Chapter Text
After already everything that had happened Kenshi had to move into Johnnys room
‘great, just what i needed.’ the swordsman thought to himself. He wasn’t actually that mad about it, more just…annoyed. He wasn’t the biggest fan of the idea but what else was there to do. Since the fiasco in Outworld him and the actor got closer, so he didn’t hate the idea as much as he was making it out to be. Well yes, it wasn’t exactly the most ideal thing to stay with the person you once oh so hated.
Dragging his belongings through the long hallways of the academy, after arriving infront of Cages room.
‘well this is it’ he sighed to himself, before knocking on his door.
Waiting infront of that entrance to the room felt like an eternity. Kenshi could hear the actor move things around, it sounded like furniture being pushed around. Then, suddenly the door swung open. For a second neither of them knew how to react so for a quick second the two man stood there just looking at eachother, before Cage finally assisted Kenshi in.
“So I’ve set everything up, i rearranged the whole room, I also made the bed for you.” Johnny explained frantically to break the awkward silence. The swordsman thanked him and set down his personal possessions, including Sento.
The sun was already setting down when Kenshi arrived. Their plan for the night was to meet the other champions; Raiden and Kung Lao. Waiting for Cage to be done getting was aggravating, to say the least…
“Are you finished yet?” Kenshi knocked on the door for the fifth time in the row.
“Give me like…10 more minutes!” Johnny mumbled from inside the bathroom.
“You said that an hour ago..” the swordsman muttered under his breath. While waiting for Cage to wrap-up in the washroom he decided to sit down on the bed Johnny prepared for him. In the holy moment Kenshi was about to sit down the actor burst out.
“Sooo, how do i look?” he asked while fixing the collar of his shirt.
“Can i go in now?” Kenshi sighed
Johnny shot back something to his remark but the swordsman didn’t hear it over the sound of the door slamming.
‘finally’ he thought to himself. They were already behind schedule because of the actor, but he still needed to shower after all.
After getting ready, the pair finally departed from their now-shared-room. The walk there was…long. Johnny was talking the other mans ear off, but Kenshi appreciated the chatter. They mostly talked about trivial things like, if flowers could talk, what do you think they would sound like?
“Okay but what do you actually think.” Cage asked with a grin plastered on his face.
“Johnny, i do not know.” he replied trying to hide the smile tugging at his lips. In that moment he realized, that he doesn’t have Sento with him. A wave of panic washed over him.
All the color drained from his face in mere seconds. The actor kept moving while rambling without noticing the fact that Kenshi was missing from beside him. Fortunately, he quickly detected the man was gone from alongside him.
Johnny quickly whipped around to see Kenshi, with his head in his hands.
“Kenshi? Whats going on?” he questioned his companion.
“I forgot Sento at your room.” said the swordsman, frozen in shock.
Cage slowly started making his way back towards the other man a few meters infront of him.
“I mean, we are late but we can always just walk back to the Wu Shi and get it, if you
want” he tried calming Kenshi.
“No, we already should be there, yet we’re not even half way. It would take far too much than” he ‘glanced’ back at the route behind them. Before he could even continue his thought, Kenshi suddenly felt two, presumably, hands on his shoulders. They were radiating warm, like the Sun on a summer afternoon. “It’s settled then. Look, I already guided you back home once, i’m sure i can do it again.”— not knowing how to react he just nodded. Johnny moved his hand away from his shoulder, taking the swordsmans hand and placing it on his own.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Always.” Kenshi nodded.
The actor turned his head back towards the way and went to his useless prattle. Just in time before he could see the redness blooming on Kenshis cheeks. But like the cherry blossom during spring it came and went. He didn’t know why he was feeling this way, all of a sudden towards Johnny, towards the man he oh so despised for the longest time. Nevertheless, the latter feeling was there, it has been, he just never noticed.
The walk to Madam Bo’s was the same as before, Johnny was going on and on about something and Kenshi just listened in silence letting out a chuckle here and there or added a thought ever so often. At last they arrived to the tea house. As expected Kung Lao and Raiden were already waiting for them. From what they could hear, the other pair was also having a similarly intelligent conversation.
Both Kung Lao and Raiden greeted them with warm smiles, as ususal.
Johnny softly removed the other mans hand off his body. With a swift glance, Raiden noticed straight away that the swordsman did not have Sento with him, and he took it upon himself to question it.
“Kenshi, by chance, did you leave Sento at Johnnys estate?” Raiden inquisitioned.
“Unfortunately I did, but thankfully Johnny helped me again.” turning his head towards the actor who was smiling coyly. The champion he nodded in acknowledgement.
The events that happened after the helloes did not help Kenshi’s case. Throughout the evening Johnny helped him with his tea, pouring more into his cup, pulling out his chair when he needed to sit down. At times their hands found their way to each other under the table, resting them on top of one another, making both sheepishly smile, which the others most definitely saw.
The clock hit midnight before they even knew it. Since, they spent hours at the establishment the party decided to head home, together this time.
Walking home was about the same as before, they continued to talk and laugh. Johnny and Kung Lao were arguing about something so idiotic Kenshi wasn’t even paying attention to most of it, he just caught fragments of it.
He was being oddly quiet, which was, once again, questioned by Raiden.
“Kenshi, are you sure you’re fine? You have been remarkably silent this evening?” he pressed.
“I am well, thank you.” what else could he say? That he was catching feelings for the actor? It all seemed so..foolish to him.
“Long day?” the champion asked sympathetically. His answer was short, he felt like a nod was enough.
“Understandable, the past few weeks have been hard on all of us, even if it does not look like it.” Raiden gestured towards Lao.
“Certainly.” Kenshi agreed.
“So, how have you been holding up? Have you adjusted well to using Sento?” he raised his voice slightly so Kenshi could hear him over the disagreement between the rest of the party.
“I’m still getting used to it but it’s definitely better than it was. Although it is kind of odd to not have Sento with me I can manage. Liu Kang said that’s going to be normal for the time being.” he tried to go on but was cut off by non other than Johnny.
“You are weird Kung Lao!” he cried out.
“Now, if that’s not the pot calling the kettle black!” the monk hurled back.
“Oh, real nice there Lao.” Johnny declared.
“By the Elder Gods! What is up with you two today?” Raiden tensed up, both the actor and monk looked rather apologetic. With Kenshi’s hand still on Johnny’s shoulder, he gave him a small squeeze. A small but intimate gesture, which made the actor turn red like the sunrise in dawn. Thankfully, though, no one noticed it.
Time flies by when you’re having fun, and it was no different for the champions either. They were back at the academy before they even knew it. Following the typical farewells, everyone went their own way.
Before long they arrived to Johnny’s room. He opened the door for Kenshi, then he let himself in.
“Okay, so i made you the bed ergo, you can sleep there and i’ll sleep on the floor. It’s not ideal but we’ll make it work? Right, Kenny?” he popped the question while handing the other man Sento.
“Thanks Cage.” Kenshi thanked him, voice nearly a whisper. He walked to the bed, and set down on the neatly placed comforter, laying down the sword next to him.
“Imma shower quickly if that’s fine with you.” the actor asked gesturing towards the bathroom. Being too tired to make a response he nodded in agreement.
Whilst waiting for Cage he sat on the edge of said bed his gaze was fixed onto the floor infront of him, and thats when it hit him.
‘Did Cage just call me Kenny?’ Kenshi thought to himself. It all felt so effortless both to Johnny, and to him too. Honestly, all of this just gave him a headache. He was stumped.
──────
Per usual, Johnny took his sweet time showering and getting ready for bed, so by the time Kenshi went it was already around 1 a.m.
When he made his way in, he immediately slid down the door, collapsing onto the damp shower mat with his head in his hands. He didn’t burst out crying, the tears silently fell from what was left of his eyes. Kenshi did not cry because he was scared or afraid, without frills he was so uncertain about everything that it caused him to break down this way. He was never the type of person to cry, instead the swordsman would, well, destroy most things around himself to relieve the pent up anguish in himself.
But this time it was different. He wasn’t mad. Kenshi could not explain why. Scratch that. He knew exactly why in the world he was such a mess. Care to wager? Of course, it was because of the one and only, Johnny Cage.
He never completely connected the dots, due to the fact that they were supposed to be enemies, right? Right? But what was there to do, he can’t just stop everything to pause this whirlwind of emotions inside himself, right?
──────
Quite frankly, Kenshi had no idea how much time he spent sitting on that shower mat (that he probably won’t be able to look at same after this), his pants were already wettish and the bathroom was still like a sauna. The humid air combined with him crying made breathing even harder than it already was before. Kenshi’s quiet sobs turned into choking like noises, which as it turns out Johnny heard…
“Kenshi? Everything alright?” the swordsman could hear the uneasiness in his voice, when the actor knocked on the door. It felt a bit pleasant to know, that Johnny cared about him, even behind closed doors.
“Yea’, ‘m fine.” Kenshi managed to croak out without wheezing. In response he only got a contented hum, something he hoped for.
With that, Kenshi finally took the strength to hold onto something that could support his weight, so he could stand up. The swordsman’s legs almost gave out under him. Kenshi was exhausted to put it mildly. Both physically and mentally. Trying to save his clan was one thing, but now that he was weighed down with losing his eyes. Having to fight with something so unfamiliar increased his chance of getting harmed. Kenshi trained tirelessly for hours on end.
That however, didn’t go as smoothly as he wanted it to. Navigating through a new room would not be so hard if it wasn’t for his headache. Maybe a cold shower would help.
‘by now, i wanted to sleep…’ Kenshi sighed to himself, just as he was trying to get out of shower cabin, without losing consciousness. He was lightheaded a lot lately, most likely because of relying only on Sento for the last couple of days. Well, Liu Kang did warn him that after using Sento too much for long periods of time, his senses would be overwhelmed and predictably a throbbing headache would accompany that. Right…
He managed to get out fine, thankfully.
Kenshi hoped that by the time he got out Cage would be asleep. The swordsman didn’t want to face him for now. Maybe when he woke up. He shakily reached for the doorknob, and opened the door.
Kenshi was surprised to hear the rhythmic snoring of the actor.
“Johnny?” he called out, hoping Johnny wouldn’t answer, but he had to make sure.
As expected, Kenshi never got a reaction. He breathed a sigh of relief, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. The swordsman made his way towards his new bed, trying not to bump into anything.
Ultimately, he crawled under the covers and curled up like caterpillar. Johnny’s breathing gave him a sense of security. Hearing his ‘friend’ breathing steadily almost next to him made him somewhat comforted him, this way Kenshi knew he was alive, both of them.
And that was enough to make him drift off.
──────
Kenshi was awoken by a sudden shattering sound that echoed through the whole room. Shooting up from the bed, he immediately turned to his left, looking for his new roommate, who was missing from the makeshift bed on the floor. The swordsman basically jumped up, instinctively grabbing Sento from the nightstand. He wanted to call out to Cage but the actor beat him to it.
“Kenny? You awake?” Gods, his voice was so hoarse like he’d been sobbing for hours. Atleast it made it easier for the blind swordsman to locate him.
“Yeah, i heard glass shattering. Everything okay?” he walked towards the voice, that came from the bathroom. The sight before him was…uhm…odd. Cage was standing infront of the sink, shoulders sagging low with his eyes fixed on the shards of glass laying on the floor.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Johnny finally looked up from the floor while placing a hand on the swordsman’s chest in an attempt to stop him from stepping on the glass shards, a small thing that made made the both of them blush slightly, before the actor could quickly pull away.
“‘s all right, just tell me what happened.” now it was his turn to touch the other, placing a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. Johnny was visibly trembling and when Kenshi put his hand on him, he shuddered at the sudden touch. Honestly, this reaction didn’t calm the swordsman’s nerves.
He gave Kenshi a small nod. “As you can see, I attempted to drink. I don’t know what else to say.” Cage let out a forced laugh, trying to play it off as an imbecile mistake, but Kenshi wasn’t stupid. He saw the way his hand shook when trying to stop him from stepping on the glass, he saw and felt how rigid his shoulders were.
“Need help cleaning it up?” Kenshi questioned ‘staring’ at the other man, whilst rubbing small circles into his shoulder, thinking it’d help.
“Nah, I think I can handle it. You go lay down, ‘cuz I know you’re just as tired as-“ “I’ll wait…” Kenshi cut him off, pulling his hands next to himself. It didn’t take long for Johnny to tidy up the bathroom, luckily. Throughout the time, he was sweeping up the pieces of glass that kept getting smaller and smaller, Kenshi thought about asking the actor what happened exactly but he waved him off the first time and he didn’t want to push it.
When he layed back down again, he was nowhere as tired as he was before. He wasn’t the only one…
Johnny tossed and turned from one side to the other also trying to sleep. Following some awkward silence he finally spoke up.
“Hey, Kenshi.”
“Mmm..Yea?”
“Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
“For comforting me.”
“‘s nothing to thank me for.”
“Still..” with that Johnny reached up his old bed to try and find Kenshi hand, at the moment he needed something to hold onto.
The other immediately understood what he wanted and didn’t pull away, he laced their fingers together and caressed the back of the actors hand, earning a rapt hum from him.
And just like that, the slow breathing of one and other lulled both of them to sleep.