please note that there will be mentions of the sexy tiem in this chapter. If that's not cool with you, then you can't really say that I didn't warn you :3
It wasn't a major injury—not as bad as it could have been anyway. Kotetsu had spent the night in the hospital and was discharged the next morning with a fresh roll of gauze, instructions on how to take care of the 2nd degree burn that covered most of his upper torso and a stern talking to. After ten years of Heroing, the hospital staff practically knew him by name. Bunny, when he'd come to pick him up in the morning was kind of surprised when he was up on his feet with a baggy shirt, chatting up one of the nurses that had taken care of him roughly twenty times now.
"How's your shoulder?" the blonde asked him as he gingerly sat down in the Lonely Chaser, trying not to hurt himself again.
Kotetsu gave him a wry smile, shuffling the rest of the way into the buggy. "Honestly, I've been better." Bunny shot him a glare at the tease from his position in the driver's seat, and he grinned again, "Thankfully it's not serious."
That had been a few hours ago now, and Bunny hadn't believed him any more then than he'd been telling the truth, which was to say, not at all. The blonde had snarked at him in a kind of friendly way the rest of the ride home, and had quickly left after leaving him at his flat, refusing the offer to come in for a cup of tea that Kotetsu had offered on mere habit. Alone now, he was sitting in his sparse kitchen at the counter realzing a bit and just unwinding after a less-than-stressful morning. The severity of his wound wasn't what was bothering him, though it certainly stung when he moved the wrong way, and he had to change the bandages every couple of hours. No, what was really wearing him down was why he was injured in the first place, not that he regretted it.
He'd never be one to think twice about protecting people, especially not people close to him. But Barnaby had only recently come to be in his life, why did his safety matter so much? He'd leapt in and saved Ivan and his buddy before that, sure, but he hadn't taken the shot for them. If he hadn't landed the way he did, he would be in the morgue by now, no doubt. He blinked.
Was he actually willing to risk his life for Bunny? That was a new development that had seriously happened without his permission.
He leaned onto the counter of his kitchen, head in his hands, and idlely stirred a cup of tea. He'd been forced to lay off the alchohol for a bit by the hospital staff while he recovered, and was a bit sore about it, but it was far too early in the morning to be drinking anyway, and it wasn't like there was anything that he could use as defence against a registered MD with a mean pinch. He rolled the idea of being good friends with his standoffish partner around in his head a bit as he sipped his drink. Well, it seemed like it had already halfway happened, quite litterally. The blonde had progressed from unwilling teammate to someone he considered important enough on a base level to protect at the cost of his own life, though in the end it hadn't amounted to that. If his partner's new status in his own mind without any willing input from Kotetsu himself could happen, then maybe it could work out.
Snorting, he put away his now empty cup. Yeah, right.
The Hero's gym was full today, a rare sight on a Monday morning, and Kotetsu haggardly walked in with a cup of coffee for himself for while he relaxed and tried to wake up a bit before any actual work could get done. The hospital had told him not to put stress on his shoulder for a while, and while that was impossible while he was performing his Hero duties, in his off time it was pretty much mandatory, lest he want another good scolding for not taking care of himself. That didn't mean that he wasn't allowed at the gym, but any strenuous excersize for now was a huge no no.
"Good morning, Mr. Wild Tiger!" Keith called cheerfully from his position on a nearby bench, where he was patting down his forehead with a towel, no doubt just finishing up an extreme routine. "I see that you are recovered from last week's injuries!"
Kotetsu chuckled quietly, and sat down beside the good-natured Hero. "Oh, please, you know me, Keith. When I'm told by that crazy doctor of mine to not do anything stupid for a while and let things heal by themselves, I pretty much wont listen to a word she says." He took a sip from his coffee, and leaned back while the King of Heroes laughed at him. He smiled and closed his eyes. "I'm not quite healed up enough to be working out yet, but I'll be back in here with you guys in no time. I'm just here for show."
Karina walked over, casually drinking from a plain water bottle, wiping her mouth when she was done. "I thought that you had severe burning from two seperate acts of idiocy?"
"Two?" Kotetsu looked over to his partner, who was towelling off his hair, no doubt just returning from having a shower in the communal rooms. Christ, he must have been here early to have been done his entire gig already. "What do you mean?"
Karina shrugged and went back to her water, pretty much ignoring the other blonde. "That's just what Nathan told me."
"Sweetie, that was between girls." Nathan chided, though there was no seriousness there. He looked like he had just walked in, workout uniform and makeup immaculate, though he had no doubt been here for hours, and he leaned casually over the banister beside where he and Keith were sitting. He winked at Kotetsu, and ran his perfect pink nails through the brunette's hair. "Good morning, honey. Have I ever told you that you have the sexiest bedhead?"
Kotetsu grinned. Ah, this felt nice; being able to banter with the other Heroes was just too normal not to make him feel awesome. "On many different occasions, 'sweetie'." he stuck out his tongue with biting sarcasm, and the dark skinned man pouted, but kept runnning his hands through his hair. He looked over at his partner, "And yeah. I got hit by that crazy mecha thing before you bothered to show up. Shouldn't you guys be working out and not chatting with a poor, injured old man?" He gestured over to Antonio, who had done the sensible thing and waved when he'd walked in and continued bench pressing what was no doubt an absolutely obscene number, and Ivan, who had given him a shy smile before continuing his kata. "Follow their example, or you'll get pudgy."
"I wont get 'pudgy', old man." Bunny put one hand on his hip and cocked his eyebrow. "Besides, I'm already done. How's your shoulder?"
"You asked me the same thing yesterday over the phone." a wild grin appeared on his face. "Worried about me, Lil' Bunny?"
The blonde frowned. "You are injured because of me, you know. Also, it's Barnaby, not Bunny." He stalked off, and Kotetsu laughed, smiling into his coffee cup.
Keith, for the record, seemed gennuinely confused, but happy, and the other two just kind of stared. "...''because of me...''?" both Karina and Nathan inquired quietly, his hands stopping mid-pet, and her practically spitting out her water and frothing at the mouth. They also both practically jumped on him enthusiastically, each gripping one arm tightly. "What did he mean, ''you're injured because of him''? That's impossible!"
Blinking, and then bursting into a wide smile again and taking anothing drink from his coffee, he admitted, "Well, I kind of jumped in front of him when Lunatic shot at him. He was meant to be the one injured, not me, but well, as it turns out-"
Nathan brought him into a tught hug, pressing Kotetsu's head against breasts that he did not have. "Oh honey! I'm so proud of you! You've finally moved on~!"
"SON OF A BITCH!" she swore loudly, storming out of the gym, the rest of the Heroes practically oggling her as she went.
Kotetsu just kind of blinked at them.
Perhaps, the next time he decided to get drunk off of his ass, he should probably do it in the comfort of his own home, and not with certain very male blondes, Kotetsu inwardly groaned.
From his position on the floor, he could only really think of two things: one, his head hurt like he'd been punched in the temple by the fist of an angry God, and for two, so did his ass.
Well, three things, really. He was also kind of naked except for bandages, and that needed to be fixed right now, lest Bunny find out things that he shouldn't. Kotetsu was pretty sure that, if the purple, finger-shaped bruises on his hips indicated anything, all of that coverup had no doubt worn off. No matter how expensive it was, it wasn't really meant for copious...contact.
He summoned up the willpower to turn his head, but didn't have to look far. Bunny was only wearing a green dress shirt (no doubt Kotetsu's own, which certainly explained the fact that it was missing from both floor and his person), which was half unbuttoned and looked like it had been hurriedly put on with no mind to what button went where. He would no doubt be extremely hung over, but for right now, he was sleeping like a log.
Kotetsu groaned. What the hell had happened last night?
"Fuck, B-Bunny..."
The younger blonde ground his hips into Kotetsu's, hands tangeled fiercely in brown hair, slamming their mouths together in a half-crazed parody of a kiss. He grabbed ahold of the other's shoulders, thrusting into that delicious friction with a groan, barely registering a niggling sense of 'we-shouldn't-do-this' and 'you'll-regret-it-in-the-morning' over the haze of the alcohol.
Of course, he ignored it, biting into Barnaby's shoulder with a needy cry when his pale, slim hands found his way in between their legs, under the hem of his pants, and stra
ight to Kotetsu's-
Well, that certainly answered that question, though he didn't really need to actually know the details, as he had already kind of figured out the basics. Kotetsu flushed and put a hand to his face as if it would somehow stifle the memories. He really didn't want to handle that right now, especially because he was still naked. Stiffly sitting up, wincing and putting a hand to his lower back when it gave a painful twinge , he turned roughly the same shade as an overripe tomato when he realized a fourth thing:
He was...leaking, for lack of a better term.
Hastilly standing and ignoring the new twinges that his back was giving him as he attempted to quietly maneuver himself towards the bathroom, he stubbed his toe on what looked to be a bottle of hand lotion. Kotetsu pressed the back of his hand into his eyes and groaned, feeling something lukewarm dribble down his inner thigh. Holy shit, what the hell was he going to say? How was he supposed to look his partner in the eye after this, knowing that they'd had drunken sex on Barnaby's apartment floor with children in the next room and also that he'd bottomed to someone younger than him?
There was a quiet groan behind him and a shift that told him that his partner (the man that he'd just had sex with, holy shit-) was waking up, and he quickly waddled into the somewhat hidden bathroom. "G-Good morning, Bunny." he called, somewhat quietly, not wanting to aggravate the blonde's hangover on top of things.
There was a quiet grumble that sounded a lot like "Well, that was reckless," and Kotetsu's heart shot up into his throat at the confused, half-awake sound that Bunny made next as he no doubt looked down and noticed that he wasn't wearing much else aside from Kotetsu's shirt. Really, somewhat strange sleepwear, even for a bachelor. "What the hell?"
Koetsu fidgeted behind the door to the bathroom, toes curling on the soft carpet and trying not to get any of the stuff that was leaking down his legs on the plush surface, lest it stain. Might as well ask the question that was bothering him, "How much do you remember of last night?" because goodness only knew how much alchohol tolerance that Bunny had, and how much he would actually remember.
His wrist beeped, and there was an answering ring from beyond the door, no doubt Bunny's doing the same thing. There was another groan, and a dull thud before quiet cursing and an indelicate, "Shut up, fuck." from the blonde. Well, he couldn't actually find it in him to blame the kid, who no doubt had a huge headache, much worse than his own. Even his ears were ringing at the shrill sound, and he would bet money that Barnaby's hangover was much worse than his was. "...Not much. Why am I naked?"
The inevitable question. "You're mostly naked, there's a difference." Kotetsu called a bit awkwardly. Did he not remember at all? ...Should he use that to his advantage? No! No, No, bad Kotetsu. That was lying, and cheating and...probably a good idea, actually, shit. It would save him a lot of trouble in the short run...But in the long run...
"Old man?"
Oh, bugger it. "You said something about streaking, I think. I honestly don't remember much either." he said, if a bit guility. He sincerely hoped that this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass. Again, if the bircular bruises on the backs of his thighs were anthing to go by. Fuck, Bunny had really not gone easy on him at all last night. Speaking of which, "Listen, can I borrow your shower? I smell like booze. Also, I kind of need my shirt back." 'Oh, and there's what is probably your semen on your bathroom floor now, but you don't really want to know where it came from, trust me.'
"Yeah, sure." There was a pause, and the clinking of bottles that Barnaby was no doubt cleaning up. "Are you sure about the shirt, though? It looks like most of the buttons are missing."
Kotetsu flushed again, and somehow resisted the urge to smack his head against the wall and yell 'And whose fault do you think that is, huh?' petulantly at the hungover twenty year old. Damn it, that was his favorite shirt, too! "Never mind, then. Urgh. Can I borrow one of yours, then?"
"It wont fit."
He grit his teeth and fidgeted some more. "I'm not walking out of your apartment with no shirt on. The media will have a field day." he paused again, composing himself somewhat. "Look, I'm going to have a shower. Just...find my clothes, will you? I'm not walking around your house naked, and a shirt that's missing half the buttons is better than nothing."
All sound halted in the apartment once again. "You were naked, too?"
"...I'm easilly suggestable when I'm drunk, Okay?" Fuck, this was getting harder to handle by the minute. "And no, I'm currently standing in your bathroom in one of my socks, if you really must know."
He could practically see the disgusted look that that earned him, even with the door blocking his view. "Too much information, old man." this was followed by another half hearted moan, and the voice of his partner getting a little quieter as he moved away from where he was, no doubt moving to prepare himself something to allievate his splitting headache, which Kotetsu wished that he had thought to do earlier. "Urgh, I'm never drinking again."
A/N: Sorry not more updates tonight, caught a major cold so it's bed time for me, at 7:30. Anway, enjoy part nine. After this, things are going to start deviating a lot, though the basic story is still there.
Anyway, thank you and again, thank you for your continued support, everyone. ^^ Also, there is no reason not to like wounded!Kotetsu. He's much more squishable that way huhu
See you!
