t&b+ What Boys Do To Impress Girls

[dreamship]

Fandom: Tiger & Bunny
Title: What Boys Do To Impress Girls
Characters: Kotetsu Kaburagi, Antonio Lopez, Tomoe Amamiya
Genre: humor
Rating: G
Summary: Antonio and Kotetsu take a trip down memory lane to recount the reasoning for Kotetsu's run.


Their days of hero duties were quite reminiscent of their high school days, complete with the days ending at their favorite hangout. After a particularly nasty double-defeat for the two older heroes, in which Sky High whisked away another five hundred points - really, he needed to stop one-upping them - the civilians Antonio Lopez and Kotetsu Kaburagi found themselves perched at the Hero's Bar, stirring through their drinks.

After the first or second alcoholic beverage, it was easier to let little slip-ups like that pass by. It was enough that both heroes found themselves laughing over the coverage on the evening news.

"Ne, have you always run that way?" Antonio asked, turning to his friend.

Kotetsu's eyes narrowed. "Why'd you go and bring up something like that?" he asked, lips barely straying from his soda's straw. It was some mix between cream soda and peach vodka - he wasn't sure what hero they had named this one after, but he liked it.

Antonio laughed, nudging Kotetsu's shoulder as he pointed to the screen. They were showing the dramatic chase on foot, which featured Kotetsu's odd leg movements. It was a fairly common thing, watching Wild Tiger run with his bony knees and strangely angled steps. Kotetsu was more than used to this, as usual, most likely because he had been at it so long. And Antonio was sure he was too, but under the haze of alcohol and pure curiosity getting to the better of him, he found himself thinking back to the older days when he had seen Kotetsu run.

And back when they ran around like idiots, he was pretty sure Kotetsu's run looked a little less...

Awkward.

"I've been running like this forever, 'tonio," the older hero murmured into his drink. "Why does it matter, anyway?"

"It doesn't. I was just wonderin'. Ne, Kotetsu... I'm pretty sure you didn't run like this before, though. Like in gym or something."

"You mean when we went to gym?" Kotetsu asked.

The Latino burst out laughing. Those were the days! Skipping classes, detentions, lying about homework, his sweet motorcycle that Kotetsu completely trashed--

That's when it hit him. Antonio turned to Kotetsu, who was in the process of ordering a Legend's Cola. His third that night, probably-- but that wasn't what he was thinking about. Yes. The beer-- no, the bike.

"Say, Kotetsu."

"What?"

"Remember my motorcycle from high school?"

Just the mere mention was enough to drain the color from Kotetsu's face, and as the man murmured something and turned to bury himself in his drink, that confirmed it.

---


It was one of those afternoons when Kotetsu was in love. Well, he was sure it was love, or something, because how the hell does the pretty class president Tomoe Amamiya give a person indigestion if it's not something else? (Either that or the staff undercooked the tacos at lunch again.) But he was sure it was love.

Hell, it was enough that it got Kotetsu at least attempting to sit through science, just so he could see her write the latest formulas on the chalkboard. When she started at the top, her summer uniform rose enough that he could see creamy flesh from a small gap in the back. That was what she was-- pale skin, dark hair, striking dark eyes, and even with glasses, she was definitely an inspiring force despite the 'plain' bits. Hell, she made plain look appealing.

It was probably because she could punch or something. But like hell he'd ask her out-- not now, at least. She'd already walked in on him drunk, already caught him skipping classes. Hell, he learned about her strong arm when she got mad at him for attempting to spraypaint the math teacher's door. He needed to get his act together before she'd even consider him, that was for sure.

...but it made him wonder how that got her to sit an eat lunch with him and Antonio on the roof some days.

It was a particular Wednesday afternoon when Kotetsu was feeling brave, after Tomoe had offered the boys her spare sandwich. She wasn't particularly hungry for a sandwich, feeling rather satisfied stealing some of Kotetsu's melon bread.

Love at first bite. Well, love the first time she stoke his bread in exchange for his sandwich.

The young boy turned to her, a goofy smirk playing on his face. "Ne, Amamiya-chan," he started.

"Don't call me -chan," Tomoe interrupted, dark eyes narrowed behind those bold red frames.

They didn't have that sort of relationship. Antonio had to bite back a laugh as Kotetsu amended himself. "Amamiya-san." When she nodded to him, he continued. "What's your type?"

Type? That was a little out of the blue. Antonio focused his eyes on trying to figure out how many layers of mayo Tomoe's mother put in her sandwich, so the staring wouldn't be as awkward on the girl. But the odd thing was: she gave Kotetsu a small smile.

"Whatever do you mean?" she asked, voice sugary sweet.

"Like... You're smart. Do you only date geniuses or something? Or anyone? Sports kids? Dancers? Jocks? Creepy NEXT?"

Tomoe frowned, obviously displeased by his choice of description. "NEXT aren't creepy, Kotetsu-kun," she scolded him. "Just because they have powers doesn't mean they're unnatural. You of all people should know that."

He mentally sighed at that. "Yeah, yeah... But really. What kind of guy do you go for?"

The girl smirked. "Why? Want to try asking me out again? I'm going to say no." Taking another cracker, she began to nibble on it.

Behind them, Antonio laughed. He honestly couldn't help it that time, even as Kotetsu angrily threw part of the crust at his head. He swatted it away.

"Give up, bro. Amamiya-san's just got too high of standards."

"That's not true--"

"So there's no way she's dating anyone from this school," he continued. He was just teasing her. After all, if two of them were going to be mocked, she needed to join this. "Her standards are just way, way too high. She's marrying someone in Stern Bild."

"I'm not marrying anyone!" Tomoe protested while Kotetsu began to chuckle behind her.

Lunch had gone about in that same manner, full of bickering and laughter as they ate. It was how it usually went, and as Tomoe nudged both of their shoulders and told them to hurry to class, she gave them that smile that reminded Kotetsu why he really, really liked this girl.

Later after school had finished for the day, Kotetsu followed Antonio to his motorcycle parked out back. Antonio didn't have much to do, seeing as he had (thankfully) avoided getting detention AND being grounded, so his time was free reign. Kotetsu just followed him eagerly, something obvious on the shorter boy's mind.

"'Tonio, let me borrow your bike when Tomoe gets out," he said.

Antonio stopped. "What?"

"C'mooon, lemme borrow it! Just for a few minutes, just to drive it out. Then you can have it back."

It took the older Latino a few good minutes of just staring, completely dumbstruck at this new scheme--he knew it was a scheme, and a stupid one at that seeing as Kotetsu didn't know how to ride a motorcycle. Needless to say, his answer didn't come as a surprise: "No. You're gonna crash it 'cause you're an idiot."

"Will not, you dumb ox!" Kotetsu argued, punching his friend's shoulder. "I rode one of Muramasa's friends' bikes once, didn't crash it. I swear. You can ask Muramasa."

...ask his brother, huh? Antonio resumed walking, giving this some thought. Of course, everything in his mind said "Kotetsu will wreck my bike" and "the dumbass is going to kill himself", but he could understand why. As Kotetsu punched his arm again, he glanced to the boy. "Why can't you just ask her out proper?"

"She already said no when I did that!" Shoving fists into his pockets, Kotetsu pouted. "Ain't my fault she's got Sternbild tastes."

Antonio sighed. He really couldn't blame Kotetsu. The boy was completely lovestruck, it was sickening. Well... what were best friends for, eh? And with Kotetsu's pining and enough annoyance, he really couldn't find much reason to say no.

Well, besides the fact that he doubted Kotetsu could ride a motorcycle.

Holding out the keys, he shrugged. "Knock yourself out."

~~

"When I said 'knock yourself out', I didn't mean it literally, you moron."

As the ambulance came, Antonio had to sigh, watching as the paramedics checked Kotetsu's pulse and vital signs while Tomoe all but panicked. It had been a definite spectacle to behold, honestly. After walking Kotetsu through the basics of balancing, the young NEXT had gotten pretty good at revving it up. Though, as Tomoe exited the school building with her bag in hand, Kotetsu tried to turn and face her while turning the bike in the opposite direction. It ended with a shaky half-turn, Tomoe's screaming, and his bike completely bruised against the side of the gym building with his best friend lying unconscious, legs askew. Basic first aid told him to just not touch the boy until Tomoe called the paramedics, but he couldn't bear to see Kotetsu like that.

It was downright embarrassing.

Sadly, the bike wasn't functional at that point, so the most Antonio could do was call a friend to ask him to tow it while he accompanied Tomoe to the hospital. At the hospital, he had received a pretty bad tongue lashing from Kotetsu's mother, who was appalled at the very idea of Antonio letting him ride the motorcycle-- and, even if he told his best friend's mother that it was his idea, the fact that he even let Kotetsu hold the keys put him in just the wrong.

Well, he'd be grounded for sure.

And, according to the doctors, so would Kotetsu. Two tailbone fractures, a broken femur, a concussion, and a sprained wrist... They were honestly surprised he didn't do more to himself.

But either way, Tomoe had been furious, his mother had been furious, and Antonio?

---

"Seriously, you can stop laughin' abut that anytime now," Kotetsu grumbled as he took another sip of his drink.

Antonio just pat his back. "Every time you run, Kotetsu! It's a riot!" For laughing, Antonio bought him a drink. He did kind of feel bad - after all, how many heroes had such a signature story to accompany a signature bow-legged run?

"...that really is kind of sad though, you know."

"Shut up about it already."

"You know, you could get it surgically corrected."

"'Tonio, I'm gonna throw you out of a window."

"Maybe you should. You'd run less weirdly in costume--"

They bantered for a good half hour more, which ended in Antonio buying him a round of drinks.