"I'm not overthinking it," Barnaby protests. This is something that needs thinking. But maybe that's not entirely true. Nothing should be done mindlessly, but the vigilance that had characterized Barnaby's life before Kotetsu, that life of constant defense and caution, which closed up at the thought of letting someone in who might not be all that Barnaby needed ... he's resolute. He doesn't want to be that person anymore. He wants to be the person that Kotetsu can admire.

This is what's brought him all the way here, after all.

Swatting at the finger poking at his lip, Barnaby moves it out of the way, leaning forward again to slide their mouths together. He reaches between them to cup Kotetsu;s face, the jaw stronger than his own, his thumbs tracing small circles in the soft hair on his chin. Barnaby's never worn facial hair before -- he's surprised at the softness of it, when it's properly grown in.

"But this is more than just about what's around us, isn't it?" he says, breath too fast. "It's one thing to say you don't know where everything will end up. Just being here with you is all I want. There really isn't anything else. What's your girl going to say? Your parents?" Barnaby presses in for another kiss, brief but hard. "Agnes? Your friends? Are you just going to tell me, 'I can take it one step at a time'? You're not twenty years old anymore."