Chapter Eight
Barnaby thought that drinking with Kotetsu would be a good stress reliever after work; he didn't think that the aging man would be a complete lush. So he sat there at the bar, resting his chin him his hand and obviously shooting displeased looks at his partner, whom was laying his head on the bar.
"My head doesn't spin so much when I'm lying down like this."
"You can't control yourself, can you." Tiger thought that he saw a blonde brow twitch in irritation.
"Hey! I'm not nearly as drunk as I am when I'm upset." He jutted his lower lip in a pout, hurt by his companion's words. "Antonio has had to deal with a much drunker me plenty before."
"Well, your speech is still coherent." Barnaby mused to himself, tapping a finger on the bar top occasionally. "But why are you upset?"
"I'm not!" Cue typical silly smile. "I'm drinking because I'm happy."
"About?"
"I finally got my partner to go out drinking with me." Kotetsu reached out and grabbed Barnaby's free hand. He squeezed it affectionately before setting it back down and gave a gentle pat before letting go. "I wanted to do this ages ago, to help us bond, but you were a stubborn prick back when you didn't like me."
It became quiet between the two men. Kotetsu worried that he had said something a bit too mean, but the man next to him didn't seem to be offended. Instead, Barnaby thought it over, remembering how the chemistry between them was when they were first paired together. Looking back, Kotetsu was really trying his hardest to get along with him, even if he did the wrong things at the time. He remembered all those questions the man would ask him, personal things about how he was doing and what was going on. Now, Barnaby could appreciate the concern; hell, even enjoy it. But back then, he was just being a lonesome brat.
"Hey, uh," The bearded man lifted his head up, scratching at the back of his neck, "I didn't mean to—"
"Don't apologize." Barnaby was quick to interject. He was not angry, just a little forlorn. "You are right. I was a jerk back then. I'm sorry I couldn't appreciate what you were trying to do for me." Kotetsu smiled, but fidgeted in his barstool uncomfortably.
"Geez, Bunny," He looked over at his watch and chuckled to himself; eleven in the evening. "It's a bit early to stop drinking, but you've ruined the mood already."
"Then I'm sorry I've ruined your drinking mood." The younger man gave a smirk and finished off his drink. He almost looked happy to be done with the bar scene.
"Yeah, yeah," Kotetsu didn't believe him. He stood up, finished off his beer and began to shrug into his coat. "Walk me back to my place. I sober up quicker when walking."
The forecast had called for rain that night, and rain it did. Nothing heavy or serious, but a constant and clean drizzle that made people want to stay inside. The rain made the temperature very cool and sobering. Barnaby, being the clever and foresighted young man that he was, brought an umbrella for such occurrence. Kotetsu did not. Barnaby was a nice man though and shared his umbrella with his partner. Kotetsu still had the spin-vision from drinking, so he kept himself from swaying all over the sidewalk by grabbing onto the blonde's shoulder, following just a step behind.
"You are hopeless, Kotetsu." The younger teased. After five blocks, Kotetsu was still stumbling a bit and would pull on Barnaby's shoulder.
"I'm drunk, Bunny, not wasted; there's a big difference. Be thankful for that, at least." The older man managed to sputter out a laugh in good humor, but quickly stopped when he lost his balance again. His partner reached over with his free hand steadied Tiger's grip on his shoulder.
The sights and sounds of Stern Build were quite hypnotic at night and while it rained. Everything looked so different covered in a thin layer of water and the sparkles of the raindrops as they passed over illuminated business signs and street lights. The constant thrashing sound of car wheels against the slick pavement was loud, but dissipated in an instant. When Barnaby looked over at his companion, he was a little wet on his hat and hair, unable to keep himself under the umbrella consistently. He smiled.
After two more blocks, they stopped in front of a small grocery store and were waiting at the intersection for the traffic light to give them the signal to cross. Kotetsu leaned heavily on the younger man, staring intently at the light in hopes that would make it change its signal faster. Barnaby couldn't help himself from turning around and taking in his surroundings, mostly out of habit. He noted the people along the sidewalk, the colors of their umbrellas, which signs had which letters burnt out in them, and the lonely figure covered in a raincoat hunched over on a bench under the awning of a bookstore. It was a girl. He shook his arm to get his partner's attention.
"Hey, Kotetsu," The man leaned off of Barnaby and looked off towards the direction of where he was pointing. "I think that's Eden."
"I can't tell right now." The younger man rolled his eyes.
"I bet it's her. Come on." He yanked his arm and started to walk towards the sitter, Kotetsu clumsily following. The girl didn't move or seem to notice the two men approaching her. Carefully, Barnaby came around on one side, slowly and casually to try and not startle her. Nothing. When the blonde leaned over to get a good look at her face, her eyes were closed and her mouth ajar. She was sleeping.
"Sure does look like Eden." Kotetsu finally agreed, now close enough to recognize her even when drunk.
"Hey, Eden," Barnaby walked around and kneeled in front of the runaway to try and wake her up, his partner stood next to him, leaning over and pushing himself up on the man's shoulder. "Come on, wake up." He reached out and shook her a bit to get a reaction out of her. She lazily rolled open her eyes.
"Stand up. You're coming with us." Her response was slow and she just moved to sit up straight. She blinked her eyes but seemed unable to focus. "Hey, what's wrong?" Barnaby shook her again, thinking that she was just sluggish to wake up. Instead, she gave a frown and stared at him unhappily. Her face was flushed and there was a watery sheen to her skin, despite her raincoat being dry. The blonde reached out and touched her forehead; it was hot.
"Kotetsu, she's sick." He stood back up.
"She could be drunk, judging from the red in her cheeks."
"This is no time to joke, Kotetsu!" Barnaby dragged Eden to stand on her feet, much to her displeasure. While holding her steady, he moved to grab a hold of her bag too and forcibly slung it over one of Kotetsu's shoulders. The bearded man tried to be helpful, lending a hand to keep Eden on her feet too. With a drunk man on one shoulder and a sick girl leaning on the other side, Barnaby decided that he couldn't walk them both all the way to Kotetsu's place. He shuffled both of the helpless people to the edge of the street and hailed for a cab, his partner holding the umbrella at a funny angle.
"Forget it." He mumbled to himself when a yellow taxi finally pulled up for him. Barnaby opened up the rear passenger door and half pushed his baggage inside it.
"Hold it, hold it!" Kotetsu protested, clumsily sliding his way over to the furthest side. Barnaby was trying to push them all in the back too quickly and it nearly caused the older man to trip over himself. "The cab isn't going anywhere, Bunny!"
"Just take her." The blonde handed the ill teenager to his partner. "You two are giving me a lot of trouble tonight." He finally climbed into the car himself, making the back seat of the taxi cozy and close for the three passengers.
"Where to, sirs?"
Barnaby quickly gave the driver his address with a mild huff and the cab pulled out and onto the road. Eden gave a few ragged breaths from being smashed into the car, but otherwise didn't do much else. She really looked pathetic and managed to content herself by leaning over onto Kotetsu for support as she closed her eyes again. Kotetsu leaned against the car door for support in turn.
"What an interesting turn of events, eh, Bunny?"
Barnaby finally opened the door to his apartment, half dragging a teenager at his side. His partner sobered up really quickly during the cab ride and could walk on his own (with a little help from the wall). He entered first, and the older man followed close behind.
"Do you have any medicine, Bunny?" Kotetsu asked, closing the door behind them and turning on a few lights to the dark apartment.
"Kitchen, above the stove." He shrugged off his own jacket and he let the girl balance herself in her sick stupor. Then he helped her out of her own raincoat, tossing it to the older man to hang in the coat closet. Eden stumbled, but the blonde man caught her; finally fed up, he swept her up in his arms and began to carry her to his lonely living room chair. The veteran hero hung up the coats and removed his own before disappearing into the kitchen. When Barnaby set the girl down in the den, he walked off into his bedroom.
Kotetsu was the first to re-enter, carrying a handful of different drugs to treat Eden's symptoms. He was making his way for his partner's bedroom, but stopped when he saw Eden on the chair and adjusted his route.
"That crazy Bunny, why did he put you here…" He mused to himself as he knelt beside the girl.
"Because after we treat her, we're going to interrogate her." Barnaby had come back, and he had a thermometer with him. Kotetsu whipped around to look at the younger man approach.
"She's sick! We can't just assault her with questions while she's like this."
"She's also been missing for three weeks! The least we can do is figure out who her proper guardian is and let them know that she's alive."
Kotetsu had to turn away. Bunny had a good point. But all he wanted to do was treat the poor girl and put her to bed. Whatever was happening to her, she must be unhappy to make her run away.
"Fine." The elder man relented. "Let's treat her first and then we can ask questions."
"Fine." Barnaby leaned over the girl, pushing aside a few stray strands of brown hair and delicately placing the instrument in her ear to gauge her body temperature. "What have you given her so far?"
"Nothing yet. I don't know if she has the cold or the flu."
"Does it matter? Give her a little of everything."
"And drug the poor girl out of her mind?!" The younger man looked over at his partner, the glare from his glasses obscuring his eyes from Kotetsu's sight and a straight line forming his mouth. A moment passed. "Don't tell me that's how you treat yourself, Bunny…"
Silence.
"Oh my God…" Kotetsu mumbled to himself as he hid his face behind his large hand, rubbing his forehead and slowly dragging it over his face in astonishment. For a smart guy, Barnaby could do some stupid things. Then there was a high pitched beep; the thermometer. The blonde read the reading out loud.
"101.7."
"What's that in Celsius?"
"38.7."
"Wow. That's bad." Kotetsu turned his attention back to Eden. She gave a light cough and a wheeze, but otherwise looked as if she was trying to sleep. "Eden, I need you to answer a few more questions for me before I can help you." The girl knitted her brow but turned her head to look the tan man in the eye. She seemed to be paying attention.
"Do you have a headache?" Nod. "Body feel achy?" Nod. "You have a sore throat?" Shake. "Chest hurt?" Nod.
Kotetsu turned back at the medicine he had brought out, reading the boxes and labels on the bottles to see what they were supposed to fix. "She has the flu." He picked up one bottle and read the dosage on it. "How long have you been sick?" He said as he opened the lid and shook out a few pills. Eden held up three fingers.
"What does that mean? Three hours? Three days?" Eden nodded her head at the last one. "Three days?" She nodded again.
"Damn; forgot a drink." But Barnaby was way ahead of him. He had slipped out of Kotetsu's sight without him knowing and brought out a glass of water to him. He noticed the older man's mistake earlier when he recognized that most of the remedies were pills. "Oh. Thanks, Bunny."
The veteran hero presented the medicine to the girl, egging her to take them. She weakly took the pills out of his hand, placed them in her mouth, and took a drink of water with them. She handed the glass back to Kotetsu.
"How did you know she has the flu?" Barnaby asked, a little astonished by the man's deduction skills he just displayed.
"She has all the symptoms." He smiled widely.
"That's not what I mean." The younger partner folded his arms across his chest, unhappy with the answer.
"Oh." Kotetsu caught on. "Well, you can't give a baby seven different medicines hoping that one of them will work."
That's right. Kotetsu is a father. Barnaby stood quietly as he looked at his partner is a different light. He could almost see the man now as he was a few years ago, trying to tend to a sick daughter, freaking out over every little cough an infant Kaede made. How relieved the younger Kotetsu must have looked when his baby's temperature was finally going down. Perhaps falling asleep in the rocking chair in the nursery with the child in his arms. Barnaby then wondered if his parents ever did the same for him when he was a sick baby.
"Hey, Bunny," The blonde was jerked away from his thoughts and finally settled his gaze in the present world, watching as his partner stroked the back of Eden's gloved hand. "You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." He adjusted his glasses and smiled, trying to be reassuring.
"I can't get these gloves off." Kotetsu flipped the girl's hand over to reveal her palm and wrist.
"What the—" Black PVC gloves covered her hands and the man exposed a round silver lock in the wrist portion, successfully keeping the gloves from slipping off, or hell, even being taken off.
A/N: My traffic says I get a lot of visitors, but I hardly get any feedback. Oh well, I guess that means I'm doing a pretty decent job. Sorry for the delayed update too. I haven't been very motivated, but I think I found my groove again.
I hope everyone is enjoying themselves. :) Thanks for reading!
