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Nathan Seymore, a.k.a. Fire Emblem, was standing in front of him, sans make-up and dressed in nothing but a towel, pectoral muscles still glistening with water.
Kotetsu gave a big smile and a small wave. "Hey. Is Antonio here?
And then he realized that Nathan Seymore was standing in front of him, sans make-up and dressed in nothing but a towel, pectoral muscles still glistening with water. In Antonio's apartment. Kotetsu stood there in the doorway, frozen, for several moments. For his part, Nathan arched an eyebrow, smirked a little bit, and rested a well-manicured hand on the door frame.
"Oh, he's here," Nathan said, his tone of voice teasing. "Did you come to join us?"
Kotetsu's still smiling mouth dropped open as he pointed to Nathan. Then Antonio showed up in the door frame leading to his bedroom, hair wet but thankfully dressed, and Kotetsu's index finger moved toward him instead. He looked at Antonio. Then at Nathan. Then at Antonio again. Finally, the best thing Kotetsu could manage to say was a garbled "mwhgarrr?"
"Let's go," Antonio said, crossing the room with seemingly super speed (even though Kotetsu was sure that was not one of his powers).
Antonio grabbed Kotetsu's bicep and started to pull him away, even as Kotetsu's arm stayed outstretched and pointing at Nathan.
"Have fun, boys," Nathan said with a wink, before closing the door.
Kotetsu muttered nonsensical questions their whole trip, all the way up to the moment that they got to Hero's Bar. That had been the purpose of Kotetsu's trip to Antonio's apartment, after all. He had been running early and had decided to pick up his friend for their usual night of drinking (the fact that he had been hoping to sample a particularly good bottle of brandy Antonio had recently procured had aided in that decision). As it was, Antonio pushed him down onto one of the vinyl stools at the bar. Kotetsu slumped down as his lips pulled into an almost pout.
"Our usual," Antonio said to the good-looking blond that usually served them.
"Of course, sir," the bartender said, sparing Kotetsu an amused smile before he went off to grab the necessary items.
They sat in silence for exactly 3.2 seconds before either of them said anything.
"You never told me," Kotetsu muttered, the side of his face falling into his palm as he leaned forward on the bar.
"Sorry."
"I'm your best friend."
"Sorry."
"I tell you everything."
"Sorry."
A Dos Equis and a vodka gimlet on ice were placed in front of Antonio and Kotetsu, respectively.
"Enjoy, gentlemen," the bartender said, before going back to wiping glasses with rags or whatever it was bartenders stereotypically did when they didn't have anything else to do.
Kotetsu pouted some more as he ran his finger repeatedly over the rim of his glass. Beside him, Antonio drank from his beer as though everything were perfectly normal.
"I should have told you," Antonio finally said.
"Damn straight," Kotetsu agreed. He straightened up and took a sip of his drink. "How long has this been going on? How did it start? Do you really think it's a good idea to be dating a co-worker?"
Antonio shrugged. "A few weeks. It just kind of. . . happened. It's just that sometimes when you spend time with someone, you get to know them better, and things develop. And in our line of work, we don't really have time to meet other people. Don't you have your eyes on a co-worker too?"
Kotetsu almost fell out of his stool as he spun around to point an accusing finger at Antonio. "Don't talk about that in public!"
He looked over both shoulders, eyes darting about the bar, as though the object of their conversation could have spontaneously appeared there in the last few moments. Of course, the only people there were the civilian patrons and the staff, dressed up like superheros as they delivered drink and food throughout the bar. Kotetsu calmed down a little as his lips pulled into a small frown.
"And I don't have my eyes on a co-worker, actually," Kotetsu said. "I mean, for one thing, he's closer to my daughter's age than to mine. I'd feel like a cradle robber."
"Plus a good-looking guy like that probably wouldn't be interested in an old geezer like you."
Kotetsu puffed out his cheeks and gave Antonio a heated glare out of the side of his eyes. "As I was saying, for another thing, he's my partner."
"Yeah," Antonio agreed, nodding his head. "That would make it difficult if things got awkward between the two of you."
While being partners was no small issue, the main problem was that Bunny was just so young. He was barely older than Karina and Karina was just a baby. Kotetsu felt guilty even having a mildly sexual thought about Bunny.
"And then there's the fact that he seems so virginal," Antonio went on. "I can't imagine that he had too many romantic experiences when he was dedicating his life to getting revenge. It seems like it would be a waste for someone like you to get your hands on him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kotetsu asked, slamming his empty glass onto the bar.
The bartender smiled at Kotetsu as he took the glass and replaced it with a new one. Attentive, that one was.
"Just that you've been around the block," Antonio mumbled, before returning to his normal tone of voice. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. But when Tomoe passed away she made it pretty clear that she wanted you to move on with your life and get remarried, and you haven't dated even one person seriously. It's always one night stands and fuck buddies with you."
"I wouldn't put it like that," Kotetsu said with a pout.
Antonio raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly would you put it?"
"I just haven't found the right person," Kotetsu said. He shrugged it off like it was no big deal and chugged some more of his drink. "I've been busy, you know? And there's nothing wrong with enjoying the single life in a safe and consensual way."
Kotetsu smiled at the bartender, who smiled back at him. Antonio looked back and forth between the two of them several times before sighing and chugging half a bottle of his beer.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Antonio muttered.
A few hours later Kotetsu found himself more than a little inebriated as he stumbled into his apartment, turning around almost instantly to pull The Bartender inside with him.
"I like your outfit," Kotetsu said, as he pulled on the edges of The Bartender's black vest.
"Most likely because it's reminiscent of your own," The Bartender replied with a smirk. "Which is very stylish, by the way."
"Uh huh. Less talking, more walking to the bedroom."
If they were characters in a Hollywood movie, at that moment the scene would fade to black, only to fade back in as. . .
The Bartender pulled on his shirt as Kotetsu lay in bed, a very satisfied, very relaxed lump of a man.
"Do you think I could get your number?" The Bartender asked. He was already flipping open his phone.
Kotetsu scowled even as he stretched a bit, completely unmindful of his nudity. "To be honest, I'd rather not make things complicated between us. You're my usual bartender, after all."
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you slept with me?" The Bartender suggested, though from his smile and tone of voice he seemed more amused than offended. "Though I suppose there's something to be said for quitting while you're ahead. I should just be grateful I got this far with you."
Kotetsu scoffed at that. "Grateful? For sleeping with an old man like me?"
"You can't be that old. Thirty at the max? And a rather sexy thirty, at that."
"Now you're just patronizing me."
At this point, The Bartender was fully dressed again. "I would stay, but somehow I think you'd rather I leave."
"I'll walk you out," Kotetsu offered, already swinging his legs off the bed and onto the floor.
After that Kotetsu nestled into bed for a very sound night's sleep. Only to feel like a sexually repressed teenager all over again by the time the next day rolled around and he eventually found himself in the locker room of Hero TV's gym. Bunny was walking around in those compression shorts the young guys all wore (what exactly was wrong with good old-fashioned jock straps, Kotetsu wondered, before realizing that would only make the situation worse), compression shorts that were just a little bit damp with sweat. Damp enough that if Kotetsu was looking, which he definitely wasn't, he could see the clear outline of a definite bulge. But he wasn't looking, because he wasn't some kind of creeper.
"Kotetsu, is something wrong?
Kotetsu jumped at Bunny's voice. "What? No. What would be wrong?"
"You've been staring at the mirror inside your locker for awhile now."
Oh, God, he was a complete pervert. He turned to smile at Bunny, careful to keep his eyes from falling below shoulder level. Bunny's eyebrows were knitted a little in the center. His hair, wet and limp from an intense plyometrics session, hung long and straight around his handsome features. It would take him almost an hour to feather it to his specifications later, something Kotetsu was fond of teasing him over.
"I'm fine," Kotetsu said with a grin. "Just a little distracted."
"Okay," Bunny said, apparently convinced enough to not press it any further. He turned, pulled off his shorts, and walked toward the showers.
Kotetsu got a good look at Bunny's backside before guilt turned his eyes away. Honestly, it's not like Kotetsu hadn't admired his other co-workers on a purely physical level, it's just that it felt especially wrong with someone as innocent as Bunny. He tried not to think about it as he hopped into the showers (thankfully not communal like they had been when he had started in this business) to get cleaned up.
Once Kotetsu got out of the shower, he wasn't surprised to find Bunny in the locker room blow-drying his hair to perfection. Really, for someone who wasn't really that vain at all, Bunny spent a ridiculous amount of time on those golden locks. Kotetsu gave his own hair one last tussle with his towel, pulled on some clean clothes, and left while Bunny was still working on the first half of his head.
Out in the communal space, Kotetsu wasn't surprised to find Karina and Pao-Lin standing together. Pao-Lin had been giving Karina martial arts lessons for some time now, though Kotetsu hadn't seen her actually put any moves to use. But the point was he often came across them discussing martial arts and training regimes. This time, though, their conversation sounded a bit more gossipy. Ears perking up, Kotetsu sidled up to them as unobtrusively as he could.
Only to have them both turn and scowl at him the moment he was by their side.
"Shoo," Pao-lin said, shaking her fingers at him. "We're having a private conversation. Private."
Kotetsu pouted. "We're all friends, aren't we? I want to know what's going on, too."
"For an old man you're such a child," Karina said, crossing her arms over her chest. "This has nothing to do with you."
"Oh?" Kotetsu beamed as he realized what they had been talking about. "Ah, girl stuff, huh? Talking about a crush?"
"Wha-" Karina's eyes went big as her cheeks colored. Almost instantly, her gaze snapped away from Kotetsu. "What are you talking about?"
Kotetsu grinned. So he had been right. Ah, young love. "Don't worry, Karina. I'm sure whoever the boy is, he'll be happy to have the attentions of a girl like you. He's a lucky young man."
"Shut up!" Karina said, cheeks turning even redder.
"Umm," Pao-Lin interrupted, looking quizzically between the two others, "that's not what we were talking about. It's about Sky High."
"Hmm?" Kotetsu looked up and realized that, past some conveniently camouflaging plants, the girls had a perfect view of Keith as he packed his things up. Keith did look somewhat morose, with his shoulders slumped and his limbs devoid of the energy they usually held.
Keith definitely wasn't the superhero that Kotetsu was the closest to, by any means, but much of that had to do with the fact that for a long while Keith was on top at a time when Kotetsu felt like he was on the bottom. At that time everything Keith did had a tendency to annoy Kotetsu, from his over-exaggerated arm and hand motions to his silly, vacuous sound bytes. Keith had always been nice to him, of course (Kotetsu didn't think the poor guy was smart enough to be mean to someone), but that had only made it worse. But despite their more distant relationship, they were still fellow heroes, and he didn't like to see the guy so down.
"What happened to him?" Kotetsu asked.
"We don't know," Pao-Lin offered. "He was really happy for awhile and we thought that he might have a girlfriend, but now he's sad again so they must have broken up."
"We were thinking of following him to see what's going on," Karina said, "but I have a photobook to shoot today and Pao-Lin has a commercial."
Both girls' eyes lit up as they turned to face Kotetsu.
"You probably don't have anything to do, do you?" Pao-Lin asked.
Kotetsu frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm a pretty busy guy, you know."
Karina raised an eyebrow. "So you have something scheduled for now?"
Well, no, Kotetsu thought, scratching his head. Bunny had some kind of meeting to go to but The Powers That Be were pretty clear that they didn't want Kotetsu there.
"Fine," Kotetsu said. "I'll try to figure out what's going on, but no promises."
Karina smiled as Pao-Lin jumped up and down in excitement.
"Thank you, Tiger," they both said, almost in unison.
Kotetsu sighed. "Anything to help my fellow heroes."
Which is how, a little bit later, Kotetsu found himself hiding outside a laundromat as Keith did his laundry. He watched as Keith loaded a washing machine. He watched as Keith helped an old women load her washing machine. He watched as Keith paid for more dryer sheets. He watched as Keith folded his now-clean laundry.
Man, why had he agreed to this again? Kotetsu almost hoped that a crime would happen and they would be called away to go take care of it.
After that Keith went home to his cushy apartment building and Kotetsu decided to wait about twenty minutes to see if he would come out again. If not, Kotetsu would leave and go about his day. Unfortunately for him, Keith came back out in about ten minutes, this time with a golden retriever on a leash. Kotetsu followed them down the street, watched as Keith stopped to pick up a huge bouquet of flowers, then watched as Keith went to a park and sat down on a bench next to the fountain. At which point he waited as Keith just sat and sat and sat.
Screw this, Kotetsu thought. He wasn't getting anywhere and he wasn't just going to wait around all day for something to happen. Really, he was surprised he had waited this long to begin with. So he stuck his hands in his pocket, started to whistle a tune, and walked by Keith as though he just happened to be strolling through the park. Once he got to where the other man was sitting he gasped, turned his head, and said, "Keith! What a coincidence to see you here! Mind if I sit down?"
Keith smiled. "Of course not, Kotetsu. Please, have a seat."
Kotetsu slumped down on the bench next to Keith, where he was almost instantly "attacked" by Keith's dog. He pet the retriever's fur as it (he? she?) licked and slobbered all over his face. "So. . . waiting for someone?"
"No, not really," Keith said.
Kotetsu's face scrunched up in confusion. "So the flowers aren't for anybody special?"
"Well, yes, yes they are," Keith admitted. "They're for someone very special. We used to meet here and talk, but she hasn't come for weeks, so I think she won't come anymore. Still, I sit here every day for a little bit in case she does."
"I see," Kotetsu said, even if he didn't really. That was some commitment. "An ex-girlfriend?"
Keith chuckled at the question. "No, just someone I met while walking John. I thought that maybe she could be a girlfriend. . . well, she's probably moved away or something like that."
Kotetsu nodded, even as he wondered what kind of name was John for a dog. Now that he was close up enough to study Keith, though, he realized that the man looked more resigned than sad. "You really liked her, huh?"
"Yeah," Keith said, a wistful expression on his face. "I wish I had gotten her name, or found out anything about her, because then I could try to track her down."
Kotetsu gave Keith a little bit of a side-eye. He couldn't imagine falling for someone without knowing their name. . . or, you know, even one little detail about them. It had taken years for him and Tomoe to fall for each other, but that could have been because he thought she had cooties when they met.
"It's silly," Keith said with a little laugh. "I'm not as smart as the rest of you guys, but even I know how odd that seems. It's just that I felt a connection with her. It's stupid, isn't it?
"No way," Kotetsu replied. "If that's how you genuinely feel, there's no way it's stupid."
Keith smiled. "Thanks for saying so."
Kotetsu opened his mouth to say something else, but then caught sight of a nearby streetlamp. At the top of it was mounted a small grey rectangular box. A security camera. A light bulb went off above Kotetsu's head as he actually felt grateful for Sternbild City's Big Brother mentality.
"Hey," he said, "maybe we can find out who she is by getting that security footage."
"Really?" Keith asked, posture straightening and eyes lighting up.
"Yeah, sure. Just leave it to me!"
The actual logistics of getting the footage, however, proved a lot more difficult than Kotetsu had imagined. He knew that Agnes could request that footage, but asking her had resulted in an exclamation of, "If you think I'm wasting my time on that, you're sadly mistaken," followed by a lecture on using government resources for frivolous purposes. He asked his connections with the sponsor company to no avail. He even went to City Hall to file a request as a private citizen, only to find out that the wait time was at least six months. The answer to his difficulties eventually came from Bunny, as they were chasing down two men who had just robbed a pharmacy and were attempting to make good on their escape.
"Why don't you just ask Fire Emblem?" Bunny asked, even as he ran at top speed down the sidewalk.
"Fire Emblem?"
Bunny nodded and gave Kotetsu a look like it was the most obvious thing in the world and there was something wrong with him for not seeing it. "He has a massive number of connections from his business. Other corporate-"
Here he was interrupted as one of the men turned around and started firing bullets at them. And promptly ran out.
"-leaders, government officials, high society types."
"Huh," Kotetsu said, spinning to dodge an old lady who had come out of some boutique. "Yeah, you're right."
"Split up," Bunny said, as the two other men did the same.
They both activated their Hundred Power at the same time, probably equally interested in wrapping things up. These criminals were inept small fry; their capture would probably only be played on-air if they had dead time during one of their live, scheduled shows. It wasn't long before Kotetsu caught up with and pounced on his target. He knocked him out and carried him back until he met up with Bunny again.
"I always forget that he's such a big shot," Kotetsu said to Bunny.
"Do you?" Bunny asked back. "That's odd."
The show's crew showed up then, as they always did once the cameras were off or focused elsewhere, to handcuff the criminals and escort them to the police station. Kotetsu and Bunny stood back to let them work, not wanting to get in the way.
"Actually," Bunny said, "now that I've helped give you some advice you can give me some too."
Kotetsu blinked. Then he looked around, just in case there was someone else there Bunny could be talking to. Then he pointed at himself. "Me?"
Bunny frowned. "Who else?"
"You never ask my advice," Kotetsu said.
"That's because you're always volunteering it before anyone even asks."
Kotetsu didn't think that he was that much of a busybody. Maybe it was just his paternal instinct acting up. At any rate, he was kind of happy that Bunny was actually asking him for help. "What's the problem, Bunny?"
"It's not a problem, per se," Bunny said. "Just a situation I could use a second opinion on."
"Shoot," Kotetsu said.
"Remember that meeting the company set up with me last week? The one you weren't invited to?"
Kotetsu nodded. How could he forget? That meeting was the reason why he had gotten so involved in Sky High's relationship problems to begin with.
"It was so that I could meet a particular woman," Bunny said. "A movie actress. It wasn't a matchmaking session by any means, and they insisted there was no pressure to do anything, but it was also suggested that a relationship might be a good move for both of our careers. Basically, they introduced us to see if we might hit it off and consider dating in the future."
"And how do you feel about that?" Kotetsu asked. He wasn't really sure what else to say. Thinking it over right now, it wasn't surprising. Bunny had an extremely public face; it was no wonder the company wanted to raise his profile via a young starlet.
Bunny shrugged. "I'm not. . . against it. She seems nice and we get along. It's just strange because I've never considered dating before, but now that Jake's been put away, it seems like. . . like. . ."
"Like it might be fun?" Kotetsu asked.
Bunny sighed a little but also smiled. "Yeah. I guess so."
Kotetsu smiled back. It was nice, this light-hearted version of Bunny, exploring so many facets of the world now that he wasn't entirely focused on revenge. It was a little strange to hear Bunny talking about someone as a potential romantic interest, but Kotetsu felt it would be good for both of them. Hopefully it would temper his own feelings for the younger man, and it would be a growing experience for Bunny.
"It just seems strange," Bunny continued. "She asked me out for a cup of coffee, but I haven't replied yet."
"Why not?" Kotetsu asked. "You said that you both get along and there's no pressure. If things don't work out romantically, maybe you can still make a good friend. And if things do work out, then you'll be a little happier for it, yeah?"
Bunny nodded. "You're right. I guess I was just a little nervous because I've never been in this situation before. Thanks, Kotetsu."
"Any time," Kotetsu said, patting Bunny on the shoulder. "You know you can always talk to me about anything."
Shortly after that they went their separate ways. As Kotetsu walked home, he couldn't help but feel a little odd about Bunny and his potential girlfriend. Kotetsu had never actually wanted to explore anything romantic or sexual with Bunny, but he liked to entertain the possibility of it, and now that it was being taken away he felt strangely jealous. But maybe that was just a case of him being the kid who only wanted to play with a toy if someone else had it. Those feelings didn't really matter, anyway. At the core of things, Kotetsu really just wanted Bunny to be happy, as cliché as that was. God knew he deserved to be.
Kotetsu had just finished leaving Nathan a message about the footage from the streetlamp when he noticed that he was standing directly under said streetlamp. Come to think of it, it was around the same time during the day as his last time here. He turned his head and, sure enough, Keith and John were sitting on the bench, Keith with a large bouquet of flowers in his arms. Kotetsu walked over.
"Hey," Kotetsu said, plopping down on the bench only to have John jump on top of him.
"Hello, Kotetsu," Keith said with a smile. "It's funny, I've never seen you here before, but just this past week I've seen you twice."
Kotetsu felt vaguely guilty about the fact that the first time had only occurred because he was stalking Keith, but at least this time it was a genuine coincidence. "Sorry it's taking so long for me to track down the footage."
"No, don't say that! I'm grateful to you for trying, I really am. You're a kind, kind man, Kotetsu."
Kotetsu almost felt bad because of how sincere Keith sounded. He had only started doing this because of Karina and Pao-Lin's influence, after all. "Don't worry about it. But you're still coming here with flowers every day?"
Keith chuckled at himself. "At this point it's just a habit. I can't seem to break it, plus John likes chasing the pigeons. I feel bad for the flowers though."
"Uh huh. Maybe you should get out there and do something else, try something different. Take your mind off things for a little bit."
"Like what?" Keith asked.
"Well, what do you do after the show each night? For fun?"
"I always patrol the city at night," Keith replied.
"Of course you do," Kotetsu murmured, the slightest of a scowl on his face.
"But only after I volunteer to help distribute food to the homeless."
"Of course," Kotetsu said again.
"What do you do?" Keith asked.
Kotetsu shrugged. "Talk to my daughter on the phone. Watch some tv to relax. Go out for drinks with Antonio. Next time, Boy Scout, maybe you should come with us."
"Oh," Keith said, affecting a 'helpful' tone of voice, "you must have me mistaken for someone else. I was never in the Boy Scouts."
Kotetsu decided it wasn't worth it to say anything. "I know a hiking trail nearby that's dog-friendly. I bet John would like it. Maybe sometime we can go check it out, instead of you sitting around here for a good hour."
There was a prolonged moment of hesitation before Keith smiled and nodded. "That would be nice. I'd like that."
About a week (and one hike) later, Kotetsu found himself in the Helios Energy building, a little stunned as he rode to one of the top floors. He had known, through gossip at work, that Nathan was the owner of the company, but he had never really thought about it. Helios was one of the seven huge companies in Sternbild and provided energy for a huge portion of the nation. Being owner of something like that was huge, as Kotetsu realized as he rode up a marble elevator that opened into an expansive hallway. At the end of the hallway was a huge, heavy door, and he opened it to find a decently-sized office with the far wall formed completely of glass, giving him one of the best views of Sternbild he had ever seen. In front of that wall of glass was Nathan, sitting behind a large mahogany desk and painting his nails.
When he saw Kotetsu, Nathan got up with a flounce and made his way over, giving the other hero a hug and kisses on each cheek. "Kotetsu! I wasn't expecting you to stop by. I could have brought you the footage at work, you know."
"I was in the area," Kotetsu said, before asking about something that piqued his curiosity. "No secretary?"
"Honey," Nathan said, elegant fingers resting on his chest, "the higher up you get in business, the less work you actually ever do. I'm barely here these days. You're more likely to find me on the golf course."
"Huh. Okay." Kotetsu nodded before looking Nathan over.
The other man was dressed in a business suit and wasn't wearing any make-up. He hadn't been wearing make-up at Antonio's apartment, either, but at that time Kotetsu had been in too much shock to think about that properly. Now that he had time to really look, he realized that. . .
"You know," Kotetsu said. "You're actually really handsome."
Nathan rolled his eyes. "So the make-up doesn't work for you?"
"It's not really my cup of tea," Kotetsu admitted.
"Yeah, you and almost every other gay man out there," Nathan said, maybe a little bit bitterly.
Kotetsu wanted to point out that, technically, he was bisexual, but Nathan was already going on.
"I actually get a fair number of hate mail about it, about how I'm somehow hurting the gay cause or reducing it to a visual joke. Drag queens and femme gays are the ones that pushed for gay civil rights in the first place. They were the ones there at Stonewall, and yet they're increasingly marginalized by the gay community as a 'problematic' stereotype. It's ridiculous. You never see 'feminine' gay men as politicians or leaders of gay organizations, just 'masculine' gay men, whatever those words are supposed to imply in our society."
Kotetsu frowned, feeling like he had stepped on a landmine. He really didn't know much about any of that. "I think you're fine the way you are, Nathan. Sorry if I implied otherwise."
Nathan shook his head and smiled. "No, I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean any harm, it's just that I had a bad morning dealing with that exact issue. Should we watch the footage?"
"Yeah. Sure."
Nathan leaned back against his desk and reached for a remote right on its surface. As he pressed the button an image popped up mid-air and started to play. "I'm not sure how you'll find her. You can try running the image through the facial recognition database at work, but it's not like every Sternbild citizen is in there."
Kotetsu's eyes widened as he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "No. . . no, it's not necessary. I know who that is. I recognize it."
"It?" Nathan asked, eyebrow raised.
Kotetsu groaned as he buried his face in his hands. "Leave it to Sky High to fall in love with an emotionless android."
It would have been funny if Keith wasn't so torn up about it.
"You're kidding," Nathan said, his mouth a small 'o.' "I thought there was something odd and robotic about her when I was watching the footage. I didn't think that it was because she was an actual robot."
"And Keith was the one who ultimately destroyed it," Kotetsu said.
"Wow. What are you going to do?"
Kotetsu removed his hands from his face and shook his head. "I can't tell him. It would just push him back, yeah? When he was already getting over her."
"That's probably for the best," Nathan agreed. "If he's already moving on, there's no reason he needs to know."
Kotetsu nodded. Keith had actually seemed pretty happy when they had taken that hike together, and Kotetsu was pretty sure he wasn't buying flowers every day anymore. He would just tell him the footage didn't catch anything and maybe distract him with some more hiking trips or something.
"Hey," he said, "what are you and Antonio doing tonight? Do you want to go out for a few drinks?"
And that was how, several hours later, the four of them found themselves sitting at a booth in Hiro's Bar, Antonio and Nathan on one side and Keith and Kotetsu on the other.
Antonio held his menu up so that it hid him and Kotetsu from the other two, then muttered, "You know, if you hadn't slept with that bartender, we could just go to our usual place."
"I know!" Kotetsu whisper-yelled. "I made a mistake. Just give it another week, I won't feel so awkward anymore, and we can go back. Besides, this place has good sake."
"How would you know? You told me you've never been here before."
"Cause they buy it from my brother. That's how I even found out about them in the first place, so just shut up about it."
Kotetsu pushed down the menu as he turned to face the other two. Nathan was looking at them curiously, but Keith looked the same as always.
"One bottle of this sake, please," Kotetsu said to the waiter, pointing at the menu.
The waiter, decidedly not dressed as a superhero, nodded and left to fulfil their order.
"So you two have been spending a lot of time together, huh?" Antonio asked, a little surprised. Apparently Kotetsu had forgotten to fill him in.
Keith nodded. "Here and there."
"I don't know if you would say 'a lot,' though," Kotetsu said. He turned to Keith. "We saw each other, what, two times this week? One was our failed hiking trip-"
"Kotetsu fell pretty early during the trip, twisted his ankle, and used his Hundred Power to heal himself," Keith said, laughing a little. "Only to fall again and break it."
Kotetsu smiled at the memory as well. "Yeah, well, we had a better time our second attempt. Even if John did do his business on some one's picnic blanket."
Here they both laughed at the memory.
"We were thinking of doing a camping trip," Kotetsu said. "Since we both like outdoors stuff."
"With lots of fishing," Keith added. "I like fishing."
"You two interested in coming?" Kotetsu asked.
"No. . ." Antonio drawled out. "Thanks."
"You know," Nathan said, eyes darting between Keith and Kotetsu. "This almost feels like a double date."
Kotetsu almost choked on the water he had been drinking. Fortunately, the sake had come at this point, and he could occupy himself pouring it for everyone. Keith, for his part, didn't seem to think anything amiss with the statement.
"Double date?" Keith asked. "Isn't that something couples go on?"
"Well," Nathan said, "Antonio and I are one."
"Oh?" Keith asked, his smile the same as always. "I didn't know that."
"You don't have a problem with it?" Antonio asked.
"Of course not," Keith said. Then, with a flourish of hand movements, "Love is love! There's no denying love."
"Hmm. Interesting," Antonio said, sending a pointed look Kotetsu's way.
Kotetsu sent a sharp glare back. He and Keith were just spending time together, it's not like they were screwing or anything. Sure Keith was a really nice guy, and handsome, and generous, and they both got along pretty great together actually, but. . . and here Kotetsu lost his line of thought.
"How did you two start going out?" Keith asked.
"Oh," Antonio said, "it started when I went to apply at a job at Helios. I thought maybe it was time to quit the hero business. You probably don't know this, Keith, but I have a degree in engineering, and there was this project at Helios that sounded interesting."
Nathan's eyes lit up. "A pet project I implemented ages ago. Harvesting helium-3 from the moon for fusion power. I estimate that it will only be a few years before it's a feasible option."
Kotetsu raised an eyebrow at the fact that Antonio had contemplated quitting. It was the first he had heard of it. "You must have been a shoe-in, then, since you know the owner of the company."
Nathan shook his head. "Nuh uh. I don't play a part in hiring practices, and I have a company policy of hiring based on merit and not connections. But I offered to critique his resume and, once we started spending time together, everything just started to develop organically."
"That sounds nice," Keith said, and the other three were shocked to hear that his speech was already slightly slurred.
"Keith," Antonio said, "are you already drunk? How many cups of sake have you had?"
"Dunno," Keith said with a shrug, his cheeks already flushed pink. "Two? Never drink, usually."
Needless to say, they decided to stop after that one bottle. Keith lived pretty far away and was pretty inebriated, so they all decided the best thing to do would be to let him sleep it off at Kotetsu's apartment. So Kotetsu soon found himself pulling Keith into his bedroom and pushing him onto the bed, where Keith sunk into the mattress with an audible noise.
"You're such a nice guy," Keith babbled, already halfway to passing out, "a really nice guy. If you had been on that park bench that day, Kotetsu, instead of her, I feel like I would have fallen in love with you just as easily. Even now, I feel like I could. . ."
Keith's statement turned into a loud snore as Kotetsu was left mildly surprised and somewhat. . . satisfied? Maybe satisfied wasn't the right word, but he wasn't sure what was. All he knew was that the idea of something developing with Keith was making him want to smile. He brushed Keith's hair out of his face, drew the covers over the both of them, and fell asleep.
The next day, Kotetsu woke up to find the bed empty, but he could hear a voice coming from the living room. Was Keith talking on the phone? This early in the morning? Kotetsu got up and walked over there, only to see Keith kneeling in front of Tomoe's shrine.
". . . not a very popular hero. . ."
Kotetsu scowled.
". . . but he's very earnest and hard-working. Out of everyone, I think he's the most passionate about being a hero, and he's always helping everyone else. We're all very grateful to him, and I promise that we're all watching out for him for you."
"She would like you," Kotetsu said with a smile.
Keith looked back at Kotetsu. "Really?"
Kotetsu nodded. She always had a thing for big, dumb animals, especially if they were sweet as well. "You know, I haven't dated any one since she died."
"Not even one person?" Keith asked.
"Well, I'm not going to lie," Kotetsu said, staring at his wife's photograph. "She's probably seen it all, anyway, if she's been watching over me. I've been with a fair number of men since she died, but nothing serious, and other than my wife, I've never ever been with another woman."
"Was she some kind of exception, then?" Keith asked.
"No, not at all." At least Kotetsu didn't think so. He definitely found other women attractive, though he wasn't interested in pursuing them. "I met my wife when I was pretty young, so there was only ever her. When she died I went through a mourning period, then a time when I was belatedly sowing my wild oats, but I was never really interested in another woman. It's not really a conscious thing, and I know it's silly and doesn't make sense, but a part of me feels almost like it would be cheating on her. Or maybe no other woman can compare. I don't know, it's stupid, isn't it?"
"Not at all," Keith said. "If that's how you genuinely feel, there's no way it's stupid."
Kotetsu chuckled and smiled. "Thanks. So. . . you want to go out and get some breakfast?"
Keith hesitated for a moment. "It depends. Would it be a date?"
Kotetsu smiled some more. "Sure."
"In that case, definitely yes," Keith said, standing up.
Smiling so much was actually starting to hurt his face a little bit. They made their way out of the apartment, debating whether to go for pancakes or dim sum, both of them eager to start this new chapter in their lives.