Karina turned out alright—and in the aftermath, her testimony of what it was like to be an Alpha stayed on Kotetsu's mind. Observing his partner took a new twist as he started to notice patterns. For better or worse, Barnaby kept his mood at a default "cool," a patient and poised perfectionist, but the longer they spent in the office together, as the veteran grew slow and sluggish, Barnaby became more twitchy and irritated. He'd use too much force with the keyboard and mouse. He'd flex his fingers and stretch in his chair as if trying to work out knots in his muscles. He'd tap his toes under his desk. Sometimes, he'd stop working completely and organize his desk, cleaning every stray pen and scrap of paper, even if he needed to use it all again just a minute later. And Kotetsu paid just enough attention to recognize that, each time before Barnaby left for one of his habitual walks, his hands locked into tight fists. The instant Kotetsu noticed those fists, he could count the seconds, and by the time he reached five, Barnaby was on his feet and out the door.

Poor guy.

On the one hand, it was still rude that Barnaby couldn't stand Kotetsu's presence so much that he would just run away. On the other, if Barnaby was really living in that state of "piano wire, rubber band, animal attack" that Karina described, then he was doing a pretty good job at keeping things civil. Kotetsu almost couldn't believe that he had lived so long without noticing this difference between Alphas and Omegas. Kotetsu had trouble fighting off Alphas, but his biological reaction to their Scents didn't really cause anyone harm. He just felt tingly and sleepy, and in most situations no one would notice or care that he had a head full of pheromones. But, an Alpha had to consciously and constantly resist the urge to jump an Omega. It couldn't quite justify the asshole way many Alphas treated Kotetsu, but it helped Kotetsu forgive Barnaby's personality a little bit.

It was just like the secretary had said, albeit not very nicely. Kotetsu was not the only one suffering as he dealt with the delicious Scent in the air. Barnaby suffered, too. And while he was thinking sympathetically of Alphas, Kotetsu took a quick tally of how many people Barnaby hung out with and could consider his friends, and it all boiled down to 'none.' And Scented or not, what good did it do either of them to fight and argue all the time?

So Kotetsu made the first peace offering. He brought in coffee for their little office, having carefully observed how Barnaby takes his coffee (three sugars, one cream… unless it was the other way around…) and making an educated guess for the secretary's (she probably liked cream, right? Everyone liked cream.) The gesture definitely raised some eyebrows, but they accepted it, and it laid the groundwork for the conversation needed to have. He kept his eyes peeled for his opening, which came right as Barnaby stood to leave for one of his walks. Kotetsu roused his leaden bones and followed the young hero into the hall.

"Hey, Bunny! Wait up!"

Barnaby glanced at Kotetsu over his shoulder. "What?"

Oh, dammit, Kotetsu hadn't planned this far. Step one, coffee; step two, talk to Barnaby; step three, do better at hero work, but he had no idea what he actually needed to do for step two. "Um… Uh, did I get your coffee right?"

"It was fine."

"Good! Good. I'm glad to hear it." Kotetsu fiddled with his pockets. "So, um, how's your day been?"

"Fine," Barnaby answered again.

"Been taking care of yourself? You're always so busy, but it's important to rest, y'know!" Kotetsu forced a laugh. "Eight hours of sleep and three square meals, that's what it takes to stay strong!"

"My habits are none of your concern, old man."

"I just want to make sure you're okay. We're partners, right?"

Barnaby finally turned around to face Kotetsu, somewhat irritated and somewhat perplexed. Well, of course he wouldn't be used to such a show of friendship, so Kotetsu fixed his best, most reassuring smile on his face.

"If you need anything, I'm here for you, Bunny."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Barnaby's eyes narrowed. "What I need is for you to dedicate yourself more fully to your paperwork," he scolded. "Of if that doesn't suit your tastes, you could adopt a more rigorous training regimen. And if you still find yourself with enough time to come up with sappy and meaningless favors, try compiling data in advance before you rush into battle like a complete idiot!"

Kotetsu flinched and stepped back, holding his hands in front of him like a shield. "I'm just trying to be friendly!"

"I don't care for such feelings of camaraderie," Barnaby continued. "This meddling in my private affairs stops now. Understood?"

A small part of Kotetsu's mind instantly answered, yes, but he couldn't tell if that was due to the lingering Scent or genuine regret. He just stood there, tongue tangled and jaw dropped, as Barnaby turned and stormed off down the hallway.

Okay. Turns out, Kotetsu had been way too forward. He had his partner weren't even close enough for Kotetsu to make an offer of friendship and be taken seriously. But what else was he supposed to do? What did Barnaby want from him? Well, something Barnaby wanted that Kotetsu was willing to give. Barring offering himself as Barnaby's mate, Kotetsu had reached the end of his rope. There was only so much a single person could do to fix a relationship.

He needed help.

"I'll say right now, your first mistake was chasing him out of the office," Nathan explained, blowing gently on his cappuccino. "He leaves specifically to get away from your Scent. So, you caught him in the worst possible mood."

"How was I supposed to get around that?" Kotetsu asked. "I'm never sure when he comes back, and I wanted to catch him alone."

"Then, the second mistake was timing," Nathan continued. "You should have let the coffee speak for itself, like a peace offering, and then made a habit of doing little favors for, say, a week or so. Then you can ask about his life." With a pink eye twinkling, Nathan added, "But then, you've never been known for that level of patience."

Kotetsu sighed and pouted. Okay, so maybe my plan wasn't that good after all. "Did I make a third mistake?"

Nathan paused, one finger resting against his cheek. "No, I don't think so. The rest is on Handsome. There's a right and wrong way to turn down attention, no matter the situation."

"Do you know what's up with him? I've got to do something to help our partnership."

"Or the sponsors will be angry."

Kotetsu shrugged. "Or we're going to kill each other."

"My, what a practical goal~…" Nathan drawled. "So, did you come here for help with a new plan?"

"I sort of blew my shot on the first plan," Kotetsu said. "Bunny's not going to see anything I do as genuine after that. I need to know more about what he's thinking, and how I can be… well, I guess, sensitive? The most I can hope for is if I start respecting that he's an Alpha, he'd start respecting that I'm an Omega. Until now…we've both been too proud to make the first move."

Nathan lightly clapped his hands together in applause. "An excellent deduction, Tiger~," he gushed. "Since you made such progress on my own, I'll share some of my theories, okay~?" He raised three fingers. "There are three things that are most likely needling poor little Handsome and making him lash out at you."

"And they are?"

"One: he's upset that you're not a normal Omega. He thinks you're meant to submit to him, and he dislikes your defiance."

"I knew it," Kotetsu grumbled. If that was true, then nothing would save their partnership, since Kotetsu had no intention of changing his mind on being a hero or Omega.

"Not so fast," Nathan reminded him. "That's only my first theory."

"Then what's the second one?"

"Two: he's upset that he's not allowed to have you. I heard a whisper that Hero TV wants to use your romantic tension as a new subplot, and that tension can't resolve. He has company orders to suppress his instincts."

"So…" Kotetsu puzzled that explanation out in his head. "He… wants to treat me like an Omega, but with the sponsors telling him he can't, that's like… admitting I'm right?"

"You can think of it that way. While Handsome wants you to be a normal Omega, the sponsors are telling him to let you do as you please. They're essentially ordering him not to be a normal Alpha."

"Okay, I get it," Kotetsu said. If it was less a problem with Kotetsu's Scenting and more about Barnaby's regulated behavior, then there was still a chance of them getting along. "Wait, did you have a third theory?"

Nathan smiled like a cat with cream. "This one is somewhat related to the second theory. Three: Handsome is trying to make you hate him."

"What? Why would he do that?"

"It's so you won't become any more tempting than you already are."

Kotetsu bristled at being called 'tempting.' "That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe not at first, but remember: you smell very attractive to him. But you always fight him off, and his chances of claiming you are very low, sponsors or no sponsors."

"Yeah, fighting," Kotetsu mumbled, rather aware that he had barely resisted Barnaby at the top of the Fortress Tower.

"In Handsome's world, the worst case scenario is a situation where you two are friends. If he had to spend long amounts of time with a person he respects, appreciates, enjoys, even… and that person is a correctly cued Omega with a fabled gorgeous Scent?" Nathan hummed a little. "That, Tiger, sounds like a recipe for falling in love."

Kotetsu had no idea what to say, so he didn't say anything, opting to just gape at Nathan as he sipped his coffee. The idea, the mere suggestion that Barnaby could fall in love with Kotetsu, that was—that was ridiculous! Impossible! And too damn werid! What—how—he—just—what…

"If you keep making that face, it will freeze like that~," Nathan teased.

Kotetsu snapped far enough back to reality to splutter, "So—so—what?"

"What~?"

"Why is that your third theory? What sort of evidence do you have for something like that?"

"Not much. That's why it's theory three," Nathan admitted. "But given Hadnsome's isolationist personality, and the way Alphas and Omegas stick like magnets, I think it's not out of the question that our dear Barnaby, on some level, wants you to hate him so he won't love you."

Kotetsu's face burned hotter than the first time his mother caught him with a dirty magazine. The idea that Barnaby might see something in him worth loving—not chasing and claiming, but loving—made his skin shiver and his heart beat faster. And he couldn't deny he missed love terribly: the feeling of closeness, warmth, and joy, the whole world brightening just because that special person was near, the knowledge that his presence made that person happy in return…

Nathan immediately followed his bold statement with, "But it could just as easily be one of the other reasons, angry that you're not a normal Omega or upset that he's not allowed to claim you. Or it could be a different reason entirely."

"And the only way I'm going to find out what he's really thinking is to befriend him, right?" Kotetsu said.

"Things do look that way, don't they~?" Nathan said. "Best of luck, Tiger."

Nathan sighed and stood up. "Thanks for talking this out with me."

"You know, you could always choose a Beta and be done with it," Nathan reminded him. "For instance, I'm currently available~…"

Kotetsu chuckled. This sort of attention, light and joking, he could handle. "Sorry, Fire Emblem. It just wouldn't work out."

"Worth a shot," Nathan teased, but Kotetsu left the café in peace.

Nathan would do fine being Scented. Alpha or Omega, he was the kind of oxymoron who could embrace a stereotypical box and still blast through all its limits and do as he pleased with no regard for what others thought. Meanwhile, someone like Kotetsu struggled with submission and assertion, trying to balance what his body wanted and what his mind knew. As for Barnaby…

Who knows what's up with him? Kotetsu thought. But if anyone's gonna find out, I will.

Kotetsu and Barnaby's partnership continued with terse, teeth-clenched teamwork as Kotetsu kept an eye out for an opening. Nothing presented itself immediately, but then a fan mentioned Barnaby's upcoming birthday. That was special enough that Kotetsu could make a fresh attempt to connect, and it wouldn't come across as too intrusive. Once he got a few other heroes on board, he tried to feel out what his partner would want for a gift, though he fell into the same pitfall as his first ill-fated peace offering, namely by chasing Barnaby after he'd been over-exposed to Kotetus's Scent. Still, Barnaby was nicer, if only by a hair. The clearest answer Kotetsu got out of his partner was a clearly not-funny joke, asking for a six million dollar diamond necklace, from a public museum.

Things went from bad to worse (as they tended to, nowadays) during Kotetsu's super cool birthday surprise plan. The idea felt solid, staging a robbery: something to get Barnaby's heart pumping, let good triumph over evil thanks to the Star Rookie, and as an Alpha, he'd probably appreciate the chance to play the white knight and make Kotetsu look like a loser Omega again. At least, if Theory One was right, Barnaby would like that as a birthday gift.

But then a real robbery just had to hijack Barnaby's birthday surprise, turning their staged hero call into an actual hero call and leaving Barnaby's mood even more sour than usual. Kotetsu did his best to leave the bad feelings behind and focus on punching the daylights out of the criminal who ruined it all. Only at the last second, with a very startling new function of his suit kicking in, did Barnaby and Kotetsu break through the NEXT's diamond skin, stunning him into submission.

Kotetsu grabbed the thief by the collar before he could crawl away, but he paused. After all, Saito had been right about their combined attack shattering through the diamond. He couldn't have done it on his own, giant mecha-fist or not. And no matter what Nathan's theories said about why Barnaby might be acting like a stupid jerk of an Alpha, Kotetsu was sick of hating him. It was exhausting, depressing, and not something a real hero does.

"You can have this one," Kotetsu said, turning to his partner. "It's a birthday present."

Barnaby blinked. With both their visors up, Kotetsu could already smell wisps of his pheromones, dark and light and electric, but the distance between them helped Kotetsu keep his head clear.

"Don't tell me you took me seriously when I said I wanted that diamond," Barnaby said.

After they cleared up the brief confusion over whether Kotetsu was trying to give Barnaby a stolen necklace or arrest points, Kotetsu exhaled and composed his thoughts. "Look—I know I've been doing a terrible job, trying to get to know you. I've been insensitive, and this can't be any easier for you than it is for me. But if we're stuck as partners… I think we should try and be the best partners ever."

Barnaby stared at Kotetsu for a few moments more, before he scoffed and stepped forward, limping on his gigantic armored leg.

"You haven't bought my trust with a present," Barnaby said. "I already told you I'm sick of your meddling. You're as embarrassing and obstinate as always."

"Eh?" Kotetsu tried to remember the meaning of the word 'obstinate.' It had to be close to 'embarrassing,' which didn't sound good.

Barnaby paused for a second, reaching out and taking the thief's collar in his own hand. "But, it'd be even ruder of me to decline," he said, a sly little laugh seeping into his voice.

Kotetsu caught a strong whiff of his Scent, warm like soup in winter, sweet like shaved ice in summer, inviting like a bed made with silk sheets… Before he knew it, Barnaby had passed, taking the robber to the police to claim arrest points.

He still couldn't deny it—Barnaby smelled heavenly. So really, if they could reach the point where they didn't retch seeing each other's faces, Kotetsu wouldn't mind enjoying a breath of Barnaby's Scent every now and then, like a person made out of aromatherapy. Having an Alpha for a friend (with a few corporate 'leashes' on his behavior) might not be so bad. No matter what Nathan said, being friends with someone who smelled as good as Barnaby was not a recipe for love!

I've never had an Alpha in my life, and I definitely don't need one now! Never ever!