Chapter Text
Johnny hadn’t seen Daniel since the tournament. He hadn’t seen much of anyone, really. His parents never saw what Kreese did to him and as far as they knew he was still going to classes at Cobra Kai for a couple hours every evening. Instead, he just rode his bike out to the middle of nowhere and mulled over his emotions with the only person he ever wanted to share them with: himself. Sometimes he’d just ride his bike for hours, trying to get far enough from home that he’d get up the courage to make a break for it and never come back, but he always chickened out and turned towards home. Tonight he didn't bother with that, and rode out to the nearby woods where he propped his bike up against a tree and set off walking down a random path. If there were any fallen leaves or twigs in his way, he’d go out of his way to step on them.
Snap, crunch, snap, crunch. It satisfied the part of him that needed to break something, as if somehow crushing enough leaves and snapping enough twigs would heal his own pain. The sun was beginning to set, welcoming twilight into the forest. Even Johnny had to admit it was beautiful at dusk, and he could never muster up much care for the beauty of nature. He used to come to these woods after class with some of the other Cobra Kai students. Usually, they'd sneak some beer or weed or see who could start a fire the quickest by rubbing two sticks together. Once they set off some fireworks and one clipped Dutch on the shoulder. Johnny got the sinking feeling that those days were over.
For some time he was worried that one of his friends would tattle on Kreese and his mother (or worse, his stepdad) would be getting a phone call from a concerned parent asking them how their poor battered son was doing after his sensei choked him out, but none of them raised a stink about it. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if they did, Johnny knew. His parents, and likely a few others, would want harsh words with Kreese, maybe even legal action, and Kreese would deserve it. Johnny just didn’t want to have that conversation with his parents. His mom would be a wreck and blame herself for not paying more attention, and his stepdad would no doubt find a way to insert his opinion that Johnny was a weakling and a loser after all into the conversation even while he feigned anger. What kind of man would pick on someone so much weaker than himself, he'd say. Johnny could hear it so clearly in his head that he might as well have said it already, and he had no intention of facing up to it for real.
Besides, Daniel’s sensei had humiliated Kreese, and although Johnny wished it could’ve been literally anyone else, anyone but one of those two that had come to his rescue, in his mind it was punishment enough.
He occasionally practiced his form and technique when he wandered off alone like this, trying to convince himself that it wasn’t pointless. Aside from Ali, karate was the only thing he’d been passionate about in the last few years. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing both. He’d keep doing karate, without a sensei, without a dojo, without his crew. Lone wolf suited him better than pack leader anyways. As much as he’d tried to get his act together, he was still a hooligan, the no-good ace degenerate.
He was told to sweep the leg and he did. He felt bad about it, he gave Kreese his best don’t-make-me-do-that look, but he did it. Ex-degenerate my ass , he thought, actions speak louder than words.
He balled his fists so tightly that even his short nails made visible dents in his palms and with a shout he smashed one fist into a nearby tree. His angry yell quickly devolving into a pained yelp and he clutched his hand close to his chest. Johnny could see a bit of blood and scraped-off skin streaked against the bark.
Of course, it hurt. It’s a tree, not a wooden board, idiot.
And yet somehow, it made him feel good even as it hurt. He looked at his knuckles. They were scraped and red but not bleeding too much. Certainly better than the hamburger meat that Kreese was left with after punching those car windows. He flexed his fingers a few times, making sure his stupid tantrum didn’t break any bones before he continued walking further into the woods.
“Johnny?” a voice said, and Johnny whipped around to see who’d followed him here.
Surely it couldn’t be -
“LaRusso,” he sighed, because of course, it was, “How the hell’d you find me out here?”
“Mr. Miyagi’s house is close by. I was on my way home. I saw your bike and I heard someone shout,” he said, “I thought you were hurt or something. I mean, I didn’t even know it was you.”
Daniel shuffled his feet awkwardly, one hand behind his head. Johnny wasn’t exactly his first choice of companion either, but they were both here now.
“You just follow random voices into the woods, huh?” Johnny said, “Great way to get shanked, LaRusso.”
“You gonna shank me?” Daniel said, noticing that Johnny’s uninjured hand was still balled up into a fist, “Or are you just gonna hit me to make yourself feel better?”
Johnny tensed up, clenching his jaw almost as tightly as his fist before he relaxed and exhaled, breath visible against the cool evening air like a puff of smoke. The tournament was over. No one was stopping him from beating the crap out of Daniel now.
No one except himself, apparently.
Dammit, Johnny, you can’t even do the degenerate thing right anymore!
“What do you want?” Johnny said.
“I - nothing, I guess,” Daniel said, but it was as if his feet were frozen to the spot.
There was an elephant in the room that neither of them wanted to address directly. Daniel had not only won the tournament, he’d seen Johnny in a moment of weakness - or rather, something Johnny would consider a moment of weakness even if Daniel didn’t think it was really fair to pit a teenager against some jacked-up drill sergeant of a sensei - and Mr. Miyagi had to step in and save him. That was a lot to deal with, from a person you had a less-than-amicable relationship with from the start. Daniel didn't really want to deal with it, either, but the thought of just ditching Johnny left him with too much guilt.
“Thanks,” Daniel said, trying to break the ice, “For being such a good sport about the tournament, I mean. I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome I guess,” Johnny said, and that was all that he could say because truthfully he wasn’t expecting it, either.
There was a moment that passed between them when the tournament ended and Johnny passed the trophy off to Daniel, something like mutual respect that they didn’t want to admit out loud after everything they’d been through, but it was there. Daniel never expected to hear ‘you’re alright, LaRusso’ from the guy who thought it was funny just a few months earlier to drive his bike off the road, and Johnny never expected to be saying it to the scrawny Jersey kid that stole his girl, but here they were.
“Hey, uh, d’you mind if I ask you something?” Daniel said.
“What is it?” Johnny said.
“Did that douchebag tell you to do that illegal move?” Daniel said.
“Sensei Kreese ” Johnny hissed, still prepared to defend his disgraced teacher against Daniel’s bad-mouthing for reasons he didn’t even fully understand.
Old habits die hard. Before the tournament, Johnny would have gone to bat for Kreese’s honor, any time, any place. He was the only role model Johnny had.
Daniel sighed, but Mr. Miyagi taught him to pick his battles wisely and trying to poke holes in the years-long complicated relationship Johnny had with his sensei wasn’t the right battle right now. Johnny'd have to confront his feelings on that issue someday, but not when it was so raw.
“Did sensei Kreese tell you to do that illegal move?” Daniel said.
“Does it matter?” Johnny said, “I did it.”
“You were fighting fair the entire tournament until you went to talk to him, then suddenly you play dirty? Come on. I guess it kinda seems like regular you. But not the you I saw at the tournament,” Daniel said.
“You don’t know shit about regular me,” Johnny said, “...Yeah, I didn’t wanna do it. I wanted to beat your ass, so don’t get me wrong, LaRusso, but I didn’t want to cheapen it like that. Karate’s been my thing for years now. This was my last year in the under-eighteen league and I hate that I went out like that.”
If only he had it in him to disobey, Johnny would have left the under-eighteen league with a strong legacy behind him. Now, he was just a villain, a bully kid from the bully dojo, a former champ who got face-kicked by a dark horse opponent that came out of nowhere.
“You can call me Daniel, you know, we’re not in...prison or military school,” Daniel said, “But I thought so. What about your friend?”
“Bobby? Yeah, he’d never have done that on his own. Shit, his mom was watching, I’ll bet she gave him hell for it,” Johnny said, “Does knowing that make your leg hurt less, LaRusso? Uh, Daniel. Whatever.”
“Nah, my leg’s been good for a couple days now. I’m just not pissed off at you for it or anything,” Daniel said.
“You woulda been if I won the tournament,” Johnny said.
“Yeah, I guess I might have been. But he was almost my sensei, too. If I didn’t see you there when I went to sign up, I would’ve just signed up,” Daniel said, “And I don’t think I would’ve done any differently. Hell, I painted Mr. Miyagi’s fence for hours and I didn’t even question that it was a karate lesson until after I was done. I just got lucky that he's a good guy and was really looking out for me.”
“You painted his fence?” Johnny said, face scrunched in confusion, “You know what, never mind, I don’t have time for your weird stories.”
Johnny and Daniel were both quiet for a moment before Johnny spoke up again, so quiet that Daniel almost didn’t hear him, “Tell Mr. Maggie I said thanks, I guess. For saving me.”
“Mr. Miyagi ,” Daniel said, not entirely sure if Johnny was messing up his name on purpose just to be a dick.
A...kind of endearing dick, now that he wasn’t actively invested in making Daniel’s life hell. Daniel had spent so long thinking of Johnny as his nemesis, as just the biggest jerk in all of California, and he didn’t quite know what to do with himself now that his disdain had switched from Johnny to Kreese. Gone was the cartoon villain and in his place was a kid his age who had problems just like anyone else and managed to have some sense of honor and decency even after years of Kreese trying to scream any such concepts out of him.
“Fine, Mr. Miyagi, whatever,” Johnny said.
“I’ll tell him,” Daniel said, smiling a little.
He considered telling Johnny what Mr. Miyagi had said. There are no bad students, only bad teachers. Johnny didn’t seem like the sort who would be receptive to that particular brand of Miyagi wisdom, though. He was more of a practical guy, the sort that preferred quiet respect to poetics.
Johnny started to turn away again, not sure what else there was to say to Daniel. Some part of him still wanted to hate him after all of this, despite the fact that he was showing some kindness right now. Without Daniel, Johnny would’ve won the tournament just like he did for the last three years. Kreese would’ve moved him up to the adult lessons and started training him for the over-eighteen tournament, and who knows where he would’ve gone from there.
Kreese would still be Kreese but dammit, Johnny would’ve been fine with that if he never lost and found out who his sensei really was.
Or maybe he would’ve lost some years down the line, and they’d both be adults then, and when Kreese started taunting Johnny they’d get into an adult fight. Maybe they’d get seriously hurt, or end up in prison, or something worse. He couldn’t know how it would’ve worked out, and so he couldn’t entirely keep hating Daniel, either.
“I washed all of his cars, too,” Daniel said, the tension getting much too thick when they were both quiet, “I think he coulda squeezed a few more chores out of me if he really wanted to.”
“Damn, Daniel. You’re a fucking chump , aren’t you?” Johnny said, but he managed to crack a smile about it, too.
In Johnny-speak, Daniel deduced, some light teasing was his way of saying ‘hey, I might be alright with you’, as some animals play-fight with each other. His way of saying ‘hey, I really don’t like you’ was to punch you in the face, which by some heavenly grace still hadn’t happened yet.
“But I’m the fucking chump that thought sensei Kreese actually gave a damn about me,” Johnny said under his breath.
He didn’t want to admit it out loud, at least he thought he didn’t, but some small part of him was relieved just to have said it. Why, of all people, was Daniel LaRusso the first one he could admit it to? He knew he couldn’t tell his parents, but ever since the tournament he hadn’t even been able to talk to his friends. He still liked them well enough but their friendship started with a connection that had been severed. They hung out because they were Cobra Kai. They hung out because they thought Kreese was the best and wanted to be just like him. They hung out because they were the strongest kids in school and didn’t take any shit from anyone. It was tough to lose that. Trying to feel out a new place in this world with them seemed a lot more difficult than spilling his guts to Daniel right now.
“You thought a guy who pretended to give a damn about you actually gave a damn about you, geez, y’know they hang people for that back in Jersey, right?” Daniel said, rolling his eyes a little, “It’s not your fault, okay? Everyone wants someone to care about them like that. Red flags aren’t always as obvious as they should be.”
Daniel had his mother and Mr. Miyagi looking out for him. Without Kreese, did Johnny have anyone? Given that he was out here punching trees to get his anger out, it didn’t really seem like it.
Johnny turned away and Daniel, unexpectedly, put a hand on his shoulder. Johnny wasn’t used to that sort of comfort from the people he liked, let alone someone who was maybe still his enemy. He spun around, catching Daniel off guard as he grabbed him by the wrist with one hand, his other hand raised in a fist.
“Don’t touch me, LaRusso,” Johnny said, sneering, falling back into his usual way of talking to Daniel, “Why am I even talking to you?”
Daniel had his guard up, too, but didn’t want to make a fist or anything visible like that just in case it would agitate Johnny even more. Thankfully, his fighting style was more defensive than the all-out aggression of Cobra Kai. He shifted his feet on the ground to get into a better position to dodge, and Johnny, teeth bared, didn’t even look down. That was the Cobra Kai way. Look your enemy in the eye and show them who’s boss. It had its used but it had its drawbacks, too.
There was no fight. Johnny relented and let go, kicking a stray pebble with one foot. It bounced down the path, disappearing into a bush.
“Alright, I should go, it’s getting late,” Daniel said, and Johnny knew all too well that ‘it’s getting late’ was (translated straight from wimp talk) ‘I’m making an excuse to leave so we don’t have to fight’.
Daniel certainly wasn’t a wimp anymore but he still talked like one. It was kind of cute, Johnny thought before he mentally kicked himself for thinking something like that. Enemies aren’t cute. LaRussos aren’t cute. Boys aren’t cute.
“You don’t have to,” Johnny said, “It’s a free country. I don’t own the forest. It’s not like you’re trespassing or something.”
With that Johnny shoved his hands in his pockets (wincing briefly as his freshly scraped knuckles rubbed against the rough fabric of his jeans) and briskly walked away. Dammit, why did he say such a stupid thing? He could’ve finished this quickly with a good old-fashioned go fuck yourself , but had to blurt something out that kind of, just kind of, meant ‘I want you to stay’.
Johnny sat down in the dirt in a spot where the trees began to clear up and give way to water. He picked up a stone and threw it at the water, where it sunk with a plop. He never could get the hang of skipping stones, probably because he insisted on throwing overhand. The plop and the ripples were the best part, anyway.
When the ripples cleared, another stone hit the water. This one skipped along twice before sinking into the depths below. Johnny didn’t bother to look over his shoulder and see who it was. The chances of there being more than one person here at all was slim to none, and Daniel was definitely enough of a nerd to learn how to skip a stone properly.
The corners of his mouth turned up a little, and he threw another stone into the water. Daniel skipped one of his own afterward. They sat a few feet apart, saying nothing, both of them staring out at the lake instead of at each other. There was no noise but the sound of stones against the surface of the water and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.
Johnny didn’t like Daniel LaRusso (at least, that was what he kept telling himself) but he didn’t mind if they sat quietly together.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Johnny wasn’t alone.