Work Text:
For A Reason
A/N: I watched the finale of Fruits Basket the other night, and this song came on my Spotify right after. It fits Tohru and Kyo perfectly, and it has me in a particular mood. So, change a word or two, insert Golden Lovers, and voila! The beautiful song that this fic is named after is by Natalie Taylor. <3
I wasn't looking when I found you
Spent thirteen years thinking about you
Talked all night I knew I had to
Make you mine
It felt like only yesterday when Kenny had filmed that video, as inexperienced and awkward as he’d been in 2008, calling out Kota Ibushi for a match. It felt like only yesterday when he’d laid eyes on him, heart beating out of his chest, breathless, awestruck. And when they finally locked up in the ring… Kenny knew there wasn’t anyone else after that, when he burst into tears at the end of it all, when he heard Kota (as he would find out a bit later) say that he loved Kenny Omega. Even with Nak having to translate for them later that night when they finally spoke to each other, Kenny knew he couldn’t let this be the last time they saw each other.
And DDT brought him back.
He and Kota ended up teaming together and getting to know each other, getting to be an irreplaceable part of each other’s lives. And Kenny never wanted to let him go. He didn’t want to be anywhere that Kota wasn’t. Of course, that just wasn’t in the cards. As time went by, jealousy and resentment and fear and loneliness grew within him. Kota left, for bigger and better things. And Kenny left too, and became someone he wasn’t proud of, looking back on it all. But he wouldn’t take any of it back. Because he wouldn’t be here right now if he hadn’t gone through all of that, would he? He wouldn’t have been able to pick up the phone last night and hear the best news of his life, decide that today, as soon as he was close enough to hear him, he would tell him how he really felt.
I never looked back once I saw you
Still can't go a day without you
I'd never change the things we went through
To make this life
The Bucks were filming for BTE, travel vlog style. Kenny chuckled as Matt nearly dropped his phone, fumbling it and catching it at the last second, Nick laughing next to him. He waved at the camera tiredly before his gaze turned back towards the rest of the airport. The three of them had landed in Jacksonville yesterday, and today they were waiting for someone.
Kenny was waiting for someone.
They had both been pretty busy when the Elite left Japan. They went several months without speaking before they both finally found the down time, between work and time differences, to talk. There was a lot of hurt, of longing and bittersweetness. There were laughs and there were tears. They reminisced about their DDT days, their New Japan days (both before and after Bullet Club’s implosion), and the days that followed, when they were oceans apart. They talked until the sun was rising and setting on respective parts of the world and they were trying their hardest not to fall asleep.
And they would talk to each other every day after. Whether it was a text, a short voicemail or call, a borrowed move in a match, a tidbit in a backstage or in ring interview, a tweet, what shirt was being worn that day, a gift from years gone by always within reach. They made sure the other always knew they were being thought of, that they were missed, that they meant everything to the other. So that even if their days ended with collapsing in bed and crying silent tears of pain and exhaustion and a wish that things could be just a little different, they knew they were never alone. So that, one day, they could look back on everything and smile, because they were finally where they were meant to be.
Together.
Every second, every minute
Everything that happened
It led me right to you
It led me right to you
Every mile, every mistake
Every time my heart changed
It led me right to you
It led me right
There was a large crowd of people heading their way now from the most recent flight to land. They were early. Kenny’s eyes darted from person to person, until they landed on a familiar face looking around nervously. Before he knew it he was running towards him, the crowd parting as they saw him approach. Kota’s eyes locked with his as he finally turned in Kenny’s direction, and the two were wrapped up in a tearful and tight embrace. Kenny could hear the Bucks running after him, but all he could focus on was the man in his arms that he hadn’t seen in three years.
There were so many things Kenny still wanted to apologize for. Things he’d said and done when he wasn’t in the best place. Little inconsequential things most people wouldn’t remember the day after it happened, much less over a decade later. Things he hadn’t gotten to do or say much sooner. But he couldn’t find his words. He couldn’t get his train of thought to process anything other than Ibu-tan’s here. Ibu-tan’s HERE.
They pulled back from each other slightly, and Kenny cupped Kota’s face with too many emotions to name. He could feel tears running down his cheeks, and he saw the same in the beautiful face just a few inches from his. Kota had always said that he was wonderful with words, that he was unmatched in how he could make someone else feel everything that he was, even if his words didn’t match his emotions. But Kenny didn’t think that words would be enough this time, no matter how eloquent and pretty he tried to make them sound.
So Kenny kissed him.
To meet just the way that we did
To have it play out the way it went
For love not to work before it did, it did
That's why you said
He was terrified. What if Kota didn’t feel the same? What if, all these years that he’d pined from the shadows, hopelessly infatuated and too scared to say how he really felt, he’d gotten it wrong? What if friends was as far as Kota wanted to take things? What if he’d just ruined the best thing in his life without any chance of going back to what they once had? What if what if what if…
What if Kota was kissing him back? What if Kota was kissing him with the same bottled up and overflowing emotions Kenny knew he had failed to hide for as long as they’d known each other? What if Kota was pulling him closer, diving in for as many kisses as Kenny would allow him to have and also secretly hoping the moment would never end?
Kenny couldn’t help the ugly, relieved sob that escaped him, and Kota stopped a hairsbreadth away from his lips so Kenny could catch a breath before pressing a final feather light kiss to his lips. Kenny met his eyes again, and he felt his heart skip a beat at the warmth and love looking back at him, at the hope and light in Kota’s smile, at the overwhelming feeling of right and peace that settled over him a few moments later.
“I love you,” Kenny whispered.
This all happened for a reason
This all happened for a reason
This all happened for a reason
For a reason
He’d been waiting thirteen years to say that to him and just him. Without a crowd around them. Without their co-workers within earshot. Without the worry that they’d be ripped apart again by the circumstances of the world when they’d just found their way back to each other. Without it being mistaken for a platonic sentiment. He didn’t feel afraid to say them anymore. Now that he’d said it once like this, with his entire soul, he wanted to keep saying it, until Kota got tired of hearing it and had to tell him to stop.
But Kota would never tire of hearing those words leave his lips. Now that he’d heard them like this he needed to hear them over and over again, like he needed air to breathe. And he’d say them back as many times as Kenny would let him say them too, as often as he wanted and needed to hear them. He felt Kenny gently wipe away his tears while his own continued to fall, and he took Kenny’s hands in his, brought them to his lips, held them between them. He watched Kenny blush, laugh shyly, look at their now intertwined fingers reverently.
“I know,” Kota whispered back.
I’ve known this whole time. I’ve felt the same way this whole time. I’m sorry I never said anything. I’m sorry it took us so long to get here. I’m never letting you go again. I’m going to prove I’m worthy of your love. Kota wasn’t the best with words. Actions spoke more clearly and more strongly than any of his words could. There were so many other things he wanted to say in response that he didn’t know how to yet.
But Kenny still heard them all, even if they hadn’t been spoken aloud. Kenny still said it again with a disbelieving and joyful giggle that had Kota laughing as well. Kenny still looked at him as if he couldn’t quite believe he was real no matter how long they’d known each other. His soulmate. His best friend. His lover. His. To keep. To stay.