a wide grin, and it was only a tiny fib.
Bunny hummed in reply, quirking an eyebrow that said ‘I know you’re lying’ in no uncertain terms. Kotetsu deflated a little. “Well, my side still hurts a little, but it’s no big deal. I’m going crazy being cooped up all day!”
Bunny’s expression softened a bit, but before he could reply, his bracelet went off.
Kotetsu’s didn’t.
Snarling at his wrist in a way that would be funny in hindsight, Bunny took a step towards the door and hesitated, looking back at Kotetsu. He looked somewhere in the middle of angry, reluctant and distraught, and the realization that his partner didn’t want to leave warmed Kotetsu to his toes. “Go on,” he said with a smile. “Go catch some bad guys.”
Bunny nodded. “Get better soon, Kotetsu. It’s not the same without you.”
Then he was gone, which was for the best, so that he wouldn’t see Kotetsu grinning like a fool after him.
V. Second Chances
They were on their way to lunch when it happened. There was this great little deli a few blocks from work; a hole in the wall joint if Kotetsu had ever seen one that made sandwiches as big as his head. Bunny usually had a salad, which Kotetsu not-so-privately thought was criminal when there was meat to be had, and teased his partner about eating like his namesake at every opportunity.
Hitting the deli on their lunch hour had become something of a habit, and that was probably the mistake. Forming public habits for someone as visible as Barnaby made it easy to predict where he’d be, and when.
Or more importantly, where he’d be without the protection of his suit.
“I really just wish Mathilda would stop trying to grope me,” Bunny griped, shading his eyes with one hand and waiting for the light to change.
Kotetsu choked on a laugh. “Isn’t that the old lady in charge of wardrobe? The one that looks like she’s at least a hundred?”
“That’s a generous estimate, but yes, that’s her. I’ll be glad when we’re done with this photoshoot series.” The light changed and his stepped off the curb.
Kotetsu grinned, trotting to catch up. “It’s what you get for being such a heartthrob. Your charms aren’t limited to pretty young girls in an acceptable age bracket, you know.”
Barnaby shot him an unimpressed stare. “Tell me that when you’re the one getting felt up by a wrinkled old prune.”
“I dunno, Bunny.” Kotetsu scratched his beard and pretended to give matter great thought. “I don’t get much action these days. I might like it.”
“Ugh.” Barnaby wrinkled his nose in distaste. “That was mental imagery I did not need. Thank you for that.”
Kotetsu chuckled. “Anytime, partner.” He was climbing in the rankings, getting along with Bunny like they were old friends, and there was a massive sandwich in his immediate future. People were even buying his trading cards! Life didn’t get much better than that.
Later, he wouldn’t be able to say what about the the man had caught his attention. Maybe it was the way he hovered nervously in a shadowed alcove, maybe it was the long coat completely out of place on a hot summer day, or the way he stared at Bunny like the rest of the world had simply ceased to exist. Whatever it was, something about the man made him take notice.
Kotetsu would never have seen the gun if he wasn’t looking straight at him.
A flash of movement, the glint of metal, and Kotetsu didn’t have any time to think. He dove at Bunny, shoving him out of the way with a shout, just as the gun went off and white hot pain tore through his shoulder.
He dropped like a stone, people were screaming around him, and goddamn, that was a lot of blood.
Bunny was at his side in an instant, face contorted in fear. “Kotetsu!”
Kotetsu struggled to sit, but thought better of it, pain lancing through him like molten spikes. “Don’t let him get away.”
“To hell with him,” Bunny snarled savagely, shrugging out of his shirt and wadding it against the wound, pressing hard.
Pain spiked at the sudden pressure, and Kotetsu moaned as his vision whited out briefly. “He tried to shoot you,” he argued weakly, trying to ignore the pain and failing kind of miserably. Being shot really, really hurt.
“I said to hell with him,” Barnaby replied. “I’m not going to leave you bleeding on the sidewalk to chase him.” His voice was suspiciously thick.
“Oh.” When he put it that way, it sort of made sense. “Okay.”
Kotetsu watched Bunny pull out his cell and bark something that sounded urgent at it, letting it drop to the pavement with a clatter when he was done. He blinked dazedly up at his partner. “I feel woozy.”
Bunny laughed, and it sounded a little manic. “You just got shot, you idiot. Of course you feel woozy. Ambulance is on the way.” He shifted a little, and the change in pressure on his wound made Kotetsu whimper. Bunny winced and let out a shaky breath. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” Kotetsu vaguely recalled that talking was a good idea when you were injured. Or was that only for concussions?
“Shove me out of the way!” Barnaby’s voice rose an octave, sounded almost hysterical, and wasn’t that odd? He was usually pretty cool in a crisis. Kotetsu patted the hand holding the compress, smearing blood over the back of his partner’s hand. Whoops.
If he wasn’t so busy being shot, Kotetsu might have considered his reply a little more carefully, but as it stood blunt honesty was all he was capable of. “I couldn’t let him hurt you.”
Barnaby made a wounded sound. “Idiot,” he said, taking Kotetsu’s hand with his free one in spite of the blood and squeezing hard. “Stupid, stupid, noble idiot. If you die, I will never forgive you.” Bunny hunched over him protectively, and Kotetsu couldn’t remember ever seeing him look so scared.
“Hey,” he said, lacing their fingers together because he didn’t have the strength to squeeze. “I’m not gonna die. It’s just my shoulder. A few stitches and a pint of blood, and I’ll be good as new.” If he wasn’t as confident as he made out to be, well, Bunny didn’t need to know that. Kotetsu felt dizzy and fuzzy, his shoulder hurt like a son of a bitch, and that really seemed like way too much blood for such a small hole. Still, Kotetsu wasn’t about to give in that easily.
“Yeah,” Bunny replied, and didn’t seem at all convinced.
The distant scream of sirens was a welcome sound. “Hey, it’s the cavalry.” Kotetsu’s eyelids felt heavy, and they closed without any input from him. “That’s good.”
“Kotetsu,” Barnaby’s voice, high and thin and very wrong. “Open your eyes.”
He tried to comply, anything to erase that edge of panic in his partner's voice, but his eyes just wouldn’t obey. He felt kind of floaty, and the pain was strangely distant. “Sorry, Bunny.”
”Kotetsu.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
* * *
Kotetsu woke up to white sheets, white walls, and one hell of an ache in his shoulder. He blinked at the ceiling for a few groggy moments, waiting for his brain to catch up. It wasn’t the first time he’d woken up in a hospital with no memory of how he’d gotten there. In fact, it was a distressingly regular occurrence.
Oh right. He’d been shot. Hadn’t even thought to activate his powers before diving in front of the bullet.
Kotetsu glanced around and was surprised to find Barnaby curled up in the only chair, fast asleep. Even in repose he looked worried, the faint line of a frown between his brows. “Bunny?”
Barnaby started awake, blinking owlishly at Kotetsu for a moment before practically diving at him, crushing Kotetsu in an awkwardly positioned hug that nonetheless spared his wounded shoulder. Startled, Kotetsu patted Bunny’s back with the arm that wasn’t immobilized. “Hey. Good to see you too.”
“You idiot,” Bunny snarled, pulling back so that they were practically nose to nose. “You’re not invincible, for God’s sake! What were you thinking?”
Kotetsu would be lying if he said he wasn’t touched by his partner’s worry. A small, affectionate smile pulled at his lips. “I wasn’t,” he said honestly. “I saw someone about to hurt you, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
Barnaby deflated at that, slumping forward and resting his forehead against Kotetsu’s collarbone. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days,” he muttered.
Kotetsu chuckled, shoulder protesting the action painfully. He leaned his head against Bunny’s and put his free hand on his head. “Hazard of being my partner.”
Bunny laughed a little at that, a tiny, barely there sound, and didn’t move. Kotetsu frowned, concerned. This kind of lingering worry wasn’t like him, not at all. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
That got him moving, and Barnaby pulled back enough to give Kotetsu an incredulous look. “What’s wrong?” he repeated in a tone of voice that asked are you simple? “I-” He shook his head once, and before Kotetsu had time to react Bunny grabbed his face and kissed him, hard.
It was short and ferocious, more like an attack than a kiss, and by the time Kotetsu wrapped his head around what was happening it was over, Bunny glowering at him and swallowing hard. “What wrong,” he bit out, eyes blazing, “is that the man I love dove in front of a bullet for me like the heroic idiot he is, and I thought he was going to die before I got a chance to tell him how I feel. I think I’m entitled to a few hysterics.”
Kotetsu stared.
Oh.
That was. Well, a pretty damned good explanation, actually. Except for the part where Bunny said he was in love with him, because that made no sense whatsoever. What would he want with an old man like him? “You what?”
Bunny flushed red to the tips of his ears and stared somewhere in the vicinity of Kotetsu’s chin. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”
Kotetsu studied him for a long moment, letting that revelation sink in. Bunny was in love with him. Bunny, who could have practically anyone he wanted, was in love with him. No accounting for taste, but Kotetsu wasn’t about to question. Gift horses and all that.
Despite the fact that Barnaby had spent the last few months becoming one of the most important people in Kotetsu’s life, he’d never entertained the notion that there could be anything but friendship between them. If he’d ever wanted it to be something more, he’d dismissed it as a passing fancy.
“I should get shot more often,” he said, still a little stunned.
Bunny’s head snapped up with a frown. “What?”
“It’s a small price to pay for hearing that,” he said softly, a little awed. He’d all but given up on love after Tomoe died, but it seemed determined to find him again anyway. Kotetsu was distantly certain he must’ve been a saint in a former life to have generated the karma to have not one, but two utterly amazing people in one short life.
“What? Bunny repeated, features painted in the shock of someone who had braced for rejection but hadn’t gotten it.
Kotetsu fisted a hand in Bunny’s shirt and then paused abruptly, a stray thought temporarily derailing the others. “Did they ever catch the guy? The shooter?”
Bunny choked. “You’re asking that now? Yes, the police picked him up almost immediately, can we get back on topic?”
“Just wanted to make sure you were safe,” Kotetsu explained, tugging him in for another kiss. The opposite of their first, it was soft and gentle and almost surreal, and the hopeless romantic in him was fairly certain that it was the best kiss of his life.
For this, Kotetsu would gladly take a thousand bullets.