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Kim had always been a rebel as long as he remembered. He had always been out-spoken, never hesitating to point out anyone's mistakes or taking an action when he felt it was needed.
He remembered being friends with this kid back in Korea who grew up to be a racist. As they were growing up, Kim realised it was an issue and pointed out to his friend and when he didn't listen and tried to go overboard, Kim had shown him what his little fists could do back then. He was only nine years old at that time and had to move schools after the incident.
It didn't really stop him from being the way he is. Being out spoken was not a bad thing, until people around him got too sensitive, not wanting to accept their flaws and only wanted to prove that they are superior to others. Kim hated such people.
He might not be the most morally right person, but he wasn't anything evil either. He hated when people with power put others down. He hated Tony, even more when he realised how fucked up the man was.
Tony was dead however. What a good riddance.
So, it was all good now. Kenta was still living with him for almost two weeks. The man had pretty much been non-existent.
Kenta had his own room in Kim's small apartment, and he would come out when it was time to eat. He also only ate twice. Breakfast, or lunch. Dinner calls were always answered with 'I am not hungry'. Kim had half a mind to ask him if he was being starved at Tony's place because honestly the amount of breakfast and lunch Kenta ate, Kim could swear even his ten years old niece back in Korea wouldn't be satisfied.
Anyways, it was not Kim's business. Kenta was eating, and he was breathing. Kim cared enough to not let the man die on his watch, and in his apartment.
And then, it was nice to be not alone. Even if Kenta hardly showed up, it was really nice to not have to eat two meals of the day all alone. It was also nice whenever he had to go outside, to inform the Alpha when he would be returning. He knew Kenta wasn't waiting for him, but it just felt nice - to return to a home where someone else lived along with him.
After a few days of the mishap - on Kenta's third day in his apartment, Kim had made an effort to ask the Alpha if he needed anything from the market. Kenta had very embarrassingly asked him for some clothes then, even saying he was fine to wear the other Alpha's old ones but Kim still bought him a few tshirts and bottoms along with other necessities to wear.
He had apologised to the older Alpha for not noticing his need earlier but Kenta told him it was just fine. As if it wasn't a big deal that he has been wearing the same clothes for three days and Kim didn't even notice.
"You should have told me earlier." Kim had said later as they sat for lunch.
Kenta in response just shrugged his shoulders, "It is fine."
Kim let go of that matter, compensating with trying to increase the portion of food in Kenta's plate but then the older would just eat a little and leave the rest in the sink.
Kim realised then, Kenta was just trying to not cause any inconvenience to Kim. The older was so less demanding, even going as far as to wear his old clothes which he was sure were marred with blood at places until he really had to replace them. He ate as little as he could to not add in the grocery spending. He didn't even turn on the lights in his room - something Kim discovered one day accidentally when he had knocked at Kenta's door and the elder had opened it, resulting in Kim to see the inside - to not add on to the electricity bills.
While Kim was just happy about not living alone anymore, and he didn't mind Kenta being non existent. Until recently.
Kim didn't realise it at first. It was mainly because it was started really on a low profile. Like when one evening, Kim came to the kitchen to do the dishes from noon, the dishes were already done. Kim didn't think of it much.
And then one day he came home from the garage and noticed his apartment looked really clean and more organised. He thought Kenta was trying to make himself busy. The court hearing was almost around the corner, so the Alpha must be nervous.
Now, as they sit across from each other on the dining table, having their breakfast, Kim can see the way Kenta has been trying to say something for the last fifteen minutes.
Even as the older picks up their dirty dishes and keeps them in the sink, turning the tap open to wash them, he looks nervous for some reason.
"Do you need something?" Kim asks finally, unable to stop himself.
Kenta looks at him taken aback, "Ah, yeah. I - I was thinking if I should cook meals for the two of us?" He must have thought he hasn't explained himself properly because before Kim can even respond, he hurries to add in, "I can cook the lunch today so you can decide if it is good enough?"
Oh? Kim blinks.
Kenta already washes the dishes, and does the cleaning occasionally and now he wants to cook too?
"Why? Are you trying to be my maid or something?" Kim jokes, trying to put the Alpha at ease but he tenses when Kenta doesn't say anything. "Hey, it was a joke."
"I know." Kenta says, "but I don't mind? I am broke as of now, and you are feeding me, giving me a place to stay or sleep. I don't mind paying this way."
Kim can't lie. It is not easy to startle him. He is a strong man, an Alpha and while it does take little to test his patience, he is not at all easy to surprise. But this. The normalcy with which Kenta has admitted that he wouldn't mind being the servant at Kim's house - it has him taken aback.
For the first time in his life, Kim is at a loss for words. He doesn't know what he is supposed to say. So, his first instinct is to run away. Yes, run away. Kim runs away from his own apartment as if someone has set his pants on fire, leaving Kenta standing alone in the kitchen.
Kim spends the rest of the day at the garage. The X-Hunter team has accepted him whole heartedly, and everyone really tries to make him comfortable. They willingly include him in conversations, some of them which includes Kenta too.
So, it is less awkward as he stays there nowadays and it is also the reason why it is late when Kim finally enters inside his apartment.
It is clean, and as he walks in the kitchen, he notices food - lunch that Kenta must have made, kept at the counter - untouched.
Kenta must have cooked, and waited for him to come back for lunch like he usually does. Kim can hardly control the whine that dares to escape his throat. How could he leave the Alpha waiting for him?
Kim then lets his instincts do things. He freshens up, and heats the food Kenta has made. He then walks up to the other Alpha's room and knocks at the door. Kim thinks he is imagining it but he hears the soft thuds of feet meeting the floor with every steps as Kenta almost runs to open the door.
"Let's eat." He says simply, it is not a suggestion neither is it an order. Kim doesn't want to make much out of his tone but he is glad when Kenta nods after a moment.
Kenta does look startled, as if he was not expecting it but he walks obediently to the chair and sits down, staring at the food he himself had cooked in the noon.
"I didn't cook anything, since the food you made was enough." Kim clarifies as he sits down across Kenta. "Why didn't you eat?"
Kenta rolls his shoulder in a little shrug, "Didn't feel hungry."
Kim interprets it as 'Didn't feel right to eat alone in someone's apartment.'
He decides to say nothing, and it is then he notices it. Kenta hasn't started eating his food yet. Is he waiting for me to start? He wonders. His doubt is proven right because the moment Kim starts eating is when Kenta starts too.
It is a minor detail and one that he hasn't noticed before but now that he knows what Kenta thinks about staying here, it makes more sense. Kenta doesn't think he has any rights on anything here. He is paying Kim in the form of doing stuff he can, cooking, cleaning and doing the dishes.
"You need to stop." He tells Kenta and notices the way the older's grip on the spoon tightens.
"Stop what?"
"Kenta," Kim sighs. It is frustrating, he is not the one to sit and sing praises at someone. He doesn't know how to console anyone. He is so used to being upfront and downright rude that the next words that leaves his lips, sounds foreign to his own self even if he means them, "I didn't offer you to stay with me because I needed a servant. I can afford one even while bearing your expenses, Kenta."
Kenta doesn't say anything so he takes it as his cue to speak further, "You don't have to do all the cleaning, dishes or even the cooking as a means to pay me. You can stay here as long as you need to or even after you get your bank accounts clear, you can stay here and pay me in cash or credit. You don't even have to pay me honestly."
"Why would you do this for me?" Kenta asks and Kim thinks he really understands. He knows where Kenta is coming from or he at least has an idea. Living with Tony must be a punishment in itself after all.
"Why can't I do this for you?" So he questions, "Do I need a reason to help you, Kenta? Alan and the others helped me, Alan gave me a room to stay at his place when I was in no state to live alone. Do you think I paid him with my services or cash? No, I didn't. We were all in a situation, we overcame it and now I am just helping you. There doesn't have to be anything else with it."
Kim lets out a sigh as Kenta still stares at him unconvinced.
"Nobody helps anyone without any reason." Kenta says, and his voice is so quiet that Kim would have missed it if not for the silence surrounding them. "It is not how it is supposed to work. Pa - Tony took me in, and he wanted me to work for him. The kids that grew up in the mansion, they all had something to offer."
"I am not Tony." Kim knows the distaste that pours out of his tone as he sees Kenta hiss lowly. "So, no. You don't have to offer anything to me unless you want to do something that makes you happy. I don't mind you cleaning if it helps you keep yourself busy but if you are doing it as a payment, then no, I don't like it."
"But, isn't it unfair to you?"
"It is not. I am not doing something that hurts me or puts me at a disadvantage, Kenta. I am doing this out of my own free will."
For a long moment, Kenta says nothing. The dinner now cold isn't not even a priority.
"I don't know how to be useless." I can't be useless. Kenta looks down and he appears so vulnerable, small and soft in that one moment that Kim doesn't even want to continue this conversation. He can see how much it is confusing Kenta, how much it is affecting him. "I - I have never not have to do nothing."
Kenta was used to follow orders, he was used to being told what to do, and what not to. He was never told it was fine if he didn't do anything for Tony. He was always a commodity, bought for its purpose and if he failed, he would be casted aside as he has been told.
Kim has an idea before but now he could see it. The amount of damage Tony has done to Kenta. While Babe, Charlie, Jeff and Pete ran away and Way had an opportunity to be away from the house for more than ten years, Kenta was left behind. He never really got away from Tony.
And even when he did, it came with the scar of having to kill the evil man with his own hands. Kim felt bad for Kenta.
He didn't even realise when his hand raised on its own and found Kenta's on the top of the table. Kim didn't pull it towards himself or press, he just let it rest there as a heavy weight, hoping it would be enough to ground Kenta.
"Then learn," Kim says, "Try. I will be here if you fail, the others are here too. They are all willing to be there for you, Kenta. You do know that, right?"
Kenta nods, and Kim thinks it is the first time that he smiles at the Alpha because he hasn't seen Kenta getting flustered like this in the moment.
"You aren't alone anymore, Kenta."
It is not meant to be, but it feels like a promise from Kim to Kenta.
One, that Kim really means.