Again, I don't own anything, or make any profit, etc. Just going to keep throwin' these chapters up here...
...
Antonio is a terrible person. He thinks about this the whole way to his apartment, mind whirling around in circles at a speed that only Sky High could fly with. He'd lied to his best friend, for no good reason. Other than the look in his eyes, and that's the dumbest, sappiest thing Antonio's ever thought.
He unlocks the apartment and lets Kotetsu in. Kotetsu walks in like he's never been here before, and he hasn't. Antonio always takes him home after a night of drinking. Kotetsu always sleeps at home, and Antonio has never quite figured out why, but he thinks it has to do with Tomoe. Maybe Kotetsu misses her, or something. Maybe he has to lay the ghosts to rest every night. Who is Antonio to judge? He'd never married, never had anyone in his life for that long.
(Except for Kotetsu.)
Antonio's place is a decent size, and kind of cluttery, although nothing's on the wall or set out on shelves. He picks stuff up to decorate with, and then never gets around to doing it, so it's kind of mess. He hadn't had anyone over in a long time, though, so it hadn't seemed important until now, when Kotetsu's stepping over all the shit lying in the hallway.
"Sorry," Antonio mutters, and bypasses Kotetsu in the hallway so he can flip on the kitchen and living room light.
Kotetsu doesn't say anything, just shrugs. He studies the room, circles it, while Antonio gets them some water in the kitchen.
"Hungry?" Antonio calls, and stares into the refrigerator. He could make fried rice, he figures. That would make Kotetsu feel better.
No reply makes him turn around. Kotetsu's not in the living room.
"Kotetsu?"
"Where's my stuff?" Kotetsu says, muffled, and Antonio follows the sound of his voice into his bedroom. Kotetsu is standing there, scratching the back of his head.
"What?"
"My things," Kotetsu says slowly. "My clothes and – you know, stuff?"
Antonio's stomach clenches. Shit. "Oh, well." He has no excuse, so he reverts back to the truth. "We don't live together." The yet is implied, hanging between them.
Or Antonio is just imagining things. Again.
Kotetsu is still gazing around the room, but he shrugs after a second. "Okay," he says, and then spins around to Antonio. "Do you have any fried rice?"
Antonio makes fried rice. Kotetsu doesn't help, just lazes in the chair in the living room and watches Antonio. He'd taken off the mask, finally, and keeps his thoughts to himself, although he asks Antonio a couple questions about heroing. Fortunately that's easy enough for Antonio answer truthfully.
Mid-way through eating, Antonio's phone rings. He checks the screen, and it's Brooks.
"Hey," Antonio grunts into the phone, getting up from the table to go to his bedroom. He doesn't look at Kotetsu. He shuts the door to his room. "So -"
"Where's Kotetsu? Is he okay?" Everything about Barnaby Brooks, Jr. is cultured and smooth, including his voice.
"Yeah, fine," Antonio answers. "He's fine. He's with me."
"What happened?"
"He – there was a NEXT, and when I got there –"
"They were gone." Brooks' voice isn't accusing, he's just stating a fact. Antonio feels his hackles rise, anyhow.
"Listen, kid – you weren't there, you don't know –"
"What did they look like? How many? Names? Do you have information?"
Of course he did, he gave it all to the cops before he left with Kotetsu. Antonio grits his teeth and gives Brooks the short version, anyways. He's just helping his partner, after all.
His partner. His hero-partner. Not like Antonio's lie about partner partners. Somehow, listening to Brooks on the phone, he doesn't feel so bad about the lie. So what? He'd been there for Kotetsu for years, and Brooks had just showed up. He – he knew how to take care of Kotetsu better than Brooks ever would.
"What's your address? I'll be –" Brooks starts, but this time Antonio cuts him off.
"No. He's fine, I'm taking care of him. There's nothing you can do that will make him remember, anyways."
"You don't know that," Brooks says in that clipped, dead-sure-of-himself way. The kind of voice Antonio hates. Not that he hates Brooks, he just gets annoyed at the kid, thinking he knows what's best for Kotetsu and everyone in Stern Bild. So high on his pedestal, and Antonio wants to push him off.
"You don't know either," Antonio points out sharply.
"I'm his partner."
"I'm his –" best friend, fake-boyfriend, real idiot. All of the above. None of which he can admit to.
"One thing at a time," Antonio manages to growl out instead. "He just learned his wife died."
That shuts Brooks up. Antonio hears the intake of a sharp breath over the phone. "I see."
"Yeah, I think you don't," Antonio says, and slams the phone shut. Childish, but satisfying.
"Who's that?"
Antonio lurches around to see Kotetsu leaning in the doorway, arms folded across his chest.
"Uh, your – your partner. Hero partner. In the company." Any way that Antonio tries to frame it, it sounds bad.
Kotetsu nods again. Looks thoughtful. Calm. Then he leaps forward and slaps Antonio's shoulder. "He sounds like a real ass! Giving you a hard time, huh?"
Antonio's tongue lies like a brick in his mouth. "I –"
Kotetsu's palm is warm across his shoulder. "And why do I have a partner? Is that new? Do you have one? Who's your partner?"
"Uh, no one," Antonio answers the last question.
"Really?" Kotetsu peers up at him. "C'mon, you're not that good. If anyone needs help, it's you," he says, grinning.
"Bullshit!" Antonio sputters. "I'm not the one racking up the fines!"
They argue their way back into the kitchen, where Kotetsu plops back down at the table and takes a second helping of fried rice. Antonio sits down to his plate, slightly amazed at how he got here.
"Why aren't we partners?" Kotetsu asks between mouthfuls.
Antonio shrugged. "We're at different companies."
"Ah."
They finish the meal in silence, and Kotetsu helps Antonio clean up.
"Bed?" Kotetsu says, after he gives a great wide yawn.
"Um, sure." Antonio's feet take him automatically to the bedroom, although his heart starts thudding in his chest. He hadn't – he didn't – he couldn't share a bed with Kotetsu.
"Here. Bathroom's through there, use whatever. Towels under the sink." He just recently changed the sheets on the bed, thankfully. He won't bother with them. "Um."
Kotetsu's shrugged off his vest, and pauses with one hand on his shirt buttons. He looks at Antonio and then away, eyes wandering toward the bed. "Are you –"
"I'll just –" Antonio pointedly looks away from the bed.
"Do you – ?" Kotetsu looks confused, finally. Losing his memory, learning again his wife has died, not remembering the past 5 or 6 years of his life – that's manageable, but it's sharing a bed with Antonio that puzzles him.
"I'll sleep on the couch!" Antonio sputters out, and leaps out the door. He pauses just before shutting it to mutter, "G'night," and then runs away to the living room.
The couch is shit, but Antonio's state of mind is so wild and all over the place he wouldn't sleep very well anyways. He scrunches into the small space, legs hanging over the edge, and covers his face with his hands.
He is an idiot, an idiot, an idiot. Why did he say that? Boyfriends? The worst part is, what happens when Kotetsu gets his memory back? What will Antonio say – just kidding, haha, I was just joking! Gotcha!
And what about the others? Kotetsu's going to end up seeing his partner Barnaby sooner or later. And his daughter and his mother.
Antonio tucks his head into the couch pillow and wills himself to sleep. He'll just have to tell Kotetsu the truth tomorrow. And then accept the consequences. And then deposit him at Brook's place. The thought of giving him up to Brooks makes him clench his fists, but. That's stupid. He's got to get over this. Brooks isn't a bad guy, he'll take care of Kotetsu, help him get his memories back.
His real memories, not fake ones like Antonio's doing.
...
Antonio's in the middle of a weird dream involving late fees for his old school books – he swore he'd returned them! – when he opens his eyes, and a face is staring at him from the top of the couch.
"Gah!" Antonio sits bolt upright.
"Ahh!" The face falls back out of sight and Antonio hears a thump as something hits the floor.
"Kotetsu?" Antonio drags himself up, and there's Kotetsu sprawled on the floor, rubbing the back of his head.
"Ow." Kotetsu lifts himself upright and glares at Antonio.
Antonio rubs his eyes. "What are you doing?"
"Couldn't sleep," Kotetsu says, and folds his arms across his chest. He leans a hip against the back of the couch. He looks tired, hair a wild mess around his head, face shadowed.
Antonio sighs. Of course he's feeling tired – he took a beating today and some sort of NEXT blow to the head. He swings his legs off the couch, untangling them from the thin blanket he'd brought to sleep with, and pats the open space on the couch. "Sid'down. Want some tea?" He's pretty sure he has tea.
Antonio goes to make tea and Kotetsu settles down on the couch. He accepts the cup from Antonio and cradles it in the palms of his hands, staring into it like he can read his fortune in the bottom.
Antonio sits down next to him, pulling the hem of his boxers down. He'd just stripped out of his clothes, since his pajamas were in the bedroom, and now he was feeling a little underdressed.
Kotetsu had done the same, earlier, and was sitting in his boxers and an undershirt. Antonio tosses the blanket over his legs, and Kotetsu mutters a thanks. They sprawl on the couch and sip their tea.
"How'd she die?" Kotetsu asked abruptly, and Antonio should have known this was what was keeping him up.
"I mean –" Kotetsu continued, waving a hand. "Cancer, I know, but." He hesitates. "Was I – did –"
"Were you there for her?" Antonio supplies. Kotetsu nods. "Of course you were, dumbass. You were at the hospital every day."
A small smile flits across Kotetsu's face at Antonio's words. "Yeah. I mean. When she died."
Antonio runs a hand through his hair. "You were – out. In costume. Wild Tiger."
Kotetsu's expression doesn't change much. He looks like he already knew the answer, and was just waiting to hear it confirmed. He looks down into his teacup, again, and Antonio continues.
"She told you to, though."
Kotetsu glances back up at the words.
"She wanted you to go out and be a hero. Help people. So you did what she told you to."
And he kept doing it, even now. Being a hero, helping people. Antonio reached out without a thought, and rested a hand on Kotetsu's shoulder. Squeezed for a second, and then let it drop.
They sat for a while more, in silence, and Antonio left Kotetsu alone to shift through his thoughts.
He'd just drained the last bit of his tea, and was thinking about making more, when Kotetsu shifted closer. He lifted up Antonio's arm and ducked under it, tucking himself into Antonio's side.
Antonio caught his breath, feeling Kotetsu pressed up against him. He slowly dropped his arm down, carefully. His heart was beating so loudly that he could feel it vibrate through his chest, and he hoped Kotetsu couldn't feel it. He's just feeling bad, he told himself sternly, and took some breaths, tightening his arm around Kotetsu.
"I miss her," Kotetsu said a few minutes later, when Antonio's breath had finally started evening out.
"Yeah," Antonio agreed. Tomoe had been awesome. She'd been the perfect mix of warmth and kindness and kick-ass to keep Kotetsu in line.
They sit in silence and eventually Antonio hears Kotetsu's breaths turning into hitching snores. He slides away carefully and covers Kotetsu up with the blanket. Then he lays down in his own bed and tries not to think about how good it felt to hold Kotetsu. He'd been comforting his best friend, not cuddling his boyfriend. Nothing else.
He kept reminding himself of that until he finally passed out.