Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oyaji) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
destinystrings2012-09-23 07:44 pm
oyaji) wrote in destinystrings2012-09-23 07:44 pm
Entry tags:
CLOSED
Who: Kotetsu T. Kaburagi and Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Where: Kotetsu's apartment in the Pisces district; backdated after the Nightclub Mission
Summary: Faced with the reality of their sudden and very bizarre predicament, the former Heroes decide what the best way to proceed is.
Warnings: Cavity-inducing bromantic sentimentality
Before making it "home", Kotetsu pulled his partner aside to stop at a convenience store for a six-pack of beer, because they were going to need it. In fact, he got two, just to be safe! It never hurt to expect the worst, especially when the worst seemed to chase after them like grim death with a personal grudge. But now they had the means to fight him off: Booze! It had a wonderful way of minimizing the unbearable, of which he knew all too well.
Thankfully, he found himself on the first floor of the apartment complex. Apparently, someone had taken it easy on this old man, and a good thing too because there would be a lot less complaining on his part about his poor old man knees, his cliche of a hip, and how they ached in the winter months. A light stroll down the hallway was a fair compromise. Unlocking his door, Kotetsu pushed the it open and groped for any kind of light switch he could find around the walls. Well, there was, but it was quite dinky. The florescent light flickered on meekly, disappeared like a frightened animal, and then gradually came back out of hiding with a faint buzzing sound. Kotetsu couldn't have frowned harder even if someone a 100,000 Sterns were on the line as he came in and consciously ignored the shoe cubbies. This was his damn apartment and if he wanted to walk all over it in dirty soles, he was going to!
"Uhh, I guess put them in the fridge there. Thanks," he said, motioning toward the small antique of a refrigerator. The one he carried was brought into the next room where he--Oh... it's the bedroom. The bedroom?! "Hey! I don't have a living room!" What kind of crappy, half-assed apartment was this?! He didn't have a television either. Talk about backwater! This was worse than his mom's house!
"I guess we'll just sit on my futon..." Tomorrow, Kotetsu was getting some damn furniture so the two of them could have adult conversations, not pillow talk! Well, he supposed it wasn't all that bad. He tried to think of it as a slumber party! Except he had never been invited to one as a kid, so he would just have to imagine what a slumber party was like. Taking his shoes off, he slumped down on his bedding with his chilled six-pack and waited for Barnaby to get settled. His fingers picked at the plastic surrounding the lips of the cans as he tried to ground himself in the surreality of it all. It was weird, but sitting here in this apartment was more dreamlike than their mishaps in a demonic nightclub just hours ago.
Where: Kotetsu's apartment in the Pisces district; backdated after the Nightclub Mission
Summary: Faced with the reality of their sudden and very bizarre predicament, the former Heroes decide what the best way to proceed is.
Warnings: Cavity-inducing bromantic sentimentality
Before making it "home", Kotetsu pulled his partner aside to stop at a convenience store for a six-pack of beer, because they were going to need it. In fact, he got two, just to be safe! It never hurt to expect the worst, especially when the worst seemed to chase after them like grim death with a personal grudge. But now they had the means to fight him off: Booze! It had a wonderful way of minimizing the unbearable, of which he knew all too well.
Thankfully, he found himself on the first floor of the apartment complex. Apparently, someone had taken it easy on this old man, and a good thing too because there would be a lot less complaining on his part about his poor old man knees, his cliche of a hip, and how they ached in the winter months. A light stroll down the hallway was a fair compromise. Unlocking his door, Kotetsu pushed the it open and groped for any kind of light switch he could find around the walls. Well, there was, but it was quite dinky. The florescent light flickered on meekly, disappeared like a frightened animal, and then gradually came back out of hiding with a faint buzzing sound. Kotetsu couldn't have frowned harder even if someone a 100,000 Sterns were on the line as he came in and consciously ignored the shoe cubbies. This was his damn apartment and if he wanted to walk all over it in dirty soles, he was going to!
"Uhh, I guess put them in the fridge there. Thanks," he said, motioning toward the small antique of a refrigerator. The one he carried was brought into the next room where he--Oh... it's the bedroom. The bedroom?! "Hey! I don't have a living room!" What kind of crappy, half-assed apartment was this?! He didn't have a television either. Talk about backwater! This was worse than his mom's house!
"I guess we'll just sit on my futon..." Tomorrow, Kotetsu was getting some damn furniture so the two of them could have adult conversations, not pillow talk! Well, he supposed it wasn't all that bad. He tried to think of it as a slumber party! Except he had never been invited to one as a kid, so he would just have to imagine what a slumber party was like. Taking his shoes off, he slumped down on his bedding with his chilled six-pack and waited for Barnaby to get settled. His fingers picked at the plastic surrounding the lips of the cans as he tried to ground himself in the surreality of it all. It was weird, but sitting here in this apartment was more dreamlike than their mishaps in a demonic nightclub just hours ago.
no subject
Granted, this technically wasn't his (hopefully) temporary apartment, but Barnaby had a feeling the layout was along the same vein as this.
After putting up the extra beer, he walked toward where Kotetsu had settled. To be honest, now that they had some downtime, it was easy to doubt whether the man was actually here. But his surroundings, the nightclub, Kotetsu -- they were all too vivid and solid for him to decide it wasn't real.
Or maybe part of it was wishful thinking. It was too early to tell.
Weight sinking into the futon, Barnaby sagged with the sort of exhaustion that he'd only allow Kotetsu to see. Not that he'd broken much of a sweat, but the mental and emotional toll this sudden upheaval had taken was starting to catch up with him. It was difficult to take a deep breath, and he could feel the faint pressure on his temples that threatened to turn into a full-blown headache.
As he let his hands hang between his knees, Barnaby closed his eyes and tried to reel himself in.
"I don't want to do this," he quietly confessed without any preamble. Barnaby knew it probably sounded selfish and maybe a bit childish. Thankfully, he could be both of those things in front of his partner sometimes, and he knew the man wouldn't judge him for it. At the very least, getting that single sentiment off of his chest felt better than holding it inside.
no subject
"Well, you don't have to sit on my futon," Kotetsu finally said, fishing for a better explanation that he couldn't grasp wholly on his own. "If you prefer the floor... I'll get some chairs tomorrow so we can graduate from preschool."
no subject
"I'm talking about everything else," he added, slightly bowing his head as he stared at a fixed point on the floor. "We were pulled here without our consent, and now the people responsible expect us to defend this city with strange powers we've never possessed before. Are you honestly okay with that?"
His cooperation earlier had mostly stemmed from necessity rather than a genuine desire to help. Maybe his partner was really that much more generous than him, but Barnaby found it hard to believe that he could so easily accept being separated from his daughter like this. Granted, they'd been told that they had the ability to return home. On the other hand, that was assuming they could trust these people in the first place.
no subject
Now, though, it was everything he wanted again. Certainly he didn't have his daughter with him, but if this place was as dangerous as it seemed to be, she was better off in Oriental Town. It made his heart ache, though, knowing she would wake up and he wouldn't be there. No one will know what happened to him. That he wished he could spare them. No one should have to be punished for selfishness and yet it seemed to happen every damn day.
"But what choice do we have? I mean, they say we can leave, but if they really needed us that badly--Badly enough to kidnap us!--I can't see them actually making it easy for us to go back home."
no subject
That was assuming their gracious hosts weren't telling them some pretty lie in order to put them more at ease. Only time would tell. In the meantime, he was probably better off operating under the assumption that he wouldn't step foot into Stern Bild again until this mess was completely sorted out.
Barnaby fell silent as he contemplated what that meant for him -- for both of them. What choice did they have?
"I haven't seen anyone else that we know," he added after a moment. "It looks like it might just be the two of us."
no subject
Pulling a beer from the plastic, he cracked it open and took a long swallow. "But I'm... I'm glad you're here with me," he finally said, fiddling with the metal tab on his can out of some small fit of nervous energy.