Archive of Our Own

The end-of-season parties were always a bit of a mixed bag, in Keith's opinion.

As a celebration of another year of a job well done, and everyone making it through safe and sound, he truly appreciated them. He also really enjoyed the chance to thank the people who made his work possible, and to spend time with the other heroes out of the field; they were all very remarkable individuals, in his opinion, and not just because they had chosen to put their lives on the line to defend Stern Bild and its citizens.

But the atmosphere was always a bit too fancy for his taste; he felt uncomfortably constricted in his formal clothes and with his helmet hiding his face, and the whole thing often seemed like an additional performance, something they had to put on for the sake of all the rich and powerful people attending. It was, truth be told, a tad exhausting.

This year, though, pretty much all of Keith's stress during the party came from one thought, and one thought only: there was a new hero in Stern Bild, and he didn't have a secret identity.

Barnaby Brooks Jr. had shown up out of nowhere, full name and face on display, and he was going to be joining their ranks like it was normal, like it was possible.

Keith remembered perfectly well the day when all the news channels in Stern Bild had suddenly filled with the same report, broadcast over and over in a grim, surreal loop: Mr. Legend, the first and greatest hero, brutally murdered by a mysterious killer. Not on the streets, in the line of duty, but in the privacy of his own home, where he had been spending a quiet day off with his family.

While the city had mourned, the Justice Bureau had scrambled to maintain a sense of security, trying to make sure nothing like that could ever happen again. The rules governing the heroes had changed to maximize their safety, and that of their loved ones; among other things, their civilian identity would be hidden to everyone, even each other, and only a very select handful of people in the Bureau and in the sponsor companies would have access to it.

By the time Keith had become Sky High, none of the active heroes had known each other's real names or faces. The easy camaraderie shared by Mr. Legend and his colleagues had turned into a stilted, slightly paranoid dance where the heroes endlessly orbited each other, drawn together without ever being able to get too close. Keith didn't exactly like the forced distance, but the rule ensured that his family would be safe, so he had embraced it wholeheartedly.

And now Barnaby had turned all of that on its head. Keith wasn't sure what that meant for the rest of them, if anything would have to change, and he couldn't stop thinking about it, his mind stuck in an endless circle around the idea. So he just stood by one of the craft tables, alone, watching from a distance as Stern Bild's newest hero sipped champagne and chatted amiably with the sponsors.

"I know, he's very handsome, but if you keep staring like that, people are going to talk."

Keith jumped, and had to tamp down on his power so his feet didn't actually leave the floor. While he was deep in thought, Fire Emblem had appeared out of nowhere, leaning over his shoulder from behind to whisper right against the side of his helmet.

Keith floundered. "I wasn't— I mean, I was staring, I think, but—"

"Relax," Fire Emblem chuckled. "People wouldn't actually suspect you of ogling anyone. And I doubt half of them can even tell for sure where you're looking, with that thing on your head."

Keith stole another glance at Barnaby. "It's just... Doesn't it bother you?"

Fire Emblem grinned, coming around to stand at Keith's side. "That he's so handsome? It's a terrible burden, but I guess we'll have to bear it, somehow." When Keith didn't react to his joke, Fire Emblem's tone shifted to a more serious one. "I assume you mean the fact that our new friend over there lacks anything even resembling a secret identity."

Keith nodded, the helmet heavy around his head.

"It makes me worried," Fire Emblem said quietly. "For his sake, mainly. He looks pretty young; I wonder if he knows exactly what he's getting himself into."

"I hope he does," Keith said, and mentally added Barnaby to his list of people to watch over with a little extra care, both on and off the field.

-----

Later that night, Keith wondered if he should not have added himself to that list, as well.

He was stuck at this year's newest addition to the season's wrap-up events: a ridiculously exclusive after-party that not even the other heroes were invited to, but which he was required to attend as he had just been declared, once again, the reigning King of Heroes.

Feeling even more out of place than usual, Keith was sticking close to the CEO of Poseidon Line. Unfortunately, though, that essentially meant he was getting ceaselessly paraded around, and introduced to what felt like every single person in Stern Bild who could have single-handedly financed another year of his job as Sky High.

While he was staring at the wall of windows overlooking the city, seriously starting to wish he would get an emergency call to action, his boss once again touched Keith's shoulder to get his attention.

"Ms. Seymour! What a pleasant surprise. You haven't met our King of Heroes yet, have you? Allow me to introduce you. Sky High, this is Nat Seymour, the owner of Helios Energy."

Keith turned around, and promptly forgot every single thought he'd been harboring about escaping the party.

Standing in front of him was the most striking woman he had ever seen in his life.

She was tall, and wearing high heels to boot; he had to tilt his head back to look at her properly. Her dress was a waterfall of lavender silk, flowing elegantly over the long lines of her body. Her hair was cut short, just above her chin; it fell in lightly-tousled curls around her face, a stark counterpoint to how perfectly put-together the rest of her looked. Its most surprising feature by far, though, was its color: a bright, lively bubblegum pink, that made her stand out like a beacon among the stuffily-dressed people in the room. The vibrant shade was matched exactly by her eyes, and taken up again, this time much paler, by her lipstick, in a beautiful contrast to her smooth, dark skin.

She was, in one word, stunning.

And Keith was staring, again. He mentally shook himself and gave her his well-practiced Sky High wave. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am, and again, it's a pleasure!"

Her eyes filled with mirth, and for a moment he was afraid she was going to laugh at his too-earnest greeting.

But she just smiled brightly, in a way that was not at all unkind, and stepped in close to his side. "Believe me, the pleasure is all mine." She tipped her head toward a woman Keith recognized as the Helios Energy CEO, who had appeared alongside her and was whispering something to Keith's boss. "I think our friends have some business to discuss. Would you be so kind as to entertain me for a few minutes?"

Her voice was velvety and rich, lilting softly. Something about it nagged at Keith's brain, like it was supposed to be familiar, somehow. But he couldn't place it, and he was sure he'd never seen her before, even on TV: he would definitely have remembered her.

When Keith nodded, she slipped her arm through his, leading him away from the center of the room. "Perfect!" she said cheerfully. "I'm working on a project that involves kids, and I'd like your opinion, since you're so popular with them."

"Of course," Keith offered, and followed her through the parting crowd, too intrigued to pay any attention to the stares they were drawing from the rest of the room.

-----

When Keith finally got home that night, John jumped off the couch and trotted up to him, yawning, giving him a much sleepier greeting than usual.

Keith knelt down and scratched his dog's ears. "John! I'm sorry I was out so late. But... I met someone really interesting tonight."

Interesting was perhaps not quite a sufficient word to describe Ms. Seymour. Her "project involving kids" had turned out to be an extensive arts program, meant to help schools who had trouble with their funding. At some point, Keith had admitted that he sometimes dabbled with painting in his spare time, and from there the conversation had turned more personal, or at least as personal as it could be when one of the people involved had to keep most details about their life under wraps. But Ms. Seymour had to be good at keeping secrets, since the owner of each company knew the identity of the hero they sponsored, and Keith had felt so unusually comfortable talking with her that he'd probably said a tad more than he would have in other circumstances.

He had only realized that he'd spent the entire rest of the party with her when he had looked up and found the room nearly empty of guests, with a few people on the catering staff already starting to tidy up the tables. He wasn't sure how she'd kept everyone else away for so long, since the King of Heroes was supposed to be one of the main attractions of the gathering, but he had been grateful for that. He didn't remember enjoying a party with the sponsors that much, well, ever.

It probably had something to do with how, for once, he had managed to feel a little bit like he was there as Keith, too, and not just as Sky High. Ms. Seymour hadn't asked about his points, or his plans for the next season; she had seemed much more genuinely interested in his artistic influences and his favorite colors.

Once Keith was in bed, he fell asleep almost immediately, with John snoring softly against his side. When he woke up the next morning, his only memory of his dreams was a vague, fleeting impression of lavender and pink.

-----

After his morning run and shower, Keith sat down in front of his computer with his breakfast, and tried to look up more information on Ms. Seymour's arts program.

He couldn't find much; the idea was probably just in its earliest stages. He did, however, come across a rather impressive collection of other projects she was backing or participating in, and a few interviews, mostly about Helios Energy's involvement with the hero program.

Sipping on his coffee, Keith absent-mindedly clicked another link, and then he had to put down his mug very, very carefully, to make sure he didn't break it.

The page he'd somehow ended up on contained a thread of increasingly hateful comments about Ms. Seymour. The least horrible thing they were calling her was "not a real woman", and it all went downhill from there.

Keith quickly backed out of the page, his appetite gone.

Once, shortly after becoming King of Heroes for the first time, Keith had received a very heartfelt letter from a fan. A young man had wanted to tell Sky High that his constant bravery had inspired him to find his own courage, and he had decided to come out to his family and friends. In order to do so, though, he felt that he needed to have his new name ready, and he'd asked for a suggestion.

I know you can't tell me your real name, he'd written, although I would have been honored to name myself after you. So I'll just ask you if there's any other name you really like that you could give me. It would mean the world to me to have one that came from someone that I admire so much.

Keith had felt a huge responsibility at being asked something like that; before doing anything else, he had gone online and done some research about trans people, and how their choice of new names usually worked. Once he had been sure he could answer respectfully enough, he had spent some time debating the actual request.

Keith's favorite name in the world was John, but at that time he had just given it to his recently-adopted puppy, and he'd suspected that maybe not everyone would appreciate being essentially named after a dog, no matter how wonderful John was.

There was only one other name that he had been able to think of; a name that he could be sure had been given, and then always spoken, with the utmost amount of love, by the two people Keith himself admired most in the world.

And, well, he hadn't been using it much as of late. He'd figured he could gladly give it to someone else who would cherish it.

So now there was one more young man in Stern Bild named Keith. He couldn't know that he shared a name with his favorite hero, of course, but said hero had made very sure, as he wrote his own answering letter, to tell him how grateful and honored he had been to take part in such a pivotal choice, and for the chance to learn something valuable in the process.

And what Keith had learned back then meant that he was now painfully aware of exactly how awful the things those people were saying about Ms. Seymour were. He felt like he needed to take another shower, or possibly to blast someone into a wall with a well-placed gust of wind.

In the end, he settled for taking John for an extra long walk; but no matter how far they went, he couldn't shake the bitter aftertaste from his mind.

-----

That morning Keith got to work tired and on edge. All the heroes had been invited, rather at the last second, to a meeting with Agnes and Mr. Maverick, for some "notes on coordination ahead of the new season of Hero TV". He wasn't sure what that was about; they'd all been pretty good at keeping the point-stealing and the spotlight-hogging in check lately, and there had been no serious incidents caused by the heroes getting in each other's way.

Agnes and Mr. Maverick showed up to the meeting followed by Barnaby Brooks Jr. and, surprisingly, Wild Tiger, who was wearing civilian clothes and his usual domino mask.

Barnaby's face, of course, was unhidden. Keith felt his nerves return, and they only got worse when one last person entered the conference room, and he recognized Judge Petrov, the newest member of the Justice Bureau. Evidently, the matter at hand was not simply an entertainment-related one.

Everyone took a seat; Wild Tiger slouched grumpily next to Keith, and he wished the helmet would allow him to catch his friend's eye and try to get a hint as to what was going on.

"Thank you all for being here on such short notice," Mr. Maverick began. "We have an announcement to make. As of today, Apollon Media will be sponsoring two heroes here in Stern Bild: Barnaby Brooks Jr. and Wild Tiger."

Everyone turned to look at Tiger. He had sat up somewhat straighter at being addressed, but he still looked extremely grouchy, and he only gave a small, silent nod of acknowledgement to his new boss.

Mr. Maverick pressed on. "Therefore, we decided to bring a new idea to the table: Barnaby and Tiger will form the first hero duo in Stern Bild."

Tiger's mouth slanted downward, but he still kept it resolutely shut. Barnaby, on the other hand, looked perfectly placid, like he didn't particularly care about the announcement one way or the other.

Judge Petrov adjusted the folder he'd set on the table and took over. "The Justice Bureau has decided to approve Apollon Media's proposal. But only on the condition that all the other companies get a chance to implement a similar arrangement."

Keith frowned. Each of the other companies currently only sponsored one hero; if they were to employ a duo, they'd have to find six new heroes out of nowhere, fast, and that just didn't seem like a feasible idea.

"The companies have discussed this, and they have come to an agreement." Petrov tapped a long finger on his folder. "For this season of Hero TV, all of you will be paired up with each other, and work as Buddy heroes with your assigned partner."

A murmur went around the room; Dragon Kid leaned her elbows on the table, narrowing her eyes at the Judge, while Origami Cyclone shrank slightly into his chair.

Petrov didn't lose his focus. "As previously stated, the first pair of Buddy heroes will be Wild Tiger and Barnaby. Rock Bison will team up with Origami Cyclone, Blue Rose with Dragon Kid, and finally, Sky High will be partnered with Fire Emblem."

Fire Emblem, who was sitting on Keith's other side, turned his head to give him a small smile. He didn't seem particularly surprised or bothered by any of this, which Keith found pretty strange, considering that he himself felt like everything in the room had suddenly been tilted slightly out of place.

"The Buddy system is experimental; whether we decide to maintain it next year will depend on how it is found to impact both your individual and your collective performance," Judge Petrov concluded. "You will receive a briefing on the detailed workings of your pairings from your respective companies. I have been appointed as the supervisor for this project at the Justice Bureau. Ms. Joubert will continue to coordinate the Hero TV side of your work."

Agnes slapped her hand on the table, startling Origami into a sudden flinch. "That's right! This new dynamic will be a fantastic breath of fresh air for the show. You'll still be able to gain points individually, but there will be a paired ranking, and you'll have bonuses for coordinating with your partner." Her eyes were glinting with an enthusiasm that Keith found almost alarming. "I expect you'll all do your best to make this the most watched season of Hero TV ever!"

Judge Petrov discreetly cleared his throat.

"And to keep the city safe, of course, as always," Agnes added, shooting the Judge an offended look.

Petrov gathered his papers and stood up. The meeting was evidently over.

Keith looked around the conference room. Rock Bison and Origami Cyclone were staring at each other awkwardly; the girls had their heads together, already deep in a whispered conversation. Agnes was following Mr. Maverick out, alongside Barnaby, but Tiger hadn't moved; he was still slumped next to Keith, with his arms crossed, and as the other folks from Apollon left the room, he let out a heavy sigh.

Keith swiveled in his chair to face him. "Wild Tiger? What happened? Why are you working with Apollon now?"

"My old company got foreclosed," Tiger grumbled. "Apparently, I really suck at keeping those damage fees down."

The other heroes gathered around Tiger. Rock Bison laid a heavy gauntlet on his shoulder, making him sink down even further in his seat.

"Sorry," Dragon Kid said, in a small voice.

Fire Emblem crossed his arms on the backrest of Keith's chair, leaning over his shoulder to address Tiger. "It's on the company to manage their finances, darling, not on you. Don't feel too bad about it."

Keith nodded in encouragement. "That's right! Besides, Tiger, you only break things because you're so eager to do whatever is necessary to save people," he added. "I think that's admirable!"

Tiger frowned at him. "You save a lot more people than I do, and you pretty much never break anything," he muttered, with a dejected pout.

Keith felt Fire Emblem's hand land softly on his arm, and decided to quit trying to console Tiger before he managed to make things even worse instead.

Wild Tiger kicked his legs out and rolled out of his seat. "Anyway, I should get going. I'm supposed to be seeing someone about a new suit. Thanks for the talk, guys." He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked out, head held low.

"Bye," Blue Rose called out weakly. She was sporting her usual air of vague disdain, but she seemed like she actually felt a little bad for Tiger this time, although she would probably never admit it.

Rock Bison sighed. "We should probably get to those briefings. Come on, Origami." He stomped out wearily, and Origami followed him quickly, quiet as a shadow.

Dragon Kid bounced after them. "Rose?"

Blue Rose nodded and joined her at the door. "See you around, guys."

Dragon Kid gave them a friendly wave, and then the girls were gone, and Keith and Fire Emblem were alone in the room.

Keith turned his chair around to look at Fire Emblem, who hopped up to sit on the table, leaning back on his hands and crossing his legs. His ankle brushed lightly against the side of Keith's knee.

"So. What do you think?" Fire Emblem asked, rather nonchalantly.

He still looked completely at peace with the whole thing. Keith knew him to be pretty easy-going, but he also knew that Fire Emblem liked to be dramatic, and it seemed rather out of character for him to not be making a big deal out of such a significant change to their job.

Keith tilted his head at him, trying to decipher his reaction, or lack thereof. Over the years, he had somewhat learned to interpret Fire's expressions even with his hood in the way, but reading people was still not one of his strong suits. "Did you already know about all of this?"

Fire Emblem smiled apologetically. "Sorry! A little birdie may have spilled some beans yesterday." He straightened up, and folded his hands on his lap, growing more sober. "Seriously, though. Are you OK with this, Sky High?"

Keith thought about it for a moment.

He had often felt a bit lonely and isolated in his hero job. Having someone always by his side, who was actually supposed to work with him, rather than simply alongside him in a race to gain points and acclaim, actually sounded... wonderful.

"You know, I really think I am," he answered. "I love the idea of being part of a team. I mean, more of a team than we all already were, I suppose. It's all a bit... sudden, sure, but I like it. I really like it."

Fire Emblem shrugged. "If it's any consolation, it was pretty sudden for everyone, I believe. I think most of the arrangements were made just last night."

Keith suddenly remembered their CEOs huddling together as Ms. Seymour led him away from them, asking him to entertain her.

"Oh," he said, a bit dejectedly. "So that's why... Well, I guess it makes more sense now."

Fire Emblem tilted his head quizzically. "What does?"

Keith put a hand on the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Ah, it's just... I met Ms. Seymour at the after-party yesterday."

Fire Emblem perked up, obviously interested. "Did you now?"

"Yes." Keith looked down, remembering how happy he had felt laughing with her about his first, extremely messy foray into oil painting. "She talked to me for a really long time. I guess it was just so that our bosses could discuss this."

Fire Emblem pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "What, like chatting with you is a burden? No way. Nat doesn't do anything that she doesn't like, unless she absolutely has to. If she spent all that time with you, believe me, it's because she was enjoying it."

Keith blinked, somewhat reassured, but also surprised at the use of Ms Seymour's first name. "You sound like you know her pretty well."

"Mh. You could say that." Fire Emblem didn't elaborate, and he looked away casually, as if to dismiss the subject. "I think our own briefing is waiting. Come on, partner." He hopped off the table and made for the door, with his cape swishing loosely after him.

Keith stood up to follow him, but then hesitated, rooted into place by the nagging worry he had been plagued by since Barnaby had shown up.

When Keith didn't join him, Fire Emblem turned around to look at him expectantly.

Keith swallowed. "Ah. Fire Emblem. Do you think... Will we have to tell each other who we are?"

Fire Emblem stared at him for a moment, and then he very deliberately walked back to the table and stood directly across from Keith, leaning forward and laying his hands flat on the polished surface separating them.

"No," he said firmly. "You won't have to do anything you don't feel comfortable with. In fact, if anything they tell us at the briefing doesn't sit well with you, just let me know. I'll make sure it gets fixed."

Keith gave him a long look. The last twenty-four hours had been a confusing mess of things happening one after the other; some good, some bad, and some that Keith wasn't quite sure about yet. But Fire Emblem only rarely spoke so seriously, and when he did, Keith always felt an absolute, unquestioning trust in what he was saying.

"OK. Thank you," he breathed out, relieved.

Fire Emblem waved a hand dismissively. "Nothing to thank me for, really. I know Apollon was trying to pull a stunt there, but the Bureau and at least some of the companies still care about taking our job seriously. This new system is supposed to keep us safer, not the opposite."

Keith had a feeling that what Fire Emblem really meant was that his company cared; possibly, that Ms. Seymour did. Had Helios Energy specifically requested a partnership with Sky High? Had she taken him aside the night before to make sure he was the kind of person she would want watching her hero's back, since apparently Fire Emblem was not just her employee, but also her friend?

If that was the case, Keith had apparently passed muster, and he had every intention to make sure her trust in him was well-placed.

He rounded the table to reach Fire Emblem, and put a hand on his arm. "Let's go, then. Partner."

Fire Emblem gave him a nod and a warm, pleased smile. They walked out together, side by side, like a solid unit, and Keith savored the new, but already comfortable feeling. It was definitely something he could get used to.

-----

The first briefing had gone well, as had all the subsequent meetings about their team-up in the following weeks. The only complaint Keith might have had about them was that none of them had included Ms. Seymour, as he had half-hoped, but that wasn't really something he would have voiced out loud. She was definitely a fascinating person, and he would have loved another chance to chat with her, but there was no real, practical reason for him to want to see her, and he didn't want to make a weird impression on his newly-appointed partner.

On the field, Sky High and Fire Emblem, as it turned out, were a match made in heaven. Fire Emblem's power could be a weapon, a tool, or a deterrent, and his excellent control over his flames allowed him to use them as a way to cut off their target's possible escape routes without doing any permanent damage. Coupled with Keith's mobility, it enabled them to make arrests with incredible ease, and their duo was consistently situated in the topmost part of the Hero TV rankings.

To Keith, though, the most memorable moment of their partnership so far had been the first time they had combined their powers into a single attack. The resulting fireball had been so spectacular that the video clip depicting it got replayed on the news for days afterwards, and then ended up in all of the special reels about the first month of the new season and the birth of the Buddy system.

Off the field, things were still a bit of a work in progress, but Keith was confident that they were hitting their stride.

Fire Emblem was smart and charismatic, and Keith could easily rely on him during their appearances on TV and at public events. He didn't always share Keith's enthusiasm for what he called "the least exciting aspects of the job", but he only ever complained about it in a joking, good-natured manner, and he never, ever backed down from a task.

Keith, on the other hand, didn't always understand all of his partner's comments and jokes, but he sometimes suspected that it might be for the best. Fire Emblem's quips could get a bit... raunchy, at times, and Keith wasn't very good at dealing with that sort of thing without turning into an embarrassed, bumbling mess.

All in all, though, Keith really loved working with him. He considered all of his fellow heroes his friends, but this connection he was building with Fire Emblem felt more... real, somehow. He almost felt ashamed remembering how fearfully he'd asked him if they could still keep their identities a secret from each other. They were less than two months into their partnership, and he already trusted Fire Emblem with his life instinctively; the idea of trusting him with his name didn't seem nearly as scary now. He was, simply put, one of the best people Keith had ever met.

Which was why, when Fire Emblem was accused of murdering three men as they sat helplessly in their jail cell, Keith was furious.

He had never felt like this before; rage was definitely not a common emotion for him, but the very thought that someone could even conceive that his partner would kill someone in cold blood made him see red.

He managed to keep his anger mostly in check, but as soon as he heard the news he glued himself to Fire Emblem's side and refused to budge from there. He paced outside the room where the Bureau took Fire Emblem's statement about his whereabouts during the incident, and later stood firmly next to Agnes at the prison, watching closely as Fire Emblem's power was tested on the building and on Wild Tiger's suit.

Keith had volunteered to take Tiger's place, but Mr. Saito, the engineer from Apollon Media, had convinced him to step aside, insisting that the suit he'd built could give them much better readings, and thus would be more useful in exonerating Fire Emblem. Keith was pretty sure he'd also said something about Sky High's suit not being nearly as fireproof as Wild Tiger's, but the man was so quiet that even the external mics in Keith's helmet hadn't quite managed to pick up that whole sentence.

So Keith stood aside, in silent vigilance. He watched steel and concrete melt and crumble, caught in the raging inferno that his partner could produce with just his bare hands, and the only fear he felt was that people wouldn't believe Fire Emblem's innocence.

But when the alarms rang out, and they rushed out to the courtyard to see a screaming man engulfed in eerie blue-green flames, Keith felt his blood run cold.

The man died in Wild Tiger's arms, and all Keith could do was join Tiger in chasing down the distant figure he'd spotted lurking on a rooftop. But whoever the attacker was, they'd disappeared in an instant, and even circling the area several times from above, Keith couldn't get another glimpse of them.

He flew back to the others, feeling powerless and out of sorts. He'd begun to see fire almost as an extension of his friend, and now, faced with a more cruel, twisted version of Fire Emblem's power, and having witnessed first-hand the horrible way it could take a life, he was deeply, painfully unsettled.

-----

He stuck close to his partner for the rest of the day, while the evidence from the two attacks on the prison got reviewed. They ended up sitting with Wild Tiger in the archive room at Justice Tower, trying to research NEXT powers that could match what they had seen; they hadn't been able to find anything so far, but Keith desperately needed to feel like he was doing something.

Just after the sky outside had turned dark, Agnes called to tell them all the accusations had been dropped. Fire Emblem thanked her briskly, closed his search window and stood up, stretching his arms high over his head to loosen his stiff shoulders.

When Keith got up right after him, making a beeline for his side, Fire Emblem stopped him with a gentle hand on his chest. "Darling, I appreciate that you stayed with me all day, I really do, but I think I'd like to go home now," he said softly.

And home was, of course, the one place where Keith couldn't follow him, because he couldn't know where another hero lived.

Keith nodded, somewhat embarrassed. "Of course. Sorry. Just... Please, call me if anything happens."

Fire Emblem patted his chest. "I will. And don't stay out too late on patrol tonight, all right? It's been a long day, for all of us." He brushed a hand over Tiger's shoulder as he stepped away from the desks, and then he walked off slowly, most of the usual flair gone from his step.

Tiger got out of his chair and stretched, too, although less elegantly than Fire Emblem had, letting out a heavy sigh. "I guess we're done for today, huh?" He looked down at his hands, flexing them slightly. "Not that we actually did all that much."

Keith knew exactly how he was feeling. "Wild Tiger," he said, trying to sound steady and confident. "I know we couldn't save that man today, and we couldn't catch the killer. But we'll definitely find them again, and we will stop them. We will."

If Keith was honest, that little speech had been an attempt to reassure himself just as much as his friend, and the look Tiger gave him made it pretty clear that he hadn't missed that.

"I sure hope so," Tiger replied, with a small shrug. He turned and walked out, throwing Keith a tired wave over his shoulder. "Bye, Sky High."

Alone in the room, Keith turned off the computers they'd been using, and put in a quick call to the dog-sitter to let her know that he'd be late at work, and she'd need to feed and walk John this evening.

Then he took the elevator to the platform at the front of the statue, and stepped off from the railing, spiraling down and out over the city, searching for any sign of the mysterious NEXT they'd failed to catch at the prison.

-----

Unexpectedly, what he found, oh his third slow loop around Stern Medaille through a softly-falling snow, was the distant but unmistakable sound of machine gunfire.

He spun around, focusing the sensors in the helmet until the camera picked up some kind of mecha stomping around on the Bronze Stage, and a tiny human figure trying to escape it.

He launched into a steep dive, putting in a call to Fire Emblem on the comm system.

Fire Emblem picked up on the first ring. "Did you find something?"

Keith didn't have time to bother with a proper answer. "Fire! Something is attacking people in North Bronze! Can you reach me?"

He immediately heard some shuffling noises on the line, and then Fire Emblem's voice came back, a bit muffled. "In a few minutes! Can you hold it until then?"

Below Keith, the person who had been running away from the bullets ducked behind a corner; with them safely out of the way, he could strike. He flung a ball of compressed, spiraling oxygen at the mecha, aiming to take out one of its legs, and as the resulting explosion rang out, he came to a stop behind it, hovering a few feet above the pavement.

When the smoke cleared, the mecha was still standing, perfectly intact. It had a creepy shark face painted on it, and its very, very large guns were pointed straight at Keith.

"I'll do my best," he belatedly answered, and shot up again in a flash, trying to draw the gunfire away from street level. He passed over the mecha, darting a glance behind the corner where the civilian had fled, and was shocked to see the small silhouette from before resolve into a very familiar man, who was waving Keith down even as he ran away, half turned, a domino mask hiding part of his face.

Keith boggled. "Wild Tiger?"

"What about him?" Fire Emblem asked, on the still-open line.

The distraction had slowed Keith down, and he had to dip into a roll as a shot barely missed his side. "Tiger is the one being attacked!"

"I'll be right there," Fire Emblem promised, over more background noise, and then the call ended.

Keith banked hard to the right and dived down, straight at Tiger, sweeping him up off the ground without losing any speed.

"Ouch!" Tiger huffed out as Keith slammed into him. "Thanks for the rescue, but take it easy, pal!"

Keith carried him upward, keeping himself between him and the mecha, until he could reach the top of the next building over. "I don't think this is the right time to take it easy, Tiger!" He dropped them both on the roof, as more bullets whizzed above their heads.

They crouched low, the angle shielding them from the line of fire. Keith popped his head over the edge for a second, scanning the street below, and had to immediately duck back again as another burst of shots almost clipped his helmet.

He turned to Tiger. "I don't see any civilians around. Hopefully the noise made everyone run away."

"If they're any smart," Tiger agreed, pulling his hat down more firmly over his head.

Keith nodded. "Fire Emblem is going to be here any minute."

"That's nice." Tiger made a weird face and looked away, kind of sheepishly. "I talked to Bunny, but I don't think he's coming."

"What?" Keith quickly threw another look down. The mecha was starting to round the building they had landed on; they'd have to move soon, before it could come across anyone else.

Tiger sighed. "I did something silly to his phone this morning, and now he thinks I wasn't serious about the freaking death robot trying to gun me down on the street," he said, crossing his arms and pouting.

Keith didn't know if he was more in disbelief about Tiger's partner abandoning him, or about Tiger managing to prioritize complaining about it over everything else that was happening.

His perplexity was instantly replaced by alarm when the helmet's mics started picking up the roar of a very distinctive, very familiar engine. It was still faint, but Fire Emblem was definitely approaching, and Keith hadn't actually managed to give him any details about what they were up against.

"We have to go," he told Tiger, standing up and extending his right hand toward him.

Tiger's pout disappeared immediately, replaced by a determined look. He slid into Keith's hold, throwing an arm around his shoulders, and clung on as they took off from the roof, circling behind the last place Keith had seen the mecha.

Keith spotted it again in an alley, and used his free hand to send a gust of wind behind it, toppling over a dumpster as a distraction. When the mecha turned away, he moved behind the cover of another rooftop to head unseen toward the opposite direction, where he could hear Fire Emblem's car getting closer every second.

He finally saw it tearing down the street at top speed, and rushed to meet it head on. Fire Emblem must have spotted them, too, because Keith's communicator beeped with a new call.

"Fire Emblem!" he called out over the line. "It's right behind us, in the alley, and it's got machine guns. Look out!"

"Got it!" The car swerved, the tires screeching on the asphalt as it came to a stop sideways across the road. Fire Emblem jumped out, taking cover behind it just as the mecha crashed through the building's corner, bits of brick flying everywhere as it came into view, already shooting again.

Keith cut the call and turned in mid-air, flipping upward and left to keep Tiger as covered as possible. "Tiger, activate your power, now!"

A familiar blue glow filled the edge of his camera view, and Keith took careful aim. "Get behind the engine," he told Tiger, and then he shifted his grip on his waist and abruptly shoved him off, launching him away.

Their trajectories split apart; Keith used his wind to propel Tiger just beyond Fire Emblem's car, and at the same time hurled himself straight at the mecha, to draw its fire as Tiger sailed unprotected through the air.

"Sky High!"

Fire Emblem's frantic cry rang out so loud that Keith could hear it even over the gunshots; at the same time, a column of raging red fire erupted just below his flight path, melting the stray bullets he hadn't been sure he could dodge.

He skimmed the flames as he pitched back up, using their cover to execute a tight, teetering loop-de-loop that allowed him to reach his friends while still moving fast enough to avoid being hit.

Fire Emblem snatched him out of the air before he could land, jerking him down to sit between him and Tiger against the side of the car.

"Are you insane?" he yelled, shaking Keith back and forth by the belt he was still gripping tight in his strong hand.

Behind them, the car shuddered under another round of heavy gunfire, but it held.

Keith winced, and lifted his hands, palms out, trying to placate his partner. "It's OK! I made sure he had his power active before I threw him!"

Fire Emblem shook him again, hard. "It's not that!" he shouted, so angry that his voice was actually trembling with it. "I'm talking about you diving headfirst into a giant hail of bullets! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Keith opened his mouth to reply that his suit (or, at least, some parts of it) could actually stop bullets (certainly a couple of them, from a regular gun, but possibly even one as big and powerful as those they were dealing with, provided he got a bit lucky with the impact points), but right at that moment the shooting just... stopped.

After all the loud gunfire, the silence felt almost unnatural. The heroes all looked at each other, surprised, and then tentatively peered around the car. The mecha, surrounded by empty shell casings, took a slow step in their direction, but it didn't start firing again.

"Did it run out of ammunition?" Fire Emblem asked.

Wild Tiger didn't wait for an answer. He leaped over the car and ran straight at the mecha, smirking, a fist ready to strike.

And not a second later he skidded to a halt, yelping, and turned on his heel, inhumanly fast, to jump back towards them, as the mecha raised its arm and spewed a stream of blue fire in his direction.

As Tiger landed beside Keith again, Fire Emblem stood up, his mouth a thin, determined line below his mask. He threw his hand out, and a red flame streaked forward, crashing into the blue one, beating it back.

And then his attack stopped advancing. It got swallowed up, and fizzled out, and Keith had to spring up, tackling his partner to the ground before he could get hit by the incoming blue blast.

Fire Emblem was completely immune to his own flames, and, to their knowledge, to any kind of regular fire. But his power had just been overwhelmed, and blue fire, Keith knew, was the one that ran hottest. He remembered the man in the prison courtyard, screaming in agony as he burned to death, and his arms tightened involuntarily around his friend.

He lifted his head, glad that the helmet would cover how pale he'd gone. Fire Emblem was lying under Keith, staring at him, and thankfully he looked completely unscathed.

Keith sighed in relief, and then steeled himself once again. "Together?" he asked.

For a moment, Fire Emblem did nothing but breathe, his chest rising fast under Keith's, but then he gathered himself and nodded. "Together," he answered resolutely.

Still keeping low, Keith pulled himself to his knees to let him sit up. They disentangled carefully, and crouched behind the car with Wild Tiger at their side.

"Tiger," Fire Emblem whispered, "we'll give you an opening. Find a way to mess that thing up."

Tiger nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

Keith and Fire Emblem looked at each other, nodded in unison, and then jumped up at the exact same time. While Fire Emblem stood and shot another torrent of fire at the mecha, Keith kept going, rising above him, and a tight whirlwind rolled out of his hands, curling around the flame, fanning and focusing it at the same time into a thin, blazing jet.

The mecha's flamethrower roared to life again, but their combined attack cut straight through the blue fire, reaching its source. The weapon sputtered, dying for a moment, and Wild Tiger leaped into action.

He jumped on top of the mecha and kicked its arm clean off, weapons and all, in a shower of electrical sparks. Then he grabbed the panel covering its head and pulled, groaning with the effort, until he ripped it off with his bare hands like he was opening an incredibly stubborn can of tuna.

Keith would never stop being impressed by the strength of his Hundred Power.

The mecha's pilot was now visible inside it; Tiger saw him and did a double take.

Before he could say anything, though, the pilot looked up at a sudden noise, and Keith followed his glance to see two more vehicles approaching. Barnaby was riding his Chaser toward them, hair whipping in the wind, with Apollon's hero transport right on his heels.

Keith turned to look back at their attacker, but suddenly there was a flash of blinding white light; the helmet couldn't properly compensate for it, and for a couple of seconds he couldn't see anything at all.

When he managed to open his eyes again, the mecha had disappeared without leaving a single trace.

-----

Sitting inside the Apollon media transport, Keith wished, not for the first time, that he could take off his helmet and wipe the cold sweat off his face.

Tiger was trying, and failing, to recall where he had seen the mecha's pilot before. Barnaby was acting like the whole thing was beneath him, and Fire Emblem kept glancing at Keith and then turning away again, biting his lip, without saying a word. Maybe he was still mad, but if he was, he was being unusually quiet about it, and Keith found that even more stressful than if he had been getting yelled at again.

All in all, the whole thing, on top of the battle they'd just had, was exhausting.

But they didn't get a chance to rest. Tiger finally remembered that the pilot was the same man who had planted a bomb at Fortress Tower; it was likely that the attack had been a way to silence any witnesses who could identify him.

Which meant that Agnes, Cain and Orlando were also in danger.

Fire Emblem's car, even dented all over, could still keep pace with the Double Chaser, but both vehicles still had to follow the roads and ramps that connected the layers of Stern Bild. Keith didn't, and he was the first to reach Agnes in the parking garage, just in time to slam into the mecha's unarmed side as it went for her car.

The good news was that he had definitely managed to distract the pilot from Agnes; the bad news was that the guy had apparently had the time to reload his remaining machine gun. Keith had to dive behind a concrete pillar as the mecha started shooting at him again.

He jumped out on the other side, flying sideways as he hurled a rapid succession of small wind bombs in front of him. The pilot, unprotected, flinched, and the mecha staggered.

Before it could regain its balance, Barnaby appeared behind it, his suit lit up red in the half-shadows. It only took him a few well-aimed kicks to bring the mecha down for good.

The pilot rolled out onto the floor, unharmed. Keith saw Fire Emblem and Agnes peering from behind another pillar, where he had evidently pulled her to safety. Now all they had to do was bring the attacker into custody, and then maybe this day could finally be over.

But then the pilot turned around, and Barnaby started acting crazy.

He lifted the man off his feet, asking a bunch of questions that Keith couldn't make any sense of, about something called "Ouroboros"; when the guy didn't answer, Barnaby tossed him away like a rag doll, and then started to advance on him again threateningly.

Tiger grabbed him to keep him from reaching the man, but Barnaby would not listen to reason. He and Tiger started to shove at each other, and Keith jumped between them, trying to stop their argument.

In all the commotion, no one had seen the gun.

When the shot rang out, Keith whipped around almost as fast as Barnaby, whose Hundred Power was still active.

The pilot's weapon was pointed straight at Fire Emblem, who had stepped protectively in front of Agnes. The barrel was smoking, and Keith felt a sharp, suffocating pain in his chest, almost like he'd been hit himself.

For a second, his head was only filled with static, and a faint, distant thought, questioning whether blood would even show up on Fire Emblem's bright red suit.

But then Keith saw a few bits of concrete dust crumbling down from the ceiling, and he finally managed to start breathing again. Just a warning shot, then.

But the next one surely wouldn't be.

The pilot smirked. "Take off your masks and put your hands in the air."

Tiger flipped his helmet open. He was still wearing his domino mask underneath, but Keith didn't have that luxury.

He started reaching for his own helmet, slowly, dread curling in his gut. And then, just on the edge of his camera view, he saw Fire Emblem's hand rise toward his hood; it was, ever so slightly, shaking. And Keith had a weird feeling that it wasn't because of the gun.

He turned the movement of his hand into a sudden, downward flick, and a razor-thin blade of wind shot out in front of him.

It hit the hand holding the gun at the exact same time as a thin, bright streak of blue-green fire.

The gun clattered to the floor, and Keith frantically turned to search the skyline. For a moment all he could see was the moon, huge and weirdly red; but then he managed to zoom in on a slim figure standing atop a building spire, just in time to see it hurl a bolt of glowing flames toward them.

Keith moved, but he wasn't fast enough; the pilot was suddenly trapped in a vortex of blazing blue and green, howling in pain, just like the prisoner had earlier.

Not again, Keith thought, distraught.

The pilot stopped screaming and fell forward. Tiger and Barnaby jumped forward to catch him, but Keith knew that it would be useless.

He was airborne before the dead man hit the ground.

He pushed his jetpack to the max, shooting out straight at the silhouette he'd seen outlined against the red moon. He barely managed to see it jump down behind the building, and he adjusted his trajectory to intercept.

Just as he started to round the skyscraper, he got a glimpse of quick movement, and then his vision was filled with a blinding green flash.

He tried to roll and duck, but he'd been at top speed, and his maneuverability wasn't quite up to par.

A sharp, startling pain flared along the side of his left arm, and Keith lost control of his power.

He fell through the air, tumbling head over heels as he frantically tried to regain his focus. Just as he felt his power come back to life, a strong arm closed around his middle, and his downward plunge turned into a wide, horizontal curve.

Keith looked up; Tiger had swooped in to catch him, swinging on his wires.

He hooked his good arm around his friend's neck and held on, as Tiger circled back and deposited them on a rooftop.

Barnaby was already standing there, and he was on them as soon as they landed, angry and intense. "Where did he go?"

He made to grab Keith, but Tiger smacked his hand away. "Bunny! Watch it, he's hurt!"

When Tiger stepped in front of Keith, Barnaby grabbed his partner, instead. "Why did you stop me back there?" he asked, furiously, shaking Tiger by the neck. "I was so close! I could have finally found out what Ouroboros is!"

Tiger raised his hands defensively. "Bunny, hey, calm down—"

"I can't calm down!" Barnaby yelled, his eyes blazing. "They murdered my parents!"

Tiger went perfectly still.

Keith stood rooted behind him, cradling his arm awkwardly, and felt himself shiver in spite of the painful heat radiating from his wound.

-----

The burn, as it turned out, wasn't actually that bad. When the paramedics had cut away the ruined portion of his sleeve, Keith had seen an angry red swath next to his bicep, with just a few tiny blisters along its center. The suit hadn't held completely, but it had protected him well enough. Now that it had been treated and bandaged, the wound only hurt a little.

Unfortunately, none of that was stopping Fire Emblem from hovering anxiously at his side like Keith was going to fall over at any given second.

When they had returned to the parking garage, Fire had taken one look at the scorch mark on Keith's arm and immediately, thoroughly flipped out. He had latched onto Keith, turning him every which way to check him all over for other injuries, all the while scolding him loudly for being so careless and scaring him half to death twice in one day.

When he'd rounded on Tiger and Barnaby, ready to yell at them, too, Keith had just pulled him back by the wrist, shaking his head tiredly.

Fire Emblem's anger had subsided, but his fretting hadn't stopped, and now he was sitting almost on top of Keith, their thighs brushing and his side pressed along Keith's good arm, his hand resting just inches away from Keith's hip.

Keith found that, weirdly, he didn't mind that at all.

They were on the steps leading down to the small lounge area in the Apollon transport, where they'd retired after Keith had been treated and they'd all given a brief statement about the whole incident.

In front of them, Tiger was questioning Barnaby about his behavior, but he wasn't having any luck; Barnaby himself was hunched over, with his head down and his hair obscuring his face, utterly crestfallen and completely uncooperative.

Keith remembered how his usually cool voice had exploded with emotion on that rooftop, and quietly ached for him.

Barnaby, though, didn't seem to want any sympathy, or any help. All they could get from him before he walked out on them was that the pilot's tattoo meant he'd had a link to Ouroboros, a supposed crime syndicate that Barnaby suspected had been behind his parents' murder.

The way the pilot had died left little doubt that the NEXT Keith had tried to chase down had been the one behind all the murders at the prison, too. But they had no idea who he could be or how to find him, and when Fire Emblem insisted that they should go home and get some rest, Keith didn't have the energy to protest.

It took him much longer than usual to fall asleep that night; the throb in his arm was a constant reminder of the two men he'd failed to save, and he kept glancing at his phone on the nightstand, wishing it wasn't far too late to call his parents.

In the end, even with John's nose tucked comfortingly against his hand, he drifted off uneasily, hoping desperately that he wouldn't dream of fire.

-----

The next day, Fire Emblem called Keith and Tiger to the Helios Energy headquarters; apparently, he'd found some information about what had happened to Barnaby's parents.

As they waited in a lobby on the higher floors of the building, Tiger nodded to Keith's arm. "How's it going?"

Keith sat back, suddenly struck by a realization. "I didn't even thank you last night!"

"Huh?" Tiger tilted his head, surprised. "Well, you helped me first yesterday, so I guess we're even, right?"

Keith shook his head. "It's not an exchange. Thank you, Wild Tiger. Thank you for catching me. I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier."

Tiger rubbed the back of his neck. "Eh, don't worry about it. There was a lot of stuff going on, what with Bunny freaking out and all that."

"Have you talked to him today?" Keith asked, keeping his tone gentle.

Tiger shrugged, but the casual air he was trying to put on was horribly unconvincing. "Nah. I don't think he'd want me to; he's probably still pissed at me. Maybe after we hear what Fire Emblem found," he added, but he didn't sound particularly hopeful.

Keith felt sincerely bad for his friend. He couldn't imagine Fire Emblem ever being that cold to him; even the night before, when he'd been angry at Keith, he hadn't gotten hostile, or distant; just very loud, and then very quiet. For someone as warm and dedicated as Tiger, working with a partner like Barnaby had to be really hard.

But apparently, as it turned out, Barnaby had a pretty good reason to be as aloof as he was. Keith had given in to temptation and given his parents a quick call over breakfast; it had soothed him a bit, but it had also made him feel even sadder for Barnaby.

Keith was startled out of his musings by the unmistakable click-clack of high heels on a tiled floor. He whipped around, hopeful, but the lady who was entering the room with Fire Emblem, while pretty and very well-dressed, was definitely not Ms. Seymour.

He turned to face Tiger again, slightly embarrassed, as the woman kept going and left the lobby through the opposite door.

Fire Emblem, instead, joined Keith and Tiger at the table. "Sorry I made you wait," he said, sliding into the seat next to Keith, and laying a gentle hand on his good arm. "How are you doing?"

Tiger perked up, interested, and Keith realized he hadn't gotten around to answering the same question earlier.

He waved a hand, trying to be reassuring. "I'm fine. My suit stopped most of the heat; it's barely worse than a bad sunburn, really."

Fire Emblem scoffed. "Well, 'most' is not nearly good enough. We've sent Poseidon some material specs, and they're going to upgrade your suit so it matches the resistance rating on mine, at least. You should get the new model within a few days, a week at the most."

Keith stared at him, amazed. Fire Emblem had always seemed to have a bit more of an in with Helios Energy than the other heroes had with their companies, but the way he just made things happen sometimes was still very impressive. Especially since it now apparently included getting Helios to share their proprietary research with a rival company.

"That's... fast. Very fast. Thank you," Keith told him, hoping he was fully conveying how grateful he was.

Fire Emblem, though, seemed almost upset by his comment. "Fast? I can't believe we didn't do this on day one of the Buddy program. You work with me now, you need to be completely fireproof." He flicked his chin up, the picture of airy, exaggerated irritation, but there was a dark undertone to his voice.

Keith spoke without thinking. "But you wouldn't hurt me."

Fire Emblem's puffed-up attitude deflated in an instant, replaced by an earnestly serious demeanor.

"Never. Never on purpose." He looked away for a moment, full lips thinning into a hard line. "But I'm not perfect, and accidents happen. You're getting a new suit, and that's the end of it."

Keith blinked, taken aback by his partner's vehement insistence. "OK. Thank you, Fire Emblem. I really appreciate it."

Fire Emblem nodded, satisfied, and some of his usual lightness seemed to come back to him. "Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me suggest any aesthetic changes. I had such wonderful ideas for you."

Across the table, Tiger choked, half a stifled laugh and half something undefinable. "That's— that's probably for the best," he muttered, glancing meaningfully at Fire Emblem's very bright, very flashy, very... tight suit.

"Hey!" Fire Emblem protested, affronted.

Keith, though, privately kind of agreed with Tiger. Fire Emblem's style was definitely not something that Keith himself could pull off.

Or probably anyone else, really.

Keith put a hand on Fire Emblem's wrist, stopping him from wrinkling the sheet of paper he was carrying in his indignation. "Is this what you found?" he asked mildly.

"Oh?" Fire Emblem immediately refocused on him, and Tiger shot Keith a thankful look. "Yes. This is about Handsome's parents."

He spread the paper on the table; it was a page from an old issue of the Stern Bild Times, where an article on the bottom half detailed the assassination of a wealthy couple.

Even without the names, Keith might have recognized the victims as Barnaby's parents: the woman in the black-and-white picture bore a striking resemblance to him, down to the loose light curls framing her elegant face. He felt the deep sadness from last night rise up in him again, and let himself shift a bit closer to Fire Emblem as he examined the article.

Tiger leaned in from across the table, and Fire Emblem slid the newspaper around so they could all peruse it more easily.

Keith half-listened to their conversation as he read the whole thing, the facts and speculations adding up in his head. The house had been destroyed by a fire, but no witness had mentioned anything strange about the flames, and Mr. and Mrs. Brooks' cause of death had actually been a matching pair of gunshot wounds. If this crime syndicate Barnaby had mentioned had indeed killed them, and the NEXT they'd seen yesterday was connected to the whole thing, he was probably not the assassin, but just someone who was trying to cover the organization's tracks by silencing criminals who were, or had been, part of Ouroboros.

While Tiger tried to contact Barnaby on his PDA, without getting an answer, Keith noticed a detail in the article that made his heart clench. "He was only four," he whispered, resting a gloved hand on the page.

"What?" Tiger asked.

"Barnaby," Keith explained. "He was only four when his parents died."

Tiger's expression grew very somber, and then he suddenly got to his feet. "Excuse me, guys. I have a show to rehearse."

Fire Emblem looked up at him, surprised. "That's all you have to say? I didn't think you were such a cold person, Tiger."

Tiger shook his head, looking down. "It's not like that. I just think... Maybe Bunny wouldn't want us to dig into this. It's his life, after all." He stepped away from the table, his fingers sliding off the newspaper, away from Keith's, and left the room with a mumbled goodbye thrown over his shoulder.

When the door closed behind him, Fire Emblem leaned back on the seat next to Keith, crossing his arms. "What do you think?"

Keith sighed inside his helmet. "I think we need to do something. Even if Barnaby doesn't want our help, we need to stop that NEXT. But... other than maybe keeping an eye on the prison, I don't know how we can do that." His hand went to his arm, stopping just before it could brush against the bandage hidden underneath his backup suit.

A gentle hand slid around his elbow, tugging slightly until Keith's hand stopped hovering above his wound. Fire Emblem had evidently caught his gesture.

When Keith turned, he saw him biting his lip, like he was deliberating.

"I need to ask you something," Fire finally said, in a low, serious voice.

Keith tilted his head at him. "What?"

Fire Emblem was looking at him with an intensity that was clear even through his mask. "Would you promise me that you won't go after him alone again?"

The request made Keith's heart clench. He would have done pretty much anything for his partner, but Fire Emblem had managed to ask him the one thing that he just couldn't agree to.

He shook his head slowly. "I can't," he whispered, through a suddenly tight throat. "I can't promise you that. I'm sorry."

Fire Emblem inhaled sharply. He turned to face Keith completely, leaning in, one arm on the back of the bench seat and the other on the table. "Why?" he asked, in a tense, tightly controlled voice.

Keith looked down at his hands, still resting on the spot where Barnaby's name was printed on the page. "Fire Emblem... sometimes there are places that only I can go. What if I'm the only one who can catch up to him?"

"Oh, like you caught up to him last night?" Fire Emblem clenched his fists, so hard that the material of his gloves creaked faintly. "Tiger said you fucking fell out of the sky." His voice finally cracked, filled with anger, and fear, and something more that Keith couldn't quite name.

Keith swiveled to face him head on, sitting up as straight as he could. "And I would have been fine, even if Tiger hadn't been there. He caught me just as I was about to power up again. I would not have hit the ground."

Fire Emblem bit his lip again. "Is that so?"

Keith nodded firmly. "Yes. And now I know how that guy moves, and how fast he is. He won't catch me off-guard again. I can do this."

He stared at Fire Emblem, desperately willing him to trust him. If his partner didn't believe that he could do his job, he didn't know what that would mean for their future as a team.

It took a few seconds, but Fire finally let out a long, shuddering breath, and the tension seemed to leave his body along with the air. His shoulders sagged, and his head tipped down, close to Keith's shoulder.

"I know you can," he said, and although his tone was weary, it was clear he really meant that. "It's just... I'd rather you didn't get hurt again in the process."

Fire Emblem looked up again, and seemed to realize only then that he was almost nose-to-helmet with Keith, and had essentially boxed him in against the wall.

He leaned back carefully, and when he spoke again his voice was soft and pleading. "Could you at least wait until you're healed? And you have your new suit?"

"That's just going to be a few days," Keith argued, but his tone had lost some of its resolve.

"Which should make this easy, right?" Fire Emblem pointed out gently. "He might not even show up again in that time. But if he does, and he's not threatening anyone... Please, don't risk yourself just to chase him. Just for my own peace of mind, okay?"

Fire Emblem was usually bold, and assertive, and not overly concerned with people's personal space. But right then, even if he hadn't moved away, he was evidently doing his best not to crowd Keith with his larger frame, and he just looked so... soft.

Keith felt himself cave.

"I... All right. I promise." He held out a hand in the small space between them, awkwardly.

Fire Emblem grabbed it, but instead of shaking it, as Keith had intended, he just held on. "Thank you," he said, and his relief was almost palpable.

"I feel like I should be thanking you," Keith murmured, looking down at their hands. "You keep taking care of me."

Suddenly, Fire Emblem's other hand was tucked under Keith's chin. He tilted the helmet back up, and gave Keith a sweet, but playful smile. "I'm not just doing it for you, you know." he said. "You can't make me worry too much. I'm far too young and beautiful to get gray hairs yet."

Keith burst into a short laugh, inordinately happy to see his partner's usual breezy attitude finally come back to him.

Fire Emblem slid back on the bench and stood, pulling Keith out of his seat along with him in one smooth, elegant movement. "Come on. It's almost lunch time, and you need to get to a place where you can take that bucket off your head and eat something." He let Keith's hand slip out of his at last, and started leading the way out of the lobby, back through the door he'd arrived from earlier.

Keith followed him, but he also raised a hand to his head, self-conscious. "Bucket? It's not that bad. Is it?"

Fire Emblem gave the helmet an extremely unimpressed look. "I'm sure it's very... aerodynamic," he conceded. "But you really should try to convince your company to let me give them some design input. Think about it. We could have matching bird themes! It would be perfect."

Keith laughed again, even as he shook his head in confusion. "What?"

"Yes!" Fire Emblem clapped his hands together, enthusiastically. "A phoenix and... Mh. An eagle is too obvious. And too large." He paused, tapping a finger against his lips in a show of deep consideration. "I'm thinking some kind of falcon. A kestrel, perhaps! Compact, cute, efficient. Very you."

It took Keith a few moments to process all of that. "... You think I'm short?"

Even though the heel on Keith's boots was slightly thicker, Fire Emblem still had a good four inches of height on him. It wasn't something Keith usually thought about, and it was probably hard to tell with the helmet in place, but he was certainly aware of it.

Fire dropped his face into his hand and sighed dramatically. "Of all the things— No, sweetie," he said patiently. "Don't worry, you're fine just as you are."

They had reached an elevator; Fire Emblem gestured him inside and punched in a floor number.

"Where are we going?" Keith asked.

Fire Emblem smiled mysteriously. "You flew here, didn't you? No car? No transport?"

"No. I mean, yes. I flew," Keith answered, still confused. He'd met Tiger in front of the building and come in through the main entrance on the Silver Stage, but that had been downstairs from the lobby they'd just left, and the elevator was going up instead.

The doors slid open, and Fire Emblem stepped out into a huge, ornate room. One wall was all glass windows, and outside Keith could see a large balcony arching out from the side of the building.

"Ta-da!" Fire Emblem said, with a theatrical flourish of his hands. "Shortcut."

He walked to the balcony doors and led Keith outside. The view was the same East-facing one they'd had earlier, just from a bit higher up. They had to be on the very last floors of Helios Energy, the ones that held the executive offices on the Gold Stage.

Keith looked North, to their left, where he knew the Poseidon Line headquarters were hidden behind the giant gold flames adorning the corner of the building. Keith did usually prefer to take off from higher locations, but this wouldn't really cut the already short distance he'd have to cover, especially since he usually got into Poseidon from the Silver Stage entrance.

"Shortcut. Right," he said, unconvinced.

"It's easier to fly down than up, no? Since you're hurt, you should take it as easy as you can. No sense in putting any undue strain on your injury." Fire Emblem's tone was concerned, but his mouth was stretched into a grin. A very mischievous one.

For once, Keith actually got the joke.

He put his hands on his hips in fake indignation. "You do know I don't flap my arms like wings to get around, right?"

Fire Emblem laughed, delighted. "Of course you don't!" He paused, lacing his hands innocently behind his back. "Kestrels are very good at gliding."

Keith tried to project extreme disapproval with his stance, but he was finding it extremely hard to stay serious. In the end, he let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head, and smiled fondly at his partner.

Fire, of course, couldn't see his smile, but he gave Keith one of his own anyway, making a fluttering motion with his hand. "Now fly off, little birdie, before you get too hungry to reach your nest."

Touched in spite of all the teasing, Keith ducked his head. "Thank you, Fire Emblem," he said softly. It came out a bit more serious than he'd intended, but that was fine. He meant it.

Fire Emblem gave him another warm smile. "Thank you, Sky High." He didn't specify if that was for coming over or, maybe, for the promise Keith had made him.

Keith had a feeling that it might be for the latter.

He activated his power and then his jetpack, pushing up from the ground, and waved at Fire Emblem before turning around and taking off, launching into a wide arc that would keep him away from the billboard blimps circling the upper city levels.

The trajectory also left the balcony in sight for part of his flight; when he glanced back, already a couple hundred meters out, he saw Fire Emblem still standing there, watching him, his cape fluttering gently in the cool November wind.

-----

When they were called to the eastern downtown area that night, Keith couldn't shake off a nagging sense of unease.

The mission was a coordinated raid on a criminal hideout; all the heroes would be working together, and they'd have the police backing them up, as well. But it was the kind of situation where the intel was always lacking, and Keith had had enough bad surprises in the last couple of days to last him for a long, long while.

He hovered quietly above the abandoned church, high enough to be nearly impossible to spot against the night sky. He had an eye on most of the other heroes; Fire Emblem was on the street below him, the girls were on a rooftop, and he could see Tiger and Barnaby silhouetted against the backdrop of Stern Medaille in the distance.

Barnaby had been unreachable for the whole day; him showing up for the mission was certainly a good sign, but Keith could only hope that he had calmed down enough to keep from jeopardizing the operation. There was no way to know beforehand if the crime syndicate they'd be hitting actually had anything to do with Ouroboros, but if Keith had thought of that possibility, Barnaby surely had, too.

The comms were open; Agnes had a countdown going to the start of the live broadcast, which would also be their signal to act.

When it got to one, Keith tensed, ready to dive in, but at that very moment something bright streaked past below him, and the church exploded into a blue-green inferno.

Keith froze. More fire bolts appeared, bursting out from a point so far away that Keith was having trouble triangulating its position. They hit the church again, and then the power lines, taking out the lights in that whole section of the city.

An angry roar filled the comm line, and the two white figures on the overpass sped off in opposite directions, one of them streaking faint red light behind it: Tiger was coming closer, but Barnaby was going after the NEXT.

Keith almost followed him.

Almost.

But he glanced down, and saw Fire Emblem with his head tipped back, staring up at Keith just for a moment before he turned and ran toward the burning building.

Tiger was right: they had to save the criminals from the fire.

And besides, Keith had made a promise.

He flew after his partner, bracing himself as gunfire started ringing out from inside the church. Evidently the guys on the inside hadn't yet figured out that the heroes wanted to help them.

Keith dived through a window that had shattered in the explosion, grabbing the first human figure he saw and carrying the man outside as fast as he could. He did it again, and again, until his burned arm was throbbing painfully and sweat was stinging his eyes. But none of the people he was finding were breathing by the time he managed to deposit them on the street, and it didn't seem like the others were faring any better.

And then the voice came. Mocking the heroes for how useless they were, and ranting about "real justice".

Keith tightened his grip on the man he was holding. He wasn't moving at all.

The NEXT was right. They were too weak to save these people.

But Keith didn't know what else he could do, except keep trying anyway. He laid the man down on the sidewalk, next to the one Fire Emblem had just carried outside, and darted back into the flames.

-----

One person.

They had managed to save only one person from the fire, a man Rock Bison had stubbornly refused to let die.

Keith looked around the scene, at the last bodies being carried away, at the exhausted heroes climbing into their transports. He told himself once again that it mattered. That they had made a difference.

One life.

It had to be enough.

When he heard soft footsteps approaching, Keith turned, and even that small movement felt too heavy.

The bright colors of Fire Emblem's suit were dulled by a layer of dark soot. His movements were slow, but steady; no injuries, Keith assessed, just the same bone-deep weariness that he himself was feeling.

Fire stopped close to Keith, even closer than usual, and swayed for a moment; like he had been going to lean against him, but had changed his mind at the last second.

Keith closed the gap himself, letting his shoulder brush against his partner's.

Fire Emblem gave him a tired half-smile. "Hey. How are you?"

His arm hurt, he felt completely empty, and he kind of wanted to punch something.

"I'm... dealing" Keith said.

Breaking their slight contact, Fire Emblem leaned back and crossed his arms skeptically over his chest. "Are you?"

Keith sighed, letting his head hang down. "I'm not hurt any worse. And this whole thing... It was horrible. Really horrible. But none of us got injured, and we saved that man. That has to count for something." He looked up again, searching Fire Emblem's face for confirmation. "It has to. Right?"

Fire Emblem put a gentle hand on his arm.

"It counts," he said, kindly. "A life always counts. But I'd sure feel a hell of a lot better if Handsome had managed to catch that Lunatic asshole, at least."

Inside the helmet, Keith grimaced. Maybe, if he had gone with Barnaby, the two of them together could have found a way to corner him.

"But thank you," Fire Emblem added. "Thank you for keeping your promise."

Keith stared at him, surprised. Sometimes, Fire Emblem seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, without him having to say anything at all. Keith sort of secretly loved when that happened.

But it didn't seem fair to accept his partner's thanks, when he had actually come so close to breaking their promise.

"I almost didn't," Keith confessed, bracing himself for Fire's reaction.

But Fire Emblem just shook his head, chuckling softly. "I'll take almost, any day, if it keeps you around and in one piece," he said, giving Keith's arm a soft squeeze.

Keith didn't quite know how to respond to that, but one thing he knew was that he wholeheartedly returned that sentiment. "Uh. I also like you being around. And in one piece," he said, cringing slightly at how clumsy he sounded.

Fire Emblem didn't seem to mind the awkwardness, though. He just smiled wider, and pushed Keith gently toward the Poseidon Line transport waiting at the street corner. "Let's go home. I don't know how many showers it's going to take to get rid of this smell, and I want to get to bed at some point before tomorrow rolls around."

Right. Keith's helmet had a good filtration system, so he hadn't considered it, but between the burning building and, worst of all, the charred corpses, the place had to smell pretty horrific.

It occurred to him then that this was another thing he didn't know about the other heroes, as he was only ever around them with the helmet on. Maybe Dragon Kid trailed a faint hint of ozone wherever she went. Maybe Origami's hands held the scent of the oil he used to polish his weapons.

If he could be around Fire Emblem face to face, would he be reminded of a blazing bonfire? Or of the warm embers in a cozy home's hearth?

"I bet you smell good," Keith mused, and then he realized what he'd said and snapped his mouth shut, embarrassed.

Fire Emblem looked confused, and possibly mildly alarmed. "Definitely not right now!" he argued. "But thank you for the vote of confidence, I suppose. Now go, though, you clearly need some sleep. Shoo."

He pushed Keith toward the transport again, and Keith went, a little dazed. One day he'd get a handle on his innate ability to make things weird with other people, but evidently this was not that day.

On the steps, he glanced back to see Fire climbing into his own transport. His partner had stopped in the same position, and they stared at each other for a moment, in a silent, haggard mirror.

"Good night," Keith called out.

Fire Emblem gave him a small wave with his fingers. "Sweet dreams, birdie," he called back, and then closed the door behind him.

Keith entered the transport, smiling faintly. When he was safely hidden inside, he took off his helmet, and immediately regretted it.

The stench clinging to his suit was, indeed, horrible, and knowing what it came from made it a hundred times worse.

Fire Emblem was right. One shower was not going to be nearly enough to wash this awful night off.

-----

The feeling of powerless exhaustion from that mission clung to Keith heavily over the next couple of days.

They had no idea how to find Lunatic, or how to actually stop him if he showed up again. And in spite of the horrible things he had done, the people of Stern Bild had embraced him. He was extremely popular, while the approval rating for the heroes was the lowest it had been in years. People were calling them useless, just like Lunatic had, and Keith had to keep fighting the urge to believe they were right.

The only bright spot in the whole mess was the initiative the Bureau and the companies had put together to restore people's confidence in the heroes. It was little more than a publicity stunt, but the things they were doing, however small, were real, and they put a genuine smile on people's faces. By the time that evening rolled around, and the little tour of activities was over, Keith's mood had actually improved a fair bit.

And then Lunatic showed up at the Hero Academy, attacked Origami's friend, and injured Wild Tiger in the ensuing fight.

Keith was alone when he got the news; he made sure that Tiger was going to be fine and was being properly taken care of, politely thanked Agnes for the update, and tapped his PDA to hang up the call, perfectly calm and collected.

And then, as soon as the line was dead, he whipped around and punched the wall behind him.

Not as hard as he could have; it wasn't his wall, after all, and he didn't want to damage it. But he was thankful that his suit had gloves, because his knuckles were absolutely going to bruise, and if his hands had been bare, Fire Emblem would have noticed. And Keith had already given him far too much to worry about lately.

That night, he stayed on patrol a lot longer than he usually did, until he was almost too tired to keep himself in the air. Lunatic didn't show up again, but neither did any criminals, petty or otherwise. The thought that maybe Lunatic had scared them off the streets was not comforting at all.

-----

On Monday morning, just like Fire Emblem had promised, Keith got his updated suit. It looked pretty much exactly the same, but the material had a subtly different sheen and texture to it. Keith ran his hands over the fabric again and again; although the changes were minimal, he thought he liked it better than the old one.

He and Fire Emblem had a photoshoot just before noon, and afterwards they snuck up to the studio's roof to wind down. He showed the new suit off to his partner, and got a bunch of compliments for it; mostly about the fit, which hadn't really changed at all, but he could tell that Fire was really just happy that the upgrade was ready.

When Keith suggested that they test the fireproofing together, though, Fire Emblem balked at the idea.

"Absolutely not," he said, crossing his arms resolutely. "The suit has already been thoroughly tested. There's no need."

"But your fire—"

Fire Emblem was unmovable. "My fire isn't the strongest, but we've tested the suit with it, and with several other kinds. With the data from the church, we have a fairly good idea of how hot Lunatic's fire is, and we've tested for that as best as we could, too. The suit holds, and there's no need to stress it unnecessarily."

Keith stared at him, surprised. "You took part in the testing?"

"Of course! I'm our resident fire expert, wouldn't you say?" Fire Emblem said, preening slightly. "We've sent some specs for comparison to all the other companies, too. The guys should be fine going up against Lunatic, provided they don't get caught out of their suits again." His mouth twisted in a worried pout on that last comment; Keith obviously hadn't been the only one upset by Tiger's injury.

"What about the girls, though? Their costumes aren't exactly the most, ah..." Keith trailed off, uncomfortable.

He really wasn't a fan of how little the girls' outfits covered, especially Blue Rose's. It was a real safety concern, and besides, the thought of someone that young being marketed with that kind of image sort of made his skin crawl.

"Yes, that is an issue," Fire Emblem sighed. "We'll just have to make sure they don't take point on going after him. They're all right with fire in general, especially Rose, but that asshole is incredibly fast. There's no guarantee they can freeze or dodge everything that he throws at them."

Impressed, Keith leaned back on the low wall he was sitting on. "You're really trying to take care of everyone, aren't you?"

Fire Emblem shrugged and looked away. "A bit, maybe. It's just... fire can be really dangerous." He held up a hand and stared at it for a moment, then shook himself off. "And obviously everyone needs a bit of looking after, seeing as two of us managed to get hurt in less than a week. So someone has to do it, and that's usually you, but since you apparently don't make it a priority to look after yourself, it's going to have to be a team effort," Fire scoffed, acting unconcerned, but even Keith could tell that it was a front.

"Thank you," he said earnestly.

Fire Emblem looked a bit taken aback, like he hadn't expected a serious reaction to his little rant. "No need," he answered, waving a hand dismissively. "As I said, you're usually the one doing this sort of stuff."

Keith didn't remember ever getting his company to help out with the other heroes' gear, but he did usually try to keep an eye out for everyone on the job, checking on the others after missions and so on. He guessed that was what Fire Emblem was referring to. "Still. The companies aren't usually so keen to cooperate on this level, so whatever you did to convince them, it's great."

At that, Fire Emblem gave him a smile that Keith couldn't quite decipher. "Actually, that reminds me. Could you stop by Helios Energy tonight? We have a favor to ask you."

Keith had no idea what he could possibly do for them, but he felt like he owed them for the new suit, and besides, it was hard for him to say no to his partner. "Of course! I'll drop by before my patrol, if that's all right."

"It's perfect!" Fire beamed. "You can use the balcony I showed you last time. Someone will let you in."

That was a bit weird, but Keith nodded anyway.

Fire Emblem stood up; their little break was obviously over. "Thanks! See you around, then!"

Keith waved as Fire Emblem disappeared through the door to the stairway. He was a bit perplexed by his hasty exit, but he shrugged it off and took to the air straight from the roof, so he could get back to Poseidon more quickly, and make it home in time to have lunch with John afterwards.

-----

When Keith landed on the balcony that evening, it was almost completely dark. Nearly all of the windows in the Helios Energy building were unlit; it was late enough that most people would have left their office already. But Fire Emblem had said someone would let him in, and so Keith headed confidently for the doors.

Just before he could reach them, the lights came on in the room behind the glass, and Keith stopped in his tracks, inhaling sharply. Someone was indeed coming to meet him, but it wasn't Fire Emblem, or a random employee who was working particularly late.

Ms. Seymour stopped right in front of him, and opened the glass doors separating them. She was wearing a shiny blouse, a perfectly-tailored jacket, and wide, flowy pants that made her legs look about a mile long, all in various shades of dusty pink.

It took Keith a second to find his voice. "Good evening," he finally said, raising his hand in a wave that was probably much sloppier than usual.

"Good evening to you," Ms. Seymour replied, looking vaguely amused. "Not who you were expecting?"

"Ah... no, not really," Keith admitted.

"Not a bad surprise, I hope," she said, in a tone that was only half a question.

"No!" Keith hurried to respond. "It's a nice surprise. Definitely nice."

Evidently pleased by his answer, Ms. Seymour gave him a radiant smile. "I'm glad to hear that. Come in, then. Isn't it getting cold?"

Keith couldn't really feel it in his suit, but she must have been uncomfortable, standing in the air coming in from outside, that high up in early December. "Of course! Sorry," he said, following her inside and pulling the doors shut behind him.

She waved his apology away and led him to one of the round tables that half-filled the room. It was the only one with a tablecloth, and an envelope made of thick, ornate paper was resting on top of it.

He sat down when she did, mindful that his jetpack wouldn't scratch the elegant, undoubtedly expensive chair.

Ms. Seymour leaned her elbows on the table, resting her chin in one hand. "So. How have you been?"

Keith hesitated. The full answer to that question was probably way too complicated to give to someone he'd met only once before; but he didn't want to lie, and she was probably already aware of pretty much everything that had happened, anyway. "Mostly all right," he finally settled on. "But the last week has been... difficult."

"So I heard," she said, gently. "Does your arm still hurt?"

"Not much. Only if I move it the wrong way. But it's really mostly healed, thank you." He flexed the arm in question, rolling his shoulder a bit in demonstration, and got an approving nod from her. "Oh, by the way, thank you for the new suit."

She frowned at him, bemused. "Why are you thanking me? It was made by your company, wasn't it?"

"But it was your company that made it possible, by sharing your research." Keith leaned forward, putting his own hands on the table. "You must have authorized that, right? And Fire Emblem said you're helping all the others with this, too. I really appreciate it."

"It just made sense, really," Ms. Seymour said with a small shrug. "We could probably have done more if Apollon had been willing to share that little engineer of theirs; he's as brilliant as he is quiet. But unfortunately he has a very exclusive contract."

Keith nodded, and then remembered his manners. "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask. How have you been, Ms. Seymour?"

She tilted her head, in a so-so motion. "Busy. Worried. And beleaguered by the stubbornness of certain unpleasant individuals, which is where you come in," she said, pointing a long, red fingernail at Keith.

He blinked, surprised. "Me?"

"You," she confirmed. "This is the favor I wanted to ask you: two Saturdays from now, we're having a holiday party here, and I'd like you to attend with me."

That was really not the sort of request Keith had been expecting. He swallowed, uncertain. "Thank you? I mean. Thank you! I'm honored. But... How is this a favor for you?"

"Well, the party is also a fundraiser for a project of mine," Ms. Seymour explained.

"Ah! The school arts program?"

She nodded. "That's the one, yes. To be quite frank with you, I'm hoping that having the King of Heroes on my arm will loosen a few purse strings."

"And his partner on the other arm?" Keith half-joked.

But Ms. Seymour's expression grew a bit shadowed, and she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, Fire Emblem won't be able to attend the party. There are some logistical concerns. But also..." She trailed off, and gave Keith a considering look. "I feel like I should tell you. The people I'm hoping to sway with your presence... They do not like me. At all. They'll be at the party because they need to be in business with Helios Energy, and they need to be seen at certain kinds of events. But they can barely stand to be around me, and if both Fire Emblem and I were there, they'd probably find it... ostentatious. Do you know what I mean?"

She had chosen her words very carefully, but very deliberately, too.

Keith realized that he did understand, although he sort of wished he didn't. Ms. Seymour, who had pages and pages of vile internet comments trying to deny her identity, and Fire Emblem, who referred to Barnaby almost exclusively as 'Handsome', and just this morning had made both the photographer and his assistant blush bright red with his playful flirting.

He knew exactly what kind of people wouldn't like to be around them.

"You mean they're assholes," he answered heatedly.

Taken by surprise, Ms. Seymour sputtered slightly, and immediately covered her mouth with her hands as she tried to rein in her laughter, and mostly failed.

Keith stared at her, his anger evaporating as quickly as it had built. It was the first inelegant thing he'd seen her do, and it was... incredibly charming.

She finally caught her breath, and gave him a fake scandalized look, completely ruined by the way her eyes were shining with mirth. "Mr. Sky High! I had no idea that you used such foul language!"

"Sorry," Keith said, but inside the helmet he couldn't stop smiling, and he didn't sound apologetic at all.

"No, no!" she chuckled. "I wish I could see you say that to their faces, actually. But alas, the world is cruel and unjust, and we could really use their money."

"Then we'll get it," he said, simply; and it did feel that easy, like nothing else had for a while.

Ms. Seymour gave him a hopeful look. "So you're coming?"

He wouldn't miss it for the world. "Of course! It will be a pleasure."

Unexpectedly, Ms. Seymour darted forward across the table and grabbed his hands, surprisingly gentle even in her enthusiasm. "Thank you!"

Keith felt his face grow hot. "You're welcome," he said weakly. "But. I mean. Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged lightly. "You hate playing the trophy hero at fancy parties. Well, at least according to Fire Emblem."

"Did he tell you that?" Keith asked, surprised.

Ms. Seymour tilted her head. "Is it not true?"

Keith looked down. The knuckles on his right hand were still a bit bruised, but her grip was light, careful, and it didn't hurt at all. For some reason, it made him feel, once again, like he could tell her almost anything.

"It's true," he said slowly. "At least, it usually is. I just didn't think anyone had noticed." He didn't dare to hold her hands in return, but he raised his head to look at her again. "But... The last time, I didn't hate it that much. Not after you showed up, that is. It was fun," he said, finally.

The smile she gave him then was the sweetest he'd gotten yet. "Thank you," she said, sincerely, and then her eyes turned playful. "I'm glad someone enjoys my company, at least."

Keith shrugged. "Well, I'd like to think that I'm not an asshole," he said, and was delighted when she laughed again.

"You are most certainly not," Ms. Seymour said, still smiling, and then she let go of his hands to push the envelope on the table toward him.

Keith picked it up and turned it over. It was addressed to Mr. Sky High, in an elegant, almost calligraphed hand.

"That's your invitation." Ms. Seymour said. "All the details are in there, but I'd like to add a personal note, if I may."

"Of course."

"The party will be in this room," she said. "If you were to get here, say, about fifteen minutes late, and make a bit of an alternative entrance, so to speak..." She gestured at the doors to the balcony, with a flourish. "Well, I think that would be especially impressive, wouldn't you say?"

Keith smiled. He quite liked the idea, but he could see a potential issue with it. "I'd have to be in my hero suit for that, though."

"Would you be more comfortable in a tux?" she asked, and it seemed like a genuine question.

"No," Keith admitted. "But these parties usually have a pretty strict dress code, don't they?"

Ms. Seymour leaned back, sitting tall and proud in her chair, and Keith was instantly reminded that she quite literally owned the place. "It's my party, and you're my guest of honor. You could show up in your pajamas, and no one would be able to say a damn thing about it."

Keith's eyebrows shot up. "Now you're using foul language, too."

She made an innocent face, looking at him through her dark eyelashes. "I'm just getting it out of my system before I have to play nice at the party."

"That's almost two weeks away," Keith pointed out.

"Yes, but it will be packed full of assholes that really piss me off, so I have a hell of a lot of swearing to get done before that," she replied, in a perfectly elegant tone.

Keith burst out laughing, half shocked and half delighted. Ms. Seymour was really something else.

And Keith had just essentially agreed to go to this very fancy party as her date.

The realization hit him like a truck. He knew she had just asked him to be there because of the fundraiser. She had said so. But now that the thought had crossed his mind, he just couldn't get rid of it, no matter how hard he tried.

Because... Perhaps he wanted it to be a date. And he had absolutely no idea how to handle that.

While he was internally freaking out over kind of, possibly, maybe being more than a little attracted to his partner's very beautiful, very glamorous, and very unobtainable boss, Keith had gone still and silent, and now Ms. Seymour was looking at him quizzically.

He cleared his throat and stood up, clutching the envelope with the invitation in both of his hands. "I should probably go," he said, a little too quickly. "It's getting kind of late."

She stood up as well, and nodded, although she still looked slightly puzzled. "Of course. I've been keeping you from your patrol, haven't I?"

"It's fine," Keith reassured her. "And you're at work late, too. I should let you get home."

"Well, that's going to be quick," Ms. Seymour said, and when he just tilted his head in confusion, she gestured up toward the high ceiling. "I have an apartment upstairs," she explained.

"Oh! That's convenient," Keith said, although honestly it seemed a bit... sad, too. Like she could never really leave her workplace, in a way. Fire Emblem had good-naturedly called him a workaholic once or twice, but at least Keith got to leave and go home to John when he was done with his day.

He resolutely kept himself from wondering if she, too, had someone to go home to.

"It does have its advantages, yes," Ms. Seymour agreed, as she led him back to the balcony. She opened the doors for him, but when she made to follow him outside, Keith put a hand up to stop her.

"You'll get cold," he said gently.

As if on cue, a gust of wind ruffled her clothes and her hair, rather appealingly, and he had to bite down on the inane urge to tell her it hadn't been his doing.

She gave him a thankful smile. "Of course, you're right. Thank you. See you next Saturday, then?"

Keith nodded. "Next Saturday," he confirmed, and then he stepped back and kicked off from the ground as his jetpack ignited. He turned and flew off, to start his usual loop around Stern Medaille, this time from the outside.

Like the last time he'd taken off from the same balcony, he threw one last look back, and sort of regretted it when his stomach did a little flip that had nothing to do with his aerial maneuvers.

Ms. Seymour was still leaning against the open door, pushing her windswept hair out of her bright pink eyes. Which were very firmly planted on Keith's retreating form, and that made him feel... things.

He most definitely had a problem.

-----

The next two weeks were a mess of confused emotions for Keith.

Their repeated failures with Lunatic weighed heavily on him, and he kept reviewing them in his head, trying over and over to come up with a way they could stop him, and hopefully catch him, if he showed up again.

On the other hand, whenever he thought of the upcoming party, he felt a nervous giddiness rise in his gut, and then he had to firmly tamp it down by reminding himself that he was not going on a date; that Ms. Seymour just needed his help, and that he should be focusing on far more important things. Like Lunatic, and the other criminals who kept popping up all over Stern Bild.

In spite of Keith's recurring distraction, that last part was going swimmingly. Fire Emblem seemed to have channeled his own frustration with Lunatic into becoming even more efficient on the job, and the two of them made four arrests in one week, further solidifying their lead in the rankings.

But Fire Emblem seemed only mildly satisfied by that. He was a bit more serious than usual, and he gave Keith the impression that there was always something extra on his mind. He had obviously noticed Keith's slight mood swings, and had even tried, a couple of times, to get some kind of explanation for them.

But Keith really couldn't bring himself to tell him what he was thinking. You know, Fire, I think I have a crush on your boss; surely there's no risk of that making things weird for us, or affecting our partnership at all, is there?

Besides, he had no idea how Fire Emblem felt about the fact that he wasn't going to be at his own company's event. Keith didn't remember him mentioning anything of that sort in the few years that they'd known each other; but they hadn't always been as close as they were now, and he had no idea if the parties happened every year, or if Fire usually attended them or not.

So Keith kept skirting around the topic, and Fire Emblem kept looking at him with evident concern, and Keith kept feeling guilty about making him even more stressed out than he already was.

It was the only glaring flaw in their otherwise solid friendship, but Keith felt it poke constantly at him like a thorn in his side. He found himself wishing more than once that he could just spend the whole day running with John, or painting, or, even better, flying; those were the only times when his mind felt wonderfully, blissfully clear.

He told himself firmly that he would fix the whole thing after the party; it would be a very professional affair, which would help him get over his attraction to Ms. Seymour, and then he would be able to stop being so awkward around his partner.

In the meantime, he mentally apologized to Fire Emblem, and tried to work small extra things into their routine that Keith hoped would cheer him up; snacks from the vending machine in the TV studios after an interview, or extra compliments for a job well done after a mission. Fire Emblem was possibly a bit perplexed by the whole thing, but he gave Keith a warm smile and a thank you each time, and he did seem slightly more content afterwards. All in all, Keith considered it a small win, and kept quietly counting down the days until the party.

-----

When that Saturday finally rolled around, Keith woke up filled with a nervous energy that he just couldn't shake off. He went on a far longer jog than usual, ran his shower too hot and then too cold, and then paced back and forth in his living room for almost twenty minutes, as John blinked at him from the couch, wagging his tail encouragingly whenever Keith looked in his direction.

In the end, he headed into work, did all the paperwork he could find, and then went flying, all over the city. He didn't usually go on patrol during the day, but he felt better doing his rounds of Stern Bild now, given that he'd probably be at the party until late into the night.

Since Ms. Seymour was hosting the whole thing, she'd probably be the last one out of the door, and Keith had no intention of leaving before she did, unless of course she asked him to. He had been thinking a lot about the reason she'd asked him to be there; knowing that she'd be surrounded by people who hated her just for being herself, he felt intensely, irrationally protective of her.

Which was certainly quite stupid of him; she probably had to deal with people like that on a regular basis, and he was sure she had absolutely no need of a clumsy, overbearing knight in shining armor. But no matter what, he still hated the thought of leaving her side before he absolutely had to.

Once his patrol was done, Keith cleaned his suit as thoroughly as possible, making sure the metal parts were shiny, and that the coat was free of any dirt he might have picked up while flying through the city. It wouldn't do for Ms. Seymour's guest to look anything less than perfect, since the people his presence was mostly aimed at were obviously terribly superficial.

As the sun started setting, he went back home to feed and walk John again. He told him he'd be out late, and gave him a long hug that was really more to calm his own nerves than for his dog's sake; of the two of them, John was by far the more stable one, and Keith was grateful for the support.

He showered again, and then wiped the fog from the mirror so he could give himself a stern talking-to.

"This is not a date," he told his reflection firmly. "You're just helping Ms. Seymour get more funding for a good cause. It's just like any other event where you have to charm the sponsors. Don't make it weird."

The Keith in the mirror looked mildly disappointed, and rather unconvinced, but he would just have to deal with it.

Or rather, Sky High would have to deal with it. The more of Keith he could leave at home tonight, the better.

-----

Ms. Seymour had asked Keith to make an entrance, and he had a plan. Although it wasn't the main focus of his job, he did work on TV, and he knew how to call attention to himself if he wanted to. All he had to do was make sure at least some of the people at the party were looking outside as he landed, and he would be golden.

When he approached the Helios Energy building, though, he realized he shouldn't have bothered to worry about any of that; the scene had been set for him perfectly, and all he had really needed to do was show up at the agreed time.

They'd been having a pretty mild December; the temperature had remained stably above freezing, and only a few timid snowflakes had shown up here and there, never managing to actually stick to the ground.

But the balcony outside the ballroom seemed to contradict all of that. It was covered in a thick layer of artificial snow, so convincing that for a moment Keith thought Blue Rose might have been involved with the decorations. A few bushes and small evergreen trees, all coated with white flakes, dotted the area, jutting out from small snowdrifts that probably deftly hid their pots. Each of them was wrapped in seemingly endless strings of tiny, delicately twinkling lights, that lit the whole display with a magical, yet perfectly tasteful glow.

And standing just inside the doors, drawing every eye in the room in the direction of the balcony, was a familiar tall, elegant figure, wrapped in an unmissable crimson gown that sparkled beautifully in time with the fairy lights.

Exactly fifteen minutes after the time printed on the invitation, Keith slowly descended into a gorgeous, miniature winter wonderland. The exhaust from his jetpack kicked up a small flurry of artificial snow around his feet, announcing his arrival; a wave of turning heads swept the ballroom, and every guest at the party was looking at him before he'd even touched the ground.

But when Ms. Seymour pushed the doors open to welcome him in, smiling proudly, Keith found that he only had eyes for her.

She was wearing her signature pale pink lipstick, but her eye makeup and nail polish were both a shade of metallic purple that, Keith realized, matched the darker parts of his hero suit almost perfectly.

He took the few steps separating them as if in a daze, struck by how dreamlike the whole scene seemed; for a moment, he felt like a storybook character meeting a beautiful princess in an enchanted forest.

And then he heard the whispers from the crowd, and remembered exactly where he was, and why he was there.

Don't make it weird.

He stepped inside and pulled the doors closed behind him; most of the ladies in the room were definitely not dressed for the cold air that was drifting in from outside.

"Good evening," he greeted, loudly enough to carry, with a nod to the other guests. "I apologize for being late," he added, and was rewarded by a mischievous glint in Ms. Seymour's eyes.

"I believe we can find it in our hearts to forgive you, especially since you're my very special guest for the evening," she joked, throwing a meaningful look at the people around her.

Several of them nodded and muttered their agreement. A few gave both Ms. Seymour and Keith a genuine smile, and he was relieved to see that apparently not everyone there was going to be difficult to win over.

A man with a bushy gray mustache and a rather pompous attitude held out a hand to Keith, who shook it firmly. "Mr. Sky High. I must say, this is an... unexpected surprise," he said, a bit stiffly, with a quick glance at Ms. Seymour.

Here we go, Keith thought.

"I was a bit surprised, too, but I am grateful!" he replied. "Ms. Seymour was very kind to invite me tonight, even though my partner couldn't make it." He held out an arm to Ms. Seymour, who glided to his side and slid a hand around his elbow, looking pleasantly surprised, and also faintly smug. "It's a really lovely party, isn't it?" he asked, gesturing at the room around them with his free hand.

And it really was. The ballroom was finely decorated with the same winter theme as the balcony; sparkling crystals hung from the light fixtures and along the walls, occasionally throwing out tiny rainbow reflections. The tables were covered in pure white, glittery cloths, and each of them had an arrangement of artificially frosted blue and white flowers as a centerpiece. The bar that had been set up opposite the balcony was framed by two enormous vases holding similar floral arrangements, only those were almost as tall as Keith himself. A soft piano piece was playing discreetly in the background, giving the whole atmosphere a mellow, yet elegant feeling.

The man with the mustache, who hadn't given Keith his name, nodded once in acknowledgement. "Quite so," he said, politely enough. His eyes flickered once more between Keith and Ms. Seymour, and Keith tried his best to ignore his irritation with the guy's attitude.

He must have done something right, because the man relaxed a fraction and moved closer to Keith again.

"Say," he asked, in a rather theatrical undertone, "how exactly did you corner that jewel thief last week? The cameras cut away at precisely the wrong time for some reason, and it was all woefully unclear."

Keith smiled behind his helmet, relieved. This, he knew for sure how to do.

He launched into a small tale about the arrest, making it as dynamic as he could manage. More people gathered around them as he talked, until they were surrounded by a small crowd that probably made up at least a quarter of the people attending the party.

Keith ended his story to a small chorus of approving noises, and a young woman clapped her hands together with enthusiasm.

"Oh, that was exciting! Would you tell us another one, Sky High?" she asked eagerly.

Unsure of what to do, Keith turned to Ms. Seymour, who gave him an encouraging look.

"I believe you had a bit of an adventure at the art gallery last month, didn't you?" She raised a perfect pink eyebrow at him, quite meaningfully.

Keith wanted to hug her. She was brilliant.

The heroes had, indeed, chased a man through the Stern Bild Metropolitan Gallery a few weeks back, and the footage had not even come close to portraying the utter absurdity of what had happened in there. Ms. Seymour must have had a first-hand account from Fire Emblem, who had spent the rest of that week half-heartedly complaining about the craziness of that particular mission.

The wannabe art thief had been a NEXT, with a power that allowed him to cover himself in slippery goo and slide around the polished floors at dizzying speed. It had made him hard to catch up to and almost impossible to hold down, as the heroes had quickly found out while trying to apprehend him.

Keith and the others had run around the gallery for almost fifteen minutes, trying both to corner the guy and to prevent any stray splashes of goo from hitting the unprotected canvases. In the end, the girls had managed to half-freeze, half-crystallize the goo, which had stopped the man long enough for Barnaby to bonk him over the head and grab him.

They had emerged from the gallery tired, frustrated, and very, very slimy, but also victorious. It made for a pretty funny story to tell, and it allowed Keith to seamlessly introduce the topic of his personal love for art.

When he started mentioning his favorite paintings in each wing of the gallery where the chase had taken place, Ms. Seymour subtly squeezed his arm, and gave him a grateful, approving smile.

From there, it was easy to steer the resulting conversation to Keith's hobby; the partygoers were apparently impressed that the King of Heroes had an artistic streak, and they seemed to appreciate how modest he was about it. He suspected that they thought he was as good at painting as he was at catching criminals, which was rather far from the truth in Keith's opinion, but he let them keep their assumptions, so he wouldn't dampen their good mood.

Two guests started a friendly debate over the merits of impressionism versus expressionism, and Ms. Seymour took the chance to excuse herself and her guest from their little crowd, declaring that she wanted a drink.

She tugged Keith toward the bar, and he let out a small sigh of relief. The evening had so far been easier than he had anticipated, but he could still use a little break from all the entertaining.

Ms. Seymour leaned against the counter to give her order to the bartender, and then turned to give Keith a speculative look.

"I don't suppose you can fit a straw anywhere in there, right?" she asked, gesturing at his helmet.

Keith shook his head, faintly amused. "No, but thank you for the thought."

"You could always step outside for a moment, if you want," she offered. "I made you talk a lot, you have to be at least a little thirsty."

Keith shrugged. "Not really; I'm used to it. And you didn't make me talk, I'm very happy to—" He trailed off suddenly, thoroughly distracted by what he had just glimpsed.

As he had been talking, Ms. Seymour had stretched her left hand out and back, to accept her drink from the bartender without turning away from Keith. The movement had made the fabric draped around her upper arm ride up and slip away, revealing a large, colorful tattoo.

A tattoo with an extremely familiar design.

"Is that...?", he asked, stunned, raising his hand toward her shoulder and then immediately jerking it down again.

Ms. Seymour followed his gesture with her eyes, and realized what he had seen.

"Oh. Yes," she answered, very casually. "It doesn't quite go with my color story for tonight, does it? Hence why the dress covers it."

She wasn't exactly wrong about the color thing, but that was absolutely not what Keith was hung up on.

"That is Fire Emblem's logo," he said, keeping his voice low.

Ms. Seymour shrugged, and gave him an unconcerned smile. "What can I say? I'm a fan."

"Obviously," Keith said, still awkward, but he found himself half-smiling as well. His friend deserved all the admiration he could get. "It looks really nice on you," he added, because it did, and he didn't want her to think he disliked it.

Her expression softened, and she dipped her head to sip her drink; her hair fell delicately over one of her eyes. "Thank you," she said, looking warmly pleased.

Her straw now carried a faint pink smudge from her lipstick.

Safely hidden by his helmet, Keith swallowed, and closed his eyes for a moment.

Don't make it weird.

He decided it was probably wiser to change the subject. "Ah... thank you for suggesting the art gallery story, by the way. It was a great idea."

Ms. Seymour raised her eyebrows. "Thank you for making it work so well. They absolutely ate you up."

"You think so?" Keith asked, hopeful.

"Are you kidding? The King of Heroes is charming and likes art: boom, job done. We didn't have to mention the fundraiser, or even the project, and they're all lining up to make a donation. Look at that." She nodded discreetly to a corner of the room, and Keith stole a glance in that direction.

A table had been set up with a few small paintings and a couple of sculptures; from the bright colors and fresh styles, Keith guessed the artists had to be kids from the schools Ms. Seymour was hoping to get funds for. There were, indeed, quite a few people hovering around the table, and Keith recognized several of them from the little audience he'd gathered earlier.

"Wow," he said, impressed. "Could we go over there later? I'd like to see those pieces from up close."

"We could and we should," Ms. Seymour answered. "The silent auction goes until the end of the party, and if you show it some attention, even more other people will."

She took the last sip of her drink; the ice cubes clinked at the bottom of the glass, and she handed it back to the bartender with a nod of thanks.

Time to get back into the fray, then.

Keith squared his shoulders. "Round two?"

Ms. Seymour smiled at him, and took his arm again. "Round two. There's at least a whole half of the room that hasn't had a chance to fall in love with you yet," she added, pulling him closer with a small wink.

Keith realized there and then why Cupid was usually depicted shooting his bow at people's hearts: his chest felt exactly like it had just been pierced by a sharp, perfectly-aimed arrow.

"Right," he said weakly, and let her lead him back into the waiting crowd.

-----

Three hours later, Keith was exhausted, elated, and, he suspected, well on his way to being completely, hopelessly in love.

He'd shaken a lot of hands, told several more stories about his hero work, and repeated the one about the art gallery at the request of the enthusiastic young woman from before, who insisted her friends had to hear it directly from Sky High, too.

He'd genuinely enjoyed perusing the items from the silent auction, and, like Ms. Seymour had predicted, he had seen people flock to that table both during and after his little tour there.

And throughout the whole thing, Ms. Seymour had pretty much never left his side. Whenever his energy had started to flag, she had deftly slipped him out of the crowd for a break; halfway through the evening, she had insisted he pick a drink from the bar, and then had helped him slip unnoticed through a side door, with directions to a small room along the corridor where he could take his helmet off, out of sight from any people or cameras.

If he licked his lips, he could still taste the sweet, cold lemonade she had pressed into his hands before pushing him gently out of the ballroom.

Now the two of them were finally sitting down, at a small table near the glass walls to the balcony. All the other guests had left, and the staff was cleaning up, joking softly among themselves. The music had been turned off, but the fairy lights outside were still twinkling, and Keith was too tired not to stare at the way they made Ms. Seymour's dress sparkle, even while she wasn't moving.

Ms. Seymour herself was nursing one last cocktail, and checking a notification on her phone, which, as far as Keith could tell, she had pulled pretty much out of thin air.

But of course, he reasoned, if anyone could have an evening gown with hidden pockets, it was probably her.

She clicked and scrolled a couple times, and then her face lit up like she'd just gotten an early Christmas present. She dropped the phone next to her glass, and, to Keith's surprise, she leaned across the table to take one of his hands between her own. "You. Are. A. Miracle," she said, punctuating every word with a small jostle of Keith's hand.

Keith felt himself blush horribly. "Wha— what?"

Ms. Seymour's eyes were wide with glee. "I just got the figures for tonight's fundraiser. I had made some projections beforehand, and mind you, I am an optimist at heart," she said. "But you came in and just charmed the pants off everyone here, and we made nearly twice what I had expected! The project is pretty much already funded for the entire next school year."

Keith found himself grinning even through his embarrassment. "That's wonderful!" he said. "I'm so happy. And the kids will be so happy, too!"

Ms. Seymour squeezed his hand, and smiled at him in a way that he couldn't call anything but fond. "You are wonderful," she said, softly and so, so sweetly. "Thank you so much for making this happen."

Keith swallowed. His heart was going a mile a minute, and yet it felt like time had slowed down all around them.

Don't make it weird, he told himself again; but he was afraid it was far, far too late for that.

"You're the one who made it happen, Ms. Seymour," he said, trying to push aside the warmth that kept rising inside him, and mostly failing. "I just showed up today, late to boot, and told a few funny stories. You've been working on this for months."

She shook her head. "Believe me, you've made a huge difference. And you can call me Nat, you know. I'd like that," she added, stroking her thumb across his knuckles.

Keith almost felt like he was floating. He glanced down, to check that he hadn't actually accidentally left his seat, and caught a glimpse of their joined hands.

Reality came crashing down on him, and time sped up again, breaking the soft bubble that had seemed to form around them.

Her perfectly manicured fingers were wrapped around the glove of his hero suit. He was only seeing her through the camera feed in his helmet. He couldn't return her offer in kind, because the only name he could give her was the one she already had.

The arrow lodged in Keith's heart twisted, and something inside him cracked.

He was just Sky High here, and he couldn't ever be anyone or anything else to her.

But if she wanted to be Nat to him, he could at least give her that.

His throat felt tight, but, with some effort, he managed to keep his voice steady. "Thank you, Nat. Thank you," he whispered.

Nat's eyes softened when he said her name, but for a brief, fleeting moment, he thought she looked strangely wistful, too. She gave his hand one last, barely-there squeeze, and then stood up slowly, leaving her phone and her drink on the table.

Keith looked around, and realized that they were the very last ones left; even the staff had finished clearing the ballroom. He stood up, as well, and suddenly he had to lean his fingertips on the table to keep himself from swaying on his feet. The buoyant feeling from before was gone, and all the weight from the long night was bearing down on him again.

Nat followed his movement with her eyes, and frowned slightly. "I should let you go home now," she said gently. "You probably get up disgustingly early in the morning, don't you?"

Keith gave her a small shrug. "I run."

"I figured. Well, off with you, then, come on." She took the few steps separating them from the balcony doors, but then turned back to give him a speculative look. "Actually, are you OK to fly home?" she asked.

"I only drank a lemonade," he replied, puzzled.

Nat let out a small chuckle. "I was just asking if you're not too tired," she explained patiently.

"Oh! No, no, it's OK. Besides, I'm just flying over to Poseidon Line, then I'm walking home from there. And I can pretty much fly in my sleep, you know," he added.

It was just a little joke, meant to reassure her further and to lift his own mood, but it got him a very intrigued eyebrow raise from Nat.

"Why do I feel like you mean that quite literally?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him with curiosity.

Keith winced. He hadn't meant to bring that up for real. "Ah. That... might have happened a few times, yes," he admitted. "Sometimes I dream of flying, and I just... do. It's not a big deal, really. Although, one time, I did wake myself up by bumping my head on the ceiling. Only once!" he added hurriedly, but the damage was done.

Nat covered her mouth with her hands, but her giggle escaped anyway.

Keith sighed, horribly embarrassed, and tried to hide his face in his hands, but all he got were two handfuls of the front of his helmet.

"I'm sorry," Nat choked out, and then giggled again. "It's just so... adorable."

Keith lowered his hands, as his heart did a little flip. She had called him adorable. But it seemed she'd meant it the same way Keith had found puppy John adorable, back when he'd been too uncoordinated to walk and hold a toy in his mouth at the same time.

Nat's laughter, on the other hand, was a different kind of adorable altogether. Keith bit his lip, and mentally stomped down once again on his stupid, hopeless feelings.

He went to join Nat at the doors, and she finally got her little laughing fit under control, looking down at him with bright, shiny eyes.

Keith stood right in front of her, and put a hand on his chest, collecting himself. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I think this was my favorite party ever."

"Even with all the assholes?" she asked teasingly.

Keith tilted his head to the side. "I thought they would be worse, to be honest."

Nat's expression sobered a bit. "They usually are. They just didn't dare to risk losing your approval, and you were acting like you enjoyed being around me, so they had to fall in line."

Keith felt his heart grow heavy, and once again he had the fleeting, absurd wish that he could just never have to leave her side again. "I wasn't just acting like that," he murmured, because that seemed important to say.

Nat gave him another small, fond smile. "I know. You're a certified, one-hundred percent non-asshole. But still..." She bit her lip, hesitating for a moment, and then she suddenly leaned down and wrapped her arms around Keith's neck.

"Thank you," she whispered against the side of his helmet.

Keith could barely feel her against him; his shoulders and upper chest were encased in the thin, but solid harness connecting him to his jetpack.

But even like that, it was like she had lit a small fire inside him.

His breath caught in his throat, and he knew he was probably blushing as red as her dress. Before he could even begin to figure out what to do with his hands, Nat pulled away, as quickly as she had initiated the hug.

"Sorry," she said, biting her lip again. "I really need to let you get going."

"It's fine," Keith said, hoping he didn't sound as dazed as he felt, but he did step outside when she opened the door for him.

"Good night," she whispered softly.

Keith let himself stare at her for just one more second, memorizing the picture she made, framed in the doorway against the empty ballroom, with the fairy lights on the balcony reflecting in her eyes like tiny stars.

"Good night," he whispered back, and then he made himself turn and walk away, five steps, ten, until he was far enough that she wouldn't get caught in the blast of fake snow from his take-off.

He kicked up and shot toward the sky, curving Northeast and away through the night.

This time, he was very careful not to look back.

-----

On Sunday, Keith woke up groggy and vaguely melancholic. His morning run didn't clear his head, and neither did his shower. Halfway through his breakfast, John trotted up to him and leaned his head on Keith's thigh, staring up at him questioningly.

Keith stroked his head, scratching him behind the ears. "I know, John, I'm sorry. You're waiting for the story about last night. But... Could you wait a little bit longer? I think I need to get some thoughts in order before I tell you about it."

John whined softly, and then stood up and leaned his front paws on Keith's legs, butting his head against his chin and licking his cheek. He wagged his tail, once, and Keith smiled at him.

"Thank you, John," he said, and hugged the dog close to his chest, burying his nose in the soft, golden fur.

He finished his breakfast with John lying across his feet; as soon as Keith made to stand up, John perked up and jumped to his feet, wagging his tail excitedly.

Keith chuckled. "Yes, it's time for your walk. Give me just a minute."

He put the dishes in the sink, and then, with John right on his heels, walked into the living room to dig his shoes out from under the coffee table, where he had uncharacteristically kicked them off last night, too tired to bother with tidiness. Just as he closed a hand around a sneaker, his PDA beeped with an incoming audio call, startling him, and his head collided painfully with the underside of the table.

He pulled back, straightening up with a small hiss of pain, and then tapped the display to accept the call. "Hey, Fire Emblem. Good morning."

"Morning," Fire Emblem replied, but his voice was clipped, a bit too sharp. "Listen, we may have a bit of a situation here. Could you meet me in your office? Say, in an hour?"

Keith frowned, confused. "My office?"

"You do have one at Poseidon, don't you?" Fire Emblem asked.

"Yes, of course," Keith answered. "It's just that you usually prefer to meet at Helios Energy."

There was a faint sound over the line, sort of like a small sigh. "Yeah. About that. It's probably best if you don't come over here today. I'll explain later, I promise."

Fire Emblem sounded quite weary, and Keith felt a sudden pang of worry. Had he done something wrong last night? Did Nat not want him around her building for some reason? She had been more than nice to him when she had bid him goodnight, but maybe he had still messed up somehow, made someone else angry, and she had only heard about it this morning.

Maybe that was what Fire Emblem wanted to talk about.

"I'll be waiting for you, then," Keith said, trying to remain calm. "My office is on the 77th floor."

John tilted his head at him, with a hesitant tail wag, and Keith closed the call.

"Don't worry," Keith reassured him. "We're still going on our walk. But then I'll have to ask you to wait here for me, OK? I have to meet Fire Emblem. You like Fire Emblem, don't you?"

John had obviously never met the other heroes; he was a part of Keith's life, not of Sky High's. But he often sat with Keith in front of the television, and Keith had explained who all his friends on the screen were. Since he had been partnered with Fire Emblem, he had talked quite a bit about him to John, and now whenever Fire appeared on their TV, John's ears perked up and his tail started slapping excitedly against the back of the couch.

Somehow, that made Keith feel like the two halves of him were slightly less disconnected. He was grateful for John's enthusiasm, but sometimes he did wish he could actually introduce him to his partner.

He wondered if Fire Emblem liked dogs.

-----

Keith got to Poseidon Line with ten minutes to spare. He used half of those to change into his hero suit, and the other half to pace back and forth in front of his desk, fighting his mounting anxiety about whatever issue Fire Emblem was going to bring with him.

When a knock sounded at the door, he rushed forward to open it, and caught Fire Emblem with his fist still raised halfway in the air. "Hi. Come in," Keith greeted, stepping aside to let him pass.

Fire Emblem lowered his hand, but he did not move from the entrance. "This is your office?" he asked, looking around slowly.

"Yes. Sorry," Keith added, a bit self-conscious. "It's a bit cluttered."

"No wonder," Fire Emblem said, but he finally stepped in, and Keith closed the door behind him.

He was pretty sure he knew what Fire Emblem meant. Keith's office wasn't very big; it just had a desk, a couple of chairs, and a small couch. He didn't use it much, except to do paperwork, and, most importantly, to store his fan mail.

He loved every piece of it, but he got a lot. He couldn't take any of it home, because he couldn't exactly explain to his visitors, however rare they might be, why he was getting correspondence addressed to a hero; but he wanted to keep at least part of it close to him somehow.

So, Poseidon had a storage room on a lower floor, filled to the ceiling with boxes of mail, but one wall of Keith's office was still taken up by a row of filing cabinets, holding his favorite letters, and another was covered in pinned drawings, mostly consisting of wobbly, crayon versions of himself flying under a bright yellow sun, or blasting bad guys away with gusts of swirly blue wind.

Fire Emblem was staring at the drawings as he took the seat Keith offered him on the couch. "Is that supposed to be me?" he asked, pointing to one of the most recent pictures.

Keith smiled proudly. "Yes, that's you."

That piece was one of his favorites: the artist had drawn a color marker portrait of herself, standing in a field of blobby red and blue flowers, with Fire Emblem and Sky High each holding one of her hands. It showed a surprisingly good sense of proportion for a third-grade kid, and he especially liked that she had put a smile on the front of his helmet.

Fire Emblem didn't seem quite as impressed as Keith, but his lips quirked up as he shook his head. "Honestly. My legs are a lot more shapely than that," he muttered, and then he primly crossed one knee over the other, as if to prove his point.

Keith couldn't really blame him; Fire Emblem did have pretty great legs, and his suit certainly didn't hide them.

Or any other part of him, really.

But Keith's anxiety was still there, and he really needed to know what was going on. "Fire Emblem," he said, gesturing at the tablet his partner was carrying. "What did you have to tell me?"

"Right." Fire tapped the device, and a holo screen popped up. It held a news article from a website, with a photograph prominently displayed at the top. "Take a look."

Keith did, and he immediately felt like his stomach had dropped all the way down to the Bronze Stage.

In the photo, Sky High and Ms. Seymour stood arm in arm, framed by a semicircle of elegant partygoers. Even with the helmet in the way, though, it was obvious that they were staring at each other like they were the only two people in the room.

The headline above it made no mystery of how that had been interpreted. Romance in the Air for the Windmaster? Nat Seymour of Helios Energy Swipes Her Hero's King!

Keith flailed helplessly. "I— What— What? I didn't..."

Fire Emblem swiped his fingers across the screen, and three more articles popped up in rapid succession, with pictures and titles much along the same line as the first one.

"It's on pretty much every online gossip rag you can think of, and also, which is the really bad part, on a few actual, halfway-reputable news sites," he said, before clicking the tablet off and tossing it on the seat next to him. He crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch, obviously expecting a response of some kind from Keith.

Keith's brain, in the meantime, had turned into a panicky pile of mush. There was just one thing he was sure of, probably because he had spent the whole previous evening firmly repeating it to himself.

"I am not dating Nat!" he blurted out, so loud that he was almost shouting.

Fire Emblem seemed entirely unfazed. "I know that," he said, slowly, like he was stating something incredibly obvious for a very small child. "I just need to know how you want to handle this."

"Handle?" Keith half-sat on the edge of the desk, still rattled. "But it's just... not true. It's just a rumor that someone made up. We get those from time to time, right?"

Fire Emblem sighed. "Yes, but they're usually based on nothing but a crappy cell phone picture and some wannabe journalist's latent teenage fantasies." He uncrossed his arms, and started counting things off on his fingers. "Whereas you two spent the whole evening completely glued to each other, in front of many prominent and respectable sources and at least two reporters; not a single person actually saw you leave the party, and oh, yeah, a lot of people know that Nat lives right upstairs from the venue."

Keith sagged against the desk like someone had increased the gravity in the room tenfold. When he heard it put like that, it did sound extremely... suggestive. His neck suddenly felt very, very warm.

"We should have been more careful," Fire Emblem murmured, rubbing his fingertips across his forehead. He sounded awfully tired.

With some effort, Keith pulled himself to his feet and squared his shoulders. "I'm sorry," he offered. "How can I fix this?"

Fire Emblem looked up at him, surprised. "You're sorry? This isn't your fault. You're not the one who should have seen this coming."

"So you're not mad at me?" Keith asked, tentatively. "Either of you?"

"Oh, darling." Fire Emblem's tense posture seemed to melt, and he leaned forward, closer to Keith, bracing his hands on the edge of the couch. "Of course not. I'm sorry if I gave you that impression."

"That's good," Keith breathed out, relieved. "That's really good."

"Besides," Fire Emblem added, "you're the one with the problem here."

Keith tilted his head, puzzled. "Me?"

"Our public image is kind of a big part of our job, in case you've forgotten. And this..." Fire Emblem trailed off and looked away for a moment, pressing his lips together. "People are going to say that you're gay," he finally said, bluntly.

Keith frowned, and then crossed his arms defiantly. "For supposedly dating a beautiful woman?"

Fire Emblem also crossed his arms, obviously unimpressed. "Please, tell me that I don't have to explain this one to you. I don't think I could recover from that," he said, and then he suddenly went still, as if he'd realized something. "Wait. Did you just call Nat beautiful?"

Keith froze like a deer in the headlights. The heat in his neck rose to his cheeks, and then it was all over his face, inescapable. "I— I mean, objectively speaking... Can you say that she's not?" he finished, a little desperately.

For a moment, Fire Emblem just looked at him, his expression completely unreadable.

"I wouldn't," he said in the end, but there were layers to that small statement, and a tiny, vulnerable crack in his voice that Keith couldn't quite understand.

Keith crossed the distance between them and sat beside his partner, carefully pushing aside the discarded tablet. "Fire Emblem, please. Tell me how I can help."

Fire Emblem took a slow, deep breath, and then nodded. "OK. All right. I think we can play it like this."

He pointed a finger at Keith. "You need to avoid being seen around Helios Energy, I'd say at least until the end of the month. In the meantime, a lot of famous idiots will get absolutely wasted at a lot of holiday parties, and the gossip circuit will be flooded with their kindly-offered drunk shenanigans. That should let the you-and-Nat thing die down enough that most people will dismiss it, or even forget about it."

He gave Keith an assessing look, obviously deep in planning mode. "What are you doing on Christmas and New Year's Eve?"

Keith blinked, taken aback. It was the sort of question the heroes usually avoided asking each other, afraid that the answer might accidentally reveal some too-identifying detail about their carefully-guarded civilian identities.

By now, he privately considered Fire Emblem to be his best friend, besides of course John. It hurt more and more every day to have to keep hiding things from him, with how much Keith trusted him, but his parents had to be kept safe, and if he followed the rules with everyone, there was less of a chance that he might accidentally slip up someday.

"I'm spending Christmas with someone," he said carefully, purposely keeping things as vague as possible. "And then on New Year's Eve... Well, I usually just watch the fireworks."

"The ones in the park?" Fire Emblem asked.

Keith shook his head, hiding a tiny grin behind his helmet. "All of the fireworks."

Fire Emblem caught on immediately, his mouth opening in a small oh of surprise. "Of course. Why wouldn't you," he said, amused, but there was a hint of wistfulness in it, too.

"Would you like to join me?" Keith asked, and then he immediately felt like a fool. There was no chance Fire Emblem wasn't already drowning in invitations to all sorts of events for that particular evening; he certainly didn't need to spend the most exciting night of the year sitting in the cold with only his work partner for company.

But Fire Emblem gave Keith a long, considering look, tapping his finger against his lips a couple of times. "You know what," he said, slowly, like he was surprising even himself with the answer. "I think I would, actually."

"Really?" Keith perked up, hopeful. "You don't have anything planned already?"

"Not as of exactly right now, no," Fire Emblem answered, with a small, mysteriously self-satisfied smile.

Keith felt like he was missing something, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. His mood had finally lifted for the first time since waking up that morning.

"OK, then," he said, clapping his hands together in enthusiasm. "It's a date!"

Fire Emblem crossed his arms again, looking pointedly at Keith with a half-disbelieving, half-chiding expression.

Keith deflated. "Oh. Right. I probably shouldn't go around saying things like that, should I?"

"Not for a while, at least," Fire Emblem agreed soberly, letting his arms fall. "Seriously, though, Sky High. Are you going to be OK with this rumor?"

"You said people will forget about it," Keith pointed out.

"Yes, but..." Fire Emblem hesitated slightly. "You have to understand. Once that kind of suspicion about someone is out there, it never really goes away. People are always going to wonder."

"If I'm dating Nat?" Keith asked, although he was pretty sure that wasn't the point at all.

"If you're secretly gay," Fire Emblem said emphatically. "And don't start again on the semantics of that," he added firmly, raising a finger to stave off Keith's incoming objection. "I'm perfectly aware that it's wrong, but it's what they're going to say. And that will make them wonder if maybe you're hiding something else, if you're not the person they think you are, or want you to be. Or maybe they won't wonder at all; they'll just make up their mind about you, and they might hate you for it. You could lose a lot of fans over this," he finished, with a mixture of irritation, worry, and so, so much weariness.

He was speaking from experience, Keith realized.

He wondered if that was why Fire Emblem was so clear and unapologetic about what and whom he liked. If he had tried, at some point, to keep himself hidden, to keep himself safe, and the world just hadn't allowed him to.

Keith reached out, and covered one of his partner's hands with his own. "Fire. If any of my fans would hate me just for not being straight, they shouldn't be my fans to begin with. And frankly, I wouldn't want them to be," he said earnestly.

Fire Emblem breathed out, and his expression softened into a small smile. "You're right. Anyone who would hate you, for any reason, is definitely an idiot. And idiot fans are the bane of our existence. Way more trouble than they're worth, really."

Keith gave his hand a soft, grateful squeeze. "Thank you. And I'm sorry. I just can't stop giving you things to worry about, can I?"

Fire Emblem shook his head. "It's worth it. Besides, I haven't found any gray hairs yet. You're still in the clear, birdie."

The affectionate nickname made Keith smile, relieved. Apparently he hadn't messed things up with his partner too badly, after all. "That's good to know," he joked tentatively. "I'd hate to be responsible for such a tragic occurrence."

"Oh, I'm sure you will be, at some point." Fire Emblem sighed, rather dramatically. "You're far too heroic for your own good, and therefore for mine. But let's try to put that off for as long as possible, please. I still have a few good years left in me."

"All right," Keith nodded. "But, Fire Emblem... You're no less heroic than I am. And I'm even younger than you, I'm pretty sure, so please, don't give me any gray hairs, either." He had been trying to keep up the joke, but his voice came out just a little too serious, too pleading.

And his hand was now holding Fire Emblem's way too tightly.

He tried to let go, embarrassed, but Fire caught his fingers as they slid away, and hooked their pinkies together, tightly.

"I'll promise to be careful if you do, too," he said, and in spite of the childish gesture, he was clearly very serious about it.

Aren't you being careful already? Keith thought to ask, worried, but then he remembered.

Fire Emblem, facing down the mecha. Fire Emblem, running into Lunatic's fire at the church.

Fire Emblem, stepping in front of a gun just as it was fired.

"I promise," Keith said solemnly.

Fire Emblem smiled, and pulled their linked hands up between them. "Then I promise, too."

Behind Keith, something suddenly buzzed and beeped, and they both startled, their hands instantly breaking apart.

Fire Emblem quickly bent forward and snuck an arm around Keith, and when he pulled back he was holding his tablet. He tapped at it a few times, but he kept the holo screen off this time, so Keith had no idea what was going on.

"Oh, for— So much for my Sunday," Fire Emblem muttered, and then stood up swiftly. "Sorry, birdie, I have to go."

Keith jumped up after him, concerned. "Is everything all right?"

"Of course." Fire Emblem had already grabbed the door handle, but he turned back to give Keith a hasty smile. "Just internal company stuff. Nothing to worry about, but it's just best if I get it dealt with and out of the way now. See you at work!"

He ducked through the door, and was gone before Keith managed to raise his hand to wave him goodbye.

-----

Christmas was the best day Keith could remember having in months.

His parents had a small house in a lovely, quiet area just outside Stern Bild. The breeze always carried the smell of grass and trees there, interlaced with the scent of the ocean; it was Keith's favorite air in the world.

He and John got there bright and early in the morning, and were promptly engulfed in a long, warm double hug that made Keith feel lighter than his power ever could.

His mom and dad doted on him and John the whole time, piling them with food and gifts, and raving about the presents Keith had brought them in return. Finally, as John snored softly on the couch with a full belly, his parents asked Keith how his job was going.

Keith had known this would come, and he had given a lot of thought about what he could tell them, and what he really should avoid mentioning, instead.

They'd luckily managed to keep his injury out of the press the month before, but with Lunatic still on the loose, the situation wasn't as reassuring as he would have liked, and he hated making his parents worry. They watched Hero TV, of course, so they liked to hear about the parts that didn't get aired, but some of Keith's worst and most stressful moments lately had happened off camera, and he didn't want his mom and dad to know too much about them.

In the end, since it was a relatively safe subject, he ended up talking mostly about Fire Emblem; his clever ideas, his jokes (or a least the ones that Keith could bring himself to repeat in front of his parents), and all the ways, both small and big, in which he had helped Keith out since becoming his Buddy.

When he finished talking, his dad had a smile on his face, and his mom's eyes were shining fondly.

"He seems like such a kind young man," she said. "I wish you could bring him home with you; I would love to meet him."

Keith glanced into the living room, and tried to picture Fire Emblem sitting next to John's sleeping form on the couch, lit by the blinking lights on the tree, the vivid colors of his suit clashing horribly with the pattern on the upholstery.

It was a very incongruous image, but it still sent a small pang of longing through Keith's heart. "I wish I could have, too," he sighed.

He wondered what Fire Emblem was doing; if he was spending Christmas with his family, too, or maybe with some friends.

Just as long as he wasn't alone.

Keith's dad must have sensed his mood drop, because he pushed the plate of Christmas cookies toward his son, and refilled his glass of milk.

"Hey," he said, obviously trying to change the subject. "Didn't you mention you were going to a party, a couple of weeks ago? Why don't you tell us about that?"

Keith almost choked on his frosted gingerbread man.

He hadn't planned to tell his parents about Nat at all, simply because he had no idea what he could say that wouldn't just make them, and himself, awfully sad.

Yes, he had met a wonderful woman that he sincerely liked. That, in spite of his best efforts to the contrary, he had actually fallen in love with.

But even if she had somehow liked him back, there was just no way that anything could ever come of it. She knew Sky High, not Keith, and the hero rules meant that was a line that could never, ever be crossed.

Keith cleared his throat, and took a sip of his milk. "The party was really nice," he said, trying to muster up a smile. "You should have seen the decorations!"

He let himself get lost in describing the beautiful snowy balcony and the twinkling crystals, and then proudly told his parents about the success of the fundraiser, carefully managing to tiptoe all the way around the subject of his slightly broken heart.

-----

The last day of December dawned gray and cold.

One of Keith's traditions for this date was a long, deep thinking session in which he reviewed all of his experiences from the past year, to appreciate the good parts and, hopefully, find ways to improve on the bad ones.

The last few months, though, had been far too eventful. By the early afternoon, he hadn't managed to untangle even half of his thoughts about Barnaby, and the Buddy system, and Fire Emblem, and Lunatic, and Nat.

He had to cut his musings short, though, because the heroes were scheduled to record a video special with their wishes for a happy new year for their fans, to be aired later this evening.

He got to the studio cranky and on edge, and it only took Fire Emblem a couple of minutes to zero in on his mood.

He pulled Keith aside from where the heroes were chatting, waiting in a small lounge for the stage lights to be set, and leaned against a wall with his arms and legs crossed, giving Keith an assessing look.

"What's with you today?" he asked. "You're usually a ball of sunshine when we do these sorts of things, especially if we're all together."

Keith hung his head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I was... doing something at home, and I didn't get to finish, and now it's got me a bit out of sorts."

Fire Emblem didn't answer immediately, like he usually did, and Keith looked up, curious.

The grin on his partner's face was absolutely wicked.

"I know, I know," Fire Emblem said, affecting a wise, consoling tone. "It's understandable. Sexual frustration is the worst."

"Fire Emblem!" Keith hissed, horrified, and dived forward to clamp his hands over his partner's mouth. "Dragon Kid is right there! And that is not what I—"

A loud snort interrupted him, and he turned toward the sound, cringing.

Wild Tiger was bent over, laughing hard, holding himself up with a hand on Barnaby's shoulder. Barnaby was giving him a withering look, which, funnily enough, was a precise match for the one Blue Rose was directing at Keith and Fire Emblem. Bison and Origami were standing very still, distinctly uncomfortable.

And Dragon Kid, whom Keith had deemed far too young to hear that sort of talk, was snickering right along with Tiger, wiping tears of amusement from the corner of her eye.

Keith stared at her, dismayed. "Dragon Kid..."

She caught her breath and shrugged, still grinning. "What? I work with Rose! If I had trouble hearing the word "sex", my head would have exploded by now. She's cold, she's sexy, and she kicks ass. That's, like, her thing."

That did not make Keith feel any better at all.

Suddenly, two long fingers encircled each of his wrists, and tugged gently. Keith turned back, and realized he still had his hands pressed against Fire Emblem's lips.

He hastily pulled them back. "Sorry!"

Fire Emblem shook his head at him, amused. "Honestly. You're far too easy to rile up, you know?"

Before Keith could respond, the AD poked her head into the lounge. "Heroes, you're up for your mic check."

The others filed out quickly; as they were passing by, Rock Bison patted Keith's shoulder in solidarity.

Keith made to move as well, but Fire Emblem snagged the stabilizer on his arm, holding him back.

"Are we still on for tonight?" he asked, pitching his voice low so no one else could hear.

Just like that, Keith's chagrin at his previous embarrassment disappeared. He'd been looking forward to that for almost two weeks. "Of course! Eleven-thirty at Justice Tower?"

"Eleven-thirty at Justice Tower," Fire Emblem confirmed, and then he cocked his head questioningly. "Are you actually going to tell me where you're taking me, though?"

Keith thought about it for a moment, and then pointed a mock-lecturing finger at Fire Emblem. "You know what? No. You don't get to know in advance, not after what you just pulled. It's only fair."

Fire Emblem, though, just laughed. "Joke's on you, sweetie. I love surprises." With that, he let Keith's arm drop, and strolled easily through the door, with a little bounce in his step.

Keith sighed, shaking his head, but when he followed his partner out of the room, his helmet was hiding a smile.

-----

After dinner, Keith took some time to pet and brush John, until he was yawning contentedly, his fur soft and shiny like he'd just had a bath.

"Tonight is New Year's Eve," Keith told him, rubbing his head gently. "You know what that means. You're going to hear fireworks, but it's just like the other times. They're not dangerous to you because you're in here, and they're not dangerous to me because I'm going to be far away from them. OK?"

John woofed once, in acknowledgement, and then licked Keith's nose, wagging his tail slowly.

Keith scratched his ears and kissed his forehead, once again grateful to have such a brilliant dog.

He'd started flying out to watch the fireworks during his very first season of Hero TV, gratefully enjoying the new range and freedom that the jetpack in his suit had given him.

The first December he'd had John, though, Keith had been worried sick about the fireworks scaring him, especially since he'd still been just a puppy. He'd stayed home that year, and when the first muffled bang had echoed out, he had tried to keep John calm by telling him that they were perfectly safe inside, and the lights and noises were just ways in which people were happily celebrating a very special day.

To Keith's amazement, John had listened intently, and then jumped up on the couch, propping his tiny paws on the windowsill to look outside. He had watched a few fireworks go off, answered with a couple of small barks, and then, evidently satisfied with Keith's explanation and his own observations, he had curled up on a cushion and fallen peacefully asleep until dawn.

When he'd done the same thing on Justice Day, without Keith even having to say anything, Keith had been reassured that he could safely leave John home to sleep while he went back to his habit of enjoying the fireworks shows from above the city.

And that was precisely what he was about to do; except that night, for the first time, he wouldn't be alone.

The thought kept him warm all the way to the Poseidon Line building, even as he walked against the cold wind rushing off toward the ocean.

-----

By the time Keith finished his patrol, the wind had cleared out all the clouds, and a few stars were managing to shine through the glare of Stern Bild's city lights.

He touched down on the platform jutting out from the statue, and was surprised to see Fire Emblem leaning against the wall, half-hidden in the shadows cast by the floodlights.

The display in Keith's helmet only read 11:21. "I'm sorry," he called out, jogging up to his friend. "Have you been waiting a long time?"

Fire Emblem pushed himself off the wall, smiling. "Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who's fashionably early."

Keith frowned. "Aren't you cold out here?"

"Moi? Cold? I'm never anything other than breathtakingly hot, darling." Fire Emblem tipped his head to the side, and Keith was pretty sure he was winking. "And I guess my power keeps me warm, too," he added, like it was an afterthought.

"Oh, of course. That must be nice," Keith mused.

"It has its perks." Fire Emblem leaned in, faux-casually. "For example, I'm assuming wherever it is that we're going will be pretty exposed to the elements, yes?"

"Well, yes," Keith answered automatically, and then he realized what Fire Emblem was doing. "But you'll see it when we get there."

Fire Emblem chuckled. "Aw, come on. It's not much of a surprise at this point. We're about to be there anyway, aren't we?"

"Exactly, so there's no point in telling you now." Keith held an arm out to him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Always," Fire Emblem answered with a cheeky grin, and he stepped right up against Keith, sliding an arm around his shoulders.

Keith made sure his hand had a good grip on Fire's waist, and carefully lifted them both off the ground, checking their balance as Fire Emblem hung from his right side. When he was satisfied with the result, he turned them around, and flew off to the Northeast, away from Justice Tower.

Fire Emblem stiffened beside him. "What— I thought we were just going up to the top of the statue!"

It was Keith's turn to laugh then. "You said you loved surprises!"

"I do! Not sure how I feel about being able to see all the way down to the Bronze Stage, though," Fire said, glancing down and then immediately jerking his head up again like he regretted it.

"I would never let you fall," Keith said, and his tone was probably a bit too serious for the circumstances.

Fire Emblem's answer, though, was just as earnest. "I know. Believe me, birdie, I know."

As if to challenge their point, though, a particularly strong gust of wind hit them just then, at a bad angle; they lurched sideways, and their altitude dropped for half a second.

Fire Emblem yelped, and Keith suddenly had two strong arms wrapped around his shoulders, and a very tall, very solid hero plastered against his front.

He slid his other hand between Fire Emblem's fluttering cape and his back, holding him tight with both arms, and shifted seamlessly to steadying their flight with just the stabilizers on his boots.

"Told you," Keith whispered softly.

"I know," Fire Emblem repeated, but he still buried his face into Keith's neck, holding onto him for dear life.

Keith rubbed his back soothingly with his thumb, and made sure to keep their trajectory even for the last couple hundred meters of their very short journey.

"We're here," he said, before letting Fire Emblem's feet touch down as gently as possible.

Keith landed a second later, shifting downward in Fire Emblem's hold as their height difference reasserted itself once they were standing on a solid surface.

He relaxed his grip, but still didn't let go, giving Fire Emblem time to find his balance. When he felt his partner step back, he let him slide out of his arms, but kept his hands on his waist, making sure he was steady.

Fire Emblem also left his fingers hooked loosely around Keith's neck as he looked around, getting his bearings.

They were standing on the very top of the statue adorning the Poseidon Line building, right between the ears of the prancing pegasus. From there, they could look down into Stern Medaille, up at the rising tiers to the North, and all along and across the river, over the whole Eastern industrial area.

"Oh. This makes sense," Fire Emblem commented, with a small tilt of his head.

Keith was happy to find no trace of fear left in his voice. "Are you good?" he asked, and at Fire Emblem's nod he finally dropped his hands, letting him stand on his own. "Be careful. The metal gets a bit slippery at night."

Fire Emblem let him go, too, but he stuck close as Keith slowly turned in a circle to point out a few locations around them.

"The Central Park show is the closest," he explained. "The fireworks from Stern Bay would be hidden, but they're the biggest, so they go up high enough that we can see them above the Gold Stage. And the ones from the docks go out over the river, so they'll be just to the left of Helios Energy. They're beautiful because they get reflected on the water, but they're low, so you can't see them from Justice Tower."

Fire Emblem gave him an impressed look. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

"It's just watching fireworks," Keith said with a small shrug. "And I've been doing this for a few years already."

"Always alone?" Fire Emblem asked, and it seemed like only half a tease.

Keith spread his arms wide, smiling. "Until now."

Fire Emblem gave him a small bow. "Well, I'm honored to be your first." His tone was solemn, but when he straightened up, he was smirking shamelessly. "I thought it would be far too late for that; you're not a teenager any more, after all."

Keith blushed, flustered both by the innuendo and by the reminder that Fire Emblem would not have been too late at all.

Not that Keith was going to tell him that, of course.

He crossed his arms defensively over his chest. "Why are you so hung up on my sex life today?"

Fire Emblem's fist flew to his mouth, and he bit his knuckle, obviously trying to rein himself in. "Nope. Nope! I'm sparing you that one. I'm not sure you could take it. Well, actually, maybe you— agh!" He shook his head quickly, and then composed himself, looking down at Keith with his hands joined in front of his lips, as if in prayer. "Nope. Not going there. Just know, though, I am such a good friend."

Keith frowned, trying to parse all of that.

He must have been spending way too much time around Fire Emblem, because he was suddenly horrified to realize that he got it.

He didn't think he'd ever blushed so hard in his entire life.

He pointed a trembling, accusatory finger at his partner. "You are a good friend," he said, because he couldn't deny it, no matter what, even though it was Fire Emblem's fault that Keith's voice had gone so high-pitched, almost strangled. "But you are also horrible! Absolutely horrible."

Fire Emblem burst out laughing, wrapping his arms around his middle. He bent over, further and further, until his forehead bumped against Keith's collarbone, and then just stayed there as he shook helplessly with mirth.

Keith sighed heavily. The vibrations from Fire's laughter were so strong he could feel them in his whole body, even through that small point of contact.

He let his own head drop forward, against Fire Emblem's shoulder, and realized he was smiling in spite of himself. "Horrible," he murmured again, but instead of stern, it just came out fond.

Fire Emblem pulled back, with one last small hiccup, trying to catch his breath. "Sorry! Sorry. Give me a second," he said, turning around and raising a hand to his face.

He had laughed hard enough to cry, Keith realized, and he was slipping his fingers under his mask to wipe the tears from his eyes.

Keith usually tried not to think about what the other heroes looked like out of their costumes; in particular, he had made a conscious effort not to let himself picture the part of Fire Emblem's face that was hidden by his suit. It seemed like it would be too easy to imagine, like such a strong and distinct personality would immediately evoke the right features to match.

But now he was suddenly reminded that behind the fixed white gaze of Fire Emblem's hood were two normal, very human eyes. His best friend's eyes, and if everything went well, Keith would never know what they looked like.

It was necessary, but the thought still sent a pang of melancholy running through him.

Fire turned back around, smoothing his mask over his cheekbones, and his residual smile dropped.

"I am sorry, you know," he said, with genuine guilt lacing his tone. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Keith realized Fire Emblem had, for once, slightly misinterpreted his mood.

"You didn't," he assured him. "I mean, that was a bit... er. But it was fine. I'm fine. I was just thinking of something else, but it's not important."

Fire didn't seem entirely convinced. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Keith nodded. "Besides, you did try not to say anything, after all."

"A valiant, but vain effort, since you apparently caught on anyway." Fire Emblem pointed out. "There's hope for you yet, little birdie."

"It's not exactly the sort of thing I had envisioned I would learn from our partnership," Keith admitted with a sigh.

"You thought you'd learn something from me?" Fire Emblem asked, surprised.

"Of course!" Keith answered. "And I have. Working with you has taught me a lot, and I'm grateful. I just... wasn't expecting a grasp of certain things to be part of the package."

Fire Emblem bit his lip, hard. His chin started trembling, like he was holding in laughter. Or possibly another dirty joke, or both.

Keith frowned, mentally rewinding the last things he had said, and then his eyes widened in dismay. "Oh, come on, Fire!"

Fire Emblem looked up at the sky, shaking his head slowly, and put a dramatic hand to his chest. "I should be proclaimed a saint right where I stand. This level of selfless restraint and abnegation is beyond mere mortals, surely."

"You're impossible," Keith scolded him, but he couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.

Fire Emblem bowed again, deeper and even more theatrically than before, with a bent knee and a wide flourish of his hand.

As he straightened up, though, his back foot slipped, making him stumble slightly.

Keith's hands shot out to steady him, grabbing his elbows. "Careful! I told you, there's condensation, it gets—" He cut himself off, wary. "Is there even a way to say it that won't make you laugh at me again?"

"Honey, at this point, you're doing it all by yourself," Fire pointed out, and then smirked again. "How uncharacteristically selfish of you."

Keith just sighed again. Heavily.

"Fine!" Fire Emblem chuckled. "Sorry, you obviously need a break. Go up a moment, will you?"

Suspicious, Keith gave him a look, but Fire Emblem was actually gesturing at him to fly up.

He wrapped his arms around Fire's waist again and lifted them both a few feet into the air.

"Woah! I meant just you, but this works, too." Fire Emblem held onto Keith with one hand, and used the other to send a thin stream of fire down to the statue. The flames spread out, rolling gently all over the area they'd been standing on, and then went out, leaving a thin mist rising from the metal. "Voila. Heated seating."

Keith put them down again, and this time their boots held perfectly firm. "That's a great idea. Thank you."

"Only the best for my partner," Fire Emblem preened.

"I'm very lucky to be your partner, then," Keith said, and his hands felt a bit empty when they dropped from Fire Emblem's sides.

Fire smiled. "Quite so. But still not as lucky as I am."

Before Keith could find an appropriate response to that, a loud bang echoed in the distance, and the moment was broken.

Fire Emblem looked around, perplexed. "Is it midnight already?"

Keith shook his head. "There's always a few people who start early. We should sit down, though, there's only a few minutes to go."

They settled down against the pegasus's left ear, angled so they were looking out over both Stern Medaille and the river. The wind was finally settling down a bit, and Keith could actually tell, even through the suit, that the statue was warm; it didn't feel like it was leeching all the heat out of him, as it usually did.

When the clock finally struck midnight, dozens of whistles sounded through the air at the same time, and then a moment later the sky exploded into multicolored light.

The shows weren't meant to be seen all together, and the types of fireworks mixed wildly; green and gold spheres burst out over the park, showers of white sparks rained into the river, and giant red and purple fountains bloomed above South Gold like bright, fleeting constellations.

Fire Emblem let out a small gasp.

Keith turned to look at him; his lips were slightly parted in awe, and the fireworks reflecting on the lenses of his mask gave the impression that his eyes were sparkling.

"It's gorgeous," Fire whispered. His hand blindly reached out and closed around Keith's. "Thank you for bringing me up here."

Keith bumped his shoulder lightly against his partner's, smiling wide under his helmet.

"Happy New Year, Fire Emblem."

Fire's shoulder leaned into Keith's, and didn't move away. His hand stayed where it was, loosely wrapped around Keith's fingers.

"Happy New Year, birdie."

They sat together in silence as the fireworks kept bursting around them, washing them in color after color. They didn't move until well after the smoke had cleared, and the sky was once again filled with just the stars and a soft-looking, yellow waning moon.

-----

The peaceful feeling from that night actually managed to carry all the way into the first week of the new year.

The heroes were only called into action over minor crimes, which resulted in several easy arrests and a pretty even distribution of points. Keith took advantage of the calm to take John on a couple of extra walks, so that he could enjoy some afternoon light before the early sunset.

On Sunday, as they were strolling through the park, Keith noticed a small stage had been set up across from the fountain. Suddenly, he remembered seeing a flier for an open air concert pinned to a tree near the entrance a few days before, and marveling at the choice to hold the event outside in one of the coldest months of the year.

A small group of people was climbing into a van, chattering happily; judging from the instrument cases they were carrying, they looked to be a string quartet. Two men were unloading folding chairs from another vehicle, stacking them into a pile off to the side, and a tall figure, in a burgundy long coat and matching wide-brimmed hat, stood alone in front of the stage, bent over their smartphone.

Suddenly, without any warning, John bolted. His leash slipped from Keith's hand, and he charged full-tilt ahead, barking loudly.

"John! No!" Keith darted forward, trying to catch him, but he was too late.

The figure in burgundy turned around, alerted by the noise, just in time to catch John as his front paws collided with their chest, almost tackling them to the ground.

The cell phone clattered to the pavement; the hat flew off, and Keith stumbled, his feet suddenly rooted to the spot.

The person John had almost bowled over was Nat.

Keith stared, stunned, as she buried her hands in his dog's fur, bending down so that she was almost nose to nose with John as he stood on his hind legs, leaning up against her.

"Oh, you're an enthusiastic one!" she laughed, as John wagged his tail like crazy and tried to lick her face. "Where's your person, you beautiful little rascal?"

She looked up, searching, and when her eyes met Keith's she was smiling brightly, apparently unconcerned by her things lying scattered on the ground and the dusty paw prints collecting on her expensive-looking coat.

Keith finally got his feet unstuck and jogged forward, reaching for John's collar.

"I'm so sorry!" he called out. He didn't bother trying to disguise his voice; the helmet distorted it enough that his own parents had mentioned having trouble recognizing it on TV. "He's never done this, I don't know what happened."

And he really, really didn't; he'd talked to John about Nat, of course, but he'd never described her, or shown him her picture. And Keith had only realized that it was her after John had rushed off, so there was no way he could have recognized her from Keith's reaction, either.

Nat just laughed again. "Don't worry. Your dog evidently just has great taste in people. Don't you, sweetie?" she added, giving John another scratch behind the ear.

John barked happily in response, and then whined disappointedly when Keith gently tugged him off Nat, setting his front paws back on the ground.

"Stay," Keith told him firmly. He retrieved Nat's hat and phone, which luckily looked perfectly intact, and handed them over to her. "Sorry," he repeated, awkwardly.

She accepted her things gracefully, slipping the phone into her pocket and flipping the hat over her pink curls with a practiced gesture. "Thank you. And you really don't need to keep apologizing for... what's this darling boy's name?"

Keith picked up the leash, making sure it hadn't tangled. "This is John."

"John! How lovely. It's so nice to meet you." She bent over to pet his head, and John's tail started its happy wagging again.

And then she straightened up, and held a hand out to Keith. "I'm Nat."

He held out his own hand automatically, but halfway through the movement, the implication of what was happening hit him like a lightning bolt out of the clear winter sky.

"Keith," he told her, trying as hard as he could to hide the enormity of what he was feeling. "My name is Keith."

Her hand closed around his, skin to skin, and it felt like the warmest thing in the entire world.

-----

They ended up sitting at a table in a little outdoor café at the edge of the park, with John lying across both of their feet, munching contentedly on a dog cookie.

Keith had tried apologizing again, and Nat had jokingly told him that if he really wanted her forgiveness, he should at least buy her a coffee, and he had been too dazed to say anything but yes.

She had seemed a bit surprised by that, which had made Keith a bit sad, but also reminded him very firmly that she had absolutely no idea who he was, and he had to keep it that way at all costs.

It felt horribly deceitful, having to act like he'd never met her before. But he'd never thought he'd get a chance to spend time with her as himself, out of the suit, looking into her eyes with no camera in the way. And the thought of giving it up was just... painful.

Just this once, he told himself. Just for these few minutes.

And so Keith answered her questions about John, and sipped his hot cocoa, and tried his hardest not to look at her like a man in love.

Halfway through their drinks, he remembered how surprised he'd been to see her there. He turned his cup slightly on its saucer, making it clink gently. "If I may ask... We come to the park almost every day, but I don't think I've ever seen you around before. Were you here for the concert?"

"Yes." Nat's smile shone with pride. "My sister's the violist. I had to at least see the rehearsal; she plays so beautifully, it's like a dream."

Keith frowned, puzzled. "Won't you be able to attend the actual concert? Isn't it tonight?"

Nat's face clouded slightly. She closed her fingers around her coffee cup, giving Keith a long, assessing look; finally, she took a sip, and seemed to come to a decision.

"My parents will be there," she said, in a too-casual tone. "And we don't get along very well, I'm afraid. It's easier for everyone if I'm not there."

Keith's heart clenched, hard. He tried to keep his fists from doing the same, but his fingers still twitched on top of the table. He felt John's tail wrap around his ankles, trying to soothe his tension.

"It's their loss," he declared firmly, looking her right in the eye.

He sounded way too assured, and way too worked up about someone he'd supposedly just met, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Nat gave him a surprised, but grateful look. "That's... very kind of you to say. Thank you."

He looked away, and took a sip of cocoa to give himself time to calm down. "You're welcome."

She leaned her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand, and tilted her head at him. "You don't know that, though. I could be a horrible daughter. A horrible person. You've only known me for half an hour."

Keith took a decision of his own. "Ah... I know who you are, actually."

Nat raised a startled, questioning eyebrow at him.

"I've... read an article about you. An interview." And that wasn't a lie; he'd read several of those, back when he'd first met her. "You own Helios Energy. You sponsor a hero, and you have a ton of charity projects. You help kids."

"That could be just publicity," Nat retorted.

"OK, then let's just talk about today," Keith argued. "John jumped you out of nowhere, and ruined your coat, and all you did was pet him and call him beautiful. You just told me you stood alone in the cold for... however long the rehearsal went, because you didn't want to miss your sister's performance, but you still won't go to the concert tonight to keep from making things awkward for her." He took a deep, steadying breath. "And you just spent half an hour with a complete stranger just so he wouldn't feel too guilty about his dog acting like a complete fool."

Under the table, John snuffled softly in protest.

"So, no," Keith concluded, ignoring John and giving Nat a small, timid smile. "I would never, ever believe that you could be a horrible person."

Throughout his little speech, Nat hadn't moved, but her eyes had softened, and then widened, and now she was staring at Keith with a staggering, burning intensity.

Almost like she was searching his face for something... familiar.

He swallowed, trying desperately to keep his cool, and backtracked. "I'm sorry! That was too much, wasn't it?"

Nat finally blinked, and leaned back slowly, folding her arms on the table. "Possibly. But I happen to be a fan of excess, in the right context." The smile she gave him was sweet, but also, quite possibly, a little flirty.

Keith couldn't stop himself from blushing slightly. "I... see."

Her smile widened, and she hid it behind her cup, draining the last of her coffee.

The sun was starting to set; the golden orange light had turned Nat's hair and eyes a softer, warmer shade of pink. For the first time in a long while, Keith had the urge to paint a subject other than John.

Nat put her cup down, and at the same time something chimed loudly in her pocket. She blinked, startled, and pulled her phone out. "Oh, crud."

Keith had to fight to keep a smile off his face. He'd heard her say much, much worse, but, of course, he couldn't tell her.

"I'm sorry," she said, standing up hastily. "I totally forgot that I have a work meeting. I need to run." She gathered her hat from the empty chair where she'd stashed it, and put it on, and the color Keith had been admiring was suddenly gone.

He stood up from his own chair, and John followed suit, poking his head out from under the table.

"You said you guys come here every day, didn't you?" At Keith's nod, Nat gave them both a bright smile. "Then maybe I'll see you again. Thank you for the coffee, and for the chat, it was lovely. John, it was a pleasure to run into you. Or vice versa, I suppose."

She bent down quickly, and planted a kiss on John's forehead, leaving a faint pink trace on his fur.

Keith had never been jealous of his dog before. He supposed there really was a first time for everything.

Nat stood up swiftly. "Bye, boys. Have a good evening!" She threw Keith one last, cheerful look, and then jogged off, surprisingly agile on her very high heels.

"Goodbye," Keith called after her, followed by a wistful bark from John.

They stared at her until she disappeared behind a line of trees, and then they exchanged a look.

"I don't know why you did that, and you should never, ever do that again," Keith told John. "You could have scared her, and if you run off again, you'll definitely scare me."

John gave him a sad, apologetic whimper.

Keith knelt down and rubbed his head. "But... Thank you. That was a wonderful gift."

At that, John perked up again, and wagged his tail a couple of times, obviously satisfied.

When Keith stood up, he felt something on his hand, and he brought it up in front of his face, curious.

He'd inadvertently rubbed Nat's lipstick off John's fur, and now a pale pink smudge adorned his thumb, almost like he had been painting her for real.

Or like she'd given him a kiss, too.

Keith blushed again, but he didn't wipe his hand clean, and smiled faintly all the way home.

That night, before his patrol, he flew low over the park, and lingered in the shadows behind the fountain long enough to hear the string quartet run through a whole musical piece.

Nat had been right; her sister played wonderfully. But when Keith looked at her, no matter how beautiful she was as she performed, all he could see were the faint traces of Nat echoed in her features.

As the audience clapped, he rose up again, higher and higher; he cast a longing look at the top of the Helios Energy building, and then he turned around and started his usual slow sweep above the cold streets of Stern Bild.

-----

Over the next couple of weeks, Keith had a long, silent debate with himself.

He had always been prone to developing crushes quickly and easily. A beautiful face, a kind word, and his heart would start beating faster, filling his head with lovely thoughts for the future. Those connections, though, had always remained unfulfilled, never becoming more concrete than a fleeting, hazy dream.

On the other hand, even though pretty much everything about her should have made her seem as distant from Keith as a character on a movie screen, Nat felt real to him, in a way that few things ever had.

He'd entertained the thought that, perhaps, she was just such a bright, powerful presence that she had managed to punch through the veneer of surreality that came with being Sky High, a hero whose perfectly-constructed image had no room for his real face and his real name.

But that afternoon in the park, Keith had just been a guy walking his dog, and Nat had just been a woman who wanted to hear her sister's music, and now Keith had no doubt. He loved her, and he wanted her in his life, his actual life, the way she had been for that short, wonderful half-hour.

But if he managed to ask her for that, and if, as unlikely as that may be, she said yes... he would have to lie to her.

In a sense, of course, he lied to people on a daily basis; he didn't like it, and he wasn't even that good at it, but it was unavoidable, and, most importantly, everyone involved knew that he was hiding things, and that he didn't have a choice about it.

But Nat would have no reason to think that Keith was lying; he would just be deceiving her, plain and simple. And he didn't think he could stand to do that.

She might understand, of course; she was well aware of the rules surrounding heroes, after all. Maybe, at some point, she would even find it in her heart to forgive him.

But Keith doubted that he could have ever forgiven himself.

Yet the temptation kept nagging at him; he couldn't shake the thought that if he let this chance go, he probably wouldn't forgive himself for that, either.

The whole situation wasn't helped by the fact that he had no one to talk to about this, except for John, and as smart and willing to listen as he was, John was still a dog, and he couldn't exactly talk back.

Keith still didn't want to get his parents invested in something that was likely to turn into a painful disappointment, and discussing this with Fire Emblem was out of the question; he obviously talked to Nat on a regular basis, and it would take the two of them no time at all to put the whole thing together.

And also, for some reason, the idea of going to his partner with his relationship issues, such as they were, felt somehow wrong. Keith couldn't quite explain it; maybe it was because Fire was good friends with Nat, and it would almost feel like asking him for advice about dating his sister. Or maybe it was because Fire Emblem had a habit of half-heartedly complaining about his own bad luck with finding love, and Keith would feel guilty about essentially showing off a potential romantic prospect to him, as far-fetched as it may be. In any case, advice on this matter from his human best friend was sadly off-limits.

And so, when the heroes suddenly got a few near-mandatory days off, Keith still didn't have the faintest idea of what he should do.

In the end, he decided to spend the first day of his unexpected vacation painting. He hadn't been doing much of that lately, and he was hoping it would help clear his mind, at least a little.

As it turned out, it did, although not in the way he'd expected.

A few hours later, he found himself staring at a picture where his usual subject, John, had been joined by Nat against the background of the park. Keith wasn't all that great at painting from memory; he was good with names, but not with faces, and there was something subtly off about the portrait he'd drawn, like her mouth kept trying to look like it belonged to someone else, even though he was sure he'd gotten the signature shade of her lipstick just right.

Even so, the splash of color she made across the canvas was so alluring that he had to restrain himself from resting his fingertips on the still-wet paint.

He guessed he had some kind of answer, then; he needed to meet her again as Keith, at least once. He'd spend the next afternoon with John in the park, and see if fate would make their paths cross again.

Even if he had the day off, he still didn't want to give up on his patrol. When he passed over the park that night, he imagined Nat walking by the fountain, laughing under her hat, and he smiled fondly, making a silent wish.

The anticipation coiling in his gut made it hard to fall asleep; when he finally did, he dreamed of running through an infinite park, chasing an elusive figure in red that his eyes could never focus on properly before it disappeared behind yet another tree.

In the end, he flew up to try and find her from above, but somehow the leaves were back on the branches, in their fall colors, and they obscured his sight. The setting sun colored the trees, the park, the whole city, painting them in a glowing, blazing red, until, finally, everything below him was on fire.

Keith woke up with a start, and hit his head on the ceiling.

Three hours later, as he stood surrounded by abandoned exosuits in the North Gold heliport, with smoke rising from a bomb site and blood-red Ouroboros calling cards raining from the sky, Keith remembered his dream of a burning Stern Bild, and shuddered.

-----

Somehow, in the span of an hour, the city had gone from a peaceful, uneventful morning to being held hostage by a terrorist organization, with millions of people in danger.

Keith had no idea how something like that could have happened; had one day without the heroes around really been enough to assemble and organize such a force? It didn't seem possible, but the guilt kept eating at him, especially since all they could do at the moment was wait.

He certainly wasn't the one feeling the worst, though. When Barnaby snapped at Tiger and stormed out of the room, Keith was surprised it had even taken that long. Barnaby had been chasing after the shadow of Ouroboros for most of his life, and now they had suddenly thrown off their cover all at once, and he still couldn't confront them.

As terrifying as it was when one of the city pillars was destroyed, it meant that Keith could at least finally do something. He spent hours securing the area with Blue Rose, getting people to safety and clearing debris. The exosuits left them alone, but he was hyper-aware of the guns behind their backs, and more than once he barely avoided diving at Rose when a noise from the settling wreck of the pillar made him think the suits may have started shooting.

They only got called back to Justice Tower when, even though Jake Martinez had been released, Ouroboros refused to let Stern Bild and its citizens go free.

-----

Keith paced back and forth in the small room where Fire Emblem had all but shoved him twenty minutes earlier, together with a sandwich, an energy drink, and a plea to keep his strength up in case they were actually able to move out again soon.

Keith had managed to finish the drink, but the sandwich lay only half-eaten on its paper napkin. The thought of Origami Cyclone, undercover right next to a remorseless killer, completely alone, had twisted his stomach into a giant knot.

A soft knock came from the door, followed by Fire's voice. "It's starting."

Keith pushed the remnants of his lunch into a trash can, shoved the helmet back onto his head, and went to join his partner.

Together with the other heroes, they stood in front of a TV screen where Mr. Maverick was giving a press conference, revealing that Barnaby had chosen to be a hero, a hero without a mask or a secret identity, to avenge his parents; the use of his real name, the name he shared with his father, was a dedication, and a declaration of intent.

And Jake Martinez wasn't just a member of Ouroboros; he was the very man who had murdered Barnaby's parents, shaping the trajectory of his entire life. On the screen, Barnaby promised everyone in Stern Bild that he'd stop Jake and save the city.

Keith clenched his fist. "We're going to catch Jake for Barnaby, too," he promised resolutely.

But next to him, Fire Emblem crossed his arms slowly, staring as Barnaby stood blank-faced under a flood of camera flashes. "He's thrown him under the bus."

Surprised, Keith turned to look at him.

"Maverick took responsibility for everything, to save the Mayor's face, but now, with this move, he's dumped it all on Handsome's shoulders," Fire explained. "If stopping Jake is Barnaby's sole purpose, and he can't do it, it's his failure, and his failure alone."

"No." Keith's voice was sure, and steady. "It wouldn't be, because he's not alone. And that's why he won't fail. We'll do this together. All of us."

Fire Emblem stared at him for a long moment, and then, slowly, he nodded, with the faint trace of a smile on his lips.

Everyone's comms beeped, and Bison hurried to answer his partner's call. Origami had successfully infiltrated Jake's hideout, and would call back as soon as he figured out how Ouroboros was controlling the exosuits.

It was time for the heroes to get ready to act. They had a location, but couldn't risk a full-on assault as long as the city was still held hostage.

When Barnaby volunteered to scout ahead, Keith was tempted to say no. He knew first-hand how irrational Barnaby could get when even a mention of Ouroboros was involved; there was no telling what he'd do if he came face to face with Jake, alone.

But Barnaby had his helmet open, and his eyes were too distant, too empty. He needed this, and he needed the other heroes to support him, not doubt him.

So Keith encouraged him, and didn't back down even when Tiger tried to insist he should go with Barnaby, expressing the same worry Keith had shoved aside just seconds before.

Fire Emblem looked at all of them worriedly, but he said nothing, and the heroes moved out, following Barnaby's Chaser at a safe, discreet distance.

-----

In the end, Keith wasn't sure if Barnaby had any blame in how things had gone down at the hideout, or if just Tiger did. When he thought back, all he could focus on was the moment of wrenching fear as the warehouse had exploded, followed by a flood of relief as he saw his friends shoot straight out of the smoke cloud, with Tiger carrying Origami over his shoulder.

But Jake had gotten away, and Origami had been seriously injured.

The heroes had gathered at the hospital, but they hadn't been able to go in and see him, since the doctors had removed his suit. Origami remained unconscious, and the others slowly trickled away, until Keith and Fire Emblem left a worried, brooding Bison standing in silent vigil outside his partner's room.

Keith rushed home to check on John, and let himself just hold him for a few long minutes. Then he brought him three floors down, to their dog-sitter's apartment. She was alone, and scared, and all too happy to keep John with her when Keith told her he had to go back to work, and didn't know when he'd be home again.

If she had questions about what kind of job would ask him to come in when the city could have been destroyed at any time, she didn't ask them, and Keith was grateful for her discretion.

When his PDA beeped with an order to assemble back at Justice Tower, Keith was already halfway there.

-----

When Sky High was randomly selected as the first hero that would face Jake in a one-on-one fight, with the fate of the whole city at stake, it felt... right, somehow.

Keith knew that being the King of Heroes didn't make him better than his friends, or any sort of leader to them. But it had never felt like an empty title to him, either. He was the first in line to represent them, and he was glad to be the first in line to fight for them, as well.

If he defeated Jake, no one else would have to risk getting hurt, like Origami already had. Keith had a chance to keep them safe, to keep everyone safe, and he would give his absolute all to make sure he did just that.

He promised Barnaby that he would bring Jake back to him, and strode out of the room with his shoulders squared and his head held high, braced for battle.

He was just in front of the elevator when he heard a familiar pair of boots running after him.

He turned around, and Fire Emblem almost collided with him, stopping himself by grabbing Keith's upper arms.

"Wait." Fire's breath was a bit too labored for the short distance he'd run. "Sky High—"

Keith cut him off; he couldn't afford any hesitation. "I have to go, Fire. I have to go, and you know it."

To his surprise, Fire Emblem didn't try to argue with that. "I know. But we're partners, and you said we'd do this together, and now you're going off alone, and I hate it."

On one hand, Keith hated it, too. On the other, the thought of Fire staying safely behind was an undeniable comfort. But in any case, they had no choice. "We have to do exactly as they say. If we don't—"

"If we don't, they might destroy the city, yes, and that's my point," Fire said, heatedly. "Jake is a fucking coward."

Keith blinked, surprised at the level of venom in his partner's voice.

"He's holding twenty million lives over our heads to tie our hands, because it's his only shot. He knows he'd lose to us in a fair fight. Even to just two of us together, or he'd be showing off by going up against our Buddy pairs." Fire Emblem's hands tightened around Keith's arms. "He's letting you fight him because he's absolutely sure that he can win against you alone. He must have something up his sleeve. You need to be careful."

"Of course I will be," Keith assured him, in a soft, gentle voice. "I promised you, didn't I?"

Fire Emblem's lower lip twitched, and he bit down on it, hard. "Sky High... He killed his own man, in cold blood, just for letting himself get captured. If you challenge him, and he beats you—"

"He won't." Keith brought his own hands up, wrapping them around Fire's elbows and giving them a reassuring squeeze before stepping back, out of his partner's hold. "He won't beat me."

He reached out behind him, and blindly hit the call button. The elevator pinged open, and Keith walked into it backwards, keeping his camera trained on Fire Emblem.

"I'll be right back," Keith whispered, and hit the button for the platform floor.

Fire Emblem stared at him until the doors closed between them.

Jake was waiting in Stern Stadium; the very same place where, just months before, Keith had been named the King of Heroes again. It sat right in front of the statue of the Goddess, under her watchful gaze; Keith stood on the platform hidden in the folds of her dress, looking down at his target, and took a deep, steadying breath before jumping.

He did challenge Jake, loudly and boldly, and when he finally got him to move far enough away from the woman at his side, Keith launched a barrage of fast, relentless attacks from the sky, ending with the largest wind-bomb he'd ever launched.

It hit Jake square on, and when the smoke cleared, Keith saw him lying in the crater that had formed on the pitch, perfectly still.

He landed, relieved, ready to make the arrest.

But then Jake opened one eye; it was glowing, but instead of the usual, cool NEXT blue, it was a weird, unsettling orange. A snap of his fingers, and Keith was thrown back into the air, crying out in pain as his head collided violently with the inside of his helmet.

Caught by surprise, he landed badly, and when he looked up from the ground, he found Jake looming over him, perfectly, impossibly unscathed.

Keith hadn't hit him even once.

He tried again, and although he failed, from this close he could finally see the glowing barrier that blocked his attack completely.

He had to tell the others.

"Jake doesn't shoot beams," he warned over the open comm line, as Jake's cruel smirk filled his vision. "He creates force fields."

Now that his secret was out, Jake apparently had no reason to hide the strength of his power any more. He hurled a full-size barrier at Keith, blasting him along the ground in a brutal parody of his flight.

Keith hit the wall at full speed, and everything went black.

-----

When Keith regained consciousness, he became aware of three things in pretty quick succession.

The first one was a dull, pervasive pain. His head was pounding, his chest and back felt like one giant bruise, and the rest of him wasn't faring much better.

The second was a faint, surprised relief; Jake had spared his life, after all.

And the third was a very familiar voice, rising loudly somewhere in the vicinity.

"He's my partner! I need to know how he's doing!"

Keith bolted upright and looked around, ignoring the way his ribs protested at the sudden movement. "Fire?"

A small hand planted itself firmly on his sternum. Keith blinked, and a tiny woman in a doctor's coat came into focus. He was in a hospital bed, and she was the only person in the room with him, but he could still hear Fire Emblem's voice somewhere nearby, probably in the corridor outside.

"I need my helmet," he told the doctor, already trying to push the blankets away from his legs.

She gave him a fierce scowl, and her hand stayed exactly where it was. "You are not going anywhere right now. It's a miracle you didn't break any bones, and I'm not letting you finish the job."

Keith shook his head. "No, I'm not trying to leave. I just... They won't let him in if I don't have my helmet. Please, I just need to see my partner. Please."

The doctor sighed, but her eyes had softened considerably. "All right. But you're staying in this room until I say otherwise." At Keith's nod, she finally moved away, and retrieved his helmet from where it had been lying, as if discarded, on a small table in a corner.

When she put it in his hands, Keith saw that most of the fin stabilizer had been snapped clean off. He wouldn't be able to fly at full speed any time soon, but that was not his priority at the moment.

He took a deep breath, and slipped the helmet onto his head. It took two tries, but the camera still switched on.

Keith turned to the doctor, grateful. "Thank you. Please, would you go tell Fire Emblem that he can come in?"

She threw him a worried look, but she did leave the room, closing the door softly as she went.

As soon as she was out of sight, Keith ripped the IV line from his arm and slid out of bed. He staggered dangerously, but he managed to hold himself upright with a hand on the mattress.

The door burst open, and Fire Emblem crashed through it, so fast that it swung back and slammed closed behind him again. He stopped just inside the room, breathing hard but otherwise completely still.

"Sky High?" he asked, staring at Keith.

And Keith was suddenly, painfully aware of what he had to look like at the moment; barefoot in a pair of hospital pajamas, leaning on the bed for support, wearing just a single, broken piece of his hero suit.

Small. Useless.

A failure.

He swallowed around the knot of shame burning in his throat. He'd gone up against Jake projecting all the pride and confidence he could muster, and he had been completely defeated in the space of exactly two minutes. He'd let down the whole city, and his friends, and his partner.

So much for being the King of Heroes.

Keith's shoulders sagged, and he swayed again, ever so slightly.

In front of him, Fire Emblem finally moved. He took one step, two, and then surged forward, and Keith was suddenly being enveloped in a strong, but heartwrenchingly careful embrace.

Fire Emblem delicately folded himself around him, burying his nose against Keith's shoulder. "Oh, sweetie," he whispered, and it sounded hoarse, barely there; but his body against Keith's was solid, and so very, very warm.

Keith hadn't realized how cold he'd been until that moment. He wrapped his own arms around Fire, and let himself lean against him, even as he ran a soothing hand along his partner's spine.

"Hey. It's all right," he murmured. "I'm fine."

Fire Emblem's arms tensed around Keith. "It's not all right! It's not all right at all! Do you have any idea..." His hands clenched around two fistfuls of Keith's shirt, pulling it tight across his body. "They... They strung you up. Hung you from your statue, like a piece of meat, or... or some kind of sacrificial lamb. And all of your telemetry was gone. For a few minutes, we didn't even know—" His voice broke, and his whole body started trembling.

Keith's eyes widened in understanding.

Oh.

In his mind, he was suddenly back in the parking garage at Apollon Media, in that split second when he'd thought Fire Emblem had been shot, and all the breath had been punched right out of his chest.

The idea of feeling like that for more than a single instant was absolutely unbearable.

He pulled Fire Emblem closer, holding him as tight as he could, even though it made his arms hurt, and his ribs scream. "I'm sorry, Fire. I'm so sorry."

"You'd better be," Fire Emblem scolded him, his voice still shaky. "Forget about the gray hair, that took at least ten years off my life!"

Keith wanted to promise him that he wouldn't do it again. He really did.

But he knew that it might turn out to be a lie.

And then he suddenly remembered that someone else would have to do it again, because he had failed. Maybe someone else was doing it as they spoke.

"Wait!" He pushed Fire back, searching his face frantically. "How long was I out? What's going on with Jake?"

Fire Emblem looked away for a moment. He'd shifted his grip, but he was still clutching Keith's shoulders, and his fingers twitched nervously. "Rock Bison went to face him while I was getting here. He got knocked out even faster than you did."

Bison's skin could deflect bullets. And Jake had beaten him that fast?

Keith recoiled at the thought. "Is he OK?"

"He will be. He's just a bit banged up. His data kept transmitting, at least." Fire Emblem glanced away again. "They should be bringing him here right now."

"Then who's fighting Jake next?" Keith asked. His hands tensed on Fire's waist, and he forced himself to let go, before he could get too clingy.

Fire looked around the room, and then gently pushed Keith back toward his bed. "Sit down. We're going to find out."

He plucked a remote from a holder on the side of the bed, and turned on a TV that Keith hadn't even noticed before, set high on the opposite wall.

Keith stared at the screen as he climbed back under the blankets, sitting back against the headboard; the feed had been hijacked, he realized. The Hero TV logo had been replaced by the Ouroboros symbol, and the scrolling text on the bottom had obviously been written by someone who was very much rooting for Jake.

To Keith's surprise, Fire Emblem sat down beside him, crossing his long legs on top of the covers and sliding an arm around Keith's shoulders.

When Keith turned his head to look at him, Fire became uncharacteristically hesitant. "Is this OK?"

On the TV, Jake announced they were about to select the next hero who would face him.

Without a word, Keith slipped his own arm around Fire Emblem's waist, and settled in against his side, turning back toward the screen.

If Jake picked Fire's card, Keith wasn't a hundred percent sure that he'd be able to let his partner go.

But the third in line turned out to be Wild Tiger, and Jake, mocking him, went ahead and selected Barnaby as his fourth opponent at the same time.

"Bastard," Fire hissed. "I hope Tiger makes him eat those cards."

Keith's free hand clutched at the bedsheets over his lap. "Maybe he can do it. He's a lot stronger than I am."

"Yes, for all of five minutes," Fire pointed out skeptically.

Keith shrugged slightly, careful not to dislodge Fire's arm. "Five minutes is a lot longer than I managed to last against Jake. We need to believe in Tiger."

Fire Emblem sighed, but he nodded. "It's not like I don't. And there's not much else we can do right now, after all."

Together, they waited for Tiger to show up, as the light outside died. The hospital room went dark, but neither of them made any attempt to reach the lightswitch, letting the TV cast a cold, shifting glow across the bed. Since Fire evidently didn't mind the clinginess, Keith had no intention of moving.

On the screen, the floodlights got turned on, revealing Tiger standing in the middle of the arena. He activated his power and charged at Jake, almost too fast to see; all the camera could capture was a blur streaking across the field, trailing green lights behind it.

For a moment, Keith really thought that Tiger could make it.

But Jake didn't just block his attack; he dodged it, like it was no big deal at all, like Tiger wasn't moving a hundred times faster than any regular human could.

None of Tiger's blows landed, and after a while, Jake started hitting back.

Keith watched his friend get tossed around, again and again; both of his hands kept clenching tighter and tighter, as a bitter feeling of helplessness rose in his gut, until he was half-worried he might rip the blankets, or bruise Fire's hip.

Fire Emblem's grip on his shoulders also became less careful with each passing minute, until his hand had twisted the top of Keith's pajamas halfway off his collarbone.

When Tiger's power ran out, he stumbled, exhausted; but he still got back up and rushed at Jake, once, twice more, until he could barely stay on his feet.

"He can't make it without his power," Fire whispered, frightened. "He needs to give up, or he'll get himself killed."

"He won't," Keith answered, equally as scared. He knew Tiger too well to think otherwise. "He will never give up."

Tiger stumbled again, head over heels... and his boot struck Jake right on the head.

Keith stopped breathing. But his fleeting moment of hope turned into horror, as Jake, enraged, started kicking Wild Tiger, hard enough to break his helmet, and then just kept flicking attacks at him until, finally, Tiger just stayed on the ground, unmoving.

Fire Emblem's free hand flew to his mouth. "Is he..."

Keith lifted his hand from the blankets, and Fire immediately reached for his wrist, bringing up Tiger's signal on the PDA. It still pulsed green, and they both breathed out, shaky with relief.

An unexpected voice came from the TV, and Keith looked up.

Agnes had appeared on the screen, and they watched as she managed to convince Jake to put the next battles on hold until the morning. The feed shifted to an animated Ouroboros logo, and Fire reached for the remote again, clicking the sound off.

"That bought us some time, at least," he mused. "But to do what?"

His own PDA beeped behind Keith's shoulder; instead of pulling his arm back, Fire Emblem just wrapped it around Keith's neck, holding him even closer, and bringing the holo screen up in front of them both.

When the video connected, Agnes blinked at them, and then shook her head slightly, raising her eyebrow at Fire Emblem. "Of course you're over there. How are you, Sky High?"

"I'm fine," Keith answered quickly. "How's Tiger, do you know?"

Agnes pursed her lips. "No news from the paramedics yet. But Origami is awake."

"What?" Keith tried to lean forward, but he was held firmly against Fire's shoulder, and the screen was already almost too close to keep into focus. "Is he OK?"

"He will be," Agnes assured them. "And he made an in-depth report about the exosuits. The woman with Jake, Kriem, is controlling the plush toys inside them with a radio signal. We'll have a jamming system in place in the morning."

Fire Emblem gave her an appreciative nod. "So we can deal with them while he's busy with Handsome. Great plan, Agnes."

"Yes! That was very smart, using the ratings as an excuse," Keith added.

Agnes gave him a weird look. "Sure," she answered. "Fire Emblem, be ready to move out first thing tomorrow. I'll be in touch if anything comes up. Good night, guys."

The call blinked off, and Fire Emblem relaxed his arm, letting it sit loosely across Keith's shoulders again. "Well. Nothing to do until the morning, then."

Keith turned toward him, hopeful. "No, but now we know we can do something. We can take the city back, and keep everyone safe."

Fire scowled at him. "You are doing absolutely nothing. Your doctor said you have a concussion, bruised ribs, hell, bruised everything. You're not moving from here until they say so."

And just like that, Keith's feeling of helplessness was back in full force. "Oh. Right."

With a slow, careful movement, Fire Emblem turned, wrapped his other arm around Keith, and pulled him gently against his chest, leaning his head against the side of the helmet. "Hey. You said we'd do this together. I know this isn't what you had in mind, but you did your part. Let us do ours, OK?"

"I didn't do anything except look like an idiot," Keith argued bitterly.

"Nonsense," Fire shot back. "You made Jake reveal his real power. And you showed everyone that we're not afraid of him. You may not have beaten him yourself, but what you did mattered. Although I could have done without the abject terror at the end, mind you," he added, in a kind, fond rebuke.

"Sorry," Keith said again, and he slid his other hand around Fire's waist, too, so that they were both holding each other.

"You don't really have to keep apologizing, you know," Fire Emblem said softly.

"I think I do, though," Keith sighed. "I thought I'd gotten him, and I let my guard down. I wasn't as careful as I promised you I would be."

Fire Emblem's thumb stroked lightly across Keith's arm, right over the spot where the burn from Lunatic's fire had been. "Well, you'll just have to take even better care of yourself in the future to make up for it. How about that?"

Keith let his head drop against Fire's shoulder, careful to keep the sharp edge of the broken fin well out of the way. "Will you ever get tired of giving me second chances on this?"

"Mmmh." Fire pretended to think about it for a few moments. "No, you know what, I don't think so. You get an unlimited supply. I'm just wonderful like that."

Hidden inside the helmet, Keith finally smiled for the first time that day. It might have been a bit tearful, but it was there. "Thank you. But... please, you need to be careful, too."

Fire Emblem pulled back then, and he was smiling, too. "Have I ever not been the picture of prudence and wisdom?"

Unfortunately, Keith could still think of several answers to that. "Well—"

But Fire cut him off immediately. "No, actually, don't say anything. It's not a problem, anyway; all I have to do tomorrow is pull a bunch of adorable teddy bears out of their little armored seats. Handsome is the one who will be doing the heavy lifting."

"Barnaby has the same power as Tiger, though," Keith pointed out hesitantly. "What if he loses, too?"

For a moment, Fire Emblem's expression was pure, determined steel. "Well, in that case, I guess we'll find out if those barriers are heat-proof, too. And I'm guessing the answer is no."

The last thing Keith wanted to think about was Fire Emblem having to face Jake. "I really hope it doesn't come to that," he whispered.

"I'm sure it won't," Fire reassured him. "This is Handsome's fight. He's going to make it. But speaking of Tiger, he's probably here by now. We should find out how he's doing, and then I'll let you get some rest."

Keith's arms, which were still around Fire's waist, tightened against his will. "Do you have to go?" he asked, and then he grimaced, pulling back. He hadn't really meant to say that, and he certainly hadn't meant to sound that pitiful.

But Fire just chuckled softly, laying a gentle hand in the middle of Keith's chest. "Don't get me wrong, sweetie, I am absolutely flattered that you'd want me in your bed tonight, but you need to get some actual sleep. And probably some— wait."

He pointed at the inside of Keith's arm, where a smeared drop of blood had dried against the skin. "Did you pull out your IV?" He twisted around, looking over the edge of the bed, to the floor where Keith had dropped the needle just before he came in. "You did! Maybe I shouldn't leave you alone after all, you were unsupervised for what, all of five seconds? I swear... Are you in pain? Hold on, I'll get someone who can put it back in."

With that, he flipped his legs off the bed and was out of the room in a second, without waiting for an answer.

Which was actually a good thing, because Keith couldn't have given him one if his life had depended on it; he was too busy having a massive, staggering internal freakout.

His brain had heard Fire's joke and promptly informed Keith, in no uncertain terms, that yes, he did, in fact, very much want Fire Emblem in his bed.

And in his kitchen, eating breakfast in the morning, and on his couch, watching TV at night, and in the park, walking with John.

He wanted Fire Emblem in his life, in the exact same way that he wanted Nat there.

Keith let himself fall back against the headboard, and the helmet let out a dull clang.

He had never heard of a concussion making someone fall in love with two people at once before, but he was tempted to keep hitting his head against the wall, harder and harder, to see if perhaps another good blow could fix the problem.

At the very least, he might pass out again, and no longer have to think about what an absolute, hopeless disaster of a person he had apparently become.

-----

Fire Emblem came back with a nurse, disappeared again, and then returned with Keith's doctor, and the news that Tiger was resting peacefully a few doors down. Although his injuries were more severe than Keith's or Bison's were, he would make a full recovery, just like Origami.

Keith focused on that, trying to push the mess in his head and his heart aside, but he kept catching himself staring at Fire like a deer in the headlights. He was pretty sure that the only thing saving him from utterly embarrassing himself was the helmet hiding his face, and the fact that he could partially blame his additional weirdness on the fact that he had, after all, hit his head pretty hard that afternoon.

When Fire Emblem actually left for the night, Keith took the helmet off, letting the doctor check his reactions and the small bump hidden under his fringe.

"Will you stay put now?" she asked him after she was done, crossing her arms. "You know, the more you listen to me, the sooner you can get back to helping your friends."

"But not tomorrow?" Keith guessed dejectedly.

The doctor shook her head. "Not tomorrow, no. I wouldn't let you ride a bicycle right now, let alone fly around with a jetpack. You might get disoriented, or dizzy, and we don't want you a hundred feet off the ground when that happens, do we?"

Keith neglected to inform her that he already felt extremely disoriented, because he was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the concussion, and everything to do with his stupid, confused feelings.

Before the doctor left, he asked her to find his phone, and called his parents. Thankfully, it seemed that the TV hadn't mentioned the loss of transmission from his hero suit; his mom and dad were still terribly worried, of course, but they didn't seem nearly as frantic as Fire Emblem had been about the moment when Keith had gone down.

After promising his parents several times that he would be fine, and that the heroes had a plan in place to save Stern Bild, Keith called his neighbor, too, asking her to put John on the line. He had to keep that call audio only, but it was enough; John was a very good listener, and it didn't take long to reassure him that Keith was OK and would be coming home soon.

Then, finally, Keith was alone. He settled into bed, careful not to dislodge his IV again, and fell into a fitful, uncomfortable sleep.

Maybe an hour or two before dawn, he dreamed that the TV was on again; Jake had selected another hero, and this time it was Fire Emblem's turn to fight him.

Fire Emblem was shooting out streams of flames, one after the other, and he was surrounded by them on all sides, standing in the eye of a fiery, twisting whirlwind.

But it was all useless; Jake was, once again, completely unscathed. He snapped his fingers, and Fire jerked back and went down, hard.

Keith jumped off the bed and floated, up and through the screen, and when he landed on the other side, he was standing in the arena in his full Sky High gear.

Jake was towering over the burning field, impossibly tall, a hulking, smirking giant.

And Keith started running.

He ran ahead, straight through the fire, and the flames licked at his suit, melting it, burning every piece of it off his body until he was standing, naked and unmasked, at the center of the vortex.

His skin wasn't even singed.

He fell to his knees, over Fire Emblem's prone form, and reached out toward him. But as soon as his fingers touched his partner's chest, the suit collapsed in on itself, suddenly empty of anything but a cloud of fading, sweet-smelling smoke.

Keith woke up with a strangled, panicked cry stuck in his throat, and hot tears burning in his eyes, spilling down his temples.

He wiped them away with a shaky hand; then he buried his face into the pillow, and didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

-----

By the time the broadcast started again in the morning, Keith felt a little foggy, and he wasn't sure if it was from the head injury, or the painkillers, or the lack of sleep. In a way, though, he was grateful for it; it was taking the edge off his anxiety, both the residual one from his nightmare, and the one over the upcoming battle.

And then everything came back into painfully sharp focus when Jake announced that if Barnaby lost, half of the city would be destroyed. This would be their last chance; no more buying time, no more excuses.

Keith watched Barnaby standing alone in the huge stadium, under the falling rain, and remembered Fire Emblem's words. It was all on Barnaby's shoulders; the battle for his life's purpose, for his long-gone parents, had turned into a battle for Stern Bild, and for all of its citizens.

Stuck in his hospital bed, Keith fisted his hands in the sheets. "Please, Barnaby. You can do this," he whispered at the TV.

Jake appeared, dropping a slew of attacks around him, and Barnaby... didn't activate his power.

Keith's eyes widened, but when Agnes called in with the details of the plan, he understood. Barnaby was buying them time after all, in the only way that he could. It would take a lot more than five minutes to get the jamming system up and running, and for Fire Emblem and the girls to neutralize the exosuits.

Keith sank back against his pillow, trying and failing to fight off his frustration at his own uselessness. He watched Barnaby get knocked down, time after time, but he didn't lose hope. If anyone had enough motivation to get past Jake's defenses, it was Barnaby.

And then Jake revealed that he had had two NEXT powers all along, and Keith's heart sank completely.

Fire Emblem had tried to tell him that his battle had been important, too, because it had let them know exactly what their opponent could do. But that, it turned out, hadn't been true at all. Jake's actual secret was his second power, and without knowing what it was, the heroes didn't have any hope of defeating him.

Barnaby finally activated his own power, but, like Keith had feared, it was useless. Jake just kept hitting him, again and again, until the last blow sent Barnaby flying all the way to the roof of the stadium. He swayed, and Keith could do nothing but watch, expecting him to fall one last time.

But then, out of nowhere, Wild Tiger appeared and caught his partner, holding him up.

Keith's heart clenched.

Barnaby had been nothing but cold and dismissive to Tiger ever since he'd become his Buddy. He'd ignored him, belittled him, and rejected Tiger's profound beliefs about what it meant to be a hero, along with all of Tiger's offers to help him.

And yet Tiger, who had been in the ICU just hours earlier, had shown up on the same battlefield where he'd gone down, in just his street clothes and his mask, clearly still in pain, to give Barnaby his support.

Keith pushed the blankets back, and got to his feet.

A wave of dizziness hit him, and he had to catch himself on the wall to keep from ending up on the floor. He took a few deep breaths and straightened up slowly, and this time the room didn't spin around him at all. He removed his IV, more carefully than he had the day before, and picked up the helmet from the foot of the bed.

He was almost at the door when a piercing, screeching sound erupted from the TV.

He whipped around, too fast, and the dizziness hit again, making him stumble. He managed to focus his eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of Barnaby streaking past Jake, and then the screen was just a wall of pure white, so bright that it sent a stab of pain through Keith's head.

When the light returned to normal, Jake was down.

Keith stared, barely daring to hope, as Barnaby picked him up by the throat, and then, after a look at Wild Tiger, let him drop again, just as his power ran out.

Barnaby had done it. He'd beaten Jake.

And when Kriem tried to take Jake back from the heroes, thinking Ouroboros still held the city hostage, the view on the screen flashed to the previously hidden camera feeds from outside the stadium, showing that Blue Rose, Dragon Kid and Fire Emblem had managed to completely neutralize the exosuits.

Fire Emblem was holding a big, ugly pink plush bear; he gave it a celebratory smooch, and then made it wave cutely at the camera.

Keith found himself smiling helplessly at the screen. He loved him so much that it hurt.

And he was pretty sure that the concussion had actually nothing to do with it.

-----

In the end, they didn't get to arrest Jake; in his final attempt to escape, he tried to attack Tiger, and instead ended up crashing a whole helicopter down on himself in the process.

Keith wondered what it said about himself that he only felt a little bad about the horrific way Jake had died. He stopped thinking about it, though, when Barnaby showed up at the hospital with Tiger, Fire and the girls, and Keith could see that his eyes were not nearly as empty as they had been before.

And if they kept sliding over to Tiger, well, Keith was really in no position to comment on it.

The heroes had gathered in Origami's room, and Keith was taking shameless advantage of the helmet hiding his line of sight, stealing constant glances at Fire Emblem, like he was afraid that if he took his eyes off his partner for too long, he might disappear in a puff of smoke, like he had in Keith's dream.

But Fire remained perfectly, wonderfully solid as he stood beside him, making impressed noises as Tiger explained how he'd figured out that Jake's second power was, of all things, the ability to read minds, and then laughing brightly when Barnaby revealed that, in order to keep their opponent from catching on, Tiger had made up an absurd story about Jake being able to hear their muscles moving with his super-hearing.

When Origami yawned behind his mask, Fire Emblem got everyone to disperse so he could rest, making Tiger promise to get checked out by the doctors again, and then pushed Keith's wheelchair back to his room.

He hovered close as Keith carefully got back under the covers, and then, instead of leaving, he sat down on the side of the bed.

For a second, he just looked at Keith, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, the visible half of his face relaxed into a tired, fond smile.

"We did it, birdie," he said, soft and low and relieved. "All of us, together, like you said."

Keith looked down at his own hands, resting limply in his lap. "Not really. In the end, Jake's secret was a completely different thing. I actually didn't do anything at all."

Fire Emblem's hand came into view, and covered Keith's fingers on top of the blanket.

When Keith looked up, with his cheeks suddenly feeling a little too warm, he found Fire leaning into his space, head tilted slightly to catch the gaze of Keith's camera.

"Did you forget about the other part already?" Fire Emblem asked gently.

Keith frowned. "The other part?"

Fire smiled at him again. "The part where you weren't afraid. The part where you inspired us all to not be afraid. The most important part."

"No, that's..." Keith shook his head. "Tiger was the inspiring one. The way he showed up for Barnaby... I didn't even know he could use his power to heal himself like that."

"I don't think even he knew it, until he tried it," Fire Emblem shrugged. "And I'm pretty sure he was actually still bleeding when he snuck out of here. Not exactly a genius move, there."

"But he had to help his partner, and he found a way," Keith said, and his voice was half admiration and half heavy, rueful guilt.

"Oh, sweetie." Fire's hand closed around his and squeezed lightly. "Don't do this. Do you think I would have wanted you out there, injured like you are? If you'd shown up, I would have dropped everything and dragged your ass all the way back to this bed, pronto."

"No, you wouldn't have," Keith argued. "You had a city to save."

Fire Emblem tilted his head back, in that way that Keith was pretty sure meant that he was rolling his eyes. "Fine. I would have stashed you in a safe place, heroically saved the city, and then dragged your ass all the way back to this bed. The point is, today I needed you to be safe in here way more than I needed your help out there. So thank you for actually staying put. I appreciate it."

Keith bit his lip and very carefully didn't say anything.

"Oh, for—" Fire Emblem let go of his hand, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Please tell me you didn't try to sneak out, too."

"Sorry," Keith said, grimacing. "I didn't actually go anywhere, though. I didn't think of moving until Tiger showed up, and then it was all over right away."

"So what you're telling me is that Tiger inspires people, but only to be morons," Fire said. "My point stands. Your kind of inspiration is way more valid."

"I suppose." Keith wasn't convinced at all, but he was growing tired, and he was half afraid that if he kept arguing the point, if Fire Emblem kept sitting so close, and being so kind, Keith might say something that he would regret.

Like, I dreamed about you.

Like, I'm not sure I deserve you.

Like, Hey, remember when I didn't tell you that I loved your boss, because I didn't want to risk messing up our partnership? Well, it turns out that I love you, too. Yes, the same way, at the same time. So I guess I managed to mess it all up anyway, even worse than I thought I could. Isn't that wonderful?

He sighed, long and weary. "Fire... I really like having you here, but they told me that if I manage to get some more sleep, and then my check-up goes well, maybe tonight I can go home to my—" Keith bit his tongue. Crap. He was already saying things that he shouldn't. "I mean... I should probably lie down now."

Fire Emblem stood up immediately, and all the warm happiness in his demeanor was instantly gone.

Keith felt like a jerk.

And a coward.

"Of course," Fire said hurriedly. "I'm sorry, I should have thought that you still needed rest. Just let me know how you're doing when you can, OK?"

He offered Keith a weird half-smile, and then slipped through the door, far too quickly and far too silently.

Keith tore his helmet off, tossed it onto the end of the bed, and dropped his face into his faintly-shaking hands.

-----

It took a bit of pleading with the doctor, but Keith did manage to go home to John that evening.

And then he had a whole week where he couldn't do much but rest, take John on light walks, and think. The thinking, even after the headache from the concussion was gone, was the hardest part.

After going over the (short, ruthlessly short) footage of his battle with Jake over a dozen times, and combing through his own memories of it (which were, surprisingly, perfectly stark up until the moment he had passed out), all he could conclude was that he should have been less confident. Kept his distance, and double-checked that Jake was actually down for the count.

He wondered if he might have done just that, if there had been no cameras around.

But there was no point in dealing with hypotheticals like that; and so Keith let his mind go to work on his other, more personal, but somehow far more complicated problem.

He was in love with Nat. And now he was in love with Fire Emblem, as well.

And he had no idea what to do about it.

He carefully went back over his time with both of them; he knew exactly when he'd realized his feelings for each, but he wanted to try and pinpoint where those feelings had actually started.

With Nat, it wasn't all that difficult; he'd found her dazzling and beautiful from the first moment he'd seen her, but it had been the way she'd treated him that had made the deepest impression on him. Of all the people at the party, she had been the only one to talk to him like he was real, like there was an actual, human person behind his Sky High helmet. And that, it turned out, was something that grabbed right at Keith's heart.

As for Fire Emblem... Keith hadn't the faintest idea. His partner was obviously attractive, too; Fire's suit may have covered half of his face, but it did nothing at all to disguise the strong, pleasant lines of his body. In fact, some of them got so... emphasized that in the first few weeks of his hero career, Keith had done quite a bit of secret blushing, before he got used to seeing Fire Emblem from so up close.

But the way he felt now had far more to do with the sense of warm comfort that he had found in his partner; somehow, even though they couldn't share anything about their actual lives with each other, Fire Emblem made Keith feel understood, and accepted, like he didn't need to change or hide anything about who he was to fit in with him. And Keith was struggling to recall a time when he hadn't felt at least a little bit like that, even before he and Fire had become Buddies.

Maybe falling for the two people in the world who made him feel the most like himself was terribly narcissistic.

Or, perhaps, it was exactly what love was all about.

Keith really couldn't tell. Once, when he'd gotten his first crush on a girl, he had asked his parents how they had known that they should get married. They'd just looked at each other, smiled, and told him that when he met the right person, he would just know.

He'd never thought to ask what he should do if he met two right people at the same time, though. And that actually brought him back to fearing that he was being incredibly conceited for even considering this. Both Nat and Fire Emblem seemed to like him perfectly fine as a person, but he really had no reason to think that either of them, let alone both, might actually return his romantic feelings.

And yet, he couldn't stop wanting.

Technically speaking, he could have tried his luck with either of them. He had met Nat in his civilian identity once, and he pretty much knew what he had to do to make it happen again. And, perhaps because whoever wrote the book thought the forced anonymity would be enough of a deterrent, there was actually no explicit rule forbidding two heroes from dating each other.

But, no matter how incredibly far-fetched his chances of succeeding were with even just one of them, the thought of trying to pursue two relationships at once seemed horribly dishonest; Keith just couldn't see himself ever considering that.

And choosing one of them over the other was simply not an option. Every time he tried to picture himself not loving either of them, burying his feelings somewhere deep and out of sight, his heart gave him a sharp, unmistakable pang of loss.

At the end of the week, lying on his bed with John leaning gently against his still-tender ribs, Keith stared at the ceiling, and admitted defeat.

There was nothing he could do about this, except let himself love both of them, and see where that took him. He wouldn't do anything, or even say anything; but he wouldn't try to smother his hope, either.

He had a feeling that he would need it desperately in the near future.

-----

Going back to work was not quite as awkward as Keith had feared. Pretty much all of the attention, both from the media and from their inner circle, was laser-focused on Barnaby; on his story, on his accomplishment, and on his teamwork with Tiger.

For maybe half a day, Keith was worried about him, but Barnaby didn't seem to mind the pressure that came with being the hero of the hour. In fact, he seemed to be doing a lot better than he had before; he was giving people genuine smiles, and reacted with polite amusement to jokes that would have for sure irritated him just a couple of weeks earlier. He had even stopped calling Wild Tiger "old man", and started using his proper hero name, something that he'd previously only done for the cameras.

Barnaby and Tiger, in fact, seemed to have turned their relationship on its head; they praised each other at every opportunity, and even when they did have a disagreement, there was a sense of fondness overlaying the whole thing, like they had been friends for years and years, instead of just a few months.

Fire Emblem kept glancing at them when they couldn't see, with a small, knowing smile; but then he would turn to look at Keith, and his smile would falter, and then fade altogether.

It made Keith feel like he'd gotten everything wrong, back at the hospital. Fire had given him nothing but patience and support, and Keith, instead, had let his fear take over and sent him away, and then essentially disappeared from his life for a week for good measure.

Maybe Fire Emblem wasn't feeling so lucky about being Keith's Buddy any more. Maybe he would have preferred a partner who would be there for him no matter what, like Tiger.

Or a handsome, successful one, like Barnaby.

Because Keith had started to slip. He found himself hesitating, missing things, and making mistakes that, while small, were definitely beginning to affect his performance.

He was scared that one of his blunders could have more dire consequences than a few lost points, and that fear only made him waver even more, until one day he completely froze on a mission. He was about to send a wind blade through the tire of a getaway vehicle, but Fire was standing close, too close, and Keith was suddenly terrified he might hit him, instead.

It was only a second, and Fire Emblem still got the other tire with his flames, but he had definitely noticed. After the police showed up and the cameras got turned off, Fire motioned him over to a quiet spot, making sure that there was no one too close.

"Are you all right?" He was keeping his voice low, but the concern in it was evident. "I read that it can take four or more weeks to recover from a concussion sometimes, and it's only been what, two and a half?"

Keith shook his head. "It's not that. I had to get checked out before I could come back to work. It's just..."

When Keith trailed off, Fire just tilted his head questioningly.

"I'm afraid of messing up," Keith whispered. "Of messing up again."

"I see." Fire crossed his arms over his chest. "You know, that's really quite conceited of you."

Keith reeled back, disconcerted. He'd expected Fire to be sweetly supportive, like he usually was, or maybe to try and lighten the mood with a joke. But that had sounded completely serious. "Conceited?"

"Yes." Fire Emblem pointed a finger at him. "You're essentially saying that since you failed once, you are now bound to fail again. But you never expected to screw up before, so doesn't that imply that you previously thought you were perfect?"

"What?" Keith waved his hands in front of him in denial. "Of course not! I'm not perfect, I just—"

"Then what's the problem?" Fire interrupted him. "If you're not perfect, then you can make mistakes, and failing once doesn't mean anything at all. It doesn't change anything about you, or how capable you are. It's just something that happened."

Keith let his hands drop, and stared at Fire Emblem.

He was right, of course. He always was. Because he was smart, and wise, and maybe he was the one who was a little bit perfect, after all.

And Keith was a little bit smitten, and getting sidetracked.

"I... Thank you, Fire," he managed to say. "I think that helps."

Finally, Fire Emblem's stern expression dropped, and turned into a gentle smile. "Any time, birdie." He reached out, like he wanted to pat Keith's arm, but at the last second his hand changed course, and he ended up just giving a playful flick to the fringe adorning Keith's shoulder.

Keith felt a weird pang in his stomach.

A few weeks ago, Fire would have touched him without hesitation. And now he didn't seem to want to, and Keith wasn't quite sure what had changed.

Maybe he had been too clingy in the hospital. Maybe Fire Emblem had caught on to his feelings, and was trying to let him down easy. Maybe—

"Sky High?" Fire Emblem was waving a hand in front of Keith's camera. "Earth to Sky High, are you still in there?"

Keith shook himself off. "Yes! Sorry. I was just thinking about something. But it's not— Well, it is important, but not right now, I guess."

"If you say so." Fire turned away, and headed for the Hero TV van. "Come on, I think Mario wants a soundbite."

Keith gave himself another tiny shake, and trotted after him, trying to mentally compose a suitably confident statement for the cameras.

-----

Fire Emblem's strange pep talk did help, but it didn't solve the problem completely. Keith still felt a near-constant undercurrent of insecurity, and he was finding it pretty much impossible to keep his romantic woes off his mind, especially since one of the people involved was at his side pretty much the entire time that he was at work.

For the first time in years, Keith slipped from the first place in the hero rankings, overtaken by Barnaby. He sort of found that appropriate, given how things had gone with Jake, but he also couldn't help but feel guilty about dragging Fire Emblem down with him.

The only silver lining was that Keith's worry about his feelings being discovered seemed to have been unfounded. All the comments Fire ever made about Keith's weirdness were related to what had happened with Jake, and their job; and even if he wasn't as physically affectionate with Keith as he had been before, he didn't seem to be uncomfortable around him, either.

Keith had watched him carefully to make absolutely sure of that; so much so that even when he went home at night, his head was filled to the brim with images of his partner.

In the end, he decided to do the same thing he'd done with Nat; he pulled out a new canvas, set it on his easel, and tried to paint Fire Emblem.

What he ended up with was, perhaps, a bit of a cowardly piece. He'd let an imaginary wind lift a corner of Fire's cape in front of him, hiding the parts of his skin-tight suit that Keith couldn't quite bring himself to outline. Not without feeling embarrassed, or worse, ashamed, like he was somehow being inappropriate with his friend's likeness.

The pose, though, was perfect. Fire Emblem stood proud on a city street, head held high, his fingers elegantly poised in the moment just after he'd let his flames fly free.

Keith put the portrait up next to the one of Nat and John in the park, and stepped back so he could take a good look at both of them at the same time.

They went together beautifully, he thought. All warm colors and long, bold lines, each both strong and tender at once, if perhaps in varying proportions; the picture of love with a heart of courage, and the picture of courage with a heart of love.

It was really no wonder that Keith had fallen for both of them; he might have been able to fight gravity, but their pull on him, while perhaps subtler, had been completely inescapable.

-----

The emergency call came in just before 2 a.m., startling Keith out of a dream that he couldn't recall at all.

He climbed over John and out of bed before his eyes were fully open, scrambling for his clothes as he tapped the PDA to bring up the mission brief. A bomb threat had been called on an office tower in North Silver, and the heroes were needed to help sweep the building before the device could go off.

Keith got dressed and ran out the door, and just kept running until he saw the Poseidon line transport driving toward him in the opposite direction. He dived inside and donned his suit as fast as he could; after that, he could fly.

In the relative silence of the late night, he heard Fire Emblem's car far before he could see it, and paced it on a parallel street until it came into view at an intersection.

As instructed, they stopped a block and a half from the target, to avoid spooking anyone who might have been lurking around with a trigger in their hands. When Fire Emblem parked, Keith landed a couple of steps away from him, and waited for him to climb out.

He looked even groggier than Keith felt; his movements were slow, and held almost none of his usual grace. When his feet landed on the asphalt, he swayed slightly, hiding a yawn behind his hand.

"Hey, birdie," he greeted, dropping his arm. "Guess we're playing owls tonight, huh?"

Keith just stared at him. And then he stared some more.

Finally, slowly, as if in a daze, he reached up, and carefully swiped his thumb across Fire Emblem's lips.

When he pulled his hand back, his glove was stained a pale, delicate pink.

Even under the streetlights, it was impossible not to recognize the color. When Keith managed to speak, his own voice sounded awfully far away from him, like he had the whole ocean roaring in his ears. "This... This is Nat's lipstick."

Fire Emblem had frozen in place under his touch, but at Keith's words his fingers flew up to hide his slightly-parted mouth.

"I... I can explain," he whispered, but his voice was weak, shaky. Almost like he was afraid.

Afraid of Keith.

The thought was even more unbearable than the realization Keith had just been struck with.

"You don't need to," he reassured Fire, and he had no idea how he kept his own voice from trembling. "It's OK. There's no cameras on yet. And I would never tell anyone. You know that, right?"

It took a moment, but Fire Emblem nodded, although a bit hesitantly. His tongue flicked out nervously to lick his lips, and the last trace of pink disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place.

But Keith had seen it, and now he could never forget it.

"I'll see you inside," he said quickly, and then he took off into the air without waiting for Fire's answer.

Every hero had been assigned a few floors to search, and Keith, of course, was supposed to start from the top. He found a door on the roof, and opened it without any issues, but just inside, when he was alone and out of sight, he had to take a moment to stop and take the helmet off.

The displays had gotten too blurry to see.

Keith wiped his eyes roughly, took a deep breath, and then shoved the helmet back onto his head before flying down the stairs, all sensors on high alert.

He had a job to do, and he would do it, even though he was a massive, hopeless, heartbroken idiot.

After it had become evident that Fire Emblem and Nat were good friends, Keith had occasionally wondered about the dynamic of their relationship. Had they gotten close after Nat had hired Fire as her company's hero? Or had she chosen to sponsor someone she'd already known for a long time, and wanted to support?

At some point, Keith had even considered the possibility that they might be related; brother and sister, maybe. They shared enough physical similarities to make that possible, and they both showed hints of the same type of classy, well-educated background.

It was extremely obvious now, though, that they weren't siblings.

But they weren't friends, either.

Fire Emblem had been the only one to hear about the Buddy system in advance. Fire Emblem had gotten Helios Energy to help with upgrading Keith's suit by just asking. Fire Emblem had known for a fact, just hours later, that Keith and Nat's evening at the party hadn't been a date, despite all evidence to the contrary. Fire Emblem had his logo tattooed on Nat's body.

And now Fire Emblem had shown up in the middle of the night, soft and drowsy, with Nat's lipstick smeared across his mouth, and Keith was cursed with a very precise, extremely vivid image of just how it may have gotten there: the two people he was in love with, lying in bed together, kissing passionately before falling asleep in each other's arms.

Nat and Fire Emblem were lovers, and Keith hadn't had a single chance from the very start.

-----

In the end, there was no bomb.

The heroes went through the entire building twice; on the second go, the police joined in, but, quite simply, there was nothing to be found.

Nothing except for a calling card, that Origami had spotted tucked under a keyboard on an otherwise perfectly pristine desk. It was just a piece of thick white paper, with the words "YOU ARE NEXT" printed on it in red ink with a heavy, angry hand.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Rock Bison scoffed, as the police took the card away to check for prints. "A prank?"

The heroes were huddled outside the building, and everyone looked pretty mad that they'd been dragged out in the middle of the night for apparently no good reason at all.

Well, everyone except Fire Emblem, who just kept staring worriedly at Keith, and Keith himself, who was mostly staring at the ground instead.

"No," Barnaby said, very decisively.

Keith looked up at him, startled out of his funk.

"It's a warning," Barnaby explained. "They didn't just call in a threat; they showed us that they could get in and out of the building undetected, and leave something in there."

Wild Tiger rolled his eyes. "Yeah, or maybe the guy who works at the next desk over left the card before going home last night, and is just trying to scare the crap out of a colleague he hates for like, stealing his lunch, or something."

Barnaby opened his mouth, ready to argue, and then closed it again, blinking. "That... is also a possibility, yes," he admitted, in the same confident, serious tone.

Dragon Kid snickered.

"I still don't get it." Blue Rose crossed her arms, unimpressed. "Wouldn't it be scarier if they threatened to blow up the building when it's, you know, not completely empty?"

"We should be glad that they didn't," Keith said mildly. "And that there was no actual danger."

Blue Rose shrugged. "Yeah, of course, but they might as well have let us sleep, then."

She yawned, possibly not quite as primly as she had hoped, and Dragon Kid followed suit.

They probably had school in the morning, Keith realized. His life was absolutely crazy.

An officer approached their little circle, shaking her head. "No prints. Doesn't look like it's got anything else, either, but we're getting it to the lab anyway, of course. We should be able to have the place reopened by the time people start coming in, so you guys can go, if you want."

Keith thanked her as she left, and the other heroes dispersed immediately, eager to get some rest, until it was just him and Fire Emblem standing in the empty street, looking at each other awkwardly.

"Are we... good?" Fire asked. He'd been silent all this time, and now his voice was too small, too unlike him.

Keith mentally steadied himself.

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?" He sounded almost completely normal, and was rather proud of himself for that. "It's fine. Go get some sleep, Fire Emblem."

At that, for some reason, Fire seemed to shrink in on himself a bit. "Right," he murmured stiffly. "We should do that. Good night, Sky High."

He turned abruptly, and walked back to his car without another word.

Keith wasn't sure what he had done to upset him; he thought he'd managed to keep any sadness or bitterness out of his tone, but maybe he was too tired, and something had slipped through.

He sighed, and headed for his transport, which was waiting for him a couple of blocks away. He actually walked there; he felt awfully heavy, too heavy to fly, and most of it wasn't even due to how physically tired he was.

He changed clumsily back into his civilian clothes as he was brought back to Poseidon Line, and then from there he trudged slowly home on foot, shivering in the predawn chill.

When Keith got to his apartment, he found John yawning at him from the couch, and went to scratch his head fondly. "Hey, John. Thank you for waiting for me."

John butted his head against Keith's hip, and then climbed off the couch and headed for the bedroom.

Keith blinked at him. "Don't you want to go on your walk? It's almost time."

His only answer was another wide canine yawn, and then John padded away, and a few seconds later Keith heard the bed creak softly under his weight.

"All right. Later, then. Give me just a second, I'll be right there," he called out softly.

He was exhausted, but there was one thing he absolutely needed to do before he could sleep.

He took off his shoes, and then followed John into his room. The light from the hallway spilled right onto the wall holding the portraits of Fire Emblem and Nat, outlining them starkly in the dark space around his bed.

Keith pulled them down, one at a time, and laid them gently down in his storage closet.

He didn't think he could stand to see them side by side every day, and be constantly reminded of all the things he couldn't have.

-----

The next time Keith saw Fire Emblem, a nap and a few hours later, they were in a high-speed chase on the Gold Stage highway, on the tail of a jewel thief riding a heavily-modded motorbike.

Keith came in from above, caught the wake of Fire's car to get the last bout of speed he needed to line up with him, and opened their comm channel.

"Blow out his rear tire. I'll catch him before he can fall."

Fire Emblem only spared him a quick glance, refocusing immediately on the road in front of him. He lifted a hand, and a second later the back wheel on the bike exploded in a burst of flames, and the thief went sailing through the air, screaming, as his motorcycle rolled and skidded madly along the asphalt.

A quick whirlwind lifted him out of the way; when Fire Emblem hit the brakes and the car spun into a stop, the thief plopped neatly into the passenger seat, upside down, arms stuck in the footwell and legs flailing wildly above him.

Keith dipped down ahead to the wrecked bike, snatched the velvet bag of loot out of the mess, and flew back to his partner, with relief blooming warm in his chest.

They still had it. They had coordinated perfectly, just as always, smooth and easy and completely painless.

But after the police had taken away the robber, after they'd waved at the cameras and given a short statement for the fans, Fire Emblem didn't compliment Keith's aim, or make a joke about the funny position their target had ended up in.

He just stood next to his car, arms folded over his chest, looking at Keith from much further away than he usually would have.

"That worked well," he said, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice.

Keith approached him, slowly, watching for his reaction. "I thought so, too."

He took another step, and immediately froze when he saw Fire Emblem tense slightly.

There was definitely something wrong with him, but Keith wasn't sure what it was, and he had no idea how to ask.

If Fire Emblem was uneasy because Keith knew about his private life, talking about it would obviously make things worse. And if he was uncomfortable with the intimate way Keith had touched him, then trying to close the gap between them, either physically or figuratively, would seem even more invasive.

And if it was something else entirely, Keith had no clue where to begin.

He swallowed, and looked down at his feet. "I'll... see you tomorrow, then."

He fired up his jetpack, and rose steadily, without looking down, until he was too high up to see if Fire Emblem was watching him leave.

-----

Tomorrow came a lot earlier than Keith had expected.

It was maybe half past two in the morning when his PDA blared out another emergency call, and Keith had a crazy sense of deja vu. It was another bomb threat, just like the night before, only this time the target was in West Bronze.

The building was only slightly smaller than the last had been, a collection of shops and tiny businesses, and much like the previous one, at this time of night it was completely, mercifully empty.

Keith expected that they might find another menacing calling card; on the fourth floor down, he did, but it wasn't alone.

"I found it," he called out over the comm line.

Bison scoffed. "Another card?"

"No," Keith answered. "Or, well, yes, but there's a bomb as well."

"What?" Fire Emblem's voice was so loud it made Keith wince. "Get out, then! What are you waiting for?"

"It has a timer. We have almost an hour," Keith explained calmly. "I'll keep an eye on it until the bomb squad gets up here, but you all should evacuate."

Barnaby, though, had other ideas. "I'll be right there. The timer could be false, or there could be other traps. Don't move, Sky High."

The device looked quite simple, actually, just a small metallic box with a display on the top, but Barnaby did have specialized training. As loath as Keith was to let him get closer, he knew it made sense. "All right. But everyone else, leave, now."

"I'm not leaving while you're facing down a bomb," Fire Emblem argued. "I'm coming up, too."

Keith hadn't been particularly scared until then. But the thought of Fire Emblem standing where he was, inches away from the device, sent a sudden spike of fear stabbing through him.

He made his tone as firm as he could. "You are not going anywhere except outside."

"Oh, yeah?" Fire retorted. "Since when are you in charge?"

"What? That's not—" He couldn't let Fire Emblem come up. He just couldn't. If Barnaby was right, and the bomb was more dangerous than it looked... "I can't deal with you right now, Fire Emblem! Get out."

The line went completely silent for a few seconds.

When Fire's voice came back, he sounded livid. "Fine. I'll see you outside."

Keith squeezed his eyes shut. Fire had already been upset with him, and now Keith had gone and yelled at him.

But if it got him out of the building safely, Keith would do it again in a heartbeat.

He heard a noise approaching, and turned to see Barnaby jogging toward him, with Tiger right on his heels. Apparently, Barnaby had been less successful than Keith at getting his partner to leave, if he'd even tried at all.

"Sky High, stay where you are," Barnaby instructed.

He stopped a few feet away, and then walked a careful half-circle around Keith, scanning the area as Tiger hung back behind him. Seemingly satisfied with what he had seen, or not seen, he finally stepped up next to Keith, flipping his helmet open.

"Was the timer already going when you got here?" he asked.

Keith quickly reviewed his memories of the last few minutes. The device was tucked between two filing cabinets, and it hadn't been visible from the entrance of the room. "I think it was. I didn't see it until I was standing right here, so I can't be sure, but if it's counting down from an hour, it must have started before I got to this floor."

Barnaby nodded, and then knelt down next to the bomb. "I think you can go. I don't see any evidence of sensors or booby traps that you may have triggered."

The timer was promising them they had about 47 minutes left. Keith didn't move. "I can stay for a bit."

Tiger's hand landed heavy on his shoulder. "Buddy, I think Fire Emblem is more likely to roast your butt to a crisp if you don't get out of here right away."

Keith winced. Tiger probably had a point, but walking away and leaving them here just felt all kinds of wrong.

No wonder Fire had been angry.

At Keith's feet, Barnaby suddenly reeled back. "What—"

Keith startled, alarmed, but when Barnaby's shoulder moved out of the way, he could see that the device, which now had a missing panel, was pretty obviously not about to go off.

Because the box was completely empty.

Barnaby checked all of its sides, including the bottom, and then lifted it carefully.

The calling card fluttered off the top, and Keith caught it before it could hit the floor. It looked completely identical to the one Origami had found; just the same message in angry red writing on plain white paper. YOU ARE NEXT.

Keith turned it around in his fingers, but there was absolutely nothing else to it. "What is going on?"

"It's like they're playing with us," Tiger grumbled.

Barnaby reopened the comms. "The bomb is a dummy; there's nothing inside. We need to finish our sweep, in case it's a decoy."

Blue Rose sighed loudly over the line. "We'll be right there."

It didn't take long to search the few floors each of them had left, and they couldn't find anything else that seemed relevant, or out of place.

They trickled outside, handing the fake bomb and the card to the police, and then gathered in a circle that was a near mirror of the one from the night before, except this time Keith was the one staring at Fire Emblem, and Fire Emblem was the one resolutely not looking back at him.

"So," Tiger began. "Now what? Is it all just a really elaborate prank?"

Dragon Kid shrugged. "Maybe it's someone who wants to feel like a bomber, but can't get their hands on an actual bomb? Or is too scared to use one?"

Barnaby put a hand on his chin, deep in thought. "Whatever it is, it's escalating. We can't exclude that this will get dangerous if it goes on. They might have just one real device, and these could be trials for their MO."

"But what's the point if they target an empty building and then call it in?" Blue Rose asked.

"Maybe they do want to blow up a certain place, but they want to make sure they don't kill or hurt anyone in the process," Keith proposed. "Even criminals have standards."

Fire Emblem did look at him then, but his expression was unreadable, and he didn't break his silence.

"Or maybe they just like to watch us run around like fools in the middle of the night," Bison sighed. "I wish they'd get a new hobby."

"Yeah," Tiger agreed. "Let's go home, guys."

He threw an arm around Barnaby's shoulders and dragged him off to their transport, eliciting only the mildest of protests.

It was a marked change from their previous dynamic, and it only served as a reminder to Keith of just how badly he'd been messing up his own partnership.

Instead of leaving with the others, he shuffled marginally closer to Fire Emblem, who was now looking at him with his arms crossed again, still perfectly silent.

Keith squared his shoulders. "I'm sorry. I was awfully rude back there."

"Rude? Rude?" Fire Emblem's spine went even tenser. "Is that what you think I got upset at?"

"I..." Keith let his shoulders drop, deflating. "No. I know it wasn't just that," he admitted. "But... I don't know if I can apologize for wanting to keep you safe."

Fire Emblem's arms shot down along his sides, his fists tightly clenched. "You were in there. My partner was in there. Why should I not have been? Do you no longer think I can do this, is that it?"

"What?" Keith frowned. "Why would I think that?"

"Exactly!" Fire Emblem shot back. "I'm still the same person I was before last night!"

Keith felt like he was going crazy. Fire wasn't making any sense at all.

"Of course you are!" he argued, completely lost. "But what could you have done if it had been a real bomb? It's not like you could have stopped it by setting it on fire!"

Fire Emblem reeled back slightly, and some of the fight seemed to melt out of him. "That's— That's not the point."

"Isn't it, though?" Keith insisted. "It's like you said in the hospital. I needed you safe out here more than I needed you in there with me. I can run away a lot faster than you can, especially from a high place."

At that, Fire Emblem folded his arms over his chest again. "Right. Right," he murmured, looking away.

He didn't seem angry any more; he looked hurt, and that was both a lot worse and a lot more confusing.

"Fire?" Keith took a tentative step closer, and then stopped immediately when, like on the highway, Fire Emblem went stiff at his approach.

Keith let out a long, slow breath. He was too exhausted to figure things out now. If he tried, he'd probably just make an even bigger mess of it all.

"Listen," he said, going for a calm, even tone. "I think we need to talk, but we're both really tired now. How about we sleep on it, and take today to think things over, and then tomorrow we meet up, maybe?"

Fire Emblem gave him a hint of a nod. "I'm free tomorrow morning."

He still wasn't looking at Keith.

"OK," Keith said, wearily. "Then... good night."

Fire Emblem nodded again, and then walked away, slow and trudging. There was no wind, and his cape hung limply, looking almost like it was dragging him down lower and lower with every step.

Keith watched him go and then headed home, feeling just as heavy.

-----

At 3 a.m., the PDA started screaming in his ear again.

Keith buried his face into the pillow, groaning. Then he rolled to the side and promptly fell out of bed.

He'd spent most of the day actively thinking about how to handle the situation with Fire Emblem; even if they had mercifully not been called into action, Keith hadn't really managed to rest at all.

He sighed. Maybe the fake bomber's grand plan was to make the heroes terminally sleep deprived, so that he could take over the city unhindered. Or something.

When he got in sight of the target address, in a rather nondescript area of downtown, the feeling that they were getting their chain yanked only increased. The building was older and smaller than both of the previous ones had been; a couple of the highest floors even had broken, boarded up windows. It really didn't seem like something anyone would have a reason to want to destroy, except maybe to make room for a newer construction.

The blueprint Agnes sent to their PDAs, though, made Keith rethink the seriousness of the situation. The place had several basement levels, which would be harder to clear in a hurry if something dangerous actually did happen.

When Fire Emblem called those for his part of the sweep, Keith had to bite his tongue to keep himself from vetoing it. If Fire wanted the part of the job furthest from his partner, he was probably still mad at him, and they didn't have time to get into an argument.

Keith was just a few rooms through the top floor when Fire Emblem's voice came through on the comm line.

"Guys? Are you seeing anything weird on your end?"

"Define weird," Tiger asked.

"Weird as in, what is a modern, fully-equipped lab doing under this decrepit old thing?"

"What?" Keith looked around. "Up here it's mostly just filing cabinets. And dust."

"Same on the ground floor," Bison pitched in. "Minus the dust."

Agnes appeared on the helmet's display. She barely had a hair out of place, like it wasn't her third night up in a row, too, and Keith had no idea how she was managing that.

"The building is listed as an office and storage space. It's all owned by the same company; they supposedly do market research."

"Unless ‘market' is some new slang for ‘chemistry', no they don't." Fire Emblem sounded like whatever he was seeing was not too pleasant.

"Oh, please tell me there's no gross stuff down there," said Blue Rose.

"Well, some of this is pretty slimy," said Fire, and now he was clearly disgusted. "But I especially don't like the part where it looks like they're making illegal street drugs."

"Crap," said Dragon Kid.

"Crap indeed," Fire agreed. "Hold on, there's some notes over here. Maybe—"

Afterwards, Keith could have sworn he'd heard it, somehow.

The faintest of clicks, barely audible over the line, followed by a few seconds of heavy, utter silence.

"Shit!" Fire Emblem cried out. "Everyone, get out, now!"

Keith's blood froze. "Fire?"

"I said get out!" Fire yelled. "You have less than three minutes, go, go, go!"

There was something weird in his voice. Something more than the urgency and alarm that the situation called for.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, Keith lifted an unsteady hand and tapped the helmet to bring up a schematic of the other heroes' locations. Every signal was scrambling out of the building as quickly as possible, through whichever window or door was nearest.

Every signal, except one.

When Keith spoke, his voice was unsteady, too. "Then why aren't you running?"

"Because I can't," Fire Emblem answered, and now it came through loud and clear.

He was scared.

Scared, and completely resigned.

No, Keith thought. No.

He took off at full speed, crashing through the closest window, and flung himself downward, faster than the shards of glass falling around him.

"What do you mean you can't?" Tiger was asking.

"I triggered a booby trap," Fire Emblem answered, guilty and apologetic. "If I move from here, the bomb goes off immediately."

"How do you know that?" Tiger argued.

"Because the notes I found are very kindly telling me exactly how I'm about to die," Fire shot back bitterly. "And I'd rather not take you all with me, so please, tell me you're all outside?"

Keith crashed through another window, reentering the building on the ground level, and shot toward the staircase.

"I'm coming to get you," Barnaby said. "I can pull you away fast enough."

"No, don't!" Fire was frantic now. "It's a pressure plate trigger. If you change the weight on the floor in any way, it's going to blow. Stay away!"

In the stairwell, Keith weaved swiftly around the steps, barely missing the handrails in his haste. In a few seconds, he was on the bottom level, where Fire Emblem's signal was blinking steadily in the farthest corner of the map.

He pulled the door open, and carefully floated down the corridor.

"Fire Emblem?" Dragon Kid sounded like she was about to cry.

"The cards weren't a warning," Fire said. "The reason you put a bomb in an empty building at night and call it in is not that you don't want to kill anyone. It's that you want to make sure you only kill a certain kind of person."

"Like a NEXT," Origami whispered.

"Yes. Like a NEXT." Fire Emblem's voice was getting tearful, too, and it was heartbreaking. "So please, guys, be careful. And catch this bastard for me, OK?"

The comm line in Keith's ear switched to a private channel, the one he shared with his Buddy.

"Sky High? I'm so sorry."

Keith could see him now, through the door he'd left propped open.

Fire Emblem was standing by the corner of a desk, looking down at the tight space between its side and a bulky metal cabinet. If the bomb was there, he wouldn't have been able to see it until he was practically on top of it.

A perfect trap.

"Hold still," Keith said.

Fire Emblem's head whipped around frantically. When he saw Keith hovering in the doorway, he looked absolutely terrified. "What— No! What are you doing here? Get out, sweetheart, please!"

Keith did one last quick bout of mental math, sent a silent prayer to whatever god or goddess may be listening, and launched himself at his partner.

He tackled Fire Emblem at full speed, grabbing him tightly around the middle. The moment he started lifting him off his feet, Keith sent a powerful, sustained gust of wind blasting downward in their wake, focused on the spot where Fire had been standing.

Keith remembered the feel of this body in his arms; remembered the way it had shifted in his grip high above the streets of Stern Bild, remembered the precise weight he'd deposited, so gently and carefully, on their little panoramic spot atop the city.

The downward pressure he'd generated was perfect; the bomb kept counting down steadily, completely oblivious to the fact that its intended victim was being snatched away from its grasp.

Keith flipped them around in the air, trapping Fire's long legs between his own so they wouldn't risk knocking any of the lab equipment to the floor. He shot back through the open door and kept speeding back the way he'd come; Fire Emblem's arms wrapped around his shoulders, and held on tight.

Then, just as they burst through the stairwell door, the distance became too much, and Keith felt his power's grip on the downdraft slip.

A moment later, the world tilted violently sideways, slamming them both into a wall.

There was an avalanche of near-solid sound, and then there was only quiet.

-----

Keith opened his eyes, and everything stayed dark.

Trying to get his bearings, he lifted his head, pushing himself up on his elbows, but all he could see was still absolute, pitch black.

The uneven surface he was lying face-down on moved, as well. And then it let out a small groan.

"Ow," said Fire Emblem, softly.

Awareness flooded back into Keith's mind in a rush. The bomb, the explosion.

His partner.

"Fire!" he called out. "Are you OK?"

There was a small pause, and then Fire Emblem shifted under him again. "I think I may be bleeding?" he said, sounding a bit dazed.

"What? Where?" Frantic, Keith pulled himself to his knees, tore his gloves off, and started to blindly run his hands over whatever part of the body under him he could reach, trying to feel for a wet spot.

"Whoa!" Fire Emblem's fingers fumbled for Keith's wrists, trying to stop his movement. "What are you— Wait. Can you not see?"

Keith stilled. "Can you?" he asked, a hint of panic rising in the back of his mind.

"Yes! We have light, what—" Fire's shoulders lifted under Keith's hands, like he was trying to sit up. "Oh, shit, did you hit your head again? Are you dizzy? Did you pass out?"

Keith had pretty much gone face-first into the wall, but his head didn't hurt all that much. Certainly not enough to think he'd damaged his vision; the helmet had—

Oh. Of course.

"I'm fine. It's just my camera," Keith realized. "It's broken."

Not even a year ago, he would have dreaded this scenario. Now, all that he cared about was taking care of Fire Emblem.

He pulled the helmet off without another thought, and tossed it aside, shaking his hair out of his eyes and blinking as his pupils adjusted to the sudden brightness.

They had gotten extremely lucky.

The space around them, under the remnants of the staircase, was barely big enough to hold them both. The whole place seemed to have come down, but no large pieces of debris had fallen onto them. The emergency light above the door had proven to be extremely sturdy; it was poking out from the rubble at their side, still lit, its shine only partially dimmed by the thin layer of dust that coated everything in their little alcove.

And underneath Keith, Fire Emblem was lying on his back, propped up on his elbows, thankfully, blessedly whole, and seemingly in good shape.

Except for the part where he was gaping at Keith in shock, completely still but for the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

"You," he whispered, bringing a shaking hand up to cover his mouth. "I had thought, for a moment— I had hoped— But I didn't dare..."

Keith felt a spike of fear go through him. Fire Emblem wasn't making any sense at all, and his voice had gone so weird he didn't even sound like himself any more. He was probably the one who had hit his head, and pretty hard, too.

He touched his partner's cheek, trying to get him to focus. "Fire Emblem, please. Tell me where you're hurt."

Instead of giving him an answer, Fire Emblem reached up and covered Keith's fingers with his own, threading them together tightly.

And then he slid their joined hands under his hood, and pushed it back.

Keith had been right to wonder all those months ago. Blood didn't show up on the red of Fire Emblem's suit at all.

But it was perfectly visible against the bright, bubblegum-pink of Nat's hair.

"Here," she said softly, pressing Keith's trembling fingers against her bloodstained curls.

The good news was that the wound was minimal, barely more than a tiny scratch. The only reason the bleeding had been noticeable was probably that it was on her scalp, and it seemed to be stopping already, so she was going to be fine.

The bad news was that Keith wasn't just a massive idiot; he was the biggest, most clueless moron on the entire planet.

But hey, at least he was hopelessly in love with just one person at a time.

Keith didn't know for how long he just stared at her, unable to make a sound, or form a fully coherent thought, or even breathe properly.

Even without the distinctive (and soft, so soft) hair tangled around his fingertips, he would have had no doubt about who he was looking at. Nat wasn't wearing her usual makeup, but there was no mistaking her eyes, with their pink contacts and their elegant shape, or the sweet, tentative smile she was giving him.

The lipstick hadn't even changed the shape of her mouth that much. He'd just been completely, stupidly blind.

"I'm such a freaking fool," Keith finally managed to choke out.

Nat's smile froze, and then cracked. "What do you mean? You already knew," she said, in a fearful, disoriented whisper.

Keith shook his head frantically. "No, I didn't know! Of course I didn't!"

She stared at him, bewildered. "But you... You recognized my lipstick! You were upset about it. You knew it was me!"

"No! How could I have known?" he shot back, dismayed. "I thought Fire Emblem was a man!" He gestured at her, flailing. "And you're obviously not!"

Nat blinked at him, and her face went weirdly neutral.

"You know," she said, slowly, "I really do love that you can say that so confidently while sitting on my lap."

"What—" Keith glanced down, and immediately regretted it.

He was, indeed, straddling Nat's hips, right on top of one of the most... prominently outlined parts of Fire Emblem's skintight outfit.

There was no room for him to stand up, but he jerked upright where he sat, trying to give her space, squeezing his eyes shut and covering them with his hands for good measure.

"Oh, for— That suit is a menace," he whimpered. "You're a menace."

He'd survived a bomb going off, and a building falling on top of him, just to die of embarrassment because someone, at some point, had decided that Fire Emblem's costume needed bold racing stripes highlighting its crotch.

How wonderfully heroic of him.

Suddenly, Nat laughed, and it was her clear, bright giggle, the one he'd found so lovely on the night of the party.

"Oh, wow," she chuckled. "Have you been hiding this epic blush from me this entire time? That's almost criminal, birdie."

Keith lowered his hands slowly, even though his cheeks were still on fire, and just stared at her. Hearing Fire Emblem's nickname for him spoken in Nat's voice was sort of mesmerizing. Of course, he realized now, that was Fire Emblem's voice, too; just pitched differently, enough so that Keith had never made the connection between them.

But they were, undoubtedly, the very same person.

Keith hadn't thought he could love either of them any more than he already had; he'd apparently been wrong about that, too.

"Sky High?" Nat reached out toward him, but stopped before she could touch his chest, and then let her hand fall. "Are you OK?"

Keith gave her a wistful look. "You can use my name if you want, you know," he murmured. "You already have it."

Her eyes widened. "Do you want me to?"

He nodded slowly. "Please."

Nat smiled, but then her face grew pensive, troubled. Unexpectedly, she let herself drop flat on her back, gaze fixed on the low ceiling of rubble just above them, lifting up a small cloud of dust around her.

Keith blew it away from her face with a flicker of his power, before it could make her cough.

When she noticed, Nat looked back at him with a tiny, grateful smile.

"I think you should have my name, too, then," she said softly.

He blinked, puzzled. "Don't I have it already?"

She pursed her lips, and gave him a strangely shy look. "Not... exactly, no."

"Oh," Keith said. He felt vaguely hurt by that, as absurd as it was.

Nat took a long, deep breath. "You said earlier that you didn't think I could be Fire Emblem, because I'm not a man," she started, and waited for Keith's tiny nod to continue. "And that's not wrong, but... I'm not precisely a woman, either. Not quite."

Keith narrowed his eyes at her. That sounded like a comment someone else might have made to disparage her, but if she was the one saying it, it had to mean something else.

At least, he really hoped it did. "This isn't about you being insecure, is it?" he asked. It was barely a question at all, but he needed to know.

"No, no. How should I put this?" She sighed, searching for the right words. "OK, look. In a way, Nat is the same thing as Fire Emblem. She's me, sure, but she's not all of me. Ultimately... She's a bit like another secret identity," she finally settled on. "Nat isn't wholly me, and neither is Fire Emblem, because I'm both of them."

She stopped then, giving Keith a cautious look. When he didn't say anything, she looked away, dejected. "I'm sorry. I'm probably just confusing you."

Keith stared down at her, lying carelessly under him, open and vulnerable, trusting him with a truth that she wasn't even sure he'd understand.

For once, he didn't feel any confusion. Just love, and an overwhelming desire to make her feel safe.

"You're not," he told her. "You're not confusing at all."

He found her hands with his, and pulled her up carefully, until they were sitting face to face, she on the floor and he on her thighs, so close that it would have been uncomfortable with anyone else.

With her, it just felt right.

"Other people confuse me," Keith said. "They never say what they mean, or they say the exact opposite of it, and they expect me to understand, and I never do. But you... you just make sense."

He searched her eyes, trying to see if he was getting this right. "You're... fluid?" he asked her, gently, and then realized something. "Actually, I've been calling you ‘she' in my head, but is that even right?"

Nat blinked at him, surprised. "Who went and gave you a crash course in transgender etiquette?"

Keith shrugged. "The internet," he said simply.

"Was it when you met Nat?" she asked, with a slightly bittersweet look.

That was a loaded question if he'd ever heard one. "No. No, it was years ago." he answered. "There was a fan, and— Well, it doesn't matter now." He shook his head. "There wasn't anything unclear about Nat. At least, I didn't think there was," he added ruefully.

She gave him a small, encouraging headshake. "You shouldn't feel bad that you didn't. It's the whole point of this charade, to try and keep Nat and Fire Emblem at least a bit separate, otherwise it would be far too easy to figure out that they're the same person. It's why I don't tell people about... well, me."

"But now you're telling me," Keith said, awed.

"Now I'm telling you, yes," she said, smiling softly. "And to answer your questions, I don't know that fluid is the right word. I'm always me, it's just that me is a bit hard to put into a box. And ‘she' is fine. It's more than fine, I love it. But... ‘they' is pretty accurate, as well. Maybe even more so. And I like that, too, and I never get to hear it, except very occasionally from my sister, so if you wanted to use it... I think I'd like that."

Keith nodded, smiling back, and made a small mental adjustment. "I think I'd like that, too."

There was only one thing missing now.

"So..." He leaned in, ever so slightly. "What is your name?"

The soft, beaming look he got in response would stay in his mind for a long, long time.

"My name is Nathan," they whispered, and Keith felt their warm breath ghost softly across his own lips.

"Nathan," he repeated, savoring it. "I like it. I really like it." He was blushing again, and he didn't care.

Nathan smiled; they ducked their head, pleased, and for a moment their curls brushed softly against his fringe. "Thank you, Keith."

He had to shut his eyes at that.

They'd never said his name before, not even when he'd introduced himself in the park; hearing them do it now was having quite the effect on him.

"Hey," Nathan called softly, sounding worried. "Are you regretting this?"

Keith blinked his eyes open again. "This?"

"You know." They raised a hand in the small space between them, almost, but not quite touching his face. "Showing me who you are. You've always been so nervous about it, and now you just... ripped your helmet off like it was nothing. You didn't even hesitate."

"Of course I didn't," Keith shrugged. "I thought you were hurt. And you are, too."

"Barely," they pointed out.

"Well, I didn't know that," he argued back. "And that's beside the point. I thought you needed my help, so nothing else mattered. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. You are far more important than any secret of mine."

Nathan was the one who closed their eyes this time. They let out a shuddering sigh, and their head dropped onto Keith's shoulder.

Keith felt the soft tug of their hands on his greatcoat, on either side of his hips.

"You and your grand sweeping statements," Nathan murmured against his suit. "That's why— You know, back in the park, I thought I was having the craziest bout of wishful thinking ever." They raised their head again, and their eyes were full of warmth. "But there wasn't anything crazy about it, after all. It was you. It was you all along."

Their smile went a bit self-deprecating. "You know, when we all got that day off, right before—" Nathan hesitated, and their expression grew shadowed, their voice small. "Before Jake happened. I spent almost that entire day in the park. When you didn't show up, I thought I must have been wrong."

Keith felt a pang of terrible guilt.

"I'm so, so sorry," he said, mortified. "I wanted to come, but... I was still trying to decide what to do. I felt like an absolute jerk, lying to you like that."

Nathan gave him an incredulous look. "You were worried about lying? I've been spinning you on the merry-go-round of my double life for months! No wonder you got mad about it when— Wait."

They reeled back, furrowing their brow, and then their eyes went wide. "You weren't angry about me lying to you, because you didn't figure out that Nat and Fire Emblem were the same person! So what were you so upset about?"

Keith froze. Pure, terrified deer-in-the-headlights style.

"Because I know for a fact that you wouldn't give a crap about a guy wearing a bit of makeup. Certified non-asshole, right here," Nathan pressed on, tapping a fingertip against Keith's chest. "And you specifically freaked out about it being my lipstick, and then you ran, and you never run from anything. So... what gives?"

There was no way. No way that he could bring himself to explain.

He was starting to breathe too fast. He should see if he could pull some air through the rubble around them. Maybe they were running out.

Or maybe he was just panicking.

Nathan was staring at him expectantly, and it was quite obvious that they were starting to get anxious, too.

"I—" Keith's throat was threatening to close, and he had to force it to work. "I can't tell you. I just can't."

The hurt look on Nathan's face was like a stab through the heart.

"I thought you said I was more important than your secrets," they murmured, in a small, wounded voice.

Keith couldn't stop himself. He grabbed their arms, gently, but firmly, and felt their muscles twitch under his palms when they tightened their hands on his coat.

"You are," he promised, putting everything he had behind the words. "You're more important than anything." He let his hands drop, anguished. "And that's the problem. If I tell you this... I think I'll lose you."

Nathan's reaction, once again, surprised him.

They inhaled deeply, sharply, looking absolutely insulted. "Do you really think," they said, slowly and deliberately, "that there is anything in this world that you could say that would make me care about you any less?"

Keith reeled back, disoriented by their anger.

"I know you." Nathan's eyes were burning fiercely into his. "You're good. You're probably the best person I've ever met. What could you possibly have done to lose me?"

"It's not something I've done," Keith said faintly, barely audible. "I... I just..."

Nathan leaned in, glaring, their voice rising in frustration. "Then why were you mad at me?"

"I wasn't mad at you!" Keith burst out. "I was miserable, because I thought the two people I loved were dating each other!"

His voice had come back all at once, loud, too loud. For a moment, it filled out the tiny, cramped space around them, and then it left behind a gaping, horrible silence.

Keith grimaced, clenching his eyes shut and covering them with a tense, unsteady hand.

He was still sitting on Nathan's lap. So much for not making them uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, wishing he could disappear, that his power would let him teleport away, or sink through the pile of broken concrete that had trapped them together.

A gloved hand slid delicately around the fingers Keith was digging into his eyes, tugging them gently away from his flushed face.

When Keith managed to bring himself to glance at Nathan again, his heart stuttered in his chest.

They didn't look uncomfortable, or appalled by Keith's utter stupidity, or even angry any more.

They just looked desperately, incredibly hopeful.

"Say it again," Nathan whispered, their eyes shining with cautious, gorgeous wonder.

"What," Keith replied, weakly, barely daring to believe that it was wanted, that he was being asked to. "That I lo—"

The sudden ring of their PDAs made them both jump so hard that Keith nearly fell off Nathan's legs.

With a near-automatic movement, he tapped the band on his wrist, and a burst of static came through, followed by Dragon Kid's frantic voice.

"I got a signal! Guys! Are you there? Please, tell me you're OK," she begged.

Right. They were still stuck under a collapsed building, and their friends were probably worried sick about them.

Keith's only consolation was that Nathan, who was by far one of the smartest people he knew, had also gotten so caught up in their personal matters that they'd neglected to do anything about it, too.

"We're here. Both of us," he answered, and a chorus of relieved sighs and triumphant whoops crackled over the comm line.

"Are you hurt? Don't worry, we're almost there." Tiger sounded strained, and Keith could hear the sound of something being crushed in the background.

"We're fine," Nathan said. "No injuries, except maybe to my pride."

Keith stared at them, startled. Their voice had dropped back into Fire Emblem's deeper tone; their hood may still be hanging loose behind them, but in a way, their mask was already firmly back on.

It made him feel, for a fleeting, unsettling instant, like the entirety of the conversation they'd been having until just moments earlier had been some kind of wishful, fevered dream.

"Good," Barnaby said, among more heavy noises. He was probably working right alongside Tiger. "We should be able to reach you in just a few minutes. How much room do you have in there? Could you take any more debris, or one of us in there with you?"

Keith glanced around dubiously. The only clear space around them was the spot where their upper bodies had been lying, and it didn't amount to much. Nathan's boots were just inches away from the remnants of a wall, and Keith could have easily stretched out a hand and touched fallen concrete both above him and at his sides.

They had been more than extremely lucky. Maybe he should consider starting to include actual miracles in his worldview.

"That's a no on the debris," Nathan answered. "As for you, Handsome, I'm pretty much down for anything, but it's a really tight fit down here, so you'll have to ask Sky High. I don't know how he feels about threesomes."

Case in point: Keith was literally sitting on top of the most maddening, most impossible, most miraculous thing in his life.

He tipped forward, wrapping his arms around their shoulders, so he could hide his embarrassed laughter into their neck.

"Absolutely horrible," he whispered in their ear, and for an instant they were no longer trapped underground, but standing free above the city, with a cold, bracing wind blowing around them.

Unlike on New Year's Eve, though, Keith was now perfectly aware of how he felt about the person he was holding. When Nathan shivered under him, the heat in Keith's cheeks took on a whole new connotation, and he stilled, breathless, as he felt it spread to the rest of his body.

He pulled back, slowly, and met Nathan's eyes.

They looked flushed, too, and it was certainly not from their own joke.

The rubble above them shook, and Keith's arms tightened again, pulling Nathan's head against his shoulder to shield them.

"Careful!" he called out over the comms, as another layer of dust rained down upon them.

"Sorry!" came Tiger's bashful voice. "That was a big piece. Just a few left to go, though, hold tight!"

Keith felt Nathan move to lean back, and he let his arms fall from around their neck.

They tilted their head back, stuck a hand through their curls and shook them out, making the pink show bright again. Then, much more gently, they raised both of their hands, and combed them carefully through Keith's hair, until all of the grit was gone.

"There," they said, with a tiny, bittersweet smile. "All good."

And then they reached down by their hips, and handed Keith his discarded helmet. "Time to put on our faces again."

Keith took the helmet, but he didn't put it on. Instead, he just watched as Nathan swept their hair back with a well-practiced movement, and pulled their hood back into place. In just a few seconds, every trace of Nat was gone, and Keith was just looking at Fire Emblem again.

He stared down at the helmet in his hands, and hesitated. Then he hit the mute button on his PDA.

"They're coming to save us," he said slowly.

"Well, of course." Nathan tilted their head, puzzled. "Did you have any doubt that they would?"

"No! Of course not," Keith replied. "I think the reason I didn't worry at all about how to get out of here was that I knew for sure that they'd come for us."

"I suppose I could say the same, but let's face it, we sort of got very distracted here," Nathan pointed out.

"We did," Keith acknowledged with a tiny wince. "We certainly did."

He looked down at the helmet again. With all the dust covering it, he couldn't even see the distorted reflection that usually stared back at him from its curved surface.

"But my point is... They're our friends," Keith said. "They're risking their lives digging through a blown-up building for us." When he raised his eyes to Nathan's again, his head felt awfully, unnaturally heavy. "And I'm so tired of lying."

Nathan inhaled sharply. "Are you sure about this?"

With a slow, but determined nod, Keith set the helmet down on the floor again.

Nathan nodded, too, and then they tapped into the call with the others. "Tiger? Are you guys recording?"

"Mh? Oh, yeah, I guess we are," Tiger answered.

Keith unmuted his channel. "Turn it off before you get here, please."

"What? Why?" Tiger asked, perplexed.

Barnaby cut in, polite but firm. "Wild Tiger, do as he says."

The next loud shifting noise echoed; once from their comms, and once from the walls around Keith and Nathan.

A few seconds later, the giant fist on Tiger's suit punched through the piece of fallen staircase to Keith's left, and a small avalanche of loose rubble came to rest against the side of their legs.

Wild Tiger's upper body poked through the hole he'd just made. "Hey, gu— Whoa!" He jumped back and fell on his butt, covering his eyes with his other hand. "... Sky High?"

"It's fine, Tiger," Keith called out. "I wanted you to see."

Pulling himself off the floor, Tiger lowered his hand, and then flipped his helmet open for good measure, like he wanted to make sure he was seeing properly. "Really?"

Barnaby appeared, crouching beside Tiger, his own face uncovered. "Didn't you hear?"

Tiger frowned at him. "Hear what?"

"That his voice was different," Barnaby explained, simple as anything. "No distortion or reverb."

"Oooh. You're a smart little bunny," Tiger said, half impressed and half teasing.

When Nathan snickered, Tiger and Barnaby turned as one to look at them. Barnaby's eyes gave them both a rather significant once-over, and then he raised a pointed eyebrow.

Right. Keith was still straddling Nathan's lap.

He felt his blush creep up again, but before he could say anything to stave off his embarrassment, a soft gasp came over the comm line, and Origami's hushed voice sent a chill down Keith's spine.

"That's Lunatic."

Keith's head whipped up. Tiger and Barnaby had dug a tunnel at a steep angle, pretty much straight through the wreckage of the building. Behind them, he could see a tiny patch of sky, and right at that moment, it was crossed by a thin, distant streak of greenish-blue light.

There was only one reason Lunatic would have shown up.

"The bomber must be here," Keith realized.

He instinctively reached for his helmet, but before he even touched it, he remembered; the camera was broken. And he couldn't fly blind.

He turned to Nathan, and their expression immediately filled with alarm.

"Get Fire Emblem out," Keith told Tiger and Barnaby, and then he scrambled off Nathan's legs and crawled through the hole.

Before he'd even managed to push past his friends, Nathan was already yelling over the comms. "Agnes, turn off the cameras, now!"

"What?" Agnes answered indignantly. "Why would I ever do that?"

Nathan's voice rose even further. "Because Sky High is coming out, and he's unmasked!"

In the tunnel, Keith finally got his feet under him; a moment later, his power kicked in, and then he was flying.

-----

Without his sensors, and with the cold wind whipping his fringe into his eyes, it took Keith a couple of seconds to find Lunatic again.

When he looked at the moon, it was glowing a disturbing, ominous red, and a thin, dark silhouette was cutting through its perfect circle, standing on the edge of the tallest building in the area.

Keith shot toward it without the slightest hesitation.

He came in so fast that he almost, almost managed to grab Lunatic; the edge of his cloak barely slipped through Keith's fingers, as another burst of fire instantly propelled him off the roof.

The back of Keith's hand suddenly felt too warm; it wasn't burned, but it had been grazed by the heat of the flames, and his gloves, like his helmet, were still lying under the rubble.

He couldn't afford any mistakes.

Alighting on the bulkhead in the middle of the roof, Lunatic turned, and his cold, fixed mask stared down at Keith for a chillingly still second.

"You're alive," he said, and what little emotion seeped through his voice seemed to be genuine surprise.

A dismayed whimper came from the corner of the roof, and Keith turned toward it.

A thin, wild-eyed man, dressed all in black, was standing up shakily from the shadows where he'd been crouching, probably trying to escape Lunatic's notice.

"How?" He stared at Keith, stunned. He looked spooked, almost panicked, but his reedy voice was dripping with venom. "How did you get away? I saw you go back inside. You..." He tilted his head, calculatingly, and then suddenly his fear was gone, and he smirked, gleeful and cruel. "You can't have been in the room when it went off, or you'd be dust. Did you run away and leave your precious Buddy to die, King?"

Something bright moved at the edge of Keith's vision, and he sprung forward. The fire bolt hit the roof less than a second after Keith had ripped the bomber off from it.

Thrown over Keith's shoulder, the man flailed madly, making them waver dangerously in mid-air. "Don't touch me!" he snarled. "Get your hands off of me!"

His knee slammed into Keith's stomach, cutting off his breath, and he lost his flight attitude.

Keith managed to land them, badly, on a nearby rooftop; they hit the gravel and rolled, and the guy slipped out of Keith's grip and ended up against the short brick wall lining the edge of the building, several feet behind him.

Trying to get some air back into his lungs, Keith struggled up onto his hands and knees, and then pulled himself to his feet.

When he raised his head, Lunatic was right in front of him.

They faced off across the roof's surface, silently; and then Keith slowly, deliberately, moved between Lunatic and the bomber.

Lunatic tilted his head menacingly, and took a step forward.

A glinting blade of ice embedded itself in the ground, barely an inch from his foot.

Blue Rose sailed over the edge of the roof, propelled by her freezing guns, and touched down elegantly off to Keith's side.

And then Dragon Kid was there, vaulting from the next building over, and Origami was flying in on his giant star; a familiar thunk sounded distantly from below, and seconds later Bison crash-landed alongside them, leaving a sizable dent under his boots. Barnaby landed at Keith's shoulder, holding his discarded helmet and gloves.

Keith, though, only had eyes for what his partner was carrying: when Wild Tiger came into view, swinging on his wire, Nathan was wrapped securely in one of his arms.

Tiger deposited them gently next to Keith, and then stood at their shoulder, flanking them both alongside Barnaby.

"Sorry we're late," Tiger quipped. "You're kind of hard to catch up to when you fly that fast."

His suit and Barnaby's were unlit; they must have used their Hundred Power to dig them out, Keith realized.

It didn't matter, though; they were all together now, and Lunatic was alone.

Something shifted behind Keith. "... What? No."

All the heroes turned as one.

The bomber was sitting up behind them, staring at Nathan, aghast. "How did you get out, too? You're the one who triggered it. You couldn't have moved!"

Nathan just stared down at him for a couple of seconds, and then they brought a hand up and dug their fingers and thumb into their temples, radiating a quiet, cold fury. "So you're the piece of shit who tried to blow us up?" they asked, deceptively calm, letting their arm drop.

"Who are you calling a piece of shit, you filth?" the bomber spat. "Do you even know what you all do to people? You parade yourselves all over the city, and on TV, and everywhere, like you're better than all of us, like we're all beneath you. Like we're worth nothing. While you're the ones who are not even human!"

He stumbled to his feet, and gave them a defiant, spiteful look. "Of course I tried to get rid of you. I have the skills to do it, so I had to. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. You don't deserve to live," he finished, more quietly, contempt twisting every syllable.

"Oh, shut the hell up!" Rock Bison bellowed, and the man startled and fell silent, but kept glaring at them all with raw, seeping hatred.

Without a word, Nathan nodded, slowly, and then carefully touched their temple again before turning away in disgust.

Keith's eyes widened in understanding, and a flare of affection surged in his chest.

Nathan had just stealthily turned the recording in their suit on and then off again, keeping their eyes pointed exclusively at the bomber; they'd made sure they had a confession on tape while still leaving the other cameras offline, so they could keep preserving Keith's secret identity.

Lunatic's voice cut imperiously through Keith's fond thoughts. "Move."

Once again, the heroes turned in unison. Lunatic, though, seemed to be looking specifically at Keith, who was still the one standing directly between him and his target.

"You heard him," Lunatic prompted. "He may be a failed murderer for now, but he's still guilty. He'll try again, as long as he's left alive."

"Not if we put him in jail," Keith argued.

"He won't be in there forever. And then where will your justice leave you, hero?" Lunatic's head dipped, his posture growing even more intense. "Step aside. It's better for everyone."

The rooftop gravel crunched under Keith's heels as he spread his feet, standing his ground. "I can't do that. I won't."

Finally, Lunatic lost his composure. "Why?" he asked, voice rising. "He set a trap for your friends. You nearly died. Your partner nearly died. And yet you still think that this man deserves your protection?"

Keith stared back at him, still as the eye of a storm.

"No," he answered.

Everyone whipped their head around to gape at him.

"No," Keith repeated, and his calm quickly dissolved, as he grew more upset with every word. "I don't think he deserves anything. I don't want to protect him. I want to punish him. I want to hurt him," he confessed, voice shaking, fists clenched. "He... He almost killed the person I love."

At his side, Nathan's breath caught with a soft, barely-there sound.

"But it doesn't matter what I want." Keith raised his head high, and fixed Lunatic with his most determined, most steadfast look. "What matters is what's right. And what's right does not involve you."

He steadied himself, and activated his power. "Except for the part where we arrest you, as well."

Blue fire flared around the eyes on Lunatic's mask, and he raised his crossbow, pointing it straight at Keith's face.

Suddenly, Keith's vision was filled with red.

In the blink of an eye, Nathan had stepped in front of him, shielding him from Lunatic's aim.

"Touch him," Nathan threatened, low and unflinching, "and I swear I'll find a way to burn you."

Over their shoulder, Keith saw Lunatic's head rear like a snake's, and he was instantly gripped by panic. They still didn't know for sure if Nathan could be hurt by Lunatic's power, and their suit didn't cover them completely, either.

He launched into the air, over Nathan and the others, trying to draw Lunatic's fire, and at the same time he shot a blast of compressed air toward him, aiming to knock him down.

The other heroes jumped into action as well; red flames, lightning, ice and throwing stars cut through Keith's wind, and Tiger, Barnaby and Bison charged in its wake.

As always, though, Lunatic was too fast. A burst of green fire instantly shot him up into the air, and for a second he hovered above them all, his cape billowing ominously around him.

"Fine," he said haughtily. "Have it your way."

His entire body became cloaked in flames, and then he came down, fast.

The heroes braced themselves, readying another round of attacks.

And then they staggered and stared, stunned, as Lunatic plunged straight through the rooftop and vanished entirely, leaving behind only a few scorched pebbles in his wake.

Tiger was the first to find his voice. "Did... did anyone know he could do that?" he asked, pointing at the spot where Lunatic had disappeared.

Dragon Kid shook her head, eyes wide as saucers.

Barnaby spun around and hurried over to the bomber, grabbing him by the arm and scanning the ground around them, like he expected Lunatic to pop back up through it at any second.

Which was probably a possibility, Keith realized; he immediately landed at Nathan's side again, resting a hand lightly on their wrist, ready to grab them and fly them to safety if needed. They'd probably angered Lunatic the most out of all of them, and Keith had no intention of giving him the slightest chance to retaliate.

Lunatic, though, didn't reappear. After a good minute had passed, Keith sighed, in a mixture of relief and regret. They were safe, but they had once again failed to catch him.

In Barnaby's firm grasp, the bomber struggled, apparently undaunted by the fact that he'd narrowly escaped a fate quite similar to the one he had planned for his victims. "Let me go! You have no proof against me, anyway!"

"Actually, we do," Keith said. "You confessed on tape, remember?"

At that, Nathan threw him a quick, proud smile.

The bomber frowned at Keith, and changed tactics. "You put me in jail, and every criminal in Stern Bild will know what the King of Heroes looks like in a matter of hours. Your boyfriend will find you dead in a dumpster within a week. If he ever finds you at all," he added, aiming a nasty look at Nathan.

It was a mistake.

Nathan's hand, the one that wasn't hovering a whisper away from Keith's, erupted into flames, and they advanced, slowly, until they were looming ominously over the bomber.

"Do you really think," they said, with unsettling intensity, "that we're all as good as he is?"

The guy tried to step back, finally intimidated, but Barnaby's hold on him tightened until he whined softly, and he couldn't move an inch.

"Do you really think," Nathan continued, unrelenting, "that if anything happened to him, anything at all, I wouldn't find you, and every single person you've ever cared about in your entire life, and make you all pay?"

They raised their hand, and the fire roared into a column taller than they were, overwhelmingly loud, casting the bomber's terrified face into a wash of madly-twisting orange light.

"He gets so much as a paper cut," Nathan growled, "and you burn."

The bomber whimpered, and then his eyes rolled back into his head. When his knees gave out, Barnaby let him drop unceremoniously to the ground, completely unconscious.

Nathan scoffed, and with a twitch of their hand, the flames were instantly gone, along with all of their menacing attitude. "I knew it. Only a complete coward would come up with the kind of set up that this fucker did."

Keith approached them, letting their shoulders brush together. "You would never hurt anyone, though. Especially not for revenge," he said, without the slightest hint of a doubt.

"Oh, birdie," Nathan sighed, leaning slightly against him. "You have no idea how tempted I'd be."

Keith glanced down at the man at their feet. He seemed harmless now, but when he looked at him, all Keith could think of was his partner standing in that room, certain that they were about to die, and choosing to tell Keith sorry instead of goodbye.

Keith had to avert his eyes.

"I think I do, actually," he murmured. "But you still would never."

Nathan shrugged. "Well, no, but he doesn't know that, does he? He believes we're monsters, so we might as well take advantage of that. I don't think he's going to tell anyone about you now. And probably ever."

Keith smiled fondly up at them. "Thank you."

"You're thanking me?" Their voice rose in disbelief, almost slipping out of Fire Emblem's deep register. "After what you did earlier? You—"

A soft tap on their arm interrupted them.

Dragon Kid had sidled up on Nathan's other side, and was looking up at them hesitantly. "Fire Emblem?"

When Nathan looked down at her, Kid let her staff clatter to the ground, and threw her arms around their waist. "I'm so glad you're alive!" she blurted out, muffled into Nathan's chest. "And you too!" she added, and one of her hands snuck out to snag Keith by the belt.

Nathan smiled, obviously moved, and ruffled Dragon Kid's hair gently. "Thank you, darling. I'm pretty glad we're alive, too."

Keith could not have agreed with that sentiment more wholeheartedly. He put a hand on Kid's shoulder, and slipped the other one around Nathan, pulling them even closer.

A second later, Tiger's arms dropped heavily around their necks from behind, and then Rose was there, and Bison was dragging Origami in, and finally Barnaby took a hold of their arms; not quite joining the group hug, but it was OK. It was close enough.

Smiling, Keith closed his eyes, and let himself enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by his friends on all sides.

A cool breeze caressed his face, carrying a hint of salt with it.

"Thank you for saving us, guys," he said contentedly, and for a moment he was being held even tighter, to the point that his ribs twinged slightly.

Then, one by one, everyone stepped back, until they were standing in a loose circle, for the third time in as many nights, but this time with a much lighter mood.

"Hey, Sky High." Tiger poked gently at his arm. "Is it really OK that we saw your face?"

"Yes." Keith's smile didn't falter. "When we were down there, you risked yourselves to come get us. And the thing is... We knew that you would. I trust you all with my life, and with Fire Emblem's, too. What's my identity, compared to that? I just... wanted my friends to know who I am."

He swallowed, then, suddenly uncertain. "I hope you all don't mind. It's against the rules, I know, and it's a bit of an added responsibility, I'm realizing now, but—" He cleared his throat. "Anyway. My name is Keith. Keith Goodman. I just wanted to tell you guys."

For a moment, everyone just looked at him silently.

And then Tiger flipped his helmet open, and, to Keith's astonishment, reached into it and tore the domino mask off his face. "Kotetsu T. Kaburagi," he said, holding a hand out in front of him.

Keith snapped his mouth shut and shook Kotetsu's hand, numbly but firmly.

Bison laughed, and then his mask withdrew. "I'm Antonio Lopez. It's nice to meet you, man," he added, leaning in to give Keith's shoulder a solid pat.

A platinum-blonde head poked out from under his arm. "My name is Ivan Karelin," said Origami, without quite meeting anyone's eyes, but with a tiny smile well visible on his face.

The girls exchanged a look, and then, amazingly, their powers flickered, and their appearances changed right under Keith's eyes.

With a slight crackle of dissipating electricity, Dragon Kid's hair lost its green hue, and a few sandy strands fell around her face. "I'm Pao-Lin Huang!" she said enthusiastically, giving everyone a big grin.

Blue Rose removed her headgear, and a thawing mass of caramel-colored locks fell softly around her shoulders. "Karina Lyle," she said simply, fixing her fringe nonchalantly, like none of this was a big deal at all.

There was a small pause, and then Barnaby opened his helmet, too. "Well. You all know who I am already," he said, awkwardly, and promptly got a fond snicker and a side hug from Kotetsu.

Keith turned to look at Nathan, and was surprised to find them staring at him like he had somehow mortally offended them.

"Goodman?" they asked incredulously, gaping at Keith. "Your last name is Goodman?"

Completely baffled, Keith shrugged. "I... Yes?"

Nathan threw their hands in the air in frustration. "Seriously, how are you even real? For— Agnes, are the cameras still off?" they asked, puzzling Keith even further.

"I'm not recording," Agnes answered over the comm line. "Which is a good thing, seeing as how Sky High apparently launched a new fashion trend over there," she added wryly.

"Good enough for me," Nathan said with a satisfied nod.

And then, in one smooth movement, they pushed their hood off, turned to face Keith, and grabbed his head in both of their hands.

And kissed him.

For a moment, Keith froze in shock.

And then, tender but irresistible, all of Nathan's warmth came flowing through the kiss, and flooded him from head to toe.

He melted against Nathan, wrapping his arms around them, rising on tiptoe to get better access to their lips. He felt one of their hands card through his hair, shifting to cradle his nape, and the other slide around his shoulders, pulling him even more securely against them.

Keith had never felt quite like this before; tethered and solid and grounded, and yet completely weightless at the same time. It was great, it was wonderful, and he never wanted it to stop.

Unfortunately, even with his power, he'd never quite managed to figure out a trick to get air into his lungs without actually having to breathe.

He broke the kiss with a small gasp, and stared down at Nathan in delighted wonder.

They beamed back at him, eyes shining with happiness, and then they blinked, puzzled. "Since when are you the taller one?"

The two of them pulled apart, just enough to be able to look down between them.

Keith's boots weren't actually touching the ground.

He met Nathan's eyes again, and shrugged casually. "Oops?"

Nathan broke into a laugh, shaking their head fondly, and the little bubble of intimacy around them popped, letting the rest of the world rush back in.

Keith floated back down slowly, looking around at their friends, who were all watching them in various stages of amazement.

Kotetsu pointed a finger at Nathan, looking hilariously disoriented. "Ms. Seymour?"

"Yep! That's me," Nathan answered brightly, all traces of Fire Emblem gone from their voice. "You guys can call me Nathan, though. If you want."

Pao-Lin stared up at them, mesmerized. "Nathan is not a girl's name, though," she pointed out, carefully, but it didn't sound like a criticism at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"What can I say? I like to mix things up," Nathan answered, winking at her, and Pao-Lin's eyes practically started sparkling.

"I hate to interrupt, but we should probably get this man to the police before he regains consciousness," Barnaby cut in, nudging the bomber lightly with his foot.

"Could you guys please take care of it, and of all the other stuff down there?" Nathan asked. "Keith and I need to have a little talk."

"Talk. Right," Antonio muttered, but he was smiling good-naturedly as he did.

Barnaby threw the bomber none-too-gently over his shoulder. "Of course. We'll leave you to it, then," he said, not quite looking at where Keith and Nathan still hadn't let go of each other.

And then, without any warning, he hopped onto the ledge and jumped over the side of the building.

A second later a long, terrified scream rang out from below, and Kotetsu cracked up, snickering loudly.

When Keith gave him an alarmed look, Kotetsu fanned his face with his mask, and then slipped it back on, composing himself. "Bunny was hoping the scumbag would wake up on the way down," he explained. "And apparently he got his wish."

He pulled out his wire launcher. "I'd better go check on them. See you later, guys," he said with a wave, and then jumped down after his partner.

Karina puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "They can't keep all the fun to themselves! Come on," she said, motioning for Pao-Lin to follow her. She formed an ice ramp off the side of the roof, as her hair froze back into its usual blue style, and then the girls were sliding out of sight.

Antonio watched them all go, and then hooked his thumb awkwardly at the roof door. "I'll just... take the elevator," he said, heading off, but then he turned around with his hand on the handle. "I'm really glad that you guys are OK," he said, before disappearing through the doorway.

"So am I," added Ivan, throwing them a quick, sweet look.

And then the door closed silently behind him, and they were alone.

Nathan's arms tightened around Keith's shoulders, and he turned to look at them again.

"So," they said, dipping their head until their nose was brushing against his. "Where were we?"

Keith shivered in anticipation. He started to lean in, but then, suddenly, he felt a yawn coming on, and he had to bury his face into Nathan's neck to cover his mouth.

He snapped up immediately afterwards, wide-eyed and appalled at himself. "I'm so sorry!"

Nathan let out a soft chuckle, and pulled his head down again so they could plant a kiss on his forehead. "Don't apologize, love," they said, stroking his hair. "You just ran out of adrenaline. I'm probably about to crash myself, to be honest."

Keith raised his eyes to theirs, elated. "Say that again," he asked, breathless.

"Wasn't that my line?" Nathan argued, but they were grinning, bright and affectionate, and their next words were spoken right up against Keith's lips.

"As many times as you want, love," Nathan whispered, and then they were kissing him again, soft and sweet and unhurried.

When they pulled back, Keith whimpered faintly in protest.

"I know, I know," Nathan said soothingly. "But we need to go before the crazy-early morning crowd starts waking up and catches a glimpse of your beautiful face."

"Right," Keith sighed. The warmth from the compliment was not quite enough to make up for the cold he felt when Nathan broke their embrace and stepped back from him. But it was something.

He picked up the gear Barnaby had left behind for him, stuffing the gloves inside the helmet and handing everything over to Nathan. "Could you hold these, please?"

Nathan took them, giving him a curious look, and then yelped in surprise when Keith quickly slipped one hand behind their back and one under their knees, and lifted.

"Wow!" Nathan slid an arm around his shoulders, giving him a delighted look. "I didn't know that being carried like a pretty princess was an option. You're going to spoil me, birdie."

Keith blushed. "Hopefully," he said, and then kicked off gently, into a slow arc that passed wide over the area still occupied by the police and rescue vehicles, taking them straight to the side street where their transport and car were parked, out of sight.

He set Nathan down carefully on the ground, and only then realized that he had a problem.

After the absurdly close call they'd had, he absolutely did not want to let Nathan out of his sight.

"Come home with me," he said, and then cursed his exhausted brain when Nathan's eyebrows shot all the way up to their hairline. "Ah! I didn't mean— I just— I was so scared," he explained, weakly.

Thankfully, Nathan understood him perfectly once again. "Oh, love. I don't like the idea of leaving you, either, believe me, but we can't exactly have Fire Emblem show up at your place."

Disappointed, Keith started to nod, but Nathan wasn't done.

"You're more than welcome to mine, though. If you'd like," they added, somewhat more hesitantly.

Keith perked up, and then remembered something and immediately deflated again. "I'd love to, but I can't," he answered. "I need to check on John."

Weirdly, Nathan blinked at that; and then they hid their face in their hands, and their shoulders started shaking slightly.

It looked like they were crying, and Keith had no idea what might have prompted it. He took a hold of them, alarmed, and ran his thumbs gently over their arms. "Hey. Hey, what's wrong?"

And then Nathan's hands dropped, and Keith saw that they were actually laughing.

"I'm sorry," they said, shaking their head. "It's just that I'm a bit of a fool, too. When you were in the hospital, and you said you wanted to go home to someone... you meant your dog!"

"Yes," Keith answered, perplexed. "Of course."

"Well, I know that now," Nathan sighed. "Listen, you need to get to John, and I need to get to my clothes, or I can't go anywhere, but I can be quick about it. I could pick you up from Poseidon and drive you home," they offered, hopeful.

It would just be a matter of minutes. Certainly much less than half an hour. Keith could do it without becoming a nervous wreck.

Probably.

He nodded, and got a lightning-quick kiss to seal the deal.

"Perfect." Nathan pushed him toward his transport, and then jogged to their car. "Go, go, I'll be right there!"

"The Silver Stage entrance," Keith called out after them, as he climbed the steps backwards, so he could keep looking at them for as long as possible.

Nathan threw him a thumbs up, and then hopped into the driver's seat, pulled their hood up, and sped off into the night.

-----

Nathan had, indeed, been quick about it.

When Keith emerged from the Poseidon Line building, a flashy red sports car was waiting for him outside. Nathan was leaning against it, wearing hastily-applied makeup and a long, baggy sweater over a pair of leggings, tapping one of their high heels nervously on the ground. They'd scrubbed the blood out of their hair, but their curls were still a tangled, windblown mess.

As soon as Nathan saw him, they darted forward.

Keith, meanwhile, was already running.

They met in the middle, throwing their arms around each other and clinging desperately, like they were afraid something would try to drag them apart at any second.

"Don't leave again," Keith begged shakily. "Not right away, please. I almost nodded off while they were taking me here, and then I kept thinking that maybe I had fallen asleep for real, and I was only dreaming that you were OK. It was awful."

"I'm not going anywhere," Nathan answered, clutching fistfuls of his jacket, and their voice was trembling, too. "I got maybe a block away, and all of a sudden I remembered that you almost fucking blew yourself up tonight. I cried all the way home, you stupid, selfless moron."

"I'm not apologizing for saving your life," Keith said, firm and assured even as it was muffled into their shoulder. "Not ever."

"I didn't think so." Nathan pulled back, pushing themselves out of Keith's iron grip. "Get in the car. You can make up for all the gray hair I'll have tomorrow by letting me hug your dog and feeding me breakfast in the morning."

Keith slid obediently into the passenger seat, fastening his seat belt. "You wouldn't even notice if your hair turned gray," he pointed out, smiling, although he was still a bit wobbly. "You dye it."

"How very dare you. I would know immediately." Nathan put the car into gear, and looked at him expectantly.

Keith gave them his address, and settled in for the short trip.

The next few minutes were a vague, sleepy blur, the city lights smearing behind Nathan's profile as Keith watched them drive. The heater was blowing a cozy cocoon of warm air around him, and he wondered fondly if they'd switched it on just for him, since he knew they didn't really feel the cold.

And then Nathan parked the car, and moments later they were in his lobby, in his elevator, in his hallway.

Keith turned the key in the lock and opened the door, and then Nathan was in his apartment.

In his home.

Keith barely had the time to marvel at that; John came bounding fast out of the bedroom, knocked Keith against the wall in his eagerness to lick his face, and then immediately turned and jumped on Nathan, tail whipping madly behind him.

"Hey, John! It's so good to see you again!" Nathan laughed, ruffled his fur, and then knelt down to get the hug they'd demanded earlier, absolutely making John's day.

Keith stared at them, struck by a realization.

"He recognized you," he said, stunned.

Nathan threw him a look over John's head. "Well, I should hope so. He's a smart boy. Aren't you, sweetie?" they added, barely dodging a damp nose bump as they blew John a kiss.

"No, no." Keith shook his head. "In the park. That's why he ran at you! I showed him Fire Emblem on the TV, and he loved it every time. He saw you, and he knew it was you."

"Oh," Nathan said, staring impressedly at John, who was now sitting proudly with his chest puffed out, giving them a doggy grin. "A very smart boy, then."

"Way smarter than I am, for sure," Keith said ruefully.

Nathan stood up and hooked an arm around Keith, pulling him close to peck his cheek. "Stop it. Unlike with your dog, I was actively trying to deceive you. Give me and yourself some credit, love."

Keith smiled gratefully. "If you put it that way, I guess I'll have to."

John tapped his paw on Keith's thigh. He'd used their moment of distraction to grab his leash, and was holding it in his mouth, looking up at Keith expectantly.

"Early walk today?" Keith asked him, and got a tail wag in response. "That actually works great for us, thank you. We can just... sleep forever after that," he added, looking at Nathan for confirmation.

"That is the best plan I've ever heard. Lead the way, boys," they said, and then they slipped their hand through Keith's, lacing their fingers.

"You're coming with us?" Keith asked, pleasantly surprised.

Nathan raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought we'd firmly established what a horrible idea it is for us to be apart from each other right now."

"I know." He almost shuddered just thinking about it. "I just didn't want to presume."

"Presume away. You'll probably be right about anything, anyway," they said, somewhat cryptically. "Oh, wait a moment, though. You probably shouldn't go out like that."

Nathan raised their free hand, and carefully rubbed their thumb over Keith's cheekbone.

It came away stained the same pink as their lips.

"Oh." Keith brushed his fingers against the same spot; he was blushing again, and his skin was hot to the touch. "I've... sort of been wanting that for a while," he confessed, bashfully.

"What, my lipstick all over your face?" Nathan asked jokingly.

Keith, though, just nodded.

"Oh." They blinked, giving him a strangely intent look. "That can be arranged."

Nathan pushed him back gently, until his shoulders hit the wall again; then they crowded him against it, and bent down to kiss him.

Only this time they started using tongue.

Keith became distantly aware of a high, faint keening noise; for a moment he thought John was protesting the delay, and then he realized that it was coming from himself.

When Nathan let go of him, the wall was the only thing keeping him upright.

"Wow," he whispered dazedly.

Nathan chuckled affectionately. "Look at you. Come on, we really need to get you to bed as soon as possible."

Keith felt his eyes go wide as saucers.

"Oh! I mean—" Nathan waved their hands in a slightly frantic apology. "Not like that! Sorry, sweetie, I'm too tired to watch what I say."

"Why not like that?" Keith pouted softly, and then slapped a hand over his own sleepy, traitorous mouth.

Nathan closed their eyes and visibly swallowed.

"Who's a menace now?" they muttered, taking a very deep, very deliberate breath before looking at him again. "Listen. We are walking John. We are sleeping for, like, a week. And then we are talking about this, when we have more than one functioning brain cell between the two of us. Deal?"

Keith nodded, and reached for the door handle.

"Wait." Nathan turned his head again with a finger. "I've made an even bigger mess of you now. Do you have anything to—"

Wordlessly, Keith pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to them.

Nathan stared down at it for a long moment. "Of course you carry one of those. You are absolutely unreal." They did take it, though, and wiped his mouth gently with it, as Keith closed his eyes, enjoying their soft touch.

They took what was probably the shortest walk of John's life, holding hands and swaying slightly against each other, but John seemed perfectly happy with it anyway.

When they got back, they both kicked off their shoes, and Keith hung up his jacket, smiling at the sight of Nathan's shiny pumps lying next to his canvas sneakers.

"I need to put some food down for John for later, but you can go get ready in the meantime," he said, pointing toward the bathroom. "There's a new toothbrush in the cabinet. And..." He hesitated, but this was no time for him to get embarrassed.

Keith knew he stank of fear sweat, and he felt like he had concrete dust all over him, even though most of it had remained on the suit he'd discarded in the transport. Nathan was probably not faring much better, and they were definitely the kind of person who hated feeling dirty, even more so than he did.

"There's towels in the closet, too, if you want to take a shower."

Nathan shot him a grateful look, but then they blinked, and didn't move.

"Ah. I didn't think to bring any pajamas," they said, a bit awkwardly. "I don't really... use them."

"Oh." Keith tried to fight the mental image, and failed quite abysmally. He'd probably develop a permanent blush at this rate. "Er. You can look in my closet for those, as well. My stuff will probably be a little short on you, but it should fit."

"Thank you," Nathan said, brushing a quick hand down his arm, and then they disappeared down the hallway.

Keith only realized his mistake when he came back from the kitchen and went to get his own pajamas; he should have specified which closet was which.

Nathan was standing still in front of the open doors to his storage space, a hand over their mouth, staring down at Keith's paintings.

His paintings of them.

"You made these," they said when they heard him approach, without turning around.

"I did," Keith murmured. "I'm sorry." He stepped up next to them, but their expression remained unreadable. "I know it's really weird, but... it helps me think."

Nathan looked at him then, and there was something vulnerable in their eyes. "Were you trying to... to pick?"

"No," Keith answered, heavy and weary. "I knew perfectly well that I couldn't. I was just... trying to get my head together."

He pointed at the picture of Nat. "I painted that one the day that you were waiting for me in the park. I was trying to decide if I should come and try to meet you again, even though if I did, I'd have to lie to you."

"And you decided not to," Nathan said, in a thready voice.

"Actually, no. I was going to come to the park the next day, but..."

A shadow fell over Nathan's eyes. "But then you were in the hospital, instead."

"Yes." Keith looked down at the floor. "And while I was there, I realized that I was in love with Fire Emblem, too. So that kind of put an even bigger wrench in that plan."

"That's when you knew?" Nathan asked, surprised.

Keith met their eyes again, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "You cried on my shoulder, cuddled with me and then joked about spending the night in my bed," he said. "Even I had to get a clue about my own feelings at that point."

Nathan raised their eyebrows at him. "But not about mine? Seriously?"

"You got distant right after that. You... you stopped touching me," he said, wistfully. "I thought maybe you were uncomfortable with how close we'd gotten."

"Uncomfortable?" Nathan rolled their eyes. "I was afraid that I was getting too comfortable with you! I stopped touching you because I thought you had a girlfriend!"

"What— Oh. Oh! Because I said I was going home to someone," he realized, recalling what Nathan had said earlier on the street.

"Yes," they said patiently. "And at the time I didn't know you meant the adorable pile of fluff that's currently sleeping on your couch."

"I see. But..." Keith frowned slightly. "Why did you think it had to be a girlfriend? Why not a boyfriend? Or a partner," he added, gesturing vaguely at Nathan. "I even told you that I'm not straight."

Nathan gaped at him. "You most certainly did not," they said indignantly, pointing a finger at Keith. "I would definitely remember that!"

"Yes, I did," Keith argued. "In my office, when we were talking about my fans."

"That?" Nathan asked, baffled. "That was you coming out to me?"

"Sort of? I didn't think I needed to, I was just doubling down on a concept," he explained. "I thought you already knew. You... You usually understand me better than anyone else."

"Not on everything, apparently." Nathan grew quiet, and took another long, contemplative look at their portraits. "You said you only dabbled with painting, but these... These are gorgeous."

Keith grinned, bashful, but proud, too. "Thank you," he said softly. "But I think that's just the subject."

With a pleased sparkle in their eyes, Nathan slid their hands around his waist, tugged him close, and rested their forehead against his. "You know, flattery will get you absolutely everywhere."

Feeling bold, Keith leaned up and kissed them, taking the initiative for once.

Nathan sighed contentedly. "Quite like that, yes." They pulled back, with a wide, satisfied smile. "Now find me something to wear to bed, please, love, before I get too exhausted to be responsible about this."

Keith was definitely going to be blushing forever.

"Of course," he said, slipping out of their hold. "Give me a second."

He opened the other closet, and pulled out his softest pair of running shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, handing them out to Nathan along with a big, fluffy towel. "Are these OK? I know you were sort of joking when you said you're always hot, but you're running around at night in February without a coat, so..."

"These are perfect." Nathan said gratefully, taking the clothes he was offering. "I'll be right back."

While he waited for his turn in the bathroom, Keith glanced at the bed. It was a mess, the covers twisted and half on the floor, courtesy of the insanity of the last few nights.

The last thing he wanted right now was a reminder of what had happened.

Especially of what had almost happened.

Keith stripped the bed quickly, almost angrily, and he had it made with fresh sheets and a lighter blanket by the time he heard Nathan pad across the hallway.

He turned around, and promptly dropped the bundle of dirty linens he was holding, staring.

Putting Nathan in his clothes, especially those clothes, had been a terrible, terrible idea.

Their long legs made Keith's shorts look even skimpier on them, almost indecent. The shirt outlined their chest softly while leaving their toned arms in full display, tattoo included, and it left a thin, barely-there strip of dark skin visible around their slim hips.

Nathan's makeup had to be waterproof; it sat nearly untouched on their face, except for where the lipstick had smudged from kissing him. Maybe they hadn't taken it off because Keith didn't own the right supplies to do so, or maybe they were simply too tired.

The feminine emphasis on Nathan's elegant features should have clashed with the masculine, sporty things they were wearing, but instead, the result was just... extremely attractive.

Especially combined with the damp hair and all the exposed skin.

Keith bent down quickly, grabbed the crumpled sheets off the floor, and practically fled the room. "I'll be just a minute!"

Clumsy with exhaustion as he was, it actually took him closer to ten to do everything that he needed to, including his own (cool, almost cold) shower, and another two after that before he could trust himself to leave the bathroom.

At which point he realized that he hadn't taken a change of clothes with him.

He sighed. He was just about ready to fall asleep on his feet; Nathan would have to forgive him for showing up undressed. He wrapped a towel around his hips and returned to the bedroom, trying to be as quiet as possible.

When he poked his head around the doorjamb, his heart completely melted.

Nathan had taken the side of his bed that had always sat empty before, and had fallen asleep with the blankets thrown haphazardly over their legs, their arms wrapped gently around a dozing, contented John.

Keith's throat felt weirdly tight. He almost wanted to grab his phone and take a picture, but it seemed a bit creepy to do that without Nathan's knowledge. In the end, he just stared at them for a little while, committing the image to his mind; to remember, and, maybe, to paint in the future.

A tiny shiver reminded him that he was still pretty much naked, and he tiptoed quickly to his dresser, pulling out a pair of boxers.

The clack of the drawer closing was faint, but it was enough. John woke immediately, wiggling out of Nathan's embrace to come and bump his nose against Keith's leg in greeting, before padding off to the living room again with a yawn.

And Nathan stirred; their eyes blinked open blearily, and then they fell on Keith, and went huge, staring at him a bit hazily.

"Either I'm having a fantastic dream," Nathan said, dragging themselves up onto an elbow, "or my birthday came early this year."

"I... forgot my pajamas," Keith said, weak and high-pitched.

"I can see that. Lucky me," Nathan muttered, and then they raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Oh, wow. That blush goes all the way down."

"You're not helping," Keith whimpered.

"Sorry." Nathan closed their eyes, covering them with a hand. "I think I ran out of decency about fifteen minutes ago, when I was, you know. Standing naked in your apartment, putting on your clothes so I could get into your bed."

Keith bit his lip. He had been desperately trying not to think about that the entire time that Nathan had been in the bathroom, and starting now was possibly the worst thing he could do at the moment.

Before the mental image could overwhelm him, though, Nathan dropped back onto the pillow, eyes still shut, looking utterly drained. "Sorry again. I need sleep. Badly."

With a pang of guilt, Keith quickly shoved the boxers on, letting the towel drop to the floor and foregoing the pajamas altogether. Then he turned the lights off and slid under the covers, pulling them up carefully around both of them.

Nathan reached out blindly; their hand collided with his bare chest, and went still.

In the faint predawn light filtering from the blinds, Keith saw them slowly open one eye, and then the other, staring fuzzily at his exposed shoulders.

"Are you naked now?" they asked, obviously barely awake at this point. "Because I think it's illegal for you to be naked and in bed with me when I'm too tired to do anything about it."

"Not naked," Keith answered amusedly, as his own eyes started to droop.

"Mh. OK." Nathan reached out with their other hand, and then Keith found himself hauled across the bed, until he was resting half on top of them, head pillowed on their shoulder, with their arms wrapped securely around him.

"Oh," he breathed, stunned.

Nathan did run exceptionally hot, like he had imagined. Keith was instantly warm, which usually would have lulled him to sleep, except that he and Nathan were touching pretty much everywhere.

He shivered again, this time for an entirely different reason. His brain was trying to shut down, and his body was trying to wake up, and he was caught in the middle, like a tiny boat tossed about by the waves.

"Shhh," Nathan whispered, laying a soft kiss into his hair. "I can hear you thinking. Sleep now. Everything else later."

Keith considered that. "Everything? Promise?"

When Nathan chuckled, he could feel the vibrations all the way down to his toes.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my sweet, innocent Sky High?"

"I don't know." Keith smiled into Nathan's chest. "You could ask Fire Emblem. Or Nat. They seemed pretty interested in him, they might have some idea of where he's gone."

There was a moment of silence, and Keith thought maybe Nathan had dozed off again, but then he heard them swallow.

"You know," they said slowly, in a somewhat strained voice, "I never regretted not actually being two people before, but that... that is an image, right there."

Keith raised his head, confused.

Nathan was staring at him weirdly, half apologetic and half frazzled.

And suddenly, Keith got their meaning.

Feeling like he was going to combust, he let his head drop again, squeezing his eyes shut, but the image Nathan had mentioned was now branded forever into his brain, too.

"I can barely survive one of you," he whimpered. "And we haven't even done anything yet!"

"Are you telling me that you never thought about it?" Nathan asked incredulously. "Even when you thought you had the hots for two different people, and that they were sleeping together? Forget what I said earlier. I recognize you perfectly now, little birdie."

Keith felt them ruffle his hair; his hammering heart gradually slowed down, and he finally relaxed, wrapping his own arm loosely around Nathan.

The position brought his fingertips right on top of their tattoo; he stroked it lightly, studying the colors, barely visible in the half-darkness.

"You... you said you had logistical concerns," he whispered, remembering suddenly.

"Mh. What?" Nathan asked sleepily.

Half affronted and half amused, Keith lifted his head again. "You said Fire Emblem couldn't come to the party with Nat and me because there were logistical concerns!"

Nathan smiled without opening their eyes. "Not being able to be in two places at once is a logistical concern. And also apparently now a tragic regret about our future sex life, but I guess we'll just have to live with that. Now go to sleep, love."

Keith closed his eyes, still struck by how good it felt to hear Nathan call him that. He settled back down, burying his nose into Nathan's chest, and inhaled deeply.

Embers.

Embers, and a hint of roses, and a touch of Keith's Ocean Breeze body wash.

"I was right," he whispered, smiling softly as he drifted peacefully off to sleep. "You do smell really, really good."

-----

The underground corridor seemed to go on forever.

At the very least, Keith couldn't see the end of it; a seemingly infinite number of doors lay before him, all closed, all locked.

Fire Emblem was behind one of them; Keith had to find him, and he was running out of time.

He started blasting down doors with his power, several at a time, but all the rooms he checked were empty; just dark, square, featureless boxes.

When his power finally faltered, he switched to kicking the doors down; when his legs hurt too much to do anything but carry him forward, he started knocking them open with his shoulder.

Until one door just wouldn't yield.

Keith looked around; somehow, without realizing it, he'd run out of corridor. This door was the last one left, and it had to be the right one, it had to.

Which meant that Fire Emblem was just on the other side.

He threw his whole body at the door, punching it, frantic, breathing harder and harder until he felt dizzy with it.

The door still didn't budge.

Keith fell to his knees, leaning heavily against it, desperate. He tried to gather the last dregs of his power, to form one last attack that could, maybe, destroy the lock.

Before he could manage it, though, the handle clicked, and Keith fell forward through the suddenly open doorway.

And then he just kept falling.

There was no room around him; he was dropping from the sky, through the cold night air above Stern Bild. He was far higher than he'd ever flown on his own; he could recognize the shape of the city lights below him, but they were so terribly, achingly distant.

And Fire Emblem wasn't there.

Keith hadn't been afraid of falling for a very long time. But the thought of not being able to find his partner, the thought of losing him, filled him with the purest dread imaginable.

There was only one person he could think of who might be able to help him. He wasn't wearing his helmet, but he did have the rest of his suit; he angled his limbs to take full advantage of the stabilizers, and directed his fall towards the golden bird glinting faintly above the river.

Like he had been hoping, Nat was waiting there for him, perched on the very tip of the phoenix's beak. Her red coat billowed around her like a cape, its ends gilded in an illusion of fire by the light reflected by the metal under her feet.

Keith's fall slowed as soon as he saw her; he floated down until he was standing in front of Nat, almost, but not quite close enough to touch.

He resisted the urge to reach out; if he did, he knew, somehow, that he'd lose what he was looking for.

"I can't find him," he told her instead, heart in his throat. "I can't find him, and it's almost too late."

Nat inclined her head, fixing him with a distantly curious look. "Who?"

"Fire Emblem!" Keith answered, clenching his fists. "If I don't get to him, he— He's going to—"

He choked on the word. He couldn't put it out there, make it exist, make it real.

But Nat just shook her head, unconcerned. "What do you mean? Fire Emblem is right here."

And he was, all of a sudden; right at Nat's side, one arm curled around her waist, leaning on her for support. He was clearly injured; a bloom of red blood marred the yellow chevron curving down the middle of his chest, blending in more and more with the colors of his suit as it trickled down his stomach.

Keith lunged forward, but stopped at the last second, holding his hand back just before it could touch Fire, struck by the memory of a suit collapsing empty under his fingertips.

Instead, Nat's hand covered the wound gently, and she turned so that she and Fire Emblem were nose to nose, foreheads touching, their profiles mirroring each other almost perfectly.

And finally, Keith remembered.

He closed the gap, and threaded his fingers with Nat's over Fire Emblem's heart.

When he looked up from their joined hands, Nathan was smiling down at him, soft and serene, touching their own chest along with Keith.

"You found me," they said, sweet as water in a desert.

Keith's gloves were gone now; the pads of his fingers rested on the worn cotton of his own borrowed shirt, warmed by Nathan's unbroken skin underneath. Their heartbeat reverberated in his own chest, slow and steady, one beat for every two of his.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here earlier," he murmured. "I was falling."

"You always apologize for the wrong things, sweetheart." Nathan let their hand drop, dislodging Keith's in the process, leaving it empty. "My reasons are better, I think."

Something was wrong. Keith could tell, but he wasn't sure what it was yet. "Your reasons?"

"You found me," Nathan repeated, and this time it was bleak, full of regret. "But I don't think you'll get to keep me," they said, looking down.

He followed their eyes and watched, horrified, as the gold melted around their bare feet, trapping them in place.

"I'm so sorry," they said, and then, with a crack as loud as an explosion, the statue split between them, and Nathan was falling.

Keith wasn't quick enough to grab them, so he had to do the next best thing; he dived head-first from the edge, and plunged into the river after them.

The impact was a shock; his suit had disappeared somewhere along the way, and the water was freezing against his bare skin, threatening to clamp his muscles down completely. For a moment, he couldn't move at all.

And then he caught a glimpse of motion under him; a flash of bright pink against the murky, greenish blue.

Keith started swimming as fast as he could, kicking his feet desperately, arms stretching out to cut through the dense water.

Nathan sank, and Keith followed, until his lungs were screaming, and he knew he didn't have enough oxygen to get back up, but he didn't care.

It wouldn't matter if he couldn't bring them back with him.

The bottom of the river appeared before him; Nathan was lying on the dark silt, buffeted by the current. The depth had bleached all the red out of the light; their curls were a grayish cloud, blocking half of their face from view. One of their hands was floating above them, outstretched toward him.

When Keith reached out and took it, it was horribly, hopelessly cold.

Panicked, he pulled Nathan closer, sliding his fingers through their hair to move it out of the way.

The eyes that stared back at him were dull and empty, completely colorless.

Dead.

When Keith tried to scream, he didn't have enough air left in his lungs.

-----

Keith emerged from the dream with the gasp of a drowning man breaking through the surface, sobbing too violently to be able to catch a full breath. His chest was frozen, empty, hollowed out; he was going to shatter and crumble, he knew it, any second now.

And then, suddenly, he felt it.

Warmth, all around him; enveloping him, pouring into him, chasing away the frigid cold of his dream.

Nathan was practically crushing him against their body, one arm tight around his back, the other cradling his head; their legs were tangled with Keith's under the twisted blankets.

A desperate kiss was dropped into his hair, followed by a stream of tearful reassurances. "Please, no, you're safe, Keith. You're here, my love, you're with me, please, wake up."

Keith slipped his arms around Nathan's chest and squeezed, hard, burying his face into their neck as his heart hammered madly under his ribs.

"You're here," he choked out, raspy and weak, but it was enough.

Nathan gave a shuddering sigh of relief, and started stroking his hair, giving it another, only slightly less frantic kiss. "Shit, love, you scared me so much. I thought you were going to have a heart attack in your sleep."

They tugged his head back, gently, until he pulled back enough for them to look at each other. In the dim sunlight scattered by the blinds, Nathan's eyes shone wide and red-rimmed, and a tear still clung to the remnants of their mascara. "Is this something that happens? You having such bad nightmares?" they asked worriedly, wiping their thumb over his damp, flushed cheek.

A whimper sounded from around Keith's legs, and he turned, surprised.

John was plastered against the back of his thighs, his head pillowed sadly on Keith's hip, warming the only parts of him that Nathan wasn't touching, and staring at him with obvious concern.

Keith gave him a grateful look, took a shaky breath, and then faced Nathan again, letting his head drop back onto their arm. "No. I mean, I had one in the hospital that was really scary, but... Nothing as bad as this one, no."

Nathan stroked his spine, slowly and soothingly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He swallowed, and it hurt slightly. He didn't think he could tell them, not without his throat closing up on him completely. "Not really. You're here, and you're fine, so it doesn't really matter." He pulled a hand back and slid it between them, resting it gently over Nathan's heart.

The fast, solid thump under his palm was such a relief that he almost felt dizzy with it.

"That was about me?" Nathan let go of his waist, too, to cradle his face gently in one hand, and pull him into a gentle kiss. "I'm so sorry."

Keith's fingers spasmed, his nails scratching against the thin cotton covering Nathan's chest. "Don't say that!"

Nathan blinked at him, startled.

"Don't say you're sorry." Keith stared at them, haunted, eyes fixed on the bright pink of their contacts, as if it could disappear at any second. "That's what you said in the dream. That's what you said—" He bit his lip, and tasted flowers, the trace of Nathan's lipstick. "You were going to make it the last thing you ever said to me," he explained hoarsely, and he felt another tear spill down his temple.

Nathan's face crumpled, and they pulled him against them again, holding him almost tightly enough to bruise.

"Oh, love," they murmured brokenly. "I was sorry. I was sorry that I had messed up, and that I was going to leave you without a partner. I was sorry because I knew you'd blame yourself, even though you had no reason to. I was sorry for being cold to you, and for all the lying." Their breath hitched, shaking them both. "And I was sorry that I couldn't say what I really wanted to. What I should have said earlier. But if I had said it then, it would have only hurt you more."

Keith knew what it was, but he still wanted to hear it. Maybe he needed to, even. But something was bothering him.

He pulled back, meeting Nathan's eyes. "What about you?"

Nathan blinked at him, damp lashes clumping together. "Me?"

"All these things you said you were sorry for... they were for me. But what about you? You were the one who was... Who was in danger," he finished, feeling cowardly but still unable to say it out loud. "Weren't you thinking about yourself? Even a little?"

Another blink, and then Nathan took a long, shivering breath.

"I was terrified," they finally admitted, voice small and lips trembling. "But it was so much easier to think about you. Even though I knew that I was hurting you, because at least that meant you cared. If..." Nathan swallowed, and looked away. "I'm not even sure if my parents would have cried, you know?"

All of a sudden, Keith's heart wasn't working properly; like it was clogged, or misaligned, or missing a piece.

"Of course they would have," he whispered, stroking a hand through Nathan's hair. "How could they not?"

Nathan bit their lip, rolling their eyes. "They're ashamed of me. Maybe—"

Keith cut them off with a kiss, pressing too hard, clumsy with the need to not hear them say it.

"No one," he ground out against their lips, with such force that he was almost shaking with it. "No one who knows you even a little would be happier if you were gone."

As if to confirm his point, John suddenly flopped down heavily on top of them both, and licked Nathan's cheek with a tiny, sad whine.

Startled, Nathan turned, and got another lick on the tip of their nose. For a few seconds, they just stared at John.

And then they started laughing, pressing their forehead against Keith's, and the sound lifted the dark cloud that had been weighing down the room.

"See," Keith said, light with relief, "John thinks that having you around is great. And John is very, very smart."

"Smarter than a lot of people I know," Nathan agreed, with one last chuckle.

"To be honest, sometimes I think he's smarter than anyone," Keith confessed. "But he just won't admit it."

John snuffled once, and then bumped his nose against both of their chins before jumping off the bed and padding out of the room.

Keith gave Nathan a tiny shrug. "He doesn't like it when I bring that up. I think it's supposed to be a secret."

Grinning, Nathan shook their head at him, rubbing their bright curls against the pillow. "You're unreal. Both of you."

Keith looked down, tapping his hand against his chest. "I don't know. I feel pretty real, but I've been wrong about a lot of stuff before," he joked.

Nathan's fingers trailed unthinkingly after his; their nails scraped lightly against his bare skin, and, without any warning, Keith shuddered.

All of a sudden, he was aware of everything. Their bodies pressed together, tangled, wrapped around each other; the smell of Nathan's skin, and the soft sound of their breathing. They were so close he could feel the air on his lips with each exhale.

The warmth pervading him tipped over into a deep, pressing heat.

He met Nathan's eyes, and it was obvious they were feeling it, too; they were flushed, and the mirth was gone from their face, replaced by a strangely intent hesitance.

Carefully, deliberately, Keith leaned in and kissed them. His dry lips caught slightly on theirs, and he pressed in, closer and closer, chasing under the rose-petal tang of the lipstick for the taste of them, the one that had made him so weak-kneed the night before.

The sound Nathan made when Keith stroked his tongue against theirs was probably going to be playing in his head for eternity.

He kept going, and going, wanting the kiss to last as long as it could. When he came up for air, though, Nathan's hand dug into his chest, holding him back.

"Wait."

Keith stilled instantly, opening his eyes, and found himself completely on top of Nathan. He'd pushed them onto their back without realizing it, and now he was pinning them to the mattress, one thigh shoved between theirs, bodies flush together.

The only reason he didn't feel like a complete jerk was that he could feel Nathan pressed against his hip, exactly as affected as he was.

He still pulled back, ashamed, trying to take his weight off them. "Sorry! I didn't mean to—"

Nathan, though, quickly wrapped their arms around his back, holding him in place. "Don't apologize, it's fine. It's great." They were breathing fast and shallow, just like Keith. "But we do need to talk about this."

His body didn't agree with that at all, but he nodded, doing his best to ignore it.

"You're not the kind of guy who does this casually," Nathan said, and it wasn't a question.

Keith started to smile, but then, suddenly, he was gripped by doubt.

Everything Nathan had said and done since last night, and, in hindsight, even earlier than that, had made him think that their feelings matched his, that they wanted the same things he did.

But he had a history of misinterpreting, and people went to bed together for all sorts of reasons; sex was supposed to be extremely life-affirming, and Nathan had almost died last night.

He'd still give them anything they needed, anything they wanted; anything.

But if he had to let them go afterwards, he didn't know what that would do to his heart.

"Hey. Hey."

Keith blinked, and everything came back into focus.

Nathan's fingers were cradling his cheek, stroking lightly. "Don't freak out on me, love," they murmured when they finally caught his eyes. "This isn't casual for me either, not even close. I promise."

"Oh. OK," Keith said, letting out a shaky breath. "I didn't think so, but... It's still really good to hear it."

With a small smile, Nathan leaned up for a kiss.

It was quick and chaste, but even his bout of uncertainty hadn't calmed his body down, and he had to make a conscious effort not to chase after their lips when they pulled back to look at him.

"The other thing I wanted to get to, though, and forgive me for skipping a few steps here," Nathan said, searching his face, "is that I have a feeling you've never done this with a man."

Keith gave them a slight frown. "I'm not doing this with a man now, either."

Nathan rolled their eyes, but they were smiling as they did. "True. And again, amazing timing on your part, considering our current, ah, situation here, I feel very respected. But I'm not letting you distract me."

Their hips twitched, though, and Keith gritted his teeth. "Who's distracting who now?"

"You," Nathan answered, and it was getting more and more obvious now that they were almost as flustered as he was, although they could hide it better. "In about a million ways you probably don't even realize, so please, before I lose even more control than that: have you ever done this with someone with the same parts as you?"

He knew he was showing his hand, but he couldn't help but ask. "Shouldn't that make it easier?"

"You'll have to tell me, love, I've personally never tried any other configuration. I..." Nathan must have caught his expression, then, because they trailed off, staring up at him in amazement, and a hint of concern.

Keith mentally cursed his total lack of a poker face.

"No way," Nathan whispered. "I was... I was just joking on New Year's Eve! I thought you were so shy about my innuendo because you're just so incredibly polite! Not because... Seriously? Never?"

He shook his head, grimacing slightly.

Nathan gaped at him. "How? You're... you! And you said you go out running. With your cute dog, I imagine, looking like this," they added, poking a finger into his pec, making him swallow. "How have people not just snatched you right off the street?"

Keith sighed, shrugging as best as he could while propped onto his elbows. "Like you said. I didn't want to do this casually, and... things just never lined up with anyone else before."

"And now you're here with me," Nathan said, with wonder lacing their voice, stroking the small of his back and bending their leg, as if to cradle him more securely.

The effect the movement had on Keith was probably not what they had intended.

He dropped his forehead into the pillow beside them, squeezing his eyes shut as their fingers trailed across his skin. "Now I'm here with you," he confirmed, "and I'm still extremely, ah, distracted, so please, please, could you tell me if it's OK to do something about it?"

Nathan's soft chuckle blew right over the shell of his ear, making his whole body shiver.

"I just need to be sure that you'll let me know clearly what you're comfortable with." Their voice dropped, rich and smooth like honey. "As far as I'm concerned, you, love, can do anything you want."

The blanket permission would have bothered him, but he knew it came from Nathan trusting him, and that made it utterly irresistible.

He turned his head, and Nathan's mouth was right there under his, perfectly aligned for the press of his lips.

If possible, they tasted even better than before.

He never wanted to stop kissing them, but he also wanted to touch them everywhere else, too, preferably all at once. It was confusing, and disorienting, and absolutely wonderful.

In the end, he compromised by trailing kisses down their jaw, along their neck, and into the hollow of their throat, as they clung to his back and their breath grew more and more labored under him with each touch.

His exploration was stopped by Nathan's shirt, his shirt, and he bunched it in his fist in frustration. "Can I—"

"Yes," Nathan answered, too eager to even let him finish the question, and they flexed their abs as Keith leaned back on his knees, half-sitting up so he could pull the shirt off over their head.

When Nathan fell back onto the mattress, bare-chested and with their hair in total disarray, Keith just stared, mesmerized. There was so much skin, and he just didn't know where to start.

Perhaps trying to give him a clue, Nathan raised a hand and ran it down his chest.

When they brushed against his nipple, it was almost like a gut punch. Keith fell forward, gasping for breath, bracing his hands on either side of their shoulders.

"Wow." Nathan's fingernails drifted back up along his ribs, slowly. "You like that?"

It took him a moment to find his voice. "I... yeah. Yeah, definitely."

When Nathan smiled, and rubbed their thumb over the same spot again, his elbows almost gave out on him, and he lowered himself down before he could fall, burying his face into their neck.

"Do you like it, too?" he asked, a bit timidly.

"Oh, yes. Very much so." Nathan nuzzled his hair, stroking his sides. "I told you, do whatever you want. I'll tell you if I don't enjoy something, but I really doubt that's going to happen."

"Then you should do the same," Keith said, but he didn't wait for an answer. He just picked up where he'd left off, kissing across Nathan's collarbone and down their chest, until he could close his mouth gently around a nipple.

It was simple math; if being touched there felt good, and kissing felt good...

He ran his tongue between his lips experimentally, and Nathan's hips arched off the bed so fast and so hard that he almost got thrown off.

"Fuck." Nathan grabbed his head, but their hands were uncoordinated, like they didn't know if they wanted to push him off or press him closer. "Is there anything you don't have a talent for?"

Keith pursed his lips in thought, inadvertently making Nathan twitch under him again. Their soft moan made his brain feel fuzzy, and he struggled to answer. He didn't really consider himself talented, but he could usually get a hang of most things with enough practice.

"Huh. I suck at singing?" he tried, lifting his head to look up at them.

To his surprise, Nathan responded by squeezing their eyes shut and letting out a tiny whimper. "Bad choice of words!" they groaned, strained. "Or incredibly good choice of words, I don't know. I was thinking we should keep things very simple this one time, at least, but if you want..."

Oh.

Oh.

Keith could have. He absolutely could have. He wanted to. He'd just need to shift a bit further down, and—

But he would have no idea of what he was doing, and he really wanted this to be good for both of them. "Simple sounds good," he decided. "For now."

And then he bent down again and took their other nipple in his mouth.

Nathan's fingers spasmed, nails scraping across his scalp. "You— Oh, you're dangerous. Come here," they said, tugging on his jaw to pull him into a kiss.

The slide up their body was amazing.

But he wanted even more of it, and there was something in the way. He ran his hand down Nathan's side, and slipped his fingers under the waistband of their borrowed shorts.

And all he found was smooth, perfect skin.

When he stopped moving, Nathan broke their kiss and blinked at him questioningly.

"I forgot to give you underwear last night," Keith said, vaguely bashful.

Nathan frowned in confusion. "I fail to see how that's a problem, especially now. Besides, it's not like I was wearing any when I got here."

Somehow, for all that he was lying on top of them, mostly naked, and with a hand down their pants, that was the hottest thing to Keith at that very second.

"Wait, what?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yeah," Nathan shrugged. "I was kind of in a hurry to get back to you, remember? I just stripped off the suit, grabbed the fastest outfit I could find, put my face on and came to get you."

Keith went over that again in his mind, to check his logic, but he just came up once more with the same, thoroughly brain-melting conclusion.

"You... You don't wear anything under your suit?" he asked, sounding distressingly close to one of John's squeaky toys.

"Of course not," Nathan answered, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "It would completely ruin the line of it."

Keith's mind instantly flickered through a collection of memories of Fire Emblem, posing for the cameras, moving gracefully at his side, touching him.

"I'll have to retire," he said glumly, dropping his chin onto their chest. "I can't fight crime if I have to think about that every time I see you in your costume."

Nathan raised an eyebrow at him, with a teasing grin. "Too... distracting?"

"Yes," Keith pouted, and he got a laugh from Nathan for his trouble.

"Well, that would take out our entire team." They ran their fingers under the edge of Keith's boxers, and instantly all of the humor faded away, letting the heat surge back. "I wouldn't be able to work any more, either. Your pants are way too tight."

Without any input from him, Keith's hand clenched around their hip. All this talk of Nathan naked, and he hadn't even seen them yet.

He grabbed the waistband that had been digging into his wrist and tugged slightly; a silent question, immediately answered by Nathan raising their hips off the bed, just enough to allow him to slide the shorts down and off their legs.

Keeling by their feet, Keith looked back up, all along their body, and stared.

He would definitely have to retire. And probably stop watching Hero TV when he wasn't alone. In fact, he might never be able to even look at a Fire Emblem trading card again without embarrassing himself half to death.

He rested a hand on Nathan's thigh, stroking lightly, and watched them shiver under his touch.

"You look amazing," he whispered, meeting their eyes. "Just... so beautiful."

He hadn't expected Nathan to look so touched at that, almost shy. When they held out a hand, beckoning him to crawl back into their arms, it almost felt like they were tugging straight on his heart.

"Thank you," they murmured, as Keith moved above them on his hands and knees, stealing a quick kiss between their words. "But I thought we had an equal partnership here."

Lightning-fast, before he could think twice about it, Keith dropped onto the bed beside them, shoved his boxers down, and kicked them off.

He'd been worried that he might get a little freaked out about being exposed like this, but somehow, the way Nathan's eyes roamed over him shamelessly made him feel less self-conscious about his nudity.

"Oh, wow." Nathan turned on their side, too, facing him, and their hands started following their gaze along his body, leaving goosebumps in their wake. "You're right. We should definitely retire. Go somewhere nice, maybe. How does a private nudist beach sound to you?"

Keith would have laughed, but one of Nathan's hands had just kept going down, and right at that moment it found what it was looking for, and his brain shut off completely.

He grabbed onto them instinctively, trying to steady himself, but if anything, touching them made the dizziness even worse. His hands moved clumsily over Nathan's muscles, trying and failing to find a way to anchor himself in the storm that was roaring in his head.

"Is this fine?" Nathan whispered, close, so close, and when he nodded, wordlessly, they kissed him, slow and deep and gentle.

It was a lot more than fine. It was fantastic, and Keith had no idea how it could feel that good.

When Nathan moved on to kiss under his jawline, he managed to find some air to ask. "How... You... You're doing what I do to myself. How is it so much better?"

Nathan's fingers tightened, making him gasp, and they groaned into his neck. "You can't just say things like that, love, I'm trying to focus here! How am I supposed to deal with that mental image now?" they complained.

That... That didn't seem right. Keith didn't want Nathan focused; he wanted them to get lost with him, in the same delightful haze of sensation he had been sinking into since they'd started this.

He reached down, too, and Nathan's whole body jerked, curling forward with a strangled cry.

For a moment, he was afraid he'd been too rough, that he might have hurt them; but in the very next second he was being pushed onto his back, and getting kissed so hard that he was sure his lips would bruise.

Nathan was definitely enjoying what he was doing.

It was Keith's last fully-aware thought for a while; what little concentration he had left was channeled into his movements, trying to keep them from stuttering into a wholly uncoordinated mess. Every other part of him was just basking in Nathan, in all the brilliant, breathtaking ways they were touching him, in their delightful little reactions, in the feeling of just finally being with them.

When his body started demanding even more, he didn't know what to do, and he had no words left to ask. He just let it take charge, and found himself surging up, rolling them over until he was on top of Nathan again, dislodging both of their hands with the grind of his hips.

Now, without anything in the way, the glide of their bodies together was simply, breathtakingly perfect.

It started a sort of resonance inside him, a tide that just kept rising and rising as they moved against each other, in an urgent, building rhythm.

When he felt it start to crest, Keith realized that he desperately wanted Nathan to follow right along with him. He barely managed to give them one last, deep kiss, stroking a heavy hand across their chest, and then the wave crashed, over and through him, drowning him in bliss.

It took him a while to find his way back from the high. When he did, and he opened his eyes, Nathan was grinning up at him, looking just as dazed as he felt, breathing hard and absolutely gorgeous.

"Wow," they murmured. "It's a damn good thing that my power doesn't do that."

Keith blinked, confused, trying to get his scattered brain to make sense of their words. He looked down, between them, and found only air.

He was glowing, literally, casting a blue sheen over Nathan's damp skin. The only thing anchoring him down, keeping him from floating away, was Nathan's gentle hold on his hips.

"Oh." He smiled at them, feeling goofy and elated and carefree. "Yeah, it's a damn good thing," he agreed, and then he started snickering, and he just couldn't stop.

He drifted back down, wrapping himself around Nathan and muffling his laughter into their shoulder.

Nathan hugged him back, and kissed his hair, and then gave an exaggerated sigh. "Well, I'm glad I amuse you, love, but I do hope this is just the endorphins taking over, and not a commentary on my skills. I was holding back a lot, just so you know."

Keith's laugh died off, and he lifted his head, dismayed. "What? No, this was— You were—" He bit his lip, staring at them softly. "You were amazing. I'm just so... happy," he said, and the words were woefully inadequate, but they were all he had in his still rather addled state.

Luckily, Nathan didn't seem to mind. "I'm really happy, too," they said quietly, pulling him in gently to kiss his forehead, and his cheek, and his mouth. "And you were pretty amazing yourself. How did you know to do what you did, there, at the end?"

"I didn't exactly know," Keith answered bashfully. "I just... didn't want to leave you behind, so I sort of... improvised."

With a fond smile, Nathan ran a hand through his hair, shifting it out of his eyes. "Look at you. Just like I said: talented and incredibly polite," they murmured, before dragging him down into a deep, unhurried kiss that made him melt all over again.

When they broke apart, Keith took a moment to stare into their eyes. The late-morning sun made the color rich and vivid, even with the blinds mostly closed.

"Take a bath with me," he said, before the thought was even fully formed in his brain.

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "You're full of good ideas today. I approve. But..." They searched his face, evidently sensing that something was amiss. "Are you just asking because we're spectacularly sticky? You look a bit off, love."

Keith closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply. He did feel off, ever so slightly. He could feel the faint shadow of his nightmare looming at the back of his mind again, and he wanted to chase it away completely, once and for all.

"In my dream, you were—" He swallowed. "You were in the water. And... It didn't end well. I just want... I think I need to—"

"Let's go."

Startled, Keith opened his eyes.

The look Nathan was giving him was tender, but full of determination. "Let's go," they repeated, and they patted his side, prompting him to get up.

He did so, extricating himself from them carefully, and then watched in awe as they got to their feet in one smooth motion, lithe and swift, and took his hand to pull him away from the bed and out of the room.

Still completely naked.

He followed them into the hallway, slightly overwhelmed, trying and failing not to stare at the lovely, swaying lines of their back.

"You can touch it when we're in the bath," Nathan said without turning around. "Come on."

Apparently, not even sex was a cure for Keith's chronic blushing problem.

-----

In the bathroom, Nathan released him and hopped up to sit on the counter, crossing their legs elegantly at the knee.

Keith was suddenly, desperately thirsty.

He bent to turn on the tap, and then glanced behind him at Nathan before setting the temperature. "How hot?"

Nathan's smirk was gleeful, and they were definitely not looking at the tub.

Or at Keith's face, either.

"Extremely," they answered, smug as a cat with a stolen treat. "And you can make the water as warm as you like, by the way."

"Right," he croaked, twisting the handle a little too sharply. "I'll... go get us something to drink," he added, and he hurried out of the door, extremely conscious of Nathan's eyes watching him as he went.

In the kitchen, Keith leaned his hands against the fridge and took a long, deep breath. He'd thought that maybe sleeping with Nathan would take the edge off the effect they had on him; but if anything, his newfound knowledge of what it was like to actually do the stuff they kept implying had only made things worse.

He supposed he'd just have to learn to live with it. The idea, to be honest, was actually rather pleasant.

In more than one way.

He walked back to the bathroom, checking on a still-napping John along the way, and held up the plastic bottles he was carrying. "Water or juice?"

Nathan gave him a very pleased smile. "Full service! You're making me feel like a princess again. Either is great, love, thank you."

They held out a hand, and when Keith deposited the juice into their palm, their long fingers caught his wrist, tugging him close so they could whisper in his ear. "I'll save the third option for later."

The bottle of water clattered to the floor. And then Keith, all of a sudden, realized that now he could actually fight back.

He leaned all the way into Nathan's space, pressing his free hand on their thigh for balance, and kissed them as deep and hard as he could, crowding them against the mirror.

When he pulled back, they were breathing just as hard as he was. "OK. Not that much later, then," they said, a bit dazedly. "But I still vote bath first. It will be way more fun to get you all dirty again after."

Keith shook his head fondly, and squeezed their leg gently before moving away to pour some soap into the water.

When he turned back, Nathan had their head tilted back, the bottle of juice tipped against their lips. He watched them swallow, and wondered if he shouldn't have run the bath cold, after all.

Once they were done, Nathan held out the bottle to him, still half full. "Drink something, sweetheart. Hydration is your friend."

Keith accepted the juice gratefully, and finished it off in one go.

"And mine, apparently," Nathan added, staring at his mouth, and when they licked their lips the empty bottle crackled loudly as Keith's hand crushed it without quite meaning to.

He set it aside, a bit bashfully, and busied himself with turning off the faucet and testing the bath's temperature with his fingers. "It's ready."

Nathan pushed themselves gracefully off the counter. "Get in, love. I'll join you."

Keith slid into the tub, sitting back against one end, and as soon as he was submerged he sighed in surprised relief, letting his eyes flutter shut. He wasn't quite sure how, after what they had just done, but apparently he'd still had some tension lingering in his muscles from the previous night, and now he could feel the last of it melting away into the hot water.

And then, a moment later, Nathan was right in there with him, settling easily between his legs, pressing their back all along his front, until their head was resting lightly on his shoulder.

"Still comfortable?" they asked, brushing a kiss along his jaw.

Keith had half expected them to sit down opposite of him; but that, he realized now, wouldn't have been right at all. This was infinitely better, and exactly what he needed.

He wrapped his arms around Nathan's waist and held them close, sliding a hand up until he could feel the steady, solid beat of their heart under his palm.

He opened his eyes, enjoying the sight of their long, smooth legs emerging from the bubbles, and turned his head to bury his face in their hair, nuzzling a few pink strands out of the way so he could lay a kiss on their temple.

"It's perfect," he answered, and it was; Nathan, with him, in the water, warm and safe and alive in his arms.

When he tried to picture his nightmare again, the image was faded, obviously unreal, and entirely powerless.

He smiled against Nathan's skin, and their curls tickled his lips, giving him an idea. "Can I wash your hair?"

Unexpectedly, Nathan chuckled.

Keith leaned his head back, tilting it so he could give them a puzzled look.

"I just realized," Nathan explained, meeting his eyes with a smile. "Of course you treat me like a princess. You're the King, after all. It's only appropriate."

He shook his head, amused. "I'd do it even if I was dead last in the rankings."

"I know," they whispered. "And you can wash my hair, thank you, that would be lovely of you, but... later, please. Just let me soak for a bit now. I'm still tired, and I have a meeting this afternoon."

Keith's arms tightened around them in dismay. "You have to go?"

Nathan put a hand on top of his under the water, stroking the back of it with their thumb. "Not right away. But unlike Fire Emblem, Nat doesn't have a good reason to skip work today, unfortunately."

"Oh. I understand," he said, but he knew he still sounded disappointed.

"I'll tell you what, though." Nathan turned their head and nuzzled into the side of his neck. "Before I go, I'd like to have breakfast with you." Their lips brushed a sensitive spot under his ear, and their voice dropped, low and enticing. "Twice, if you're amenable."

In spite of the heat from the water, Keith got a full-body shiver, and almost inhaled a mouthful of bubbles.

"Are you going to be like this all the time now?" he groaned, making Nathan chuckle again.

"I don't know," they answered. "Are you going to be this cute all the time? Because if you are, I really don't think I can promise anything. You're sort of irresistible."

"Look who's talking," Keith muttered, and Nathan's arm snaked out of the water to pull him into a kiss.

"Listen." Their nails scratched the nape of his neck idly, as their expression grew more serious. "After I'm done at the office, can I come back here?"

Keith stared at them, baffled by their sudden hesitance. "Of course you can! You don't even need to ask. I... I've been wanting you here for a while, you know."

He should have stopped there. He really should have. But their expression, fond and pleased, but still tentative, was making him a bit happy, a bit sad, and a lot crazy, and he couldn't hold himself back.

"I'd keep you here forever, if I could," he admitted quietly, and Nathan's eyes went wondrously, unbearably soft.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," they whispered, looking at him like he'd hung the stars. "What if I want to be here forever?"

Keith's heart felt so full that, for a moment, he had trouble breathing. "Then stay forever. Or keep coming back." He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Nathan's. "Please, keep coming back to me."

The only reply he got was a kiss, long and wonderfully sweet.

That was all right, though. For once, Keith didn't need words, to understand or to be understood; he knew what Nathan meant with absolute certainty, and he knew exactly how he wanted to respond.

He just kissed them back, and it was a solemn promise of his own.

Then, lulled by the water and the warmth of Nathan's body, he secured his hold on them and let himself drift, smiling contentedly, perfectly at peace.

-----

The next morning, Keith got dropped off at work with a smile, a kiss, and a request to join Nathan at Helios Energy in an hour, so they could go meet the other heroes at Justice Tower together.

He got a few strange looks from the people in the lobby, and a huge, but fond smirk from the technician who handed him his repaired helmet. It was only when he was changing into his suit, checking for damage from the collapse in the mirror, that he realized it wasn't just because he kept grinning like a fool; he was also wearing a good half of the lipstick Nathan had applied in his bathroom just a couple of hours earlier.

Which they hadn't warned him about in the car, because they were evil, and they enjoyed making him suffer.

Keith loved them more than anything in the world.

He finished going over his equipment checklist, trying out the new camera in the helmet twice, but he still had some time before he could meet Nathan again. He sat down at his desk and opened his email, hoping to get some paperwork done.

Instead, he found a report in his inbox; all the information the police had gathered on the bombing, in one neatly-wrapped, gruesomely distressing package.

He read about the bomber, first.

His statements to the police were a surprise; they held no denial, or justification, or spite. Instead, they spoke mournfully of his younger brother, who had spent his whole, short life consumed by the idea of becoming a hero, succumbing to depression and addiction once he'd failed to develop a NEXT power, losing any chance at fulfilling his dream.

The bomber's targets hadn't been chosen at random. They were all linked to the drug that had caused his brother's death: a dealer, a distributor, the lab where it was being manufactured. But the man had still put most of the blame on the heroes that had sparked his brother's obsession in the first place, and their destruction had become his ultimate goal.

Keith would never have guessed, from his vicious, hollow ranting up on the roof, that the guy might have done what he had out of love, however twisted it may have become in his grief.

But no matter what, he knew that he would never be able to bring himself to forgive him.

Because there were photos in the file, too. Most of them showed the wreckage of the building, and made Keith wonder, once again, how on earth they could have gotten out of there alive, let alone almost completely unharmed.

The worst picture by far, though, was a grainy, black-and-white snapshot, captured by a little rover that the bomb squad had sent in to try and retrieve any possible remnants of the device. It showed what was left of the room where the bomb had been, and what was left was pretty much nothing. Keith couldn't make out what any of the tiny, shattered, melted bits in the picture had been before the explosion.

And Nathan, caught in the bomber's cruel, sadistic trap, had been standing right there.

It was an effort not to lose his breakfast. Keith only managed it by shutting the screen off and getting up to lean against the wall, breathing deeply, resting his forehead on the brightly-colored drawing of himself and Nathan standing in a field of flowers, holding hands with a happy little girl.

He waited until he was sure that he could sound reasonably steady, not wanting to worry Nathan, and then he called them on his PDA.

Hearing their voice over the line immediately started to soothe his nerves. "Hey, love. Miss me already?"

"Actually, yes," Keith answered, a little too frankly. "Can I come over a bit earlier?"

Nathan didn't laugh, which told him that in spite of his efforts, they'd figured out that something was up with him. "Of course you can! I'm almost ready anyway. I'll open a window for you; third floor from the top, North side of the building, OK?"

"OK," Keith said, and the call immediately dropped. Nathan was probably still busy.

He tried to take his time getting to them, but he found himself practically running as soon as he locked his office door behind him, and once he was outside, he just took off in a fast, straight line for the top of the Helios Energy tower.

As promised, there was an open window waiting for him; it let him into a big, fully-equipped changing room, with mirrors, and a makeup station, and a curtained-off area in which he could hear someone moving.

"Is that you, love?" Nathan called out from behind the curtain.

Keith took off the helmet and tossed it onto a chair. "It's me. Sorry, I just needed to—"

The curtain got tossed aside, and Nathan walked out, clad in their hero suit, coming to stand right in front of him.

Keith had to tilt his head back to look at them properly: Fire Emblem's boots had high heels now.

Along with the suit, Nathan was still wearing Nat's makeup, which Keith was now pretty sure was actually their makeup, and not just Nat's, except he'd obviously never seen it on Fire Emblem.

The most striking sight, though, was Nathan's hair; it was the same bright pink as before, but the curls were mostly gone, cropped close to their scalp, with two thin half-crescents of bare dark skin curving deeply and gracefully above their temples.

"—see you," Keith finished belatedly, staring.

The look Nathan was giving him had a lot to parse through; love, always, and happiness, but also some worry, and a hint of insecurity.

And, Keith finally recognized, pride.

Maybe Nathan was tired of hiding, too.

"So," they asked, almost, but not quite perfectly nonchalant. "What do you think?"

Wordlessly, Keith just took a hold of their waist, stood up on tiptoe, and kissed them, firmly, trying to put all of his feelings into the touch of his lips.

When he pulled back, Nathan was smiling down at him, bright as the sun. He was sure they'd gotten his meaning already, but he still wanted to say it out loud.

"You look amazing," he whispered, and got another kiss in return, quicker but just as sweet.

"Thank you." Nathan reached up and pulled their hood on, one-handed. "Oh, that's a lot easier now. Ready to go, love?"

Keith paused. His hands had slipped down to Nathan's hips, where, he suddenly remembered, they were wearing the suit and only the suit. And their mask still left their mouth perfectly visible.

"Wait," he said faintly. "You're keeping the lipstick on at work?"

"Sure," they shrugged, smiling.

"After where you left it last night?" he whimpered.

Nathan's smile turned into a huge, smug smirk. "I did clean it off afterwards. Very thoroughly, I might add."

Keith dropped his head onto their collarbone, sighing wearily. "Is the nudist beach still an option?"

With a bright, clear laugh, Nathan hugged him close and kissed his hairline. "Always. We missed out on Valentine's Day, but my birthday is next month. Just saying."

"Good to know," he replied, and then he was laughing with them, easy and carefree.

"Hey." Nathan pushed lightly on his shoulders, holding him at arm's length to study his face. "What happened earlier? You sounded a little freaked out."

"I was," he admitted. "But I'm better now. Just... maybe stay close to me for today?"

Nathan immediately wrapped him into another hug. "Oh, don't worry, love," they said softly. "That's exactly what I was planning on doing. And not just for today."

They broke apart, smiling, still holding loosely onto each other, and then Nathan tilted their head toward the door. "Come on. They're cutting our little vacation short, but the sooner we're done, the sooner we can get back to your place. Or mine. Or anywhere with a bed, really."

Keith let out another amused sigh. "I'm not going to survive this meeting, am I?"

"Don't be so dramatic, love, of course you are. I've got your back." Nathan leaned in to kiss his cheek, perfectly innocent, and then, suddenly, they were whispering low and silky, right in his ear. "I mean, only if that's something you'd like, of course. I don't want to presume, but a girl can hope."

It was a good thing Keith was wearing gloves, because otherwise his nails might have left scratches all along the sides of Nathan's suit. As it was, he was gripping their hips so hard that he was afraid he might find bruises later.

"Never mind," he said, in a strangled, barely-there voice. "I'm not even going to make it to the meeting."

Nathan kissed his cheek again, giving his hair an entirely unconcerned ruffle, and then slipped easily out of his hold, leaving Keith standing frozen in the middle of the room, flushed and weak-kneed.

When he finally got himself together, or at least together enough to dare to look at them again, he found Nathan holding his helmet gently in their hands.

Keith reached out and took it slowly. "Showtime," he murmured soberly, and then he remembered what he'd thought of earlier, when he'd first seen them, and he felt like a jerk for getting so distracted that he hadn't addressed it immediately.

"Nathan," he said slowly. "You're wearing your lipstick. And your heels. You're wearing them as Fire Emblem."

"I am," Nathan answered, head held high, steady as anything.

"What about keeping Fire and Nat separate, though?" Keith asked, concerned. "What if... What if people figure out that it's you?"

Nathan shrugged. "Barnaby does fine without a secret identity. If it ever does come to that, I guess I will, too. Although..." They grimaced ruefully. "We'll have to keep our relationship away from the cameras. If people believe that Fire Emblem is Nat, and Nat has a boyfriend, then Sky High can't be Fire Emblem's boyfriend, too. Even an idiot would figure out who you are. They might suspect it anyway, but I am not taking plausible deniability away from you."

If he hadn't had his parents to think about, Keith would have argued fiercely with that. For Nathan, he would have stood bare-faced at the very top of Justice Tower, and shouted his name and his love in front of every single citizen of Stern Bild.

As it was, though, he was just immensely grateful.

"I hate the idea of hiding how I feel about you again," he said. "But... thank you. I don't know if I could do this job without knowing that my mom and dad are safe."

Nathan's expression, even half hidden, was clearly all fondness. "Oh, love. Believe me, I understand. I wouldn't even think of risking this if my sister wasn't extremely well protected. And my parents, too." They stepped in close to him and tapped a finger on the helmet, making it ring out softly. "We can be ourselves off duty, and around our friends, though. That's something."

It was more than something; it made Keith feel secure, hopeful for the future in a way that he hadn't been in a very long time.

But if he was going to be unmasked around the other heroes, there was something he really needed to know.

"Nathan?"

"Yes, love?"

"Just how much lipstick do I have on my face right now?"

"Not nearly enough," Nathan answered, grinning, and then they pounced.

The helmet clattered loudly to the floor.

-----

In the end, Keith did make it to the meeting, although, for the first time in his career as a hero, he ended up being slightly late. He couldn't really say that he cared, though; after all, his partner had been late right along with him.

When they entered the conference room, Keith hurried to his chair, whipping off the helmet along the way, noticing gratefully that Agnes and Judge Petrov were apparently running late, too.

Nathan came in more relaxedly, heels clacking softly on the floor. They pulled off their hood, and winked at Pao-Lin, who was watching them, mesmerized, like they were the coolest, most interesting, most beautiful person in the world ever.

Keith really couldn't blame her; he agreed with that wholeheartedly.

As he sat down, Kotetsu, next to him, greeted him with a tiny smirk. "Hey, buddy. You, uh, missed a spot over there," he said in an amused undertone, nodding toward Keith's neck.

Following his gesture, Keith ran a thumb under his jawline, and when he looked at his hand, his glove was once again smudged with his favorite shade of soft, pale pink.

He grinned, wide and open, and held his other hand out over the table.

Nathan grabbed it without missing a beat, threading their fingers together tightly.

Keith looked around at their friends, enjoying the sight of their smiling faces, finally all unhidden. They were already starting to get familiar, like he'd had a spot ready for them in his heart all along.

When Judge Petrov walked in with Agnes, he stopped abruptly just inside the door, staring at the cluster of unmasked heroes in the room, completely expressionless except for the slight raise of one of his eyebrows.

"I told you we had a situation," Agnes said, trying to sound stern, although it was clear that she was actually rather amused, possibly in part by his reaction.

Petrov's gaze fell on Keith and Nathan's joined hands, and he stared at the two of them for several seconds, with a look that burned cold and calculating, half assessing, half challenging.

When neither of them flinched under his scrutiny, one corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and then he took his seat, settling his briefcase on the table in front of him.

"We've been analyzing the bombing incident from two nights ago," he began, pulling out a couple of folders. "You should all have received the preliminary police report already, so I won't go into details about what is already covered in that."

Keith felt Nathan squeeze his hand, and stole a glance at them. From the slightly worried look they were giving him, he figured they'd just put together what had upset him earlier. He squeezed their hand back, gratefully, with a tiny smile of reassurance, and turned his attention back to the judge.

"My main concern today," Petrov said flatly, "is the Buddy system, and how it affected the situation in question. Furthermore, the matter of how your identities ended up being known to each other should be addressed."

All of a sudden, the room seemed a little colder. Keith couldn't really feel Nathan's warmth through their gloves, and he missed its soothing effect terribly.

"While the Buddy System may have been proposed with different goals, the Justice Bureau's decision to approve it was ultimately based on the belief that it would further improve your safety, along with the other previously-established precautions." Petrov's long, thin fingers twitched on top of his open file. "Whereas, in this instance, it almost cost Stern Bild two heroes instead of one."

Keith inhaled sharply, suddenly furious. He started to get up from his chair, but the Judge's eyes locked onto his, pinning him into place like pale, inflexible magnets.

"However," Petrov pressed on, "it could also be argued that it was due to the Buddy system that the city lost no heroes the other night." He was still staring intensely at Keith, like he was looking right into his soul. "And ultimately, the value of any given action should be measured solely by its results."

That was wrong; that was all sorts of wrong. To Keith, a person's intentions were of paramount importance; a well-meaning mistake couldn't be seen the same way as deliberately-done harm. He'd put himself on the line just as readily, any day, to protect people from either; but they were not the same thing at all.

If it meant not losing Nathan as his partner, though, he was willing to keep his argument to himself, at least for today. He was a far better hero at their side than he could ever be alone.

Judge Petrov closed the folder in front of him. "In light of that, I am recommending that the system remain in place as it is, for this season and for the foreseeable future. Save, of course, if new circumstances arise that make a reevaluation needed."

The breath that Keith had been unconsciously holding finally escaped. He could see the other heroes relaxing slightly around him too, and he felt Nathan's thumb stroke gently over his.

"As for your identities... There is no recorded footage of how you all came to disclose them to one another," Petrov said, with a side glance at Agnes, "but Ms. Joubert tells me the circumstances at the time made your decision entirely warranted. Would you all agree with that assessment?"

"Yup!" Kotetsu answered immediately, chipper and unconcerned. "Absolutely, one-hundred percent warranted. Couldn't be helped, really. Right, guys?"

A chorus of agreement rose from around the table, and Keith smiled gratefully at his friends.

"And you are the only one whose identity was actually compromised in front of the perpetrator?" Petrov asked him.

"And in front of Lunatic," Keith added ruefully. "But yes, everyone else is safe."

"And so is he," Nathan promised, squeezing Keith's hand again, and giving the judge an unyieldingly confident look. "Trust us on that."

Petrov fixed Nathan with a long stare too, and then finally gave them the barest tilt of his head in acknowledgement. "Very well, then. The meeting is adjourned," he said, collecting his papers and walking swiftly out of the conference room.

Once he was gone, Nathan raised an admiring eyebrow at Agnes. "Well played. And very much appreciated. Thank you."

Agnes gave them a satisfied nod. "You're very welcome. Although... I don't suppose that means you'll let me run a special feature on the beautiful love blossoming among the heroes?" she asked, looking hopefully between them and Keith.

"Not in a million years," Nathan answered, their smile not faltering even one bit. "This is not for the cameras."

"Well, I had to try," Agnes sighed. "The ratings would have been through the roof."

Nathan smirked, in the way that they did when they were about to say something extremely inappropriate, and Keith braced himself for impact.

"You could always ask Tiger and Barnaby. You might have better luck there," they said, beaming with entirely fake innocence, and then in an instant they were on their feet, pulling Keith out of his own chair. "We need to go now, bye, everyone!"

Keith barely managed to scoop up his helmet before Nathan dragged him out of the room, followed by the sound of Kotetsu's desperate sputtering and a long, suffering sigh from Barnaby.

"Nathan!" he called, trailing after them as they ran down the corridors of Justice Tower, still gripping his hand tightly. "Nathan, what did you mean? Where are we going?"

Nathan turned around, stopping abruptly, and Keith fell right into their open, waiting arms.

"I'll let you find out what I meant on your own, love. It will be a lot more fun that way," they answered, grinning brightly down at him. "As for where we're going..."

They bent their head, eyes going soft, and then they kissed him, tender and lingering.

"Take me flying, birdie," Nathan whispered, right against his lips.

Keith rose up to steal another kiss, completely effortlessly. Even without using his power, he felt like he could have soared.

"Any time, love," he answered, trying out the word for the first time, and finding that it fit just as perfectly as Nathan did in his arms. "Any time."

-----

"It's here," Keith said, pointing, and the car rolled to a stop next to the curb.

In the back seat, John pressed his nose against the window and gave an excited woof, tail thumping fast against the upholstery.

Nathan turned the car off, but then they just sat there, unmoving, staring at the house across the street.

Keith unfastened his seatbelt and shifted to face them, taking their hand in both of his. "Hey. What's wrong, love?"

With a deep breath, Nathan turned to meet his eyes, their short hair rustling softly against the headrest. "It's just... Look, I know that your parents are great. You've told me, although you didn't even need to, actually, because of course they are, they raised you," they said, nerves making them speak a little too fast. "Certified, one-hundred percent non-asshole parents of a certified, one-thousand percent non-asshole. I know. But..."

They bit their lip, leaving a faint imprint of teeth in their lipstick. "You're their only son, and you're bringing someone home for the first time ever, and... Look at that," they said, gesturing to the house. "They have a literal white picket fence. I don't think I'm exactly what they were envisioning in this scenario, you know? What if they're... disappointed?"

Keith shook his head gently. "They won't be. You are exactly the kind of person they've always hoped I would end up with."

Nathan raised an extremely skeptical eyebrow.

"They always said I should find someone who makes me happy," he explained, smiling. "And I have."

"Not as happy as you make me," Nathan murmured, but their answering smile was still a bit clouded.

John poked his head over the back of Nathan's seat, leaning his head on their shoulder and nosing gently at their chin.

"See? The rest of my family already adores you," Keith pointed out. "Besides, my mom and dad have been asking to meet you for months. The only way they could get disappointed is if I showed up alone. In fact, if I don't bring you in there right now, they're probably going to be terribly upset with me. I might not get any Christmas cookies."

"How tragic," Nathan said flatly, but the corners of their mouth were already twitching up slightly.

"It would be," Keith insisted. "A terrible, absolute tragedy. Trust me, you haven't had my dad's cookies yet, but once you do, you'll understand."

Finally, Nathan's smile reached their eyes. "Then I guess I really need to give them a try. Lead the way, love."

Keith squeezed their hand and then let go, so they could both climb out of the car. He took a deep breath of the fresh air around him, just as the wind hit Nathan, and the hint of embers and roses slotted perfectly into the beloved, familiar scent of grass and trees and ocean.

As Nathan opened the door for John, though, Keith was struck by a distressing thought. "Nathan?"

They looked at him over the roof of the car, blinking in surprise at his sudden worry. "Yes?"

"I need to ask you something," he said, putting his hands together in front of him. "Please, please, don't make any sex jokes in front of my parents? They'd still love you, I promise, but... I think I might not survive if you did."

Nathan gave him an affronted look. "I would never."

"You absolutely would," Keith countered, putting his hands on his hips. "You would be perfectly appropriate with them, sure. But then you would say something that only I can understand, and I would have to explain to my parents why I look like I'm dying, and then I would die for real."

"It's not my fault that you're so cute when you blush," Nathan pouted. "But since you're asking, and since I love you so much, I will make an effort. No sex jokes, be they understandable by everyone around or just by you."

Keith narrowed his eyes at them. "That still leaves things that only you can understand."

"Such a smart bird," Nathan said, grinning, with genuine admiration in their voice. They walked around the car, and pulled Keith close by his belt loops, stealing a quick kiss. "If I do happen to say any, I'll explain them to you tonight, when we're alone. At length. And in extreme detail."

Keith sighed, but he was grinning, too. "I suppose that's as good as I can get."

"Oh, it will be," Nathan promised, patting his hip. "Come on, now, John is getting impatient, and we have tragically delicious cookies to get to."

They made to move away, but Keith snagged the front of their jacket, and held on, leaning up to return their kiss. "I love you, too," he whispered, and felt Nathan smile fondly against his lips.

They popped the trunk open, and Keith grabbed the bag of presents they'd wrapped together a couple of nights before. It was fuller than the one he'd carried a year earlier, and with a whole lot of added glitter; John, who had rolled around in all the bits of paper and ribbon he'd been able to find, was still sparkling faintly under the winter sun.

His excited barks meant they didn't even have to ring the doorbell; Keith's parents appeared on the porch just as he and Nathan climbed the last step.

"There you are!" his dad called out, beaming.

They opened their arms, and Keith practically flew into them, dropping the presents, with John jumping in right after him, like they did every year.

This time, though, something was missing.

Keith twisted half out of the embrace, holding an arm out toward his partner, who was standing hesitantly on the edge of the porch. "Mom, Dad, this is Nathan."

Nathan gingerly stepped forward, took his hand, and got yanked into the hug so fast that they let out a tiny, undignified yelp, bracing an arm around Keith's shoulders for balance.

His mom tucked herself under Nathan's other arm; her huge smile barely poked out from under the shock of pink feathers adorning their jacket. "Oh, it's so good to finally meet you! Welcome, sweetheart!"

Keith slid his hand around Nathan's waist, watching fondly as their expression went soft, as soft as he'd ever seen it, their eyes shining in surprised, grateful delight.

They were so beautiful that he simply had to rise up and kiss them, staying on tiptoe just long enough to drop a whisper in their ear afterwards.

"Welcome home," he said softly, and then he was being held tight, on all sides, by his whole family, and he had to squeeze his eyes shut, overwhelmed with happiness.

When Nathan returned his kiss, with one that was just a little too enthusiastic to be appropriate in front of his parents, the wind carried his joyful laughter all the way into the sky.