Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger & Bunny, or Energizer. No advertisement was intended.
This story takes place in a slight AU wherein Maverick didn't betray Barnaby's parents. Apollon doesn't exist but the hero industry still does.
This story was thought up while talking with my sister so I will dedicate it to her.
Barnaby felt his hands getting increasingly sweaty and his whole body was buzzing with unspent energy. He clutched the small box he was holding. Forcing himself to take a few deep breaths, the blonde felt himself calm slightly. He reached for the office door –
Only to have it swing open abruptly, almost smashing into his million-dollar face.
"Off to get coff – oh!" A tanned Asian man stopped short. "Bunny! Didn't see you there! Don't just stand outside the door – I could've broken your nose just now!"
Barnaby didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Wild Tiger was the dictionary definition of "clumsy" and "careless" and for him to tell anyone else… Well… Barnaby took a few more calming breaths before parting his mouth to speak. Only to be cut off again.
"I'm getting coffee for the office! Well, just for me actually! Lloyds didn't want any," the masked hero rambled on with a small pout, "Do you want anything?"
"No-"
"Aw… you sure? I helped the girls at the café across the street unload their coffee bean deliveries today and they promised to treat me!" At this the bearded man tugged on his ever-present hat and struck an altogether ridiculous pose that was probably meant to look cool and well…heroic. "I think I'll ask for a mocha! Or maybe a… No… Hm… Oohh… Sort of want tea now… But…"
Barnaby bit back an annoyed growl. Did the man never stop talking?!
"Stop blocking the door!"
"Er.." Wild Tiger stopped mid-ramble and awkwardly rubbed his head. "Eh – guess I'm in your way again, aren't I, Bunny. Sorry!"
The green and black clad hero finally stepped away from the door and made his way to the elevators in his long but signature clumsy gait, half tripping over his own oxford shoes in the process.
Barnaby pinched the bridge of this perfectly straight nose and shook his head, allowing a small amused chuckle to escape his lush lips.
Wild Tiger was everything Barnaby Brooks Jr. had envisioned him to be and more. But the veteran hero's clumsy and awkward nature was certainly a surprise. Barnaby could only imagine that Hero TV had to pull an amazing amount of overtime to maintain Tiger's image as the textbook hero. Not that the rookie minded at all. The blonde's jewel-like green eyes glimmered at the thought of being one of the few who knew the real Tiger. Well, not "real" real, of course. The identities of heroes were kept confidential even from other heroes – though Barnaby had a sneaking suspicion that Rock Bison would probably know who the man behind Wild Tiger's mask really was, given that the two were close friends. Barnaby could only smile wistfully. Though the super rookie spokesperson of Sternbild's number one mobile energy company was Wild Tiger's partner on Hero TV, he wouldn't even be able to recognize the man's face out of uniform.
Barnaby sat down in his cushy office seat and opened his drawer to place the box he'd been holding inside when he paused. A few unbidden thoughts rushed into his head. A conveniently spilled cup of hot mocha. Stains all over a familiar black and white vest. Several young baristas rushing towards an unassumingly attractive and adorably awkward Wild Tiger, trying with various degrees of success to take the man's vest and green button-down off.
Lloyds glanced up sharply from his desk when he heard the sound of metal snap. He readied himself to yell, once again, at Tiger, only to remember that his assumed culprit had run off for coffee. Confused, he swiveled around just in time to see Barnaby dash out of the office. He could only grimace at the remains of what used to be the partition separating Tiger's cubicle from Barnaby's. Perhaps the young hero finally saw the Valentine's advert Agnes had put up? He'd warned the woman to get Barnaby's consent too…
Barnaby briefly noticed that there seemed to be more excited giggles than usual as he gracefully but briskly made his way to the café across the office.
"Tiger!" He called out as loudly as socially appropriate as soon as his long toned legs stepped into the cozy the storefront.
The man in question turned around, confused. Then, a wide grin broke out across his lips and his hazel eyes lit up.
"Bunny!" the older man exclaimed, "Changed your mind, eh? What would you like then?"
Barnaby could hear a few faint "Kyaah" sounds from the girls behind the counter but he paid them no heed.
The younger hero resolutely stalked up to the man he's idolized since his childhood, grabbed one of man's tanned hands, and forced the small box he'd been fiddling with all morning into the confused veteran's palm.
Barnaby was sure by now that his pale cheeks were flushed enough to match his pink face mask but he forced himself to continue. There was no way he would let any of these barista upstarts claim his own partner for Valentine's Day! Not with Barnaby Brooks Jr. here!
"I know that in Japan you give people you like chocolate on Valentine's Day," the blonde began, "so here it is! I made this myself last night!"
The younger hero paused and with none of the self-assurance that won him his "Most Handsome Man of the Year", "Sexiest Man in Sternbild", "Gentleman's Quarterly Man of the Year", and so forth awards, he continued, "Well… not completely made! I tempered it though…"
He heard more excited giggles in the background and decided to cut himself short.
"But that's not the point!" He raised his head and stared directly into Tiger's surprised hazel eyes, "The point is – be my Valentine!"
He heard a sharp intake of breath from the lanky veteran hero. Was he not clear enough? Well, in for a penny…
"Be mine!" He elaborated, clear green eyes watching his partner, heart pounding as if about to bound out of his chest.
Tiger was slowly reaching his other hand out towards him. Barnaby began to panic. What if the other man flat out rejected him? Well, he's considered that possibility but…
The blonde took the plunge. Before the older man's hand could push him away, Barnaby grabbed onto the approaching hand and tugged it towards himself. As the distance between the two decreased, Barnaby breathed out, "I want to be your hero!"
He felt his long-time idol's warm, firm chest collide with his own and he hesitantly pressed his unexperienced lips against the man's tanned cheek – right below where the mask ended. Then in a burst of blue NEXT power, the pink masked rookie hugged the now flailing dark-haired man a little tighter, let go, and bounded out of the café in a blur of red, white, and pink.
It wasn't until much later that night that Barnaby deemed it okay to unfurl himself from the embarrassed fetal curl he'd folded himself into after the café fiasco. The blonde didn't even know how it began. But of all the ways he'd considered confessing, that particular route had never come to mind – and for good reason! Just thinking of it made his toes curl and his stomach feel queasy.
But the fit young man forced himself out of bed to get some dinner. And to think! Just the night before he was blushingly melting chocolate while imagining himself eating dinner with Wild Tiger after a successful confession! Barnaby could almost imagine his ears falling down and clamping firmly along the sides of his head if he were a real bunny. He sighed – wondering if Tiger would still even call him by that annoying nickname anymore.
As he sliced some extra carrots into his salad, the blonde heard the telltale signs of his neighbor returning home. Seemed like the odious man had a good Valentine's Day himself, given the hour.
But surprisingly, the footfalls passed by the neighbor's own door and continued until they were in front of Barnaby's. Then, the doorbell rang.
Barnaby could only sigh. It was all that idiot's fault too! Claiming that Japanese people gave chocolates to their crushes on Valentine's! Meddling in other people's business!
But the neighbor was insistent and the bell kept ringing. Barnaby grudgingly made his way to the door. He was going to slam the door in the meddler's face.
Unfortunately for Barnaby, as soon as the door opened, his usually very uncoordinated neighbor forced a lean leg between the door and the frame.
"What do you want?!" Barnaby growled.
"I'll be your Valentine!"
Barnaby stopped short. He knew that voice! He swung the door open only to an unbalanced pile of awkwardly long limbs, smooth tan skin, and soft brown hair topple into him.
Barnaby did a double take. The face was definitely his neighbor's. But the voice and the feel of the body lying on him were unmistakably Wild Tiger's.
"Wha-" The blonde began.
"Lil' Bunny," The Asian man cut him off, "You have no idea how much paperwork Agnes made me go through today for you!"
Barnaby could only lay still as he stared at the man on top of him. How could he not have seen this?! The same build, same hair, same eyes – everything was the same except for the damn voice muffler heroes wore in their off-duty time.
"But that was one hell of a confession!" Tiger – or as Bunny remembered from his neighbor's door sign, Kotetsu - breathed.
At this the hazel eyes gave off a mischievous glint.
"It certainly wasn't what I had in mind when I forced you into a conversation about Valentine's Day in other cultures last night!"
A few things clicked at once in Barnaby's head. But the veteran hero was apparently oblivious to the danger he was in and continued, "I was expecting a blushing confession as we were leaving the office for the day or something but boy – did I get a BLUSHING confession!"
The brunette found himself forcefully slammed into a wall and a growling blonde hissing at him, his usually pale complexion glowing a bright red.
"But I was touched," Kotetsu continued after hacking up a few coughs at the impact, "and I've been thinking of you since that first princess-carry. The only good thing about Energizer buying out Top Mag was that they assigned me to the same apartment building as you. And…"
Barnaby could only mentally sigh as he realized that the object of his affections had regressed to rambling again. But he wouldn't be able to hide his embarrassment if the man continued on. So he squinted his eyes and focused on his target like he'd been trained to do at Hero Academy. Then he went in for the kill.
And Kotetsu found himself awkwardly interrupted in the middle of his own confession by the placement of a pair of indescribably soft lips wastefully pressed against his teeth.
He felt bubbles of laughter rumble in his chest but forced them down as he cupped Bunny's face, preventing him from withdrawing and presumably running away in red-faced embarrassment.
"Bottom line is, Bunny" Kotetsu closed the distance between his lips and Barnaby's, "I want to be your hero too."
"It's Barnaby!" Came the indignant, if half-hearted protest, much, much later.
Happy V-Day everyone!