Kotetsu lifts his chin proudly. "I'll have you know that I will be turning thirty-seven soon." All joking aside, Kotetsu has never been too sore about the fact of his age. He's lived a full life in a short time and he's grateful for it.
He knows he's luckier than some to have made it so far.
Kotetsu lets out a short bark of amused laughter at their question. "You could say that." Along with a few much more emphatic and less delicate things about their first couple of months as partners. He draws a knee up to his chest and rests his free arm across it, staring into the distance at nothing very much. "Bunny was just starting out in the hero business. I was...hah. As far as everyone else was concerned, I was kind of a dinosaur in the business, by that point."
Much as he blustered and complained about that assessment, while keeping up a good front and aggressively continuing to crush things for justice anyway, hearing as much so frequently and relentlessly from so many sides had started to wear Kotetsu down a little bit. Especially since he hadn't been unaware of the fact he reveals next. "They...pretty much paired us up because they thought I'd make him look good. I'd been a hero for probably a decade by then, and I was supposed to be his sidekick." That had stung. That had hurt. And it certainly hadn't made Kotetsu more inclined to give his new co-worker a chance for a while. "Neither of us really wanted a partner anyway, but it's like I said before. If the sponsors say 'jump', usually you've at least got to stand on your tiptoes."
He half reaches up in a habitual attempt to tug his hat down a little over his face, before remembering that it's still missing. It's his usual response when emotional subjects come up. But right now, talking about emotional things doesn't hurt quite so much. Maybe because, ultimately, he's still mostly talking about Barnaby. And Kotetsu likes talking about him, nowadays. "At the start, I thought he was just a hotshot kid who only cared about scoring points and giving interviews. But...I guess we got used to each other. I got to know him. And I guess he got to know me, too, because before I knew it, I was rubbing off on him. And he didn't even seem to mind."
Kotetsu thinks back to a bar after a fight. Remembers how he'd had a drink in his hand, how he'd been seething and at his wit's end, and how he'd looked up at the screen. He'd seen Barnaby there, in an old interview he'd never even known his partner had given, talking about the one man he most respected and admired. Talking about how he hoped to live up to that person's standards and make him proud. And Kotetsu remembered setting the drink aside.
"We had a pretty rocky start. But if I do say so myself...I think we turned into the best damn team that city ever saw."
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He knows he's luckier than some to have made it so far.
Kotetsu lets out a short bark of amused laughter at their question. "You could say that." Along with a few much more emphatic and less delicate things about their first couple of months as partners. He draws a knee up to his chest and rests his free arm across it, staring into the distance at nothing very much. "Bunny was just starting out in the hero business. I was...hah. As far as everyone else was concerned, I was kind of a dinosaur in the business, by that point."
Much as he blustered and complained about that assessment, while keeping up a good front and aggressively continuing to crush things for justice anyway, hearing as much so frequently and relentlessly from so many sides had started to wear Kotetsu down a little bit. Especially since he hadn't been unaware of the fact he reveals next. "They...pretty much paired us up because they thought I'd make him look good. I'd been a hero for probably a decade by then, and I was supposed to be his sidekick." That had stung. That had hurt. And it certainly hadn't made Kotetsu more inclined to give his new co-worker a chance for a while. "Neither of us really wanted a partner anyway, but it's like I said before. If the sponsors say 'jump', usually you've at least got to stand on your tiptoes."
He half reaches up in a habitual attempt to tug his hat down a little over his face, before remembering that it's still missing. It's his usual response when emotional subjects come up. But right now, talking about emotional things doesn't hurt quite so much. Maybe because, ultimately, he's still mostly talking about Barnaby. And Kotetsu likes talking about him, nowadays. "At the start, I thought he was just a hotshot kid who only cared about scoring points and giving interviews. But...I guess we got used to each other. I got to know him. And I guess he got to know me, too, because before I knew it, I was rubbing off on him. And he didn't even seem to mind."
Kotetsu thinks back to a bar after a fight. Remembers how he'd had a drink in his hand, how he'd been seething and at his wit's end, and how he'd looked up at the screen. He'd seen Barnaby there, in an old interview he'd never even known his partner had given, talking about the one man he most respected and admired. Talking about how he hoped to live up to that person's standards and make him proud. And Kotetsu remembered setting the drink aside.
"We had a pretty rocky start. But if I do say so myself...I think we turned into the best damn team that city ever saw."