Twirling the flower between his hands, Kotetsu was shocked to hear a rap on his door. He thought about reaching for his mask in case it was one of Cas' friends coming in to look for him, but at the sound of the muffled voice from behind the door the older man knew it was for him. His heart revved up a beat, whether from hope of complete nausea he didn't know. Whatever the outcome of this night, he was trapped and he would have to face it honestly.

He stood up from his bed and pulled his arms up in a quick stretch before walking to the door. "Me who?" he asked as a joke, just to be incorrigibly priceless. Hey, he needed all the help he could get to endear himself onto Barnaby like a damn barnacle if he was going to survive this meeting.

Soon enough, Kotetsu opened the door to let his partner in. "You're lucky I hadn't left! I was just about to..." he told him, even if it wasn't completely true. Either way, it made him sound more productive than simply sitting on his bed playing with a flower as he tried to come up with a plan or a speech to get him through their "talk".