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Kotetsu rolled over onto his back and yawned, sitting up slowly before stretching out his arms and legs and finally pushing himself out of bed. He scratched at the stubble between the two patches of beard on his chin and walked toward the bathroom, knowing that Barnaby was already in there. He was going to say something, maybe some nonchalant come-on, but he was struck by the sight of his partner and paused in the still-dark bedroom. Barnaby, like Kotetsu, was clad in just his underwear. He stood in front of the mirror with his round brush and hairdryer, perfecting the undercurl that nature mostly did for him. Kotetsu grinned at the sight of Barnaby's pink cheeks, obviously warmed by the hair dryer.
Barnaby put down the brush and the dryer and Kotetsu was about to take another step forward, but Barnaby turned his body to the side suddenly, his eyes staying focused on his reflection, and the movement was strange enough that Kotetsu stayed where he was; just watching. Barnaby brought one hand to his stomach, letting it rest against the defined muscles of his abdomen, and smiled softly; sadly. Kotetsu quirked his head to one side and winced as his neck popped. Barnaby's hand dropped away immediately and he turned to look at Kotetsu. "You're awake, I see."
"Why were you touching your stomach? You can't think you're getting fat." Kotetsu moved into the bathroom finally and stood at the toilet, beginning his early morning routine with coaxing his morning wood into letting him pee.
Barnaby rolled his eyes. "Don't think that I don't realize that you keep sneaking mayonnaise into my food."
"It's good! And I put it in my food, too." Kotetsu shook himself off and tucked himself away and moved to the sink to wash his hands. He wouldn't normally bother, but with Barnaby watching, he couldn't seem to let himself put it off. "You looked kind of, uh, strange," he said as he started the sink up.
"It's nothing." Barnaby said and started to leave the bathroom, but Kotetsu reached out to stop him with one soapy hand. "Old man..." Barnaby sighed. "Look, it's nothing to be concerned about."
Kotetsu gave Barnaby a baleful look. "After some of the stuff that you've been willing to tell me, you're not going to tell me this? How bad is it?"
"It's not bad, per se," Barnaby said and moved away from Kotetsu to grab a hand towel and dry off his arm with one raised eyebrow. "I'm simply trying to find an excuse to quit being a hero."
"What?" Kotetsu pulled the towel from Barnaby's hands and hastily dried off his hands. "Why would you want to do that?"
Barnaby moved toward the sink and shut off the water that Kotetsu had left running, turning afterward so he could lean against the counter. "I only got into this line of work to catch my parents' killer. Otherwise, I would have followed in their footsteps. But now that my name is out there, the public isn't going to let me go quietly."
Closing the lid of the toilet, Kotetsu took a seat. "Can't you just tell them to shove off? We're in the Second League. It shouldn't matter any more."
"Shouldn't is the operative word there, Kotetsu. If I don't have a valid reason for leaving..." Barnaby let his hands rest on the counter. "So I was thinking about pregnancy."
"Huh? But you can't..."
"Yes, I can. I'm a NEXT. You must remember the male NEXT who was released from prison almost two years early that was in the news earlier this month. There was a lot of controversy surrounding it because it only came about because he was pregnant. It's why it came to mind."
Kotetsu scratched at his cheek. "Oh yeah. But they still don't know why that happens, right?"
Barnaby smiled. "I asked Saito-san. There's no conclusive research regarding it because there have only been a dozen or so cases of male pregnancy and they've all been men with NEXT powers. Only two of those men have admitted who the other parent was. In both of those cases, both men shared a NEXT power."
"That's..." Kotetsu shook his head. "I guess it's a good thing we've been using condoms, huh?"
Shoulders hunching forward, Barnaby sighed. "You don't want to have a child with me, do you?"
"Hey! I didn't say that." Kotetsu brought one ankle up to rest on the opposite knee. "Look, I'm already a parent. And I'm not a great one. But your reason for wanting a kid... I don't think I can go along with it just for that."
"That's just one of the reasons, actually." Barnaby straightened up again. "There are several others."
"Like what?"
"I'm the only thing left from my parents. I don't want their legacy to die with me." He shook his head slowly. "I want to give my child what they couldn't give me because it was taken from me. And then maybe that can be a little like having had it for myself."
Kotetsu ran a hand through his hair. "Bunny-chan... You could find a surrogate mother or-"
"I want to have a baby with you. I like children and... I'm jealous of the part of your life that you had with your wife. I have been for a long while now. It just wasn't until recently that I truly realized that I had a chance to have that too." Barnaby pushed himself away from the counter. "This was why I didn't want to tell you. Try to forget about it."
"I can't." Kotetsu smiled. "I'm thrown for a loop on this, yeah, but I'm not saying no."
"You're... not?" Barnaby paused in the middle of the bathroom.
Kotetsu leaned forward, his propped up leg pushed off of his knee, and grabbed Barnaby's hand. He pulled the other man over and down onto his lap. "If you can have faith in this old man..."
"Only I can call you that." Barnaby smirked and let one arm wrap hesitantly around Kotetsu's shoulders. "Do you think Kaede would object?"
"To her, you hung the moon." Kotetsu let his hand move down Barnaby's back until his fingers teased at the waistband of Barnaby's underwear. "Do we want to, um, do a little experimentation? Y'know, for research."
Barnaby stiffened. "You don't have to go along with this just because it's what I want."
"Give me a little credit here, Bunny-chan." Kotetsu brought his hand back up so that his palm rested on the small of Barnaby's back. "I wanted another kid back when Kaede was young and Tomoe wasn't sick yet. We tried for a while, but it just didn't happen. So, in a way, this almost feels like a blessing or something." He pressed a kiss against Barnaby's ribs. "If it's you, I know that you know all about it already. So, I figure that we can just try. If it happens, it happens. And if it doesn't, then we get to try again."
Barnaby's breath caught in his throat and he stood up. "Let's go to the bed."
Kotetsu let his fingers catch at the waistband of Barnaby's underwear, snapping the elastic. "How do you want it?"
Pausing in the doorway of the bathroom, Barnaby took a deep breath as he reached to turn on the lamp on the night stand. "Deep."
Since they'd only been in their underwear, they were both naked before they even got to the bed. Barnaby grabbed the bottle of lubricant still sitting on Kotetsu's night stand from the last time they'd used it and slicked up two fingers. He got on his knees and smiled as he looked back at Kotetsu. "Are you just going to watch for this part?"
Already stroking himself, Kotetsu bit his bottom lip and nodded as he watched Barnaby squirm into a position when he could touch his lubricant-slick fingers against his entrance and tease it open. Barnaby was fond of reminding him that he was a pervy old man, but it was only in these moments that he felt it. Watching from across the room as Barnaby stretched himself, Kotetsu felt like a peeping tom, his grip loose around his cock. His breath caught in his throat as Barnaby spread himself open, fingers sliding in progressively deeper and twisting and thrusting gently, the lubricant glistening in the low light. Kotetsu tightened his grip around the base of his cock for a long moment, already aching with need.
Barnaby let out a trembling moan and swallowed audibly, one of his shoulders digging into the pillows. "Come over here, old man."
Kotetsu laughed, enough of the moment dashed with Barnaby's words to let him regain a modicum of composure. He got on his knees on the bed and moved behind Barnaby. "This is going to be-"
"No. Not like that." Barnaby moved, flipping over onto his back and shoving one of the pillows under his hips. "I want to watch you."
"You just want to be able to touch yourself easier." Kotetsu slid the head of his cock along Barnaby's entrance, frowning at the friction still there. He picked up the lubricant and drizzled some onto the top of his shaft. As he put the lube back down, Barnaby's hand came up and stroked him, getting his whole cock wet with it. "You're sure about this?"
Barnaby smiled. "If it's a girl, I want to name her Samantha."
Kotetsu sighed. "A 'yes' would have sufficed, y'know."
Running his fingers over Kotetsu's cock again, Barnaby smirked. "Just fuck me."
Growling, Kotetsu shoved Barnaby's knees apart and pressed the tip of his cock to Barnaby's entrance. Pushing in steadily, he groaned and moved one hand behind each of Barnaby's knees. "This already feels so much different."
"I can't wait to feel you come inside of me." Barnaby reached down to touch himself almost hesitantly, hand still slick with lubricant. As his fingers curled around the head, he sighed. "I don't need you to last long, you know. I don't think I will."
With a roll of his hips, Kotetsu felt Barnaby's body seem to finally accept him, sinking in so that his balls pressed against Barnaby's ass, drawing a hiss from the other man. "I never thought about how amazing you'd feel like this."
Barnaby teased at the head of his own cock, eyes half-lidded and nostrils flaring slightly as Kotetsu started to move. "You're not so bad yourself."
Kotetsu leaned forward, his weight against the back of Barnaby's knees spreading him even further. He focused on his thrusts, pulling out as far as he dared and pushing back in as far as he could with each one, his rhythm steadily increasing until Barnaby seemed to come undone beneath him. Every breath brought a fresh new sound dragged from his throat as he stroked himself in earnest now. His other hand tried to be everywhere at once, touching, first, at Kotetsu's chest, and then his own, and then cupping the back of Kotetsu's head. As Kotetsu started to fuck his partner with abandon, Barnaby fisted his hand into Kotetsu's hair and dragged him down for a kiss.
It broke Kotetsu's rhythm just enough that he growled loudly and sped up as he pulled away, each thrust a new drop of pleasure added to his core that threatened already to burst. Barnaby bit his bottom lip, ass clenching around Kotetsu's cock at regular intervals now. "I'm close," he panted out as his hand sped up in its slide across his dick.
Shifting his knees slightly, Kotetsu nodded and closed his eyes as he lost himself in his rhythm. Barnaby was clenching around him more now, each stroke seeming to ignite a new nerve inside of him. Barnaby grunted and Kotetsu opened his eyes to watch a spill of white spread across Barnaby's stomach and fingers, hand still slowly pumping himself. Kotetsu shivered at the sight and immediately switched to the shorter, faster thrusts that he preferred.
He was on the cusp of his orgasm, his heart pounding and a faint sheen of sweat covering his shoulders and back, and so lost in the feeling... And then Barnaby's legs tensed and shifted and they wrapped around him as much as they could and Kotetsu was nearly held in place by his partner's strong thighs as he came. He continued to shift his hips minutely, nose wrinkling at the feel of his come leaking back out to spread across his balls.
When Barnaby finally dropped his legs, Kotetsu pulled away slowly, dropping a few kisses along the other man's abdomen as he moved. "There. Trial number one is over. Further experimentation to happen, uh, later."
Barnaby put a hand on his stomach. "I'm looking forward to it." He ran his other hand through his hair and grimaced. "We're going to be late for work at this rate."
"Worth it." Kotetsu pulled Barnaby closer into a kiss.
Barnaby took a bite of the fried rice and grimaced, continuing to chew for a moment before grabbing for his napkin and spitting the rest of the mouthful into it. He took a long gulp of water and glared at Kotetsu as he shoved his plate away. "What did you put into that?"
Kotetsu little a spoonful of rice toward his mouth. "The same things I always do. It tastes like how I always make it." He dropped his spoon and grabbed Barnaby's and took a bite. "Your's tastes-" He dropped the spoon.
"See? There's a bad prawn or something."
"No." Kotetsu smiled. "Hey, do you know if pregnancy tests work for guys?"
Barnaby's eyes widened and he touched one hand to his stomach. "Do you think...?"
"I think that's the same thing that happened with Tomoe when she was pregnant." Kotetsu's smile fell for a moment. "So, maybe? It's not like I can power up and listen for a heartbeat or something this early."
"Could you? With Kaede?" Barnaby pushed the plate further away and looked up at Kotetsu.
"Yeah." Kotetsu ran a hand through his fringe and grinned. "Not at first, but toward the end I could. Sometimes... Tomoe would go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and come back and wake me up to listen because she couldn't feel any movement. So I'd power up and listen against her stomach and tap out the rhythm on the back of her hand."
Barnaby smiled. "And will you do that for me if I ask?"
"Of course!" Kotetsu winked. "Hey, do you have one of those sticks to pee on or something? You could do that and I can make something else for you to eat."
Flushed slightly, Barnaby nodded. "I talked to Saito-san about this as well. There's still next to nothing known about this, but there are theories. And if those theories hold, then I should produce the correct hormones at all of the right stages."
"How come you haven't mentioned these theories before, Bunny-chan? Isn't that part of experimenting?"
"It's a lot of explain."
There was a long pause as Kotetsu narrowed his eyes at Barnaby. "You think I'm too stupid to understand it, huh?"
Barnaby turned his head. "I never said that."
"Just tell me."
"Your food will get cold."
"Bunny-chan?" Kotetsu reached out and took his hand. "Tell me."
"The theory is something about NEXT powers actually being a common gene mutation among a certain portion of the populace, but other genetic modifiers and indicators react with it. They still haven't isolated the gene or genes responsible, but it is definitely one that allows the body to make quick changes. And it seems that's why the male pregnancy is even possible. With your typical human, they adapt to the invasion of their immune system easily but that's really it. With NEXTs, there's an even greater learning curve with the body. It's how powers manifest. It's how we can heal faster and jump higher within a few seconds, or it's at least the current theory most well-regarded among experts. With regards to the pregnancy, it could be that the male body, in the face of regularly introducing semen, is changing in order to make sense of it." Barnaby shrugged. "Even I don't understand entirely."
"So... would it actually matter if we had the same power or not?" Kotetsu scratched his head. "I mean, I understand what you've said, but there's no explanation in there about why all of the known partners shared a power."
"Animal magnetism?" Barnaby smirked. "Like a bunny to a tiger. To my knowledge, they've yet to figure that out either."
"Go pee on your stick." Kotetsu grinned as he picked up both plates from the table. "I'll make you a nice sandwich or something."
"Just... no mayonnaise." Barnaby's brow furrowed. "Just... just in case."
Kotetsu sighed. "Fine. One bland sandwich." He watched as Barnaby walked hesitantly toward the bathroom and moved into the kitchen with a smile. He scraped the rest of his fried rice onto Barnaby's nearly full plate and put it in the microwave for a minute before moving on to the sandwich. As he stood in front of the fridge, though, he vaguely remembered some of Tomoe's complaints regarding her doctor-prescribed diet during her pregnancy and one of the biggest (and loudest) complaints had been that she couldn't have a club sandwich because of the dangers of bacteria. With a sigh, he opened the refrigerator and pulled out the jar of strawberry jam and slid it onto the counter. He grabbed the peanut butter from the cabinet next and went to work assembling the sandwich that he'd perfected for Kaede in the year after Tomoe had died. He lost himself in the making of it, as he always did, in the spreading of everything to the edges and slapping the sides together and cutting it into two triangles.
It was as he rinsed off the knife he'd used to spread the peanut butter that Barnaby came back into the room. Kotetsu froze, the water still running down the blade, and waited for Barnaby to say something. Instead, he handed over the item in his hand. It was the pregnancy test. Kotetsu looked at it, feeling numb and stupid that he couldn't seem to make sense of what it was indicating. His eyes roamed over it, but there didn't seem to be a key. "So, help an old man out here. What does two lines mean?" The smile that bloomed on Barnaby's face gave him his answer. "Really?"
Barnaby laughed softly. "I almost can't believe it, but that's what it's showing. I suppose I'll have to see a doctor for a confirmation. But... I feel like this is it."
Kotetsu covered his mouth with one hand for a moment, his emotions suddenly at war. When he pulled his hand away, his eyes were wet with tears. "We're gonna be daddies, huh?"
"It seems like it," Barnaby said with a laugh. "I do wonder which of the symptoms I'll get."
With a snort, Kotetsu picked up the plate with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and handed it to Barnaby. "If it's the excess mood swings, I don't think Stern Bild will make it."
Barnaby glared as he took the plate, then frowned. "Peanut butter and jelly?"
"You're not supposed to have lunch meat or something. Bacteria. Listerine or something like that."
"Listeria?" Barnaby sighed and picked up half of the sandwich and took a bite. "It's good, though. Thank you."
Kotetsu took a step toward Barnaby, leaning in even closer so that he could kiss him, pulling away slowly and savoring the taste. "Are you going to turn in your resignation today, then?"
"I'll call out today and get confirmation first, obviously. But if I do... I don't intend to subject my body to what I have been doing for the last few years."
"Not even me?" Kotetsu laughed. "You're in for a lot of media scrutiny, too."
"Just me?" Barnaby dropped his partially eaten sandwich on the plate and set it on the counter.
Kotetsu took a deep breath. "If I do that, I'm going to have to tell everyone who I am. I can't see if working any other way."
"There's not really much of a way around that at this point. I guess we didn't exactly think this part though."
"I did." Kotetsu rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought it through that first night you told me. That part, anyway. I just decided you were worth it."
"Will I be worth it when I'm huge and making you bring home pickles and ice cream for me?" Barnaby grabbed hold of Kotetsu's tie and pulled it gently, tugging the other man closer again.
Kotetsu placed a hand against Barnaby's stomach and smiled. "I can't say for certain, but the signs point to 'yes'." He let himself be pulled in for a kiss, food forgotten for the moment in favor of comfort and affection.