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“No please, stop Eli stop!” He’s full on begging now. Voicing cracking and breaths coming out in short panic huffs. Hawk’s grip loosens.
“Do it!”
“Do it!”
“Do it pussy!” They all scream at him. Eli’s heart is in his throat and everything is just too much. He doesn’t want to let his new “friends” down. But Demetri would never cuss and berate him for not breaking someone’s arm. Only bullies and deranged people would. Is this really who he is now? A bully.
He drops Demetri’s arm and takes a shaky step back. He can’t do it. He pussied out and let his stupid sissy emotions take over. Tory shoves his shoulder roughly and Rickenburger sends him a death glare before they all run out. Eli moves to follow them, but the intense stare from his former best friend stops him. Demetri’s eyes are wide and hopeful and slightly watery. All Eli wants to do is drop down to the ground, where he put him, and hug his best friend. But Hawk won’t allow it. He turns around and leaves.
~~~~~~
Demetri watches his best friend leave and some of his hope dies. He was hyperventilating, scared out of his mind. He really thought his Eli would’ve broken his arm. But he didn’t and now he hates himself a little bit for thinking he would. His kind, shy, and caring bestfriend is still in there and tonight really proved it.
A loud sob coming from the corner of the room brings Demetri out of his thoughts. “Sam?” He calls out worried. She sobs louder and that gets Demetri off the floor and running to her side. “They’re gone now. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Later that night the Miyagi do students go home shaken up, but Demetri stays at the LaRusso’s house to keep an eye on Sam. “He’s psychotic, Demetri! You can’t be serious.” Sam yells, referring to Eli. “Just because he didn’t break your arm doesn’t mean he’s changed.” She growls out, earning a sigh from the nerdy boy.
“You don’t know him like I do, Sam. When I looked into his eyes I could see Eli was still in there.” He knows he sounds crazy, but he’ll grasp at anything that’ll give him hope in his best friends return.
A phone rings interrupting their sort of argument. Demetri pulls his phone out of his pocket slightly confused. No one ever calls him, especially at this time of night. Sam peeks over to see who is calling and they both stare in shock. He immediately answers and Sam forces him to put it on speaker. “Eli?” He asks cautiously, as if the boy will hang up if he speaks.
There’s some rustling on the other end and they’re both about to deem the call a prank, until a soft whimper has them pausing. “Dem,” hawk groans clearly in some sort of distress.
Demetri perks up at his nickname. “Eli? What’s wrong?” He practically yells through the phone. There’s some more pained groans on the other side and Demetri grows insanely worried.
“I’m so sorry, Dem.” Hawk cries. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he continues over and over until it all jumbles together and starts to not make sense anymore.
Demetri has tears in his eyes and he jumps up ready to find his friend. “Eli, hey, calm down please. I forgive you. I just need to know where you’re at, buddy.” He feels the situation is urgent and that Eli is in danger. Or maybe he’s just itching to go see his friend. But he’s already got his keys in hand and he’s at the door.
Sam jabs the lanky boy in the side causing Demetri to glare at her. “He sounds drunk! It’s probably just some sick prank.” She whisper yells.
Demetri shakes his head. “No, this is Eli. I can tell. And he needs me.” He opens the front door and Sam follows close behind.
She dangles her keys, “at least let me drive in case it is a prank.” The nerdy boy nods in relief giving her a grateful smile.
“Eli, please tell me where you’re at.” He pleads, growing more worried at the pained moans and lack of talking coming from his friend.
“Cobra Kai” he breathes out
~~~~~~~
The cobras and suppose friends left him at the arcade. Hawk sighs and climbs on to his motorbike. They’re definitely mad at him, but hopefully they don’t tell Kreese he wasn’t able to finish the fight.
Eli drives over to cobra Kai, heart racing a mile a minute. Reluctantly, he makes his way into the building. There was loud arguing and as soon as Hawk enters they all go quiet. “What?” He asks irritated from all the stares.
No one answers for a while, causing his anxiety to skyrocket. Finally, Rickenburger steps towards him with a glare. “What are you doing here? You’re not cobra kai if you pussy out of a fight.” He shoves Hawk, causing the smaller boy to stumble backwards.
Hawk shoves him back twice as hard and Rickenburger falls onto the mat. “I’m not breaking that little bitches arm. He’s not worth going to juvie.” Eli spits, readying himself for another hit.
“You’ve gone soft.” A booming voice calls out, immediately catching everyone’s attention. Hawk stiffens as sensei Kreese emerges. “Cobra’s don’t go soft. They strike hard and show no mercy. Today, you showed mercy, you’re off the team.”
Eli pales and he suddenly feels sick. Trying not to show how he feels, “whatever, man.” He grumbles, heading towards the door. His eyes start to water and he holds back a sniffle.
“Wait” Kreese says and Hawk stops automatically. He looks towards his sensei with hope in his watery eyes. “You owe us a broken arm.” Eli looks at him confused before it dawns on him and he runs the rest of the way to the door.
Hands grab at him, pulling him back. Hawk fights tooth and nail, sending half the cobras to the ground and the other half cowers away. He’s panting and slightly bloody, but Eli still smirks at his former teacher. Hopefully, it’ll show Kreese made the biggest mistake in his life. Throwing out his best fighter.
However, the cobras are missing one more person and as Eli heads towards the doors for a second time, someone hits him in the head immediately sending him to the floor. Hawk groans in pain, touching the spot where he was kicked? Punched? He isn’t sure but there’s blood. He flips onto his back to look up at the culprit, but before he can there’s kicks reining down on him from everyone he used to call friends.
He shields his face from the abuse, but Tory grabs his arm and holds it straight up. They make eye contact and she looks almost sad or disappointed and some hope sparks in Eli. Maybe she’ll let him go? “Finish him!” Kreese barks.
Tory slams her foot into the middle of his arm. The bone snapping was louder than his cries of agony.
~~~~~~
“Eli, stay on the phone with me buddy. We’re almost there.” Demetri says with panic laced in his voice. “I swear if they hurt him they’re going to be sorry.” Demetri growls out, earning a concerned look from Sam. She speeds up nonetheless.
They pull up to the hell they call dojo and it’s completely dark. No one is inside and the parking lot is vacant except Eli’s bike. “I’ve got a bad feeling, Demetri.” Sam says looking up at the night sky where the moon is barely visible.
The tall lanky boy ignores her and starts calling out Eli’s name. They round the corner to a dark alleyway and they nervously look around. Demetri hangs up the call and calls back again. Eli’s ring tone blares deeper in the dark alley and Demetri runs to it. They both gasp at the sight they see.
Eli seems to be passed out and his arm is oddly bent and he’s covered in blood and bruises. Demetri immediately drops to the ground to hold his bestfriend. “Call 911, Sam.” She shakes as she pulls her phone out and Demetri bites his tongue on telling her to hurry. She’s clearly terrified and lately her panic attacks have been out of control. Snapping at her won’t help.
Demetri taps at Eli’s face, afraid of touching any injuries. “Eli, please wake up.” He shakes him slightly, earning a small groan. “Eli, wake up!” Demetri finally yells, tears pouring down his face.
~~~~
Hawks eyes slowly flutter open and he’s confused to see Sam. Has he died and is now in hell? They lock eyes and she’s telling the person on the phone that he’s awake now. The confusion doesn’t last long as all the pain hits him like a truck and he’s moaning in pain again. “Eli? Eli. What happened?” It’s Demetri’s voice and Hawk’s eyes fill with tears. He came.
“Dem?” He croaks, trying to turn around in the taller boys arms.
“You shouldn’t move, Eli. Might make things worse.”
“Uh, Demetri. She’s asking what are his injuries.” Sam speaks up interrupting the two. They both look at Eli and he shrinks down, wishing he could hide behind his hair.
Demetri’s heart squeezes painfully at seeing his old Eli back. “Tell her broken arm and possible head injury.”
“Wait, is that 911?” Hawk asks finally being able to sit up. “I can’t go back to the hospital my dad will kill me.” He has an urgency to his voice and a wild look to his eyes.
“Eli, you need to go to the hospital. Your head is bleeding and your arm is snapped in half.” Demetri practically yells throwing his arms up. “Who did this to you?”
Eli stops moving at the question and looks down in shame. He takes a while to answer not sure if he should say. “Cobra Kai,” he finally mutters. Demetri came all this way to help him he can’t hold back from him anymore.
Demetri looks irate, but also slightly confused. “Why? They followed you. You were friends?” He wants to say sort of, but holds back.
Eli glances at Demetri’s arm. The one he had in his grip earlier today. He bites his lip in shame. “I was a pussy and couldn’t finish a fight.” He says bitterly. He doesn’t regret not breaking Demetri’s arm, he regrets everything else like fighting his bestfriend in the first place. Everything is his fault after all.
Demetri was even more confused until he watched Eli’s reaction. He was looking at his arm. “They did this to you because you didn’t break my arm!” He practically explodes. “Those psychopaths! I’m going to kill them!” He rages.
Hawk feels a little touched that his friend still cares even after how he treated him. He goes to apologize for the thousandth time, but Sam cuts him off. “What about Kreese? Does he know?” She asks, suspiciously quiet.
Eli doesn’t know if he should feel sad or angry at the mention of Kreese. He made him feel so special and threw him away as soon as there was any sign of weakness. He wants to kick the old geezer in the face and also ask him to take him back. Hawk glances at Demetri and remembers the time Kreese punched him in the nose. It should’ve made him angry at the time and maybe it did but he directed his anger towards the wrong person. He owes Demetri everything after how he treated him. “He told them to do it.”
“What!” They both yell in unison. “You’re their best fighter why would he do that?” Sam asks rhetorically. “I need to call my dad.” She storms off and Eli relaxes back Into Demetri’s arms.
He tightens his hold on the smaller boy. “You in a lot of pain?” Demetri whispers, so close to his ear. Hawk contains his shiver and nods. “You have to go to the hospital you know that. Or your arm will never properly heal.”
Eli sighs, “I know. My dad is going to send me right back to the hospital when he finds out though.”
Demetri frowns in irritation. His bestfriend is pouting and he can’t even think about how cute he looks. He’s always hated Eli’s dad. Even got in a couple fights with him on how he treats his son. Before all this karate crap Eli used to be a big crier. Demetri didn’t mind, he’d hold his friend till he calmed down then he’d hunt down whoever hurt his bestfriend. And it was almost always Eli’s father. “I’ll kick his ass.” Demetri growls, causing Hawk to chuckle.
And he thought Eli’s pouting was cute. Him laughing is ever better. Beautiful even. His bestfriend is beautiful and Demetri’s never been afraid to tell him. Until now. Yes, they’re making up and Eli is too hurt to punch him, but sometimes Demetri wonders if Hawk left him because of how close they were getting. Real close like kisses goodbye, holding hands, cuddling, and Demetri calling him gorgeous whenever he could. Demetri doesn’t even realize he’s staring until his bestfriend shifts uncomfortably in his arms while blushing.
The sound of sirens has them pulling apart and Sam comes running back. “My dad is going to meet us at the hospital and I’m going to try and get a head start. Will you two be okay?” She asks dangling her keys in one hand and her phone in the other.
Eli speaks up before he can, “we’ll be okay. Thanks, Sam.” She smiles and nods and gives Demetri a look before running off. Demetri is also giving him a look, causing the smaller boy to blush again. “What? She’s not so bad I guess.” He mumbles, looking away.
The taller boy just laughs and pulls his friend back into his arms. “Demmm” he whines. “They’re here.”
Just then an ambulance parks near the entrance of the alley. “I know, I just missed holding you.” He whispers.