Kotetsu felt as if he had a lot to say to Barnaby once he was re-installed into the First League but keeping it inside was his first instinct, so he did. He wanted to say how he'd missed helping people, how he'd felt salty for being replaced by a younger golden model, but mostly how he missed having a partner. Though, now, he felt he finally had a chance to say what he felt.

There was so much work to do, but he was grateful for the extra time with Bunny. He also thought about writing a thank you letter to the company who bought Ryan's heart, but decided it was just the slightest bit too childish for him.

Once it was decided that the cleanup effort could be handled by the people, the heroes set out to do less dirty work in marketing themselves. Tiger & Bunny specifically got a lot of interviews and modeling deals, not to mention all the commercials to star in as well. For once, Kotetsu was glad Barnaby was the popular one.

Still, it was a lot of work either way. Scheduled for one late night show was yet another interview, and Tiger faintly hoped he might safely get his true feelings off his chest in a way that only Bunny could understand. He knew he rarely had the eloquence for such things, but he thought since the air of the show was not seriousness he had a chance.

All he wanted to do was briefly mention that he had missed Bunny, maybe make a joke or two about Golden Ryan, and be done with it. That way Bunny would know and Kotetsu would be spared an awkward conversation. He was surprised no interviewer gave him the chance beforehand, but he also suspected that maybe he wasn't paying total attention.

Honestly, Kotetsu would be the first one to admit that all the talk shows and photo shoots and the damn commercials were the least important part of his job, but a part of what makes him so easygoing about it is how Barnaby took the work in stride and even seemed sort of happy while doing so. They really were partners in everything.

So when the time came, it was just the two of them backstage, hanging out with the industrial lights and backup cameras. Kotetsu was the only one with a guide sheet in his hand though he didn't need it, and was a little offended that they gave him one in the first place. He'd been around the block a few times and knew how this whole thing worked.

"What's with that sour look on your face, Kotetsu?"

Abruptly, Barnaby slices through Kotetsu's train of thought. Sure, the old man was used to his partner calling him by name, but he still recognized its meaning from time to time, causing something in his heart to ache, or perhaps remember something from a different time in his life. Whatever it was, he wasn't expecting it.

"A-ah, it's this sheet, Bunny-chan," Kotetsu admits without realizing he let an honorific slip. "I thought I wasn't too bad with interviews but they still gave me this." He drifts off towards the end, his tone doing much more than hinting at his displeasure. And if it was anything simple like this, Barnaby would surely have noticed he only used honorifics when something was bothering him.

"May I take a look?" Barnaby extends his hand gently outward to grab the paper, then pauses briefly to notice what was written.

"See? They have no faith in me!" Kotetsu griped easily to the younger man as he skimmed over the short example questions that the host might ask. Then finally he looked up at him over his glasses and smiled a genuine smile.

"Actually, I believe they only gave you this sheet because they'll be focusing a lot on you too."

"W-wha-"

"Honestly it's a relief to know I won't have to carry the whole interview. I'm relying on you more and more it seems."

He stammered for a second more and then shook his head, barely hiding his grin. He knew that his partner could be quite adept at stroking his ego when he wanted to but this somehow felt like a tease. Or maybe Kotetsu was hearing what he wanted to.

"Then I won't let you down."

"Oi, get ready to walk on-stage, you guys," a stage worker called out to the two.

Barnaby fiddled with Kotetsu's snazzy bow tie until he swatted him away and they both appeared onto the stage in perfect timing with the fanfare.

It pretty much seemed like your typical Tiger & Bunny interview for a while. Kotetsu laid low for a while until the host directed some questions at him, just like Bunny predicted.

The host laughed at something Kotetsu had said at some point, and then asked, "So we're all dying to know; what thoughts were going through your head when you were replaced by Golden Ryan?"

The question didn't hurt as much as he expected, and he couldn't help but notice that Barnaby was facing the slightest bit away from the camera crew and more towards himself. He was looking at him almost intensely.

"Well obviously it was very hard for me to hear. Being a hero has been my job for so long now, it's a little scary thinking of doing something else."

"Yes, yes, of course. I'm sure we all expected to hear something like that. What would you say is the greatest loss you felt from that?"

The question wasn't on the sheet, Kotetsu noted to himself, but he realized that it was the perfect opportunity to say what he didn't have the courage to say otherwise.

"Haha, well definitely losing my partner was a big hit I took; At the time, we both were in the Second League, however, I think we all know that our hero, Bunny, is no Second-Leaguer at all!"

The crowd laughs, and for a moment Kotetsu really feels like he's doing well with the interviewer, and even sees Barnaby smiling a little at him.

"I didn't want to hold him back, and I was being a little hard-headed; I let go of it too easily, and as a result lost my way a bit. I really missed my partner!" Kotetsu faced Barnaby to look at him directly, and then continued.

"Now that I've been re-installed to the First League I'm glad to say that I'm ready to let out more than a few wild roars!"

He made a silly face and made little ears with his fingers, play roaring towards the camera. Barnaby seemed torn between embarrassment and laughter, gently covering his mouth.

"Oh ho ho! Well, what a touching story!"

The host asks more questions from the sheet and then ends the show with a music number from the band on the side of the set whose name was very hard for Kotetsu to remember. Then they meet briefly backstage to exchange pleasantries and gather their things, and get ready to leave.

Tiger shoves his coat on and feels a hand on his shoulder. It makes him jump but when he turns he finds that it was just Bunny.

"O-oh, Bunny-chan-" He was startled that he was touching him but forced his heart back into his chest.

"I need to speak with you."

Tiger feared a little for this conversation but it was a wonder how it hadn't happened yet anyways.

"Sure," he agreed.

"Maybe not here?"

"Then where?"

"My apartment."

"Oh boy, I hope there's more furniture since then last time I was there," he laughed at the end of his own quip. He began to walk towards the door after noticing Barnaby already had on his coat.

"W-well you'll be pleased to know I was thinking of you when I bought a couch and a coffee table for the living room," he admitted as he paced next to the older man. "Still no cable, but I'm sure we can watch a movie if you feel like staying."

Watching a movie with Barnaby Brooks Jr? What kind of movies does a kid like Barnaby like anyways? Is he the kind who likes to make comments with others or does he just keep quiet? What kind of popcorn is his favorite?

It surprised Tiger how chummy Barnaby was being. Though they were closer than ever before, it was still unnatural and caused a little alarm. Though ashamed, he thought of all the things they could do in a night. He tried not to let those things get between them since Barnaby was so young and hadn't really had the chance to have those things with someone his age. Kotetsu never denied those feelings though.

"I think I'll be taking you up on that offer then, Bunny~" Tiger wiggled a little to lighten the mood, if not for himself than for Bunny.

The younger of the two sighed as if he was relieved at being accepted and embarrassed to be seen with him at the same time. Then he held the door open for Kotetsu as they made their way out of the TV studio. Tiger was certain, though; there was bound to be some awkwardness to come.

(~(~)~)

It came as a surprise to Kotetsu when he discovered Bunny's Netflix. When he asked about it Bunny replied that he doesn't like Hulu because of the commercials. It was kind of cute really; Kotetsu never thought of his partner as the Netflix type.

Aside from his surprise, he felt joy in the new furniture, apparently bought for the purpose of none other than himself sitting there. Maybe he was meant to have that fried rice Bunny mentioned when he passed out in the tower with Maverick so long ago.

Well, not really that long ago but still.

As if he was claiming the couch, Tiger stretched out on it and began to relax. He was right to assume Barnaby would want to sit in his usual chair by the computer.

"I don't see how thinks of you as a raccoon."

"Hm?"

"You look like an overgrown house cat sitting the way you are."

Indeed, his tie was loosened, suspenders resting on his thighs, top button undone, and his shirt was untucked; even his legs were sprawled across the soft cushions. He must have appeared very lazy and calm. Especially when Barnaby would observe him such soft eyes.

"Not a cat, a wild tiger," Kotetsu corrected contentedly, grinning a little with bared teeth.

"Right, right, but you would still purr if someone rubbed your belly either way; as of right now, there seems to be no difference." Barnaby seemed to be in a good mood, so Kotetsu thought of that as his motivation to get everything off of his chest.

"How mean!" The older man joked. He was trying to evade his reason for being there but could tell that Barnaby would bring it up sooner rather than later.

Bunny paused for a long time after that, and stared at his larger than life computer screen, though Tiger was sure he could feel his eyes on him. He took the time to notice how long Bunny's eyelashes were again.

"Kotetsu."

It was terribly abrupt how he addressed him and Tiger almost wasn't ready for it.

"Yes, Bunny-chan," he swallowed loudly.

"I missed you too."

It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. He knew that they both could have tried harder but in the end it was Tiger's choice to let everything go.

"I'm sorry, Bunny..." As he said this, Bunny flipped open his laptop and opened up his browser, presumably to find a movie.

"Don't apologize," he consoled. "I understand that you were just doing what you thought would work best, and right now everything has seemed to work out. We even managed to score some cheap points with Mr. Schneider, however insincere they may be."

The tik-taking of the laptop keys sounded quietly in the nearly silent room. If they weren't talking not even the sounds of Sternbild would reach them.

Kotetsu chuckled. Bunny was right yet again, and it appeared that he had nothing to worry about so far.

"Yeah, you're right," he said, "But tell me, how did you like working with Golden Ryan?" He said the other hero's name with unnecessary fanfare.

"Overall, he was more my co-worker than my partner. He's a camera-hungry guy but I suppose he makes up for it with ambition."

At this, Kotetsu outright laughed. "Sounds familiar," he chided playfully.

The silly banter continued, and Tiger was glad everything seemed to be fine between the two of them. They managed to pick a movie with relative ease even though Kotetsu would've preferred an older classic movie. It appeared to be a standard action movie but strangely enough also had a good bit of romance.

It was such a ridiculous movie that the two managed to have a good time, and Kotetsu was pleased to find that his partner was fast to point out the many, many plot holes. It was a good time.

Halfway through the movie, during another fight scene with almost good choreography, Barnaby offered to get something to eat from the kitchen.

"Actually I filled up on the fruit platter they had backstage," Tiger answered.

"Hn, I see. You did nearly eat the whole damn thing. How about drinks, then? I know an old man like you won't pass that up."

Barnaby was just kidding but the older man still babbled after him as he got up and made his way to the kitchen, evidently deciding that the two of them would drink the movie away. Well, fine by him. It would be impolite to say no to a free drink courtesy of his Bunny.

Well, not exactly his Bunny, but maybe... No, not even maybe. Kotetsu was getting his hopes up again.

He convinced himself to let the despairing train of thought go as Barnaby came back in because honestly, there was no way the kid would want to venture past friendship, and Kotetsu didn't have the heart to be his first experience either. He sensed that that was just an excuse however.

He almost wished Ryan had made a move on him, despite how incredibly jealous the mere thought made him.

The younger one came back in with a tall bottle of good gold stuff and two glasses; Kotetsu wasn't surprised it was some champagne. Even though it wasn't quite his favorite he took his glass appreciatively and thanked him.

Barnaby asked if he missed anything and the older of the two didn't really have an answer because of his daydreaming, so he said 'no' and hoped it was true. But then Barnaby did something he didn't expect.

He sat on the couch with him, pressing his back into Kotetsu's torso and pouring both of their glasses generously.

"Calm down. If I sit with you like this I won't need to reach far for my next glass."

"I'm as calm as can be, Bunny-cha-"

"Wrong," he stopped him in his tracks. "I can feel your heart thumping, and you were about to tack 'chan' onto my nickname weren't you?"

"Well..."

He didn't really have a defense for that one so his sipped his drink passively, and tried not to think about how he could touch Bunny when he was this close. Oh, so close and still very, very far.

He thought about resting his hand on his hip, which warranted a big gulp of his drink. He wondered what it would be like to run a hand up Barnaby's shirt and tease his spine, if the younger man was ticklish, but all he did was take another big sip. He wanted to lean up and press a feathery kiss to the back of his neck, but figured Barnaby wouldn't want any alcohol on his skin so instead he just swallowed the rest of his glass.

Kotetsu had no idea what Barnaby might like.

He seemed to notice that the older man needed a refill already but didn't question it and poured him some more with grace only a bunny could have.

Not like that even made sense.

He tried focusing on the movie but found the more he drank the more he thought of Barnaby. The guy was right there, so he supposed there was no harm in it. It made sense, right?

The younger of the two was ignoring the obvious tension really well by continuing to point out silly mistakes in the plot.

Eventually Barnaby was finishing his second glass and catching up to his partner, who had a much greater level of alcohol tolerance than him and was working on his fourth. Rather than sitting up straight, as he had before, he was now leaning heavily onto Kotetsu. Barnaby was still aware of course and paying attention to the movie, now about 75% finished, but obviously still much more relaxed than before.

The added closeness had Tiger nearly purring.

"Kotetsu," Barnaby hummed, "Did you catch that?"

"Y-yeah."

"So you're not paying attention either..."

The older of the two shook his head and admitted a little sheepishly that he couldn't focus very well at the moment. Barnaby decided to shift closer at that, letting his chest touch Tiger's with his arm behind the older man's back to support him. Their faces were very close now, the movie more like a distant memory at this point.

Barnaby could feel his partner's heart trying to break through his chest again as he peered into his strangely colored eyes.

"Tell me why your heart is hammering away so heavily," he ordered.

"Bunny-chan," Kotetsu began aimlessly. He had no real answer or objection other than the fact that he could probably do better than some NEXT who could only use his power for a minute.

"Is it because I'm closer to you than you anticipated?"

"Ah, well- maybe so, but anyone would react this way-"

"And who else would I let this close to me?"

Kotetsu was at a loss for words. He lay there as Bunny let more and more of his weight fall onto him. The younger of the two placed his legs on either side of his partner so that his feet were no longer on the floor and to further prevent Kotestsu from evading him.

"Earlier this evening, I didn't exactly say all that I meant to. Your bad habits are definitely rubbing off on me too much..." He paused to collect his thoughts, averting his eyes for only a terse moment before saying, "My time being a hero felt meaningless without you. That's why I left when you did before the installment of the Second League."

It touched Kotetsu in some way to get such an honest explanation from his partner, but he wasn't done yet.

Leaning down to hide his face in Kotetsu's neck, he confessed, "Now that you're back, I'm actually afraid to let you go again, and you made it so much harder to accept the possibility in that interview today..."

Kotetsu wrapped his arms around Bunny gently, trying to comfort him.

"I'm scared I may actually have come to adore you, Kotetsu."

He sounded so forlorn it was actually kind of cute. Tiger was probably right to assume Barnaby never had any experience, then, however, this isn't what he wanted to happen simply because he wasn't Barnaby's best option. Though as far as another candidate goes, he wasn't really sure who else there was either.

His heart jumped a mile into his throat, and his breath tripped over it trying to escape through his nose. If Barnaby hadn't noticed the shaking in his hands then must have lost feeling in his torso somehow.

"Bunny, you deserve better than some washed up old man," he chuckled nervously.

"You are more than that to me. I don't want better, I want you."

"Your first times shouldn't be with someone like me."

Barnaby scoffed. "You're already my first friend and my only partner."

Running out of excuses Kotetsu stammered for anything to say but was interrupted with soft lips over his own. Barnaby was shaking even more than he was, and his breath was coming fast. In less than a second, pretty much all of his resistance was frozen and put on hold.

He tried to slide his lips against Bunny's softer ones but...

Kissing Barnaby was sort of like kissing a cardboard box. It honestly was terribly cute how someone as old as himself had not the slightest idea on how to kiss. How did he even manage?

"Now you even have my first kiss," he claimed haughtily as they pulled away a little, chest still heavily resting on Kotetsu's.

Tiger started laughing despite himself, feeling the good mood better thanks to the aid of his alcoholic beverage.

"What's funny?" Bunny asked slightly offended.

"Nothing, nothing! You're just so cute; it's hard to imagine how I got to be so lucky to have your first kiss!"

Barnaby sat up on the older man's hips. "You're making fun of me..."

"No, no, Bunny. I'm just telling you the truth." Kotetsu found it especially adorable how he seemed to pout when he was drunk.

"Why don't you want to be with me?" His tone was so seriously hurt that it kind of broke Kotetsu's heart.

His heart stuttered yet again. "W-well for one, you're drunk right now. And, you're so young; you could have anyone you wanted. I just don't want you to make a mistake, you know? Plus, I've got a daughter, and..."

"And what?"

"Well, that's it really."

Barnaby was certainly unsatisfied with the explanation.

"How many times must I say that you are the one I want? I don't mind your age. If anything, it makes me want you more, and if you thought you could use your daughter as an excuse you're wrong. My drinking with you tonight was only so that I might find the courage to tell you how I felt."

And with that, Tiger lost all resolve to resist. He pulled Barnaby back down to his chest for another awkward kiss, eyes slightly glazed from both the alcohol and his touching confession.

Barnaby was obviously very excited after a while, showing off his proof by grinding himself into Kotetsu's crotch, and it seemed sort of harmless until he started reaching for Tiger's belt, but he was moving too fast already. The kid barely had a handle on kissing.

Kotetsu placed his hands on Barnaby's hips, halting his movements with a little push.

"Too fast..."

"Hm?"

Barnaby seemed like he was distracted.

Kotetsu laughed a little, remembering how he acted almost the same way with Tomoe all those years ago.

"You're moving too fast."

"Oh, s-sorry," he amended embarrassed. How adorable could a guy honestly get? It was slightly ridiculous at this point.

"Don't be."

Tiger wrapped his arms back around Barnaby and sat up so that he was holding the kid upright in his lap. He softly kissed his neck and rubbed a few circles into his lower back before pulling away.

"You should learn to kiss properly first, don't you think?"

Barnaby gaped at the old man, flustered at the further mention of his inexperience.

"I thought I was doing alright."

"I liked the attention you gave me, no worries, but the only way to get better is to practice," Kotetsu grinned. The night was bound to be fun.

Hello, She who wears trunks here! I wrote this because I just recently watched Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, and was blasted with old OTP feels c: Please leave a review if you liked it! I plan to do more with this, and every review helps~