Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Barnaby huffed to himself whenever he thought about what his partner always said about simulation exercises. “They’re useless! I can’t perform my best unless it’s the real thing.” Barnaby begged to differ. However, given Kotetsu’s strange aversion to the technology, Barnaby often found himself completing the training exercises alone.

With interviews, autograph sessions, and photoshoots during the day, the best time to train was usually in the evening. By the time Barnaby finished, the other heroes were always long gone back to their homes and the normal part of their lives, leaving the entire locker room empty except for Barnaby’s shower in the corner of the room.

This night was no deviation from the norm, and the running water in Barnaby’s shower was the only noise that pervaded the quiet room—until the rookie hero began to sing. It was soft at first, but as he gained confidence throughout the length of his shower and switched to singing a song he enjoyed, the volume of his voice grew loud enough to be heard even by the lockers across the room where Kotetsu’s hat lay abandoned on one of the benches.

“There you are!” Kotetsu announced with relief as he opened the door to Apollon’s locker room with the sight of his hat being the first thing to greet him. After he fit it snugly back onto its usual place on his head, however, he realized there was something else.

Barnaby’s voice wasn’t half bad, really, but Kotetsu would never say so. As he left the locker room with a smile, he figured it best to leave Barnaby in blissful ignorance that his soulful song had been overheard.

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Despite Barnaby’s dedication and flawless work ethic, there were days when the load of responsibilities overwhelmed him. Not many people knew of Barnaby’s insomnia, but Kotetsu was familiar enough with his young partner to infer as much simply by the way Barnaby always seemed so tired by their lunch break.

The hero duo sat at their respective desks high up in the Apollon Media tower, and as Barnaby ended a call to yet another inquiring journalist, he felt like he was able to breathe for the first time all day. Removing his glasses carefully from his face and rubbing his tired eyes, he didn’t bother to suppress an enormous yawn before resting his head on his arms. He just wanted to close his eyes, only for a moment. Only until his phone rang again or the secretary called for him or more paperwork was thrown on his—

“Bunny? Oi, Bunny!”

The next thing Barnaby knew, Kotetsu was shaking him awake. He had lost track of time entirely. Had it been five minutes since he fell asleep or an hour? Surely they wouldn’t have let him sleep for a whole—

The moment he raised his head, he knew something was wrong. A gossamer strand of saliva connected his mouth to his hand, and all at once he realized that not only had he fallen asleep on his desk at work, but he had been drooling. Frantically, he wiped his chin with the back of his hand, terrified at the amount of wetness on his skin.

Kotetsu only smirked and held up a paper bag. “C’mon, Bunny. It’s lunchtime. I ordered a sub for you.”

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Meetings with Lloyds were usually awkward and uncomfortable, partially due to the fact that the man really needed to invest in putting a couple more chairs in his office. Staring down at their agent while he talked wasn’t exactly the most ideal situation for Kotetsu and Barnaby, especially when he kept them for long periods of time. Usually, meetings with Lloyds wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. Their valuable time was his valuable time, after all. However, when he did keep the partners for more than a few minutes, it seemed as if they could never leave.

Kotetsu shifted his weight from one foot to the other, obviously impatient and itching to get away. Barnaby succeeded at standing mostly still, his arms across his chest, and appeared to be doing an excellent job of keeping his composure.

That was before the hiccups came.

First it was just a tiny noise that Barnaby mostly managed to suppress. The second was not so discrete. Then there was a third, and a fourth. Barnaby lifted a hand to his mouth and glanced at Kotetsu with wide, terrified eyes as he struggled to stifle the sounds and tiny jerks of his body. As Barnaby’s hiccups intensified, Kotetsu struggled to suppress his laughter and he had to cover his own mouth in order to remain silent.

What made that meeting unforgettable was that their self-absorbed agent never seemed to notice a thing.  

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Barnaby hated his lisp. He had always hated it, but now that his career focused around social interaction and television interviews he hated it even more. It made him sound silly and immature, and even after fairly extensive speech therapy the disability struck him when he least expected it.

He stood in front of his bathroom mirror and stared his reflection in the eye. I am not going to lisp today, he told himself confidently. And then he began to say it.

“Sally sells seashells down by the seashore.”

He repeated the tongue twister a second time, looking himself in the eye and focusing on making his speech perfect. The most important thing, his speech therapist had said, was to watch his tongue and make sure it stayed behind his teeth.

“Bunny, what are you doing?”

Barnaby jumped, Kotetsu’s sudden presence startling him and ruining his rhythm.

“I was just—it’s nothing really—don’t pay any attention—“

Kotetsu grinned and lovingly wrapped his arms around Barnaby’s waist, resting his chin on the younger man’s shoulder.

“You want to know a little secret?” he whispered into Barnaby’s ear, which was flushed a bright red with embarrassment. “I love your lisp.”