Fanfiction Fridays: A Traditional Family Road Trip by Kantayra

This fic seemed particularly relevant today as I am, as you read, road-tripping all the way to Florida for Spring Break.  (I wrote this yesterday. HELLO FROM THE PAST!)

But anyway. I recently finished watching the anime Tiger & Bunny, which is about the daily lives and adventures of superheroes in a futuristic city called Sternbild.  The heroes all compete in a reality TV show (called, aptly, Hero TV) where they receive points for rescues, arrests, and not-destroying-property.

The odd couple of Kotetsu, the goofy older guy who doesn’t care about his scores, and Barnaby, the hot young blond with a revenge complex and a desperate desire to succeed, was born to be slashed, let me just say.

I was surprised they didn’t get married at the end of the series, the subtext was so obvious.

So, needless to say, this is a Kotetsu/Barnaby fic.  It’s set post-series, but doesn’t really have any significant spoilers, and the whole story is that Kotetsu, Barnaby, and Kotetsu’s daughter Kaede are going on a road trip to see a big hole in the groun-sorry, a canyon.

Possibly my favorite thing about it besides its sugary cuteness is that it’s written from Kaede’s point of view.

Kaede is a snarky, old-for-her-years ten-year-old with a crush the size of, well, a canyon on her Hero TV favorite, Barnaby.  So when she gets the chance to spend days in the car with him, she’s thrilled… until she realizes that Barnaby in person is a lot more awkward and dorky than his TV personality, and, more importantly, that he is quite obviously in love with her father.

The story itself is really just hilarious, with nods to typical road-trip problems such as the what-music-do-we-listen-to, the you-drive-too-fast-you-drive-too-slow, and the must-we-really-stop-at-every-worlds’-largest-ball-of-string-for-pictures problems.  It does have its serious moments too, however – it deals with how Kaede rationalizes her mom’s death and the possibility of her dad starting a new relationship with someone else.  And yes, the ending is sappy and adorable, but what else would you expect from a road trip story?

If you loved Tiger & Bunny like I did, I definitely recommend you read this lovely story. Check it out here at AO3.