"But me?" Barnaby asks, though he takes comfort from the constant touch of Kotetsu's hand, the unshy tenderness of the fingers curled around the line of Barnaby's jaw. He doesn't need to have felt the same touch before to know what it means. It means that Kotetsu cares about him. And Barnaby knows that. He just doesn't know, for certain, if he's reading too far into something. It;s in his nature to test, before coming to a conclusion.

It isn't that he thinks he's damaged goods. It's nothing so banal. Barnaby knows that he is. It isn't an inflated sense of inferiority, but an honest acknowledgment that he lacks. He lacks things that people look for in relationships. It had taken a year alone to gain the acceptance of the other heroes in Stern Bild, even as friends. And Barnaby is still certain, between the two of them, Kotetsu is the more desirable in these ways, in personal ways.

"Maybe you're ready to move on, and maybe eventually I need to give myself the chance to open my heart and ruin a few relationships before I can hold a healthy one, but are you so sure your 'found somebody' is me? Even if I did just get a kiss out of you. Which I don't regret in the slightest."

He gives Kotetsu a demanding look, serious despite a pink face and red lips.