A Man's Romance
by Sora G. Silverwind

Summary: When he's not on hero duty, Keith likes reading romance novels.

Rating: PG.

Author's notes: Written as a response to a misplaced comment on the Tiger & Bunny LJ anonmeme, because you can never have enough Sky High. The original comment was:

This is beautiful writernon. Please please PLEASE continue it!

Very short and not very plotty. But I kind of want to write a sequel in which Keith discovers the Smart Bitches Trashy Books blog, LOL.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger and Bunny, and also the characters don't belong to me.

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When he's not on hero duty, Keith likes reading romance novels.

He enjoys reading in general, actually, thanks to a precociousness that had him with his nose in a book ever since he was two years old and parents who enthusiastically encouraged this hobby. But romance novels are his favorite, partially out of nostalgia for his family (his mother had been a regular romance reader, and those were the books that were in his house), and partially because he's so enamored of the idea of two people coming together and weathering the storms of life to find something beautiful and meaningful with each other. A good romance story can - and frequently does - bring a single tear of happiness to the corner of Keith's eye.

But the one he's just finished has affected him so profoundly that he's actually sobbing with joy as he clutches the paperback to his chest. Once he manages to compose himself (which takes longer than it probably should), he gets up from his bed and searches for a pen and paper.

"Dear Ms. Author-san*:

I have just read your novel A Farm Boy in Sternbild and I have to say that I loved it! Your characters are so lifelike and just pop off the pages with life! The plot had me turning pages just to find out what would happen next, and I didn't expect that twist at the end! Is this really your first novel? You write so well! This is beautiful. Please, please, please continue it!"

He almost signs it with his real name, but upon taking a moment of thought, decides to use his hero name. People should know that their heroes are thinking about them too, after all!

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A month later, Sky High receives a letter from a very familiar name.

"Dear Sky High:

Thank you so much for your kind letter! I'm very glad you liked my novel! I must confess that I didn't think you read romance, haha.

Actually…you may not remember this, but I wrote to you years ago, when I was 14, and I sent you something I was writing at the time: the beginnings of what would eventually become A Farm Boy in Sternbild. Looking back on it now, the story was absolutely terrible, but you still wrote back and complimented me on it, encouraging me to keep going. It really meant a lot to me, even if you were just being polite. I was going through a really tough time where no one seemed to be supporting me in what I wanted to do, so your kind words were just what I needed to hear. So it's really thanks to you that I was able to write and publish my first novel!

And never fear, A Farm Boy in Sternbild is just the first book of a series! If you want, I can see if I can convince someone to send you a review copy of the next installment when I finish it.

Thanks again,
-P."

There's an arrow at the bottom of the letter inviting him to flip it over. He does, and he's greeted with a photo of a slightly crumpled letter, dated eight years back, featuring his handwriting. The picture is blurry, and Keith doesn't have the best handwriting in the world, so he can't make out most of the text, but he can read the final line, right before the closing.

"This is beautiful. Please, please, please continue it!"

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*Yeah, yeah, I know, the characters in Sternbild are ostensibly all speaking English, but I just thought it be funny to have Keith be redundant when addressing a person.

Review if you will, flame if you must.

-Sora G. Silverwind
let's play a love game