Work Text:
"I'll make you a bet that you will never be able to grab Handsome's fine ass without unpleasant retaliation."
Kotetsu blinked, stopping in his tracks and turning back around. "What?"
"You heard me." Nathan's smile was dripping with far too much sweetness.
Shaking his head, he laughed it off. "I think I'll stick with name-calling."
Nathan sighed and looked terribly disappointed. "Well think about it, won't you? It would entertain me. You know how important that is."
"It's remarkably important, Kotetsu." Antonio assured him as he passed, careful to keep his back away from Nathan's reach at all times.
That was followed by a call of, "Cheater!" between long, delicately painted fingernails.
*-------------------*
What a stupid idea. Kotetsu laughed about it as he took a quick shower after more or less hanging out in the gym while he watched everyone else work out. It was just as silly as he dried off and dressed, even more silly when Barnaby actually came in and used the locker right next to his...
And then something happened. Maybe his hand had a mind of its own, maybe it was black magic. Whatever the reason, he found his hand on the back of those tight little exercise shorts. After a moment's pause, he then found himself thrown through the lockers and the wall.
Kotetsu kept his eyes closed as the ache slowly faded--and as he could hear the crisp click of those shoes coming toward him. "Strike one?"
He weakly glared up at Nathan. "None of your business." It didn't help that he walked away laughing, though.
*-------------------*
The next day, he was irritated to still be entertaining the bet. Particularly when Barnaby walked by in the gym in those shorts again, giving him a little glare.
Kotetsu tried to play it off with a friendly wave. It didn't work. Feeling a lingering sting from the intensified death glare, he decided that maybe he ought to do a little work on a treadmill. Sure, what better way to distract himself than doing a little actual exercise?
Except for the fact that just a few minutes later, the treadmill next to him started up. He couldn't help but glance over, curious; and sure enough, the blond was running in place while glaring at him. Great. It went on like that for a while, both running, Barnaby occasionally glaring, Kotetsu wondering more and more how he was going to get back at Nathan--and then it happened again.
Really, he'd have been impressed if he wasn't half-buried in the ceiling. Barnaby hadn't even broken his stride, putting up with that squeeze for one second before turning and kicking Kotetsu straight up. Around the ringing in his ears and a bit of debris falling, he could hear the machine shut off as the blond stomped away.
It was several minutes later when he had the misery of hearing a pair of footsteps, then felt himself being delicately removed from the ceiling and lowered by strong currents of air.
"Thank you, honey." Nathan patted Keith on the head, gaining a winning smile. "Strike two?"
Kotetsu mumbled to himself about having a headache before heading home without a shower. He'd just get one as soon as he got in the door. He didn't really think about how odd that sudden obsession with Barnaby's ass was until he realized he was taking a very long, very cold shower. Then his thoughts moved to complete denial.
*-------------------*
Kotetsu was nothing if not determined. Nathan hadn't established any rules, just the fact that he had to grab his partner's ass without "unpleasant retaliation". Had he been thinking a little more clearly, he would have stopped himself at the first thought of hiding just inside their private locker room. What he was actually focused on what not hearing the words "strike three" from those painted lips--and hopefully not getting himself hurt before he had an opportunity to put his admittedly insane plan to the test.
The door opened. He coiled to strike, activating his Hundred Power and moving the instant he saw one red boot. Of course, he hadn't really been prepared for Barnaby to activate his power at the same time, the two of them winding up in a glowing, snarling pile of limbs fighting either to get away or to pin down and get closer. At least there were no punches thrown, just wrestling, struggling, making a break for it and getting pounced, slammed up against lockers and benches and leaving signs of impacts--but Kotetsu's determination won out. When their powers faded at the same time, the older hero panted with grinning victory as Barnaby lay beneath him, arms pinned behind his back, legs pinned by Kotetsu's own.
Of course... there was the little matter of not having any hands free. And the fact that the blond might have been growling and squirming, still. "Old man, I am going to kill you..."
He didn't particularly doubt that. "Better make it a worthwhile death then, right?" Quickly grabbing both of Barnaby's wrists with one hand, Kotetsu reached down and gave that firm ass a good, solid squeeze. There was no retort save a squeak. Of course, there was also no hope of getting away and getting back to Nathan before his partner tore him apart with sheer rage...
"Why do you keep doing that?" Barnaby demanded.
"Um." Well, that wasn't a good answer. Neither was the truth. "Nathan made a bet."
"Oh." He sounded... disappointed, maybe? "Then why don't you just go get whatever he promised you."
Kotetsu wasn't sure why, but that just didn't sound like a trick to get him to drop his guard. Not that he wasn't prepared to be painfully wrong. "Actually... he never told me what was being bet." He admitted.
"And you went along with it anyway?" Barnaby sounded less angry and more curious.
Not that that little fact made the older hero feel any safer. "Ah, well.."
"Tell you what, old man." He interrupted. "We can continue this at my apartment, later. Right now I have to take a shower."
Kotetsu let go and stood quickly enough to have surprised his partner. "I, uh--ha, yeah, well, I... why don't I just... Um. Yeah, okay." He ran out of the room before there could be a reply.
*-------------------*
"Pay up."
Blinking, Nathan turned. "For what?" He asked, casually taking a drink from his water bottle.
There was a notable blush on Kotetsu's face. "I... you know."
Nathan raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Well, I guess I don't see you thrown through a wall or embedded in a ceiling, and you don't seem to have a broken arm. Shame we didn't agree to anything in partic--"
"Pay up." Kotetsu repeated.
The other hero just shook his head and reached for his clutch purse on the bench. "How about enough for a couple of nice bottles of wine and something that isn't hamburgers?"
After quietly muttering something about how there was nothing wrong with hamburgers, he accepted the money pushed into his hand. "Thank you very much." Kotetsu let himself grin back before turning and marching off as though he'd just accomplished something incredibly grand.
Nathan leaned against the wall, commenting to the person hiding just around the corner, "I really didn't think he'd fall for it."
"I suppose I know my partner better than you do." Barnaby answered, emerging with an all too satisfied smirk. "How much will it be for your trouble?"
"Oh, this one's on the house, Handsome." Nathan assured, pushing away from the wall and starting to strut off. "The entertainment value was well worth what I paid. He'll probably be billed for the damages later, though."