Sorry. Short chapter, but classes started and life is life!

Maybe it was some type of fluke. Kotetsu knew his powers only lasted for one minute. Hell, all of Sternbild knew his powers only lasted for one minute. The problem was that he'd activated his Hundred Power over three minutes ago and it had yet to fade.

The trouble at Apollon hadn't been as bad as he was expecting and he and Barnaby had taken care of the NEXT criminal just like old times. When reporters began running toward where he and Barnaby stood, Kotetsu expected them to begin asking Barnaby all types of questions: When was he coming back to first league? Did he feel satisfied working second league because of his partner's failing powers? Was there a love interest in his life? What Kotetsu hadn't expected was the mountain of questions aimed at him: Since when had his powers returned? Was he coming back to first league? How did he feel about making Sternbild's list of Most Eligible Bachelors? He hadn't even known about that last one.

Eligible bachelor, huh? Kotetsu probably would have grinned if he hadn't been so confused about how or why his powers had suddenly returned.

Kotetsu hadn't been able to answer a single question since he had no idea of the answers himself. Why did his powers suddenly start working properly again? Did this mean they were about to fizzle out for good? The idea saddened Kotetsu, but he supposed there wasn't anything he could do about it. The most he could do was ask Ben about it.

It took Kotetsu several minutes to realize that the reporters were still asking him questions while he was staring off into a daze. Luckily, for him, Barnaby had come to rescue and brought the attention to himself—as usual. It was perfect as it gave Kotetsu the chance to sneak off away from all the commotion.

He was grateful for the adrenaline that he felt when he and Barnaby were working to take down the NEXT who had threatened to blow up the Apollon building. Kotetsu hadn't known what to expect when he arrived and that was enough to keep his mind off of what he'd done while thinking of his partner. But Kotetsu knew eventually he would have to face Barnaby while they weren't wearing their hero suits or stopping mediocre NEXT criminals.

With his powers finally running out at the five minute mark, Kotetsu quickly found Saito, got out of his hero suit, and left the scene much more quickly than he'd arrived. He thought about going home and just sleeping, but he worried that those thoughts would make another appearance and he didn't want to do that again.

His cell phone rang and Kotetsu automatically tensed. He was actually afraid to look down at it to see who was calling. He hoped it was anyone but Barnaby. Closing his eyes for a brief second before opening them, Kotetsu pulled the phone out of his pocket and let out a sigh of relief. It was Ben. Ben he could handle. In fact, Ben might even know what the hell was going on with him and his wonky powers.

Kotetsu put the phone up to his ear, but was unable to even greet Ben before the other man started talking.

"I was watching the show. How long have you—"

"I don't know," Kotetsu answered. "It just… happened."

"Have you been feeling any differently? Notice any changes?"

Other than the fact that he had masturbated to thoughts of his younger male partner? "No, I feel fine." Kotetsu opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then sighed. "Ben, do you think… Do you think they're going for good this time?"

Ben sighed as well. "I don't know. I've never heard of powers fading and then returning. It just doesn't make sense." But Ben was going to get to the bottom of it. "Head over to my office. We'll talk more about it."

"Will do. See you soon." Kotetsu ended the call and sighed. At least going to see Ben would take his mind off of Barnaby.

Kotetsu frowned when his phone began to ring again. He pressed the button to answer the call a mere second before looking down to see who was calling.

Barnaby.

"Uh… Hey, Bunny," he greeted as cheerfully as he could. "I was pretty cool out there tonight, huh?"

Barnaby ignored Kotetsu's question and got straight down to business. "When did your powers start working again? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Calm down, Bunny," Kotetsu replied. "I didn't tell you because I didn't know. Suddenly they were just… back. I'm about to see Ben now to see if we can figure out what's going on."

"Then I'll come with you. I'll meet you—"

"Nah, don't worry about it. Go home and get some rest. I'll call you in the morning."

Barnaby grew quite for a moment and then sighed. "Kotetsu, I thought we…"

Kotetsu could tell where Barnaby thoughts were going before the younger man could even finish his sentence. "I promise I won't keep anything from you. I just want to talk to Ben alone first. If there's something… something bad about to happen, I won't to take the news alone first, but I promise, I'll tell you whatever we find out, okay?"

"Okay, I trust you, Kotetsu. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Kotetsu lets out a relieved breath after Barnaby hangs up. Knowing that Barnaby trusted him so much, made him feel even worse about what he'd did. But he decided that he wouldn't focus on that. Right now he had more important things to figure out, likewhy his powers were back to their full capacity and what it meant for him.

Kotetsu shifted uncomfortably under Ben's intense gaze. They'd been at this for the past hour and Kotetsu was starting to think that maybe he should just say it and be done with it.

"Okay, "Ben said. "Again, tell me everything you did today."

"Again?" Kotetsu asked. "I've told you like ten times already."

"You're always forgetting things," Ben replied. He taps an ink pen against his notepad and frowns. "I figure if I ask you enough times, you'll remember something that you might be leaving out."

Kotetsu already knows what it is that he's leaving out. But he can't tell Ben that he did that before using his powers. It's much too embarrassing and private. "For the hundredth time," Kotetsu began, "I woke up, had breakfast, went to work, did a bunch of paperwork, had lunch with Bunny, took Rock Bison out for his birthday, came home…" Kotetsu couldn't stop the nervous blush that appeared whenever he thought about what he did after he came home. "Then I got the call to come to Apollon and that's it."

"How long were you home before you got the call?" Ben asked.

Kotetsu's eyes widened before he lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "I… Uh… um… Maybe thirty minutes. It didn't take long." After years of not even touching himself because he felt like it was somehow betraying Tomoe, he wasn't surprised that it had only taken him a couple of minutes.

"What didn't take long?"

"The call!" Kotetsu said louder than necessary. "The call to come in didn't take very long."

Rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger, Ben frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. What would the call have to do with—"

"Okay!" Kotetsu honestly can't take anymore. He knows sooner or later, it'll somehow slip out when he starts to get too tired to focus on the conversation. "After I got home, I did… things."

"Things?" Ben repeated. "What kind of things?"

Kotetsu blushed and shrugged his shoulders. He supposed it could be worse. Ben has never judged him for any of his many flaws. Hopefully, he won't judge him for this one. "You know," he mutters. "…Things." He holds his hand in the air and then looks down and then points downward.

Ben is still confused. His brown eyes are narrowed as he tries to figure out just what the hell Kotetsu is talking about. Things? What things? What does the ground have to do with these things? But it didn't really look like Kotetsu was pointing at the ground. It sort of looked like he was pointing at his stomach, or maybe his… Oh. Oh. Ohhh. Those type of things.

"Ah," Ben said for lack of having anything else to say to that. He nodded his head and cleared his throat. "And how long has it been since you've done that?"

"What?" Kotetsu shouts. He's already humiliated by admitting to it. Now Ben expected him to talk about the frequency of it? No way!

"Stop being a baby and answer the question."

Kotetsu sighed in defeat. He really just wanted to go home, he wanted to pretend this day has never happened, and he certainly does not wanted to not talk about masturbating with Ben. "Since Tomoe died," he answered quietly.

Ben wasn't surprised to hear that. More than anything, Ben understood how hard Kotetsu had taken Tomoe's death. He nodded his head and jotted something down in his notebook. "Well, at least now we have a place to start."

And Kotetsu has never been more terrified in his life.