Massage Therapy

"Aaah," Kotetsu groaned, shifting under Barnaby. "Right there- ah, harder, Bunny, harder!" Barnaby's face flushed.

"OLD MAN!" he had stopped moving, his expression embarrassed. Kotetsu made a little disappointed sound.

"Why'd you stop, Bunny?" Kotetsu shifted to send an accusatory glare towards the young man on top of him. Barnaby glared right back.

"When I agreed to give you a back massage, I wasn't planning on listening to all the sound effects!"

Kotetsu shrugged. "Consider the soundtrack a bonus."

Barnaby resisted the urge to give his partner a few good whacks.

The two men had been training together, and Barnaby, tired of the hints Kotetsu kept dropping, finally agreed to give Kotetsu a nice, long back massage. Barnaby was utterly exasperated with Kotetsu's tactless methods: never-ending muscle ache complaints, bottles of massage oil placed suggestively around the gym, fliers of DIY massage techniques- the last straw was How to Make a Relationship Last: A Comprehensive Guide to Massage Therapy, a book dog-eared and sticky-noted at every full-color spread. Seriously- could the man be any less subtle?

Barnaby had sighed, finally rolled out a yoga mat, sat down, and offered Kotetsu a back massage. Grudgingly, of course.

Barnaby had anticipated trying a few half-hearted rubs before Kotetsu gave up on him and went to someone else for his back massage. He was not expecting Kotetsu to melt under his fingers, back nudging up into his hands, tight, hard muscles relaxing- and he was certainly not expecting those ridiculous, rumbling moans to ever leave Kotetsu's mouth.

For all Barnaby was concerned, Kotetsu was practically purring under his ministrations. Which, it goes without saying, made the younger man extraordinarily, immeasurably, exceptionally uncomfortable- and very confused, to boot.

He found himself stroking all of Kotetsu's scars, tracing the lines of his muscles, letting his fingers linger at the little dimples on his lower back… Barnaby even had to wipe away the tiny droplet of drool at the corner of his mouth that had mysteriously appeared (Barnaby was pretty sure he had just had lunch, but his mind wasn't really functioning properly at that point).

When Kotetsu started making little contented noises deep in his throat, Barnaby started to get worried. When they increased in volume to soft moans, Barnaby had to pinch himself. When they became full-on, loud, rumbling groans, moans, and sighs, Barnaby was tempted to punch himself- or his partner. Either one would do, if only to stop the sudden rush of blood to Barnaby's head (and other parts).

To make it all worse, as if sensing Barnaby's reactions and wanting to provoke him further, Kotetsu increased the volume and frequency of his moans, punctuating them with little gasps of "yes!" and "there, Bunny!" and "please, more, more!" until Bunny was about to explode.

And all of that lead to this point, at which Barnaby finally managed to piece together the shards of his sanity into a Frankenstein of its original form.

"Stop making those noises, old man! You're too damn loud!" Barnaby pushed his glasses up- and no, he was not trying to get a better look at Kotetsu's muscles, perish the thought!

Kotetsu stretched underneath him, all lean and sinewy. Barnaby swallowed at the sudden dryness in his mouth.

He shook his head, his blond curls nudged into disarray. Keep it cool, Barnaby, keep it cool.

But then Kotetsu twisted around to look up at him, made a little pout, and complained, "But Bunny, it felt so good!"

At Barnaby's utterly dumbfounded expression, Kotetsu flipped himself back over, and commanded, "Keep going, Bunny." Barnaby, making the logical decision, immediately obeyed, his hands beginning to move again over Kotetsu's back.

For an old man, his back was beau- nice. Very nice.

Toned, Barnaby supposed. His muscles were supple, moving under Barnaby's fingers as he kneaded them. His skin was tanned, but strangely soft and smooth, except for the little scars from Hero work that dotted his back. The scars created little indents in his skin that Barnaby felt himself tracing over again and again, before he remembered himself and went back to rubbing at the tightness in Kotetsu's shoulders and lower back.

His hands began to move mechanically as he tried to block out those distracting thoughts. The moans, the sheen on Kotetsu's skin from the massage oil, the way he shifted and moved underneath him.

Every second seemed an hour to the long-suffering Barnaby. He grew more and more flustered as time went on, as Kotetsu's breath came heavier and his moans more sensual, his body twitching and pliant under Barnaby's fingertips.

Barnaby just gave up. He was tempted to find Mr. Lloyds and demand a new partner- one in less sexy packaging, preferably with a less sexy voice.

When Kotetsu let out one more sigh, this one so contented and deep it knocked away Barnaby's breath, Barnaby finally sprung up and near sprinted away.

"Wait! Bunny, where are you going?" Kotetsu called, his voice still relaxed and a little husky with sleep.

Barnaby just kept going, his legs moving faster than he ever thought possible. If he turned around now, he might never be able to face Kotetsu again- how the hell was he supposed to explain his obvious, painfully hard erection? Yeah, Kotetsu, sorry about that- nothing's up, I was just about to attack you because I got a little too turned on from giving you a back massage. No big deal.

NO. No. Never going to happen.

The heavy metal doors slammed shut behind Barnaby as he fled, and Kotetsu pulled himself into a sitting position with a sigh.

"Well, you win the bet," a voice called out from behind the treadmills. Nathan popped out, winking at Kotetsu as he dragged Antonio from behind the exercise balls, where he had been hiding, completely red-faced.

Kotetsu sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "He didn't last as long as I expected him to," he admitted. "That was only seven minutes and forty seven seconds… I was expecting him to break the ten minute mark!"

Antonio, his face hidden in his hands, muttered a "Yeah, I don't think so." He shot Kotetsu a glare. "How could you subject your poor partner to sounds like that and expect him to be able to take it?!"

Nathan grinned at that. "I thought Handsome would be more than happy to straddle Tiger and make him moan."

This time was Kotetsu's turn to blush, but he soon rolled his eyes and retorted, "Shut up, Nathan. I only agreed to this because you bet fifty bucks Bunny wouldn't last five minutes."

Nathan shrugged. "Well, the boy is young… I thought for sure I would double my investment." While he was talking, he elbowed Antonio with an exaggerated wink. "Let's not forget about the guy who thought Handsome would be able to give Tiger a massage for an entire hour with no problem."

"I didn't expect him to sound… like that!" Antonio protested weakly. Kotetsu raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?" he asked. Antonio and Nathan both gawked at him.

"Uh, Tiger dear, you aren't perhaps going deaf in your old age, are you?"

Kotetsu scowled. Nathan resisted the very tempting urge to roll his eyes. These two partners were both dense as rocks.

"Kotetsu, if you hadn't planned on making those sounds to make Bunny uncomfortable on purpose… what the hell were you betting for?" Antonio asked, shell-shocked. Kotetsu shrugged.

"Well, my muscles really are all knotted up and tight. I thought his hands would get tired after a bit…" Kotetsu trailed off. "But, it felt so much better than I thought! He really has a magic touch or something!"

Antonio and Nathan exchanged looks. Those two… they really needed to work on their concept of denial.

That night, Barnaby was haunted by memories of Kotetsu's moans and movements. When he woke up in the morning, he lifted the waistband of his boxers, and proceeded to curse, several times.

That morning, for the first time ever, he was late for work, and Kotetsu couldn't for the life of him figure out why Barnaby avoided him the entire day…