"Are you happy, Bunny?"

Half a century ago, Barnaby would have protested the nickname. He would have said something like, "For the last time, my name is Barnaby, not Bunny. When are you ever going to get it right, old man?"

He had learned to like being called "Bunny," though. It had become something cute. A few more years and it had transformed into something erotic. And now, fifty years later, when the famous hero duo was old and gray, it was just something personal.

The name had so much history behind it that every time Kotetsu even uttered it, his voice ragged and hoarse with age, Barnaby's mind would just block out everything else that had been said except for that one word, his sweet and precious nickname.

"Bunny? Are you asleep, already?"

Barnaby shook his head slightly where it rested on his husband's chest. "No. I was just thinking."

"About whether or not you're happy? I was hoping you wouldn't have to think."

"What?"

Kotetsu chuckled, a low gravelly sound that Barnaby could hear rumbling in his chest along with Kotetsu's steady heartbeat. "I asked you if you were happy, Bunny."

Barnaby shifted then, his smooth silver hair rustling around his shoulders in ringlets almost as beautiful as they had been in photoshoots fifty years ago. Years of rigorous hair care had paid off after all. He looked into Kotetsu's eyes, now more of a dull yellow than their once brilliant gold, and smiled.

"Of course I'm happy. I still have you, don't I?"

A pause.

"Why would you ask that? Can you not tell?"

Kotetsu smiled an enigmatic grin and closed his eyes. "I just wanted to be sure. This old man doesn't have much time left, you know. The little things are becoming more important."

Barnaby hated it when Kotetsu said things like that. Sure he was pushing ninety, but that didn't mean that he didn't have much time left. He tried to change the subject with a bad joke, not wanting to think about how old they were or how Kotetsu would probably be the one to die first, leaving Barnaby alone…

"You never have much time left, Mr. One Minute."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. I was being serious."

Barnaby sighed and laid his head on Kotetsu's chest again. "I know," he whispered. For once, he didn't want Kotetsu to be serious. For once, he wanted him to be nothing but the silly hopeless hero he always had been…

"I love you, Barnaby. I always will. And I'll never leave you."

The facts were, though, that he would, whether he wanted to or not. Barnaby figured that he could forget about facts for now. His younger self would have chided him for it, but he didn't care. If postponing reality was what would keep him happy until the end of the days, postpone reality he would.

"Good night, sweetheart."

"Good night, old man," came a small, whispered reply. "Good night."