Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Daniel had tried to forget. He knew that Mr Miyagi wouldn’t approve of him thinking of this - of the 1984 All Valley again. He had said to him - “Daniel-San, you try your best. You still prove yourself, you able to fight - fight honour”. However nowadays, Daniel’s mind was running off without him, particularly now after seeing none other than Johnny fucking Lawrence on TV, giving some interview? Hell no, what was this?! Life had suddenly decided to hit him with an unfunny joke. As Daniel sat on the cream coloured couch, previously relaxed on his day off, it was a really unpleasant surprise. He immediately scrambled for the controller - it seemed to take far too long to actually find it. When he pressed the button to switch the channel, the TV was not obeying his command. He gave out a hiss of anger as his impatience mounted up, and as he kept hearing Johnny’s stupid voice boasting. It was infuriating to see his bully become that successful in life, he thought that he would be humbled!

Well.. there was a time when Daniel thought things would turn out alright, when he allowed himself the hope of having a chance to win against Johnny Lawrence. Oh, but of course not. Johnny had always had the perfect life, never struggling. Perfect popular blond that the girls swooned over, karate king, rich ass born into money, and made yet more money. Daniel knew he shouldn’t be thinking so much about such stupid things, but he was just frustrated that it had always been this way. Why must things be handed to others so easily? He had worked hard for everything that he ever had - his car dealership, his beautiful house, actually having financial stability. Wealthy Encino raised kids could never understand, least of all Johnny Lawrence.

Finally, Daniel got the right distance for the button to work as the channel switched over. Probably Anthony had sat on it or something. But the change was too late as the damage had been done. Despite playing a massive game of pretend all these years, Daniel did actually know somewhat of what had happened to his nemesis after high school. It was the newspaper that first told him that his old rival was a champion in karate, sometime in the 1990s. Yeah, and he had been the first opponent defeated, thought Daniel. The first victim. Who knew what foul tactics had slipped under the radar? It disgusted Daniel to think of it. There were hard workers in life, such as himself. Then there were cheaters. To Daniel, Johnny was just a cheater. Given a lot in life, then cheated his way to the top. It had been thirty three years since the tournament, since Daniel had lost it. Since his rival Johnny Lawrence had smashed his elbow into Daniel’s leg, and to this day it had been the worst pain Daniel had ever felt.

He didn’t know what kind of evil could make someone do that. The guy was sick - he probably enjoyed making Daniel suffer. Actually he did for two months. And for what, over a girl? Over Ali? It was ridiculous! Daniel decided to just switch off the TV at this point, as he wasn’t watching it, and wasn’t even in the mood anymore. Trust the blond asshat to ruin Daniel’s mood thirty three years later. So instead, Daniel decided to go for a run to try and forget again. Besides, it was always good to run. It was something that kept him fit when he had retired from karate. He honestly missed it sometimes, but the dealership required plenty of attention, and so did his family. Career and family, perfectly balanced. As Mr Miyagi used to say, “most important thing in life is balance”. Though Daniel supposed a little bit more time could be made for karate, just a little. When he stepped into Mr Miyagi’s space, it brought back memories - good memories. He had trained Sam for a little while until she was eight, though she eventually lost the interest. It was quite disappointing for Daniel, but he wasn’t going to make her practise karate. It had to be her choice. All the same, he secretly hoped she’d come back to it one day, no matter how long it took.

Daniel changed to running gear and headed out, listening to music on the AirPods. He still liked music that was now considered old, but to him it felt like yesterday. Maybe he wasn’t down and hip with the kids, but nor did he want to be. He looked both ways before crossing the street, jogging on the spot as he did so in order to not lose the pace. He had asked Amanda if there was anything to do to help, but she said today should be a day to just relax. That was one thing that Daniel found a little hard to do usually. He was quite dedicated to LaRusso Auto Group, proud of it. Even Mr Miyagi’s bonsais were incorporated into the company, they gave out the little trees to every customer. Their catchphrase was “branch out to find your car”. Though sometimes he liked putting “ ‘Leaf’ those expensive prices behind!” Amanda didn’t like the latter one so much, so they made do with the branch one.

He loved karate, but there was no way he could put any karate related puns into the dealership when the crane kick had failed spectacularly. So the trees were the main focus, Daniel wanted everyone to have that same sense of calm he had when he walked into Mr Miyagi’s workshop and saw the mini tufts of green around. Speaking of calm, Daniel already felt much better as he continued his run, Wonderwall playing in his ears. That’s right - calm. He shouldn’t have gotten annoyed over seeing Johnny again, but the man skipped over the rational part of Daniel and went straight to irritation. It was going to be ok though, Daniel had done well for himself. He was happy in his life right now.

As he jogged, he saw a red car not far off - quite sporty. It was a 1991 Firebird. It looked quite cool, despite it not being Daniel’s style personally. His mind changed completely when he saw the person step out of the vehicle, Daniel’s stomach plummeted to the floor as he stopped dead in his tracks. A man. Blonde. Even wearing sunglasses, looking like a douche.. No, no. NO! It couldn’t be. Was that Johnny Lawrence? Daniel couldn’t stop staring in shock as he paused his music to judge properly. Yes.. he thought he was, it must be. Daniel had never expected this to happen at all, he wanted to believe that his eyes were playing cruel tricks on him, that his high school rival wasn’t back in town, but Daniel just knew. Well.. they were adults now, he’s probably forgotten Daniel’s existence, right? Yeah, must be nice to have that privilege to forget.

“No, shut up - I said you’re bitchin’ at me, not that you’re a bitch,” said Johnny, slamming his car door as he was on the phone. He hadn’t really changed how he dressed much, he wore a white jacket and still wore jeans that Daniel guessed were designer. His hair - usually Daniel thought blondes got a lot darker as they got older, but Johnny’s hair was truly the same as when he was a teen - still golden.

As tempting as it would be to eavesdrop, Daniel realised he didn’t want Johnny to see him as he snapped out of the daze. He also certainly didn’t want to talk to the blonde. Just go! Daniel willed his feet to begin running again in the direction he came from, and once off, he ran much quicker than before. He wanted to leave Johnny behind forever.

Chapter Text

When he finally got home, Daniel regretted running so fast as he now gasped for breath, sudden adrenaline fading and heart racing uncomfortably. The plan to forget had gone out the damn window, but Daniel was a little relieved. Crazy, but this saved the awful surprise in the form of Johnny Lawrence in a different way, or a more embarrassing way.

Once he regained his breath (life had flashed before his eyes at first) Daniel went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water.
“Hey honey,” Amanda’s voice sounded, and he glanced over. She had joined him in the kitchen, must’ve came back here whilst he was on the run.
“Hey Amanda,” said Daniel once he had finished the drink.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Seriously,” remarked Amanda. The woman was very straightforward, though it was one of the things Daniel liked about her.
“No, no honey I’m fine. I don’t know. I just went for a run”.
“I can see that. But usually people get red in the face, y’know. Not pale”.
“I know.. nothing’s wrong, don’t worry,” Daniel reassured. He wasn’t sure to be honest, but maybe he had overreacted earlier. Maybe Johnny had forgotten Daniel, and or he had matured. Well hopefully, as he was in his 50s now too after all.

Just then, Amanda gave one of her looks, the one where she knew that he wasn’t telling the full truth. It was scary how she knew so well. Luckily, she decided to drop it this time. Daniel debated telling her that he saw Johnny today, but he knew that Amanda would tell him he was severely overreacting. He thought that she either didn't understand the lengths Johnny went to in order to make his life hell in high school, or she assumed he'd have matured enough in adulthood to not bother Daniel. But Daniel wasn’t sure about that, he didn't have the same faith at all. Some tigers never changed their stripes after all. Or rather, a snake will always be a snake.

★★★

Winning is everything. It’s all that matters.

You’re a winner. Push past your limits.

SHOW NO MERCY.

Sensei Kreese had always told him this. For everything he had, he had to fight for it. His knuckles had bled and scabbed over many times, but Johnny didn’t care. He had continued through the pain and that had changed it all. In his matches, he had ignored the feeling inside him that told him to show mercy - and for that, he had received both success and regret at once. The regret had pulled him down like an anchor, it threatened to break him completely, but he had pushed it away. Johnny would do anything for his sensei. That had outweighed everything else, and in the end he was rewarded. A look into his life, and it seemed as if he did have it all. Johnny knew that he did have a lot - wealth, talent, even fame. But the guilt had eaten away at him throughout, when he knew what he had done. How he had made it this far. He had done far more brutal tactics than he had ever wanted to.

The cost of everything was his honour.

That was some price to pay. Johnny had his ups and downs. His downs were when he couldn’t take that guilt anymore, or the pressure of being at the top, and he would go to the bar to drink and forget it all. Numerous times, Kreese had had to order someone to take a wasted Johnny back to whatever hotel they were staying at, wherever the competition was. Kreese would yell at him, tell him to get it together. Johnny knew he was right but he couldn’t stop feeling stressed, and thinking of how he was such a piece of shit. It was fucking pathetic. So round and round it went viciously. The highs - parties, hookups and bitches, alcohol, drugs, winning. The lows - the regret, the guilt, the stress, the empty feeling that settled coldly in his stomach.

Thank god Kreese had never let Johnny stray too far. He reeled him in whenever he was getting too close to the edge. Despite some drugs when it wasn’t the competition, Johnny was still in perfect shape. Eventually, the darker days passed when Johnny decided that enough was enough - he had to win his own way, no matter what. He had to find his honour again. Scandals were swept under the rug as Kreese paid off important witnesses. However, as well as the lack of honour - not nearly enough, much to Johnny’s shame - he hated using money on something like that. See in 1986, Johnny Lawrence had won the Sekai Taikai at nineteen years old. After that, things had picked up incredibly quickly - it was exciting and terrifying at the same time. He had suddenly received many, many offers from greedy managers all wanting a champion on their hands. The blonde had made it into the newspapers, handsome face smirking with the mark of achievement. The world was captivated by the star of Cobra Kai.

Sid was in shock and then wanted to claim credit, but Johnny mercilessly shot that down and told newspapers that Sid didn’t support him, it was all lies. No, he didn’t want his personal life in the papers, but the vile man had started it. Johnny just finished the business. Then, Kreese had instantly increased his grip on Johnny until it could go no tighter. He put his entire dojo on complete hold for Johnny as he wanted to support him in the early days, and had told him that many selfish men would want to sink their claws into him and manipulate him into a financial trap. Johnny was incredibly grateful for how the man had pretty much dropped everything for him at that point, he had guided him and protected him. Perhaps that was why Johnny felt like he owed it to his sensei to quit questioning his methods, and fight how he wanted him to. After all, it was what yielded results. And god, Johnny wanted to win. So Kreese’s top student was under his complete control - and Johnny understood that. He was always going to remain loyal to the man, as he was the one who had trained him and transformed him into the champion he was today. Yes, it had all turned out ok in the end, though he had to draw the line.

Because in the late 80s and early 90s, Johnny was both on top of the world and yet sinking into utter despair. It was during this time when he had followed Kreese’s every command, even when a little part of himself died when he went against his inner moral compass. Ironically, despite Kreese helping Johnny out of countless situations, he was also the root cause behind the problems that Johnny faced. He had stayed longer than he had even originally planned as he didn’t want Johnny to ruin it all. It was ten years after the All Valley tournament against Daniel LaRusso when Johnny wanted to regain honour. The tensions completely spilt over as Johnny, at the bar again one night, had told Kreese he had enough of it. He didn’t want his career to all hinge upon lack of honour, to have his legacy remain rotten. Kreese had obviously argued against this - honour didn’t matter in a fight. There were only winners and losers, and so far Johnny had won.

The argument turned nasty as one could expect between two men who were Cobra Kai through and through. When feelings were cast aside, they always found a way to come back a lot stronger than before. You couldn’t banish them forever. When Kreese had finally had it, he had left Johnny to return to his dojo, like he had wanted to for a couple of years now but was caught up. He had called Johnny a loser, and said he would lose if he didn’t follow his teachings. Johnny knew the man couldn’t deny his value, he knew he’d beg to come back one day. He had still won his fight without any foul tactics that Kreese always advised for, and it felt so much better. Sure, he lost some, you couldn’t win it all - but that was where it had all felt much sweeter. He realised that despite being his sensei who had rooted for him, taught him, how much he had poisoned his mind. Johnny had just been a yes man all these years. With that realisation, he distanced himself for a while. Kreese tried to call him many times when his temper finally died down, and when he couldn’t deny any longer that Johnny was simply too valuable to lose. But when Johnny had a chance or wanted to answer, conversations were kept short.

Chapter Text

Years went by like that as Johnny focused upon his career and nothing else - except some hookups on the side. Even if he wanted to find someone more serious, there were bound to be a lot of gold diggers, so he kept his guard up. Then one day, a side chick began turning into something more - Shannon Keene. She was smoking hot, and did have a personality unlike the plastic hoes. She was fiery and reminded Johnny a little of Ali, though he told himself it was stupid to think of his high school ex. It was a crazy relationship between him and Shannon, made even crazier by the press being interested for some reason in who Johnny was dating. Then she got pregnant. Despite being in his 30s by then, Johnny didn’t feel ready for that. He was also still busy with his career, though he already decided he’d retire from the competitive aspect the second he felt he was slipping from his prime. He would fall with grace still.

When Laura Lawrence passed, all Johnny wanted to do was fight. He couldn’t quit now, this had to be at least the last one. The last thing he wanted to do was face family. Perhaps it was selfish, but Johnny was dealing with his grief in the only way he knew how - through a fight. So Johnny fought his last competitive match abroad when Robby Keene was born in 2002. Shannon was furious with him, she didn’t think Laura was a good enough reason. She had called him selfish, and Johnny snapped back at her that she wasn’t being understanding at all. Besides, he was able to provide well financially. The truth though was that he was a coward. He already had plenty of money for the rest of his life - he just wasn’t ready for a kid to come into the picture. Shannon had detected this and said that it wasn’t like she was ready either, and with zero support in the hospital that night. She thought Johnny was using his mother’s death as an excuse to run away. And so Johnny had ruined things yet again. By the time he returned to California, when he found out that the kid didn’t even have his last name - Shannon had got one over him - he was infuriated. He didn’t understand how she could do that to him, his mother had just died! The fight between the two had escalated into their break up, and Robby hadn’t even had his first birthday.

Johnny didn’t leave his kids' life completely, even if the boy was a complete accident. In fact he was the one who still provided money for them, Robby lived in Encino where Johnny grew up. Though perhaps he did walk out on the kid, he became depressed after the loss of his mother, he was nearly always abroad. Eventually, years went by and Johnny forgot how important they were. He supposed that Shannon had probably told lies to Robby about him. Johnny didn’t think he was selfish, he thought it was probably for the best that he took some time for himself after Laura’s death. All the same, the guilt and regret increased. Guilt that he indeed didn’t spend enough time with Robby in his childhood, and now they had a strained relationship. Regret, that Johnny wasn’t there for those milestone moments.

That led up to today, as he was making a long awaited return back to the Valley. He blasted some good old 80s music on the radio, it was still superior to the crap they got today. Cruising along in his firebird, nostalgia hit him as he drove down the sunny palm tree lined roads. He had missed California - his home. Sure, he’d been away for a very long time, but he was now ready to settle down here again. He planned to help Kreese in the dojo, not because he still felt he owed the man, but it would give him something to actually do. Just because he had money didn’t mean he wanted to laze around, since he had done enough of that for a lifetime on his exotic vacations, coors beer in his hand. Also, the valley wasn’t like Hollywood - he wouldn’t get bombarded with fans, thank god. At first, he adored the attention from the karate fans and would even perform a kick for them. Even girls would squeal over the hot champion, though they weren’t even interested in the sport he did, just him. If only Ali had a fraction of that. Johnny became quite sick of them all in only a couple of years, but the hype had obviously died down over the years luckily.

His phone on the passenger seat rang, and kept ringing. Must be Shannon. Johnny pulled his firebird into the next free spot he could see, and answered the phone.
“Yeah? I’m here ok?”
“Johnny. You here to actually stay this time?” replied Shannon on the other end of the line. “You've left us plenty of damn times, may aswell go get the milk at this point and we wouldn’t notice”. Johnny didn’t like her tone, he wondered if she had been drinking. She sounded it. How often did that happen? Did he leave Robby with a drunk, no good alcoholic mother?
“Yeah ok I am. I’m going to try and be there for our son more,” said Johnny truthfully. Shannon gave a laugh that instantly pissed Johnny off.
“Oh yeah, that’s worked out wonderfully hasn’t it? Listen, you either stay or you don’t, and you’ve been absent for more of Robby’s life than here you asshole!”
“Oh quit bitchin’ at me!” snapped Johnny.
“Did you just call me a bitch?! You’re done! You, John Lawrence, are a self entitled idiot! If you think you’re stealing Robby from me after I raised him by myself, you have another thing coming!”

At this point, Johnny needed another beer to cope with this. So many times had they argued, but it would die down soon enough. Johnny rolled his eyes as he got out of the car.
“No shut up - I said you’re bitchin’ at me, not that you’re a bitch,” said Johnny as he slammed his car door. Seriously, did the woman turn deaf when she drank?
“Don’t you dare tell me to shut up-” But Johnny didn’t hear the rest of that sentence because he had hung up on Shannon. If she wasn’t going to have a somewhat civilised conversation, there was no point.

Chapter Text

Johnny felt much better when he had sipped a beer. Ok so he was driving, but it was only one little drink and he had just chilled out for a little bit on a bench. Besides, he had a higher tolerance now, the more he had alcohol. But it’s not like he’d ever admit that was an issue. So off he went in the Firebird once again, 80s music blaring, and suddenly when he stopped at a red light there was a billboard smack bam in his vision. What was on there? His eyes caught sight of none other than Daniel LaRusso in a black suit on the left side of the sign, holding a stupid little tree whilst doing some yoga pose! Shiny gold letters spelt out - “LaRusso’s Auto Group” with smaller white words underneath that said - “branch out to find your car”. Johnny snorted with laughter. How utterly fucking ridiculous! The only thing customers would want to find when LaRusso was pestering them was the exit. What had the man been up to and why was the valley hearing about him? He drove past the lights, leaving the amusing billboard behind and went through town to Encino, where Shannon and Robby were. Hopefully she had calmed down by now, and he could get to say hi to Robby. This time, he wanted to be here to stay.

When he arrived at the house and parked into the driveway (it was a very nice spacious house but he wasn’t like Sid, he wouldn’t get a stupidly oversized mansion and have any servants) it was a pretty weird feeling. To really be back in the valley was one thing, but to be back in Encino was something he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He sucked it up and ignored that feeling quickly then went in, but when he was in the kitchen putting his keys on the marble counter he couldn’t see or hear anyone around. Maybe Robby was in his room? He could’ve sworn that school was over for today now, as it was the late afternoon. There was no way he’d yell for that boy when he could just text him. So he did, and waited in the kitchen for him patiently. Suddenly, he heard some commotion upstairs, some laughter. Robby better not be having a hookup right now when he knew that Johnny was making his grand comeback here today!

He leaned against the counter, bored and considering just going upstairs and yelling at the kid after all when he saw Robby go down the stairs, late to arrive like Cinderella at the ball.
“Take your time huh,” said Johnny.
“Oh really, says the guy who took all my life to permanently settle here?” asked Robby sarcastically as he approached Johnny. His hair had grown a lot more than when Johnny had last seen him, it was like some bob cut that went hideously wrong.
“Wait. What the hell is your haircut right now?” Johnny narrowed his eyes at his son. He wasn’t a bad looking kid, but that haircut really made zero sense. Clearly no one ever told him how shit his hair looked, which Johnny thought was cruel.
“Excuse me?” Robby looked perplexed as he glared at him. “You come here to insult me? Seriously?”
“I’m not aiming to, just.. nevermind. Who’s upstairs with you?” asked Johnny. He didn’t want to cause the second argument of today, and with his family again.
“My friends. That, oh yeah, you don’t care to know,” said Robby. That wasn’t fair, but Johnny didn’t say anything along those lines. He knew he had fucked up with not being there for Robby so much, so he guessed it was understandable he was like this, though that didn’t mean he was content with it.
“I do care, it’s why I’m here ok? Now is your mom around?”

Robby was quiet for a moment. “Ok look. You might’ve provided for me, my mom. But that doesn’t give you any right to come into our lives when we’ve done just fine without your actual presence,” said Robby coldly. “So go ahead, snuggle in and try to recreate this happy family life. Though you had your chance when I was born, and yet you barely stuck around”. His words hit Johnny like a punch to the gut, but he didn’t give the slightest indication of it. It was just what hurt was that none of what Robby was saying had any untruth to it.
“I get it. And I guess your mom isn’t around. Who am I kidding, it's probably happy hour somewhere in the world,” sneered Johnny as Robby hadn’t answered his question, and Shannon had been drinking earlier in the day anyway. His defences were up once again, as quick as they had momentarily been left aside. Every time he got vulnerable, the best way to hide it was to strike. Go for an attack, it wouldn’t let you down. Instead, it also managed to push everyone further and further away, leaving them to think Johnny was the asshole. The villain in all of their lives. That was why he sometimes thought they’d all be better off without him.

“Don’t. Don’t talk about my mom like that,” Robby said in a low voice, his green eyes staring hard at Johnny.
“I know she’s been drinking”.
“Whatever, again you don’t care, or it wouldn’t have taken you this long to come back. You think whatever you want about mom, but at least she stuck around,” replied Robby. “I am done here”.

Robby went back to his room, leaving Johnny both angry and hurt, but he just couldn’t blame him for saying the truth. He would just have to prove it to Robby that he cared, and that was going to be some goal. Was it even fucking possible?

“At least she stuck around”.

It already reminded Johnny of his own mother, Laura. God he missed her so damn much, sure she had married the creep of a man Sid but it was so that Johnny had a better chance to do well for himself in life. And he did. There were just some weaknesses, the same as he had when he was a boy. His emotions and lack of control could spiral situations into fights, oh and don’t forget he was the best at causing fights in the first place. It worked wonders in tournaments and yet when he left all that chaos behind, it just damaged other aspects of his life. Family was the one thing that he never had much luck with, and it didn’t seem like that was changing.

Chapter Text

He chilled on the couch to watch some TV, and at some point he heard boy’s voices along with Robby’s talking as they came downstairs. Definitely no hookup, he was telling the truth then. God they sounded annoying. Finally they went, and the house seemed a lot quieter without them, even though Johnny only heard two different voices (that weren’t Robby). Eventually Shannon came back, she was in a much better mood than earlier and they managed to actually talk properly this time without some fight about Robby. Johnny decided not to bring up the drinking aspect, since it was a little hypocritical to do so when he drank so much himself. But Johnny had been away, Shannon was meant to look after Robby. Clearly she let herself slip. When he looked in the fridge, he wasn’t happy to see a severe lack of beer and honestly, a lack of good food. It wasn’t like he was the model guy for being a family man, but he instantly decided some grocery shopping was in order. Either Shannon was neglectful again or she just hadn’t done her weekly shop. Whichever it was, Johnny couldn’t handle a fridge that was kinda empty. No way.

That’s how he found himself driving in the Firebird yet again, this time with groceries in the trunk of the car. One drink. Just one. Besides, he could do with a snack too after that effort. By this time, it was completely dark outside. He parked his car in front of ‘Mini Mart’, not caring at all that this was Reseda. Hey it was all the better, any people he saw would know how to mind their own damn business over here, though there were actually no other cars in the tiny parking lot. In Encino, there was probably much more chance they’d recognise him in some form and pester him. Ugh, not tonight, can’t be asked for that. It was his first night back in the valley. He stepped out of the car and headed in, got the beer and was about to pay but then spotted pizza slices on some shelf in a display box, as if waiting for him. It was on the counter at the front of the shop. Yes, that’ll do, pizza was a treasure no matter what time of the goddamn day.

He put his beer on the counter.
“I’ll have one of them. That one,” ordered Johnny to the cashier as he stared intensely at his chosen pizza slice on the top shelf. The tanned man took the slice out quickly, and Johnny felt annoyed at the sight of his stupid hands touching his food. Talk about a lack of hygiene huh.
“Aren’t you gonna wear a glove?” asked Johnny in disgust. He didn’t want that fat man’s greasy ass fingers on his pizza! The cashier didn’t reply, looking incredibly unbothered. Was this the norm in Reseda? How dumb. Just then a kid came into the shop, gabbling something at the cashier. Was it in Spanish? Probably. Johnny didn’t care, he just wanted his food.
“Yeah,” said the cashier to whatever the heck the kid said. This was America, why couldn’t they speak English?
“Can you put that on a plate,” demanded Johnny as he stared daggers at the man. How was he meant to eat a damn pizza slice without anything? At that, the cashier started rummaging from behind the counter, and the kid came up next to Johnny to pay for his stuff. He had black hair in a quiff and was wearing a grey hoodie with red sleeves, and was also tanned. Another immigrant, thought Johnny. Though it wasn’t surprising at all that Reseda had immigrants here.

“My grandma’s not feeling well,” he said, holding up a pink bottle to show him. Why did he need to know that? He thought people here would just keep to themselves.
“Didn’t ask. Cmon what’s Spanish for just gimme my damn slice?” complained Johnny, getting more irritated by the second at the trash service. The cashier stopped rummaging behind the counter, saying yet more Spanish with a slight laugh, to which the kid gave a glance at Johnny in amusement.
“What did you just say?” asked Johnny. The cashier stopped his smile and glanced at him, but gave no response.
“What did he say?” repeated Johnny at the kid.
“You don’t wanna know,” he replied quickly. These immigrants and their secrets - no, judging by the way the kid looked at the cashier’s remark, it was some little insult. The kid breathed in. “He.. said you have a tiny..” he gave a small gesture.
“He said I have a tiny weener. Tell him he has a tiny weener,” said Johnny, staring at the cashier as he instantly realised what the kid meant, but the cashier immediately interrupted him.
“I speak English asshole”.

First time he actually spoke it to him though, thought Johnny.
“Oh really”. Johnny shoved the money on the counter in front of the man, snatched his beer and pizza then left. It didn't matter about any change, he was rich so who cared. That immigrant needed it more than him anyway. When he came out of the shop slowly walking down, he was greeted by the sight of another car in the parking lot which was black and blocky. It would’ve arrived just now, since it was empty before. He didn’t think much of it until he heard hyper hooting noises from the people that got out of the car - great, it was some dumb rowdy teenagers. Whatever, he’d be out of here soon as he finished his pizza anyway. There were four of them and they passed him on their way to Mini Mart, one of them blowing their smoke in his face. He ignored it but glanced back at them as they entered the shop. They were just some idiots, nothing new.

He finally sat down on a ledge and bit into his lukewarm pizza, hearing loud traffic noises from the main road all the way over here. It was a stark contrast to the extreme quiet of the Encino roads in their neighbourhood. Then there was some homeless bum sniffing through a bin opposite him, her hair a tangled mess. Jesus Christ.
“What the hell you doing?! Why you gotta blow my spot?!” Johnny heard the shop door open, he looked over. The kids that had just arrived in the parking lot had come out again, with one sounding pissed.
“Look dude I- I..” stammered the one who said about his grandma to Johnny, walking backwards as he was trying to retreat from the others.
“Nah he thought we were college dumbass!”
“Look I didn’t know you guys were trying to buy beer I’m sorry!” said the kid quickly in a panicked voice. Johnny went back to his pizza. Suddenly, a grunt sounded and he heard the noise of the kid being pushed over, rustling through the bushes and landing on the lawn near where he was. It was the third fight of today, but thank god he wasn’t involved in it. He just ignored the kids, despite the fact they were really loud.

The kid’s getting picked on. It was none of his business though, right? They were obviously minors anyway, so if he got involved in some fight with those assholes then it would be fucking chaos. All the same, he felt a twinge of guilt at how that guy was being treated, because it reminded him of his early childhood of getting picked on aswell, before he ever discovered karate. Before he was the one to strike first, to attack before he could get hurt.
“Ooh what do we got here?”
“Yeah what d’you got, what d’you got..”
Johnny was eating his pizza slower as they kept distracting him. It was just that they outnumbered the kid so much, it was actually pretty pathetic. At least when Johnny shoved LaRusso over for the first time on the beach, it was a one on one fight. Even if it wasn’t exactly fair, he didn’t go and order his gang on him then. Not until LaRusso invaded his dojo, looking to pick a fight all over again. Showing that he hadn’t been humbled enough.

They were laughing as they had seen the pink bottle for diarrhoea.
“Hey we should call him Rhea!” one of them snickered, the others laughing at the joke. Johnny glanced over.
“Give it back dude. It’s for my grandma!”
“Oh it’s for your grandma? Oh shit I’m sorry man. Hey you want it? Hey you can take all that shit. Take that!”
He looked to see the Asian kid he had seen before pouring the bright pink liquid on quiff boys hair, their gang shrieking with laughter at the sight. Of fucking course, something had to happen.
“Bitch”. The bottle was chucked away, the plastic making a hollow noise as it hit the floor.
“Asshole..” said Quiff. Oh? This kid had balls to say that when he was being ganged up on.
“Whatchu say Rhea?” demanded the Asian, sounding pissed as hell.
“Uh I didn’t say anything-” But it was too late, he was cut off by a hard punch, and when Johnny looked over again he saw he had fallen over onto the grass. The gang of assholes were amused.

“Ooh, that’s brute Ky!”
“Or what, gonna cry?”
Quiff kid had started to run.
“Hey where are you going pussy?” He got shoved and gave a groan of pain as he crash landed on Johnny’s car hood! What the hell?! He felt a flash of intense anger at the idea of his car being wrecked by some dumbass kids, let alone a bunch of assholes who picked on a lone dweeb. Johnny only wanted to get beer and a slice of pizza, how difficult was that?
“Hey!” shouted Johnny angrily as he got up from the ledge and faced the dumb kids. “Watch the car man!” The boys finally shut up from their laughter.
“Who’s this dude-?”
“Just leave the dork alone,” said Johnny, trying to cool off. They were just some stupid teenagers, but he wished they could take their petty ass fight someplace where he wasn’t. The picked on kid turned in shock, seemingly at the intervention of Johnny.
“See this guy? Eat his dinner at the Mini Mart like a bum,” mocked one guy in a grey adidas jacket. The others burst out laughing.
“Trust me guys, you don’t wanna keep doing this. Now get out of here and fuck off,” Johnny told them bluntly. If they were smart, they’d do that. Heck, it would be the easy way. But when was the easy way ever taken?
“Nah, you get the hell out of here, loser!” exclaimed the Asian as he grinned, sharply pushing Johnny. He was back a step from how hard the kid tried to shove him, and he looked at them. Three nitwit minions were standing behind their leader, all of them laughing and smirking. It just pissed Johnny off even more. Their laughter faded into a moment of silence, and he had warned them. Now, it was fair game.

After the brief stillness, Johnny launched his attack on the Asian, giving a high front kick. His foot met the kid's face hard, and it was beautifully satisfying as he instantly fell over onto the grass. Strike first. The rest of the group gasped at his sudden action, backing away.
“Ah..” mumbled Johnny, but they were distracted from that. He hoped he didn’t pull a muscle just then, since he wasn’t exactly warmed up or indeed young anymore. Then the group ran at him, the first kid he deflected, blocking his punch and holding onto his arm as he hit another kid. He turned around with a back kick to the third kid's stomach, and he fell. When the Asian guy tried to get in, he did a front kick that knocked him down again. The fight continued, obviously none of the assholes could stand a chance against Johnny who was a pro at karate. They had definitely picked the wrong guy to piss off. Strike hard. His last move had one of them flying from Johnny’s shove, rolling over his Firebirds hood and onto the ground. Stupid, but pretty damn fun to hit those guys that were acting like dicks.

Chapter Text

“Are you…” started Quiff as he gawked at him from the sidelines, near where Johnny had previously sat with his pizza. However suddenly he was grabbed ahold of and tackled from behind, both fell to the ground before the kid could finish his sentence. The Asian gave a hit to him and Johnny grunted, but managed to get up. His arm was around Johnny’s throat, but he quickly elbowed the kid to then flip him over on the ground.
“Is that all you got ladies?” taunted Johnny as the Asian groaned in pain from the fall. If these kids were gonna act stupid, more than your usual teenagers, then he’d sure give them an ass kicking to remember. They wearily got up, and the Asian kid came at Johnny to punch him but he ducked under his fist. The others tried to get in their attacks, but it was obviously useless. They really were dumbasses, just didn’t know when to quit and leave it alone. He managed to headbutt one, and when the Asian came running at him again furiously, Johnny grabbed his throat.
“What, having trouble breathing?” sneered Johnny, seeing the kid beginning to struggle. No mercy. He was just teaching him a lesson, how to fuck off when needed. Just then though, he heard sirens blaring startlingly near him. Oh shit. How the hell were the cops here? Nobody had called them, unless some passer by saw him. He let go of the Asian immediately as if he was a hot potato, but it was too late as cops ran to Johnny.
A shout came. “Get off the kid!” One of them pepper sprayed his eyes, the burning sensation was agony. He yelled out in pain as his hands instinctively covered his eyes, as if that would solve it.
“Hey hey it’s not his fault!” called out Quiff.

“Arghh,” growled Johnny, still pissed off. “I was defending that kid,” he snapped, though he had to gain the excuse of his car being threatened to get involved. And all he wanted was to eat a fucking pizza!
“It’s true guys, calm down. This is all a big misunderstanding,” explained Quiff hair quickly as he jogged over to be closer to them. Good, he better damn well explain. It was partly his fault that Johnny was in this shit. The cops had paused and they looked at eachother, then at Johnny and the kid.
“Narh he attacked me!” yelled the Asian kid who had apparently got up from the lawn already, stomping up to their group as if he was having a tantrum.
“Hey kid, how about you leave this to the big guys?” Johnny scoffed. “Now it’s all a game of who says what. Take me for all I care, but you’d just waste your damn time,” he continued as he rolled his eyes.
“Does he look familiar to you?” asked one cop to his partner as he looked quizzically at Johnny, like he hadn’t heard a word that he actually said. Fucking terrific, he was getting recognised. Then again it was probably for the best now that he was in some hot water already, even though he just returned to the valley.

He got out a hundred bucks from his pocket and passed it into that cop’s hand. “Let's leave it at this, just don’t report it to some media”. Ok he was bribing a cop to pretend that he didn’t see anything, but it was fine. It wasn’t his fault some teenagers were being asses, that his car was being threatened. His Firebird was precious to him, more than money. The cop stared back at him in bewilderment - he hoped that he wasn’t some uptight high moral figure, though instead he came out with something completely different to what Johnny thought.
“You’re that karate champion,” he said in awe. “The one always in some drama”.
What?! Not true, fuck! Johnny scowled at him. He didn’t want Kreese’s controversy attached to him anymore, though he couldn’t blame the man for all of his issues. No, he had been caught drinking many times by paparazzi in the past, caught from hookups and they would think he cheated or that he moved on way too fast. It was true, he moved on hella fast considering a lot was the one night stand shit, yet it was taken as some sort of hot gossip which pissed him off to no end.
“Shit! Sorry I pepper sprayed you-” the other cop began.

“Just take the damn cash,” interrupted Johnny, getting increasingly impatient. The cops nodded. “Apologies. So you were defending this kid?”
“Yeah,” said Quiff, as he snapped out of some trance, unable to hide his pure relief. “Exactly”.
“What?! You’ll just fucking believe them?! Dude I’ll get my dad down at your station,” threatened the Asian kid. “He will sue you!”
“Kiddo, that’s enough now. Go home. All of you,” replied the cop calmly. Johnny resisted the urge to smirk as the kids trudged back to their car miserably, talking amongst themselves. It was much more quiet when they couldn’t be heard anymore and had gone from the parking lot. Quiff kid couldn’t hide his beaming look, even when he still had the pink liquid of the Pepto in his hair.
“Have a nice rest of your night. Oh and, you mind taking a pic with me? I can boast to my wife,” grinned the cop.

★★★

Johnny grumbled quietly as the cops finally left after that. Jesus fucking Christ, so much for an uneventful grab a beer and snack. Speaking of which, he wasn’t holding either. He walked over to where he had sat before and reclaimed his beer that was propped up on the ledge, but his pizza slice was gone! Looking up, he saw that the homeless bum was still here. She watched the entire damn thing? She met his look and stared back at him intensely.
“What you looking at? Your pizza’s gone, I ate it,” she said happily, not giving a care in the world. Great, he had less than half of it and now it was already gone, stolen by that bum. The hobo seemed to skip away gleefully, proud that she stole Johnny’s pizza. He turned to finally get the hell out of here, then he heard a voice. What now?
“Hey uh..” The picked on kid had approached him, looking very hesitant. “I wanna thank you”. Only now did Johnny realise that he had braces too. How old was this kid?! He had the physical form of a limp noodle, so he saw how he got bullied. This kid couldn’t pack a punch in if his life depended on it.
“Yeah? Now you’ve said it. Go home,” said Johnny bluntly. He hated the curious look of awe on his face, way worse than the cop - the boy kept staring. What was Johnny, the onion on the microscope in science class?
“No no I knew I recognised you in the shop, it just took me so long to y’know, register,” he said with a shy chuckle. “I can't believe you're really here, in the valley.. in Reseda? Then I saw you with those karate moves and.. wow!” He rambled. Please shut up.
“Yeah, old school karate. Look I get it but I just wanna go, so finish whatever the hell you’re saying fast”.
“I wanna learn it. That, the karate,” said the kid with admiration, not offended from his attitude. “If I knew it then those guys wouldn’t bother me at school at all”.

It was like a fucking mirror was pointed at him. As if all of a sudden he was now Kreese, facing his younger self. See Johnny used to be a timid kid since his confidence was beaten down badly by jerks at school and his asshole of a stepfather, Sid. Then John Kreese came into the picture. He taught him everything, but the key to it all wasn’t just knowing the moves. It was having confidence.
“You really want to huh,” said Johnny as he studied the kid in front of him. He nodded back eagerly, black eyes gleaming with hope. Eh, there wasn’t any reason to say no to him. If he was too weak Cobra Kai would just spit him back again, but at least he would’ve tried.
“Alright”. He hadn't seen Kreese at all since he was back, but by Saturday he would've had plenty of chance to speak to him. Kreese would let him teach, he knew he would. For this kid to have the opportunity to prove himself worthy to join Cobra Kai.
“You're gonna be my karate teacher?” he asked excitedly.
“No. I'm gonna be your sensei”.

★★★

Johnny drove back content, the glow from the street lamps flashing by. Sure he hadn’t managed to have all of his pizza; but he beat a few asshole teenagers, avoided getting arrested, and even recruited a new kid for Cobra Kai - Miguel Diaz. There was just one thing he didn’t know - how was the dojo doing nowadays? Fuck, he hoped Kreese hadn’t told students to cheat so many times that it was shut down. Or perhaps just as bad if he did and it wasn’t out of business by now - Johnny would have to be the one to end it. No, surely not either of those, right? The man wasn’t stupid, he wouldn’t just throw his dojo in the trash can like that. Besides, Kreese had never told him about any shut down. Though Johnny knew that karate itself had gradually diminished in popularity over the years, it couldn’t be helped. Nothing lasts forever. But Kreese would probably sooner die than watch Cobra Kai go down the drain, to witness the new pussy generation being weak and lazy. He didn’t know the generation names, what the hell was the difference? All he knew was that kids now seemed different to when he was their age. Back in the day, Cobra Kai instilled values and discipline into the youth, just how John Kreese had wanted. So pushing aside some differences to fix the situation seemed like the least he could do.

The following day, he decided to seek out Kreese. First, he drove over to where the dojo was in town. Sitting in the Firebird, he looked over at his karate dojo across the street opposite from him. It felt kinda surreal being back, he hadn’t been here in years. No wood boarding the windows up - a good sign. It didn’t look open right now though, being still school hours then no one would be there. And no one was around peering into the windows, admiring the shining trophies as they used to do every time he would go here. He sighed to himself. As soon as he spoke to Kreese, he’d probably get a key for it if it was still in business, but he just had to find the man. He knew he was still in the valley, since if he wasn’t then he definitely would’ve told Johnny. Annoyingly, his old sensei didn’t care for mobile phones and immediately dismissed them even when they first came out. It would be so much easier to text him, Johnny made a note to himself that he should attempt to convince Kreese to finally get a phone.

He got out of the car, feeling bored of just sitting around staring at the dojo as if something would happen. It’s not as if John Kreese would walk right out of it, announcing “here I am!” Johnny locked his car doors and went to a nearby bar to have a drink and ultimately decide what his next move would be. Probably calling would help. Oh fuck him for making his movements so tough to trace! But really, this had happened before. Kreese would revel in the spotlight for a while, then skulk under a rock to be out of sight, out of mind until his next move. Johnny ordered a beer when he had sat at the bar on the stool, pondering silently about Kreese. He took a sip of his drink, but afterwards he immediately felt the warm presence of someone sitting right next to him.

“Always had a soft spot for beer”.

Johnny almost jumped when he heard that all too familiar voice - Kreese had found him.

Chapter Text

“What the hell are you doing here?” asked Johnny, turning to look at him. The man had definitely aged since the last time he saw him in person, in fact he couldn’t even remember when that was. He felt perplexed that out of all the places, his old sensei was just hanging out at some random bar? Eh, why question it at this point huh. Perhaps he didn’t need a modern phone because he just sensed Johnny’s presence at some given moment, as amusing as that sounded.
“A better question is.. why have you not called?” John Kreese was well used to Johnny’s bluntness, having only increased since the original fight that had resulted in cut ties with him. From mentor to enemy, to whatever they were now. Though it’s not as if they’d ever address that.
“I was going to,” said Johnny shortly. It sounded like a weak excuse, but it was the truth. “But I’m back in the valley. For good now”.
“I’m glad you haven’t forgotten your roots. For a second I thought otherwise”.

Was it a different start to things if he had returned to his hometown, to the same place that started it all? He believed he could make it work. All of it, right?

“You thought wrong. I want to swing by the dojo, if you’d want me”. He would. Surely. He knew how much he meant to Kreese, to the point that he reckoned he had waited for the moment that Johnny decided to join him. However, he’d have to make it clear that he wasn’t some yes man anymore, some kid who did anything he was told. When he thought about how he used to be, he hated what he saw. Some clone really, not himself. There was even a tattoo of a hissing cobra on his arm, which was similar enough to Kreese - he had gotten the thing done in 88, two years after he won the Sekai Taikai. He was fine with it, obviously his karate was a huge part of his life. No shit. It just sometimes brought back memories of having no thoughts but to win for his sensei, not himself. And not his own way.

The truth though was that he wanted Cobra Kai to mend the empty space that had evolved over the years. As stupid as it was, something felt like it was missing - especially after doing everything, experiencing pretty much all of what he set out to do. He’d been all over the globe now, it was time to come back home. That included the one real thing he’d ever known. Karate.
“I’ve waited for you to come to your senses again. I knew you would kid,” said Kreese with a slight smile. Well, what counted as his smile anyway, being more a vaguely satisfied smirk. “Finish your drink, then we’ll stop by the dojo. I’ve got something for you”.

★★★

When he was done, they headed out and crossed the street. The bar they were at wasn’t far off at all - and Johnny felt a sudden wave of nostalgia as he approached the place that had begun everything for him. Even the painted snake was still there, along with the wording “karate strike like a Cobra Kai karate”. He remembered the long hours of training as a teenager, particularly in the summer when the sunshine was strong, the humidity heavy. Then the ache of his muscles when he got back home, mostly in the early days. Kreese’s voice never softened when he knew that in order to push them to their real potential, you had to be tough. They’d be told to go on runs when they could to get their stamina up. For everything in fitness counted towards becoming a winner. Almost after every session, him and the guys would hang out. Those days were so damn simple, yet he remembered when it felt like the world was ending when Ali broke up with him. Funny, he had no idea what lay ahead.

He stepped into the dojo with Kreese when the man had unlocked it, and Johnny instantly felt like he had been taken back in time as they walked slowly inside. Countless training sessions were in his mind as he saw the place, and a lot indeed looked the same. He had passed trophies that were still around as you came through the doorway, and the framed photographs were still there. Of course including the one that Johnny recognised immediately. It showed Kreese when he was in the army, posing with his gun. Underneath it said - Cpt. John Kreese. US ARMY. 1970 - 72. KARATE CHAMPION. The US flag was still looking down upon them from its high placing on the wall above the mirrors, opposite Johnny. But it had obviously somewhat changed in the many years that it had been around. Standing near the doorway, the familiar cardboard cutout of Kreese in his black gi was showing his present self in the fighting stance.

The mats were no longer the same white ones, they were coloured black and red. Symbols of the yellow cobra were on the light walls, aswell as black printed letters on the wall to his left saying “strike first, strike hard, no mercy” where the weapons were rearranged underneath.
“What d’you think of the new.. renovations?” asked Kreese.
“Yeah, they’re good,” said Johnny as he wandered through after him.
“Johnny, a lot’s happened since you left. More than I ever told you”.
“And what’s that?”
Kreese slowly approached him opposite, looking the bearer of bad news. “You were here when the dojo was on top. A lotta kids don’t care to know how to fight. It’s all this pussy ‘online’ bullshit. For events, they get trophies just for showing up. There’s too much ass kissing, not enough ass kicking”. So, it wasn’t just Johnny that thought these kids right now were too soft.
“Can’t be all bad if you’re still open”.
“No, it’s not. But it could be better. I have LaRusso breathing down my neck”.
“What?” Daniel LaRusso? Still hung up about a rivalry from more than thirty years ago? That sounded pretty pathetic.
“He’s on the committee. Weaseled his way to the position, since then he’s wanted Cobra Kai gone from the All Valley”.

Johnny scoffed with a newfound sense of annoyance. “Oh yeah? Who the hell does he think he is?”
“Believe me, I know, kid. But let’s not talk of that. Come by on Saturday to see my class, of course you’re always welcome to join me. You want to help teach these kids, don’t you?”
“Yeah”.
“Then we’ll make Cobra Kai on top once more. Just like it’s heyday,” said Kreese with a determined glint in his eyes. He was happy, perhaps he had even predicted this. He seemed to just know Johnny like that. The old argument had been left rotting in the past, and it seemed like that was the best thing to do. They hadn’t been banned from the All Valley, clearly something must’ve changed along the line.
“Oh, about your something..” started Kreese, making his way to the office then coming back. He passed it over to Johnny and he held out his hand to take it. It was a key.
“Spare key”.

Wow, he didn’t even need to ask. “Thanks. I also need to tell you something”.
Kreese looked at him, listening for what he was going to say.
“I found someone. New student possibly, if he’s up to it,” continued Johnny. He wasn’t sure about Miguel Diaz, but the kid seemed keen to learn so that was something. Besides, he himself started from humble beginnings, as a bullied wreck of a child. So pretty much the same thing.
“We’ll see if he’s Cobra Kai material. How long since you arrived, kid?”
“Got here yesterday,” Johnny admitted. He didn’t really want to say exactly how he found Diaz, it was a little stupid he managed to get into a fight with a bunch of teenagers. Sure, they were assholes who deserved it, but kids nevertheless. Just made him look a little bad.
“And you already recruited someone? Gotta say, I’m impressed. But if anyone would be able to do that, it’s you Johnny,” said Kreese, giving a pat on his shoulder. It was more of an accident than convincing the kid, but hey. He didn’t need to know that.

★★★

Another day. Another good day at the dealership, probably. Daniel awoke early from his slumber in the double bed, seeing that Amanda was snuggled in the quilt. He had realised that Johnny arriving at the valley could mean anything, not necessarily that he was back for good - maybe he was just visiting some family, or some old friend. Shocking that he had them, thought Daniel. It annoyed him that this would happen, he already had enough on his plate with trying to kick Kreese out of the All Valley tournament. Needless to say, it had failed. No one seemed to see or care how dangerous Cobra Kai was, and when Kreese realised Daniel was on the board, he didn’t want to give him any sort of excuse to get his dojo out. Oh no, John Kreese cared too much to win for that. God, that man should’ve retired already anyway, yet he was still teaching kids these terrible ideas, creating bullies just as he did in the 80s.

“No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do”.

Yes, yes Daniel knew that. That was why he tried to stop Kreese, but he didn’t want Amanda to know that he was still on this, on the side of everything else. When no one believed him about Cobra Kai in the tournament (Kreese slithered back under his rock to guard his precious dojo), it had turned into some cold war of Daniel having the eyes of a hawk peeled for any chance to catch him. With John Kreese and Johnny Lawrence joining forces once again? It could only mean bad news, creating chaos in the valley. Daniel anticipated Johnny’s presence would spark popularity, then what? The whole valley would worship that awful dojo. No. He must stay calm. That was some overthinking, he needed to just ignore the situation of Johnny’s return, as difficult as it was.

He got dressed into his smart clothing, including his beloved blue shirt and plaid style tie. Fixing it to be perfect, he stared at himself in the mirror. Hey, he was Daniel heckin LaRusso! He would be absolutely fine. Often, he cooked Samantha and Anthony their breakfast before school for them and today that was no different. Pancakes and croissants, with a side of fresh berries. Raspberries and blueberries, yum. He passed the plates to them, they also both had some orange juice. Whilst they then munched happily, he retrieved a small cup of coffee (they had a coffee machine). Amanda arrived downstairs into the kitchen in a dark purple dress and they had their coffee together, before she kissed him goodbye and headed off to the dealership. He shortly joined her, arriving in the parking lot and stepping out of his black Audi. Equipped with his suit jacket, black satchel, and wearing sunglasses, he was ready for a full day at the dealership.

Chapter Text

Bonsai tree after bonsai tree was handed out as they sold their cars, the day went by quite pleasantly. He helped out one guy with sorting out an engine, giving a cool fist bump after it had been solved easily. Daniel didn’t think about Cobra Kai at all, he didn’t tend to when his dealership was his own little corner that he had created for himself. Surrounded by cars and his work buddies, he felt content. He passed the office that Amanda was in, she was speaking to some clients there. She caught his glance for a moment as he went by, both giving a small smile of acknowledgment to eachother. The work day had drawn to a close, and he went back to his car as he waved to colleagues. At LaRusso Auto, the whole workplace just seemed like a family. Sure it may be cheesy, but Daniel liked it very much. He got in the car and placed his satchel in the passenger seat, pulling out from the parking lot and driving on his way back home. It was a decent day, they sold a few good cars.

With the sun shining, Daniel let down his windows to get a breeze. Ah, much better. Sometimes some fresh air was actually better than air conditioning, surprisingly. He felt ‘chilled out’ as the kids would call it. Unfortunately he had to slow as he approached some traffic lights, coming to stop. The breeze disappeared to be replaced with the not so nice humidity once again. Daniel waited patiently to be released from the red lights clutches, tapping his thumbs absentmindedly on the steering wheel. In the moment of warm stillness, he suddenly caught sight of a figure in the corner of his vision. Not.. no. Not him. Not after a good day at the dealership. But when he properly glanced over, his worst suspicion was true. Ugh, Kreese. He was going down the sidewalk on Daniel’s right, heading the direction he just came from. Then there was none other than Johnny Lawrence next to the guy. No no no no.. They were in cahoots with eachother. They were going to plot against him, and far far worse, corrupt more kids with their merciless values.

At the sight of them, hatred stirred within him. He couldn’t stop the spiking feeling of panic, sharp icicles in his chest. Because the last time this happened, he was bullied relentlessly. Flashbacks of his senior year began playing through his mind instantly as he witnessed the two of them.

“Hai! Hyah! Hai! Hyah!” Kreese’s commands to his class, repeated shouts chanting. They did whatever he said. They’d torment anyone that stood in their way, and Daniel found himself being one - the subject of their utter despise.

The lead cobra, Johnny at the front of the class as they did their jabs. Cobra Kai’s star, who had it out for Daniel since the day he arrived in California.

The brutal shove from him as Daniel fell to the ground. It was so damn sudden, he was fully taken aback. He didn’t even do anything, he just wanted to give Ali’s radio to her! Daniel never knew that the menacing superiority in that boy’s eyes as he looked at him meant that he was a weapon. One wrong move, just by speaking to Ali, he seemed to have immediately stumbled down the wrong path.

The bitter grains of sand in his dry mouth as he tried spitting them out, lying on the beach in aching pain.

The cobras scornful laughter as Daniel was hurled down the cliff from the force of his bike swerving. It was all their fault, they made him fall. They enjoyed it.

They beat him on Halloween night, he was surrounded by them all. He was caught in a circle of predators.

His leg being kicked, the agonising pain of it. Muscle ligaments were torn. Every single hit Johnny got on him in the All Valley, god it hurt. He was vicious, ruthless. Even Mr Miyagi had to hope that Daniel survived, and he didn’t think it was far off to say that he barely did. To this day the scar remained on his leg from the surgery he had to fix those muscles.

Daniel had to snap out of it, the car next to him was going. He sped off at the green light, relieved that the two had not seen him, but still having a lurching feeling of dread inside.

★★★

After spending some time with Kreese that afternoon, it had somehow stretched into the evening when Johnny headed back in his Firebird, becoming dark quickly due to how late it was. Honestly, there was some real truth to time flies. He didn’t have many people in his life that he could speak with freely, so perhaps that was why he and Kreese got on. It suddenly felt like the old days all over again, the guy made him feel like a teenager. Though obviously that side was never to be shown remotely to anyone else. Anyway, he had decided to get some real food to eat this time (not a slice of pizza at Mini Mart again after the previous chaos). When he came back, got in the car, he pulled out of the parking lot only to suddenly be met with another car that was speeding. They had fucking crashed into him. Damaging his classic Firebird.

He had gotten out of the car and marched over to the idiot driver to give him a piece of his mind.
“Hey!” he yelled, feeling furious. “What the hell are you doing?!” Suddenly, he saw that the dumbass he thought it was were kids. Teenage girls. Whatever, they still crashed into his car!
“Get out! Open the door!” The girls were panicking as they stared at him fearfully, then their car skidded away, swerving past his own dented one and speeding off into the night. Johnny cursed loudly, needing something to punch but finding nothing. “Fucking assholes!”
It was miserable to see his car in that state, but he had to suck it up - it had happened. He tried to see if it would still drive, but it wasn’t working which wasn’t really a surprise but he still had vague hope. So he had to call in a tow truck, trying to calm down the best he could. It wasn’t easy, considering that was his most prized possession and a couple idiots managed to wreck it. When the truck arrived and retrieved the Firebird, the guy said where to pick it up from was on the card that he had handed Johnny. And lo and behold, on top of the form he saw the familiar face of Daniel LaRusso, beaming in black and white, gold letters next to it spelling out LaRusso’s Auto Group.

Really? His treasure was going to be towed to LaRusso? It was better than everything he had ever sold. Johnny wasn’t sure if he trusted him to not fuck up his car further, but as fun as it would be to walk into LaRusso territory, he didn’t want to make the man realise how much it meant to him. No thanks. That would straight up be admitting a weakness.Though as a matter of fact if he did fuck his Firebird up, he would have a lot to answer to. Not only could Johnny beat his ass again, he could also sue him and he’d win because he doubted LaRusso would spend as much money on lawyers as him. Johnny didn’t care to stoop to pettiness when this involved his Firebird. The guy had driven away quickly, leaving him alone on the edge of the dark junction. Couldn’t have even protested against this arrangement if he wanted to. Huh, whatever then. His car will be fixed and sorted by LaRusso, that was his job after all right? Maybe that could be amusing, because if he didn’t then he would have Johnny to face.

★★★

It finally reached Saturday. A damn eventful week had passed for Johnny, but he supposed that was what happened in his hometown - always something had to happen. Seemed like drama could ignite between him and LaRusso with the way Johnny heard things were going whilst he was gone. Daniel LaRusso was always the one that started shit anyway. Then whilst Johnny was on good terms with Kreese, it seemed like everyone else was or wanted to be out of his life. He found the guys - the cobras early on, and when they all went their separate ways he hadn’t found something quite like it ever again. Just shallow acquaintances. Like during his childhood being rich did have its perks, but it came with something else when he got older. A certain isolation. He found himself surrounded by the type of crowd similar to the Encino snobs except worse. Sure perhaps he was a part of that, but that didn’t mean he never got sick of them. Shannon and Robby were still distant from him - well Robby seemed distant from everyone except his asshat friends. He would barely talk to Johnny, least of all wanted anything to do with Cobra Kai.

And so he wanted nothing more than to be able to see if the Diaz kid was truly up to the challenge. He arrived at the dojo bright and early, made to take a cab again. Apparently it would take a couple of weeks and then he’d be phoned back to let him know he can pick his car up. He didn’t care about the cost, he just wanted it back. For now though, he had nothing. Perhaps it would be beneficial to get a motorbike again, it was just there was no way he’d replace his beloved Firebird. That thing had a lot of memories attached to it. He met Kreese in his office and then the time striked for the session to start. Yesterday, he mentioned there weren’t as many students as he would’ve liked in his class, it numbered ten. There used to be sixteen including Johnny when he was there - but it wouldn’t remain that way, he’d make sure of it.

Chapter Text

“Let’s start. I’ve been waiting for this moment, that I can tell you,” said Kreese. They both made their way to where the students were chatting quietly.
“Class, fall in,” demanded Kreese as he walked to the front, Johnny taking his rightful place next to him. “I have someone for you to meet”. Upon Kreese’s words, the class snapped to attention. It was wrong timing and he knew it, but immediately Johnny noticed something was very different. On the front row, there was a girl. Since when the hell did Kreese let girls into his dojo? She was the only one in the class, but there nonetheless. Her green eyes glinted with something. A brief shock, then attentive fascination.
“Two time former world champion, former student of mine.. Johnny Lawrence. Or as you will address him, Sensei Lawrence”.

Diaz? He had come in at some point, standing on the edge watching. He was dressed in a blue t- shirt, faded red shorts and had white socks on that were actually not looking too clean. “Sorry, uh. Hey,” he said upon being acknowledged. “Just came in”. The class didn’t turn as they were facing the front, but he was sure that they were paying attention to the newcomer.
“Diaz. Only speak when you are spoken to, and you’ll always address me as Sensei,” Johnny told him. He nodded back quickly.
“Right. Yes- Yes Sensei”.
“This is Sensei Kreese,” he said as he gestured toward the man on his right.
“We’ll see if you have the guts to keep at this. Fall in,” commanded Kreese.
“Means get in line. Over there,” clarified Johnny as he witnessed Diaz’s confused face. He went over to where he was instructed. Johnny had decided he should just ask Kreese about the girl later, he didn’t want to waste valuable lesson time even though he didn’t understand it. Back when he was a student, the man probably would’ve laughed at the mere suggestion.

“Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?” Kreese sounded, pacing slowly across the front.
“No Sensei!” The class chanted back.
“Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“No Sensei!”
“Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“No Sensei!”
“We do not show mercy to our enemies. Here, on the street, in competition, a man confronts you he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy. And you don’t wait for them to attack, you strike first”. He paused next to Johnny. “Sensei Lawrence. Why don’t you warm them up”.

★★★

There was something oddly embarrassing about being the new kid. To Miguel, he felt as if he had just walked in on some secret society and intruded. They were all standing to attention in perfect lines, as if they were strictly disciplined soldiers. It was kind of amazing, but at the same time they looked like they were wearing pajamas. Obviously he said nothing about that - he got the feeling right away that you had to be more careful in this place. The night that he was saved from Kyler and his gang of assholes, he went home thrilled at this chance to learn something as badass as karate. As soon as he arrived, his mom and Yaya were very confused at his excitement, but he babbled away about what had happened at Mini Mart. It’s not like he wanted them to know about Kyler though, so he covered it up with they were just some kids that jumped him. He felt terrible about having to lie about that so he downplayed it as much as possible to not worry them.

It was just he couldn’t risk his mom calling up the school. If she made a big deal over that then it would make the issue a million times worse. It was obvious the school wouldn’t care and Kyler’s parents would find out about it, then everything would be chaos. And so despite not wanting them to know about Kyler, Miguel was just bursting to tell someone about Johnny Lawrence. He needed to emphasise how important this could be for him, and how learning from a karate master was literally the best decision he would make. There was no choice but to tell anyway, it was the reason why he needed to defend himself. The justification to take the karate class. His mom always said violence wasn’t the answer, but sometimes what if there was no other choice? Yaya was on his side with this which he was grateful for, and eventually Mama caved in, being that this was strictly for if he got attacked. He was to get into no school fights, which Miguel agreed with.

He never knew that way of fighting could do such damage and humiliate Kyler that much. God, Miguel hated him though he never said it. That was why he felt such satisfaction when the blonde completely annihilated them, his hits were like blurs of motion, natural strength. The kicks? It was absolutely incredible, they were even more graceful than the punches. Miguel never thought an old man such as him could move with such deadly precision. There was something extremely familiar as he watched the scene play out, but Miguel’s mind wasn’t catching up to him. Then suddenly, it hit him like a damn train at full speed when he realised with utter shock that who had just saved him was actually a former karate champion.

Yes, he had some vague memories of seeing badass compilations on YouTube and then the news circulating stories. Johnny was like a background presence in his life that he didn’t bother looking fully into. Since he wasn’t into the whole sport or anything, but maybe that was for the best considering it wouldn’t do well if he wet his pants as a first impression. That night though after a while of persuading Mama, he searched up more than he’d ever done before and knew that he’d stumbled onto something groundbreaking. If he proved himself, that was. Miguel had to let him know that he wanted this, he wanted to be just as courageous and badass as him, to be able to take down his bullies. But then he had a terrible thought. What if classes were too expensive for them? He was just a kid that lived in Reseda, after all. He had thought about it, but in the end he knew he had to at least try. Maybe it wouldn’t be too expensive. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose. One thing that puzzled him though was that if someone as important as Johnny was in town, how come Cobra Kai wasn’t all over the valley?

Probably a multitude of reasons that he’d never know. What mattered was that he had this chance, and on Saturday he’d take it. So he had arrived at the place, silently cursing himself for never giving it a second glance on the occasion he passed this way. It was interesting to see that there was an older man next to him, wearing the same black clothing. Sensei Kreese and Sensei Lawrence. Miguel wondered who this Sensei Kreese was to him, and then he thought he’d failed at his impulsive research a few days before. There were quite a few golden trophies he’d seen near the doorway, and the Kreese guy had a photograph of himself on the wall. He used to be in the army, a Captain. Miguel really couldn’t resist reading it. However, the cardboard cutout was a little excessive and kinda funny. Though nothing was when the real man looked at him, Miguel had felt a cold nervousness. Kreese seemed to be judging him already, analysing what move he’d make, when he hadn’t even begun anything yet.

The class did jabs to warm up. His thumb needed to be tucked firmly under his other fingers apparently, unless he wanted a broken thumb. They then did some front kicks, which was easy enough. When that was over they were paired up to spar eachother, and Miguel was placed with the only girl in the class. She was very pretty, blonde hair and green eyes. He hoped he wasn’t made to hit her though, he wasn’t raised to hit women! His mom and Yaya taught him well, he didn’t want them to be disappointed at all. And yet, he saw the way the girl did her attacks - it reminded him of the deadly precision that Johnny had. Besides, she had a black belt. Perhaps she was actually one of the best here, so she wouldn’t get easily hurt.

“Nichols, show us if he has what it really takes,” said Kreese as he was standing next to the two with his hands on his belt. The blonde looked over at Miguel.
“Yes Sensei”. Suddenly out of nowhere before Miguel could even throw any hit, her foot collided with his stomach hard and he was thrown completely off balance, falling onto the mat. He coughed desperately having difficulty breathing, then he sat up and took his inhaler.

“Strike first. Never wait for an enemy to attack..” said Kreese. “Is there a problem Mr Diaz?”
“No, it’s just- she hit me and I have asthma so-” he managed to get out after he gulped in precious air. The girl - Nichols, looked slightly concerned and she had paused from beating the crap out of him.
“We do not have weakness in this dojo. So put that away, suck it up and continue practice. Or are you not cut out?”
“But that’s a real medical condition..”
“Are you cut out to be in Cobra Kai?”
“Yes Sensei,” said Miguel, having the feeling this man wouldn’t be listening anytime soon. He also felt insulted at his lack of hope within him. It looked like he would have to prove him wrong, and luckily for him he wasn’t someone who’d give up so easily.
“I can’t hear you”.
“Yes Sensei!” he said louder.
“Then get up”.

It wasn't exactly a super fun session as he felt like he was still getting judged. How many times did he need to get up to prove that he was really going to commit to this? Miguel already knew he was going to keep at it. Sensei Kreese soon told Nichols she could help him with showing some basic skills, and he went away to judge the others. Maybe the test was over? He didn’t appreciate having the wind knocked out of him but they seemed to be really serious over here about this, so he figured he just had to play it cool in order for them to approve of him. Huh, maybe this was why there were so little students here. Others probably left, if they even found this place at all.
“I know that wasn’t all fair but you’ll learn,” said the girl. “The names Tory by the way”.
“Miguel,” he replied. So she wasn’t out to get him, good. He was already feeling slightly intimidated by it all, he just couldn’t show it. And point proven, girls could hit hard.

Chapter Text

It was a Monday afternoon, Daniel was at the dealership once again.
“Every customer gets one. Thank you for choosing LaRusso Auto Group,” he said with a smile after he had handed the miniature bonsai to the middle aged looking woman. She had just bought a vw polo car.
“Oh it’s beautiful. Thank you very much,” she replied. When she had gone, someone else was calling for Daniel’s attention.
“Hey Daniel, got a car that’s been almost totaled here…”
“Alright, show me what you got. I’m sure it’s not so bad”. He was led to the garage. Daniel had helped where there were rough spots before, nothing unsalvageable (typically). The issue for the customers was the cost, since there was only so much he could shave down. Sure they had the best prices in town, but they still needed a profit. Though sometimes it was worth looking at another car, when it was judged that too much damage had been done.
“So it’s a beauty, real beauty. A classic. Just, well see for yourself right now”.

The car told of was coloured a rich red as Daniel stepped in and took in the sight that was before him. A beauty. A classic. But he immediately recognised that car. It was a Firebird that looked painfully like Johnny’s. What was this doing at his dealership? Hadn’t the man just returned to the valley last week? And yet he was already making imprints upon Daniel’s life - first mentally, and now physically it seemed.
“Yeah someone did a real number on this thing,” admitted Daniel as he resisted the sudden urge to sigh. Seriously? He approached closer to it, slowly wandering around. On the front right side was where the damage lay, dented. Daniel imagined the metal crumpling under the pressure of the other car. Hopefully Johnny wasn’t hurt. Wait, why the hell would he care? ..

No, he knew why. He was still a good person who didn’t actually wish serious harm upon anyone, even his rival. Mr Miyagi taught him better than to stoop that low. Nevertheless, this job could be expensive, it would definitely require weeks for this to be better. If it were up to Daniel he’d just replace it, surely Johnny also saw the price was more expensive than the flippin thing itself? Just common sense. Or.. was there a certain sentimental value to this that Daniel didn’t know of? Aha, really. What, that heartless guy caring that much about anything? Funny.
“When did this come in anyway?” asked Daniel.
“Just last week. Thursday I believe”. So really not long at all, only four days ago. He didn’t particularly want to do anything to help Johnny but obviously it was his business, his dealership. He’d be professional about this and keep his distaste to himself. Daniel would be the one to profit from it after all.

★★★

That night when Daniel got into bed to then draw the blue and white patterned quilt on him, Amanda seemed to be watching like a hawk in the lamp's light.
“What?” he asked as he looked over, sensing there was something she wanted to say.
“Ok I can’t pretend anymore. What’s been bothering you recently?” questioned Amanda straightforwardly. There was just no hiding from her. The urge to tell what was going on was beating the idea of shamefully overthinking the situation at hand.
“Alright. Well.. y’know that guy from my high school, the blonde-”
“-pretty boy from the tournament, yeah I remember”.

“How would you know what I was going to say? And actually, I never remembered calling him pretty,” clarified Daniel. He didn’t know where she had got that from. “Anyway.. he’s back in the valley and I.. look, he’s teaming up with Kreese again”.
“What? It’s some teenage karate Daniel,” said Amanda, sounding perplexed.
“No no no, it’s not just some ‘teenage karate’ don’t you remember those guys that bullied me in high school? Johnny will help Kreese to teach these helpless kids to become like them.. like, bullies!”
“Ok, ok. Let’s just take a step back from that shall we. Nothing’s happened has it?”
“.. No”.
“Then you don’t need to worry about that until something does happen. But believe me, it won’t be the same as thirty years ago”.
“I’m sure something will happen,” sighed Daniel. “Just count on it”.
“Don’t you dare lose sleep over this. Just be calm, alright?”

Daniel breathed in slowly. “Yeah, right”.
“Yes. Now good night honey”. Amanda turned off the grey lamp that was on her side, the light disappearing instantly to coat the room in darkness.
“Good night Amanda”.

★★★

Miguel could see his own face in the golden trophy’s reflection as he stared at it - them. There were multiple of course, many displayed in the window, though he couldn’t make out what the further ones were. He didn’t have enough time to read them when he first walked in here as he needed to get to the lesson, but now after the other students were gone he had gotten distracted. It was meant to be one quick look, but he found himself curious about it all. Cobra Kai’s All Valley wins. Not just that, there were other ones too, but mainly the All Valley ones. It was pretty important clearly. There really were so many trophies, but there were only gold ones. No silver. Second place wasn’t a thing here apparently, nor third place.
“Won three of those All Valleys”. Miguel turned his attention to Johnny’s voice. The blonde was gazing at the trophies near the window as he had done.
“I was so close to getting the fourth title”.

“Three is still really impressive sensei,” Miguel said truthfully. He had never heard of anyone else having as many wins as that. Obviously he had started as a protégé and that never ended. Miguel wondered how that felt, to be that good at something. Johnny gave a smile back at him. “I know kid. And that could be you one day”.
“Huh, wouldn’t that be cool sensei”.
“Ok you don’t need to call me sensei every time”.
“I’m sorry sensei.. I- um, I’m sorry,” stammered Miguel. Well done, he thought sarcastically. He had such a way with words. Suddenly, a song blared out from his pocket and he felt his phone vibrate against him as someone was calling.
“Where’s that trash coming from-?” began Johnny as Miguel drew his phone from his pocket, he didn’t really hear him properly as he was focusing on answering the call.

It was his mom and she was just wondering if he was still at karate. He didn’t say he got kinda distracted after the session, he’d be home really quick anyway.
“Yep, love you too,” he said, then hung up and put his phone back.
“Don’t tell me you have a girlfriend”.
“That was my mom actually,” explained Miguel as he felt amused at his assumption.
“Right. You should change that ringtone, get some Guns N’ Roses or something,” told Johnny bluntly. What?
“What’s Guns and Roses?” asked Miguel, genuinely confused.
“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that”. Well now Miguel was curious. He’d definitely have to look up ‘Guns and Roses’ when he got back home.

When he was back he did just that, he opened his laptop and typed in his search, fingers gently tapping on the keys. He listened to a few songs, bopping his head slightly to the beats.
“This shit is dope,” he said quietly to himself as Welcome to the jungle was playing. Song after song was played, occasionally he recognised something but he felt a little ashamed of how he didn’t know such cool ass music before. Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, KISS, Survivor. It just kept going. Miguel was really enjoying this, and then suddenly without realising it he was going down some path of 80s rock.

★★★

Daniel pulled into his driveway slowly after a nice lunch out, only to be met by multiple strange unfamiliar cars already there. Who the hell was at his house without his knowledge? One, two, three, four.. Oh my god. So many cars.
“What’s all this?” He asked Amanda, absolutely perplexed.
“I have no idea,” she admitted. Daniel unclipped his seatbelt and got out of the car with her, they were about to find out just what had been going on whilst they had been out. When he was approaching the backyard, he was utterly stunned at the sight of so many teenagers crowded around the pool. They were cheering about something, but Daniel didn’t care. There were random teenagers around his backyard, all across the pool.
“Hey.. hey hey!” he exclaimed as he walked over quickly. Sam’s close friend Moon was filming something, she panned her phone around just to meet Daniel. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Oh shit..!” said Moon in shock as she realised from her camera that he was there. Whatever this was, some party, Daniel had no patience. Samantha didn’t ask him, never told him. Plus their family home wasn’t made for some random teenagers to come round! Daniel didn’t like these new friends of hers at all. It was ok with Moon and Yasmine, but then suddenly Sam had been hanging out with them so much, everyday even. To the point where she ditched their country club party, the one that happened only once a year! First she had abandoned them, then Anthony was glued to his tablet pretty much the whole time. Daniel would’ve killed to go to such a party when he was younger.

He quickly pressed the off button on the boombox, stopping the beat.
“Alright everybody out of here, right now,” demanded Daniel as he gestured with his thumb behind him. He wanted these kids gone from his house.
“So sorry Dad I had no idea you were gonna be home so early,” said Sam quickly when she approached him.
“It doesn’t make a difference what time I get home Sam, you think we want a bunch of strangers in the backyard making a mess?”
“They’re not strangers, they're my friends”.
“Yeah, some friends,” scoffed Daniel. A boy was getting out of the pool, and he noticed a familiar pattern. “Is he wearing my bathing suit?- Wait are all of you guys wearing my bathing suits?” asked Daniel in disbelief. Now not only were there a bunch of kids he didn’t like, but they had stolen his clothing.
“Alright listen. Party’s over, let’s go. Take the suits off and leave,” said Daniel, wanting them to hurry up and leave already. “No not out here genius, in the pool house,” he told the kid who almost started taking the suit off by the pool.
“Daniel, hey can I talk to you inside?” asked Amanda quietly, suddenly behind him and gently taking his arm.
“Yeah, did-” he began, but with Amanda half dragging him quickly away from the scene he decided to just stop there.

Chapter Text

“You can’t just kick out her friends like that. You’re acting irrationally,” said Amanda. They were both in the kitchen, she was standing next to the sink, one hand on her hip.
“Uh no I’m not acting irrationally, I’m acting like a responsible parent who cares about his kid,” stated Daniel as he paced slowly past Amanda. It was true, these new friends of Sam’s were very dislikable and he reckoned they were a bad influence on their daughter.
“Ok we both care about our kid, I just don’t think embarrassing Sam in front of her friends is helping matters,” replied Amanda.
“I don’t like these new friends,” said Daniel honestly as he walked back over to his wife and faced her. “It’s not like Samantha”.
“Why can’t she be at robot camp with Aisha?” He asked. Oh things would be so much easier if that was the case.
“Cause she doesn’t wanna be a nerd,” said Amanda as if it was a very obvious fact, and Daniel quietly sighed. Why should kids care so much about what others think of their interests?

“Look I remember what it was like being part of a clique that other kids make fun of. Believe me, girls can be really cruel”. Oh no, she was not about to tell Daniel of this. He knew all too well of others' cruelty.
“Listen, I know a thing or two about cruel ok?” began Daniel with a small scoff. “I, I was pushed off a cliff on my bike”.
Amanda nodded quickly. “There’s nothing wrong with Sam wanting to be popular,” she said calmly.
“Popular’s fine!” stuttered Daniel. “I just don’t want her turning into one of these privileged Encino brats”. He could think of multiple of those back in the day.
“Neither do I. But, keep throwing her friends out of the house. See where that gets you with your relationship with your daughter”.

★★★

With the sky now darkened, it was evening as Daniel picked up the last pool floaties from the earlier party and went to put them away. That had taken some time to clear it all. He made his way to where they now stored all sorts of things, though the rooms here used to be where he and Samantha did karate. He had never forgotten those valuable lessons that Mr Miyagi taught him, they enabled him to defend himself and for that he was forever grateful to the man. It was dark inside except the weak light from outside, the summer evening sneaking in. When he had shuffled some pool noodles aside in a brief effort to tidy a little up, he caught sight of an old picture on the cabinet. He approached it, turning on the tall lamp in the corner to be able to see better. The golden light bathed the corner and Daniel could see the picture much better now as he picked it up. It was of him and Mr Miyagi in front of the lake where they used to fish. He always loved to fish and took Daniel with him out on his little boat.

Ah, Daniel looked so young in this, aged just eighteen, but he had always looked younger than he really was aswell. It was the summer of 1985 when it was taken. His eyes shone bright with happiness as the lake was behind them glistening.
“Wish you were here to give me some of that Miyagi wisdom now..” Daniel said quietly to himself. He could never pretend that he didn’t miss his old mentor, yes he may speak of him and think of him a lot but he really had changed his life. In fact, he had gained not only a mentor - but a friend and a father figure to look up to. Daniel put the frame back down on the cabinet, feeling a heavy ache in his heart that arrived when he thought back to those times, in the stillest moments. Another frame caught his eye just then, and he slowly picked up that one instead. It was of him and Samantha posing doing a fist bump in their gis, when she was just seven. She used to love karate, and Daniel loved teaching it to her.

He peered over to the area they used to practise, now cluttered with old stuff on and around shelving such as storage boxes, the old karate pads they used to train with, and even a bike resting against one of the cardboard boxes. Though that didn’t stop him from remembering when this was all empty, as their own little dojo. Remembering the times that they had practised here. Sam breaking a small section of wood with her kick, practising her jabs, Daniel scooping her up into a hug and spinning around with her. Obviously it was all for self defence, Daniel wanted her to be safe. He wanted to do the same with Anthony but he was even less interested than Sam, particularly right now. Seemed like only food and school could take that kid away from his tablet, not even family could always. He knew that he missed practising karate, it was just he never had the spare time to do it anymore. What with the dealership and family matters.. It was easier said than done to begin sorting out a way to fit karate into everything.

After accidentally reflecting, he made his way to Sam’s room. Perhaps he indeed did overreact a little over her friends today. She was sitting on her bed speaking to her friends on a laptop call which Daniel didn't want to interrupt, but Sam hung up.
“I just wanted to say..” started Daniel.
“No, look Dad. I’m really sorry about today, I shouldn’t have invited everyone over without asking you and Mom first”.
“Well maybe I overreacted a little.. well maybe more than a little ok?” admitted Daniel when Sam gave a look. “Just have those guys bring their own trunks from now on ok?”
“Deal,” chucked Sam.

She was at that age where she’d probably get a boyfriend, and obviously Daniel wanted to make sure this was a good guy. She admitted she’d been texting someone called Kyler, so Daniel thought it would be a great chance to get to know him over their Friday dinner. Anthony had a sleepover then so that was alright. So hopefully this kid could go over to have some dinner with the LaRussos.

★★★

Miguel had just finished putting food on his tray and was going to try to spot his friends, when suddenly his thoughts were interrupted.
“Miguel, hey over here,” called out Tory in the cafeteria. He recognised her voice and looked over - yep, she was there across the room on a table, wearing a lot of black he noted. So were the other guys, was this a trend? It was a usual school lunchtime, however he felt surprised as he’d never sat with any of the Cobra Kai students. After all, he hadn’t been at their dojo for very long, no more than two weeks. He learnt it was in fact called a dojo, he felt as if he’d learnt a lot already. He’d have to ditch Eli and Demetri this time, but he was sure they wouldn’t mind. So he approached the scary looking table with Tory and a couple other guys.
“Hey guys,” he greeted and he sat down on the free seat, feeling nervous. Why was he invited over? This was unexpectedly nice. Maybe because they had accepted him as one of them?

Miguel never noticed there was a secret group of Cobra Kais, maybe they weren’t particularly a friend group but just acquaintances? But here, right now it sure looked like this was a whole group he never noticed before. Hopefully they weren’t related to Kyler’s gang in any way he didn’t know of, or there’d be a real problem.
“Ohh, Diaz. Hey,” nodded one of the guys, who he knew as Mikko. The other guy, Sinclair. But there was someone else who Miguel had no idea of his name.
“Oscar, Ryan, James,” introduced Tory as she vaguely gestured to them.
“I’m Miguel,” he said to them. This table was positioned even closer to where the rich girls were, where Kyler was, annoyingly. He could hear his grating laugh clear as day. Miguel began tucking into his food trying to ignore the nearer presence of the asian, but noticed Eli and Demetri weren’t far away from him. They were only a short distance away on a table by themselves but they seemed to be gawking as they watched him.

What? He stared back at them, not bothering to conceal his confusion. Suddenly, Demetri made a signal to beckon Miguel over. He waved his hand again, more desperately, raising his eyebrows as if to say come on, come over to talk!
“Sorry guys uh I’ll be right back,” said Miguel, despite them already quietly chatting. He slipped away to approach Demetri and Eli on their table.
“Dude, you never said you had any other friends. Let alone, uh I don’t know, those mysterious guys, and that one super hot girl!” exclaimed Demetri.
“What?” asked Miguel. “What’d you mean?” he added quickly, puzzled by his reaction. Then again, he often made him work to understand that the entire sentence he was saying was actually sarcasm.
“Like he said, no one knows much about them they keep to themselves. They’re like a secondary level of cool though,” interrupted Eli before shyly retreating back to his lunch.
“Yeah. You’re on a different playing field, when we thought you were on the same loser ground as us,” said Demetri.
“They’re just from my karate class,” replied Miguel.
“Karate class?” repeated Demetri. “Like, badass karate? And when were you going to tell us you were turning all macho chad man?”
“I’ll text you later about it if you wanna know. Uh now though, I..”
“Oh. Duty calls,” interjected Demetri. “Not to worry. You go do your cool kid thing. Then we can latch onto your potential popularity.”

“Ok..” said Miguel with a quiet chuckle. “Catch you guys later”. With that, he went back to the cobras table, hoping they weren’t going to be overly nosy. However, they were pretty cool with it and didn’t care. They were way nicer than Miguel ever thought they’d be, especially when he first wandered into the dojo, secretly scared of what they’d think of him. It was refreshing that these guys felt like they were outside of the usual school hierarchy in a way, even if Demetri and Eli thought they were cool. Then again, they thought everyone else was cooler than them. Miguel didn’t want to passively accept that stance, he didn’t believe he was some loser right away. Maybe he was sometimes a loser, but.. Wait, no.

Defeat does not exist in this dojo.

He was going to be a winner, and he would do whatever it took to rise to the top.

Chapter Text

It was now Friday, a family dinner night, and Anthony being away at his sleepover was the perfect opportunity for Daniel to get to know Kyler, who was dressed in a dark formal shirt, hair done neatly. So far the Asian was a very polite boy, Daniel was truly considering he had really overreacted to Sam's friends. This Kyler certainly behaved well. He had said he didn’t like sushi when Daniel slid the newly sliced fish over to him, and Daniel honestly hadn’t even thought of that possibility. Sam and Amanda had left the table to go and find something for him to eat, and Daniel sat down opposite the boy. He liked fish sticks according to Sam, but not fresh fish. Daniel guessed that was how kids were, and that was alright. Their palette wasn’t all developed in the end. He saw him awkwardly scratching his neck as the room became coated with silence at the absence of Amanda and Sam.

As Daniel settled in the chair, it was Kyler who proceeded to speak first.
“Thank you for inviting me over, Mr LaRusso,” he said politely. “Uhm, you have a really great house. And I think Sam is really cool too”.
“Well, thanks. She takes after her mother,” said Daniel. “And listen, I never liked sushi when I was your age either,” he assured him truthfully. “It wasn’t until I met a good friend of mine that it began to grow on me”. Mr Miyagi, of course. He really introduced Daniel to so much, he would always be grateful to the man, and of having the pleasure of knowing him. Kyler hummed in acknowledgment.

“He was from Okinawa,” continued Daniel. “Where are your parents from?”
“Irvine. I think”.
“Irvine. Right,” chuckled Daniel quietly. With the conversation fading, Daniel was reminded of the bruise that was on Kyler’s face. It was odd really - did he get into a fight? He seemed like a nice and calm boy, so Daniel was confused about this. Or maybe he was making silly assumptions - just because he was beaten up in high school didn’t mean this kid was. And he hoped that he never would.
“So tell me about that shiner you got there,” he pointed out casually.
“Oh this. Um.. this is from wrestling,” replied Kyler hesitantly as he brought his hand to the injury. “You know, I dodged the wrong way and I caught an elbow”. He still sounded hesitant even though he was lightly trying to laugh it off. “It’s stupid”.
“Is that how you hurt your hand too?” inquired Daniel. Kyler remained silent.
“It’s ok, I was in my fair share of fights when I was in high school,” he said, feeling like the wrestling story sounded like an excuse. He knew why he wouldn’t want to tell him, but honestly Daniel knew how easy it was to fall into the wrong situation. One person who picked a fight with you. That was all it took. Someone who would hit first.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”.
“Come on Kyler. I know high school kids can be rough”.
“No, it wasn’t a kid”. Daniel had reached for his glass of water, but immediately paused. It was true, that was a fight. But what..? It wasn’t a kid?
“So there was a fight,” confirmed Daniel and then took a sip. “Is.. is there something going on at home?” He did his best to ignore the slight dread inside him at the fact that Kyler’s bruise wasn’t from someone his own age.
“Oh no no.. Um..” Now Kyler was behaving strangely, and Daniel’s confusion was turning into sure worry. Who had decided to hurt Kyler? This kid? High school kids were tough enough, let alone some adult who preyed upon the vulnerable.
“Ok just…” Kyler began slowly. “Some guy at the mini mall. He just jumped me and my friends,” he finally admitted.
“What?”
“Yeah. We were just at the store just tryna get some protein bars.. And, yeah, this guy comes outta nowhere and starts giving us a hard time. Next thing we know he busts some karate”.
“Karate? Wait wait wait wait a minute. Wait a minute. What mini mall was this?”
“In Reseda. Mini Mart”.
“And what did this.. guy.. look like?”
“Uhh. He was blonde. Kinda tall…” Daniel didn’t hear whatever Kyler was trying to think of because he already knew exactly who it was. Obviously, who else would jump some kid? Daniel started to feel annoyance, quickly expanding into scathing anger inside of him as he thought of his rival. Nothing had changed at all. Daniel had to be the one to stand up to him, and to put an end to this. And he would do it, he didn’t care what it took, eventually something would crack and he would triumph. He would never go down without a fight.

★★★

For the rest of the dinner Daniel had to push aside his anger of the situation, but as soon as Kyler had left the LaRusso household he jumped into his car. Maybe he wasn’t thinking straight, but it was time to confront the man already. He wasn’t going to run away - not anymore. In what felt like a taunting drive from how slow it seemed, Daniel finally pulled up to the infamous Cobra Kai. All along it had been here, laughing at him, laughing since the day he lost in 1984. He gritted his teeth at the sight of the ugly painted logo, the twisted snake looking the same as it always did. He had last walked in here thirty three years ago, never planning to step foot there again after he saw his rival was there. But now, fate apparently had different plans laid out ahead for him.

With a bitter fire burning inside of Daniel, he got out of his car and approached the dojo, pushing himself to enter. He remembered when he felt upset over this when he was younger, the way the Cobra Kai’s would taunt him and hurt him. Each time he had gotten up, he wondered - why? Why did they have it out for him? For them to harbour so much hatred for him? And now suddenly an overwhelming rage was truly threatening to overtake him at the sight of history repeating itself. No, this could never happen again. But then he remembered Mr Miyagi. He wouldn’t want this. Karate was for self defence only. And so Daniel tried, with all his might, to push it down. If not for him, for himself, and his self control. Control. That was important, he couldn’t let Johnny have the last laugh. Yes he knew that he may not be here, but Daniel had to try. If he wasn’t, Daniel would come back the next day. And the next. Whatever - he would confront Johnny Lawrence, no matter what time it was.

He opened the door, the bell giving a slight ring. So it was actually open, someone was still here luckily. Daniel was disgusted to set foot in it again, but he had to do this. Slowly he wandered past the trophies and a stupid cutout of that narcissist Kreese, ignoring any sense of unease he got from the place. He wasn’t a kid anymore.
“Welcome to Cobra Kai-” a voice sounded, and there he was. There was Johnny, who had no life except karate. At least Daniel had his dealership, he did not define his entire worth on one thing. Was that true though? It was a nagging thought, but there in the back of his mind nevertheless. After all, why would he then proceed to still care about what had happened over thirty years ago? Whilst it was true he had done well for himself, sometimes he hadn’t escaped certain aspects of the past. And god he hated how it would still come back to taunt him.
“Huh.. LaRusso? The hell you doing here?” questioned a baffled Johnny as he stared stupidly at Daniel. He scoffed back at him. Really, the guy was pretending that he hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe the media saw a champion but Daniel saw the truth. He always had done. There was no mending something this rotten.

Johnny stared at the man in front of him as he registered that he was really here. Damn he looked pissed - he hadn’t even done anything to LaRusso - not this time. He was just going through some lesson plans in Kreese’s office, and watching Netflix with some chips. Weirdly, he kinda felt more comfortable and at home here than at his real house, though he’d never admit that lame pansy feeling to anyone. Then Daniel had just walked in the dojo and Johnny honestly couldn’t tell what was going on in the slightest. He looked so odd, he didn’t belong in this world at all. Look at him, blue shirt and formal black pants, wearing a watch on his left arm. He dressed more like the typical Encino crowd that Johnny saw than perhaps even himself, though perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. LaRusso was like a pretender, always had been. With karate, he thought he could take first prize in the tournament without putting in the work that Johnny had done. He did it for what, two months? Johnny had trained for six years. And he used to be dirt poor as a kid, sure maybe LaRusso had claimed his place now but he lacked any style about it. So uptight, Johnny would almost feel sorry for him considering he had a stick up his ass all the time - almost, but nah.

Chapter Text

“Some things never change,” stated LaRusso coldly, but it was incredibly vague. What things? He meant him? Johnny never thought he’d speak to the man again, let alone that it would go like this. He guessed it was dumb to think he wouldn’t see him at all - no, something really loved pushing them together apparently. Not that Johnny cared, he could tell LaRusso was a lot more pissed off than he was. There was something hilarious about the fact that LaRusso kept remembering him.
“Yeah what are you talking about?” asked Johnny as he faced his old rival. Here they were again. Here they were facing eachother once more. “Go on then, enlighten me LaRusso”.
“Well I heard you beat up a bunch of teenagers in a parking lot,” said LaRusso, standing quite still. Tense? Nothing really did change after all then if this pussy was still scared of him. “In Reseda. Can’t say I’m surprised”.

“Oh that. No, I didn’t beat up any teenagers,” replied Johnny as he slowly approached LaRusso to be closer. “I beat the shit out of a bunch of assholes who deserved it,” he corrected him coolly. That was the truth, LaRusso can take it or leave it. But he just scoffed again.
“Wow, Johnny Lawrence calling someone else an asshole. That’s rich man,” he said with a smile, as if he couldn’t believe Johnny’s words.
“Yeah what’s that supposed to mean?”
LaRusso took a breath. “Look. I’m not here to rehash the past,” he finally answered. Or rather lied in Johnny’s eyes. Why say that dig then? He wasn’t stupid, he knew that Daniel hadn’t let go of their rivalry. He could sense it behind those dark eyes that looked at him as if he was a cockroach that crawled into his house. “Just stay away from my daughter's friends”.

His daughter's friends. Right. So those jerks that picked on Diaz were her friends.
“Your daughters friends?” smirked Johnny, just at the irony of that. Like daughter like father huh? “That makes sense. Nice company she keeps”.
“What the hell's that supposed to mean?” snapped LaRusso.
“It means those friends of hers were wailing on a kid half their size,” said Johnny calmly. “Y’know maybe you don’t know your daughter as well as you think you do”.
LaRusso stared back at him, eyes bigger and darker than ever, probably considering what he had said. Well, he should. Johnny had only told him the truth. Funny how he immediately assumed he knew everything, and completely jumped to conclusions. Classic Daniel LaRusso.

“Get your house in order, LaRusso,” he told him.
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” said Daniel angrily as he stepped right in front of him, none of the unbelieving laughter in his tone now. Just anger. Yet he never raised his voice, apparently Johnny wouldn’t gain the satisfaction. Sadly. Still though, he was having fun with these small comments to piss him off.
“What, you gonna hit first this time?” Johnny mocked. “I’m right here man”. He wanted to dare him to lure him into an attack, because they both knew who would win. LaRusso glared at him venomously.
“Y’know what, you’re not even worth it,” he scoffed back.
“So you'll pussy out. Just like I thought”.
He felt great satisfaction at the sight of Daniel’s jaw clenching at that. It was just too easy to rile him up. Even the mere presence of Cobra Kai, the man probably had some ptsd flashbacks. Johnny just thought it was pathetic - he was in his fifties now, you would’ve thought he’d have grown a backbone by then.
“You and I.. this. We aren’t done,” replied LaRusso, seeming like he might say another thing but instead he just turned to slowly walk to the door once more.

Johnny watched him silently as he then left the dojo, the bell giving a little ring. That was amusing, he didn’t know he’d get some evening entertainment aside from Netflix. Once again he mastered LaRusso as a puppet as he could tell he was so pissed off, and it wasn’t even on purpose! And he still needed to fix his car because that was his job. Oh, he knew how utterly fuming the Jersey man would be right now. Good. Johnny went back into the office that he now pretty much shared with Kreese. It was a strange experience, going from student to sensei. He knew he was more than qualified enough for it, it was just that things had been the same way for so long. When he had sat back down at the desk, he glanced over at the same black headband he had kept for more than thirty years. The band was given to him by Ali on Valentines Day in 1983, back when she supported his karate and had rooted for him. Ali, who had never spoken to him ever again after he won against LaRusso.

“Over here! Over here Johnny!” A paparazzi yelled. There was a crowd of them in the press conference, barely holding back their shouts for the precious snatches of attention. It was always a little startling to be reminded of all of this, cameras flashing eagerly at the sight of the champion in front of them. It was 1991, and the media was watching a twenty four year old Johnny Lawrence in anticipation of what he would say. Of what information he’d reveal. The interviewers were packed in the room, seeming like they were half encircling him. So close yet so far from where he was sitting. It felt lonely in a way, that he was alone whilst this crowd was practically opposite him, but he certainly felt glad he wasn’t in the mob.

He answered questions calmly, he was already used to the fame that his career had bought him. Since he didn’t do this too often as he was obviously focused upon his career and training, when the opportunity came the press flocked over. Some perhaps would’ve been overwhelmed at this, but Johnny had always craved attention so it was something he could embrace. Now he was able to ignore the blinding white flashes, clickers shutting frantically, almost desperate to make the most of the chance. Particularly now, as this was drawing to a close at last - Johnny was tired and honestly looking forward to taking a hot bath after this.

“Can you tell us about the headband you always wear?” asked one interviewer near him, stretching her hand out with the microphone.
“Where is it from, and why do you always have the same one?” added another who was nearly next to her, trying to get more information out of him. Johnny took a quick moment to think of his answer. There was no need to keep it a secret.
“I’ve had it a while now, probably about eight years. I don’t see a need to fix something that’s not broken. I keep it cause it was a gift from someone pretty special to me,” he admitted.
“Who? Who is this lucky someone?”

Ali..

“A chick I used to know,” is what he said. Just someone he used to know. Nothing more than a distant memory now. With his answer, the interviewer was more eager than ever.
“Who was this special girl?”
“She was my girlfriend in high school,” said Johnny boredly, not planning to say anything more than that. It was too close. Too personal. This was about the length he would go, and he thought he had already said enough. And so with that, he didn’t answer their begs for elaboration, nor for wanting to know her name as he left the conference. That was the last question, Johnny had already been the one to decide that.

Perhaps keeping the headband was pathetic, but he knew that he’d never be able to let go of it. It was funny how a scrap of fabric did that. The truth was, it was one of the last fragments left of a past that was another world. The Johnny who used to be happy with Ali, before their fight over him missing her birthday that led to their break up. Nothing ever got better after the tournament - she ignored him at school. LaRusso had stolen her completely. Johnny had taken the hint and chose to not chase after her, he wasn’t going to look pathetic like that. Never, he was better than that. Though now he was beginning to regret not ever trying to make amends with Ali. It was as if they’d never known eachother.

That same headband lay there on Kreese’s desk. The thing had been taken everywhere, all across the world, in countless international matches. Yet no matter how high he climbed he never got the one he truly wanted for all these years. How was it possible to have everything and nothing at the exact same time? Johnny hated the way it showcased his vulnerability, but he could never bring himself to part with Ali’s gift. He couldn’t help it, he loved her so much. And what he loved ran deeper than anything else when he’d hold onto old objects as they’d contain the memories. Not just the headband - cassette tapes, his walkman, even his old red Cobra jacket. Ridiculous. Behind the flawless mask of toughness, was some sentimentality. That was something that Kreese could never touch.

The sight of the real LaRusso and not some amusing billboard stirred up more of the past. Johnny didn’t really hate him anymore - not as much as he had done. The tournament settled scores, it wasn’t his fault that LaRusso couldn’t see that. And now it had been thirty years, that was definitely a reason to leave some high school rivalry behind. Daniel truly looked at him like he was something disgusting. Back then Johnny had felt bad about hurting his already injured leg, but Kreese had told him to target it. Otherwise he might’ve lost, and he despised that. The move wasn't even illegal, LaRusso had chosen to continue the match even with a busted knee. Though despite letting go of some hatred, he still couldn’t forget that he was the reason Ali had walked away from him.

Chapter Text

Things had certainly changed since Johnny was a student at Cobra Kai. Times had changed in particular. He had asked Kreese about the girl in his dojo after the first session, and he chuckled back at him as they stood near to the window.
“You know I had the exact same thought as you. I doubted her Johnny - till she showed she was enough to be here. She hit the crap out of a kid”. Aha, how he wished to have seen that.
“And now? What’s she like?”
“Funny you should ask that, because she reminds me of you. Nichols caught the hang of it real fast”. Johnny started to feel impressed. If she managed to change Kreese’s mind about girls being too soft and sensitive to practise the martial art, then she must be something.
“She’s been here for.. two years, give or take,” continued Kreese. Johnny nodded. “Good. Guess it shows some champion can be found anywhere huh”.
“Exactly that kid. You think that Diaz has what it takes?”
“Too early to tell. I think he could though”.
“Right. When I found you; you remember how you were? Nothing like the man you are today”.

Ugh, yes he did remember. He couldn’t forget how much of a wimp he used to be. Thank god he changed from that.
“Yeah. So for Diaz.. we’ll keep seeing”.
“And as for Nichols.. we need her anyway to compete in girls divisions. Some modern bullshit about being diverse and fair.. but whatever gets Cobra Kai the win,” said Kreese.

As the Diaz kid progressed, Johnny couldn’t forget how he resembled his past self in some way. It was weird, but he had heart. No reason that he could see why it wasn’t the heart of a champion, somewhere in there. Diaz just had to unlock it. Nichols seemed to be friends with him already, considering she’d practise with him. But he looked like a stick with his twig arms and legs - did she assume he was gay? Whatever, what the hell did Johnny know anyway. Things never seemed as straightforward as they were in the 80s, when a girl was next to you, you took the hint and made the first move! Johnny highly doubted the Mexican would do that. Despite that though, he saw how fast Diaz was improving. Maybe he just wanted to look good in front of the others, but he still had that ability after all.

It was the third week he had been there, and he had arrived in the afternoon for one of the many practise sessions that were on. After a couple hours of sweaty training for them, Johnny was speaking to Kreese once more. This time, about the dojo itself.
“I can drop by to put posters up,” said Johnny. People would probably flock like sheep if they saw him.
“I did try that, but those soft kids don’t care,” scoffed Kreese.
“Yeah but this time it’s me, I’ll show them exactly how badass Cobra Kai can be”. Miguel knew he was eavesdropping as he had changed and finished packing away, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to know what they were on about. Advertising for here, right?
“Did you think of putting up a website? If.. there isn’t one already,” said Miguel impulsively as he stood opposite them. The two men turned their attention to him, and he started to feel nervous with that but ignored it.
“I don’t know how that’s done,” admitted Kreese. Johnny glanced back at him.
“Yeah neither. Diaz, if there’s something you wanna tell us.. something you think you can do better, we’re all ears”.
“Oh, no no no. I wouldn’t say I can be better sensei,” corrected Miguel quickly. “Just, I think I might be able to help with that..”

Johnny stared at him. “You can? Of course you can.. you’re a computer nerd aren’t you?” Miguel didn’t say this, but he was thinking that no, he was just someone who knew how to log onto the internet. It seemed these guys, both of them, were acting like some boomers honestly. Well he’d say that maybe Kreese actually was one, but.. Miguel tore himself away from that stupidly amusing train of thought. Now was not the time.
“I’ll come up with something,” he told them. It would be a good challenge, plus Cobra Kai is such a badass name…
“We’ll be waiting for what you will bring to the table Diaz,” said Kreese as he watched him coldly. Great - Miguel and his big mouth, now there was totally no pressure to make it good or anything. As if a karate world champion wasn’t enough. Weirdly though, Sensei John Kreese was scarier than Johnny Lawrence. Or at least, that was the feeling that Miguel got anyway.

★★★

Despite texting Eli and Demetri about the karate they still didn’t seem convinced about it, even though they saw the others with Tory. In fact, Miguel just saw excuses along the lines of “I don’t wanna get kicked in the face thanks” and “we’d have to sacrifice video games!” - which was funny but still, he would’ve liked for them to join. Should he use his secret weapon of knowledge, aka the fact that Johnny Lawrence was in the valley? Would that be wrong? What if he accidentally launched some huge attention? Then he would be truly pissed at him, and Miguel never ever wanted for that to happen. Or just as bad - disappointed. Maybe he’d have to move away, and it would be all Miguel’s fault..! No. He was overthinking this. Surely it was fine. Someone else could’ve easily caused what Miguel was thinking, and yet that hadn’t happened.

So he decided that he should tell them. If that didn’t convince them, what the heck would? And they seemed impressed about that, but it still wasn’t enough for them to give up their video games. I mean were they even trying to push back against what others thought, or against the teasing that they’d get? For Eli in particular, people took the mickey about his lip. But perhaps they just had to gather the courage to even walk through the door, after all - Miguel had met Johnny prior to joining the dojo itself. So that was something. Then again.. if Kreese had looked at Miguel that coldly, then what would he think of Demetri and Eli? There was always a chance that this wasn’t meant to happen, he supposed.

★★★

It was an early morning as Daniel watched Sam greet Kyler in the LaRusso’s driveway. Since arriving back from the Cobra Kai dojo, he had plenty of time to think about Johnny’s words. How he hated this thought, but did he really have a reason to lie about Sam? His daughter? Johnny wouldn’t have even known he had one. And so Daniel was forced to acknowledge this truth, even though on that night he confronted the man he was filled with a hatred he hadn’t even felt since.. God, how long.. Since he lost the tournament, that’s when. That, was another uncomfortable realisation, which Daniel unfortunately knew to be true aswell. He was deep into these thoughts as he watched almost absentmindedly.

Amanda said something about his cousin Louie not being at the dealership.
“Ok,” replied Daniel. Sam and Kyler kissed, then he led her to his car, a black Jeep. Was it possible he misjudged Kyler? That he really bullied a kid half his size..?
“Mmhm,” he hummed to whatever Amanda was saying.
“.. Louie opened an underground casino in the break room,” she said.
“Yeah..” began Daniel. “Wait what?” He suddenly questioned. What was that?
“Sam’s gonna be fine,” assured Amanda as she stood next to him near the window he was facing. “We met Kyler. Outside of wasting a few bucks worth of tuna he seemed harmless”.
“Yeah I’ve known plenty of guys that seemed harmless that were real pieces of crap behind the scenes”.
“Come on,” interrupted Amanda. “You’re really gonna trust that Cobra guy over your own daughter?”

Daniel just lightly sighed back. It wasn’t that, it was just someone could probably manipulate Sam. He just wanted her to be safe, that’s all. He didn’t trust Johnny in the slightest, but he just couldn’t think of any plausible reason as to why he would lie about that. It didn’t seem like he was lying either. Or maybe he was, Daniel was being foolish? Johnny could make up an elaborate lie in less than a second? It was possible, though Daniel didn’t even want to credit him with that - what, to have a brain that thought that fast? No, Johnny didn’t have one of those. Whatever, Amanda was right; he should really stop thinking about this situation. Kyler may be fine. Just.. he wanted to be safe though, and his wife’s words didn’t do much to change his mind over that. It was just to be safe - nothing to do with Johnny.

★★★

Finally, the day rolled around where LaRusso Auto told Johnny he was able to pick up his car. He still thought posters for Cobra Kai were a good idea with him on it, surely no swarm of fans would go here. He wasn’t ‘the trend’ anymore, the craze in the 80s and 90s, but nor did he want to be. He just wanted to find some balance between promoting Cobra Kai dojo and personally lying underneath the radar - however the fuck that works. Johnny didn’t need to push too hard considering one, they didn’t want to have too many students, and two, he didn’t want too much attention. Besides, there was that quality over quantity aspect anyway, him and Kreese concentrating on the select students would be much more likely to get champions, boosting their reputation further.

Johnny was now in a taxi on the way to LaRusso’s Auto Group to finally pick up his car. Then it would be easier to place the posters on a wider location range. It felt so weird to arrive here, but as much as it was amusing to piss Daniel LaRusso off in his own territory, he would actually just rather quickly take his car and leave. He wasn’t even picking a fight, he just wanted his Firebird back safe and all good. Johnny got out of the car and looked up at the big letters spelling out LaRusso. Honestly, not bad for a New Jersey hood rat. See LaRusso was always hating on his success, his dojo, yet he didn’t reciprocate that. Why should he, he was just living his life and yet LaRusso was still jealous of him. The same old thing, he bet he probably envied him back in high school. Well, he wasn’t the only one.

So he walked into LaRusso’s workplace. He was probably here right now, how weird was that? If Johnny could just hurry it up and get outta here, he wouldn’t need LaRusso’s annoyance. Today he didn’t care to focus upon him, so if the man tried to preach to him about how bad Cobra Kai was or whatever, he didn’t really give a shit. Grab the Firebird, then he won’t set foot in here again. The large showroom was spacious as expected, with a whole lot of windows making it very naturally light. Didn’t look bad at all, though the corporate feel was certainly here. It was what to be expected of businesses, their professionalism. Shiny floors, and.. a row of little trees..? Not far away, there were some on shelves, on a table below it. What was this, some display garden instead of a dealership? He made his way to the desk, their reception, to find out just where the hell they had put his car. It better be completely perfect, Johnny had missed that cherry red babe.

Chapter Text

Daniel was standing across the showroom, scowling at the scene. He didn’t want to - he tried to fix that, he needs to be happy in front of everyone, or at least look it - but.. the sight of some asshole in his dealership.. Daniel wasn’t forgetting that. And yet, he needed to thank him personally and still give him a bonsai tree, a precious bonsai, because that’s what he did for every customer! Johnny couldn’t even be an exception, that would harm him and make him look bad. No, for this he needed to push aside his personal feelings and cling to his professionalism. It was fine, he could do it. He refrained from attacking the man at his dojo, and obviously there was no way Daniel would do that here. Well not at all, he needed to deal with this like an adult anyway, aside from Mr Miyagi’s teachings, even if he secretly wished otherwise.

Johnny was leaving to collect the car - ugh, here was the moment. Daniel had to. If Amanda were by him, she would be urging him to make the move.
“Wait up Johnny,” he pushed himself to say. Johnny turned to his voice instantly, looking confused for a brief second but then had that same vague amused look as he paused. Daniel had picked up one of the precious bonsais and made his way over to the blonde, feeling strangely exposed in the middle of the showroom. The tree felt like a sacrifice as he held it in front of the man who used to make his life hell in high school, but again - no exceptions.
“Every customer gets one,” said Daniel, doing his best to keep the tiredness away from his voice. Yeah, and that rule kind of backfired.. No, stop thinking like that! It’s ridiculous, it’s petty!
“A little tree. Ok, thanks LaRusso,” shrugged Johnny.
“A bonsai,” replied Daniel as he passed the plant over to him. Duh, he wanted to add.
“So.. thank you for choosing LaRusso Auto”. He felt too close in proximity to him but he refused to let him see Daniel take a step back. It felt like backing down.

Johnny did his blue eyed stare back at him. “I didn’t choose it. But whatever floats your boat man”.
Daniel gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. He can’t say anything - professional, professional.. And even then, the guy possibly had the influence to sway others opinions on his dealership. The one that ‘beat all prices’? Priding itself on having integrity? .. Not that Daniel was being very honest right now, even though he wished to be, he wasn’t stupid. All of a sudden he felt the presence of someone by his side, and saw none other than Amanda!
“Daniel. I see you’ve given a bonsai. Oh, it needs plenty of light,” said Amanda, suddenly advising Johnny. What was she doing?! Didn’t she trust him to stay calm at the man?
“I’m Amanda. The wife”.

Johnny simply nodded in acknowledgment back, probably confused like him.
“Listen, I gotta go..” he began, and for once Daniel was relieved at his words, until he heard a gasp.
“Look! There he is!” a voice called out in awe, and at once two of the customers that Anoush was previously showing cars to had just appeared, as if from thin air.
“Wait- wait up,” called out Anoush weakly, but the couple ignored him as they stood by the group. They were staring at Johnny.
“Can I help y-” Daniel tried to say, but the customers weren’t even paying attention to him.
“Johnny Lawrence right? I recognised you! Here, would you please take selfies with us real quick?” asked the man excitedly.
“Actually..” Daniel tried to protest, but the sentence went nowhere. He wanted to say no selfies in the dealership, but that was ridiculous. And it would be a rule he lied about at this second.

He sighed as Amanda glanced back at him, amused. Yet he was just annoyed at this, as he proceeded to witness Johnny interacting with his fans at his dealership. Daniel’s own dealership! He fought to push down another spark of anger, and jealousy - not because he was famous, no, Daniel didn’t want that. He would just least of all expect attention to him at LaRusso’s Auto Group. Not Lawrence’s Auto Group, after all. More people had noticed the commotion and were turning their heads to the direction, but Johnny somehow made a quiet exit already. Daniel didn’t know how he broke away from the couple, but he was thankful he hadn’t stayed to steal yet more attention. Though he was still burning at what had happened.

“Just what did you think you were doing Amanda?” he asked, perplexed.
“Making sure you don’t rip out eachothers throats, that’s what,” Amanda retorted back quickly. “Look, I had to make sure. After your rant about Cobra Kai I don’t want you to cause anything”.
“Oh, thanks for that faith in me honey”.
“Just to be sure,” repeated Amanda, as if she was reassuring a child. Maybe he was behaving like one, but he was trying not to.

★★★

Daniel trudged through the rest of the day trying to forget the whole thing. Through lunch, Anoush and Louie told jokes which at least made him laugh because of the sheer stupidity, and he did appreciate the effort. Then it was the time to wrap up, and Daniel walked outside with his briefcase once more, but suddenly noticed something coloured a pale yellow. He turned, and there was a poster near his glass doors.

Learn to fight! Join Cobra Kai. A picture of Johnny doing a punch, the logo of the snake.. www.CobraKai.com?

What the fuck? Right there, right in the space of his dealership?! No no no, this was too far. Daniel snatched the poster off, which didn’t need that much force considering it just had some flimsy tape, but still. He was already annoyed by the earlier situation, and now? What, this was some kind of lame joke on him? It was just stupid. As he looked at the poster feeling some inner burn again, his mind began to form a brilliant idea. What if he started his own dojo? Then Cobra Kai wouldn’t be laughing anymore, Johnny and Kreese would have another thing coming. Sure it sounded like a huge challenge, what with Daniel’s time being so precious to him, but he thought that he needed to take an active stance once more. Maybe he had fallen to a loss back then, but now he was older, stronger, smarter, more experienced in the martial art. These kids needed Daniel, not Cobra Kai. Not something to turn them into bullies. No - Mr Miyagi’s way would save them.

★★★

Tomorrow he could deal with the stupid shenanigans of Cobra Kai, for the rest of the day Daniel decided to feel calmer. When he made it home, he felt like going to the pool house which was where they used to have the area to practise karate. The idea of practising it more had been simmering already, but perhaps it had needed a stronger feeling to take action to fully bring it out. Because now, he had a renewed sense of determination to come back to Mr Miyagi’s legacy. He had focused upon his family and career, even if he tried to take Kreese down during that, but with Johnny back it was like the rivalry itself reminded Daniel of how things were never truly resolved - not completely. Sure a lot of time had passed, but was it that strange that Daniel felt like it was yesterday? From how vivid his memories were, he could never forget his senior year of high school.

He cleared out boxes after boxes, returning the banner on the wall, dusting everything off, placing the old framed photographs back on the black shelves. It took a while but he felt relief and an excited nostalgia as he saw how everything was changing into its original state. There was a quiet hope within him - he wasn’t powerless. Though first he needed to get back into the whole sport, and then? He knew he could be unstoppable to be honest. Daniel wasn’t going to act like he was better than anyone else at all, but he knew exactly how he could have improved and what yet he still had to do in the future. Eventually, everything had been tidied. The Jersey man placed the last photograph on the shelf - the one of him kneeling next to little Sam.

There was a black wooden box near it, and Daniel opened the lid up. Inside, he gently picked up his old white and dark blue headband. As he placed it on, he realised he was feeling an old remnant of peace for the first time since Johnny’s return to the valley. He slowly began to practise his kata. It was something truly wonderful, here in this space he felt closer to Mr Miyagi despite how he had moved on from the world. And here, certainly no cobra could ever, ever set foot - it was Mr Miyagi and Daniel’s shared past to be untouched.

★★★

The next day, Daniel was sitting with Anoush and Louie on their lunch break in the office. Now there was plenty of time to talk.
“So yesterday.. Anoush, y'know that guy who stole our customers' attention?”
“Huh? Oh yeah, right, was that like a celebrity or something? Should I know?” he asked. Daniel gave a small laugh.
“No no, you don’t need to know. It.. it doesn’t matter”. Anoush and Louie glanced at eachother. Ugh, no, he’d have to remind them of who Johnny was in order for this story to make sense.
“Ok, it’s the guy who had it out for me in high school,” Daniel elaborated tiredly.
“Ohhh, tournament guy? Tournament guy, yep that’s who,” said Louie.
“I didn’t know thaat, you should’ve told us Daniel,” exclaimed Anoush.
“No, seriously guys, that asshole needs no more attention”.

“What’s happened then Daniel?” Louie questioned after a small pause.
“Yeah I wanna know,” added Anoush quickly.
“He’s running Cobra Kai with his sensei, practically teaching kids to be bullies again. But yesterday.. yesterday, there was a poster advertising that right on my property”. It felt a bit petty to say it out loud, but Daniel really didn’t like the idea of being one upped in this way.
“Ohh.. shit. Those guys are where the bullies were right?” said Anoush. Daniel nodded back in confirmation.
“Yup. And that guy specifically? Heard he beat up a bunch of teenagers”.
“What? Damn that sucks. Maybe you gotta show this guy who’s boss,” suggested Louie.
“Well I don’t really know what to target him with exactly.. Besides, you know I’m not gonna advocate for violence,” said Daniel truthfully.
“You don’t have to do that.. think smarter,” Anoush told him as he tapped his finger on his temple a few times. “Tell the truth on how bad Cobra Kai is. Put the students off. They’re some kids anyway so they can be influenced back again”.

“Manipulate kids? I don’t know about that,” said Daniel. And he already attempted to tell people about the dangers of the dojo, but they didn’t listen. Or not enough did. He tried thinking of any way to retaliate, apart from the golden dream of starting his dojo in his own rebellion. Could he higher the rent on Cobra Kai so they would need to shut down? Ah, it would take a lot. They had their students and Johnny was rich.. Fuck. Perhaps they didn’t even pay rent altogether. No, it seemed like Daniel had to stick with promoting his karate instead, when he could make the preparations.
“I’ve been thinking of teaching some kids myself,” admitted Daniel. “Not too many of course but.. if I could just spread the word when I do, then..”
“That’s brilliant!” exclaimed Louie suddenly. “You would steal the snakes students after all!”
“Exactly, it would be well played,” smirked Anoush. Daniel didn’t like to think of it as ‘stealing’ (though that was some cherry picking on his end). Instead, he saw it as simply placing the children on the right track again. Keeping them safe. They can defend themselves whilst not being assholes. It would be perfect.

Chapter Text

After picking it up Johnny was cruising in his Firebird, so glad he had the car back as he had already put on some music, with Everybody wants to rule the world playing. His treasure had spent weeks in LaRusso’s dealership, but now it was back where it rightly belonged - with him. To drive it down the palm tree lined roads of California again felt like things were returning to some normalcy. The golden sunshine flickered through the windows as he passed by the buildings on his left, the coast not far off on his right. He had to admit.. They did a real good job on fixing up the car. In fact, it seemed to look even shinier than before. Huh. Looks like no suing would happen this time, LaRusso had held up his side pretty well. The bonsai he got given was sitting in the passenger seat, snugly strapped in. It looked really stupid, but Johnny didn’t want to break suddenly and have soil spill all over the interior of his car. Y’know, just making sure, so this was the best method.

He supposed that he could’ve just thrown the tree on the floor and left the shattered pot for someone else to find, but he saw no reason to do that. Maybe he didn’t want it or care much, but he had it now. “Every customer gets one,” LaRusso had said to him. Where he had gotten the whole bonsai thing from, Johnny didn’t know, but clearly it meant something to the man. His phrase parroted endlessly - “branch out to find your car” - seemed to be in more places now that Johnny was back in the valley. The Jersey man had truly infiltrated his life once again. Sometimes he’d catch random snippets on the radio - “here at LaRusso Auto, we have the best prices in the valley!” He didn’t care at all for what he had to say, his voice already sounded slightly annoying in person, let alone as a commercial? It had begun to feel grating.

Johnny had just wanted to pick up his car as fast as he could when he walked into the dealership, but as usual the complete opposite had happened as he was first stopped by his old rival and then by some fans. That was weird as hell but funny when LaRusso approached him with his plant. Out of all people and things to do, especially after their last encounter when the man practically stormed into Cobra Kai and assumed everything that Johnny had done. Yes, he still saw the way LaRusso’s eyes would glare at him, or his jaw tightening in the anger held back from exploding. No, the twerp couldn’t pick a fight anymore, not when the actual world came knocking. He’d lose anyway, whether it be in a tournament or a real fight. Oh, he certainly wouldn’t stand a chance in a real fight. Because one good thing Kreese did was prepare the cobras for any scenario, including the situations where you truly needed no mercy. It was just a harsh but necessary fact that he was sure LaRusso would never understand. Johnny didn’t imagine he would stop to consider the pragmatic side.

After playing some rad tunes, (really the trees first experience of a real life, unlike the boring ass dealership) he finally pulled up to park, heading into the dojo. He knew exactly where the bonsai could go.

The potted plant was placed on the desk in the office, near to the window where it would attract the light. Its complex branches twisted near eachother, the different links all blossoming into the carefully pruned greenery. Johnny pulled up the blinds to mostly expose more, which was successful. As for watering the thing? He’d never forget to when he would see it practically everyday - and if he was away, Kreese could water the bonsai. Honestly it was pretty amusing that the tree from Daniel would be in the one place he’d hate it being. He was satisfied with that, even if it was another petty move. Earlier, placing the Cobra Kai poster on LaRusso’s property after he snuck away from the couple got some laughs from him, because he was thinking that would teach him to assume to know everything. And if the man wanted to say a dig, Johnny would one up him right back.

The poster that he made had a website on it now, thanks to Diaz. He was right about him of course - the twig was a computer nerd. But that came in useful for making a site to promote the dojo. He supposed Kreese wouldn’t have thought or cared to do that. Well whatever that was done now anyway, it was time to see how many sheep flocked over - who was really a wolf underneath?

“It’s the Cobra Kai web page! I made it in study hall,” explained Diaz as he leaned by the desk where his laptop was perched. It was only the following evening after another practise since he had suggested to make the thing, yet he was already eager to show it. Johnny and Kreese both peered at what was before them - it was the logo of the snake against a black background.
“Ok click on the snake..”
Johnny seemed to be in the middle of Kreese and Diaz, so he clicked it and the digital snake hissed back at him as the page was then replaced quickly by a red sign in box. Not bad.
“This is the sign in page. I was thinking maybe we could make an app to track your progress, get a social media campaign going.. the whole school would know, the possibilities are endless, I’ll do whatever I can with this,” babbled Diaz to his senseis.
“You know what? I like that,” approved Kreese. “I like that”.

Miguel Diaz’s face lit up with a smile that he didn’t make any effort to conceal. But before Johnny could make any comment, some music sounded near them. He recognised the song though this time, Round and round by Ratt. It wasn’t his own phone he knew, so the kid's must be ringing, again. Was that his mom again?
“Shoot.. hold on I gotta take this,” said Diaz. As he proceeded to do that, Johnny thought it must be as it felt a little like a repeat from before. These kids and their phones - now, you were accessible everywhere and whenever. When Johnny was a kid, he could be out for hours on end and his mom was fine with it, though she knew all too well of the icy relations between him and his stepfather.

“Love you too,” said Diaz as he hung up. “I uh gotta go”. He scooped up his laptop from the desk and shut it.
“Alright but was that ringtone-” began Johnny, but the kid intervened as he stuffed his device in his backpack.
“Ratt? Awesome right?” he asked excitedly, seeming to forget the subtle nervous energy Johnny thought he had when he was around him and Kreese.
“Yeah,” replied Johnny simply.
“I went online and looked up Guns N’ Roses and ended up going on this whole 80s rock rabbit hole. That shit is dope,” Diaz continued. Johnny couldn’t help but feel something odd at his babbling - warm? Who knew, it was just kind of nice to see a kid speak so happily and passionately, particularly for something Johnny himself loved. Something he listened to in much simpler days when he was almost his age, not much older.

He caught himself in a small smile at that.

“I’ll see you guys next time,” nodded Diaz at them. He was the last student to go again. When he had gone, Kreese turned to Johnny.
“Did I miss something?”
Johnny didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “Maybe a little”.

And now a bonsai tree was on that desk as Johnny stood there, its saturated green tufts catching the rays of light from outside. It wasn’t long until Kreese showed up to join him in the office, breaking the spell of silence.
“Hey Johnny..” he noticed the bonsai in front of the office window. “Well why’s that there?”
“My car was fixed by LaRusso, turns out he gives those things to every customer,” said Johnny. “What, it’s just a plant. Bonsai”.
“LaRusso is the enemy”.
Johnny looked back at the man. “You still consider him one? An enemy has to be somewhat of a threat. LaRusso’s not even worth that”.
“Unfortunately he is one, and he would’ve gotten us banned from the All Valley if I hadn’t been so careful,” scoffed Kreese as he stepped past Johnny to stare closely at the bonsai.
“Think about it another way, he looked pissed as hell to hand me that tree and it's now sitting here”.

After a slight pause, Kreese hummed in agreement. “Fine but that will be more your responsibility”.
“Ok”.

★★★

Miguel kicked the training pads that the blonde was holding as they were in another practice session after school. Tory was someone who he had become good friends with now in the weeks he had been at Cobra Kai, perhaps it was some record in how fast. He wasn’t sure how whatever this was called had formed, but he was glad it had. The two of them would walk to the corner shop together after practice to get a cold drink, sometimes Tory’s swift fingers would manage to swipe something extra. A pack of sweets, mints, gum. Miguel had felt very odd when she had first produced the pack to show him, her giggle turning into louder laughs at his expression.

“No one’s gonna miss it,” she had said. But despite her being someone who he knew would get into more trouble than him, he still liked her. Tory Nichols had that feeling of pure thrill - as if it were the start of summer all over again. What he would imagine smoking with friends would be like, illegal stuff. His mom and Yaya would hate that, and he would hate letting them down.. but there was that part of him that wanted to go against it all. To say - nah, fuck it. To hell with expectations. It was the precious snatches of what Miguel thought his teen years would be like. And that’s what Tory reminded him of. So to hang out with her, even if she was way beyond his league, felt like something pretty great. Yet whenever he caught himself imagining if they could be a couple, he would remember.

Miguel had previously had his eye on someone at school - Samantha LaRusso, one of the most popular girls. She was also way beyond his league. It was something of a sad crush that he knew he’d never have the chance to grab, but then since Cobra Kai he felt his confidence had risen. That he could strike first, ask her out. Completely and utterly ruined once he had seen that asshole, Kyler, sit with her at the lunch table. Obviously they were together. Miguel then noticed them around eachother even more, them kissing by the lockers, Kyler’s hand on her ass.. Ugh. He shouldn’t even feel bothered, he’d be surprised if Sam even knew his name. No, she was someone that Miguel needed to let go of, immediately. Maybe he should fight back, but he wasn’t stupid - he wouldn’t go after Kyler’s girlfriend. Not a chance, he wasn’t some thief, even if he did have the smallest chance of achieving that. But how can he let go of this? He had realised that Cobra Kai could’ve helped him to ask out Sam, though instead now that door was closed. Slammed shut by Kyler.

Chapter Text

Miguel didn’t want Tory to become some rebound, or a second best to Sam. That’s partly why he didn’t ask her out, not just for fear it was too early. He needed to be confident of his choices atleast. Not that he was even sure that she liked him in that way - maybe he shouldn’t flatter himself. It’s not like there were any girls in the dojo anyway. Tory needed friends. Simple. Right? Miguel felt as if he was a part of something more when he was here, seeing how he proved himself. He was getting more and more used to the steel coldness of Sensei Kreese’s orders, the necessary values he and Sensei Lawrence taught - yet there wasn’t room to slack off. The moment he was feeling safe, feeling invincible, he was told that was when an attack could strike. “An enemy who wanted him dead”, Kreese had warned him. It wasn’t as unsettling as it used to be. The truth now felt right.

Why show the world mercy when it showed you none?

Tory had spoken plenty of the same words as Kreese, being the star student of Cobra Kai.
“More force. Your opponent didn’t even feel that Miguel,” she said, light green eyes meeting him as they narrowed in criticism.
“Right. Sorry”.
“Don’t apologise. It shows weakness,” Tory reminded him. He nodded back, then kicked harder.
“That’s it. Every time it should be like that. Picture your enemy,” ordered Tory. Miguel didn’t particularly like to think about Kyler under any circumstance - in fact he liked to forget he existed, but for this, he should make an effort.. Suddenly, he had noticed Sensei Lawrence next to them. It almost scared him since he truly had no clue as he was wrapped up in his own thoughts, in some kind of zone out again.
“Diaz, quick word”.

What did he do this time? Miguel tried his best to push down the nervousness inside as he followed him across the room. He felt the same as when he would get sent to the principal's office (it was a rare occurrence in his life, but still). Once they reached a spot in the room, his Sensei spoke.
“Quit being a pussy and ask her out already”.
Miguel blinked, momentarily stunned. Did he just hear that correctly? He wasn’t expecting this of all things, though he was starting to understand that Johnny Lawrence’s personality did not match up to what someone would expect at all.
“I’m.. what?” He just about got out.
“You heard me. I usually wouldn’t pry but it’s torture for the rest of us. So get it together,” the blonde casually replied. Miguel barely even knew what to say.
“Yes?” asked Sensei.
“Yes Sensei..” said Miguel as he tried hiding his confusion. “But.. what if she says no?”
“No? Never accept defeat Diaz. There is no ‘no’ ”.
“Pretty sure no means no,” Miguel replied.
“Yeah, if things are getting physical no means no, but if you’re just asking her out - You’re a Cobra Kai. Who’s better?”

He had good points there, Miguel thought.
“Anyway, get back to it. Can’t keep a lady waiting”.
“Yes Sensei,” said Miguel, deciding not to mention that it was Sensei who stole him away from Tory. When he had made his way back to her they continued practicing as if nothing had happened, much to Miguel’s relief. He wouldn’t have known what lie to tell anyway. Now he had a choice to make, sort out if his feelings about Tory were stronger than for Sam. Well for starters, Sam probably didn’t know his name. Actually; Miguel should forget about her. She was Kyler’s girlfriend, meanwhile there was a super hot girl right in front of him who maybe liked him back.

“So get it together”.

Yes. Yes he needed to get his shit together. He should gather the courage to ask Tory out, which if it all went according to plan would shut Sam out for the better. But, what if he painfully misread every sign? If Sensei Lawrence was wrong? What if Miguel made things awkward and he couldn’t escape Tory, considering she was literally the top student of the entire class? He guessed that this was just a risk he had to be willing to take, if he truly wanted to choose this.

★★★

Johnny was basking in the sunlight on the bench after the practice, needing some downtime from all those kids. Sometimes it was like babysitting to be honest, though he wouldn’t trade it, he liked to teach them. The park was someplace chill with the background chattering of the families, though occasionally there were unfortunate snatches of what he could’ve had with Robby. A parent holding the hand of their toddler. A kid being pushed on the swings. Maybe if Johnny hadn’t been so weak back then, running away from everything like some pussy, using fighting as a distraction - his son would still be speaking to him.

Almost automatically he took out his phone to go on it and checked what he had missed online, as he proceeded to ignore flickering thoughts of regret about Robby. He didn’t post a lot, preferring to live in the moment as they say, though there was quite a bit of attention on posts he did have. Then he suddenly remembered about the guys. When he had made his return to the Valley, he knew it was now a good time to see them again. Then he forgot, again, with dojo things then slight LaRusso and family drama. God, how long had it been? Way too long since the cobras last saw eachother, and Johnny knew he was the one that had stopped them from catching up completely. Because he had simply been way too busy, more than anyone else could imagine.

But he couldn’t be bothered to organise some big meeting for that, what with everyone’s schedules probably. The days of high school almost felt like something of another century, back when they’d see eachother literally every single day. The five boys couldn’t imagine it any differently, having no idea what the future would be like. Right now, there was one person Johnny could think of that he’d want to see first. There was Bobby Brown’s contact in front of him, as if waiting for Johnny to call. Hey, why not? He called him up, and luckily Bobby was there to answer.
“Hey man. Long time,” said Johnny. The last he’d heard, he was out doing church stuff, becoming some priest. That was not something that Johnny expected his friend to be - he used to be a real badass back in the day.. - but whatever, it’s what he digs.
“Johnny, hey! Right, it really has been huh? How are you man?” Bobby’s cheerful voice came from the phone, something he hadn’t heard in a while.
“Good, good. Listen, when you can I’d like to catch up, y’know”.
“Uhuh, yeah, yeah definitely. So you’re back in..”
“I’m back in the Valley. You miss me Bobby?” Johnny asked, suddenly smirking as he leaned back on the park bench.
“Guilty as charged I suppose. What do you say about grabbing some lunch somewhere? What was that burger place called that we loved..?”

★★★

Perhaps Johnny had gotten so caught up in what he wanted to avoid that he hadn’t realised what he had missed. After the Sunday church service that Bobby was obviously a part of, they would meet at the diner for lunch. Johnny was sitting in the blue coloured booth as the sun lightly shone through the window on his left, patiently waiting for the man to arrive.

“Johnny”. A familiar voice was right next to him all of a sudden. Bobby stood there with a smile on his face, ice blue eyes twinkling.
“Hey man,” greeted Johnny as he stood and clasped hands with Bobby, giving a casual hug. “Been a while huh?”
“Yeah, you look good man. Few more wrinkles I’d say but, not too bad,” joked Bobby. He slid in opposite to where Johnny sat, the menus lying in front of them.
“Oh yeah? What about you, you’d think with all that preaching and praying you’d get your hair back”. Bobby was now bald, none of the swept brunette hair of his younger years left. Well there was some shadow of it, but he clearly shaved it. That, at least, was better than clinging to the last remaining lifeline of actual hair like some other guys would do.

“Yeah,” Bobby chuckled lightly. “Unfortunately God doesn’t work that way”.
“So how've you really been man?” asked Johnny. “What with being a priest”.
“A pastor Johnny. I’m a pastor”.
“Pastor, priest, whatever you wanna call it”.
“Yep, that's been going good. I guess you’ll be wanting updates about everyone won’t you?”
“Just what I’ve missed,” smirked Johnny. Bobby was still a pastor like Johnny had last heard, after a while of studying, he always gave back to the community. He was involved in all sorts of events at home when Johnny was anywhere but home. Funny really - they turned out to be opposites in that way. Just then, the waitress appeared beside them clutching her notepad.
“Hello, are you guys ready to order?”
“Yeah, I’ll have a coors banquet and the cheeseburger with fries,” said Johnny.
“Uh make that two burgers, thanks,” added Bobby. “And I’ll have a Yuengling”.
“Mhmm, got it. Coming right up,” smiled the waitress and then went.

“We don’t hang out as much as we used to, we’re probably due for a get together at some point,” continued Bobby in response. “Think Jimmy’s still calculating numbers. I haven’t heard what Tommy’s up to these days, as for Dutch, well..” he trailed off.
“Yeah?” Johnny didn’t feel good at his sudden pause.
Bobby gave a sigh. “I feel like you don’t know about this since you’ve been away but.. he got arrested, couple years back. He’s up at Lompoc. I’ve been writing to him though”.
“What?”

Bobby told him all he knew about Dutch’s situation. Johnny knew he had a brutal temper that reflected his own at times, having the knack of getting into crazy fights. Johnny was sharp and precise, channeling whatever rage he had for his skills in fighting, though he would be cautious to not overstep those limits in the real matches. Dutch had no limits set up in his mind - and when he fought, he fought hard. Viciously. He could lash out worse than Johnny, with just as little thought process. Unlike him, Dutch never had Kreese’s favour, even when he followed everything down to the core. With that, he went down a path that no one could control. Perhaps Johnny’s doubts weren’t just his ruin - but his saviour.

Back in the day, Dutch had been sent to juvie numerous times, before it blended seamlessly into prison as they all grew up. For the first time he went to juvie, Johnny remembered that he had smashed a dart board when they all got wasted as teenagers in the bar. Not much else given their situation and age, but it was an insane night. Though through all of Dutch’s shenanigans, Johnny didn’t expect him to have been sentenced five to ten years in prison for aggravated assault.

Chapter Text

“Huh. I guess as a priest you helped him out,” Johnny finally commented after Bobby’s catch up. He shouldn’t be all that surprised, now that he thought about the way Dutch had always been. The best way to describe him was a loose canon.
“Yes, I did put a word in with the judge, luckily as a pastor. How many times are you gonna say I’m a priest?”
“Probably a lot more,” admitted Johnny honestly. “Why didn’t you tell me before the sentence? I could’ve done something”.
“Johnny, you were halfway across the world, god knows where.. But it wasn’t your responsibility”.
“.. Right,” he replied, though still left with the lingering thought. He probably could’ve saved Dutch from a harsher penalty, but Bobby had done that job well enough as a member of the clergy. Yeah, in a cleaner way anyway. He couldn’t imagine him having done anything wrong. Just like in their friend group Bobby Brown was a pillar of stability, except now the community shared him.
“We were all pretty out of contact for a time man,” said Bobby. “But today, today it can mark a comeback”.

As they ate their cheeseburgers when they had arrived, the two men spoke more about what Johnny had been up to, as Bobby seemed to be dying to know.
“Actually I went back to teach at Cobra Kai,” Johnny told him.
“For real?”
“Yeah, lot of good kids there,” he said. Bobby nodded and took a sip of his drink.
“I get that Johnny, but John Kreese.. doesn’t he always have something up his sleeve? Remember after high school?”

Johnny was silent at his words. He was referring to the time of his life where he thought he had it all, then realised he had never felt more lost. Where highs of the wins became lows. It was a bizarrely desperate set of years marked with the unpredictability of young adulthood. After the Sekai Taikai when the five cobras had branched out on their own paths, something had changed. From the safe net of high school and All Valleys to the real world. What did winning come with? What costs did it have? And what could even be counted as winning, at the end of the day some were just metal sitting collecting dust on shelves or in boxes. Memories - the feelings that came with them - stayed with him forever. Johnny still remembered the horrible sound of breaking cartilage from Daniel LaRusso, feeling his leg give way under the brutal pressure of his blow. The quiet but hideous crunch was a second but it was never erased, and it was that which reached him through his rage and carefully harboured resentment to the Jersey boy.

Many things had built up to the tournament from their undoubtedly intense rivalry, yet at that moment it disappeared to be replaced by a cold dread at what he’d done. Everyone but a complete psychopath knew that it was wrong. Just because he was seventeen didn’t excuse that - the one thing he would’ve apologised to LaRusso for.

But he didn’t. The iron firm belief that apologies showed weakness, that they were pathetic, won over whatever guilt he spared.

“Course I remember. And I know we had our differences but those kids need this”.
Bobby looked at him, though Johnny felt like he was under inspection from the watchful gaze.
“Just be careful”.
“People can change Bobby, just like Cobra Kai can change. That’s what I’m gonna do”.
Bobby’s face looked doubtful. “Right. And that’s all good, but, don’t let him change you”.
“I’m not a kid anymore,” scoffed Johnny. “I’ve got this. I can make sure those kids don’t make the same mistakes I did”. After a pause, Bobby sighed.
“Ok. Alright man. So, you’re going incognito to change things up, and you think then that Kreese will listen to you?”
“Something like that, yeah”.

★★★

That year's Halloween felt like it had approached pretty quickly, to Miguel anyway. He had arrived to the school’s Halloween dance, wearing the costume that his Yaya had help make. His head was entirely covered by the light grey fabric apart from cut outs for him to be able to see, and then his hero cape was directly attached to that hood with red flowers on it. Underneath that cape and mask he just had to wear his usual clothing - a white top with grey long sleeves and black shorts. Though now he was beginning to think that wasn’t so smart an idea as he saw other people killing it with what they wore. Well he knew that costumes could be expensive so he really didn’t mind if he never looked like some star of the dance, but the way it had turned out? It went from Deadpool to some generic superhero real quick.

No, what did it matter? Miguel didn’t even care for popularity points, just to have a good time at the dance with Eli and Demetri. Truly. As for Tory, she wasn’t here because it “wasn’t her scene”. Miguel would’ve liked for her to be there but she wasn’t convinced. The dance was filled with students, colourful costumes throughout the hall as the electronic music boomed. He saw his friends not far off stood to the side and approached them.

Demetri had a brown cloak on, looking like a sorcerer whilst Eli was dressed in hospital scrubs, even wearing a mask. They certainly looked better than Miguel.
“Oh.. what’s that supposed to be?” asked Demetri, true confusion in his voice.
“It’s a superhero,” he replied. Eli glanced at Demetri and he looked back at him.
“I like your sorcerer costume,” Miguel continued as he interrupted the sudden pause.
“Please. It’s a necromancer,” scoffed Demetri.
“What?”
“Didn’t you see the amulet?”
“So are you a regular doctor or-” started Miguel over Demetri as he turned his attention to Eli.
“Plastic surgeon. I fix lips,” said Eli in a muffled voice behind the mask.
“Nice”.

★★★

Daniel kept a watchful eye on Samantha from across the hall. He decided to be a chaperone and his mind was made up immediately when he said at the dinner table the other day. Perhaps he was being protective but he couldn’t really help it. There she was near the centre of the hall with her friends, giggling and dancing away. They were dressed in matching cheerleader uniforms, purple and yellow. Daniel kept his distance whilst being able to check on her at the same time. Kids and their worries - all she thought about when they were at dinner was to make Daniel promise to not embarrass her. That wasn’t what he wanted to do anyway, it was literally just to make sure everything was good. Alright, maybe he was a little bit of a worrier, but ironically enough his own ma had been the exact same way.

The schools counsellor, Miss Blatt, had approached him cheerfully. One of Ali’s best friends was Susan back in high school, and she was Susan’s little sister.
“Punch?” She held out the plastic cup.
“Thanks”. Daniel took it.
“Doesn’t seem that long ago since our own Halloween dances does it?” She said as she peered out to the crowd of kids.
“Yup. But it’s been a minute”. He remembered it well though - good times with Ali still. She was the one who motivated him to get back at Johnny and his gang. Daniel thought back to when he pulled a hose on the blonde with amusement. Served that jerk right for making Daniel fall from his bike a few weeks prior.
“You know, I still can’t believe you and Ali broke up after high school,” Miss Blatt continued, snapping Daniel out of the memory of his dance.
“Things change,” he replied.
“Yeah, they really do”.

★★★

“Well now that we’re all here, what do you say we grab some punch,” suggested Demetri to Miguel and Eli.

The three of them stood behind the tables, retreating to the side of the hall as they watched everyone.
“I think we should shoot our shot soon. Look at the dragon queens over there,” said Miguel after some silence of them drinking and spectating on the side. They were behaving more like ghosts, perhaps they should’ve dressed as them instead, thought Miguel.

“Mhm, right, look I don’t wanna burst your bubble but I’m not sure you’d be on their radar right now,” Demetri said as he looked Miguel up and down with judgement. “You should’ve picked a better costume honestly”. Miguel stared back at him through the cut outs for his eyes.
“Yeah.. like a skeleton or something..” added the muffled Eli.
“Ok it’s not that bad. My Yaya made it,” Miguel told them truthfully.
“At least your identity is covered..” Demetri mumbled, taking a sip of some punch.

Time passed as they hovered by the tables safely. Even though Miguel didn’t have the best look, he was still growing impatient at all this waiting around. He planned to dance with someone, and since Tory wasn’t here then the next best thing were those dragon queen girls.
Finally he decided to say something, as Eli was slurping his drink loudly.
“Ok are we ready? Let’s ask the dragon queens to dance,” he said.
“Slow your roll. We got time,” replied Demetri. However, right after he said that, a boy took one of the girls away to dance.
“No.. no. Shit! We just lost one to Doctor Who,” cursed Miguel.
“I have to go to the bathroom..” started Eli.
“Yeah, me too.. that punch is going right through me,” Demetri said. Whilst that was true, Miguel could see how it all felt like a very convenient excuse to back away. It seemed like it was going to be another failure in their books.

Chapter Text

Miss Blatt was babbling away about her dances at school, then it got onto old gossip. Daniel was only listening because he didn’t have anything else to do. He was keeping an eye on the kids, yes, but watching them dance wasn’t exactly thrilling. Sometimes he would interject with a reply, such as “no no she did not do that,” and “that’s craazy”. Miss Blatt didn’t notice Daniel’s slight boredom, well wavering boredom and interest.
“Susan didn’t even like him. I didn’t like him either anyway, he’d always leave potato chip crumbs on the couch.. disgusting right?”
“Mhmm, yeah. My kid sometimes did that.. now though he keeps snacks well away from there. Rather he’s too stuck to his tablet anyways,” chuckled Daniel, despite the fact it was true and he would like Anthony to spend more time away from games. Sam was sociable at least.

Speaking of Sam – where was she? Daniel felt a pang of alarm as he realised he had just let her slip away. Or who knew how long it had been?! He was a terrible father! The whole point of coming to this dance was to keep an eye on her!
“Excuse me.. I need to go find Sam,” he told Miss Blatt, trying not to panic. Daniel knew he was being protective but without keeping his sight on her, who knew where she had gone. He searched around the hall first, unfortunately being amongst the partying kids. It felt a little like he was fighting against a tidal wave as he gently pushed past them in his mission. Boys, girls. Girls with hair that Daniel for a split second thought was her.

Just calming himself from pressing the big red panic button, Sam suddenly ran over to him. And that might’ve been the end of it, if Daniel hadn’t seen the fear in her teary blue eyes.
“Sam, what happened?” he asked as he felt bewildered but tried to keep calm.
“Can we not here..? Please.. I just want to go home,” she said in a tiny voice. It didn’t belong to her at all. Who had made her feel this way? Daniel’s furious blend of panic and urge to protect her had a spark of anger. Sam was a sweet girl, he hated to see her so upset.
“Alright. Alright but you tell me exactly what’s been going on,” Daniel agreed as he compromised.
Sam simply nodded.

★★★

Daniel’s daughter refused to speak in the car. She seemed to shut herself away, not wanting to tell him anything. He was getting more and more concerned. This wasn’t like Sam, never, she wasn’t the type to be overly secretive. He and Amanda had always wanted her and Anthony to know that they could come and talk to either of them about their problems.
“Samantha, you need to tell me what’s going on,” said Daniel truthfully. Sam sighed expectantly.
“Promise not to freak out”.
“Sam… Ok, I’ll try my best to not ‘freak out’ ” . But because she said that, Daniel was already feeling even worse. He sat at the table and Sam did opposite.

After a pause, she began to speak.
“I was with Moon and Yasmine then Kyler said he wanted to show me something so… I went with him to a classroom. And.. he gave me this bracelet.. and wanted to.. To kiss me and stuff..” She broke off. “Anyway it was too much so I hit him.. And found you”.
Daniel was in pure shock. He didn’t expect it to be that bad - his suspicions were immediately correct about Kyler. Well.. No. .. It was Johnny’s words that prompted Daniel’s doubts. Who knew how stupid and clueless he would’ve been without that confrontation? He forced himself to not think about it, despite having a fury within him. This was about Sam, not himself, not Johnny.
“Sam..” he started softly. “I’m so sorry for not looking out for you,” he got out. A million different things were all fighting to turn into speech.

“Dad it’s not your fault. It’s mine for trusting.. Thinking that he ever liked me,” laughed Sam quietly, clearly a cover up as she sniffed afterwards. She was crying. And Daniel felt absolutely awful.
“I need to call the police, Sam this.. This is serious”.
“He just got touchy with me and I didn’t like it.. I don’t even know if they’ll believe me”. It was heartbreaking because she was right - if there was no one else there, no proof that anything happened, police tended to ignore those cases. But Daniel would still fight tooth and nail for something. She was a minor for gods sake! Sixteen!

“I’ve got to tell your mother about this too”.
“Ok but.. Please don’t make this a huge deal. I don’t want the school to make this something even crazier..”
Sam cared a lot about what other people thought. She cared about her crowd - her friends. Daniel may not like most of them, but then he thought back to his conversation with Amanda, the day of Sam’s pool party.

“I just don’t want her turning into one of these privileged Encino brats”.

“Neither do I. But, keep throwing her friends out of the house. See where that gets you with your relationship with your daughter”.

He had to try and balance Sam’s needs with the solution, even if he didn’t fully understand her line of thinking. Amanda would help with this.
“So you said you hit Kyler?” Daniel gave a small smile. Now that was the Sam he knew.
Sam giggled. “Yeah. Kicked too. I don’t know it’s like those lessons from you arrived. Actually came in handy”.
Daniel strangely felt glad. Whilst it was true he had hoped she would never need it – she had used karate for its real purpose. Self defence. And it had saved her. It said with actions that she wasn’t to be messed with.
“I am so proud of you kid”.
Sam smiled back. The tears had slowed down during their conversation, and now she wiped them away.
“I want to get back into it”. Those were the words that Daniel had waited years for. Perhaps a little selfishly, he was thrilled, but he had let her make her own choice. In the end, Mr Miyagi had saved both of them. Daniel from Johnny, Sam from Kyler.

“Okay,” Daniel replied softly.

★★★

“Dude, c'mon you know you wanna go,” laughed Trey. Him and Cruz liked crashing at Robby’s, because it was way better than their own. Robby had never been a social butterfly at school, nor anywhere really. These two - they had found him. Sure they could be assholes, but they were what he had. Robby didn’t really care to branch out. They had countless gaming sessions at his place, pigged out on takeaway, and had banter that teased the line of annoyance. Robby did almost whatever he wanted when his mom wasn’t around. She always went out, she liked drinking at the bar with men that Robby never wanted to know - not if he had a choice. His friends kept him company, kept him from being alone. Despite his father being back, it was as if a poser had arrived - a stranger. Robby couldn’t force himself to feel connected to him, the man who hadn’t chosen his own family.

“Fine, fine poor ass. I’ll come with you to the movie tomorrow,” said Robby. They had jobs, but they hopped from one to another a lot. They were crackheads but he was fine with that - what did it matter? They had fun. So when his mom took off on a trip, Robby would hold a party to buy popularity points at the egging on of his friends. It had worked somewhat, but despite being in the Encino popular crowd at school he never quite fitted in perfectly. He could be too anti-social - too easily annoyed. Where was his charm? Robby didn’t know, but nor did it even matter much. Through all the acquaintances, the two guys he knew the best had stuck to him.

They always wanted him to push it further, do the next crazy idea. Robby was constantly caught between giving into that hype and being his mom’s same good boy. Shannon would just leave him more during the evenings though, it was rarer that she’d go for days at a time. She knew she needed to keep an eye on Robby, but it didn’t stop her from drinking, cup of red wine in her hand as she wandered around the soulless kitchen.

“You better not skip out on the drinks and snacks either,” pointed out Cruz with a smirk.
“D’you guys always need to make me the one who gets everything?”
“Duh, dude you got that bank,” exclaimed Trey as he lightly pushed Robby. “You know we need you bro”.
“Yeah you the man, and how you gonna have all this and expect us to get it?” asked Cruz, gesturing around the kitchen.
“Ok ok, fair enough,” said Robby. “Catch you guys later”.

When they had gone, he saw an unpleasant surprise in the form of his father. Oh, judging him again no doubt. Robby felt a pang of annoyance as he glared at the man who leaned against the wall.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” he scoffed as he walked closer slowly. Really, he preferred it when he was gone. He had grown used to it. Now ever since he arrived back to the Valley, he kept hovering around Robby, as if that would earn his forgiveness.
“They seem like asshats”.
What right did he have, to judge Robby in this way? No, he didn’t want to hear any of it.

“I don’t remember asking you for your opinion,” he said coldly. “They’re my friends”.
“Yeah they’re your friends and they’re idiots. I’m trying to help”.
“I don’t want your help,” snapped Robby. “How many times do I need to say that? You literally left me”.
“I know.. And I regret that,” admitted Johnny. “I made mistakes. I know better than anyone that money can’t offer everything”.
“I don’t want to talk about it.. but if you know that then why the hell did you do just that? The only thing you had to offer was money,” argued Robby. Least it seemed that way to me.. No way could he be truly trying to make amends, or it wouldn’t have taken this long. Right..? Or did he want to finally offer more than just silence?

It made no sense. If he “knew better than anyone” that Robby needed care, needed more than just a distant man providing for him, someone who he barely knew, someone who never even felt like a father, then why go ahead and walk that path anyway? Robby glanced at him - he wasn’t looking back. Did he see a flicker of hurt underneath? He always thought nothing could hurt Johnny Lawrence, he seemed untouchable. So much so that it didn’t even feel like Robby was talking to a person at times. Detached and soulless, he didn’t see him any other way.

Chapter Text

“I know, it’s bullshit, I just fucked things up Robby.. I should’ve been better,” he finally spoke. He wanted that to heal him, he wanted to believe the man that he wished in the past wasn’t his father. But it couldn’t undo the damage. Robby remembered the years where he wasn’t there, and his lack of presence was normal. It was complicated to know that no he hadn’t died, he just didn’t seem to want anything to do with them. Only provided for them since they were the burdens of his past. It was to avoid the guilt for himself. So he abandoned his family, but paid to feel at peace. That was how Robby saw it, though even then he never got the full story. Apparently he wasn’t even owed that, no, he was just.. forgotten about. And that really hurt him.

“Glad you realise that now, about sixteen years too late,” he replied more flatly than he felt as he was still angry at him, but also surprised at the slight show of vulnerability. His father never did that. Robby wasn’t sure whether to feel mad at it all, as it could be a play on guilt tripping him into forgiving - or whether to feel guilty himself for not allowing Johnny to try and make amends. Even if he was late.
“But you don’t get to tell me what to do. Not now”.
“I wanna look out for you man”.
“Spare yourself the effort,” said Robby rolling his eyes. He needed to stop pretending he cared.

He went to the living room, and luckily Johnny had taken the hint to leave him alone. Didn’t need much practise at leaving, thought Robby. He was just so angry, and forgiveness wouldn’t help him let go of that. He didn’t know when he’d be ready to let go of it, or heck if he ever would. Sinking into the couch, he suddenly had a feeling of tiredness. From his constant anger, loneliness, but also of Johnny having the audacity to tell him what he should do. As if he earned that authority.

Once, Robby had looked forward to his father “coming back”, thinking it was only a matter of time. After all, he was just busy with his very important job. It was all for their family. Robby would feel proud of that, of the fact his father was someone significant. Over time that feeling vanished, to be replaced with a resentment of the abandonment. He wasn’t coming back, he had chosen that career over them - his family. And worst of all was that he never faded away like they did for him. No, he only continued to be important, and suddenly the proudness Robby used to feel was replaced by an invisibility no one would understand. Not unless they had a parent like that. He felt so overshadowed.

All of this had become a complex mix of emotions that Robby wasn’t even sure he understood himself - because at the end of each day, he’d always remember that you could never truly choose your family. They were your life.

He decided to turn the TV on to try and get away from the annoyance that Johnny had stirred within him. Robby didn’t actually like to feel angry, it made him feel even more isolated than ever. As if he needed more loneliness. No, now he needed to get a grip and stop feeling bad for himself. It was stupid. He knew he still had a lot more than others, he tried to remember that.

The TV blared out boring commercials, which Robby tuned into because there was obviously nothing else to concentrate on. But suddenly when they were over at last, it cut back to something vaguely familiar. Then it hit Robby like a train collision as he heard noise from a crowd so far away - the All Valley tournament. Not just any fucking All Valley, the 1984 one. He didn’t know why this was on or why it had automatically arrived to this, but despite his mind telling him to switch to something more interesting, he stayed watching, proceeding to guess it was some highlight thing.

Robby knew his father had competed in this, and he was interested to know who his competitor was here. Did they know what mistake they had gotten themselves into back then? Or was Johnny not always the unbeatable best? That thought seemed impossible to Robby, though he’d love to actually see a time where his father behaved human and made mistakes, other than abandoning Robby. What about mistakes in his treasured sport? In his far past?

Before the hurt. Long before Robby was born. He gazed in fascination as the two boys fought, they’d be in their fifties now. His father was familiar - fast, powerful, menacing. It was bizarre to see him so young, barely older than Robby himself right now. He was a boy with blond bangs in his face, a black headband. Black and yellow gi. But the other boy was a stranger. Robby stared at him. He was tanned, smaller than Johnny, with jet black hair and dark eyes. LaRusso, read Robby from the board behind them. Why did he sound a little familiar? He was fighting nimbly against his competitor, proving to be an equal. They fought quickly, furiously. As expected, Johnny kept attacking him brutally, and Robby found himself admiring the kicks to his annoyance. He needed to stop doing that. He didn’t care, karate was so stupid anyways, he pretended to himself.

LaRusso was blocking him every single time, but if that didn’t impress Robby enough, he also countered Johnny. It was incredible. Even when he was harshly shoved between the rounds, he carried on.

“Two points LaRusso, Lawrence nothing,” spoke the announcer. That round, he kicked LaRusso over, the crowd stirring up at that, and not in a good way. They didn’t approve. It seemed foul, and Robby instantly felt bad for the competitor. It was weird, finding sympathy for this boy, now a man, who had never met him before. Not that he would even want to, since Robby was the son of his competition back then.

On the match went, and Robby found himself glued to this past. It was obvious his father wasn’t fighting fair, and he was sure that it was because otherwise, the other boy would’ve won. Life wasn’t fair, but this was just not right. Perhaps there were the makings of the abandoner right there - just because it was long before the pain didn’t mean that he was good. Just because Robby was seeing Johnny when he was younger didn’t mean he deserved any more consideration or sympathy. He almost fell into the trap of believing he could have been anyone else but the one to hurt him.

“Whoever wins the next point will be our new champion!”

Robby nearly jumped in shock when he saw Johnny had smashed his elbow into LaRusso’s leg when he had tried to make an attack. Surely that wasn’t ok..? Oh, he got a warning. So what had happened next? Robby never cared to find out before.

LaRusso had gotten into a stance to make a kick, hovering on one leg and holding his arms up. Robby watched in anticipation, the crowd decades before doing the same. And he didn’t move one inch as he saw the kick being caught, his father’s elbow colliding with the boy once more. He sat there stunned as he suffered, wounded from the fight. It was clear his leg wasn’t okay. But the audience had mixed reactions, a bizarre frenzy of cheers and boos. It seemed that Johnny had won the fight, and Robby saw him receive the trophy as his teammates crowded round him in celebration. How they could be happy about that, he didn’t know. They lacked basic empathy. Robby wondered about LaRusso, ignoring how ironic it was for him to feel that way. But the camera never cut back to him. It had ended.

Before he knew it, commentators were showing shots of the All Valley arena today.

“There’s been quite a bit of controversy for this case y'know Dave, as we saw there..”

“I mean surely they marked that as illegal?”

“No, judges ruled it as a counter attack, would you believe it? But there we go folks. Today it’s widely accepted, and indeed this is the match that let us see John Lawrence go on to become the champion we see today”.

“Most controversial All Valley to this day, right Adam? Nowadays the lines are less blurred, the following Spring will be the next one so I’ll bet we’re all looking forward to that..”

They babbled away as Robby tried to make sense of it. That wasn’t fair on LaRusso at all, but he had put up a strong fight. Perhaps the best fight in All Valley records? Robby wasn’t sure, but he seemed really talented. Surely someone like that doesn’t just fade away? Johnny didn’t. So the other must be out there, having been the one person who had ever posed a challenge to his father back then. Maybe Robby could understand this mystery man, even reverse what time had done to his story. It seemed like he had been flattened and erased from history, from the story. And sure, he couldn’t change the entire narrative, but it would be okay to find this guy. He was an equal back then, and could very well pose as one now.

He finally switched the TV off. He had made his choice, he needed to find him. Yet he never remembered a dojo with the tree he saw on LaRusso’s back.

Chapter Text

The sun was beginning to set as Johnny ran on the sidewalk near the beach, listening to his walkman to avoid his thoughts once again. It had saved him from dealing with his mom and Sid’s shouts when they fought about him, and it had continued to be an anchor during his chaotic life. But memories threatened to creep in.

“I don’t want your help. How many times do I need to say that? You literally left me”.

“Glad you realise that now, about sixteen years too late”.

“Spare yourself the effort”.

The hurt had buried itself deep, and Johnny couldn’t shake it off. Not this time. This was because worst of all, it was his own damn fault they were like this. Why did he have to ruin everything? It started with Ali in the 80s. Kreese in the 90s. Shannon in the 2000s. And Robby. He had difficulty with expressing how he felt, often coming across as cruel - heartless. Little did they know, he was anything but. Maybe Kreese had messed him up more than he realised - just because Johnny owed him his success never meant he didn’t break him.

It was this storm of thoughts he kept ignoring stubbornly, but Robby just brought up everything. It reminded him how he wasn’t good enough, and then every time he had failed in that regard. What he wouldn’t give to finally feel worthy.

Fuck, here he was feeling sorry for himself when he was the one who stole others chances. He seized a golden opportunity, in doing so had probably erased dozens of untold stories. Just admit you’re a piece of shit and move on..
Of course that was something he had never managed to do. He never truly moved past that day – the All Valley of 1984. LaRusso hadn’t moved on either, he knew it. Johnny was entangled by conflicting views on him. He was a stupid twerp who thought he was a big shot, stole Ali away, challenged him when he was on top of the world – but he didn’t deserve that - the unfair match. The forced loss, exploited. Overruled, written off as okay in the Valley’s narrative, despite it being hugely divided. But the two of them knew the truth.

You were never the champion, not when you cheated. Not when LaRusso never got his shot.

That was enough. Better get a beer to avoid this all over again, it’s not as if he could ever admit that to his old rival. It would practically broadcast his weakness to him, presenting a target of vulnerability for Daniel LaRusso to use. No thanks. He would keep remembering that the tournament had settled scores, and that it wasn’t illegal.. Wasn’t cheating…

After a sweaty run, Johnny sat down on the ledge by the sand, gazing out to the sunset. The melting colours of red and orange stared back at him. When there was a beach near his competitions, he’d come here the night before to feel calm. It was the last time he would allow himself to feel that, to forget about the anger, the aggression, the need to be strong all the time. For a moment, he didn’t have to be the star of Cobra Kai, Kreese’s legacy, the number one student, the best of the best – he could be Johnny.

★★★

Miguel was having a study group session with Eli and Demetri in the library, when suddenly he heard a familiar grating voice.
“Aw look at the three little try hards here haha,” Kyler laughed as he leant by their table, Brucks laughing too. Miguel had let a quiet sigh escape at the sound of his voice, to which Kyler then stared at him.
“What not hanging out with those other weirdos? Maybe even they ditched you”.
Miguel couldn’t pretend he was fearless, at this point the sight of Kyler brought back memories of humiliation. Yet there was something that wasn’t there before - anger.

“Your enemy will do anything it takes to bring you down”.

“We were just leaving,” Miguel sounded instead, and they all picked up their bags and paper, making the swift move of attempting to leave. Showing fear, Diaz? Really? Kreese’s words echoed inside his mind. They were in a library, and now was not the right time to pick a fight! He wasn’t ready? Right..? Miguel felt shame creeping up as he felt like he was pussying out. It wasn’t the same as before - he should be better now. It’s not like he had Johnny to come rescue him again either. But Kyler and Brucks outnumbered him, and Miguel didn’t even know the risk.

No. This isn’t over. It’s not all pussying out - think strategically. When you’re ready, you’ll find the perfect moment to strike Kyler when he’s least expecting it.

As soon as they tried to go though, Kyler grabbed ahold of Eli’s shoulder, then twisting his face to look at him.
“Hey where are you going? Look at this freak,” scoffed Kyler, Brucks started laughing again next to him. “What kind of girl would ever kiss this shit?”
“Leave him alone Kyler,” said Miguel calmly, though feeling anything but.
Kyler turned on him, letting go of Eli. “What’d you say? You haven’t had enough Rhea?”
Miguel felt Brucks sharply push him, and he stayed silent as Kyler did the same.
“Yeah, get the hell outta here man”.

He was out of the library in a couple of seconds, feeling angry at them but at himself too. He tried to convince himself it wasn’t worth it - not here, though he would get them back. That was a promise.

Eli quickly joined him in the corridor, and they waited silently as Demetri then emerged too. Miguel stared. His black backpack was covered in yogurt. Demetri looked back at them.
“They put my bag in the trash,” he grumbled. “I guess I shouldn’t have put that yogurt there..”
“What?” Miguel asked in disbelief. “They’re walking all over us,” he snapped. “I’m tired of it”.
Both boys stared at him as if he had suddenly switched languages.
“Then what do you suppose we do, big guy? Hold on, I’m gonna try scrape this off…” He went to the bathroom.
“..I’m tired too..” mumbled Eli miserably. “But Demetri’s right. What can we do?”
“You can come take karate with me,” replied Miguel. “Trust me it’s really good there”.
“You think we can?”

Miguel saw Eli’s doubt. It was different from when he had begged Johnny to learn it - Eli - Demetri? They both didn’t seem willing to try.
“Look at me Eli. I’ve started it, I’m doing it.. cmon. It’s a game changer”. Eli looked at him as he scratched his neck awkwardly.
“Is it just me or you’ve been getting more.. confident lately?” It was visible? Miguel felt a sudden thrill, despite not even proving himself on it. Recently he had tried not to hide, even though he couldn’t pick any fights. Not yet anyway.
“Yeah I guess I’m trying,” he replied. “And you can try”.

Eli paused considering what he had said, then nodded. “Okay fine”. Miguel broke into a smile.
“Yes!”
“Yeah. Cmon let’s check on Demetri…”

★★★

Aisha was holding her folders in both arms as she walked through the halls to get to her locker. Some days were fine. Others? People would pick on her. But most days she knew others whispered, made jabs. Of course not everyone, but the ‘popular’ crowd really had it in for her, for some reason. They would body shame her and tease her - she liked nerdy things. She was into robotics. Suddenly she felt a mixture of dread and the need for the ground to swallow her whole as two familiar figures approached her, shoulder barging. Aisha flinched.
“Hahah oops, this whale takes up half the school,” laughed Kyler, high fiving Brucks as they carried on, without a care in the world.

When she reached her locker, she shoved the folders in angrily. What the hell is wrong with some people?
“Hey..”
A voice she knew spoke. It was Samantha LaRusso. Aisha disguised her surprise— she hadn’t seen Sam all that often. First she hung with the popular group, some being the same ones that would tease Aisha - and then it was like she disappeared. No longer did she sit at the same table with Yasmine, Moon, Kyler.. those lot. Well, actually she had seen Moon with Sam, but that seemed to be it.
“Hey,” she replied, shutting her locker and turning to face Sam.
“Are you okay? You seem upset”.

Yeah, obviously. She was pretty upset most days due to her crowd - or.. ex crowd. Whatever. Aisha knew that Sam wasn’t the same as them though, she was just trying to fit in. She would do it too if she was skinny and pretty like her.
“Same old. Whispers.. mean texts. Outright shaming me,” sounded Aisha. “You know how it goes. But how are things with you?”
Sam was quiet. “Alright.. I guess”. Aisha was taken off guard. Sam was never like that - sad. Or anything other than optimistic.
“You can tell me.. or don’t. But if you need someone who’s not fake..” started Aisha as she softened her tone. Then I’m here.

She had tried to not take out her anger on one of the only people who was by her side. Sam looked at her with large blue eyes.
“Yeah. Thanks”.
Maybe she had changed, had stopped trying to fit in so desperately? Aisha had always hated Sam’s other friend - Yasmine. She was such a bitch. She had ridiculed Aisha and shamed her, being the worst of the group. Somehow worse than Kyler, though Aisha supposed he was too busy making Miguel’s life worse. Typical. Toxic populars always thought they were so much better than everyone else, and Aisha was tired of the high school hierarchy.

Chapter Text

Miguel had leveled up since he had joined Cobra Kai. He quietly did press ups in his room, continued to train in the dojo, everyone silently doing press ups, no whining or complaining. Even Tory didn’t do ‘girl push ups’. She wasn’t what you would expect a girl to be like. That was just the stereotype, thought Miguel. She’s way tougher than she looks. Miguel would start going on runs to stay fit - and to counter Kyler, when he was ready to strike for his pay back. He had decided he shouldn’t be morally above the thought of revenge anymore. No, he wouldn’t be all evil, but when he was ready he could beat the crap of him. It would serve him right, and it was just what he would deserve anyways. Miguel was determined to become someone who didn’t rely on anyone else to defend him - not even Johnny.

He was sparring with Ryan Sinclair, the other students in their own pairs. He was really good, and just as Miguel thought he was getting one up, he would have subtle strikes hitting him before he even knew what was happening. However he knew he had been here longer than him - how long, Miguel didn’t know. But he kept it in mind, even when he was pushing himself to improve. Sensei Kreese’s watchful eye fell on them, and Miguel felt the pure dread of pressure. It wasn’t so bad when Sensei Lawrence was hovering nearer to Miguel, but obviously he couldn’t always be there. Miguel noticed that he would always return to a spot in the dojo that was near enough to him, which he secretly appreciated.

Miguel circled his opponent, trying to read his movements. Ryan was circling him too, each of them watched the other like hawks. Suddenly Miguel struck, but Ryan nimbly dodged it. They each fell back into stillness as they revolved around the other.
“Strike first, don’t hesitate. You spot an opening and you take it,” Kreese’s cold voice sounded from across the room.
All Miguel was focusing on was Ryan’s cool expression, unreadable grey eyes. Analysing him, no doubt.
“But remember control, know exactly when you should strike,” said Johnny, and Miguel could tell he was pacing around the room without even looking. He tended to move more than Kreese, who would typically stand as still as a statue on the unfortunate chosen pair, before moving on only if he approved. It reminded Miguel of exam invigilators, arriving and staring, causing a prickling sensation on his neck as he knew he was being watched.

Miguel tried a combo, hitting as fast as he could, a kick– Ryan did not budge, absorbing each blow. The next time he lunged, he felt himself caught in a trap as he had pivoted. Catching his leg, Miguel fell on the mat, the force nearly knocking the air out of him. Though since training, he had found he hadn’t really needed his inhaler - as if as soon as he struggled, he regained his control. Maybe because he was pushing himself for once– that felt really good.

Johnny had seen the way Miguel had crashed to the mat - the kid had talent, but the others simply had more practice and could tell when an attack was coming. Miguel would pick up on anticipation soon enough, and when he did he could be something else. He saw his potential. During the spar, Johnny had paced around the dojo watching others, until his eyes settled upon the two. Miguel with his fiery intensity, wanting to prove himself– and Ryan with his cool and collected demeanour. He was like Jimmy in that way. When Johnny had first walked through the doors for the first time for years, he didn’t recognise him, much to his shame. Not because he expected himself to recognise a teenager from when they were a baby, but because he perhaps should’ve been there when the kid was growing up. Yet Johnny was distant. He had focused so much time upon his career, and the rest of the cobras had gone on their own paths. There was no grand reunion or anything - Johnny assumed Jimmy told the kid about him, his old friend who made it big. And the blonde recognised him when his last name was said by Kreese, to which he confirmed he was Jimmy’s. So they knew eachother through him, but Johnny never knew how to bring it up even if he wanted to. It was more of a formal environment than some family reunion in the garden.

Miguel had gotten up from the mat, brushing any dust that could’ve attached itself to his gi.
“You always move like that?”
“Yeah. My dad spars with me sometimes”.

Johnny thought back to Jimmy Sinclair– the brunette dark eyed kid he went to high school with, with feathered hair and an unreadable face. He was the guy in the gang who was quiet, but they all listened when he spoke. Back in the same dojo he stood in, Johnny would spar with Jimmy. He had joined later than him, in freshman year. 1981. Johnny had no idea that the cobras gang was never complete without him, but as soon as he arrived he had a presence even when he didn’t speak. Cobra Kai was the place where he was not just seen, but heard instead of ignored. Johnny had been to his house plenty of times back in the day, not just Bobby’s - and you could hear a pin drop. He had realised instantly why Jimmy was the way he was. Maybe he and Dutch had a turbulent home life, but Jimmy? Everything was eerily silent. His parents worked a lot, went out a lot. The gang immediately took him in, he quietly earned his place in the dojo and never bragged. That caught their attention.

Jimmy’s house became another base to the cobras. Sure Bobby’s had warmth and care – but Jimmy’s was more secret. More freedom. It became a no man's land, because whilst there were no men like Kreese or Sid, there also weren’t any doting parents like Bobby’s. It was a neutral zone, and the cobras liked it that way. They shared the most vulnerability when no one's eyes were upon them, and Jimmy’s empty tomb of a house became a home. Not because of family, but because of friends.

Johnny couldn’t imagine if his mother had been that distant too - but whilst Jimmy’s parents weren’t bad people, they just weren’t present enough. Not enough to know all about the gang. Quiet nights were spent at Jimmy’s. When they were bruised and battered, if they didn’t want the Browns fuss - Jimmy’s was the place to silently patch themselves up and move on. It became purely cobra space without John Kreese, since he always dominated so much. And so despite it mostly being a place beyond authority, the boys completely honoured Jimmy’s choice to not throw parties there. That was for Tommy’s house, where loud chaos ruled; and Johnny’s place where the chances called from Sid and Laura’s absence. Jimmy’s was an anchor like Bobby’s, in another way. And the guy was the exact same. He had brought stability to the group by simply being there. Bobby wasn’t alone in his role.

The session was then done for the day. Kreese called them in and they lined up in their perfect order, rigid. One unit. Johnny stood at Kreese’s side, knowing that the ritual was corrupt. After he had escaped his influence in 1994, he had realised that you were meant to bow to the dojo’s space, the sensei was supposed to bow back, and you were meant to bow to eachother– but John Kreese had never done that. He was the space, he was superior to everyone. And you don’t bow or show respect to anyone else but him. Johnny was stunned at the man's ego.
“Face me. Bow,” his steel voice commanded. The class obeyed silently, just like Johnny’s class back then. Whilst Kreese stood completely still as a witness, Johnny bowed back at them - slowly, deliberately, just the way the others did opposite. He had always done it since he first arrived to teach at the dojo, and he always will. When this place was his, he would restore it.

The first time it had happened, Kreese had side eyed him as he told him he was the champion, he didn’t need to bow. But Johnny knew he did, and he wanted to anyway. The students were still important. In fact, more. They were the future. Rank and worth were not the same currency. Their uncertain eyes had flickered briefly, and Johnny felt a strange sense of sadness that they had never known anything different than Kreese’s laws. Just like him in the past.

“Class dismissed”.

They broke apart to collect their water and get changed. Since Johnny learnt about Tory, the shock of seeing a girl in the dojo, he discovered Kreese had actually made more space for her to change, a little side room that sort of extended the cramped bathroom. It wasn’t too much or grand, but it was something. She had earned it. Maybe someday more girls would join - if they were like Tory - fierce, unyielding, and never complaining.

Chapter Text

He headed back to Encino in the Firebird. It had been a pretty good session, he was in a good mood. He smirked as he thought of something he hadn’t done for a while— through the quiet lanes, he played his 80s music and opened the windows to let the breeze in. The neighbours would survive. His red car crossed over from the nice houses nearer the edge to the core of Encino that was made up of real stuck up snobs - something Johnny refused to be. They were different with their huge mansions and perfectly kept lawns, thinking they were far better than everyone else. Their silence was shattered by the sound of Johnny’s car and music, arriving like an unpredictable wildfire.

Sid’s mansion then familiarly loomed up, but Johnny wasn’t going to pay a visit in that sense. He slowed a little as the music boomed, and flipped Sid off as he drove past, still smirking. The old gardner who was clipping the bushes with precision stared at him in surprise for a split second, then showing his amusement. Johnny knew those poor servants dealt with that bastard every day, they needed a little highlight. Sid would be pissed, he had always hated Johnny’s success. Seems like a lot of people did - but who cared? He would prove them wrong, every single time.

He burst out laughing after he continued on his way. Johnny would randomly drive past just to remind his stepfather that he had made it, and he could do absolutely nothing about it. It was the best form of revenge possible, took him barely any time to make Sid scowl behind his curtains, remembering Johnny wasn’t disappearing anytime soon. Nah, he wouldn’t always come by, but the times he did? Golden. Sometimes Sid Weinberg needed to be humbled, and Johnny would be the one to do it. He remembered when he first embarrassed the man, and it was one of the happiest times Johnny had ever had— it was after he— Cobra Kai, had won the Sekai Taikai in 1986.

Classic Sid in his pristine suit had apparently seen the direction the dojo was going. Before a 19 year old Johnny knew it, his stepfather was at the arena, the very last person he had wanted to see. It was crowded and loud, the journalists clamouring for attention, but he still could spot that damn face anywhere, even whilst he was speaking to the press under Kreese’s watch.

How? Why? .. He had travelled all the way to Tokyo like his mom, skipping his treasured work, but instead of supporting him.. to claim credit for Johnny’s success..? Maybe if he had actually been someone who didn’t tear him down in his childhood.. But no. All of his life, he had told Johnny he would be a failure, that he was weak. Even though he had acknowledged 1984, he still desperately wanted to refuse what was happening. Yet now, Sid couldn’t ignore something like this. So at the final point, he had selfishly decided to take Johnny’s limelight. This was broadcast - and Johnny felt a dark anger at him. He knew there was media. He knew he’d get the attention, the praise, the credit.

Johnny couldn’t let that happen.

Sid was the man who he had wanted to prove wrong for a long time, and now that he did, he didn’t want him pretending he had actually cared to give shit. Johnny was disgusted as he saw him pushing through the crowd to get to near where he was. No.. fuck no. In an ironic twist of fate, the universe had no mercy.
“You should know who I am. I’m Sid Weinberg!” He heard the familiar grating voice, as if he had swallowed gravel and still yelled.
Johnny’s mother was standing in the background audience, as passively as she had always been. She witnessed the Sekai Taikai, supported Johnny - but she wouldn’t intervene. Particularly not now, not when Sid was determined. The journalists gravitated around him, and he was more than ready to claim their attention.
“I’m Johnny’s stepfather,” said Sid proudly. “I watched him train. Heck, I paid for those darn lessons. Without me, he would be working in McDonald’s. But I always knew he had potential”.
A flurry of questions emerged at once.

“What was Johnny like back then? As motivated as now?”
“Can you elaborate what training you witnessed?”
“Do you think you deserve the same recognition alongside his sensei?”
“How did Johnny react to your unconditional support?”

Johnny’s win had turned sour. Again. No amount of work could erase the feeling that turned up, now twice - he had tried to run from it but the truth was that he was no golden boy like Kreese and countless others said. It felt like a cover. Especially now. He gritted his teeth as he stared daggers at Sid, who was still smug. His stepfather coughed at the media.
“Well, I’m just saying I’m the one who made this all happen,” he said. “I let him be motivated”. Johnny didn’t wait for any questions as he bluntly interrupted, feeling a spike of anger surge.
“That’s bullshit. You wanna hear the truth? Sid never believed in me, not once. He mocked me, said I was a loser, and made sure I wouldn’t forget how worthless I was. He only gave me a reason to prove him wrong,” he lashed out with a cold fury as he faced the press.

All eyes were on him, then they darted back to Sid.
“Mr Weinberg, how do you respond?”
“What?! I just didn’t want to spoil you with praise kid,” stammered Sid, as if Johnny had said some outrageous lie. “I mean I’ve always supported him!” He turned back to the crowd and the cameras. “I paid for his first gi! I paid for his lessons!”
“He said you called him a loser,” someone said.
“It was for motivation, to see if he had the guts,” Sid replied, losing his composure. His face was turning another colour. Johnny saw him sweating— he was panicking. Good. Sid had driven himself into this, thinking he could steal Johnny’s glory. Trying to act as if he believed in him like Sensei.

Dozens of eyes moved back to Johnny, who made his move.
“He never wanted to motivate me. He just wanted to see me lose, see me fail. Sid’s a liar, or he’d tell you exactly how and when I won, when I lost. But he can’t. He can’t tell you shit, because he never bothered to learn,” sneered Johnny. “Cmon, ask him. He doesn’t know”.
Johnny was daring them. And he knew they’d do it. Sid had backed himself into a corner, everyone could see it. He felt an overwhelming sense of power as the tides turned against the man, so he smirked.
“No, no I do..”

The journalists scrambled to ask, playing right into Johnny’s hands. Some still had their eyes on him, but most were seeing Sid’s humiliation. The man had no choice but to push back through the crowd, after giving too vague answers - ‘declining to comment’. It was unbelievable how stupid he was. Through his own want for attention, for credit, he had fallen.

Johnny looked back at his mentor. Kreese nodded at him, eyes glinting in satisfaction. That was the mark of approval, and he felt more elated than ever.

★★★

Back at school, Miguel was feeling more and more prepared everyday to face Kyler. To stare him in the face as he hit him. To look into his eyes coldly, and grant him no mercy. Eli and Demetri still didn’t know of his plan, and to be honest that made it sweeter. They would both see why Miguel was right. As he walked down the corridor, he remembered Tory. He had been planning to ask her out, and finally he sorted out his feelings. He would do it. Miguel was nearly completely sure. Suddenly, he saw Samantha LaRusso near the lockers instead of Tory. She didn’t look happy, and she was.. alone. That was weird. But maybe Miguel just hadn’t grown used to seeing her without her popular group.

Whispers had circulated around their year. Miguel heard snatches of them— apparently Sam had accused Kyler of harassing her. It was the drama right now, and Miguel was honestly shocked when he first heard it. Sam was way too sweet to falsely accuse someone, but Kyler? He was the devil in disguise, and to Miguel that didn’t even sound exaggerated - he knew that whatever it was, Kyler had lied. And he felt pretty awful for Sam, even if she had gone out with him. To be bullied by Kyler was no joke. Miguel had his own problems from him, and he was going to enact his own payback - but he supposed he could easily include the lies about Sam in the mix.

Before he even knew what he was doing, his feet had carried him over to the girl. She looked up at him.
“Hey Sam..”
“Hey,” she replied, not looking so surprised as Miguel thought she would be.
“Listen, I just wanted to say.. I believe you. Whatever rumours are playing out, I know you wouldn’t lie about that. I just hope others will see that too,” said Miguel, feeling nervous he was overstepping the line. Yet he was tired of seeing Kyler walk on others.
Sam smiled, and suddenly Miguel felt strange. She was still cute. Damn it. No, she’s just been hurt by a boy and he himself was planning to ask out Tory! .. Miguel ignored the thoughts. It’s not like Sam being cute overrode Tory.
“Thanks Miguel”. She did know his name after all!
“Yeah, of course. See you around,” Miguel got out, going before he had the chance to make a fool of himself. Or maybe he already had done - but he tried not to. No, don’t be stupid. You are Cobra Kai now. You’re different.

Chapter Text

When Sam had gotten back home from school, Daniel was excited because it was the first afternoon of a Miyagi Do session. Daniel had called it that, he thought it was a great name. Even if he hadn’t sorted out just how he would promote it, Sam would be the first student. She walked into Mr Miyagi’s garden when she had changed from her day outfit to training clothes.
“Hey Sam”.
“Hey”. Sam put her drink near the side of the garden, tucked away. “Who else did you get?”
Daniel looked back at her. “Uh, okay I haven’t gotten that far yet.. but you’re the first of the class”.

He had sorted out afternoons where he could afford to leave the dealership in others hands. Now it was simply a problem of getting kids to know. Daniel knew a straight up advert could easily make Johnny flip out if he saw it - Kreese would probably whisper battle plans for Johnny to go nuclear on him. No. Daniel needed something more subtle, something more Mr Miyagi. He knew they’d probably call him weak, but Daniel thought he was playing the game smartly. So no outright ad. Leaflets and word of mouth will do, and soon the kids will do the rest on their own with that. Sam was still technically popular.. She could promote Miyagi Do.

Daniel felt a little frustrated from his limitations. He knew he had to keep the rebellion down or really, Johnny would see him as a threat once more. Daniel had hated the way he seemed to dismiss him before, but now he actually took it as a good sign from fate. Johnny forgot. He underestimates him, again. Kreese for all these years had glared at Daniel venomously in All Valleys when they crossed paths (Daniel being on the board did that, waiting to catch the snake dojo out) but he had maintained his tactics of flying below the radar. No foul tactics to win under Daniel’s watch. Not at all. There were still rules of course, Daniel knew Kreese acknowledged them, but the man loved to slip past and bend them whenever it suited him. He felt disgusted at that. Narcissistic, egotistical ‘sensei’ who had twisted and warped the values of karate. And now Johnny was helping him do it.

Sam had started stretching and warming up. Daniel watched silently, pondering over his thoughts. Suddenly he had found himself in a war with Cobra Kai. But he knew that for years, it had never actually ended, just gone cold. Daniel still silently resisted Kreese in the limited ways he could. He had to focus on the dealership more back then, and as much as Daniel didn’t wanna admit it - maybe Johnny’s return now had sparked something in him. Kreese embodied everything wrong, but he was also an old man whose tactics will expire. Johnny? He breezed by after 1984, won things, all whilst forgetting Daniel! It was infuriating. He was the same age as Daniel but it felt as if he had achieved much much more than him, all at the cost of nothing. Just handed to him on a silver platter. Like everything in his life.

Not now, thought Daniel. Don’t spiral when Sam is ready to learn the true way of the fist.

He and Sam practised together, doing slower blocks at first. Daniel jabbed. Sam blocked.
“Dad I do remember it,” she laughed. “I never forgot”.
“Okay, okay but you can still brush up,” smiled Daniel.
“Yeah, I will,” nodded Sam. “I’m ready to now”. It wasn’t really a Miyagi Do session. Daniel knew he needed more students. At least one more. Someone who can counter and encourage Sam, to be there for her.

★★★

As Miguel trained, he noticed more and more about who he was with. When he first arrived, it seemed clear that Tory was in charge. She seemed like the star, she invited Miguel over to the lunch table and gave a pass therefore for him to join them if he wanted. Though now Miguel was noticing Ryan more. He didn’t speak much but when he did it felt lethal. The way he fought was too. He seemed lean but dangerous. Tory and him would spar frequently. It was obvious they had done this for years, and Miguel felt a twinge of envy at him. There was probably so much unknown history that Miguel would never know.

He knew it was wrong to feel that way over just another student in the dojo; he had done nothing specifically to him. But people looked at Ryan when he came in. Johnny watched him. Even Kreese praised him. Tory had that too, Miguel had seen that. She was Kreese’s values wrapped up in a teenage girl. Yet Ryan was someone who completely flew by Miguel and he didn’t even know. What else could he have possibly missed? Maybe he was so damn low on the social hierarchy because he never understood it in the first place?

He felt off his game in the dojo as he sipped his water during a precious break, staring silently at Tory and Ryan as they fought and circled eachother. Tory would make quick attacks. Ryan would block. Ryan would laugh.
“Try harder”.
“Says the guy who fights like he’s bored,” retorted Tory. How did Miguel know she was smirking at that moment even when it was her back to him? He just knew. And that made it all feel worse. Miguel noticed alright, he saw dynamics, but Ryan was still a mysterious wildcard. He knew he stretched in the same spot. He knew almost every break, when it was just ten seconds, he would put a hand into his bag at the sidelines like it was a vault. Ryan would take a chip, and crunch it! Miguel saw it. Sensei Kreese didn’t even say anything! Surely he would’ve said this dojo isn’t for snacks, it’s weak to seek out food ..?

He saw Ryan as he just crunched the chip before having some water and moving silently back onto the mat when done. Nobody said anything as it happened. What the hell was happening in this dojo? Perhaps Tory wasn’t the only star, and they were in it together, like the king and queen. Though if Ryan was allowed then clearly it was okay to have a snack if you’re quick. Miguel made a note of that : next time bring one of those granola bars.

Miguel saw Tory at school, but right when he was going to ask her out he thought back to Ryan. What if they’re actually dating, and I didn’t even notice it?! Miguel thought. Maybe Ryan was secretly dojo royalty, but at school he blended in quietly. He only spoke to that gang - Oscar Mikko, James Reed, Tory Nichols. Miguel may have been invited to the lunch table, but he wasn’t in like them. They had jokes. Inside jokes. Miguel could tell. They were close, a clique that Miguel hadn’t even seen beyond the surface of. Kyler and the other popular kids had ignored them, despite their numbers, and Miguel supposed it was out of ego. These cobras kept to themselves. Kyler still wanted to dominate the hierarchy with loudness and bullying. Maybe he even forgot about Tory - or Ryan’s gang.

Eventually, Miguel caved in - if there was one person who knew more than him, it was Johnny. Kreese wouldn’t appreciate Miguel questioning about Ryan. He knew he’d call it weakness. The session had closed for the day, and Miguel made his move. Kreese was speaking to someone - probably telling him to fix his technique. Johnny had taken to lazing in the office on his phone as the students packed away. So Miguel knocked gently on the ajar door, sunlight melting in from the room. When Johnny was there it was open for some reason, whilst Sensei Kreese always kept it shut. That’s how they knew who was occupying the office. If it was both of them it was still closed, barred off from students. Miguel knocked out of sheer habit, even when the door was open. It felt wrong and rude not to.
“Yeah come in. I don’t bite,” sounded Johnny distractedly, giving a dry laugh at his phone. He was watching something. Miguel approached him calmly, and Johnny put his phone down to pay attention to him.
“You seemed a little off today”.

Miguel was taken aback. He noticed? Out of everyone? Suddenly he felt touched, but tried to not show it.
“Look..” started Miguel hesitantly. “Okay don’t laugh but I haven’t y’know.. asked out Tory. I think it’s because of Ryan,” he confessed. Or do laugh. You probably will anyway. Why did I confess that to a sensei?! .. But he was the one who brought it up with me before in the first place..
Johnny did a blue eyed stare, making Miguel feel small even if he was the one standing. It felt like he was under intense watch. The office seemed too silent and isolated. You just confessed your doubts to a world champion. It doesn’t matter if he’s not in that field anymore, you still did it.
“You haven’t asked her out cause you’re scared of Ryan?” asked Johnny finally, narrowing his eyes in what Miguel thought was judgement. He felt pure shame flood in.
“No not scared,” he quickly denied. “Just, I don’t wanna make the wrong move. I mean if you look at them..”

Johnny straightened up and glanced out of the office window.
“Nope they’re gone”.
Miguel wanted to sigh.
“I know they’re pretty tight knit right? You think they’re a couple,” said Johnny, not noticing Miguel’s discomfort. “Don’t let insecurity make you weak, though I like you’re not homewrecking something”.
Miguel stared at him, taking in the words quietly. Whatever he was expecting, he didn’t see this coming.
His sensei continued. “Don’t you think they would’ve kissed already though, like at the end of the session? Have you even seen them at school?”

Miguel’s stomach dropped. No, he hadn’t seen them kiss at all now that he thought about it. He just assumed. At school, surely they would’ve, at least once, but they hadn’t. “Well no.. I guess I just assumed..” he replied, feeling like he was spiraling.
“There you go kid. Make your move,” smirked Johnny. “Don’t pussy out again”.
Miguel gave a small smile. “Okay. Yes sensei”.
“Good”.
How did he know he pussied out? He was just sensing it, Miguel guessed. What if Ryan and Tory liked eachother though? Oh stop. Shoot your shot. You’re literally disproving why you are not cobra material. Get over it and ask. Do it.

Chapter Text

Miguel had left Johnny. Never did he think he’d give a kid advice on a girl, but he didn’t care that he asked. In fact, why did it feel kinda good? He should've done this for Robby though. That was an uncomfortable thought. Johnny would keep trying to fix things with Robby— but damn Miguel was a whole lot easier, because he hadn’t screwed up with him. He pocketed his phone, wondering about Ryan Sinclair. That kid was very quiet, and Johnny wondered why he wasn’t louder, or why the dojo seemed to change energy around him. Oh god, that was some hippy bullshit he just thought - but it was true! It was like something shifted. The dojo surprisingly felt.. anchored. Even when Kreese was there. It was haunting how it had begun to trick Johnny in a way, because he remembered when it had felt like this back in the 80s when he was a student. When the gang made the dojo theirs. Before Kreese had singled him out and gripped him harder for control, enforcing that he needed to practise his way, win his way. Once he won, the victory always had roots from Kreese. He made sure to remind Johnny that he made his career.

You are strong when you listen. You’re fulfilling your potential, I trust you won’t forget that you owe it to keep following my ways. You are proof they work, after all. They led you this far, Johnny. You’re my star student. Don’t let me down.

Jimmy’s mute kid— yeah, of course he was Jimmy’s. Brunette hair. Not as swoopy as Johnny’s used to be since it fell just above his eyebrow, but still felt a little like that. Still showed Jimmy. His looks reflected him already, and it felt pretty weird to Johnny to almost kinda see a young Jimmy back in the dojo. Johnny had ignored it or if he had it all his way then the others would probably be ignored - he didn’t want to get swamped in nostalgia. Jimmy trusted his kid to not be turned into Kreese’s weapon..? No, he had no idea the extent of Kreese’s subtle influence. Johnny had never even told him of all that went down after the Sekai Taikai. He felt too ashamed, and it was weakness to whine about issues. As if he had anything to complain about.

Ryan was quiet like Jimmy, yet he seemed to dominate more without even trying. Or perhaps it was simply because the dojo respected skill over the person. Whatever - the way the kid took chips out his bag in a microscopic break was outstanding. He didn’t say anything, just silently wondered why? Johnny hadn’t been allowed to do that! No one had! And now suddenly it was allowed? Perhaps Kreese had gone soft.. though Johnny would never say so. He wasn’t going to be the first person to call out why it was snack time as if it was kindergarten. Ryan was a mystery, and Johnny hated that. Not only because he didn’t know what he was like fully, but because he should’ve known. He should’ve seen Jimmy’s kid and known him, and now he had to find out for himself when he returned as a sensei. Johnny wasn’t an uncle. He was just his dad’s old friend. But perhaps things can change.

It isn’t too late. Right?

★★★

When Johnny got back to the house, he saw Robby in the kitchen. He was checking his wallet for some reason.
“You good?”
Robby looked at him. “Yeah. Don’t worry about it,” he said distantly. Did Robby not have anything?
“If you need something I got you covered,” said Johnny on impulse. “I can give you some cash-”
“No, no no I said I’m good,” interrupted Robby. “I don’t want your handouts”.
Johnny felt hurt again. He didn’t even think of it that way. Robby was a kid, it didn’t matter. Sid still gave him money to spend back then. Why was it different with them?

Robby pocketed his wallet feeling embarrassed. He couldn’t have predicted his father would arrive that second, but he hated that he caught him at that exact moment. Robby already felt overshadowed. Then what, he is coddled? Johnny just felt guilty, and he was trying to buy his way as usual. Robby was determined that he would be someone who cannot just be swayed and bought like that. He had just accidentally spent everything when he was out with Trey and Cruz - he didn’t mean to, he was just sort of an impulsive buyer. When he was younger he did this too, but now he realised it contrasted his entire view. Why spend his fathers money when he wanted to step out of his shadow? Why reap the benefits and not like the struggle? Robby decided he needed to stop relying on him. Okay, he obviously wasn’t ready to move out when he’s sixteen, but he could at least get a job.

His father covered lots of things, but it was mainly food and school and all that stuff. Again, the only things he managed to give. Robby’s mother managed where everything went, Johnny just did a pay check like it was child support. He wondered if the guy ever spared a thought about them when he was away. Well.. that was over. He was back. And Robby could make him see what he missed. He decided he needed to find LaRusso, unless there’s another ghost of Johnny’s past (though he didn’t find any as he looked some things up). Daniel LaRusso was in the valley all along, quietly in his dealership whilst Johnny stole all the glory from an unfair match. After seeing the highlight on TV, Robby had jumped online. There were debates about it. On Reddit, people furiously defended LaRusso or Lawrence.

Robby was surprised at the depth, he assumed everyone had forgotten and moved on from the 84 All Valley. But there were a smaller number of people who analysed everything much more closely. Some defended his father - in fact probably most, saying he won without breaking the rules. It was a fight and he finished it in a clean way. Robby scoffed at that. Perhaps it wasn’t illegal, but it was a low blow. Then there were the rarer people who finally noticed Daniel LaRusso, saying many valid things. How come we don’t bring him up? They just forgot the way he fought? He only lost by one point. Lawrence was unfair, he should've gotten a strike, or even disqualified. How did the judges approve of it? People keep overlooking LaRusso.

Robby read them. Both sides strangely had convincing arguments, even if he thought his dad was kind of a piece of shit, he had to look at the facts. His fathers opponent was washed away by the tide, the valley narrative too strong to keep him. Robby thought he should seek him out for sure. He didn’t need to tell him he was Johnny’s kid, but Johnny would flip when he found out he went to someone else. Good. He can see what he caused, what he missed, and who would be better than him at last. On a day he was free, he would go to LaRusso Auto. Maybe it would be stupid, but it was worth a shot.

Shannon was sitting in the living room as she pretended she couldn’t hear Robby and Johnny’s cold conversation. She sipped her wine as she scrolled on Twitter, thinking they were a disaster right now. She didn’t particularly like Johnny and there was zero romance anymore, but she knew how important it was for Robby to connect with his father. Unfortunately that failed on day one, but now he returned. Shannon wasn’t sure if she should gatekeep her son, even though she was the one who raised him entirely by herself. Pretty much a single mother. She would be a lot more pissed off if Johnny hadn’t provided anything, though he did.. so at least there was that. Yet the house always felt more like hers and Robby’s. They made it a home. Where was Johnny when they baked together? When Shannon patched Robby up when he was seven after he fell over? Nowhere to be seen, off in the Bahamas or some shit.

Shannon hoped one day Robby would connect with Johnny again. Only because they were family still, and because she hated seeing that boy so hurt because a man couldn’t be bothered to stay in his life. That hurt. There was nothing worse than Shannon knowing that, and it wasn’t as if she had the power to bring Johnny back. He was very flaky in the past, leaving messages on delivered for days, even weeks. No, now, she wanted a partner who loved her - but it was quite complicated. Firstly, she couldn’t just abandon Robby, she prioritised his stability, and even if he came with her to her place, it would create a mess. Shannon and Johnny would need to establish an entirely new system on what to do with the custody and financial support. That and a moody teenager in high school? She said no to that. Better to wait until Robby’s older, and then she can move out and Robby could move in with her if he wanted to, until he found his own footing. Either in a higher education or in a job, whatever suited him.

Johnny’s financial support was the house mainly, and Shannon didn’t want to subvert that whole system. It worked pretty well. No drama, just paycheck. Cold, but efficient. Moving out would mean renegotiating everything. Shannon would one day do it, but not now. And not without telling Robby these things. So she quietly explored her life, still working to gain something for herself and trying new hobbies— and trying to meet a decent man. It seemed they were extremely few, and Shannon hadn’t found a good guy yet. So stupid. But it wasn’t as if they were the main priority. What she wanted above all else was for her and Robby to not be so dependent on Johnny. It wasn’t out of cruelty, it just didn’t really work totally. He was back, and family dynamics shifted along.

Before he returned, Shannon and Robby were fairly warm. She prided herself on that. They both never spoke of the fact it was Johnny’s house. Sometimes Shannon thought they both forgot, as they were the people who made it a home. Suddenly in the kitchen it would hit that it wasn’t actually hers. It was all a little pretend, though how could she blame herself? Robby and her baked in that kitchen many times, she had prepared dinner countless times, bought all the groceries, everything, whilst the man who owned the damn thing never actually used it. Shannon knew it was a bizarre twist of irony. Get a house then run away from it. Johnny Lawrence logic. Hey, at least it was something. She supposed this was the most responsible thing he had ever gotten done.

She heard no voices now, guessing where they each went. Johnny always went out or stayed in the kitchen to have a beer silently, possibly feeling sorry for himself. Robby would most likely sulk in his room. Shannon sighed to herself. That was what it was like living and dealing with two people who had issues over feelings but never saw eye to eye. Johnny was so bad at dealing with teenagers.

Chapter Text

The dojo was chatting casually amongst themselves the following afternoon as they stood in formation, except for Ryan at the front who was purely silent, looking at no one. Even Miguel threw in some words, nodding along to Tory. Sensei Kreese had gone off to take a call for a moment, and the atmosphere was starting to feel more relaxed, just waiting for the session to begin. Suddenly the dangerous figure of Johnny appeared, stalking to the center front.
“Silence,” he sounded coldly. Most students quietened down, their voices fading away quickly, but two voices were slower at that. When the students noticed, they instantly stopped, one lingering more than the other - but it was too late. Johnny’s eagle eyes had noticed.

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Johnny narrowed his eyes as he crossed over to them. The guys who didn’t shut up in time stood silently - Mendoza and Dorsey. The latter had been quiet first, but he can still witness the consequences.
“You think this is a party?” said Johnny sarcastically. Without any hesitation, in a swift move he made an impulsive double leg takedown of Mendoza, sweeping the student like he was the dirt on the floor. His friend on the right side of the boy stared in some shock. Johnny didn’t care.
“When I say silence you shut up. You’re at a karate dojo not a school dance”. The entire class was silent, Johnny’s voice was the soul sound. Mendoza groaned quietly, but didn’t dare say anything more as he got back up.

Miguel was luckily nearer to the back to be able to see this. He had just seen Sensei Lawrence brutally take down a student, all for talking for too long. It was only a few seconds but the volume was noticeable. He had flinched at it. Damn, he sure was glad he wasn’t Mendoza right now. Sensei had humbled him and he had fallen to the mat in front of the entire dojo. Miguel knew the others in front of them only had to guess what happened, but when they heard the louder thump then they probably recognised that. The blonde walked back over to the front as if he hadn’t just annihilated someone.

“Just cause I’m not Kreese doesn’t mean I play games,” Johnny announced. Miguel had always seen him bow back at the end of sessions, so it was clear he was different from Sensei Kreese— and yet as soon as a rule was threatened, he immediately pivoted and swept the student. Miguel honestly thought it was badass despite feeling slightly intimidated. He enforced the law all whilst showing respect when needed. Miguel admired him even against all else - this was a legend. How grabbing some pepto for his Yaya had led to this, he didn’t know, but he was incredibly thankful. It wasn’t that he was totally afraid, he was more stunned - because he had seen another side to Sensei Lawrence. One that reminded Miguel of who he was. There was some disconnect at times— okay, a lot of the time— because he knew him as the guy who saved him from Kyler and took him under his wing. This other side was what everyone else had seen, Miguel assumed. The Valley. The media. Those who heard his name somewhere, never knowing the man behind it. Someone untouchable, whose glory days still shone through even when they were over.

“You can fight hard. Just remember to fight smart and know when to strike, so you can win how you want,” Johnny said to the class. So you can win the right way. But when he tried to say those words, they immediately shut down, staying permanently in his mind. Mentally, he pushed the Kreese back. This was stupid - the man wasn’t even here physically next to him, he was in the office answering some important call that came at a bizarre time. Yet nor did he need to be. Years of his mentors’ teachings did that. Johnny began to pace more at the front, all the students’ eyes locked on him.

“You wanna triumph over the lion not the gazelle. It’s a better achievement,” continued Johnny. “If you win over a weak ass opponent, what’s the point really?” What did you just win? The knowledge you beat them possibly at their lowest..?
“Anyway, that probably won’t happen. The weakest will be taken out already. .. Just remember to show ..control”.

The word honour was very close, but the gates locked themselves automatically. He couldn’t say it. It sounded weak. Kreese’s voice demanded inside his mind— you think your opponent would do the same? You can suddenly what, grant mercy and it won’t backfire on you? You’re handing a gun to your enemy and praying they won’t shoot you. Sentimental weakness. That is how you already lost before even stepping onto the mat.

The room was silent. Johnny glanced over and saw that John Kreese was returning back to them, and with that the mental gymnastics vanished.
“Let’s continue,” ordered Kreese. Quiet thoughts of honour disappeared as strength clouded over once more, the defaulting switch. With Kreese next to him, Johnny was remembering everything. The struggle, but the glory. The greatness, the man who had taught him everything. It was nearly his destruction, yet also the reason he won.

The students did the usual sparring in the randomised pairs, if Johnny and Kreese knew they’d push eachother more, or if they needed to see their dynamic. Diaz and Mikko. Sinclair and Reed. Nichols and Dorsey. Then, a stone cold command sounded near the middle of the session.

“Fall in and kneel”.

Johnny didn’t think he heard right at first. The same as when he was a student? He felt astonished. For some reason he thought that practise had died out in the 80s when he left the dojo. Apparently not. The students all got into their positions silently, even Diaz doing the same though he was the last to. He was probably just copying everyone else, Kreese never explained unless he had to. They were all a battle unit on the floor, as if they were worshipping. Johnny never thought about how absurd it looked when everyone was like this, he was so used to it back then. It looked like a cult.

“Still doing that?” He masked it lightly, whilst having just thought of how weird it all looked.
“It’s discipline and tradition, Johnny. You wouldn’t deny them a step to power, right?”
Johnny looked back. “Yeah. Tradition, got it”. Still cult-like though. Kreese turned his attention back to the students, ignoring him. He began to slowly move down the line like a predator about to catch a rabbit.
“Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“No sensei!” It was happening again, thought Johnny. But despite the whole thing feeling different, he couldn’t pretend the values weren’t useful and true. After all, he wasn’t LaRusso.
“Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“No sensei!”
“Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?”
“No sensei!”

The shouts blended together in Johnny’s mind as he remembered when he was one of the students, saying the exact same words.

“What do we study here?!”
“The way of the fist sir!” The class exclaimed together, unified. Johnny looked over at Diaz, he could tell he was just adapting - he had absolutely no idea what was happening, but still spoke. Even if it was quieter and with less conviction. The others had this engrained into them for months, possibly years. Miguel was a matter of around past a month.
“And what is that way?”
“Strike first, strike hard, no mercy sir!”

★★★

They went back to sparring but in different pairs. Tory and Ryan fought again, just as competitively as ever. Tory’s wild but calculated kicks. Ryan’s nimble dodges. Miguel was busy fighting James Reed, but he saw the others out the corner of his eye. They were so impressive, so good.

Suddenly he heard Tory’s voice, breathless.
“Sensei, permission for water break?”
“.. Granted. Be quick,” Kreese coldly spoke to the room. Yes! Miguel had a chance to snatch his granola bar. Tory walked over to the side and grabbed her water, Ryan followed. Miguel took it as confirmation and approached his bag, taking out his granola bar and unwrapping it, taking a bite. He heard the familiar crunch of Ryan’s crisp. They could eat. All of a sudden, Kreese’s steel stare snapped over to him, he stalked closer.
“This is a dojo not a cafeteria,” he glared. Miguel froze.
“But I thought.. Ryan..” He just heard him! He was sure he heard the crunch.
“He doesn’t waste time. You do. You haven’t even earned it”. Snacks are earned..? Miguel didn’t even think of that possibility. He fell silent.

“Come on man it’s a snack, Sinclair does it,” Johnny’s voice carried across. Miguel very much appreciated it, though he wasn’t convinced it would save him.
“He earned it,” Kreese said stubbornly.
“What?” asked a bewildered Johnny. Miguel could tell the whole dojo was listening to the conversation, and he felt awkward.
“So I can’t eat a chip like him..?” He was playing with fire, but the rules seemed so absurd to Miguel that they had slapped him in the face. How was it fair that guy got to have food and not him?!
“No. You got a bar instead, that wasn’t tactical,” scoffed Kreese. “Sinclair took advantage. You screwed around thinking this was a picnic. Put that thing down and get back onto the mat”.

Miguel felt like he had died in no more than a few seconds. He truly was convinced it was okay, that it was safe to have a little snack. For some strange reason, Ryan could have it but not him. He got the snack verification. Miguel got the loss. He didn’t feel too happy about that. Tch, pretty much got Tory, and now a chip.

Chapter Text

When the session ended, Johnny decided to speak to Ryan, the mysterious guy. He was surprised he wasn’t dating Tory— hopefully he hadn’t led Miguel to a dead end. No, he was like ninety percent sure that he’d be fine. Ryan was so quiet, perhaps even the only one who Johnny didn’t hear at the beginning along with everyone else. He approached the kid, who was sitting on the small bench cross legged, faded red hoodie up, eating chips. Again? Kreese didn’t care? Or he probably just said don’t drop crumbs on the floor. Johnny looked. There was none there, no evidence. He didn’t even notice Johnny, too focused on the packet.

“Back on the chips again? You’re pretty quiet. Kinda a nerd huh,” he pointed out to make a conversation. He didn’t mean it as an insult, well not really, it was just true. Kids who kept to themselves were nerds. And he was obsessed with food - who the hell snacks in a dojo?! Jimmy probably never even thought of it. Did he even know? Well, either he did or, who was Johnny to snitch? Kreese didn’t complain and it was his space. Ryan looked up at him, dark hair peeking out from the hood.

“You can think I’m a unicorn for all I care. It won’t impact me,” Ryan said dryly. Sensei Lawrence randomly came up to him to make surface level judgements, but he didn’t mind or care.
Johnny stared at him as if he had just started to recite the bible. “A unicorn..?” he asked, absolutely perplexed for a moment before his face rested back to cool. “You don’t say much do you?”
“Only when I want to,” he replied shortly, crunching more crisps in front of the sensei. It was the end of the session, so long as he didn’t drop crumbs on the mat, it was fine.
“Right..” Johnny wandered off again. Ryan continued snacking on the salt and vinegar crisps casually. Miguel Diaz had packed up, and as he was on his way out he glanced at him. When Kreese told him he couldn’t have his granola bar, Ryan felt a little bad but also really amused. He knew it was a disaster— it was too much. A single crisp? Quick. No crumbs.

Ryan was only allowed because the rule wasn’t implemented when he first tried it. Three years ago when he was twelve, he exploited the ten second break that Sensei had ‘generously’ given. He had a sip of water and reached into his bag, taking a crisp to crunch. It was a tiny break but a window of opportunity. He knew multiple crisps would push Kreese over the edge, but one was surely fine. No crumbs, no evidence. Kreese only turned around and registered the noise when he had swallowed it.
“Did you just eat a chip? You’re not at the dinner table,” he said coldly, but evidently still had disbelief. The class was eerily silent, several people’s eyes flickered to the scene.
“I thought you want us to refuel,” replied Ryan.
“Not with a full meal”.
“I’ll stick to one crisp,” he promised. Sensei stared at him, there was a deafening pause.
“.. Tactical,” he finally came out with, giving a slight nod. It was an incredibly rare piece of praise, which Ryan could’ve smirked at, but remained neutral. “No crumbs or you’ll do fifty pushups,” he told him. He nodded back.

After that the dojo somehow respected him more. Ryan didn’t mean to, he just thought it was a good chance to get something he wanted out of the break, it didn’t matter it was couple of seconds, that still counted as time. James had thought Ryan would be ripped to shreds. Oscar had clapped him on the back after everyone was gone— “dude you found a loophole!” But that didn’t mean anyone else would do it. Kreese didn’t want it ‘turning into snack time’, therefore this was very limited. Ryan’s crisp crunch became a defining feature, even before he was the most skilled fighter. Most skilled until Tory came along, she provided constant rivalry in the dojo when it came to karate but they were and always would be bros. She didn’t care what Ryan called it, she understood he didn’t like snuggly friendships. It was just about unspoken loyalty, no need to even put a label.

★★★

Later on, Ryan was in his room lying on his bed, scrolling on his phone. He went on WhatsApp to the group chat - it was pretty important. Named ‘Strike first n stuff’ by himself, he created it two years ago when he found a tiktok of a guy punching a vending machine angrily, adding Oscar and James to send it to them. He sent a message accompanying it: sensei Kreese.

Oscar and James found it hilarious. Ryan was admin, and he wanted to be the only admin since no one else could be trusted to run the chat very well. He clicked onto it again. Random memes and comments about training were on it. Ryan sent the clip of Gondor kneeling to the hobbits, captioning - kneeling time be like. It was true, Kreese liked them kneeling like some cult and Ryan saw it. It was so weird it was funny. Earlier that day he had a refresher on it all, and poor Miguel probably didn’t know what the heck was happening. Ryan didn’t blame him at all.

Loud af: LMFAO BRO

Queen Cobra 🐍👑: Ryan pls 😭

Just James: lol omg 🥲

Ryan texted. Aragorn says u bow to no one. Kreese says u bow to me and only me u snivelling worms 🛐

The group laughed. They always did– somehow to them, he was always funny. Ryan thought he was mostly funny, though that felt pretty biased. What, thinking of yourself as that? Subjective, and he knew it. But his group could roll with him, especially Tory who didn't care about his dryness, and matched the sarcasm.

★★★

Daniel arrived to the dealership feeling thrilled. He had finally sorted out the leaflets, and designed them. With a bonsai and himself smiling on the front, Miyagi Do - learn the true way of karate.
“Well you seem chirpy,” commented Anoush as Daniel came in.
“Oh, yeah. I gotta talk to you and Louie, cmon,” told Daniel as he gently ushered Anoush along.
“What’s happening?”
“I just cracked the code. We’re going to promote Miyagi Do”.

The three of them sat in the office. Both guys were confused, not hiding their expressions.
“Cmon, what’s going on?” asked Louie. “You took us here like it was the most important thing ever”.
Daniel placed his new leaflet, smack bam in the middle of his desk, nudging it to the two.
“Miyagi Do,” said Daniel proudly. “Johnny won’t see what’s happening. I knew a straight up ad could make him flip out, so I’m going with these”.
Louie and Anoush stared at the leaflet in awe.
“It’s beautiful,” said Anoush. “You’ve blown this out of the water”.
“Totally. You’re gonna win this,” added Louie.
“I want us all to do some outreach here if you guys can help me, I’d appreciate it. Truly. I want this to be special. But don’t alert Johnny or Kreese. Keep it low. We recruit kids that need my help,” Daniel announced.
“Okay,” said Louie, and Anoush nodded with him.
“We’ve got it Daniel”.

★★★

Robby had found himself working at LaRusso Auto. He knew he needed to prove himself, but these two guys— Anoush and Louie— had it out for him in a weird way. Robby would do odd jobs around the place and sort out the inventory, yet he still needed to do more. What mattered was that he was trying, and for that he didn’t even get any respect. Suddenly he saw the familiar two approach him. Louie arrogantly as he watched Robby, Anoush as if he was the minion, busy typing something on his phone.

“Hey new kid don’t forget to smile, you’re the face of LaRusso auto now. Terrifying thought,” smirked Louie.
“Oh did you restock the mints? We’re down to those gross cinnamon ones. Customers hate those,” said Anoush absently.
Robby nodded back, even if Louie only saw it. “Yeah I did. And I cleaned the showroom windows”. Surely that was done right? Robby thought he actually did a pretty decent job. Though instead of hearing the ok…
“Cool, next u wanna clean my car?” Louie laughed, Anoush automatically joined in. Robby felt a pang of anger, and it must’ve showed in his expression despite him not wanting them to know. He needed to keep his cool, to not let them see they were getting under his skin. That was probably the fastest way of making it worse.

“Relax, I’m just joshing with ya. Don’t forget to polish tires though, customers love the shine,” said Louie as he began to go again.
“Uhuh, get on that,” Anoush sounded. They left Robby as if he was an after thought, only approaching him to mock and order him round. He stood still for a moment. Why were these grown ass men tearing him down? He was sixteen and they were.. god knows how old. It wasn’t their age, it was their mentality that went with it— stupidity. Whatever Robby expected, it wasn’t this. These were the type of people Mr LaRusso associated himself with..? If Robby’s worst doubts were true, then both him and his father were as bad as eachother..