AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi there again!

I really don't know what to say about this chapter... : D

I'm sorry for the late update, but I've been busy with the school-stuff... (and celebrating my b-day!)

I'll try and update this story more often in the future, though...!

"Woahh, it looks so... Extensive!" Barnaby breathed in amazement when huge, green fields came in to view. The evening sky had a pale shade of red, which made the whole landscape look even more stunning. The hills that could be seen farther away, towered over the small town, giving it a feeling of safety.

"Like a complete contrast to Sternbild, right?" Kotetsu grinned from the seat next to him.

The younger male, who was currently focused on his duty as a driver nodded emphatically.

An excited Barnaby was a sight, that Kotetsu could have stared for an hours. The younger hero let himself get enthusiastic way too rarely, which was sad because childishly excited Bunny was a heartwarming thing to witness.

It was about ten minutes more driving, until they arrived to the yard of Kaburagi-recidence.

Barnaby shut the energy of his car and for a while he just stared his partner's childhood home in silence.

"Okay, I gotta admit that I am rather terrified!"

Kotetsu blinked at Bunny's hasty confession, bursting in to a hilarious laughter.

Barnaby continued to glare his laughing partner piercingly, until the man's high-pitched giggles finally driep up. Kotetsu's face turned from amused to serious in a split-second. "Me too."

The duo stepped out of Barnaby's car at the same time. They paced through the front yard and as soon as they reached the door, both men looked in to each others eyes for a while.

Barnaby managed to create a small hesitant smile on his face, which Kotetsu answered with a quick nod as he flew the door open.

"I'm hooome!"

The old house's tired creaking welcomed they in to the silence.

"It seems like they are not home..." Barnaby noted, as Kotetsu's yell was left with no answer.

The older hero pouted dramatically.

"Do you see how much they've missed me? I finally get to come from the cold world and they don't even bother to be here! Pretty cruel, huh?"

" I feel sorry for you." Barnaby huffed, lowering his baggage to the floor.

The house looked very roomy, it was traditionally japanese with sliding screen like doors and wood made furnitures. The younger hero examined his new surroundings with interested expression.

"Where is your room?" Barnaby asked, walking further in to the house.

"Upstairs, or it used to be. It belongs to Kaede nowadays." Kotetsu mumbled, through a very heartfelted yawn. He reached for the comfortable living-room couch, letting himself fall on top of it like a bowling tenpin.

"Hey!" Barnaby exclaimed, "don't just lay there, aren't you going to introduce your home to me?"

"A few minutes, please? I'm not as young and enthusiastic as you are..." Kotetsu groaned.

Barnaby placed himself next to his exhausted companion.

"You haven't got enough sleeping lately?" He questioned, slight hint of worry in his voice.

"Not really, and guess who's to blame?" Kotetsu chorted quietly, "You have no idea how poorly I sleep without you..."

An apologetic look in his partner's eyes made Kotetsu regret his words. He certainly did'nt want to upset Bunny, even though the younger hero would probably deserve that. Once again his mouth had worked before his mind...

"Kotetsu, I am really, truly sorry, I..."

"No, Bunny. I am sorry. I promised you to keep it down, remember? I didn't mean to make you so distressed." Kotetsu spoke quietly, taking younger male's hands with his own ones. The way that older hero was looking in to his eyes made Barnaby's heart feel sour.

"I still shouldn't have acted so stupid..."

"I have an idea, what if we drop all these depressing subjects for now, and just focus on the important ones?" Kotetsu spoke slowly against his partner's temple, planting a small kiss on the other man's earflap.

A Satisfied sigh escaped from Barnaby's mouth, and without a warning he grabbed Kotetsu's limp body around his arms and kissed him passionately.

Kotetsu's tired eyes shot wide open from the sudden act. It was not something that Bunny tended to do very often, showing such tender feelings easily like that was more likely something that Kotetsu would do.

Not that he was complaining, though...

Barnaby deepened the kiss and tightened his grip of Kotetsu's body. The older male allowed Barnaby to inch closer, circling his legs around the blond's waist. Younger hero's eagerly traveling hands under Kotetsu's shirt made the older man shiver from pleasure.

For a while both heroes just lied there on the couch. It was pretty long time ago, since they last time shared such a blissful moment together.

Kotetsu felt like his heart was hammering holes on his chest, but at the same time Barnaby's soft kisses were making him feel very drowsy. such a comfy place to doze off a little...

Barnaby could feel how the other male's warm hands slowed down their movement against his back, finally stopping completely. A small sigh of happiness could be heard, following by a deep huffing-sound.

Though kotetsu's hands were entirely halted, they remained holding Barnaby's body steadily, making younger hero feel like an over-sized teddybear.

"Kotetsu?" Barnaby whispered quietly, stroking gently his sleeping partner's bangs from his face.

Said man tightened his grip around Barnaby, as if to signal that there was no way for Bunny to escape from his arms.

The younger hero smiled at his slumbering partner. Carefully, he moved from top of Kotetsu, slowly positioning himself beside the man. He glanced at the digital clock on the sideboard, it was eight in the evening already.

When would Kaede and Mrs. Kaburagi come back? Barnaby found himself hoping, that not too soon. It would be kinda embarrasing if they found him and Kotetsu on their living-room couch tangled to each other...

But surely I can be careful, I'm just letting my eyelids rest a little while..., thought Barnaby, before drowning deep in to a slumber himself.

.

.

A while later, Barnaby startled awake, cursing himself for dozing off so subtly. The sun had declined hours ago, and there was nothing left from the reddish evening sky. The house seemed to be as quiet as when they had arrived.

They are still out, Barnaby assumed. What a relief!

He stretched his arms slowly, leaning against the couch behind his back. Barnaby turned his head to look at the sleeping man beside him who had an adorably disgusting trail of drool on the corner of his mouth.

He didn't snore, which Barnany had always wondered, somehow it would have just suited for Kotetsu's character.

Instead of snoring though, the man had a weird habit to sound like a hedgehog when he was asleep. It would be hard to explain that to someone who hadn't heard it before... But if Barnaby had to describe the voice, it would go somehow like this;

mii, huu, huuuu, pih, phuu...~

And as annoying as Barnaby thought the noise was, it was also really addicting. And very unique too, since no one else in the whole world wouldn't manage to do it, that was for sure!

Kotetsu muttered something uncertain in his sleep, massaging his neck absent-mindedly. The sleeping hero curled himself up like a cat would do, claiming almost every part of the already cramped sofa. Barnaby didn't do a single movement to protest, when a sleeping tiger rested his ruffled head against his lap.

Kotetsu ended the mumblings with a satisfied 'hmm', continuing his sleeping-voices again.

Barnaby raised his hand to caress the man's sleepy face. The younger hero smiled slightly, but his eyes dashed with sadness.

Kotetsu was... well, something that the words would never be enough to describe. Kotetsu was kind and bright and childish, a little foolish maybe... and very beautiful. His face had kept the innocence that tended to disappear when people grew older.

Barnaby leaned closer to the man giving him a small kiss on the forehead. The younger hero's blond tangles brushed gently against the sleeping man's face. For a little while, Barnaby's lips halted on Kotetsu's hairline. He closed his eyes in silence, trying hold back the tears he could feel forming in his eyes.

In a frustrated manner, he shook his head. Dear god! Since when had he become such a ridiculously sappy person?

To get so overly emotional about something like a certain slumbering Kotetsu...

Sighing, Barnaby ran his fingertips through his light-blond hair, everything felt so uncertain lately, and it was making his head hurt like hell.

He moved slowly his partners head away from his lap, resting it gently against the sofa. Barnaby adjusted the man's wriggled body to a more comfortable position and covered him with a small blanket.

Kotetsu huffed through the slumber, reaching for his partners missing warmth beside him. Barnaby watched the man with longing. It would have been so nice just to stay laying on the couch and embrace Kotetsu's sleeping frame a little longer... But his senses were telling him not to, it couldn't be long til the Kaburagi's would be back. They had been out a quite a while now.

He didn't dare to wake Kotetsu, how could he possibly disturb him when he looked like that?

Barnaby decided to explore the Kaburagi-residence for a while himself, since a certain drowsy tiger was too busy examining the world of dreams... Surely it would be okay to look around a bit.

The photographs on top of the livingroom's cabinet draw his attention. Carefully he picked up a photograph, where two young boys were posing to the camera in colorful swimming suits. The younger one had apparently ate some ice-cream, since it looked like his face had been painted with it.

Barnaby chuckled. Looks like he really hasn't changed a one bit...

In the next picture, a tiny babygirl stared at him through the glassframes, her eyes wide open. She didn't have much of a hair, except for a few small tangles that were tied with a ribbon on the top of her head. She looks like her father, Barnaby smiled, wondering if baby Kotetsu had been as adorable as the grown one was now.

The last picture made Barnaby's smile halt and his heart stumble.

A beautiful woman watched back at Barnaby, her long black tangles falling on a white weddingdress like ocean waves in the midnight. Beside her, there stood a breath takingly beautiful young man. He was holding his wife's hand and smiling, like nothing in the whole world could make him sad ever again. They looked so happy, that Barnaby's felt his insides tearing apart from jealousy... As immature as it seemed, he couldn't stop wondering if Kotetsu had ever felt the same way with him than he had with Tomoe?

He didn't have an answer for that, but the painful truth was that he himself hadn't actually been the easiest person to deal with. Why Kotetsu still bothered to care about him so sincerely, was a total mystery to him.

Barnaby decided to ponder these complicated things later.

It was not often when he got to spent time with Kotetsu like this, even if it was only a few days. He was not going to waste them like this.

Barnaby positioned the photograph he was holding back to it's place, refusing to stare at it anymore.

After examining the rooms of the lower floor, Barnaby found himself halted in front of the stairs that lead to the upper level, considering if it was okay for him to climb there and see how it looked.

He felt his cheekbones heating up a little bit. Here he was exploring Kotetsu's home, while the man himself was currently being comatose back in the living-room...

In the middle of his thoughts, Barnaby realized that his feet had already carried him all way to the upstairs. Just a tiny sightseeing, that's all...

The first room near the staircase got his attention. It departed from the other doors with a small sign that said, 'Kaede', with huge, pink letters and shiny star-stamps that were attached on it. Barnaby tried to fight the curiousity, but failed. With no more hasitating, he weighed the doorhandle down. The creaking sound from the door's hinges made him grimace; He really wished that Kotetsu wouldn't wake up to witness how his companion was investigating his family's house like a secret agent.

The room that opened behind the door, made Barnaby stumble a few steps backwards. It was like any other young girl's room, except that no matter where he looked he could see his own face staring back at him.

The walls, they were nearly plastered with the pictures of himself! Barnaby felt dumbfounded, Kotetsu's daughter really admired him this much?

Was he supposed to be flattered? A little terrified maybe...?

The poor girl was going to freak out for sure as soon as she would find out about just what kind of relationship her father and his partner are sharing... Surprisingly, Barnaby found the thought being somewhat amusing.

He was just about to turn off the room's light and return back to downstairs, when...;

"Dad! We are home! Sorry you had to wait so long, Grandmother's friend fell ill suddenly, and she didn't dare to leave her alone."

An enrgetic girl's voice that had to belong to Kaede, made chills go down Barnaby's spine.

Of course they had to come back in a moment like this...! His isnides twisted nastily, when the sound of someone running up the stairs could be heard. Barnaby's desperate mind came to conclusion, that he had no other choice except frozing right there, in the middle of Kotetsu's daughter's room like an idiot he was.

What a fine, promising start to this vacation...

"Have you bought a new car? No offense, but it's not making you look any cooler... DAD! Have you sneaked in to my room again? I told you not to go there without my permission, didn't I?" Kaede's voice was getting closer by seconds. Barnaby just closed his eyes and prayed that the floor would swallow him.

"I thought you figured it already! I...-" The girl paused at her doorway as soon as she discovered a certain blond-haired superhero, who was currently staring back at her eyes wide with a mere terror. It seemed as though Barnaby Brooks Jr had just hopped out of her poster!

For a while two frozen figures stared each other in silence, until Barnaby, after a hasty consider, voiced out the first thing that felt most natural at the moment...;

"Hi."

Kaede Kaburagi turned around from her door like a robot, and as soon as she had disappeared from Barnaby's view, a frantic TUMTUMTUM could be heard from the stairs, along with a very high-pitched shriek. "GRANDMA! THIS TIME I HAVE A REAL BARNABY BROOKS IN MY ROOM!"