Chapter Text
Johnny needs glasses.
That much is true.
It all started a couple months back. Johnny ran into a wall while looking for chives in the grocery store (though to his credit, those gentrified ass stores are all whites and greys, and no helpful contrast. Fair enough.), with only a small bump on his forehead to show for it. Only Miguel and Robby knew, after probing their drunk sensei nine beers in on how he got the Cool Bruise on his forehead.
And then — he needed to turn on the phone torch to read the menu in a dimly lit pinterest restaurant catered to millennials (Daniel said it was the place he usually chose to go on date nights with Amanda, before their divorce), which, again, wasn't all his fault. Those restaurants need to be more accessible.
Daniel is starting to worry. And not a baseless thing to think of, when a week ago Johnny bumped his head on the boulder that's always in the same spot on the Miyagi-Do garden.
"LaRusso, why the hell do you have a big ass rock in the middle of your garden!?" He said in a fit of rage, immediately heading to the wrong direction to patch himself up.
The kids are starting to notice, too. Robby even suggested that Daniel take Johnny to see an optometrist, just a couple days ago.
"You want me to take your dad to get glasses?" Daniel asked, not nearly as hysterical as Robby expected.
"So you noticed too," Robby nodded at the silent agreement they seem to be having.
"I mean..." Daniel conspiratorially leaned in closer to Johnny's kid, voice lowering to a whisper. "...he put salt on his coffee the other day just before practice. Then he passed it off as 'endurance training for his tongue', or something equally as ridiculous,"
Robby sighed. "Sensei. Please take my dad to get glasses. He won't listen to me, and he's definitely not gonna listen to mom. You're the only one that can get through to him,"
Daniel feels himself at an impasse. On one hand, he's not looking forward to bickering with Johnny the whole way (though if he's being honest to himself, he actually loved every second of any of their arguments). On the other hand, the thought of seeing Johnny in glasses may be sending some type of heat down to his groin, for reasons he's not ready to articulate.
"Okay. I'll try."
"Awesome," Robby sighed in relief.
'CRASH!'
the two looked back.
Johnny just knocked over a pricey vase Daniel used for housing flowers off the buffet table, all the way near the entrance of the house.
"Was looking for my keys." Johnny had the grace to make it known that it was him, though he sounded less than remorseful, and more annoyed on why the vase needed to be there in the first place.
Daniel sighed. "Okay. I'll take him tomorrow."
"If your house can survive my dad for that long," Robby grimaced at the sight of his dad fumbling around the LaRusso domain.
Daniel got so busy with the dealership, that he didn't have the time to take the blond menace to the optometrist when he said he would.
*
It's starting to become a problem at the dojo, too, as it turns out.
"What do you mean I was off my mark?" Johnny exclaims at the kids, his frustrated voice echoing throughout the newly renovated Cobra Kai dojo.
"I... Sensei, I was just saying, that... You're kinda... Off the mark, that's all," Dimitri softly tries explaining, knowing the short fuse the blond sensei has sometimes.
"No, I was right, this is my spot. I'm here, you're there," Johnny explains, getting frustrated at the softness in the kid's voice, as if he's a baby that needed coddling.
"No, well, you see, sensei Lawrence... You're kinda... Near the very back of the dojo, and... We're now in front of you," one of the kids chime in, some new soul forging under the fire.
"Well, wherever I am, that's where I'll be teaching from, okay?!" Johnny covers all his bases as to not flounder, and is it just him, or is everyone suddenly blurry and faceless?
"Johnny," a familiar voice rings through.
"LaRusso." Johnny feels himself softening at Daniel's sudden presence, despite himself. "What do you want?"
Daniel walks in to the dojo in a suit and tie, like he was just out of the dealership. "Johnny, I'm borrowing you from the kids for a bit."
"The hell, man? You can't just waltz in here and demand that—"
"Johnny, please. You..." Daniel watches the kids, watching his every move, listening to his every word. "...I just needed to discuss something important with you," — and Daniel chose to save Johnny's face in front of his kids, even if it's something that shouldn't be embarrassing — but it is for Johnny.
"Class is over in an hour, can't you wait?" Johnny asks, squinting to make out Daniel's face that's only a few feet away from him, struggling to do so.
"Please?" Daniel asks again, this time softer.
Johnny sighs. He looks annoyed, but he relaxes his shoulders, face turned to the kids. "Okay, kids. You learn with Dimitri today, he'll know what to do."
Johnny walks in to the locker room to get changed, as the kids continue without him. Daniel follows suit.
"What kind of emergency is it, LaRusso?" Johnny asks while changing, slightly annoyed.
Daniel sighs, hands in pockets. "I didn't wanna say it in front of the kids, but... You need glasses, Johnny."
Johnny turns to him, wide-eyed—and frankly, annoyed. "The hell I don't."
"You were teaching them from the other side of the dojo just now," Daniel reasons.
"I'm trying to teach them to be ready to fight from all angles," Johnny counters with ease, wit unrelenting unlike his sight.
"Sure," Daniel nods, sighing softly at Johnny's antics he's gotten so used to over the least couple years. "Maybe I'm wrong. But... On the rare chance that I'm right, won't you just go with me to an optometrist? Get your eyes checked?"
"You're paying for that, LaRusso? I sure as hell don't have the budget to do that shit right now,"
"...Yeah, I'll pay, Johnny."
Johnny has no reason to refuse. Shit, LaRusso's probably also gonna be paying for dinner too, since they'll be out the whole day together. Not that there's anything remotely romantic about that, even if it sends heat prickling at Johnny's cheeks.
"Fine. You drive."
"I wasn't gonna let you anyway," Daniel sighs, ushering Johnny out of the locker room.