Only the Lonely, chapter 6
Mar. 6th, 2012 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lirillithTitle: Only the Lonely
Fandom: Tiger & Bunny
Characters/pairing: Karina/Barnaby, Kotetsu,
Length: 4900 words
Rating: T
Summary: When Kotetsu returns from retirement and starts coming to Karina's performances again, she thinks she has her chance to get closer to him at last... but that also means getting to know his partner.
****
One obstacle down. Graduation was in a month, her usual gig was the next day, and the fabled news Barnaby wasn't sharing was the evening after that. She tried to think of it that way, rather than as seeing Kotetsu again.
They picked her up at the site of her recording session Saturday evening, in Kotetsu's car. She slid into the backseat, seeing why they'd selected this one; Barnaby's car was really meant for two. "Is ramen all right, Karina?" Barnaby asked, once she'd shut the door.
"We need to introduce you to the real stuff so you don't fall prey to instant ramen in college," Kotetsu added. She smiled, like nothing had happened, and it seemed to work until her eyes met Kotetsu's in the rearview mirror.
"That's fine," she said. Barnaby glanced at her, and she told herself that wasn't actually concern in his expression. It probably was when he looked at Kotetsu.
"How much longer do you have left in school, Karina?" he finally asked, which was enough to keep a conversation alive; she had very little motivation left for her remaining schoolwork or her AP tests, Kotetsu fondly reminisced about how much he'd blown off school in the last semester or so, and Barnaby, of course, had completed high school with rigid discipline and superb grades.
"Where'd you go to college, Barnaby?" she asked, then, and since he was still half-turned to face her, she saw his gaze flicker, his expression flatten. She heard Kotetsu's mumbled "aw jeez," before he reached to cover Barnaby's hand with his own. "Sorry," she whispered.
"The odd part is that I remember taking university classes," he said. "I just don't remember the institution, or my degree." He gave a hollow, ugly laugh. "Another trip to my records, I suppose."
"Why would he even do that? What possible purpose would that serve?" Karina's fists were clenched in her lap. No one needed to ask who 'he' was.
Kotetsu squeezed Barnaby's hand, returned his own to the steering wheel. "It might not even have been on purpose. We've found these once or twice before - things he's lost that we just can't trace to an obvious memory wipe."
"That's horrible," she said. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to make conversation--"
Kotetsu turned into a small, packed parking lot. "Not your fault, Rose. And it's not the first time it's happened."
"And it's obvious I did spend at least some time at a university," Barnaby added, as Kotetsu maneuvered through the lot. "The timeline matches up - I graduated from boarding school at not quite eighteen, university at not quite twenty-two, then the two years of Hero Academy. The background checks were completed over the summer and I debuted at the close of the summer season." He ran his hands through his hair. "It could be a memory wipe, if a clumsy one. Maybe I wanted to go into some other field on finishing my degree. Maybe I met someone, or discovered something, that he needed to wipe out." Kotetsu had finally found a parking space, but once the car had stopped, Barnaby turned in his seat to face her. "Don't feel guilty about this. It's never pleasant, but it's happened before, and this is an easy gap to fill with reference to my records and a bit of investigation."
She nodded, managed a small smile. "Okay!" Kotetsu said. "Let's go eat! We're supposed to be celebrating, after all!"
She looked doubtfully at Barnaby, but he was looking at Kotetsu and smiling. Just the way they did things, she guessed. And, well... miserable as that experience had been, it seemed to have made them all forget to be awkward. "So it's good news?" she asked innocently. All Barnaby had said was 'news,' not that she'd really expected him to keep terrible news from her over nickname use.
"No comment," Barnaby replied.
The restaurant itself was small and crowded, but Karina watched in fascination as Kotetsu conversed in Japanese with a waiter. "What did you say to him?" she asked, as they stepped outside to wait.
"Uh, just asked him how long it might be," he said.
"Only about half the waitstaff here speaks Japanese," Barnaby added. "Sometimes he forgets which language to use when he orders. It's fun to watch."
"It's embarassing is what it is," Kotetsu said. "So, you want to tell her, or should I?"
"I think we should wait until we're seated," Barnaby said, with a smirk. "Or possibly until we receive our orders."
"I hate you," she reminded him, poking him in the side.
"You're just cruel, Bunny," Kotetsu said, then he turned to Karina, doffed his hat and held it over his chest like he was singing the national anthem. "Rose, we are proud to inform you that we have been approved to rejoin the First League."
"What? Really? That's great!"
"My power duration's stayed stable all season," he said. "And Saitou's been working on new gadgets for my suit this whole time."
"So when the summer season begins in May, we'll be back in the running," Barnaby added.
She beamed at them both, her own duel with Sky High forgotten. He was ahead of her by all of ten points as of the last ranking. "Is it a secret? Can I tell anyone?"
"Better not," Kotetsu said. "I haven't even told Antonio."
"Agnes is planning to stage our entrance in the season closer, so it can be announced at the ceremony," Barnaby said. Just like his debut had been. "But we both wanted you to know."
"So if Bunny steals an arrest off you, it's nothing personal," Kotetsu added, elbowing Barnaby.
She couldn't stop smiling at either of them. "Got it," she said happily.
"You aren't cold or anything, are you?" Barnaby asked her.
"Huh? Surely you know better than that."
"This hat, though," he said, snagging hers off her head. She reached for it, and he held it up out of her reach. "It's so much like a stocking cap."
"It's just part of the outfit-- Oh, right, like you're going to put anything on that hair of yours," she scoffed, hands on hips, as he made to do just that.
"Excuse me?" came a voice from behind her, and she and Kotetsu both turned to see a pair of young women, one holding a notebook, the other rummaging in her purse. They fell back so Barnaby, with Karina's hat tucked under his arm, could sign the autographs, after the second woman finally produced a packet of Kleenex. Karina listened to Barnaby reassuring her as he attempted to sign a tissue, eventually using her friend's notebook as a writing surface, and then posed for pictures. He really was good with the fans. "And your friend, is he...?" one of them asked, and Barnaby responded, "No, but he gets that all the time."
"Do they actually buy that?" Karina asked quietly, attempting to tug her hat out of Barnaby's grip.
"It seems unlikely, once they've recognized me." He held on. "Kotetsu never wants to just admit to it, though."
"Secret identities are tradition," Kotetsu said. "I could put on my mask..."
"Kotetsu, you know that never fools anyone. Especially when you put it on in plain sight. Besides, we're regulars here."
Karina reached up to steal Kotetsu's hat. He grinned at her as she settled it on her head. "Looks a lot cuter on you than it does on me," he said. She blushed, Barnaby sighed, and the waiter called Kotetsu's name.
Once they were seated in a booth - her on one side, the two men on the other - she reached across the table to put his hat back on his head, and as he re-settled it, Barnaby returned her own to her. She shoved it into her purse as she looked at the menu, which was... extremely short. "They have one thing they do here, and they do it well," Kotetsu explained. "Or, no, like five things. Their gyoza's really good, and their fried rice..." He seemed to be lost in a reverie, and Karina decided to be grateful to his cluelessness for once; he'd apparently never noticed that moment with the hat.
"Only one type of ramen to choose from," Barnaby explained. "You can have it spicy, or not. You can add more meat, or not. And you need to guard your egg with your life or this old man will steal it."
"It's not theft," Kotetsu retorted. "I'm making sure it goes to a good home."
When the food arrived, Karina asked Kotetsu what everything was. "Well, there you have your noodles, and that's an egg," he said, gesturing with his chopsticks. "Oh yeah, and that's pork."
Barnaby rolled his eyes, then added, "Bamboo shoots, green onions, and some kind of mushroom," pointing at the items.
"So Rose," Kotetsu said, then slurped up some noodles. "Agnes mention the single?"
"What?"
"Apparently there's some discussion of recording another single," Barnaby said. "I have no idea how firm the plans are."
"No one mentioned the last one to me until it was all decided," she said. "I think trying to make this part of my singing career was a mistake."
"No way," Kotetsu said. "You're doing great!"
"In what way?" Barnaby asked.
"Titan's bound to replace me when I get too old," she said. "Which probably means 'a day over twenty-five.' Or if I end up with any scars, let alone any damage to my face. I'm basically a supermodel with some bonus features. They own the Blue Rose name, so I'd need to start over with nothing more than the contacts I've made. I know that's more than most singers have, but it'd still be frustrating to lose all the progress I've made."
"You'd still have rights to your existing recordings, surely," Barnaby said.
"To the royalties, yeah. Not to make any additional Blue Rose recordings."
"What if you started recording under your own name now?" Barnaby asked. "Why wait for Titan to pull the plug?"
"My voice might be recognized," she said. "It's an idea, though."
"Your food's gonna get cold," Kotetsu said, reaching for Barnaby's egg; Barnaby parried his chopsticks. Karina picked up her own, pulling a few noodles from the soup thoughtfully and blew on them. Maintaining two recording careers might be impossible, but when she'd first started Kotetsu hadn't thought she could manage high school and being a hero; it had been part of why he'd so annoyed her at first. He was always telling her to focus on her studies and be a hero when she was older.
As if he'd read her mind, he said suddenly, "Hey, you want any of us to come to your graduation?"
"What? Why would you want to?"
"Rose," he said, as if this was painfully obvious. "You're graduating. You're graduating normal high school despite being a hero. That's a pretty big accomplishment!"
"Like I was ever going to not graduate?" He didn't take the cue. "My parents would have killed me. Not graduating was never an option."
"So? You still only do this once."
"It is a major milestone," Barnaby agreed.
"It requires sitting around for hours as like five hundred names are called. I'd skip it if I could." Kotetsu looked a little sad, though, so she said "But if you really want to, of course you're invited..."
"Great!"
"We'll need to keep a low profile," Barnaby reminded him.
His dismissive "yeah, yeah," didn't exactly seem to reassure Barnaby, but keeping Kotetsu in line would be Barnaby's problem, not hers.
As they left, Kotetsu tossed his keyring to Barnaby. "I'm gonna sack out in the back seat," he said.
"Kotetsu, it's your car," she said.
"I've been getting up at five every morning this week for suit tests," Kotetsu said. "I'm an old man. That kind of thing's rough on me." Barnaby had already unlocked the car, so she let it go.
Once they were on a freeway, she heard a snore from Kotetsu. "I guess he wasn't kidding," she said, her voice low.
"No, it's true," Barnaby said. "The idea is to have him in his upgraded armor in time for the re-introduction stunt. And Dr. Saitou's a bit of a perfectionist. Why Kotetsu can't just get to bed earlier I couldn't tell you, though."
She nodded absently. Her mind was elsewhere, and Barnaby seemed willing to leave her to her thoughts. But they kept circling back to one topic, and finally she said, "Barnaby, I'm really sorry about earlier."
He didn't need to ask what she meant. "There's nothing to apologize for," he said. "It was a perfectly innocent question."
"I can still be sorry you felt bad."
"Oh," he said. "Er, thank you."
"Is it..." Maybe she shouldn't ask.
"Kotetsu gets upset if I speculate that it could be a symptom of anything," Barnaby said. "My short-term memory is unaffected. If I do lose old memories, I suppose all I can do is hope that the ones I'm losing were false to begin with." He shrugged. "It's possible that I haven't really lost any memories that hadn't already been wiped - that I just never noticed before that I didn't remember which university I attended."
"What were some of the other lost memories?"
"I don't remember learning to drive. Anything about it. I don't know if I took lessons, or if Mr. Maverick taught me, or someone else. That was likely the one on Kotetsu's mind. I don't remember ever voting. I don't honestly remember selecting my apartment, though I do remember decorating it."
"Those don't seem like things that would be wiped."
"Collateral damage?" he said. "I couldn't say. I don't see much cause for concern unless I start losing memories of Kotetsu himself." He lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror, and she glanced over her shoulder. Kotetsu had one arm flung over his face and his mouth was hanging open.
"Not the sexiest he's ever looked," she said quietly, and she was rewarded with a stifled chuckle from Barnaby.
"Not exactly, no," he agreed. "Are you sure you don't mind guests at your graduation?"
"It's not whether I mind or not," she said. "I'll barely have a chance to talk to either of you. It's more... One of my friends figured out I'm Blue Rose, but no one else knows, including my grandparents or my cousins, so explaining how I know you could get awkward. But it seems to be important to him."
"If possible, we'll sit in the back and slip out unseen," he said. "But I can't guarantee he won't want to congratulate you."
"And then people would recognize you. Maybe you could wear... different glasses?" she suggested. He looked at her with horror. "What?"
"These are the only glasses I've found that I like," he said. "All other frames give me a headache. I keep five pairs in my current prescription at all times. I cannot possibly wear different glasses."
Karina made a mental note to ask Jane how exactly glasses frames could cause headaches, and considered other possibilities. "...a hat?" she finally suggested. He sighed, sounding distinctly long-suffering. "I'm not the one who decided to be a hero under my real identity," Karina pointed out.
"I'll try to come up with something," he said. "Are you inviting any of the other heroes?"
"I hadn't planned on it... I'm serious, I went to last year's ceremony and it was really boring. I've never been so happy to get a hero call in the middle of something in my life." She glanced at her wrist, half-expecting the words to summon up Agnes's signal, but it stayed silent. Then she noticed Barnaby taking the Bronze ramp. "Kotetsu's house first?"
"It's only seven-thirty," he said. "Plenty of time for a movie, or if Kotetsu just wants to sleep, you and I could go... somewhere."
The tips of his ears had gone pink again. She wondered if he even knew he did that. "I'd like that," she said, smiling at him.
They had to shake Kotetsu awake to get him into the house, and he proceeded to flop bonelessly onto the couch with his eyes closed once indoors. "Maybe some coffee?" she suggested.
"Just wanna sleep," Kotetsu whined.
Barnaby bent over Kotetsu. "Karina and I are going out for a little while, okay?"
"Kay. Have fun," Kotetsu said, then placed his hat over his face.
"I feel a little bad leaving him, but that was pretty decisive," Karina said, once they'd stepped outside.
"Exactly. Maybe when we get back..." Barnaby locked the door. "The cafe's not far."
"It's a nice night. Let's just walk." She waited until they'd been walking for a bit to brush her hand against his, and then to take hold of it. It took a moment for them to get their fingers sorted out, but when they were laced together, she looked up at him to find him looking at her and smiling.
"No objections, I hope," she said, ruining the effect with her own smile. He shook his head.
"Though I'll be in serious trouble if anyone figures out you're still in high school," he said.
"For two more weeks!"
"True." He didn't let go of her hand. "Are we... would you say we're in a relationship?"
"We could be." Her heart was pounding again like when she'd kissed Kotetsu. "I mean, I'd... like to be."
"Kotetsu and I are friends," Barnaby said. "I wouldn't... act on anything else."
She saw what he was trying to say, or get her to say. "I, um, I've been thinking he's probably right about age differences," she said. "And you've actually managed to make it so I don't think about Kotetsu all the time. So, I mean... I think I've been thinking about you more." You're not coming in second, she wanted to say, but she didn't want to offend him by assuming that he was worried about that. He squeezed her hand.
"I thought about saying 'just friends,' but he's still my partner, and..."
"That's not 'just' anything."
"Exactly." They rounded a corner, from the residential street to a more brightly-lit one lined with stores and restaurants. "Do you think it will cause us problems, competing next season?"
"I'm not sure," she said. "I don't hate Sky High, so probably not."
"Good," he said, almost drowned out by the tone of their PDAs.
"Now?" she protested. "We're like ten feet from our coffee!" But they were both, dutifully, answering the call.
"Bonjour, Heroes," Agnes greeted them, the effect oddly doubled.
"Something for the First and Second Leagues simultaneously?" Barnaby asked.
"How - are you two together?" she asked, one brow lifted, and Karina winced inwardly. "Interesting," she purred. "Yes, actually. You'll all need to report to the two rendezvous points..."
Karina half-listened to the explanation - the criminals were a group of NEXTs, traveling with hostages from a jewelry store they'd robbed - as she wondered exactly what "interesting" was going to mean once Agnes had a chance to brainstorm. She looked up to their director, but partly because she wanted to be, like Agnes, in charge of things; she was tired of having someone else call the shots. "The transports have already been dispatched to your current location," Agnes said. "So don't go too far." She ended the call.
"I was going to go wake Kotetsu, but I suppose he already heard," Barnaby said.
"I'll go order coffee for all three of us," Karina said. She was not going to let some jewel thieves rob her of her caramel mocha latte. "And you can call him."
He nodded, pulling out his personal phone, as she headed into the cafe. She sulked as she waited for her order. She'd had plans for this evening, sort of. The extent of the plans had really been delicious coffee and at some point, I will kiss Barnaby but the second part had pretty much been defeated by timing, and she resented that. But at least there was no sign of their transports as she headed back outside with the drinks in a little cardboard tray. Barnaby rushed to open the door for her, then tried to take the tray once she was through. She extracted her own drink and let him.
"Kotetsu's headed here," Barnaby said. She nodded, sending a pulse of cold through her coffee to get it to the right temperature.
"Best thing about my powers," she said, brandishing her coffee to illustrate what she meant, and earning a chuckle from him.
"I never thought of using them on drinks."
"I got it from Nathan, though his goes the other way, of course." She looked around. No transports. No Kotetsu. No romantic moment or anything either, but if she waited for one of those, who knew how long it would be? She put her free hand on his shoulder, got up on tiptoes, and brushed her lips over his.
"Just a moment," he said, setting the coffee tray down at his feet, then straightening and resettling his glasses on his nose. When he lowered his head to kiss her, she put her free arm around his neck, glad the coffee cup came with a lid. His kisses were soft, almost tentative. When his lips parted, she was the one who deepened the kiss, his tongue curling around hers, and she tangled her fingers in his hair as his arms tightened around her waist. He had stubble, she could feel it as they kissed - strange since he always seemed so flawless, almost airbrushed - and he was holding her close enough that she could tell exactly what kind of effect this was having on him. When she broke the kiss, she brushed another quick kiss over his lips, trying and failing not to grin triumphantly. He rested his head on her shoulder. "You're just cruel, doing that right before a mission," he said.
"You seemed pretty enthusiastic to me," she said, deciding to risk putting the coffee-bearing arm around him. "In fact, I'd say that was mostly your idea."
He made an irritated "hmmph" noise, but he was smiling, and she grinned at him, though she pulled back enough to take a sip of her coffee.
"I didn't spill anything on you, did I?"
"I hope I would have noticed... so probably not." He let go of her, pulling something out of his jacket's pocket to clean his glasses. She glanced around, and spotted Kotetsu rounding the corner the moment before she heard, "Heyyyy! Rose!" She waved at him, and he broke into a jog as he came to join them.
"You two look happy," he said. Karina felt her face heat.
"We have coffee!" she replied, bending to pick up the tray and offer it to him. "Yours is just a plain latte because I sort of remembered that was how you liked your coffee."
"Yeah, I'm pretty easy to please," he said, taking over the tray, which was wobbling. "Sorry I just passed out earlier."
"If anyone understands sleep deprivation, it's a group of Heroes," Barnaby said. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah. Curious about what's coming up. Can't be our re-introduction, can it?"
"Unless they're planning to work you in early," Karina said. "It's been kind of a dull season. Agnes might be after a sweeps stunt."
No matter how she'd decided to feel about him, it was still just amazing to watch one of those huge grins spread over Kotetsu's face. "Man, I hope you're right, Rose. It'd be good to get some real action for a change."
Karina heard the honk behind her - her transport's horn was set to play a few bars of "Go to NEXT" - and she turned reluctantly to wave at them. "See you guys there," she said over her shoulder. Kotetsu waved, Barnaby did that little fangirl-bait salute or wave that he did, and she stuck her tongue out at him. She climbed into the truck, accompanied by the sound of Kotetsu snickering.
Suited up and waiting, Karina checked her PDA for the fifth time. If she could just get to them first, they were hers - she never would understand why criminals tried getaway cars while she was still an active Hero - but she didn't see them, and the helicopters had moved away. "The idiots are on surface streets," she heard Bison complain.
"Dammit, they'll kill somebody," Kotetsu's voice cut in. Ignoring the chorus of excited greetings, she checked their location and hopped on the bike. She could get down there, especially since she could make her own freeway exits out of ice, and that looked like the shortest route to them. She shot over a wreck at one intersection - Second Leaguers were already there, and she didn't see anyone bleeding - and there was the getaway car, halfway on the sidewalk as it sped around the law-abiding traffic. She didn't see any pedestrians ahead, though. Good. She pulled to a stop in front of them, freezing up their axles and grabbing the car in a giant ice-fist. "My ice may be a little bit cold--" they were bailing out of the car with bags, she shot a gun out of the hand of one of them - "but your crime has been put completely on hold!" And then there was a third climbing out of the car? Armed? Aiming. Suddenly she felt a bit like a truck had picked her up, and the shot echoed harmlessly below her.
"Use the catchphrase after the arrest," Barnaby said.
"You think I haven't had this discussion?" she said, wishing her voice didn't shake. "They faked me out." She still had the guns out, and reached around his arm to shoot. The gunman froze, still trying to aim at her and Barnaby.
"Nicely done," he said, landing on the roof of some restaurant.
"Thank you," she said. "For the rescue, too. But did it have to be a princess carry?"
"It's my trademark." He set her down, keeping one hand at her back. "Are you all right?"
"I want armor," she said. "And I wish you hadn't given Agnes exactly what she wanted."
Nathan rolled up to the curb alongside the frozen crooks. "Is everything all right, Blue Rose?"
"These two have been put completely on hold," she said, projecting for the cameras, figuring she might as well salvage it. "And our dear Bunny has perfect timing." She coasted down to ground level on her ice, turned back to blow Barnaby a kiss, and posed for the camera.
"Not bad," Agnes's voice came in. "Police are on their way."
"Princess carry~!" Nathan sang out.
"I hate everyone," she said, disgustedly. "Can you thaw out the poor hostage, Na-- Fire Emblem? Do I lose points for freezing him?"
"You have to ask?" Nathan warmed up a small fireball, keeping it between his hands as he passed it over the ice block around the unarmed man.
"You really did play the rescue quite well," Agnes said. "I'll barely have to coach you two."
It had, she decided on viewing the replays, looked all right. She'd have looked more commanding if he weren't twice her size thanks to the armor, but she hadn't looked like her legs were shaking, and at least she hadn't gone all blushing-maiden and stayed near him. It was no more emasculating than it had been for Kotetsu, anyway. "Not quite our full introduction," Barnaby said, dropping by in his undersuit, apparently just to show off how good it looked on him. She'd just gotten away from her own interview and hadn't changed. "We just 'happened to be in the area.'"
"Oh God, they interviewed you about it, didn't they?"
"You make it sound like they didn't have a one-on-one with you."
"Oh, of course they did." Another chance for the ice queen to play off the rescue. His reflexes are just a bit better than mine, but I would have been all right even if he hadn't meddled. "I should have had the car up higher. It was just carelessness."
"Please be careful," he said. "Those situations happen way too often for my taste."
"I don't exactly love them either," she said, but he was standing close enough that she couldn't help noticing how extremely green his eyes really were, as he touched her face lightly.
"Seriously," he said. "You frightened me there."
She nodded, looking down. He looked way too intense and concerned when all she wanted was to forget it had happened. Maybe it got the point across, because he just pulled her into a hug instead.
Much easier to be a smartass when he wasn't being all gorgeous at her, she thought. "Does that mean I'm allowed to call you Bunny now, since you let me get away with it this time?"
His arms loosened around her. "You're right," he said. "I did."
"Hey, who said you could stop hugging?"
He chuckled, but his arms tightened again. "Under very limited circumstances," he said. "Such as being in character."
"Heh." That wasn't limited at all. Blanket permission to call him that on TV. No way was she going to point that out.
****
Fandom: Tiger & Bunny
Characters/pairing: Karina/Barnaby, Kotetsu,
Length: 4900 words
Rating: T
Summary: When Kotetsu returns from retirement and starts coming to Karina's performances again, she thinks she has her chance to get closer to him at last... but that also means getting to know his partner.
****
One obstacle down. Graduation was in a month, her usual gig was the next day, and the fabled news Barnaby wasn't sharing was the evening after that. She tried to think of it that way, rather than as seeing Kotetsu again.
They picked her up at the site of her recording session Saturday evening, in Kotetsu's car. She slid into the backseat, seeing why they'd selected this one; Barnaby's car was really meant for two. "Is ramen all right, Karina?" Barnaby asked, once she'd shut the door.
"We need to introduce you to the real stuff so you don't fall prey to instant ramen in college," Kotetsu added. She smiled, like nothing had happened, and it seemed to work until her eyes met Kotetsu's in the rearview mirror.
"That's fine," she said. Barnaby glanced at her, and she told herself that wasn't actually concern in his expression. It probably was when he looked at Kotetsu.
"How much longer do you have left in school, Karina?" he finally asked, which was enough to keep a conversation alive; she had very little motivation left for her remaining schoolwork or her AP tests, Kotetsu fondly reminisced about how much he'd blown off school in the last semester or so, and Barnaby, of course, had completed high school with rigid discipline and superb grades.
"Where'd you go to college, Barnaby?" she asked, then, and since he was still half-turned to face her, she saw his gaze flicker, his expression flatten. She heard Kotetsu's mumbled "aw jeez," before he reached to cover Barnaby's hand with his own. "Sorry," she whispered.
"The odd part is that I remember taking university classes," he said. "I just don't remember the institution, or my degree." He gave a hollow, ugly laugh. "Another trip to my records, I suppose."
"Why would he even do that? What possible purpose would that serve?" Karina's fists were clenched in her lap. No one needed to ask who 'he' was.
Kotetsu squeezed Barnaby's hand, returned his own to the steering wheel. "It might not even have been on purpose. We've found these once or twice before - things he's lost that we just can't trace to an obvious memory wipe."
"That's horrible," she said. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to make conversation--"
Kotetsu turned into a small, packed parking lot. "Not your fault, Rose. And it's not the first time it's happened."
"And it's obvious I did spend at least some time at a university," Barnaby added, as Kotetsu maneuvered through the lot. "The timeline matches up - I graduated from boarding school at not quite eighteen, university at not quite twenty-two, then the two years of Hero Academy. The background checks were completed over the summer and I debuted at the close of the summer season." He ran his hands through his hair. "It could be a memory wipe, if a clumsy one. Maybe I wanted to go into some other field on finishing my degree. Maybe I met someone, or discovered something, that he needed to wipe out." Kotetsu had finally found a parking space, but once the car had stopped, Barnaby turned in his seat to face her. "Don't feel guilty about this. It's never pleasant, but it's happened before, and this is an easy gap to fill with reference to my records and a bit of investigation."
She nodded, managed a small smile. "Okay!" Kotetsu said. "Let's go eat! We're supposed to be celebrating, after all!"
She looked doubtfully at Barnaby, but he was looking at Kotetsu and smiling. Just the way they did things, she guessed. And, well... miserable as that experience had been, it seemed to have made them all forget to be awkward. "So it's good news?" she asked innocently. All Barnaby had said was 'news,' not that she'd really expected him to keep terrible news from her over nickname use.
"No comment," Barnaby replied.
The restaurant itself was small and crowded, but Karina watched in fascination as Kotetsu conversed in Japanese with a waiter. "What did you say to him?" she asked, as they stepped outside to wait.
"Uh, just asked him how long it might be," he said.
"Only about half the waitstaff here speaks Japanese," Barnaby added. "Sometimes he forgets which language to use when he orders. It's fun to watch."
"It's embarassing is what it is," Kotetsu said. "So, you want to tell her, or should I?"
"I think we should wait until we're seated," Barnaby said, with a smirk. "Or possibly until we receive our orders."
"I hate you," she reminded him, poking him in the side.
"You're just cruel, Bunny," Kotetsu said, then he turned to Karina, doffed his hat and held it over his chest like he was singing the national anthem. "Rose, we are proud to inform you that we have been approved to rejoin the First League."
"What? Really? That's great!"
"My power duration's stayed stable all season," he said. "And Saitou's been working on new gadgets for my suit this whole time."
"So when the summer season begins in May, we'll be back in the running," Barnaby added.
She beamed at them both, her own duel with Sky High forgotten. He was ahead of her by all of ten points as of the last ranking. "Is it a secret? Can I tell anyone?"
"Better not," Kotetsu said. "I haven't even told Antonio."
"Agnes is planning to stage our entrance in the season closer, so it can be announced at the ceremony," Barnaby said. Just like his debut had been. "But we both wanted you to know."
"So if Bunny steals an arrest off you, it's nothing personal," Kotetsu added, elbowing Barnaby.
She couldn't stop smiling at either of them. "Got it," she said happily.
"You aren't cold or anything, are you?" Barnaby asked her.
"Huh? Surely you know better than that."
"This hat, though," he said, snagging hers off her head. She reached for it, and he held it up out of her reach. "It's so much like a stocking cap."
"It's just part of the outfit-- Oh, right, like you're going to put anything on that hair of yours," she scoffed, hands on hips, as he made to do just that.
"Excuse me?" came a voice from behind her, and she and Kotetsu both turned to see a pair of young women, one holding a notebook, the other rummaging in her purse. They fell back so Barnaby, with Karina's hat tucked under his arm, could sign the autographs, after the second woman finally produced a packet of Kleenex. Karina listened to Barnaby reassuring her as he attempted to sign a tissue, eventually using her friend's notebook as a writing surface, and then posed for pictures. He really was good with the fans. "And your friend, is he...?" one of them asked, and Barnaby responded, "No, but he gets that all the time."
"Do they actually buy that?" Karina asked quietly, attempting to tug her hat out of Barnaby's grip.
"It seems unlikely, once they've recognized me." He held on. "Kotetsu never wants to just admit to it, though."
"Secret identities are tradition," Kotetsu said. "I could put on my mask..."
"Kotetsu, you know that never fools anyone. Especially when you put it on in plain sight. Besides, we're regulars here."
Karina reached up to steal Kotetsu's hat. He grinned at her as she settled it on her head. "Looks a lot cuter on you than it does on me," he said. She blushed, Barnaby sighed, and the waiter called Kotetsu's name.
Once they were seated in a booth - her on one side, the two men on the other - she reached across the table to put his hat back on his head, and as he re-settled it, Barnaby returned her own to her. She shoved it into her purse as she looked at the menu, which was... extremely short. "They have one thing they do here, and they do it well," Kotetsu explained. "Or, no, like five things. Their gyoza's really good, and their fried rice..." He seemed to be lost in a reverie, and Karina decided to be grateful to his cluelessness for once; he'd apparently never noticed that moment with the hat.
"Only one type of ramen to choose from," Barnaby explained. "You can have it spicy, or not. You can add more meat, or not. And you need to guard your egg with your life or this old man will steal it."
"It's not theft," Kotetsu retorted. "I'm making sure it goes to a good home."
When the food arrived, Karina asked Kotetsu what everything was. "Well, there you have your noodles, and that's an egg," he said, gesturing with his chopsticks. "Oh yeah, and that's pork."
Barnaby rolled his eyes, then added, "Bamboo shoots, green onions, and some kind of mushroom," pointing at the items.
"So Rose," Kotetsu said, then slurped up some noodles. "Agnes mention the single?"
"What?"
"Apparently there's some discussion of recording another single," Barnaby said. "I have no idea how firm the plans are."
"No one mentioned the last one to me until it was all decided," she said. "I think trying to make this part of my singing career was a mistake."
"No way," Kotetsu said. "You're doing great!"
"In what way?" Barnaby asked.
"Titan's bound to replace me when I get too old," she said. "Which probably means 'a day over twenty-five.' Or if I end up with any scars, let alone any damage to my face. I'm basically a supermodel with some bonus features. They own the Blue Rose name, so I'd need to start over with nothing more than the contacts I've made. I know that's more than most singers have, but it'd still be frustrating to lose all the progress I've made."
"You'd still have rights to your existing recordings, surely," Barnaby said.
"To the royalties, yeah. Not to make any additional Blue Rose recordings."
"What if you started recording under your own name now?" Barnaby asked. "Why wait for Titan to pull the plug?"
"My voice might be recognized," she said. "It's an idea, though."
"Your food's gonna get cold," Kotetsu said, reaching for Barnaby's egg; Barnaby parried his chopsticks. Karina picked up her own, pulling a few noodles from the soup thoughtfully and blew on them. Maintaining two recording careers might be impossible, but when she'd first started Kotetsu hadn't thought she could manage high school and being a hero; it had been part of why he'd so annoyed her at first. He was always telling her to focus on her studies and be a hero when she was older.
As if he'd read her mind, he said suddenly, "Hey, you want any of us to come to your graduation?"
"What? Why would you want to?"
"Rose," he said, as if this was painfully obvious. "You're graduating. You're graduating normal high school despite being a hero. That's a pretty big accomplishment!"
"Like I was ever going to not graduate?" He didn't take the cue. "My parents would have killed me. Not graduating was never an option."
"So? You still only do this once."
"It is a major milestone," Barnaby agreed.
"It requires sitting around for hours as like five hundred names are called. I'd skip it if I could." Kotetsu looked a little sad, though, so she said "But if you really want to, of course you're invited..."
"Great!"
"We'll need to keep a low profile," Barnaby reminded him.
His dismissive "yeah, yeah," didn't exactly seem to reassure Barnaby, but keeping Kotetsu in line would be Barnaby's problem, not hers.
As they left, Kotetsu tossed his keyring to Barnaby. "I'm gonna sack out in the back seat," he said.
"Kotetsu, it's your car," she said.
"I've been getting up at five every morning this week for suit tests," Kotetsu said. "I'm an old man. That kind of thing's rough on me." Barnaby had already unlocked the car, so she let it go.
Once they were on a freeway, she heard a snore from Kotetsu. "I guess he wasn't kidding," she said, her voice low.
"No, it's true," Barnaby said. "The idea is to have him in his upgraded armor in time for the re-introduction stunt. And Dr. Saitou's a bit of a perfectionist. Why Kotetsu can't just get to bed earlier I couldn't tell you, though."
She nodded absently. Her mind was elsewhere, and Barnaby seemed willing to leave her to her thoughts. But they kept circling back to one topic, and finally she said, "Barnaby, I'm really sorry about earlier."
He didn't need to ask what she meant. "There's nothing to apologize for," he said. "It was a perfectly innocent question."
"I can still be sorry you felt bad."
"Oh," he said. "Er, thank you."
"Is it..." Maybe she shouldn't ask.
"Kotetsu gets upset if I speculate that it could be a symptom of anything," Barnaby said. "My short-term memory is unaffected. If I do lose old memories, I suppose all I can do is hope that the ones I'm losing were false to begin with." He shrugged. "It's possible that I haven't really lost any memories that hadn't already been wiped - that I just never noticed before that I didn't remember which university I attended."
"What were some of the other lost memories?"
"I don't remember learning to drive. Anything about it. I don't know if I took lessons, or if Mr. Maverick taught me, or someone else. That was likely the one on Kotetsu's mind. I don't remember ever voting. I don't honestly remember selecting my apartment, though I do remember decorating it."
"Those don't seem like things that would be wiped."
"Collateral damage?" he said. "I couldn't say. I don't see much cause for concern unless I start losing memories of Kotetsu himself." He lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror, and she glanced over her shoulder. Kotetsu had one arm flung over his face and his mouth was hanging open.
"Not the sexiest he's ever looked," she said quietly, and she was rewarded with a stifled chuckle from Barnaby.
"Not exactly, no," he agreed. "Are you sure you don't mind guests at your graduation?"
"It's not whether I mind or not," she said. "I'll barely have a chance to talk to either of you. It's more... One of my friends figured out I'm Blue Rose, but no one else knows, including my grandparents or my cousins, so explaining how I know you could get awkward. But it seems to be important to him."
"If possible, we'll sit in the back and slip out unseen," he said. "But I can't guarantee he won't want to congratulate you."
"And then people would recognize you. Maybe you could wear... different glasses?" she suggested. He looked at her with horror. "What?"
"These are the only glasses I've found that I like," he said. "All other frames give me a headache. I keep five pairs in my current prescription at all times. I cannot possibly wear different glasses."
Karina made a mental note to ask Jane how exactly glasses frames could cause headaches, and considered other possibilities. "...a hat?" she finally suggested. He sighed, sounding distinctly long-suffering. "I'm not the one who decided to be a hero under my real identity," Karina pointed out.
"I'll try to come up with something," he said. "Are you inviting any of the other heroes?"
"I hadn't planned on it... I'm serious, I went to last year's ceremony and it was really boring. I've never been so happy to get a hero call in the middle of something in my life." She glanced at her wrist, half-expecting the words to summon up Agnes's signal, but it stayed silent. Then she noticed Barnaby taking the Bronze ramp. "Kotetsu's house first?"
"It's only seven-thirty," he said. "Plenty of time for a movie, or if Kotetsu just wants to sleep, you and I could go... somewhere."
The tips of his ears had gone pink again. She wondered if he even knew he did that. "I'd like that," she said, smiling at him.
They had to shake Kotetsu awake to get him into the house, and he proceeded to flop bonelessly onto the couch with his eyes closed once indoors. "Maybe some coffee?" she suggested.
"Just wanna sleep," Kotetsu whined.
Barnaby bent over Kotetsu. "Karina and I are going out for a little while, okay?"
"Kay. Have fun," Kotetsu said, then placed his hat over his face.
"I feel a little bad leaving him, but that was pretty decisive," Karina said, once they'd stepped outside.
"Exactly. Maybe when we get back..." Barnaby locked the door. "The cafe's not far."
"It's a nice night. Let's just walk." She waited until they'd been walking for a bit to brush her hand against his, and then to take hold of it. It took a moment for them to get their fingers sorted out, but when they were laced together, she looked up at him to find him looking at her and smiling.
"No objections, I hope," she said, ruining the effect with her own smile. He shook his head.
"Though I'll be in serious trouble if anyone figures out you're still in high school," he said.
"For two more weeks!"
"True." He didn't let go of her hand. "Are we... would you say we're in a relationship?"
"We could be." Her heart was pounding again like when she'd kissed Kotetsu. "I mean, I'd... like to be."
"Kotetsu and I are friends," Barnaby said. "I wouldn't... act on anything else."
She saw what he was trying to say, or get her to say. "I, um, I've been thinking he's probably right about age differences," she said. "And you've actually managed to make it so I don't think about Kotetsu all the time. So, I mean... I think I've been thinking about you more." You're not coming in second, she wanted to say, but she didn't want to offend him by assuming that he was worried about that. He squeezed her hand.
"I thought about saying 'just friends,' but he's still my partner, and..."
"That's not 'just' anything."
"Exactly." They rounded a corner, from the residential street to a more brightly-lit one lined with stores and restaurants. "Do you think it will cause us problems, competing next season?"
"I'm not sure," she said. "I don't hate Sky High, so probably not."
"Good," he said, almost drowned out by the tone of their PDAs.
"Now?" she protested. "We're like ten feet from our coffee!" But they were both, dutifully, answering the call.
"Bonjour, Heroes," Agnes greeted them, the effect oddly doubled.
"Something for the First and Second Leagues simultaneously?" Barnaby asked.
"How - are you two together?" she asked, one brow lifted, and Karina winced inwardly. "Interesting," she purred. "Yes, actually. You'll all need to report to the two rendezvous points..."
Karina half-listened to the explanation - the criminals were a group of NEXTs, traveling with hostages from a jewelry store they'd robbed - as she wondered exactly what "interesting" was going to mean once Agnes had a chance to brainstorm. She looked up to their director, but partly because she wanted to be, like Agnes, in charge of things; she was tired of having someone else call the shots. "The transports have already been dispatched to your current location," Agnes said. "So don't go too far." She ended the call.
"I was going to go wake Kotetsu, but I suppose he already heard," Barnaby said.
"I'll go order coffee for all three of us," Karina said. She was not going to let some jewel thieves rob her of her caramel mocha latte. "And you can call him."
He nodded, pulling out his personal phone, as she headed into the cafe. She sulked as she waited for her order. She'd had plans for this evening, sort of. The extent of the plans had really been delicious coffee and at some point, I will kiss Barnaby but the second part had pretty much been defeated by timing, and she resented that. But at least there was no sign of their transports as she headed back outside with the drinks in a little cardboard tray. Barnaby rushed to open the door for her, then tried to take the tray once she was through. She extracted her own drink and let him.
"Kotetsu's headed here," Barnaby said. She nodded, sending a pulse of cold through her coffee to get it to the right temperature.
"Best thing about my powers," she said, brandishing her coffee to illustrate what she meant, and earning a chuckle from him.
"I never thought of using them on drinks."
"I got it from Nathan, though his goes the other way, of course." She looked around. No transports. No Kotetsu. No romantic moment or anything either, but if she waited for one of those, who knew how long it would be? She put her free hand on his shoulder, got up on tiptoes, and brushed her lips over his.
"Just a moment," he said, setting the coffee tray down at his feet, then straightening and resettling his glasses on his nose. When he lowered his head to kiss her, she put her free arm around his neck, glad the coffee cup came with a lid. His kisses were soft, almost tentative. When his lips parted, she was the one who deepened the kiss, his tongue curling around hers, and she tangled her fingers in his hair as his arms tightened around her waist. He had stubble, she could feel it as they kissed - strange since he always seemed so flawless, almost airbrushed - and he was holding her close enough that she could tell exactly what kind of effect this was having on him. When she broke the kiss, she brushed another quick kiss over his lips, trying and failing not to grin triumphantly. He rested his head on her shoulder. "You're just cruel, doing that right before a mission," he said.
"You seemed pretty enthusiastic to me," she said, deciding to risk putting the coffee-bearing arm around him. "In fact, I'd say that was mostly your idea."
He made an irritated "hmmph" noise, but he was smiling, and she grinned at him, though she pulled back enough to take a sip of her coffee.
"I didn't spill anything on you, did I?"
"I hope I would have noticed... so probably not." He let go of her, pulling something out of his jacket's pocket to clean his glasses. She glanced around, and spotted Kotetsu rounding the corner the moment before she heard, "Heyyyy! Rose!" She waved at him, and he broke into a jog as he came to join them.
"You two look happy," he said. Karina felt her face heat.
"We have coffee!" she replied, bending to pick up the tray and offer it to him. "Yours is just a plain latte because I sort of remembered that was how you liked your coffee."
"Yeah, I'm pretty easy to please," he said, taking over the tray, which was wobbling. "Sorry I just passed out earlier."
"If anyone understands sleep deprivation, it's a group of Heroes," Barnaby said. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah. Curious about what's coming up. Can't be our re-introduction, can it?"
"Unless they're planning to work you in early," Karina said. "It's been kind of a dull season. Agnes might be after a sweeps stunt."
No matter how she'd decided to feel about him, it was still just amazing to watch one of those huge grins spread over Kotetsu's face. "Man, I hope you're right, Rose. It'd be good to get some real action for a change."
Karina heard the honk behind her - her transport's horn was set to play a few bars of "Go to NEXT" - and she turned reluctantly to wave at them. "See you guys there," she said over her shoulder. Kotetsu waved, Barnaby did that little fangirl-bait salute or wave that he did, and she stuck her tongue out at him. She climbed into the truck, accompanied by the sound of Kotetsu snickering.
Suited up and waiting, Karina checked her PDA for the fifth time. If she could just get to them first, they were hers - she never would understand why criminals tried getaway cars while she was still an active Hero - but she didn't see them, and the helicopters had moved away. "The idiots are on surface streets," she heard Bison complain.
"Dammit, they'll kill somebody," Kotetsu's voice cut in. Ignoring the chorus of excited greetings, she checked their location and hopped on the bike. She could get down there, especially since she could make her own freeway exits out of ice, and that looked like the shortest route to them. She shot over a wreck at one intersection - Second Leaguers were already there, and she didn't see anyone bleeding - and there was the getaway car, halfway on the sidewalk as it sped around the law-abiding traffic. She didn't see any pedestrians ahead, though. Good. She pulled to a stop in front of them, freezing up their axles and grabbing the car in a giant ice-fist. "My ice may be a little bit cold--" they were bailing out of the car with bags, she shot a gun out of the hand of one of them - "but your crime has been put completely on hold!" And then there was a third climbing out of the car? Armed? Aiming. Suddenly she felt a bit like a truck had picked her up, and the shot echoed harmlessly below her.
"Use the catchphrase after the arrest," Barnaby said.
"You think I haven't had this discussion?" she said, wishing her voice didn't shake. "They faked me out." She still had the guns out, and reached around his arm to shoot. The gunman froze, still trying to aim at her and Barnaby.
"Nicely done," he said, landing on the roof of some restaurant.
"Thank you," she said. "For the rescue, too. But did it have to be a princess carry?"
"It's my trademark." He set her down, keeping one hand at her back. "Are you all right?"
"I want armor," she said. "And I wish you hadn't given Agnes exactly what she wanted."
Nathan rolled up to the curb alongside the frozen crooks. "Is everything all right, Blue Rose?"
"These two have been put completely on hold," she said, projecting for the cameras, figuring she might as well salvage it. "And our dear Bunny has perfect timing." She coasted down to ground level on her ice, turned back to blow Barnaby a kiss, and posed for the camera.
"Not bad," Agnes's voice came in. "Police are on their way."
"Princess carry~!" Nathan sang out.
"I hate everyone," she said, disgustedly. "Can you thaw out the poor hostage, Na-- Fire Emblem? Do I lose points for freezing him?"
"You have to ask?" Nathan warmed up a small fireball, keeping it between his hands as he passed it over the ice block around the unarmed man.
"You really did play the rescue quite well," Agnes said. "I'll barely have to coach you two."
It had, she decided on viewing the replays, looked all right. She'd have looked more commanding if he weren't twice her size thanks to the armor, but she hadn't looked like her legs were shaking, and at least she hadn't gone all blushing-maiden and stayed near him. It was no more emasculating than it had been for Kotetsu, anyway. "Not quite our full introduction," Barnaby said, dropping by in his undersuit, apparently just to show off how good it looked on him. She'd just gotten away from her own interview and hadn't changed. "We just 'happened to be in the area.'"
"Oh God, they interviewed you about it, didn't they?"
"You make it sound like they didn't have a one-on-one with you."
"Oh, of course they did." Another chance for the ice queen to play off the rescue. His reflexes are just a bit better than mine, but I would have been all right even if he hadn't meddled. "I should have had the car up higher. It was just carelessness."
"Please be careful," he said. "Those situations happen way too often for my taste."
"I don't exactly love them either," she said, but he was standing close enough that she couldn't help noticing how extremely green his eyes really were, as he touched her face lightly.
"Seriously," he said. "You frightened me there."
She nodded, looking down. He looked way too intense and concerned when all she wanted was to forget it had happened. Maybe it got the point across, because he just pulled her into a hug instead.
Much easier to be a smartass when he wasn't being all gorgeous at her, she thought. "Does that mean I'm allowed to call you Bunny now, since you let me get away with it this time?"
His arms loosened around her. "You're right," he said. "I did."
"Hey, who said you could stop hugging?"
He chuckled, but his arms tightened again. "Under very limited circumstances," he said. "Such as being in character."
"Heh." That wasn't limited at all. Blanket permission to call him that on TV. No way was she going to point that out.
****
no subject
Date: 2012-05-18 10:22 pm (UTC)The Big News is interesting, and you make it plausible. I look forward to seeing how Agnes pulls it off.
The whole thing about Karina being, contract-wise, a supermodel with bonus features was sad and realistic and wins you major points for addressing outright.