Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger & Bunny or its characters.
It was a Wednesday which, in Barnaby's opinion, was the most boring day of the week. Most crimes happened on either later in the week in preparation for a big haul to spend on the weekend or early in the week to make up for losses over the weekend. Most interviewers, photographers, and columnist scheduled appointments on Mondays or Tuesday so they could be up and ready for Friday releases when sales were highest. Television and radio shows made their slots on Fridays or Saturdays in order to reach the largest amount of people since most wanted to relax after work and veg in from of such medias.
So really, Wednesday was the closest thing to a day off Barnaby Brooks ever got. Right, a day off he got to spend an entire day in the office with. Perfect.
Still, spending the day there wasn't so bad. He did have paper work to finish and mountains of fan mail to read (or rather scan) and proposals for new marketing agendas to look through as well. So a day for just work wasn't so bad.
And it wasn't so boring. After all Kotetsu was there.
"What is that?" The young hero asks inquisitively upon seeing a brightly colored explosion on his desk once he and the older man saunter in.
"Don't know. A delivery man dropped them off an hour ago." The seasoned secretary behind the front desk replies, not bothering to look up from her typing and filing to address the star hero.
"Wow! Someone must really like you Bunny." Kotetsu says as he bounds over to their adjoining desks, the younger man walking more subdued behind him.
"I've told you to stop calling me that, at least at the office. What is this anyway?" Barnaby reprimands as he picks up the glass vase and critically examines the orange, yellow, and red hibiscus blooms bursting out of the top like they are an advanced science project rather than simple flowers.
"They appear to be flowers Bunny." The brunette pipes up, chin propped in his hand, and receiving a stern glare from the blonde in reply.
"I know that, but what for?" Barnby asks as he continues to look at the gift in a rubic-cube like fashion.
"Because someone really likes you…." Kotetsu repeats slowly and is rewarded with yet another glare.
He's about to retort at the older man, something about how it wasn't his hearing that was going, when a spot of white catches his eye.
It's a card, nestled securely amongst to blooms. Barnaby plucks the white card stock carefully from its perch, mindful to not damage the flowers in doing so, and reads the words printed carefully.
'Just to brighten up your day. Love Your Secret Admirer.'
"So…who is it?" Kotetsu asks after a moment longer than necessary pause.
Barnaby snaps out of his temporary lapse and clears his throat before answering. "I don't know. It says it's from a Secret Admirer." He says, sitting both the flower and the card back on his desk before sitting down himself.
"Oooo how romantic!" The older man gushes in a fangirl like parody. Barnaby gives him a sideways glance from his computer.
"Hardly. Who sends a grown man flowers?" He asks towards his screen.
"Lots of people! Nathan supposedly gets flowers all the time!" Kotetsu argues loudly, but just gets another sideways glance that says 'see?'.
"What am I supposed to do with these now?" Barnaby asks, looking at the flowers again. They were far too big for his desk, taking up much more space than could be allotted to them if they were half their size. And Barnaby didn't like clutter.
"Take them back to that dreary apartment of yours. Maybe it will brighten the place up a bit!" Kotetsu replies while flopping heavily into his chair and, apparently, getting down to his own work.
Barnaby frowns at him but examines the flowers once again critically.
Maybe they would be better in his apartment. He didn't want to be disrespectful and throw his fan's gift away; or at least not at the office where anyone could see. Plus, they did smell and look kind of nice. They weren't so bad.
After the flowers, Barnaby assumes that is the end of it and the admirer has lost interest. But just as he thinks this, another package arrives.
"Hey what's that?" Pao-lin asks as she bounds over to the other rookie hero, alerting the attention of the others, as he examines the parcel.
"A gift from a fan I guess." Barnaby replies, examining this gift just like the first before opening the plain brown cardboard box.
Inside, like the first, is a small white card.
Barnaby lifts it and the gift from the box with a furrowed brow as his green eyes scan the words printed boldly.
'You should try to relax more. You'll burn out before your prime. Love Your Secret Admirer'
"Oooo Handsome has a secret admirer! How exciting!" Nathan coos exaggeratively with starry eyes, having read the note over the younger hero's shoulder.
"If you say so. What is this thing anyway?" Barnaby asks, still unimpressed by the attention as apparently everyone else is.
Examining the small black pot provided that it was made of clay, or at least that's how the smooth sides felt. Upon removing the perforated top he also saw that it was empty. Why would his admirer send him an empty clay pot as a gift?
"Hey! I got one of these for my room. My aunt got it for me. It's an aromatherapy pot." Karina says suddenly with a snap of her fingers. Barnaby and the others give a collective 'hn?' and she sighs. "You put scented oil in here, then put it in a window, and the sun heats the clay sides to warm the oil and spreads its scent around the room. They're really handy. And you don't have to wait like you do with one of the ones with candles. You come home and your room already smells like…lavender?" She explains, arching a brow after inspecting the unnoticed small bag at the box's bottom and finding a tiny bottle of lavender oil.
Barnaby takes it from her and examines it as well for clues.
However, the bottle offers just as little as the first items. A common oil variety found in most spas and holistic wears shops around the city. Still it was rather…odd for him to receive a gift like this. But he ignores the feeling in him and puts the gift away.
"Hey Bunny, this seems really nice. Can I borrow some of his for my gym locker?"
The blonde snatches the bottle of oil from his partner quickly and give him a stern look for touching his things. "You'd need a gallon of this to get that atrocity of a space you call your locker to smell even remotely passable. Come on old man, we need to train."
"Sheeew! Man, it feels good to be out of that suit!"
"Why? Does the new technology hurt your arthritis old man?" Barnaby drones unsympathetically with his arms crossed.
As per usual for a Friday the Heroes had received a call about an armed robbery at Sternbild First National Bank.
The criminals had taken hostages and demanded escape vechiles to leave along with their money. Authorities granted their request knowing full well that after they left the Heroes would apprehended them successfully. And they did.
Blue Rose received the bulk of the calls points, for freezing the street and the wheels the robbers were trying to get away on, but all four of them made some jumps.
Honestly it was probably over kill, in Barnaby's opinion, to have four heroes catch six non-NEXT criminal. But points were points. And the show was the show. And if they refused to show up something could have gone wrong or they could take a major nose dive in fan base for 'no bothering' with regular criminals.
However, he had to agree that their hero suits weren't the most comfortable things in the world and it was a relief to get the stifling things off after a job. But he wouldn't let Kotetsu know he was right.
"Umm…M-Mr. Brooks..?"
The blonde NEXT turns around to see a young woman, probably not much younger than himself, standing behind him with a deep blush in her cheek and arms pressed to her chest. Her lanyard said that she was a HeroTV intern, and apparently very new.
"Well hello there, how can I help you?" He asks, instantly shifting into 'TV Hero Mode'. At the charming smile and effortless charm the young woman all but collapses into a heap of red face and shaking knees.
"Ummm…MS. JOUBERT TOLD ME TO GIVE THIS TO YOU!" She shouts in a nervous panic, thrusting a small parcel into the hero's hands, and dashing off before he could speak.
Startled by the seemingly quiet girl's retreat, Barnaby blinks along with the other heroes as he watches her go.
"What was that all about?" Blue Rose asks with her hands on her hips as she too watches the girl sprint like on fire.
"Poor girl. She was completely unprepared for Handsome's charms." Fire Emblem says, tsking lightly as he shook his head.
This time the note attached had no thoughtful explanation as to why the gift was purchased, just a quick 'Love Your Secret Admirer' on white card stock.
Barnaby frowns lop-sided. 'Another one?' He thinks and tears off the green wrapping paper without a second thought. He then stares wide eyed at the parcels contents, a copy of La Vestale inside.
La Vestale was a lesser known French opera composed by Gaspare Spontini. It was also his favorite opera. Because it had been his mother's favorite opera. But how did…when did…
"What is it Bunny?" Kotetsu's voice calls through his shaken thoughts.
The rookie hero quickly examines the card again, but he finds no other clue in the note and it's carefully printed words.
"Nothing, just another gift from a fan." The blonde says curtly, this time crumpling up the small card and throwing it in the trash.
"Another one? How many is that now?" Fire Emblem asks with a curiously arched brow.
"Three,"
"Wow! Three gifts? You sure this admirer of yours isn't a stalker hunny?"
Barnaby snaps his attention to the fire wielder looking at him seriously. The thought had never occurred to him until now. A stalker? Could someone really be stalking him and he hadn't notice?
"Bunny doesn't have a stalker!" Kotetsu insists passionately. "It's probably just an enthusiastic fan. We've all had those."
"Well maybe not all of us…" Fire Emblem replies off-handedly, but with obvious intent.
"Hey!"
Barnaby didn't pay much attention to the back and forth between the fire wielder and his partner. He just continued to stare at the gift seriously, looking for answers that just weren't there on the paper.
Who was this person who knew so much about him? Of course, most of these gift ideas weren't really that hard to ascertain. He had been to several interviews praising opera and his passion for it. The selection could just be a coincidence. And he had perhaps mentioned once or twice his aromatherapy habit when questioned on how he dealt with stress; though most of the other techniques were complete fabrications as it was better to say he worked out or did deep breathing exercise rather than stared obsessively at his big screen TV as it scrolled through data and numbers and articles until the wee hours of the morning.
The public didn't really like the idea their heroes acting like crazed serial killers in their free time. It left a bad taste in their mouths.
But then again, how did this person know he would be here? Up until an hour ago he didn't even know he would be here. Of course, the woman who said that Agnes had told her to bring it to him. Perhaps in her never ending quest for ratings boost she thought it would make a good segment. Perhaps in her eagerness she had inadvertently spurred his thoughts into something more sinister than the thoughtful, but creepy, gifts that they were.
Nathan didn't really help either.
Perhaps it was all just a coincidence. And he was over thinking this entirely.
By the fourth gift, however, Barnaby is climbing the walls.
At his apartment, not the office or at work, there is a delivery of a basket filled with bottles of rose wine and chocolates by his front door.
And not just any rose wine and chocolates, but the exact brand he gets for special occasions because it's ludicrously expensive and the exact type of individually wrapped white truffle chocolates that he rarely gets because he adores them and would devour a whole box of them, completely destroying his perfectly maintained figure.
But no one would know that because he knows for a fact he hasn't told anyone this.
"Bunny calm down."
"No! I won't calm down! This isn't normal Kotetsu!" Barnaby shouts, stopping only for an instant to do so before he continues to try and wear a path into his living room floor with his pacing. "How could someone know this much about me?! A lot of these…things are personal! Things I've never told anyone! Not in interviews or conferences or anything!"
"Bunny…" Kotetsu tries again, but is again ignored.
"What if Nathan is right and I have a stalker?! Like a serious stalker!"
"Bunny…" There is a bit more of an irritated edge in Kotetsu's voice this time, but Barnaby still isn't listening.
"What if this escalates or becomes violent or-"Bunny it's me!"
The rookie hero stops on a dime in his fretful pacing and turns around to face his partner. "…What?"
Kotetsu grumbles, picking at the upholstery of Barnaby's chair instead of looking at him. "Yeah I mean…I didn't…know how to tell you that I…well, you know. So I thought maybe this would work, you know? Be a good….stepping stone before I told you. I didn't think you'd freak out like this! I just wanted to…tell you how I felt…" By the end, he's muttering. But Barnaby can still hear him.
"Why?"
"Well, I thought it would be romantic, but apparently it's creepy." The older male tells him rubbing his neck in embarrassment, ashamed that his seeming fool proof plan had crashed and burned.
"No I mean, why not just tell me?" Barnaby clarifies, examining the other man seriously with bright green eyes.
"I don't know! It's really….personal. And I didn't want to get rejected to my face so…I don't know! Can't you just call me an idiot and we can forget this whole thing happened!?" Kotetsu shouts finally, looking very much like a sullen child waiting to be scolded.
There is a long length of pause, or maybe it was just a few seconds. Whatever it was, for Kotetsu it takes forever just sitting there, waiting for the shoe to drop, before the sound of Barnaby's boots come closer to him.
His vision is suddenly flooded with yellow as he looks up and the blonde is kneeling in front of him and impossibly close.
"You're an idiot." Barnaby tells him before he leans in and kisses his partner. It would have also been cheaper if he told him the truth.
Yay first ever Tiger & Bunny story! I loves me some Tiger & Bunny. I finished the series a while a go and am rewatching in the dubs as they come (which, say what you will, I still like 90% of the time and don't have to read it). Possibility of more T&B stories in the future, based on input on this story and time.
Thank you for reading and all feedback/reviews are accepted and appreciated!
*-I also do not own La Vestale