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Michael hands him a key and leaves him at Kota's apartment. More or less anyway. It's not what Kenny had expected.
He'd assumed that his living arrangement would be similar to last time. He hadn't even thought to ask about it beforehand, not until Michael met him at the airport and told him. He wonders if Kota had explained anything to anyone, or just told them Kenny would be staying with him.
Kenny opens the apartment door slowly, feeling like he's doing something he shouldn't. Maybe it's just that he's never been here when Kota wasn't with him, or maybe it's just been so long that everything feels a bit strange. Kota will be home later, Michael had told him, he had a match tonight and couldn't be there to meet Kenny.
It's fine, after all this time Kenny can wait a few hours more.
The apartment looks the same as Kenny remembers it. He leaves his luggage in the bedroom and then goes back a few moments later to stare at it, wondering if he's being presumptuous. Maybe he should have left it at the door for now.
He thinks about taking out a change of clothes. Of showering off the grimy feeling all the travel has left him with. It's not like he hasn't showered here before, he even knows where to find himself a towel.
"I'm going to be living here," he tells himself out loud. Like maybe hearing himself say it will somehow make it more real.
Kenny leaves the luggage and the thought of showering for later and walks into the kitchen instead. He opens the refrigerator feeling vaguely like he's intruding. He stares at the contents. Distress wells up slowly and he bangs the door back shut before he's standing there crying about the fact that he's not sure how to make actual food out of most of the things in there.
Kenny sighs, he feels like an idiot. Kota wouldn't have invited Kenny into his home if he didn't want him there. He walks into the living room and sits down on the couch. For a moment he thinks about playing something to pass the time and distract himself. He looks over toward the tv, idly wondering which consoles Kota has hooked up to it and what games he has around. Honestly though, Kenny's not really up for concentrating on anything for very long right now.
Maybe he'll just lie down for a bit instead.
Kenny wakes up to a hand on his cheek and Kota's voice calling his name. He blinks his eyes open, feeling disoriented. It takes a moment to realise that the Kota crouched down next to the couch, looking at Kenny like someone's just handed Kota all the stars from the sky, is actually real. For a moment Kenny feels incredibly awkward. He should say something, but no words come to him at all.
"Kenny," Kota says again softly and the next thing Kenny knows they're both on their knees on the floor, clinging to each other as if even the thought of letting go meant drowning in a sea of loneliness.
Eventually they do pull apart a bit, if only so they can actually look at each other. "I missed you so much," Kenny tells Kota in English. Any hint of apprehension seems to have melted away at Kota's touch.
After a time Kota gets up from the floor, pulling Kenny with him. He says something Kenny doesn't quite catch.
"Please," Kenny says, the japanese word feeling awkward in his mouth. "Again, slowly." He knows his grasp of the language is still shaky, but the absolutely delighted look on Kota's face makes all those lessons he's attended since he left Japan more than worth it.
"I made dinner, I think," Kota says, sounding a bit uncertain. "And coffee."
They walk to the kitchen hand in hand, somehow managing to get food, and coffee for Kenny, without ever really losing touch of each other. It takes a few bites before Kenny realises that what he'd taken as Kota doubting his own cooking skills was probably not that.
"This is good," Kenny says. "Did you make it?" Kota looks at him for a time, that same delighted and slightly wondering look on his face, which helps dispel Kenny's embarrassment at his still clumsy use of the language.
"Maybe," Kota answers at last, with a small frown. "I don't remember."
They look at each other in mutual understanding. Somehow, during his time away, Kenny had almost convinced himself that that part of it all at least couldn't have been true. After all, there were more than a few times when all of his time in Japan had felt like a dream and not something that had actually happened.
"Time travel?" Kenny asks tentatively, and Kota only gives a sort of half shrug in answer. He supposes that's about as sure as either of them can be about it.
Kenny stands in the shower, feeling some of his earlier uncertainty returning now that Kota isn't right there next to him. They hadn't even kissed. That's weird, isn't it?
He finishes his shower in record time. He towels himself off and then realises he's only taken a pair of boxers to put on after his shower. It had seemed more than enough at the moment and now feels like decidedly too little.
There's not much choice now, he thinks wryly and pulls on the boxers before leaving the bathroom. He finds Kota in the bedroom, struggling with his t-shirt. Without giving it any thought Kenny hurries to his side and gently helps him remove the offending piece of clothing. The lack of a shirt reveals slight bruising along Kota's left side. Carefully, Kenny runs his fingertips over the bruised skin, and gives Kota a questioning look.
"I'm fine," Kota tells him and adds something that is mostly lost on Kenny. He'll probably just have to take Kota's word for it. Kota might be a bit reckless sometimes when it comes to injuries, but he also has enough experience with them to know when something needs to be taken care of.
"Okay," Kenny says. Suddenly the fact that they're standing shirtless and very close to each other hits Kenny like a sledgehammer between the eyes. He freezes for a moment, eyes locked with Kota's.
Kota's hand settles firmly at the back of Kenny's head, and he pulls Kenny into a frantic, hungry kiss. Kota bites and licks his way into Kenny's mouth, and Kenny feels a desperate urgency to touch as much of Kota as possible. He runs his hand over the skin of Kota's bare back, grasping at him in an attempt to pull him impossibly closer.
Without breaking away from the kiss Kota moves them toward the bed. Kenny is barely aware of the mattress hitting the back of his legs before he's pushed down, Kota landing on top of him. Their teeth clack together at the sudden fall. Kota pulls away to hiss something between clenched teeth. Kenny takes the moment to catch his breath, his fingers finding Kota's bruised side. "Okay?" Kenny asks.
"Yes," Kota answers, his voice low and rough. Then Kota's mouth is back on his, their straining cocks rubbing against each other through too much fabric. Unerringly Kota's hands find the elastic of Kenny's boxers, and obligingly Kenny lifts his hips letting Kota slide the offending piece of fabric away, kicking it off the rest of the way. Suddenly Kota is gone and it takes Kenny a moment to realise that he's wriggling out of his own jeans and underwear, his movements far less elegant than usual.
Soon Kota's weight is back on him, his hand on Kenny's cock and Kenny might sort of blank out for a moment. Kota lines their cocks up, his hand wrapping around both of them. Kenny bucks his hips trying to find more friction. Kota leans down and sloppily presses their lips back together as he thrusts his hips. Their movements turn increasingly frantic and uncoordinated, any finesse long gone in the mounting desperation.
Kenny rakes blunt claws along Kota's back, urgently trying to pull him ever closer. The tension keeps building at the base of his spine. Suddenly Kota pulls his mouth away from Kenny, thrusting once more he makes a noise somewhere between a grunt and a yell. Hot cum splashes Kenny's stomach and the building tension suddenly releases. Kenny's back arches as the orgasm wrenches out of him with a yell.
Kenny's distantly aware of Kota rolling off of him and moving around. The warm, wet cloth wiping away the mess from his skin manages to jolt some wakefulness into him and he mumbles something that might be a 'thank you.' Kota says something and after a moment Kenny can hear him chuckling lightly. Kenny doesn't quite feel like opening his eyes. Then Kota gently pushes at him, making him move enough for Kota to get the covers off of the bed.
There's a bit more movement and then Kota's hands are prodding at him again and tiredly Kenny obliges him. When Kenny's apparently settled to Kota's satisfaction, Kenny feels Kota cuddle up against him and Kota's head finds a familiar place on Kenny's chest.
Kenny wakes up alone in bed with the dull headache of too much sleep and feeling like he's missing something. He pulls out a t-shirt and sweats, and visits the bathroom, the nagging worry at the lack of Kota's presence getting more and more insistent.
He finds Kota in the living room, sitting cross legged on the couch. There's a mug of coffee wrapped between his hands and an anime Kenny doesn't immediately recognise is running silently on the tv.
For a moment Kenny stops to just look at him. To wonder at how, after all the doubts and second thoughts Kenny has had while he was away, he's here with Kota. That Kota wants him here.
Kota turns his head to look at Kenny, Kenny shuffles his feet, just slightly embarrassed at being caught staring. Even if it's far from the first time Kota has caught him at that.
"I'm sorry," Kota inexplicably says. He looks tired, Kenny notices.
"Why?"
Instead of answering Kota unfolds his legs and puts away his coffee before holding out a hand toward Kenny. Kenny doesn't hesitate to walk over to him and let himself be pulled down on the couch next to Kota. Kota keeps hold of Kenny's hand as he looks at him with tired eyes.
"I should have taken things slowly." The moment ticks by slowly as it takes time for Kenny's muddled brain to comprehend the carefully measured Japanese.
Kenny feels the blush creeping up his face. It makes Kota smile slightly, as he brushes the fingers of his free hand against Kenny's cheek. "Still cute," he says quietly. Somehow that makes things a bit easier and Kenny takes a slow breath. He takes his time trying to think of words that come close to saying what he wants them to.
"Yesterday… I wanted to… needed… you," Kenny says, wishing very hard that his grasp of Japanese was better by now. It's not how he'd envisioned their first time, but there'd been no time to think, just the need to touch Kota, to be near him. At least it meant Kenny hadn't had time to overthink the whole thing. "I can say no, if I want to," he adds, his fading blush flaring up again at his own words. He doesn't quite know how to say that he trusts Kota, that he knows Kota would stop if Kenny was uncomfortable with anything.
Kota looks at him for a while, like he's trying to see all the things Kenny isn't saying. He smiles slowly, a familiar glint of mischief in his eyes. "Next time will be better," he promises, deadpan. Kenny's blush burns even hotter.
Kota looks charmed by Kenny's reaction. He leans in to press his lips to Kenny's in a short, chaste kiss and then snuggles into Kenny's side, leaning his head on Kenny's shoulder. Kenny wraps an arm around Kota and lets himself relax. "I've missed sex," Kota mumbles. At least that's what Kenny thinks he says, he might have misunderstood. Either way, Kenny decides to let that one go without comment.
"Did you sleep?" Kenny asks at some point.
"No," Kota mumbles.
"Is it because of… me?" Kenny asks. It makes him sound so—self centred, Kenny thinks. He just doesn't know a better way of putting the question into words.
Kota tenses, like he's about to move away from Kenny, but then lets himself relax, his head still on Kenny's shoulder. "No," Kota says quietly. "Maybe," he adds after a moment. "Sometimes, I can't sleep."
Kenny hugs him a bit tighter. Kota sounds so resigned to the fact. It's something Kenny hadn't known about him before. He wonders how much else he still doesn't know.
Kota's tiredness turns into an almost manic energy. Suddenly it seems like he's in constant motion, and Kenny doesn't know what to do. Next thing he knows, he's been left alone in the apartment with no real explanation.
His phone rings while he's still trying to figure out what exactly happened. There's not many options as to who would call him, unless it's someone from back home, which seems unlikely. Unsurprisingly it turns out to be Michael.
"Hey, Michael," Kenny answers the phone. "What's up?" It's a relief to be able to speak English, so much so that it makes Kenny feel a bit guilty.
"Hello, Kenny. Ibushi sent me a… message," Michael tells him, without any preamble.
Without meaning to Kenny lets out a small noise of relief. It makes Michael go quiet for a bit. "Do you have anything to do today?" Michael asks. Kenny can't be sure, but he thinks he sounds just a bit exasperated.
Kenny thinks about it, there's a few days before his first match, he still needs to unpack—which still feels weird without Kota in the apartment, but if he's going to be living here he supposes he better get used to it—and he probably needs to get some sort of training in.
"Not much," Kenny answers.
"Do you want to join me for training?"
Well, that solves one problem at least. "Sure, that'd be good."
They agree on a time and place to meet, and Kenny assures Michael he can find his way there. It'll leave Kenny just enough time to unpack. As soon as he figures out where he's putting his things.
When Kenny gets back to the apartment Kota is still nowhere to be found. So Kenny takes his time showering, finishing his unpacking and figuring out how to make himself something to eat. He'll probably need to go grocery shopping at some point, but that's a problem for another day.
He ends up in the living room looking through Kota's collection of classic games. It's not hard to find something familiar and set everything up. Playing at least is something he knows, and that makes him feel a bit more at ease.
Eventually Kota does return. Kenny pauses the game and waits, unable to quite make himself get up.
"Hey," Kota says quietly and Kenny looks up at him standing just inside the living room. He seems a bit calmer now, though still a bit twitchy around the edges.
There's an uncomfortable moment of silence and then Kenny holds out the controller in a silent question. Kota's lips twitch in a faint smile and he walks over to Kenny and sits down next to him, taking the offered controller.
They don't say anything. It's easy to fall into the familiarity of the moment. At some point Kenny notices that he's been the one doing the actual playing for a while. He puts the controller down, and turns his head to look at Kota. He's slumped back in the couch, his leg draped over one of Kenny's.
"Sleep?" Kenny asks, even though he's anything but tired. He knows it'll take some time before his sleep schedule balances out.
Kota mumbles something that sounds like assent and makes absolutely no move toward doing anything about it.
"You sort of need to get up first," Kenny says in English, reaching out to run his hand through Kota's hair. Kota just mumbles again and leans into the touch slightly. Then in a move Kenny wasn't expecting he manages to push Kenny down on the couch. "The bed would be more comfortable," Kenny quietly admonishes, still in English. He's pretty sure it doesn't really matter what he's saying at this point.
Kenny makes a half hearted attempt at getting up, but Kota's grip on him tightens and Kenny gives up with a small chuckle. "Fine," he says. "Have it your way, just let me at least turn off the tv." He tries to reach for the remote, but Kota is like a very sleepy octopus and again Kenny gives up without much fight.
He tries to settle them comfortably on the couch and somehow ends up lying with Kota on top of him, Kota's head on his chest. He pets Kota's hair quietly as Kota's breathing settles down into the calm rhythms of sleep. The paused game plays it's repetitive music in the background.
"I love you," Kenny whispers quietly. One of these days he'll manage to tell Kota that, he promises himself.