Barnaby didn't know what to do with himself. He was ecstatic, he got exactly what he wanted out of that meeting. Kotetsu wasn't mad at him any more, the two of them were partners, and everything was working out for him. Now he just had to keep working through the dreams until they were over. Once that was done he would finally be free to be his own person. Until then he would continue to do as Dr. Harjan recommended and continue making new memories with his friends.
"Hey thanks for letting me join back up with you Old Man," he said as they walked towards the training facility where the other Heroes usually gathered. They would go announce the good news and Barnaby would be able to finally properly greet everyone.
"Don't complain when we go out chasing cats while the other Heroes are off saving the city," Kotetsu said waving a hand in front of his face as they walked. "Second league is literally Agnes' pet project to fill in the time between major crimes. It's the daytime TV drivel equivalent to primetime shows."
Barnaby didn't care, that was probably for the best. Agnes had been spot on when she said he wasn't ready for real Hero work yet, he wasn't ready to have to face off against criminals and worry about points. He was just getting back into the swing of normal everyday life, let alone all that came with being in the first league. "Trust me, one season in the second league will do me good, just like you I have been retired this whole time, I'm in no condition to be out there with the others. This will be good for us, we can work on our teamwork, and we can take things a bit easier, second league will probably mean less interviews, photoshoots, you know all that other stuff," he knew mentioning the interviews and photoshoots would get Kotetsu on his side, the Old Man hated those things, especially the variety shows they had had to do near the end, they were constantly on some sort of crazy contest game show.
They were almost to the gym and he was starting to get a bit nervous now. "Wait, before we go in…" Barnaby paused in the hallway. "Do you think the others will be angry with me? I don't think I can take anyone else yelling at me right now.." he said crossing his arms over his chest.
"Eh, if they start in I'll protect ya lil Bunny. Don't worry about it, I'm sure they have had a chance to simmer overnight since they heard about your return over the internet," Kotetsu said nonchalantly as he shoved the gym doors open walking in.
Barnaby let out a sigh and followed, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he walked. What greeted them was rather surprising. A banner that could only be described as "very hastily handmade'' or perhaps 'young children made this' was hanging haphazardly from the ceiling that read "Welcome Back Tiger and Barnaby!" The "Barnaby" was smaller than the Tiger and somewhat squished up against the edge of the banner. Either his name was added after the poster was complete, or the person making it didn't plan out their space before they started. Knowing this group it could be either option.
Around the banner stood all the other Heroes in their civilian wear. Nathan stood off to the left and beside him stood Pao-lin, Karina and Ivan. on the other side of the banner stood Antonio and Keith. As the two of them walked in everyone shouted in a cacophony of noise "Welcome back Tiger and Barnaby!" all of them starting and ending at different times, once again they had obviously not practiced.
Rather than them being upset with him everyone seemed genuinely glad to see them, this lifted the weight of worry off his shoulders. Pao-lin was the first to dash forward, grabbing Kotetsu around the middle giving him a tight squeeze before letting him go and turning to face Barnaby. He opened his arms slightly, granting her permission to hug him. She didn't hesitate for even a moment and grabbed him around the middle just the same as she had Kotetsu. Ivan and Keith also walked over, Keith clapping Kotetsu on the back good naturedly while greeting him, and greeting him again. Kotetsu shook hands with Ivan, all smiles.
Nathan walked over to Barnaby with Karina in toe. "Welcome back Handsome, it's ever so nice to see your dashing face in person again," Nathan said with his most smouldering voice.
"It's always a pleasure to see you Fire Emblem," Barnaby said giving his best dashing smile.
Nathan wrapped an arm around Barnaby's neck leaning his head down and towards Barnaby's cheek as if going for a kiss but instead whispered, "you better not fucking disappear again, got it?" in his much more manly tone, before plastering a smile on his face and leaning back clapping his hands. "Oh, it's just so nice having these handsome men here again," he said chipperly before bouncing off to go and grope Kotetsu.
Karina laughed and patted Barnaby on the shoulder, he tried to hide the shock he had just received from his face, but Karina must have overheard Nathan. "Don't worry too much about it Barnaby, you know Nathan, always mother hen over everyone. He's just worried about you and everyone else," she said before making her way over to Kotetsu who had just about everyone gathered around him now. If it wasn't obvious before who everyone had been looking forward to more before, it was now. Everyone wanted to see Kotetsu, not him, and could he blame them? He had never tried to be close to anyone…
Before his thoughts could spiral further, Pao-lin called over "come on Barnaby! We got you guys a cake!" she was bouncing on the spot looking over at him with glee.
He made his way over, and sure enough, there was a professionally made cake iced with both his and Tiger's emblems from their suits on top with the words "Welcome back Barnaby and Tiger!" written in perfect cursive. The cake sat on a little table someone must have brought into the training centre.
"Can't have a party without cake," Nathan said with a smile. Picking up the knife that sat beside it he began cutting out pieces for everyone, putting pieces onto little paper plates. Barnaby received the piece with Kotetsu's emblem on it, Kotetsu got his.
After they had cake the group all started asking about how traveling all over the world was, how cool it was to be back and partners with Tiger. No one brought up the dreams, and he started to suspect that perhaps they had maybe known he was in town a little longer than one day. He looked over at Antonio and raised an eyebrow, it was enough to make the old bull blush and look away guiltily. So the cat had been out of the bag then.
Everyone also questioned Kotetsu on his time retired, but had been keeping in touch with him fairly regularly so there wasn't as much to talk about. They spent a good portion of the night talking about being in the second league and how they both felt about that. Kotetsu had been genuine in saying that while he didn't love the idea of chasing cats, he was more than happy for the opportunity to show some new rookies the ropes and help train up the second leaguers to be fine Heroes one day. Barnaby had agreed about the not loving chasing cats part, but had been honest when he said he didn't see the second league as any different than the first league, he was there to help people, even if it was just with petty crimes and small fry stuff.
Kotetsu had beamed at him for that, the blush that threatened to engulf his face had been hard to fight down. Making Kotetsu happy was a nice side effect of being honest it seemed, and he wasn't sure if he could take much more of those beautiful golden eyes and crooked grins directed at him before he got embarrassed.
All in all the party was deemed a huge success by everyone, though it was cut short as many of the Heroes had other engagements they had to get to. It was their first day off for the break and most of their friends and families would want to see them (though if any major emergencies came up they were still required to be free for calls, there would just be no points awarded right now.) Christmas was a great time in Sternbild. The weather was usually no worse than balmy, and most criminals knew better than to try anything. Being off season did not mean the Heroes weren't working, it meant that they no longer competed against one another. During the off season breaks Heroes were more likely to work together to take criminals down, which meant that arrest rates were faster and more efficient.
Kotetsu and Barnaby left together, having come together from Barnaby's place that morning. "Want a lift to your place Kotetsu? I can even help you unpack some things if you want." Barnaby offered as they stood in the elevator.
"Hmm… sure, that'd be great Bunny, I can show you all the awesome pictures I took with Kaede over the last year. Boy has she ever grown! She's this tall now!" Kotetsu had his hand at mid chest, not much taller than what Barnaby remember Kaede being before, but Kotetsu looked so proud.
"And she is amazing with Hundred Power, you should see her go! Way more graceful than I ever was, and does she ever pick things up quick! Can already focus her hearing so that she can pick up specific sounds. She takes so much after her mother, you should hear her pick on me, practically a carbon copy of Tomoe when she is it 'mother hen' mode!" once Kotetsu got onto the Kaede train it was hard to derail him. He would talk about her for the next three days straight if Barnaby let him. And he would let him, because nothing brought out a more exquisite smile on Kotetsu's face than the one he wore when he spoke about his beloved daughter.
By the time they got to the apartment Kotetsu had rambled on about how Kaede was doing in school "top of her class you know, even joined the gymnastics club!," how Kaede was doing outside of school "she's the leader of the local 'keep our town clean' campaign!," and how much she took after her mother "she's the reason I'm back out here being a hero, called me a lazy bum, gave me a stern talking to, ya know? Told me I better keep bein' a hero," Kotetsu had already told him about most of this while they were drunk, but that didn't seem to phase him in the least.
Kotetsu also hadn't been lying when he said he hadn't unpacked yet. The house was one big pile of boxes. Kotetsu had created a path between the front door and the kitchen and the front door and the staircase. Other than that it looked like he hadn't really been here. "How long have you been in Sternbild?" he asked as he looked around.
"Oh, about a week and a half, but I haven't had a chance to unpack, Agnes had me doing all kinds of stupid things that don't even matter anymore because you showed up and we have to re-record them all," Kotetsu complained as he made his way into the kitchen. "Want anything?" he called out his head stuffed into the fridge.
"What have you got?" Barnaby asked, sliding between the boxes as he made his way into the kitchen.
"Couple beers, a bit early for drinking though, mineral water, couple of Legends Cola, left overs…" Kotetsu stood up from inside the fridge holding two Legend's Cola's. "Cola?" he asked as he held one out.
Normally Barnaby would have said no, gone for the mineral water, Maverick's voice ringing in his ears all that sugar and acid is bad for your teeth, it will stain them, plus the added calories would ruin your nutritional balance "yeah sounds good," he said taking the Cola from Kotetsu who looked a little surprised but handed the cola over without any word about it, cracking his own open.
"So, the upstairs has been partially unpacked, it's mostly just my clothes left to do up there so I can do that on my own. But down here… haven't even started, the TV needs to be hooked back up, my speaker system, my record player… ugh, it was such a pain packing all that stuff up, and I've never been great at hooking it up, last time Antonio helped me with it, and the sound was coming out on the wrong sides for forever until Tomoe fixed it…" Kotetsu was rubbing the back of his head as he looked dismally out at the ocean of boxes.
"Well, I just so happen to be very good with cables and hooking that sort of thing up, even when it's old school retro stuff like yours. So leave that to me while you put away the kitchen, how's that sound?" Barnaby said as he took a sip from the cola, it was very sweet, he didn't like it. He wasn't going to tell Kotetsu though, he might get offended, it is Legend's Cola.
"Sounds like a plan Bunny!" Kotetsu said with a giant grin on his face, getting out of having to unpack and hook up his old system seemed to have put him in higher spirits to actually unpack this place. "Remind me to show you all the pictures I took with Kaede later," he said as he pulled open a box that was sitting on the counter, starting to whistle as he put away his plates.
Barnaby nodded and moved into the living room, at the very least Kotetsu had been organized when he packed things up, every box was written on what exactly each one contained in Kotetsu's neat scrawl. He identified the speakers' box and pulled it off to the corner where Kotetsu had had it set up before. He had been here enough times in the past that he was fairly certain he could have unpacked this entire place and nothing would be in the wrong spot.
The two worked in companionable silence until Barnaby got the speakers and record player hooked back up. The second he got it working Kotetsu was out in the living room digging around until he found his records. He ripped into the box with the records he wanted and pulled them out. He slid the first one out of its sleeve and placed it on the spinner, then touched the needle down onto it. He adjusted the volume to what felt like max before walking (bouncing) away back to the kitchen. With the music blaring in the living room it was harder to concentrate, but Barnaby wasn't sure if that was because the music was too loud or if it was because Kotetsu was singing to every song and dancing away like an idiot in his kitchen while he unpacked his pots and pans.
More than once Barnaby caught himself just watching Kotetsu shaking his ass and singing into his wooden spoon mic as he bounced around his kitchen. If his pants were getting a little tight that too was something that need not be mentioned. He pulled his attention away from the very over energetic for someone with a hangover Kotetsu back to the task at hand. He spent what felt like forever dealing with the TV set, not because it was difficult, but because he kept plugging things in wrong because his attention was nowhere near this TV set right now, eyes constantly trailing back to Kotetsu who was back in the living room flipping the record over onto its other side, then looking over at him with a delighted smile and heading back into the kitchen to put the rest of his cooking ware away.
By the time Barnaby got the TV hooked up Kotetsu was done in the kitchen and had made his way into the living room, digging through boxes looking for things that needed to be taken upstairs or into the guest room, as well as anything for his bathroom. Barnaby started pulling open boxes for Kotetsu's mantle place, the pictures inside were new and he was surprised, there were only two of Tomoe now, the one from the day Kaede was born, Tomoe holding the baby, Kotetsu standing next to her, they both looked so tired and happy; the other was of them on their wedding day. The rest were of Kotetsu and his mother, Kaede, his mother and Kaede together, Kotetsu and Kaede, and one of all four of them: Kotetsu, Kaede, Muramasa, and Anju together. He took them out of the box and set them on the mantelpiece, the two of Tomoe and Kotetsu together the centre of them all. He would let Kotetsu change them if he wanted, but it felt right having her there, since she was the centre of Kotetsu's world. As he went to put the box with the pictures away he noticed he missed one. He took it out and almost dropped it. It was of him, more specifically of him and Kotetsu. It wasn't a professional photo but one Kotetsu had taken with his cell phone, he had pulled the phone out and held it up, called his name and taken the picture just as Barnaby had looked up. Kotetsu had a great big grin and he had a faint smile on his face, a real smile, not one he used for work. He set the picture down on the mantelpiece next to the one of Kotetsu and Tomoe on their wedding day, he knew it was wishful thinking to compare himself to her, but he hoped he could be the centre of Kotetsu's world one day.
Kotetsu eventually called it quits after about two hours of unpacking. They had gotten through a good two thirds of it, but it was down to the nitty gritty stuff that no one likes unpacking and they were both spent. They both flopped down on Kotetsu's couch, had it always been this comfy? "Ugh, maybe unpacking when hung over isn't the best idea." Kotetsu said as he leaned his head back on the couch eyes squeezed shut.
"Says the man who just ten minutes ago was air guitaring and singing at the top of his voice while bouncing around," Barnaby groaned as he too leaned his head back. "How did you talk me into helping you unpack," he muttered.
"Talk you into it! You offered to help!" Kotetsu said sitting upright and pointing at him dramatically.
"I know, I was making a joke, Old Man," Barnaby said turning his head to the side on the couch, grin tugging at his lips.
"Ha ha, very funny…" Kotetsu sat back and sighed looking up at his ceiling. "It's weird being back in this house, when I left before I was sure that was it, I wasn't ever going to see this place until the day I came back to sell it."
"Well, I'm glad you're back," Barnaby said while also looking at the ceiling. They fell into a comfortable silence after that for a long time.
"Me too, Bunny," Kotetsu finally replied. "I'm glad I'm back too, things weren't… things weren't great back home, you know? Don't get me wrong seeing Kaede every day was like a dream come true but… everything else… anyway, I don't want to get into it, but am I ever glad to be back, especially with you here," he looked over at Barnaby as he said this, Barnaby looked back. The silence returned as they just sat together, emerald meeting amber.