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You Matter To Me
A/N: Now, I don’t ship our boys here, as wholesome the pairing is, but I do know that I could not get this idea out of my head after Dynamite. And I remember Jen saying something about there not being enough Kenny and Adam on the archive. So, here’s some OmegaCowboys(?) fic to get us through to Double Or Nothing!
Kenny made his way to the locker room as the Bucks chatted with Broken Matt after the chaotic end to the show. Adam had disappeared after the save, as he usually did, and Kenny hoped he wasn’t too late to catch him before he left. Thankfully the locker room was empty save for Adam, who looked up in surprise at his appearance.
“Kenny?”
“Adam, hey,” Kenny greeted with a tired smile, wincing and holding his lower stomach. He looked down at his bare chest, not surprised to see an angry bruise forming. Jericho had really done a number on him with that bat. Adam was immediately at his side, sitting him down and handing him a bottle of water. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, man. No problem.” Adam sat awkwardly, hesitant, as Kenny downed the water, eyes darting between Kenny and the door. He had almost made up his mind to leave when Kenny gently placed a hand on his thigh, drawing his gaze. Adam startled at the sadness, frozen by the compassion in those ocean blue eyes. “I…”
“I know I haven’t been a great partner lately, a great friend,” Kenny began. “I know that ever since you left the Elite things have been… Strained, different. I’m sorry that everything happened the way it did. I—
“What are you talking about?” Adam asked when he could think again, speak again.
“I remember you saying you were tired of being… Being in the Elite’s shadow, that you didn’t feel like you could ever break out and be the wrestler you wanted to be with us… And we just kept trying to pull you back instead of supporting, encouraging you, being there for you in some sort of other way. We should have known better.”
“Kenny,” Adam interrupted with a sigh, averting his eyes for a moment. “I know what you’re trying to do, man, and I appreciate it, really. I just… You don’t have to try and fix things. It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not,” Kenny told him, voice breaking at the end, and Adam’s gaze shot to Kenny’s in shock and concern. “It’s not fine! None of this is fine!” Kenny took a shaky breath, lowering his voice again. “You deserve better than this. You deserve to show the world just how amazing you are. You have so much talent and charisma and heart, and you’ve had it for a long time… But no one ever got to see it until now. Not in Bullet Club, not when we were just the Elite, and why? Because we were too concerned about keeping everyone together after we left Japan? Because we were too concerned with showing a unified front against the Inner Circle? Because some of us are so concerned for our friends and we feel like we’re falling farther and farther to the wayside while everyone else seems to be going nowhere but up?!”
Kenny was breathing hard when he made his last statement, eyes going a bit wide that he’d voiced that aloud. Adam felt his heart clench. They all watched BTE. They all saw those moments of doubt, of lost hope, of thinking they’d never get where they wanted to be, where they thought they should be. Adam shook his head, determination filling his gaze.
“No,” he told Kenny. “No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to feel sorry for yourself.” Kenny looked taken aback, but his expression softened immensely as Adam continued. “Who was there for me when I decided to leave, huh? Who never tried to bring me back? Who just wanted to see me happy and successful? Who was it that had my back? Who worried about me, who stuck by me, when everything looked like it might fall apart? Who’s never turned their back on me… Even though I’ve turned my back on them…?” Adam shook his head again as Kenny stared at him emotionally. “Yeah, people say you’re not what you used to be. They say you’re not the Best Bout Machine; you’re not as good as you were in Japan. Kenny’s not that guy anymore. Kenny isn’t as good. And you know what? They’re absolutely right!”
“I-Is that supposed to make me feel better?!” Kenny sputtered.
“I’m not finished!” Adam told him, Kenny leaning back from the accusing finger pointed sharply at him. Adam let out a harsh breath, swallowing against the lump in his throat as he lowered his hand, Kenny sitting straight again. “They’re right. You’re not as good as you were then. You know why? Because you’re even better now, better than you’ve ever been a million times over!” Kenny looked to Adam in wonder. “You’ve been nothing but selfless since the moment we got here. All the guys that have gotten over, those top of the card main event spots, the women’s division, our tag title reign: so many important things in this company never would have happened if you weren’t who you are. And you’re putting on more five, six, twelve star matches than anyone else I see complaining!” That got a small smile out of Kenny. “You’re better than you’ve ever been, and no one can take that away from you. As for me…” He shrugged. “I’m just… Me. Same story as usual.”
“You know that’s not true,” Kenny told him firmly. “I have never seen a crowd love anyone more than they love you. You… Have worked your ass off, have put up with us, with all the people who didn’t think you had what it takes, and you’ve proven how much of a star you are. Not a day goes by when I’m not so overwhelmingly happy at how far you’ve come from when we first met. You’re the future of AEW, Adam!” Adam scoffed, but Kenny cupped his face as he went to look away, making sure Adam met his watery eyes as he said, “You’re going to be at the top of the company soon… And I want to be there for you every step of the way, if you’ll have me.”
Adam let out a harsh breath, hands shakily coming up to rest on Kenny’s, gripping them softly. “Kenny…” He didn’t know what to say, or how to explain his racing heart, the warmth in his chest, the feelings he’d tried so long to ignore. His friendship with Kenny was a strange one, but ever since AEW, ever since they’d begun teaming… Something had changed. Something had changed in the way he looked at Kenny, how he trusted him, how he felt about him. He’d stopped thinking of Kenny as his friend a long time ago, but… He didn’t know what this was, only that it was more .
“We need you, Adam. I need you. We can’t both be a mess going into the Stadium Stampede,” Kenny told him with a soft laugh. “We can’t do this without you. I don’t want to imagine a world where we have to.”
Adam nodded after a moment, resting his forehead gently against Kenny’s, hands tangling lightly in his curls. He leaned forward, lips almost brushing Kenny’s, but he stopped himself as Kenny’s breath hitched. If this was where he had to draw the line… If this was where Kenny decided he wasn’t worth it, that things weren’t like this… Kenny felt Adam’s breath against his lips, felt him hesitate to close the distance, telling him how he felt, giving him a choice. And he smiled. His thumbs caressed Adam’s cheeks gently, and he sensed the moment Adam realized what he was about to do as he closed the distance between them.
Their lips moved slowly, shyly against each other, neither of them very sure where things would go from there. Adam’s grip on his hair tightened, pulling Kenny in closer as the kiss became more confident. He pulled away to breathe, Kenny chasing his lips and initiating a second kiss, hands tangling in Adam’s hair as well as he ended up on top of him, the two of them laying down on the bench they’d been sitting on. Kenny pressed him down into the wooden surface, softening the kiss as it started to become heated. Adam looked up at him in worried confusion as they finally pulled away from each other.
“I… Don’t you want this?” Don’t you want me? went unspoken.
“Of course I do,” Kenny answered, hands lightly scratching Adam’s scalp, watching happily as Adam relaxed under his touch. “But… This, whatever the two of us are, matters to me. You matter to me. I don’t want to just rush through this without you knowing how important it all is to me, that this isn’t some, some fling or me feeling sorry. I care about you.” Kenny wiped at his own tears with a sad chuckle, and Adam wiped away another one as he sat back up. Unsure of what to do with his free hands now, he hesitantly settled them back into Kenny’s. Yeah, that felt right.
“I know,” Adam told him, voice unusually soft and unsure. “And… I want you to be there, for me. And I’ll be there for you and the guys on Saturday. Just… Stay. Please. ” Kenny squeezed his hands with a smile that made his heart melt.
“I will.” He captured Adam’s lips again, wrapping his arms around him and holding him close.