Chapter Text
Kung Lao felt sick. He didn’t have to tell Raiden, but since they were best friends he felt he was sort of obligated.
They were having one of their midnight snack nights. They would sneak off to grab some food, and then rush over to one of the Shaolin gardens where they’d lay down in the grass and admire the stars. It was always so peaceful and beautiful. He appreciated the small moments like this, the ones where his mind was free to run and he had no worries.
It was as if this was a world completely separate from the one they were living in, a world for only him and Raiden.
“Hey dude…,” Kung Lao said softly. He could hear as Raiden turned his head. “Can I tell you something?” He turned to face his friend.
Raiden was smiling sweetly. “What’s up?”
He took a deep breath — knots were swirling all around his stomach. Kung Lao decided to sit up; the grass was starting to prick his skin uncomfortably and it was making him 10x more nervous.
Raiden slowly sat up with a worried expression. “Is everything alright?”
Kung lao picked at the grass. “You remember when… you confided in me about a… feeling you had for someone and now really that feeling for the someone is gone because you like another person more?”
Raiden stared at him. “Huh?”
“Okay.” Kung Lao sat criss-cross and positioned his hands like he was about to explain battle strategy. “Do you remember when you told me you had feelings for someone, but now you don’t have feelings for that person anymore? Well… I do now.”
Raiden continued to stare at his best friend before his face slowly transformed into recognition. Kung Lao matched the man’s transformation as he slowly began cringing at himself.
“No, you don’t.”
He gave an awkward smile. If Kung Lao could curl into himself and disappear, he would.
Raiden gasped, slapping his hands over his mouth. Kung Lao began dipping into the ground as Raiden repeated the words over and over again. Soon his nose was deep into the earth, trying to forget the utter embarrassment that was coursing through his body.
“No.” Kung Lao could feel Raiden’s breath at the top of his hair. He slowly lifted his head to find Raiden a few centimeters away. “You don’t.”
“I do…”
Raiden gasped again, backing away and looking all kinds of bewildered. Kung Lao had never wanted to punch someone so hard. He sat back up with his face all kinds of red.
“I don’t believe it! After all this time of fooling around —”
“That was like twice!”
“ —you’ve finally settled down!” Raiden then put a hand on his chest to act as if he was offended. “Y’know, I’m hurt.”
“Why the hell are you hurt?”
“I thought I was your peak!” Raiden said, causing Kung Lao to laugh. “I thought you were parading your body around because you couldn’t find anyone better than me.”
Kung Lao couldn’t help his giggling. Raiden was being a fool, and it was because he knew how nervous Kung Lao had been — Raiden knew everything about him.
He quieted his giggling to pretend he was serious. “I can never find anyone better than you,” Kung Lao said in an exaggerated voice, dragging a finger down Raiden’s leg.
The man shivered and slapped Kung Lao’s hand away. “You’re disgusting.”
The two were dying in a fit of laughter.
“But seriously,” Raiden tried to veer them back into the original topic. “Why? And how? I mean… I know why .” He rolled his eyes. “But how? And… why?”
Kung Lao shrugged, trying to recall the moment he realized his feelings began to develop. “I don’t know, I think we were alone and talking and… I just started to think about stuff.”
Raiden raised an eyebrow. “You dog.”
“Nice stuff!” Kung Lao scolded him. “I should clarify! …And then yeah, I did start to think about some other things.”
He was met with a punch in the arm.
Kung Lao rubbed the spot, and he could already feel the bruise forming. He sighed after a moment. “But I just… I don’t know what to do! What did you do?”
“I mean…” Raiden shrugged, huffing.” I didn’t do anything crazy, we were just alone and talking and I sort of… I made the first move.” Raiden's face had melted into something soft and caring, he was reminiscing. “He rejected me, but he was sweet about it… I understood — I understand why he said no. It made it even better when he said my future prospects at love were going to be much more successful.”
Kung Lao tried to smile for his friend; the first thought that came to mind was obviously Kitana and how happy the two of them were together. It was difficult though, as he rubbed the palm of his hand raw from worry. “Do you regret it?”
Raiden chuckled, “No, I don’t. I’m glad I did it, I think I needed that… rejection to make me more confident.” His smile widened. “And I’m pretty sure I love Kitana much more.”
Kung Lao huffed out a laugh. He couldn’t stand Raiden and his love sickness sometimes — they were truly the perfect couple, it was sickening.
He rubbed his face, his head was dizzy with sleep and worry. He had chosen the absolute worst person to have a crush on. “Do you think he’ll reject me?” Kung Lao asked, propping his head up with his hand, his elbow digging into his knee.
The moon was so bright outside, a blinding light pouring down on them in the middle of the night.
Raiden’s hand was gentle on Kung Lao’s shoulder. “You’ll never unless you confess.”
“Psh… confessing…” He could see the sun in the sky… big and beautiful and so incredibly bright. Much brighter than the moon. “So lame.”
Raiden chuckled. “We should get some sleep.”
Kung Lao rolled his eyes, lolling his head to look at his friend. “Sleep is for losers.”
“If you sleep, you’ll probably see him in the morning.”
Kung Lao slapped Raiden’s knee.