Kotetsu clapped his hands, overjoyed that he managed to convince Barnaby to visit his family for Christmas. He gave his boyfriend a peck on the cheek and said. "Now, I'm not sure how Kaede will be able to handle the relationship between the two of us, not to mention my mother. So can we just attempt to hide it just a little from my family?" Kotetsu asked nervously. "You know how Kaede has that large crush on you, and Mom, well I'm just not sure how she'd feel about her son dating another man."
Barnaby raised an eyebrow, "For someone who enjoys pointing out our relationship so much, you seem awfully bashful when it comes to pointing it out to to your own family." He laughed softly at the other man's expense. Bad mood forgotten as Kotetsu always managed to do to him. It was like the asian man instead of losing his powers, gained another NEXT ability. The one to cheer him up.
"It's family though, I don't want to see the look in my darling Kaede's eyes when I tell her that I'm dating her idol." Kotetsu whined. "Anyway, I should probably phone mom up and tell her we're going to be at the family place for the holidays. Do you want to use the guest room or just share one with me?" Kotetsu asked, flying about in an attempt to find his cellphone. "Where did I leave the stupid thing?" He muttered quietly to himself.
"Old man, your eyes are worse than mine. Catch." Barnaby joked, tossing his phone to the older man. "Don't break my phone though, if you do you'll pay the bill."
Kotetsu looked at Barnaby with faked hurt in his eyes. "Do you really think that lowly of me, Bunny? It hurts my old heart." He said, taking Barnaby's phone and dialing his mom's number into it.
"Hey Mom, it's me." Kotetsu said into the phone. "I'm just calling to tell you that Barnaby... Yes my partner... and I are coming to the house for Christmas. Don't tell Kaede, I want her to be surprised. When will we come?" He looked at Barnaby expectantly. When Barnaby shrugged Kotetsu asked. "When do you want us over? Tomorrow?" He looked at Barnaby again and when the blonde man nodded he said. "Barnaby's cool with that, are you? Good, we'll see you tomorrow. Love you, Mom." Kotetsu said, hanging up the phone.
Barnaby looked at Kotetsu with a bemused expression. "We'll be there for how long is it until Christmas?" He counted the days in his head. "Two weeks? Are you sure your family won't be sick of us by then?" He asked.
Kotetsu just grinned, excited to see his family again. Ever since his daughter said he was cool his days have been great. He still felt pain in his side from getting shot, but everything was so much better. "I'm sure they won't be sick of us, now us being able to keep us a secret for them may be a bit hard. Didn't really think that part through." He began to stroke his kitten shaped beards.
"Old Man, you're never good at planning things though." Barnaby laughed, removing the older hero's hand from his beard and giving it a quick kiss to show he wasn't trying to be mean.''
"Yeah yeah, now get packing, Bunny. Try not to shove every hair product you own into the suitcase, that would way twenty pounds." Kotetsu teased. It was a valid tease though, Barnaby spent more time in the bathroom in the morning then Kotetsu spent in his entire day.
"As long as you don't bring all of the mayonnaise we own." Barnaby teased back, removing the hand from his lips in favour for a much better prize, Kotetsu's mouth.
The two kissed until they had to part for breath. "I'm going to miss that for the next two weeks." Kotetsu sighed, he knew they'd be able to kiss each other in private, but the gestures the older man much preferred would have to stay within the apartment.
Barnaby saw the look in his partner's eyes and said, "Old Man, if we do what you're thinking of now, we'll be late tomorrow." It was true, the duo tended to fall asleep in each other's arms after sex. Barnaby was determined to not let Kotetsu be late for something for once. Not that it was an easy battle, he seemed to find a way to be late for anything. The past year of living with him made Barnaby realise that fact more than anything.
Kotetsu let out a sigh, "So not only two weeks without kissing. But too weeks without sex as well. Oh well, we'll find a way to survive, somehow."
"You decided the date, Kotetsu." Barnaby grinned, giving his partner a kiss to the cheek. The rough scratch of his partner's beard had become natural to him.
It had surprised Kotetsu at first how touchy Barnaby could be. He loved physical contact, whether it was hugs, kisses, or even simply holding hands. Perhaps it was because of such a scarred life the younger man had led that made him need to reassure himself that there was someone there. Kotetsu didn't mind, in fact he was much of the same way.
After losing his wife, Tomoe, Kotetsu never thought he could love again. He was terrified of losing someone he loved again, he didn't think his old heart could stand it if someone else he loved passed away. One death was bad enough, but to lose his Bunny? That was unthinkable. It was impossible.
"I guess we'll find a way to deal with it, eh Bunny?" Kotetsu said, suddenly brightening up. "We need to pack though, Kaede's going to be thrilled when she sees her Papa and his partner. Especially since you're Barnaby. Did I ever tell you how much she loves you?" Kotetsu started to blabber on about his little girl. He was so proud of her.
Barnaby actually found it completely adorable, so much so that he began to giggle softly.
"Bunny? Is something wrong?" Kotetsu asked, thinking the other man lost his mine. Barnaby never giggled.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just so cute how much you care for your daughter. I wonder if my parents cared that much for me." With the thought of his parents, Barnaby's mood plummeted once more.
"There's something wrong now though, I can tell by the look on your face." Kotetsu said, looking concernedly at Barnaby. "It's the thought of your parents isn't it?" He asked gripping Barnaby's hand. His parental side kicked in and he grabbed his partner into a tight hand, hand rubbing circles on Barnaby's back.
Barnaby choked back a sob. "Even though I'm not living for revenge anymore, it still hurts so badly. I can't even tell what memory is real or what isn't. What if none of the memories I had of my parents were real? Why is it still so damn hard for me to be happy?" Barnaby began to cry at full force, sobs wracking his body. Loud, pitiful, gasping sobs.
Kotetsu just held the man harder. "It's alright, Bunny, you have me now. It will be alright, it will all be alright." He whispered into his partner's ear. "Just sleep, I'll pack for you and I'll call Lloyds to tell him we're leaving tomorrow. I'll take care of everything." Kotetsu wasn't sure what he meant by everything. Whether it was their plans, or his sobbing partner, or both.
He picked Barnaby up princess style, much like how the younger man would carry him and took his partner to the bedroom. He sat him down on the bed and pulled the covers over the pitiful form. He removed Barnaby's glasses that had begun to fog over from the tears and sat them on the nightstand.
After he took care of Barnaby, he tapped on his call bracelet. "Lloyds? It's me, look Bunny and I are gonna take. The next two weeks or so off. Yes I need to bring him with me. We're visiting family, my family, but I still will count them as his family." Kotetsu watched his boss look at the calendar with a dismayed look. "We do have plenty of vacation worked up. You'll let us? Thanks!" Kotetsu grinned as he shut off the call. Now all that was left was the packing.
Kotetsu dug around the large walk in closet for a suitcase. He and Barnaby seldom traveled, so the suitcases were far in the back of the closet, covered with a fine layer of dust. He grabbed the two largest ones he could find and pondered what to bring with the two of them.
Barnaby was much more adept at choosing clothes for things. Kotetsu always had similar clothes so he never had to worry about what to wear. Barnaby on the other hand was a completely different story. The only similarity between his clothes was red, tight black t-shirts, and lots of buttons. Kotetsu had tried to break him of his button habit before, but to no avail. The pale man still had obscene amounts of buttons on his clothes.
Kotetsu sighed and just grabbed an armful of Barnaby's clothes, folding them into the suitcase. He thought it would be enough clothes for the next two weeks, he'd just have Barnaby check it the next day. He wasn't planning on letting the blonde out of bed for the rest of the night.
Bed was sounding pretty good to Kotetsu at that point. So after grabbing some of his own clothes and shoving them into a green suitcase, he flopped down onto the bed. He landed next to the sleeping Barnaby who shivered with nightmares. He wrapped an arm around his partner and fell asleep just like that.