"Ah, Bunny! Nh...!"

Kotetsu's breath was heavy with his voice being constantly interrupted by gasps and a hiccuped breath.

He couldn't believe this, it was so intense, too intense to even think it could be possible to feel something like that at all.

All he could concentrate on was that pale firm skin and the way those shoulder blades contracted everytime the young body infront of him answered his thrusting hips. It felt good, so good and he wanted more, more of this. Just a little more friction, more tightness around himself, a moan from the blonde calling his name in sheer desperation of wanting to come, too.

It never happened.

It couldn't be provided.

Because even though Kotetsu knew the sound of Barnaby's voice like his own by now, he simply couldn't imagine the young man calling out to him full of passion.

And that broke the fantasy, dumped him from the clouds he had climbed on and left the older man stuck with a frustrated groan from not being able to come.

There he sat, on his bed in his apartment, jerking off to the image of fucking his young workmate - a guy to boot.

Well, a pretty guy: long blonde, curly hair, green, fascinating eyes, rosy lips that spouted pompous things all the time but looked oh so kissable to him, and pale skin stretching over toned muscles. But still he was a guy for fuck's sake!

As far as Kotetsu could recall, he was never ever attracted to guys before in his entire life! He still liked women, very much so, they were pretty, soft and... generally never could compete against his ideal of a woman: his late wife.

But that could hardly be the reason to like guys now! His libido was pretty much non-existent the whole time since her death, which meant for about half a decade by now. Had he been able to just switch to guys so satisfy his sex drive, Kotetsu might have just done so. But there was no such thing as the desire for other people in his bed at all!

He had been in mourning all this time and he still missed his wife - they had known each other since high school after all, meaning they had spent practically half their lives together before she had died. Something like this didn't heal over night, it was a wound deeply engraved in his heart

Kotetsu had cut his family bondings to a minimum and had thrown himself into his work since he had promised to always be a hero to his late wife. He had been desperate to fulfill her dying wish, even as the years had stretched on and the fame of his younger days had vanished to reduce him to a mere veteran past his prime, instead of making him an honorable servant of justice that had worked to uphold the piece of Sternbild for all this time.

His wife had died, his family had grown apart from him (or was it the other way around) and his career was on the brink of extinction. A few months ago he was the most miserable of all heroes.

And then Barnaby came. Barnaby, a smartass kid that constantly lectured him. He was way more loved by everyone and could do pretty much anything way better than the good old Tiger whose experience in combat wasn't worth shit anymore. Kotetsu was reduced to a sidekick, a mascot, something to amuse the audience, like to mock him by pulling him into the spotlight again just to not paying any attention to him at the same time. Oh god how he had loathed that newcomer then.

But on the other hand, as he got to know him better even against his will, Barnaby was a good kid, a honest guy that just clearly stated what he wanted and succeeded in achieving his goal. He was a new kind of hero, someone who'd actively show the world the human behind the mask, even if most of his behavior was kinda staged. He was... interesting, and interesting to a point worth prying into his affairs. Kotetsu had decided that, if he was compelled to team up with this guy, he might at least give Barnaby a chance to be liked by him. And Kotetsu did like Barnaby after he had broken away most of the shells that hid his soft core.

They had gotten closer, they were friends now, like the best-buddies-ever-kind of friends. And after the whole Jake incident, Barnaby even had begun calling him by his name instead of the insult of 'old man' he had used before.

God why was it so erotic to remember the way Barnaby pronounced his first name now?

"Kotetsu-san" he had said, a bit curtly the first time he had used it.

"Kotetsu-san", he had said so many times by now: friendly, chiding, praising, smiling - Barnaby did smile now (like for real, not for the cameras)!

And everytime he said his name, it made Kotetsu unbelievably happy.

And it turned him on.

A lot.

At least in moments like this, when he was alone on his bed with his hands massaging his manhood and his thoughts imagining himself doing the lewdest things with Barnaby.

His groin hurt.

He still hadn't managed to come after his mind had so rudely kicked him out of his fantasies from earlier of taking Barnaby from behind. The mere memory was enough to kindle his appetite again and he closed his eyes to get the images back into his head.

There was Barnaby on all fours facing away from him and his straight back broke into perspiration while Kotetsu fucked him hard. They panted, flexed their muscles together as they rocked in a harsh rhythm. Kotetsu breathed into Barnaby's reddened ears and nipped the white skin of his shoulder with his teeth, while one hand searched for the other's hand clenched into the mattress to cover it, to squeeze it, to reassure his younger partner.

There was more to Kotetsu's feelings for Barnaby than just raw lust.

That awareness nearly hit him off his cloud again, but Kotetsu was too far gone now. He came all over his hands, panting hard as he struggled for air.

God how was this possible?

What had this guy done to him?

He was just exactly his type, that must be it.

He liked women who scoled him when slacking and provided kindness when Kotetsu had a tough time.

Okay, granted that Barnaby wasn't a woman, but he surely kicked him in the ass when he was no good anymore. Hell he had gotten out of that slump which had eaten his heart form the inside out thanks to Barnaby. Well, Barnaby was not exactly the type to provide kindness, much less when Kotetsu had a tough time, but he tried to cheer him up. He was not a woman, he wouldn't start hugging him and tell him everything was alright. Instead, he tried to tell Kotetsu something, a story, maybe some kind of comparison. Hey, he tried and that was what counted, right? Not Barnaby's fault that he was not a cheerful person by nature who could win him over by just telling a bad joke or something like that (on second thought: Barnaby telling any kind of joke was kinda creepy).

Never mind the details, Kotetsu had fallen for this guy - hard - and he was masturbating to his image - a lot these days.

The problem was, the whole thing of having a sexual relationship with his partner was just in his head and would probably never come true.

Kotetsu knew that.

And it hurt to know that.

But he couldn't stop himself from wanting Barnaby, which confused the hell out of him since he had practically lived in abstinence for such a long time and behaved like it was rutting season now.

Antonio was the first to notice, or better he was the first one Kotetsu poured out his heart to, since he was pretty much the closest friend Kotetsu had aside from Barnaby. He didn't appear shocked much, though, he quit it more with a "I knew it." than with any kind of surprise.

"What do you mean 'you knew it'? Was it that obvious what I feel about him?" Kotetsu gave Antonio a view like he had told him something unbelievable.

Antonio looked uncomfortable as he stirred the ice in his drink by swaying his glass slightly.

"Mabye it's not much visible for the people who don't know you as long as I do. But you see, you aren't the type to make friends easily - real friends I mean. You have problems opening up to people even though you approach them with open arms. If I had to count your real friends I would be down to your former boss and me. That's two friends in how many years now? Just two, you see."

"Yeah, yeah, so I'm bad at trusting people, so what?"

"So, Barnaby is an exception, everyone can see that, especially me. So there must be more to it than just friendship."

Kotetsu sighed and ran his fingers through is hair while his arms were supported by the counter of the bar.

"So what am I supposed to do now? It's gotten that bad that I fear I'll get a boner right infront of him if he just so much as smiles at me."

"How about just asking him out?"

Kotetsu looked like Antonio had whacked him over the head with a club instead of making a suggestion.

"Are you crazy? I can't just go and confess to him! If I fail it's goodbye friendship and teamwork and maybe I will loose my job as a hero because Bunny thinks I sexually harassed him or something like that!"

Antonio couldn't believe the train of thoughts his old friend had followed.

"What in blazes gives you the idea Barnaby would do something like that over a confession? He is a professional. Worst case scenario: He's saying no thank you and goes back into barricade-mode like in the first days you guys knew each other."

"I don't want that to happen either!" Kotetsu cried out desperately. "It wasn't easy to convince him to be friends with me and to get our teamwork to the level we have now. Besides I'd rather not loose his faith in me again!" He sighed heavily, took a sip of his shochu on the rocks and started to crunch some of the ice in it with his teeth.

Antonio was at a loss of what to say in this kind of situation, but he wanted to comfort his friend somehow as well.

"Look, Kotetsu. There are pretty much only two things you can do. One is to confess to Barnaby and see what happens and two is to control your sex drive otherwise. You know, it's no shame for a man not in a relationship to visit certain loca-"

"I'm not going to a whore house!" Kotetsu had cut Antonio off with a look in his eyes that could kill in an instant.

He got up from his chair and fished in his pockets for the money to pay for his drink and when he found it, he threw it on the counter like he was about to smash the whole thing. He then only grumbled a "thanks for listening to my problems" in Antonio's direction before storming out of the bar.