Barnaby left Kotetsu's, exhausted but feeling better than he had in a long time. Kotetsu being back, knowing he had work ahead of him, the changes in his cognitive state since seeing his therapist and staying in the sleep tanks, all lead to him feeling like he had a new lease on life.
He made his way back to the labs to spend the night there, he needed a proper recharge after a night of drinking with Kotetsu, but also he was sure to have the dreams tonight, he could practically feel it.
When he got to the lab he was surprised to see it empty, even late into the night Saitou was often still here. Perhaps the older man had taken a break from work while the season was on hold as well. He slid out of his pants and shirt and climbed into the tank, sealing it himself from the inside he started the system up with a voice command. "Computer, start sleep regulation system Barnaby 001," He said before closing his eyes.
The robotic voice of the computer responded with, "confirming sleep regulation system for Barnaby 001?"
"Confirm," Barnaby said and tried to relax his body, it was still hard at first getting to sleep in a semi-vertical position.
The dreams came, as he had thought, and they were indeed going back into his gap year between high school and hero academy. He had spent some time abroad, trying to find out more information about Ouroboros, but also experienced other cultures to enrich his education.
He was standing in a police station in downtown London, a nice constable was there helping him fill out the necessary paperwork for his request. There was a prisoner that the London police had apprehended, he had an Ouroboros tattoo behind his right ear. Barnaby was there filling out a visitation request.
"Why do you want to see this tosser? He's a right piece of work, killed a couple kids with his hijinks," the constable said looking down at Barnaby with concern on his face. The man was probably in his late thirties, was greying at the temples, his brown eyes had wrinkles forming into smile lines around them. He seemed like a nice man.
"He has an Ouroboros tattoo, that is the same group that sent a killer after my parents, I want to know if they have a leader, and if so who it is," Barnaby said as he set down the pen, the paperwork filled out impeccably.
"Well you might need a bit of luck with that one, he's been in jail before, always gets bailed out before we can get him nailed down. Hope this conviction sticks, we got him red-handed with the murder weapon for them lil'ns," the constable said before motioning for Barnaby to follow him.
"You head on down to Middlesex County Courthouse, he has a hearing the day after tomorrow so he will be held at the jail facility on location. The paperwork you filled out will grant you an hour visitation rights," the constable patted him on the shoulder as he led him to the door. "And young Barnaby? I hope you find that killer if you ever need my help with any other research you just give me or anyone at this station a call" he said and held out a business card with his name, personal mobile number, and the station number on it.
"Thank you…" Barnaby said, taking the card and sliding it into his wallet. It was always good to have helpful members on the force.
Barnaby was at the Middlesex County Courthouse, the jail attached was easy enough to find and he was able to show his documents to the clerk in the office. She had pleasantly shown him through to the security wing. Barnaby was then escorted by two officers to the jails.
"Now he is a right dodgy wanker, 'ou just stay nice and far away from those bars, he has tried to grab at more than a few o' us here," the guard said as he unlocked the final set of doors leading to the jail cell.
"I'll keep that in mind," Banrbay said, flashing a charming smile to the officer, he always got away with more if he was charming.
The man in question, James the Jammer Mcavery, was sitting on the jail cot picking his teeth with his forefinger. He looked up as they entered the jail area. "Eh, whatcha brought for me screw?" Jammer said as he stood, his feet bare though a pair of shoes sat in the cell with him.
"You have an hour," the guard said before moving back through the outer door.
"So you are a member of Ouroboros ?" Barnaby said walking right up to the bars, if this guy wanted to get handsy he was more than happy to break a few bones.
"Ehhhh, we got a brave one don't we?" Jammer said and walked up to the bars facing Barnaby down. The man was not impressive, short in stature, his nose crooked, probably broken in a fight, his hair a mangy mess of dirty blonde, greasy and matted. The Ouroboros tattoo was obvious behind his ear, the snake eating its own tail a haunting reminder of who this man was connected to.
"So, tell me, who do you answer to? I don't care about you, I want to know who the leader of Ouroboros is," Barnaby said cooly, eyes glinting with contained rage. This man was a connection to the killer who took his parents.
"Ouroboros, never 'eard of em kid," he said before picking at his crooked nose.
Barnaby took a closer step to the bars, practically pressed up against them. "Then what is that mark behind your ear? That's the mark of Ouroboros, tell me where to find them!" he said angrily, hands grasping at the metal bars now.
Jammer leapt forward and grabbed onto Barnaby, hands gripping his throat though not yet tight enough to hurt him. "Oi! Guards, if you don't want me to kill this kid you better let me outta this cell!" he started yelling.
Barnaby didn't look phased at this turn of events. "I recommend you unhand me and tell me what I want before you get hurt," Barnaby said, eyes staring right into Jammers, the guards could be heard unlocking the door as he spoke.
"Nah kid, you are my ticket out of 'ere," he said with a wicked grin.
Barnaby couldn't say he didn't warn him, and before the final lock on the door could be undone the man in the cell had a broken hand and was being held up against the bars, face smashed into them. "Tell me where Ouroboros is or I'll break your other hand," Barnaby said under his breath, eyes blazing blue as the light from his Hundred Power glowed around him.
"Y-you're one of them NEXT freaks! Guard, eh guard! This kid is gonna kill me!" the guard was inside now, baton raised.
"You need to let him go now son," he said motioning to Barnaby to back away.
"Tell me who Ouroboros' leader is!" Barnaby said again, giving the man a shake.
"A'right, a'right I'll talk kid just lemme go!" the man said with pure fear on his face. Barnaby released him and he practically flew away from the bars, clutching his broken hand. "Jeezus kid! The guy I work for I don't know the name of, but he's some hotshot out in Sternbild, ugly sonuvabitch too, got a great big mole on 'is 'ead," he said looking pleadingly to the guards.
Barnaby felt the world fall out from under his feet. A hotshot in Sternbild with a mole on his face, that sounded just like uncle Maverick. The guards were saying something at him, but he couldn't register what they were saying.
The officers were shouting now and Barnaby finally realised they had called a medic into the room for Jammer, one of them actually had a hand pistol pointed at him. His faint glow faded away and he held his hands up. They took him into custody, arms cuffed with special Anti-NEXT cuffs.
Barnaby woke up panting in the oxygen chamber, he didn't know where he was, but he was sure he didn't want to be confined. He threw his arms forward and pushed the chamber open, its automatic emergency release mechanisms working quickly to let him out. He toppled onto the floor gasping for air. He had found out about Maverick during his time abroad. He didn't even remember being in England let alone meeting a man in a prison cell.
He curled up into the fetal position and held his legs to his chest. He ached everywhere. Since using the oxygen chambers he hadn't had a reaction like this. He tried to use his breathing techniques to calm himself down.
Barnaby wasn't sure how long it took to calm down, not having the thought to check the time when he exited the chamber, but he was sure it was a while. He forced himself off the floor and sat down in Saitou's chair. He wanted to talk to someone about these dreams, he could call Dr. Harjan, but she didn't always understand, though she was there to be an emotional support and a sounding board for his problems, she never knew Maverick.
He stood and walked over to his clothes, sliding his pants on he pulled his phone out of the pocket and sat back down. He looked at his screen, goofy Kotetsu looked back. Kotetsu was back in town, was here to be a Hero again. Would it be alright to burden him now? Would it be alright to have his best friend back in this time of need? He desperately hoped so, because he really needed Kotetsu in his life. Now that he had seen him, he knew that he couldn't go without seeing the Old Man.
He looked at the time, passed nine in the morning, Kotetsu might still be sleeping, their itinerary didn't start for a few days. He didn't care, he would leave a message if Kotetsu was still asleep.
The phone rang a few times, Barnaby was working out his message in his head, when Kotetsu's face lit up the vidscreen. "Mornin' Bunny" he greeted with messy bedhead, a little bit of stubble on his face, and the goofiest grin Barnaby had ever seen. His heart leapt into his chest, he hadn't seen Kotetsu's sleepy bed head face in over a year, and it still affected him. He wanted so badly to see that face every morning.
"M-morning Kotetsu," he mumbled out, face a little red, he hoped Kotetsu wouldn't notice.
"Why are you calling so early? Why are you at Saitou's lab?" Kotetsu was looking past Barnaby's face to the surroundings. That's right, he hadn't told him he was staying here most nights.
"I sleep here most of the time, it helps with the dreams." Barnaby was suddenly very aware that he was shirtless. "I was calling so early because… well I really had no reason other than that we should prepare for our interviews," he finished off lamely. He didn't have the courage to say 'I had terrible dream memories, they made me feel awful and I was hoping we could hang out.
"Ugh, I forgot what a workaholic you are. Do we have to prepare for those already? Agnes' schedule says we don't have our first interview for a while. Lets just get together and catch up some more, you could come here, help me unpack all my stupid little nick naaaacks" Kotetsu said waggling his eyebrows at him.
Hanging out with Kotetsu and unpacking his junk sounded perfect. He didn't want the Old Man to know that's what he really wanted in the first place so he let out a puff of air. "Well, I suppose we could do that, we really should be prepared for those interviews though," he said trying to hold the grin back off his face.
Kotetsu beamed back at him, "great! Head on over whenever you want, I'll have a shower and we can have breakfast together," Kotetsu was walking through his house now, making his way downstairs. "I went shopping after you left, got all kinds of stuff, we could make fried rice, or more normal breakfast stuff if you want," He was standing in his kitchen rummaging around now as he spoke.
"Whatever you want is fine, is your house key still the same or did you have the locks changed when that couple moved in?" Barnaby asked.
"Same locks, got the old keys back, so your spare should still work, come on in when you get here," Kotetsu slammed his fridge shut. "See you in a bit Bunny," he said, reaching to end the call.
"See you," Barnaby responded before hanging up as well.
Barnaby finished getting dressed, sure he wore these clothes yesterday, he would just go get changed after he saw Kotetsu. He made his way to the parkade and drove to Kotetsu's. He didn't bother knocking, letting himself in with the spare key Kotetsu had given him back during their glory days after Jake. It had been easier to just have a key to his place so that Barnaby could drag Kotetsu's sorry ass out of bed to be on time for all of those early morning interviews.
He didn't see Kotetsu in the kitchen and assumed he was still in the shower. He was about to take a seat on the couch when he heard a door open. He looked back and saw a very frazzled Kotetsu holding a very small face cloth in front of himself.
"A-ah hey, sorry I forgot to unpack the towels before I had a shower. And I forgot my clothes upstairs. Just give me a second," and with that Kotetsu streaked through his own home, hand holding desperately onto the face cloth over his privates. Barnaby was in too much of a shock to even have the decency to pretend to look away. A dripping wet naked Kotetsu jogging through his house was spank bank material for months to come for sure.
Kotetsu came back down the stairs sporting jogging pants and a towel over his shoulders rubbing his hair dry. He still wasn't wearing a shirt, which would normally be fine but Barnaby was already uncomfortably tight in the pants from earlier.
"Sorry about that, you got here quick! What'd you do, jump your car over the rails or something?," Kotetsu teased as he continued to rub his hair with the towel, flopping down beside him on the couch.
Barnaby shifted awkwardly to keep the tent in his pants concealed. "No, I just got lucky with the bridges and elevators. It's not rush hour anymore so there wasn't much traffic," he tried not to stare, but the longer he looked at Kotetsu the more detail he started to notice, and those details were breaking his heart.
The lightning scar on his right shoulder, white and jagged standing in contrast to his olive skin, a constant reminder of the flaming crossbow bolt Kotetsu took to protect him. The deep scars across Kotetsu's left side where he had to have a second surgery after they defeated Jake, after Kotetsu sacrificed his own well being to come help him. The glossy pinkish skin of his stomach and right side of his chest, freshly scarring over from the burns he had received from the laser beam Barnaby himself had shot at him.
Kotetsu looked over at him, a frown marred his face. "What's wrong Bunny? You look like you saw a ghost," he looked down at himself then back up at Barnaby.
Barnaby didn't know how to respond. All of those injuries were his fault, he had caused Kotetsu all that pain.
Kotetsu must have clued in on the situation because he splayed his fingers over his scars. "Don't worry about these, they don't hurt. Besides they make me look even more cool right? What's that saying? Chicks dig scars? Besides don't these ones make me look more like an actual tiger?" The grin plastered on his face as he pointed to the lightning bolt of white on his shoulder and the incision scars on his side was enough to force Barnaby out of his dark thoughts.
"Not really, Old Man, maybe a zebra though," Barnaby barbed with a grin back.
Kotetsu's face fell and he crossed his arms. "See if I make you special okonomiyaki style fried rice ever again," he was pouting, but still had a bit of a grin on his face.
The two ended up making what Kotetsu called special okonomiyaki style fried rice, it was actually really good, even when Kotetsu smothered it in mayonnaise.
They had chatted about work during the cooking and eating, Barnaby skirting the issue of his dreams for now, but Kotetsu had commented that he looked pretty worn out more than once already.
As the two of them started sorting through Kotetsu's eclectic collection of books to fill his mantlepiece, Barnaby decided to take the plunge. "I had more dreams last night, of when I was 19 and took a trip abroad. They were rather… intense," Barnaby was holding two books, trying to decide if they should be in alphabetical order by author or title as he spoke.
Kotetsu looked at him, setting down the records he was holding, having only unpacked the few he wanted to listen to the other day. "Well what happened, you hook up with some gorgeous hottie over there and Maverick didn't want you remembering having any fun?" Kotetsu said, trying to make light of the situation. It was eerie how close he was to the truth about that.
"No, not this time," he would let it hang that hooking up with someone hot was possibly in the cards, it would drive Kotetsu crazy with curiosity. "He had me forget contacting a police station in London and questioning an inmate that had Ouroboros connections. I… well, I didn't have an Old Man to keep my temper from flaring back then, I broke the inmate's hand while I questioned him, got arrested afterwards for it too. He told me that 'a hotshot in Sternbild with an ugly mole' ran Ouroboros. I figured out that Maverick was the one calling the shots, and it wasn't the only time I did so," Kotetsu, normally so vocal in his facial expressions, was being rather candid right then. He had a look of anger for sure, but he was obviously trying to control himself.
"I can't believe you figured it out way back then Bunny, you must have confronted him and he mind-wiped you. What memories do you have in place of going to that police station?" Kotetsu said as he started flipping through his records, trying to keep things casual, always aware of Barnaby's struggle to explain his emotions.
"I remember my trip was to Rome, Paris, Prague, and ended in Berlin. I spent most of my trip going to see cultural centres, museums. I remember vaguely checking local authorities for any sign of Ouroboros but coming up just as dry as I had in Sternbild. Maverick had suggested the trip to see all the cultures of the world as my chance to 'spread my wings' and 'see what I wanted to do with my life',"Barnaby was crushing the spine on one of Kotetsu's old encyclopedias. "He had no intention of me doing any of that, did I ever even go to those places? I hate this Kotetsu, I never know what is real and what isn't in my life," he set the book down before he could cause it more damage.
"Hey calm down Bunny, you already told me there isn't anything you can do about the dreams until they are all done right? Maverick is gone, so even though it took a little longer you still figured out what he was up to, put a stop to his plans. Besides, who needs to have memories of some boring museum you went to by yourself. If you want memories of a place like that you should make them with someone you like. Like I wanted to go to Sternbilds's new aquarium but I was holding out, going until Kaede could come with me, those places are made for making memories with loved ones," Kotetsu was standing with his chest puffed out wagging an old record around while he gave his speech.
Somehow his rant made Barnaby feel a bit better. He was right, Maverick was gone, and while his memories of his time in Europe may be fake, he didn't really care for them at all. In fact, his last trip to similar places had been much the same, he had no one to enjoy the sights with, so hadn't gone to as many as he would have liked. "Thanks, Kotetsu," Barnaby said, a faint smile on his lips.
"Can't believe you broke the guy's hand and got arrested though, wonder if Maverick got the charges erased or if those are out there somewhere. Ohhh I would love to see a hotshot Barnaby mugshot, bet you gave them the old glower stare down" Kotetsu did his best impression of an angry glower at him, it wasn't very good, but it was enough to break the tension and the two of them broke down laughing over it. "We would match! Yours could go next to mine! Only, you know, you actually committed a crime, I was framed," Kotetsu teased.
They unpacked a few more boxes, Kotetsu was down to the last few and was pretty pleased with how the place was looking. He took out one of the records he hadn't played yet and started it up, adjusting the volume to a tolerant level before grinning over at Barnaby. "So, if the dreams last night weren't about hooking up with some hottie, when did you have dreams about one before? Was she a model, or a movie star, maybe Maverick put the whammy on her too and she's out there remembering the great time you two had," Kotetsu was wagging eyebrows at him again.
"ugh, even if I had dreams like that I wouldn't share them with you Old Man. Like I would just hook up with some random woman anyways," Barnaby regretting planting this seed of inquiry in Kotetsu now, he could be relentless about things sometimes.
"Aw come on Bunny dish, there has to be someone you've liked at some point, don't be such a drag. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me and Tomoe," he offered.
"I don't really have any inquiries about your love life, but I'll let you know if I ever do," Barnaby said before walking over to the couch and taking a seat.
"Well if you won't tell me about your love life, or lack thereof, then you aren't allowed to sit. Up! This is dancin' music, and not that weird choreographed stuff. This is real music, the kind you can feel the rhythm too, "Kotetsu had his hand out for Barnaby to take, standing in front of him.
"No way Old Man, I am not dancing with you," his heart was pounding, Kotetsu wanted to dance with him? He had seen him bop around tons of times, they had even danced a bit when drinking before. But never sober, never being asked like this.
Kotetsu still had his hand out. "Well, then you have to tell me who you like, it's either dance with the Old Man or gossip with him, think of it as payment for all the times I cooked for you," he said with that shit-eating grin of his.
"Payment! I just unpacked your house, isn't it customary for the host to provide food and drink?" Barnaby said eyeing the hand still extended to him.
Kotetsu shrugged at that, "Well, today's food and drink cover your help, but think about all the other times," Kotetsu wiggled his fingers. "Come on Bunny, this song is great," Barnaby didn't know what to do, he wanted to dance with Kotetsu, but for Kotetsu it was just friendly, it didn't mean the same thing to him, was it fair of him to take advantage of a situation like this? The fingers were still wiggling in front of him. He didn't have to think of it as taking advantage, Kotetsu was still his best friend, he could still do best friend things with him, he just couldn't let his growing feelings get in the way of that.
With great hesitation he reached up and took Kotetsu's hand. "Fine, one dance, that's it," Barnaby said before Kotetsu latched his hand onto Barnaby's middle back, right hand gripping his own left hand tightly. Barnaby automatically threw his hand forward onto Kotetsu's shoulder for balance as the Old Man literally dragged him around the room.
"Come on Bunny, keep up, don't tell me you don't know how to waltz," and sure enough Kotetsu was in fact doing proper waltz steps, he was just doing them without any warning causing Barnaby to have two left feet for a moment.
"Why are you leading," Barnaby said with a sneer, trying to pull his left hand free from Kotetsu, right pulling off of Kotetsu's shoulder, trying to get away.
"Because I didn't know if you knew how to dance to this stuff, besides I don't know how to follow," Kotetsu admitted, still dragging Barnaby around.
"You don't know how to lead either, just stop, stop a second!" Barnaby pulled away and Kotetsu let him. "If you are going to make me do this with you, at least let me do it right," Barnaby said, holding his hands out in the leading position.
"But Bunny, I don't know how to followwww," Kotetsu whined but stepped into his hold anyway. Hands sliding into one another's with ease, Kotetsu's left in his right, his right hand on Barnaby's shoulder, Barnaby's left on Kotetsu's back. And without missing a beat the two started gliding.
"It's just like work, you should always leave the leading to me, Old Man," Barnaby said with a playful smirk on his face, moving with ease around the big open space that was left where Kotetu's dining table would go, still sitting off to the side, the two of them swept across the room like they had been doing this for years. Barnaby wanted so badly to spin Kotetsu but worried he would complain and make them stop. Now that they were doing this he never wanted to stop.
"See, this isn't so bad, better than all that choreographed stuff they make us do, real dancing is about feeling the music, and your partner, and just going with it, right?" Kotetsu said, the lopsided grin on his face tipped Barnaby over the edge, without warning he pressed at the small of Kotetu's back, a dancer's signal that a spin was coming, his right hand clasped a little tighter, and suddenly Kotetsu was spinning away from him, and then being pulled back, landing safely back into Barnaby's embrace as they kept turning around the room.
They kept at it until the song came to an end, Barnaby was sure Kotetsu would pull away and it would be done, but the record kept playing, another waltz coming on, and Kotetsu kept pace with him, the two of them rotating around the small room, the odd spin here and there. Kotetsu closed his eyes at one point, a smile plastered on his face. "It's been years since I danced with anyone, feels nice."
The record came to an end after about twenty more minutes, Barnaby cursed the old technology for having such a limit on it, but kept his face stoic as he and Kotetsu pulled away from one another. "Thanks for indulging this Old Man, guess I was feeling nostalgic with moving all this stuff again. Used to dance all the time, Tomoe, me, Kaede… hell Bison and I used to go to the clubs when we first moved out here, haven't done that in a while either." he moved off to go into the kitchen grabbing himself a beer. "You want a drink Bunny, I've got beer, I think there might be a bottle of wine some place," he started digging around cabinets.
"A beer is fine," Barnaby's heart rate was still a little elevated from being in such close contact with Kotetsu. The feeling of his warm skin against his own, the fresh smell of his shampoo and whatever body wash he used, something musky, it smelled a little like when you went into one of those shops that sell incense, he couldn't place it. He had to remind himself that for Kotetsu that was just a fun way to spend time with a friend, it didn't mean anything. He could easily stay friends with Kotetsu and not go further with him if it meant having him in his life. A best friend that you can share this kind of connection with was more important than his libido.
The two shared a couple of beers and to get off the subject of the dance they just shared Barnaby started in on their interview prep, work talk was always safe talk. Besides, they really did need to be prepared, Agnes was mad enough as it was. Kotetsu had complained until he saw how long the interview prep notes were. He had asked if Barnaby thought he would be able to write any reminder notes on his hands, to which Barnaby had absolutely shut him down.