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Kim will never admit it to anyone in his new pack, but his time spent trapped at Tony’s hellish mansion weighed on his mind more than he would like. On the days where he’s unable to exhaust himself, as he lies in his bed alone in his condo, his mind slips back to the fragments of memories still trapped beneath the surface. The dark dankness of the closet he had been tied up in, the sharp pain of Winner’s sneakers making contact with his bruised ribs, the loss of hope of making it out of there alive. All of it creeps right back up into his dreams. The only balm to the nightmares is a faint memory of an even fainter smell. The smell of sour fermented cherry. So light he would have assumed his weakened mind had made it up at the time. But it had stuck out so clearly to him once he arrived at Alan’s home and could finally make sense of what he missed while unconscious. He had passed out after another one of Winner’s beatings and when he had woken up, he was in the back of a car with Jeff driving. The faint sour scent of the cherries lingering on his clothes. Only after listening to Jeff speak with Alan did he realize the scent had to come from whomever had helped move him out of his makeshift cell and into Jeff’s waiting car. Jeff never owned up to who had helped him and in the aftermath of everything these past few months, from the investigation to slowly dismantling Tony’s network to help recover some of the sold children, Kim hasn’t had a moment to ask the young mechanic.
The next morning Kim went about his usual morning routine of a run and a quick shower before heading over to the garage. With his new transition to X-Hunters and a shift in the team’s training to include both Charlie and North, he’s spent nearly every day there and not much of it anywhere else. Things had been a little strained given the loss of Way and Dean from the team. While Kim never knew either, it’s clear that the other’s still had not returned to the level of noise and excitement he witnessed back when he was on Red Racing. Unfortunately, it was just an issue of giving themselves the time and space to heal. He, Charlie, and Jeff did their best to keep the mood from reaching a standstill but some days were better than others. As Kim made his way into the garage, he caught the slightest hint of something foreign mixed in with the usual smells of oil and machinery. With every step closer, the smell unfolded and the alpha’s mind raced to pinpoint exactly what it smelled like. As he reached the door of Alan’s office, it came to him. The rich heady smell was like that of cherries and wine, luxurious but fragrant as he stood there taking in deep breaths. As if he were taking in the actual alcoholic vapors, he felt his mind go a little hazy on the edges and his shoulders start relaxing without any conscious effort. Drunk on the scent, he moves to open the door to the office only to have it swing open and reveal a face he never expected to see again.
Standing before him, wearing a simple black tee and dark jeans, stood Tony’s former guard dog, Kenta. Kim shakes his head in an attempt to sober up from the scent of cherry wine and regain some clarity. It takes the racer more than a few seconds to realize the sweet heady scent was coming from the man standing before him. He realizes he’s never actually smelled Kenta before as he’s never stood close enough to the man before now. Before he can catch himself, Kim murmurs “I thought I recognized it.” He sees Kenta’s eyes widen ever so slightly before returning to his ever neutral resting face.
“Kim”
“Kenta”
“I’ll be on my way.” Kenta moves forward to pass by Kim. As their shoulders brush, Kim takes in another breath of boozy cherries.
The Korean man turns towards the quickly departing shadow, “What were you doing here?”
He hasn’t seen Kenta since that day in the mansion, even if he was aware through the X-Hunter grapevine that the other man had been staying with Pete once the businessman was able to get him released from prison. He looked a lot more relaxed compared to all the previous times Kim had run into him but still had an air of something unknown that Kim couldn’t quite name.
Kenta pauses where he’s standing a few steps away. Looking slightly over his shoulder, he replies with a quietly efficient tone, “Pete had some documents for Alan, so I am assisting by dropping them off. I will be taking my leave now.”
Kim, drunk on Kenta’s scent and seemingly no longer feeling in control of his body, blurts out, “It was you. You helped get me out. I remember your scent. Why?” As the words leave his mouth, he sees Kenta’s back stiffen just slightly before the same shoulders move from a quiet deep breath back to a less tense state.
Silence fills the air between them. Kim struggles to blink past the haze that still lingers to come up with something to replace the empty space. He’s not one typically for a loss of words or to fill silence with unnecessary talk but in this moment Kim flounders as he looks at Kenta.
In a barely audible whisper, with his back still turned to Kim, “You tried to do the right thing. You didn’t deserve to die for that.” Having said his piece, Kenta continued on his way out the door without another word to Kim.
Kim stood there still at a loss for words. While he held no active grudge against Kenta for what had happened, he had figured the man did not spare any thought for him. He would have been a small nuisance against Tony but not something that Kenta would have been asked to get his hands dirty with and instead he had been left as a plaything for Winner of all people. It felt strange knowing that Kenta still risked himself to help him when it did not benefit him in the slightest.
As he stands there re-evaluating the last few minutes, the boozy scent of cherries already starting to dissipate with the exit of its source, Kim was struck with another sudden thought,
I already miss his scent when he’s gone