"So how did that happen again?" Agnes voice echoed through the whole tv station while the formerly top ranked duo of heroes, who were stuck at second league now, stood at attention in front of her. Kotetsu tried his best to avoid direct eye contact much like he expected to be turned into stone or something ill-fated like that should he dare to look up to Agnes properly. Next to him his partner Barnaby seemed much less worried by the whole situation although he did not look at Agnes either - his unfazed stare pierced right through her as he gave is report.

"We were called to the scene without having the chance to put our armored suits on and Lunatic took advantage of us being less protected. As he fired one of his fire arrows, I got hit after twisting my ankle and Kotetsu-san was more interested in my well-being than in chasing the villian, so he escaped." A gentle smile adorned his lips as he looked over to his partner, who still gave off the image of a scolded schoolboy.

"I'm not talking about Tiger saving your ass, but about you being unable to take a chance to finally make your comeback!" She poked him rudely at the chest with one long-nailed, manicured finger. "And not just that, you ruined your trademark look, too!" She roughly took a bunch of charred hair in her fist, yanking it into Barnaby's face. "Your image is all you have left at the moment and you ruin it by a rookie mistake like that?"

"Hey, Agnes, stop that, please." Seeing Bunny being grabbed so harshly had awakened Tiger's protective urges and he waved his hands in an arbitrating gesture. "Let go of his hair, okay?" Holding Agnes' wrist by one hand he put on a solemn face to appeal to her conscience. "We are lucky the degree of burned skin on his neck is not too bad and he will probably heel soon. What is a bit of burnt hair compared to the life of a person?"

"This not JUST about HAIR, Kaburagi T. Kotetsu! His blonde curls belong to his trademark look, much like that poor excuse of a beard in your face! It will decrease his fanbase if he cuts it! And lesser fanbase means lower ratings for Hero TV!"

It didn't happen often that Kotetsu's patience snapped, but it did now. There was an unholy amount of swearwords he would have loved to pour out on this narrow minded, conceited woman, but knowing her, she would just spit something more evil in his face in return. So instead of insulting her, his eyes shimmered with pure provocation.
"So you think loosing fanbase is bad, huh? I might not have many fans but I will make sure the ones I have will loathe watching your stuck-up show, too." That said he grabbed Barnaby's wrist and stormed out of the room, not caring for the "We are not done talking yet!" that was cat-called at him.

"Kotetsu-san, what did you mean by that?", an irritated Barnaby asked while he was dragged around the corridors.

"You will see, Bunny."

"Kotetsu-san, slow down, please!"

Bunny's pleading instantly reawakened the memory that his partner had twisted his ankle barely an hour ago and he stopped instantly, looking worriedly at his partner limping behind him as he made up in steps. "I'm sorry, Bunny, I forgot."

"It's okay." The blonde gritted his teeth as he got in a more comfortable position by shifting his weight to the other foot.

Kotetsu bit his lip and hoisted Barnaby up in his arms - under protest of the latter - to find a room where he could properly look at his partner. It so happened that the infirmary of Hero TV, which they passed, was currently unoccupied, enabling Kotetsu to search for some ointment through the medicine cabinet. Barnaby had been forced to sit on one of the hospital beds.

"I'm telling you I'll be fine, Kotetsu-san. No need to get so worried about something like that."

"Don't take an injury on your foot lightly when your strong points are high jumps and kicks."

Kotetsu got on one knee infront of him, dabbing ointment on the hurt ankle and wrapped it into a support bandage so Barnaby could move less hindered. As his hand stroke the injured leg, he looked up to Barnaby and his face clouded even more with concern at the sight of charred hair hanging from the blondes shoulders. He carefully took a strand of the crisp mass in his hand.

"This is my fault. I didn't watch out for you."

"Don't talk nonsense, Kotetsu-san. I'm neither a girl nor a passerby you have to protect, I'm a hero myself. So if anyone is to blame for me getting hit it is solely myself." His hands reached down to pet the other's head. "Besides, if you hadn't been so swift to react and extinguished the fire in my hair, much worse than a burnt neck and some scorched hair would have been the result."

"But aren't you traumatized enough by fire as it is already?"

Barnaby's smile took a turn from encouraging to sad that made Kotetsu slap himself inwardly for what he had mentioned just now. He got an answer with gritted teeth from the young man.

"One more reason to put this madman behind bars."

Kotetsu's corners of the mouth rose upwards slightly, but were swallowed by a stern expression on his whole face the next moment.
A heavy silence began to lay down on the room and stretched between them.
The ticking of the wall clock seemed to get unbearably louder with each movement of its clockhands.

Barnaby finally broke the quietness again.

"By the way, Kotetsu-san. What did you mean when you declared war against Agnes by saying you would raise your fanbase against the show?"

"Uh." Kotetsu gave the look of somebody banged over the head with a frying pan - a very heavy one - and turned his neck in a robotic way towards his partner. He answered him without looking him in the eye. "Oh... that. Well, you see", he rubbed his neck with a sheepish look on his face, before he let Barnaby in on his plan in a whispered tone.

"You want to do what? You don't have to!" Barnaby seemed more than scandalised by the whole idea.

"But Bunny, Agnes said so herself, didn't she? That your 'trademark look' is ruined. But it isn't fair if it's only you, we are partners after all!"

"Don't give me that crap about being partners in this!" He was really pissed now. "You just want to come down on Agnes like a ton of bricks, that's all!"

"Yes I do!"

The sudden confession threw Barnaby off guard. Kotetsu's eyes were sparkling furiously and inspired at the same time. It seemed like no argument would win over his aspiration to get his way. Barnaby slapped a hand to his face and pulled it down with a groan. He tried hard to settle down again and looked Kotetsu in the face with a piercing look.

"Are you sure about this? Isn't it important to you, seeing as how long you kept it that way?"

"It's just hair, Bunny, it will regrow."

Barnaby hummed yieldingly and ran his fingers through the other's dark strands of hair, cupping his chin as he went.
Well, he had to confess it was somehow tempting to see how Kotetsu would look that way.

The next day, two men stood infront of Lloyds desk. He was pretty sure he was supposed to recognize them, but something that usually should have completed their appearence was gone.
For instance, Barnaby's usually thick, curly long hair was cut off - which, according to yesterday's incident, had a suitable justification. But the more odd feeling came from the man next to him, who was supposed to be in his thirty-somethings, but looked oddly... younger today. He couldn't really make out what the reason for that was, though.

Determined not to let it bother him, he opened his calendar and read out the heroes' shedules for the day.
"Seeing as Barnaby is hurt and we only want you in action as a combi, you are set off calls for the time being. You have an interview concerning Barnaby's well-being at 9 a. m. and a discussion panel with your fans at 10 a. m. Furthermore there is a long since sheduled shooting coming up around 3 p. m., but I am not sure whether we can market a Barnaby that is not looking his best."

"What do you mean, not looking his best, he looks fine!", Kotetsu tried to defend his partner's honour - or looks in that case.

"Kotetsu-san, what did I tell you about the overprotective urges towards me yesterday?"

"Uh... 'Cease them or suffer the consequences'?"

"Exactly." Barnaby set his glasses in place to emphasize that he would not tolerate dissent and flashed one of his most appealing smiles towards Lloyds, who nearly flinched at the 180 degree change of Barnaby's mood. "How about we let the fans from today's panel decide whether they want to see pictures of us in our current state, Mr. Lloyds?"

"Ah, yes, that would be a good idea, I suppose." Was this guy infront of him really 26? He could easily be mistaken for being a good five years younger with his current hairstlye that let his short curls end close to the earlobe and made him look a good deal like a snotty brat. Regaining his posture after coughing slightly, Llyods bid them good-bye and waved for them to leave his office.

As they took their seats in the open space office, the secretary greeted them with her usual stoic nod and then resumed her work. Turning on the screen of his computer, Barnaby smiled openly at Kotetsu, who wore a scowl on his face since leaving Llyods' office.

"Don't sulk, Kotetsu-san. I think you look good that way."

"Well duh, thank you, but if not even Lloyds recognizes that it's gone, who will?"

"Your fans will for sure, don't worry. Do I see some new fanletters piled up in your inbox over there, Kotetsu-san?"

"Huh?" Kotetsu looked to the small box to his left. It was often cluttered with envelopes containing fines, but today some typical fan letters (envelopes decorated with stars, hearts and generally in girlish colours) were put in there, too. Kotetsu fondly took them out of his inbox and stashed them away in his bag to take them home to read later. His expression had just brightened up when his view fell upon the heap of fanletters inside the rolling file cabinet next to Barnaby's table. This guy was as disgustingly popular as ever.

Following his partner's look, Barnaby smiled a bit starched at his fan mail as he pretty much knew what Kotetsu must think about now. "Well, I was hurt yesterday, I guess they want to confirm that I'm alright. Though they will see that for themselves in the interview later." As he looked back, he saw the same furrowed eyebrows and concerned expression that his partner seemed unable to shake off completely since yesterday. He self-consciously put a hand over his nape, guessing that he must have seen the large white adhesive plaster which could not be covered by hair anymore.

"Look, when Lunatic's fire arrow hit your shoulder over two years ago, it was worse, got it? The degree of burn is low, it will heal completely. So stop giving me a look like I lost a limb or something!"

He rushed out of the room. Cursing, Kotetsu got up to follow him. Still walking with a limp, Barnaby hadn't gotten far yet as Kotetsu caught up with him and grabbed him by the arm. "Wait, Bunny, please!" Receiving stern looks from other office workers for his shouting, Kotetsu urged Barnaby into a small conference room next to them, which wasn't in use at the moment. Cornering Barnaby between his arms against the wall, he started to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Bunny. I can't do anything about worrying, you know?"

"But it WASN'T your FAULT, so stop acting like it was or I'll swear I'll kick you in the stomach so you won't wake up for days to come!"

Kotetsu let a heavy sigh escape his throat, before he reached up to caress the blonde's cheek with the back of his hand. "I'll try."
His fingers twisted one short curl from Barnaby's bangs as he looked him in the eye. "You look cute that way, you know that?"

"And you look like a milksop with that clean shaved chin of yours."

"Aww, says the same guy who told me I look good that way just a few minutes ago." Kotetsu chuckled. "And who is blushing now."

"Well I couldn't help that, it's the truth." Barnaby pressed his lips together while the other took his face in both hands, lifting it slightly to plant a kiss on his pouting mouth. He was just about to melt into the kiss when his call band rang and an automatic announcement told him that his interview was due in half an hour. Cursing under his breath, Barnaby turned to go, but Kotetsu stopped him by covering his hand on the handle and planted a kiss on the back of his head. Inhaling the scent of his partner's shortened locks, he murmured into his ear.

"We have a break between noon and 3 p. m., right?"

"Only if you won't leave any marks on my body."

"I can't guarantee that."