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A Deal With the Devil
A/N: This is the first of MANY fics I’ll be writing after the Winter is Coming episode of Dynamite. Oh my GOD. What a night. If you haven’t seen it yet. Please. Go watch it. There wasn’t a single bad match on the card. AND THE LAST TWO SEGMENTS OF THE SHOW ARE WORTH IT I PROMISE.
Jacksonville blurred in the tinted windows of the car Kenny was riding in after a hasty escape at the end of Dynamite with Don Callis. Don. Practically his family. The man beside him was patting him on the back and congratulating him on his win against Moxley. Kenny hadn’t stopped grinning since they’d scrambled out of the arena after the bell. He looked down at the beautiful platinum title belt in his lap. Fuuuck.
And NEW AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega.
Being world champion again felt good. Being a double champion felt good. Kenny chuckled to himself. Fuck. Fuck, he’d missed this feeling. The adrenaline. The high. Being on top of the fucking WORLD.
Did the “fans” think he was irrelevant now? Do they still think he isn’t the Best Wrestler in the World, the Best Bout Machine, THE God of Pro Wrestling? He sneered, the biggest I told you so on the tip of his tongue.
Kenny leaned back against the headrest with a satisfied sigh and a smirk, letting his eyes slip shut, enjoying the moment. Tonight was a good night. Tonight was a great night. How was he going to celebrate? He had planned on figuring that out on the ride to… Wherever they were going. Don would tell him, was currently raving about how brilliantly their plan had worked. Oh, he was doing an appearance for Impact on Tuesday, wasn’t he? They’d better have some people out at ringside then. He wasn’t keen on making his first tv appearance as champion in an empty arena.
FUCK.
He chuckled again. He’d been saying that a lot in the last few minutes. Don chuckled with him.
“I haven’t seen you look this happy in a long time,” Don told him, smile softer, genuine, proud.
“I’m more than happy,” Kenny replied after a moment. He opened his eyes and looked at Don with a wildly determined fire that hadn’t been present in over a year. “I’m ecstatic . I feel like I can do ANYTHING. I feel…” He cast his eyes up, focusing on the excited racing of his heart, the content purring of his inner demons, the, dare he say giddy, wonder inside of him. “Complete.”
God, why had it taken him over a year to get here? What had he been waiting for? Elevate talent, yes. Give others a chance, yes. Help introduce the world to some of the best and soon to be best talents wrestling has to offer, yes. But he’d missed this. Don grinned at him, knowing that far away gaze.
“Glad to hear it, champ.”
Champ. Ooh, he liked that. Well, he did still have the AAA OMega title, of course. His defense against Laredo Kid was coming up soon. Hmm. Looks like he’d have to remind everyone there who he was as well. He was going to have fun with that.
He spared a glance at his phone, notifications from everyone on every platform you could think of blowing up. He’d broken Twitter, Instagram, and apparently the Impact Wrestling website. There were a lot of messages of congratulations, of excitement. Disbelief too. A bit of outrage. Slight confusion. Good. He liked keeping people on their toes.
Kenny Omega has signed a deal with the Devil, and his name is Don Callis.
Ooh. That one gave him chills! A perfectly apt description.
“Where are we going?” Kenny looked at Don again, who was finishing up an important e-mail.
“If you haven’t already checked out of the hotel, we can head back there. Otherwise, your place to celebrate?”
“Over cans of Diet Coke?”
“Nothing else would be worthy of the occasion.”
It would be nice, just him and Don. Quiet. Peaceful. As great as it was going out with the boys after such an excellent show… He did miss the quiet nights too, the ones where just having someone’s company and maybe light conversation was enough.
He looked at his phone again, seeing he had quite a few texts as well. He skimmed through the names, pausing over texts from Matt and Nick.
Whatever it takes, right? Congrats, world champ! You’re gonna have to tell us about the whole Impact deal when you get the chance.
Just like the good old days! The Elite are back with all the gold! Call us later? You and Don left before we could tell you congrats.
He smiled. He’d have to make it up to them. They’d been pretty busy backstage all night after their segment with The Acclaimed. They’d told him Tony asked them to help hold down the fort in production since he and Cody were wrestling. Kenny understood. He wished they could’ve been out there, but he was glad he didn’t have to explain what happened on the spot as the show was going off the air.
The next time he paused was when he saw the text from Adam. Adam… Adam, who, despite everything Kenny had put him through, still wanted to be his friend. At first Kenny found it annoying. Hadn’t he made it clear that they were done teaming after All Out? Full Gear had opened his eyes to just how much he did care about him. That moment after the bell… They’d talked a little since then. They still needed to talk some more if he was being honest. Adam had been a bit distant ever since he’d started hanging out with the Dark Order. But if he’d found new friends? Who was Kenny to intrude upon that?
Hey. You won. You looked good out there tonight.
Be careful, yeah? Mox’ll be comin for you.
Oh, Kenny knew. And that was fine. He looked forward to it even. He kept scrolling.
The last text that gave him pause, that made his heart stop, was from Ibushi. Ibu-tan, his brain corrected for him.
FUCK.
It had been a while since they’d spoken. They’d talked for many hours the day Kota won the G1, then for a little while after Jay stole his briefcase away. If anyone had been a light in the darkness that had been his mind and heart this year, it was Kota. He couldn’t bring himself to open the text. What would Kota think of him, choosing to win how he did? Part of him screamed that it didn’t matter, that this wasn’t 2018 in Japan. He internally V-Triggered that part of him right in the face. He swallowed, opening the texts.
I knew tonight would be the night. I’m so proud of you, Kenny-tan. <3
Call me when you can though. I’m worried about you.
I know you can beat him fair.
Get some rest. I love you!
Kenny re-read Kota’s last text, feeling, just for a moment, heavy, icy, soul crushing guilt burst within him. He winced. It was gone in an instant though. The dark satisfaction was back. Kota always did have a way of tearing him into pieces inside when he was like this. He pushed it out of his mind as best he could. He could call him later. It was fine. Everything was fine.
More than fine. Everything was fantastic. He kept telling himself that until the worry was almost non-existent within. Ah. Much better. He was the AEW World Champion. The Elite was back on top of the world. There was an ambitious wrestling company crossover happening next week. He was on top of the world again. Back in the spotlight. Back at the top of the mountain.
So why was there still a nagging feeling of guilt and dread in the pit of his stomach? And why was his head warring with it so aggressively? Why was he so conflicted all of a sudden?
Fuck.
He needed to stop thinking so hard. He looked back at Don.
“So, what’s the plan for Tuesday?” Don grinned like the Cheshire Cat, and Kenny couldn’t help but grin back. He liked that look. That meant things would be very interesting indeed.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Don responded, immediately throwing out ideas and giving him a rough outline of what he wanted to happen. He wanted to know Kenny’s thoughts afterwards.
He could do that, focus on Tuesday instead of the jumble of mixed emotions bubbling up inside of him. Yeah. There was plenty to think about here.
Maybe he’d make it through the night after all.