Chapter 4

"It was late in September,

And I'd seen you before…"

Fifteen minutes after Daniel and Johnny had left the school parking lot they were sitting across from each other in a booth at East China sharing a plate of fried dumplings. Johnny actually had the skill to pick his up and pop them into his mouth with chopsticks, while Daniel had given up trying to be graceful, and simply stabbed at them with a fork. Johnny's oolong tea steamed away to his left, and Daniel's Mountain Dew fizzled to his right. If someone had told Daniel when he'd first met Johnny that someday they would be having dinner together, he would have laughed out loud. Though, that was another strange notion. He and Johnny, having dinner together, almost like a…date? While they munched on the appetizer Daniel decided to take the conversation in a different direction.

"So, what are your plans for the fall?" He asked after taking a swig from his soda.

Johnny moved his head from side to side as he thought about how to answer. "Not sure really." He started. "The parentals want me to go to Stanford just like dear old dad, probably want me to major in business or law or some crap like that. But I don't even know if I want to go to college." Since the tournament Johnny had been experiencing a profound lack of direction.

"Well what do you want to do? Daniel countered.

"Maybe take some time to bum around, figure out where my life is going." Johnny answered sipping from his tea. "Get the hell out of this town for a while."

"What about Karate, I know you're out of the Kai's but you're not giving it up are you?" Daniel asked stabbing at the last of the fried dumplings.

"I don't want to." Johnny admitted. "Kreese may have been a shit teacher, but Karate was good for me. Made me feel focused, part of something."

"When you weren't kicking my ass that is." Daniel said with a grin.

Johnny got solemn suddenly at Daniel's joke. After the gesture of repairing the trophy and the spark of friendship they were kindling, he didn't want to think about the boy he had been earlier that year. "Daniel, I have to say, I'm really sorry about that, I was a real shit head, and I don't have a good excuse, but for what it's worth I feel horrible about it…"

"Whoa Johnny, take it easy man." Daniel said holding up his hands to calm Johnny down. "It's in the past, trust me I got over it."

Johnny sighed and some of his guilt subsided. "Yeah, well I'm not over it yet." He added as the waitress placed a plate of lo mein in front of him.

"It's gonna be fine, I'm gonna be fine. Besides, it turns out you're a pretty cool guy." Daniel replied making room for the plate of beef and broccoli that was set in front of him. Trying to change the subject again Daniel decided to ask Johnny something that he'd been dying to know.

"So I gotta know..." He started. "What made you want to study Karate under a guy like Kreese?"

Johnny sighed again trying to figure out how to explain it. "What can I say?" He began. "I was in junior high, Mom and Dad didn't notice I was alive, I sucked at most of the contact sports, so one day I'm walking around in town and see the Cobra Kai dojo. I walk in asking about how to sign up and the next thing you know I'm taken under the wing of an ex-military psycho." Johnny picked at his food as he reminisced. "I guess at first I just liked the feeling of belonging to a team, and it was cool to learn how to fight. But then Kreese became well…kinda like a father to me."

Daniel nearly choked on his Mountain Dew at Johnny's last statement. "Father!" He said flabbergasted. "Who would want a father like that?"

Johnny gave Daniel a weak smile. "Did you notice that my own parents didn't even show up to see me compete in the tournament? Kreese was the only one that ever came to see me fight."

"Yeah but he was always so hard on you." Daniel said, still thoroughly confused.

"That's true but, I don't know, he got inside my head, made me push myself, twisted me into his own little ass kicking protégé. And in a messed up way I looked up to him." Johnny sipped from his tea again trying not to let the guilt of what he had been under Kreese's tutelage. "That's why it hurt when he said I was nothing and called me a looser."

That tugging feeling was back and Daniel had to resist the strange urge to hug Johnny. "I get it man. If I'd had a sensei like that I might have turned out the same." Almost involuntarily Daniel reached out and placed his hand over Johnny's. The two boys suddenly felt embarrassed. Johnny actually blushed, and Daniel pulled his hand away quickly. Why the hell had he done that? Daniel didn't know where these feelings were coming from but apparently he needed to exercise better control over them. He cleared his throat again and tried to diffuse the tension.

"Listen." He started. "I know you don't want to quit Karate, so what if I could offer you a way to keep training?"

"Really?" Johnny asked his face lighting up a little. "How?"

"I could ask Mr. Miyagi, my sensei, he trained me, maybe he'd agree to train you too." Daniel said between bites of his dinner.

"Do you think he'd go for it?" Johnny asked. "I mean I'm probably not on his favorites list." After all, Mr. Miyagi had had to come to Daniel's rescue the night of the Halloween dance.

"I'll talk him into it." Daniel replied.

Johnny's felt his mood improving for the first time in weeks. "Daniel. Thanks." He said giving a genuine smile.

"Don't mention it." Daniel said returning the smile. Another of those random thoughts crossed his mind. Johnny looked really cute when he smiled. Across the table Johnny was wondering what it would feel like to run his hands to Daniels black waves of hair. There was an undeniable force pulling then inexorably to each other, but neither of them could explain why. That night each of them would think about the other just before drifting off to sleep. Daniel's last thought was being held in Johnny's rather strong well-muscled arms. Johnny thought of pressing soft kisses to the soft, tan skin of Daniels neck.

"You were always the cold one,

But I was never that sure…"

Chapter 5 should be up tomorrow sometime. Hope you liked this chapter and I promise there will be more SLASHY goodness coming up soon. Just trying to build up the relationship.