CHAPTER 12

"Come on, guys! You've gotta work harder!" Daniel exclaimed. Everyone but Miguel and Johnny were at Miyagi-Do training later that day, but the group were extremely unmotivated. Their kata was extremely sloppy and they all donned massive frowns on their face. Daniel sighed.

"Okay. Stop! Stop! Demitri, what's the problem?" Daniel asked.

"Why are we doing this, Mr. L?!" Demitri exclaimed. "Why are we still training for this dumb tournament? We're never going to win anyway!"

"Of course we are! We just need to train harder!" Daniel stated.

"Bullshit. We're not winning without Miguel. You know it. We know it. So why are we wasting our time here?" Hawk murmured.

"BECAUSE WE FUCKING HAVE TO!" Sam finally bellowed. All of her emotion from the past 24 hours had boiled up and she finally exploded. "Miguel's fucking gone, whether you like it or not! He's not coming back to training! Kreese was right! This has become a war, and Miguel is our first casualty! So we can either wallow in our pit of misery, or we can get our fucking shit together and win this tournament for him! And if anyone here doesn't want to give 110% of their effort, you can walk out the door right now because YOU'RE FUCKING USELESS!"

Sam NEVER swore, and to hear her have a colossal outburst like that was a massive jolt to the systems of all of the defeated Miyagi-Dos. Eventually, the long silence in the group was broken when Hawk spoke up.

"Yeah. Sam's right. Let's do this. For Miguel…"

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"You broke Diaz's arm?" Kreese asked, slowly, next Cobra Kai training as the four Cobras stood before him.

"Well, his shoulder, but… yeah." Robby replied. Kreese stared at them solemnly for a couple of seconds before breaking out into a massive, evil grin.

"Well done, Keene." Kreese laughed evilly. "So he's out of the tournament. Miyagi-Do's only threat has been squashed! That's great, but let's start training. Nichols, lead the warm up!"

Kreese then walked into his office, and moments later, Robby knocked on the door. Kreese looked up and smiled.

"Come in, my son." Kreese said. Robby nodded and walked into the room. Kreese could immediately tell that Robby was holding something back. "Something's up. What's ailing you, son?"

"Why did you make us do that to Diaz?" Robby asked. "I would have beaten him in the tournament, even without him having a broken shoulder."

Kreese sighed and nodded.

"Do you why we lost in 'Nam?" Kreese asked, pointing to the picture of him in the Army, which was hanging on the wall. "We had superior weapons, more soldiers, everything was in our favor."

"So why'd you lose?" Robby asked.

"Because we got cocky." Kreese replied. "We knew that we had the upper hand, so we sat back on our laurels and then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, we didn't have the upper hand anymore. We were defeated. From then on, I vowed never to let my troops become complacent. We show no mercy in Cobra Kai. Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Keene?"

Robby took a deep breath and shook his head.

"No, Sensei." Robby replied. Internally, he put his head in his hands. What had he become?

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A week later, Miguel had to admit, his arm was feeling a lot better but he knew that at this rate, he still wouldn't be able to fight in June. Despite Sensei Lawrence's best efforts, getting his arm back in fighting shape was an extremely long process.

That afternoon, Miguel walked into Sensei's apartment and he almost passed out… lying on the living room sofa, covered in blankets, were his very naked mom and sensei!

"Aarrrggghhhhh! Oh, my God!" Miguel shouted, tripping over his own feet in his shock and covering his eyes. His sensei and mom cried out in surprise as well as they scrambled to cover themselves more. Miguel scrambled to his feet to run out of the apartment but he fell over again. "DAMN IT! WHY ARE THE FLOORS SO SLIPPERY?!" He shouted in frustration. Miguel eventually managed to get to his feet, and he sprinted out of the apartment, running into his place and locking his bedroom door shut. He stumbled over to the bathroom, attempting to rinse out his eyes to forget the image he just saw. It was plastered in his mind and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it out. He was still out of breath in shock. What the hell had he just witnessed?

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"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Carmen cried as she scrambled to put on clothes after Miguel had run out of Johnny's apartment.

"It's fine. Maybe he didn't see anything." Johnny remarked, a lot more calm than Carmen although he was feeling just as awkward.

"Johnny, he screamed, fell over and ran out of here like he was on fire!" Carmen exclaimed. "Miguel's probably in my apartment and he's probably traumatised!"

"Oh, come on! I'm sure it's not that big a deal." Johnny said, shrugging it off. "He's turning 16 next week, and he's had a couple of girlfriends. He's probably done it himself."

Carmen closed her eyes, shook her head and raised a hand to cut off her boyfriend.

"Please. One issue at a time." Carmen remarked. Johnny sighed.

"Look, all I'm saying is that it's not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. He's not a little kid. Besides, now he knows we're together so no need for that awkward conversation." Johnny said. Carmen looked at Johnny and raised an eyebrow.

"You know we're going to still have to talk to him, right?" Carmen told him. It was Johnny's turn to look confused.

"Huh? Why not? I think what he just walked in on says plenty!" Johnny responded. Carmen rolled her eyes and dragged him towards the door.

"Come on." She snapped as they walked towards Carmen's apartment.

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"I'm telling you, I'm going to be unseeing that! I've seen some horrific stuff in my life, but this… this was a whole other level of gross!" Miguel ranted to Sam over facetime. Sam giggled at the traumatised expression on Miguel's face. He looked more scared now than he had when facing Cobra Kai.

"Come on, it can't have been that bad!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel shook his head, furiously.

"Oh, no, it was!" Miguel remarked. "Imagine you walk in on…"

"My mom and dad?" Sam asked. Miguel shook his head.

"No, that would be fine." Miguel stated. "Well, not fine. That would be horrifying in its own way, but at least they're a married couple. Imagine walking in on Mr. Miyagi and your mom, doing the dirty, on the living room sofa where you sit all the time!"

"Okay, that's pretty bad!" Sam remarked, before groaning and covering her face with her hands. "Damn it, Miguel, why'd you make me picture that?!"

"SEE! SEE!" Miguel exclaimed, triumphantly. "It's weird to even think about! Imagine actually seeing that image live!"

"Awwww, I'm so sorry." Sam laughed. Suddenly, Miguel heard Carmen and Johnny enter the apartment. They would probably be at Miguel's room in about a minute.

"Oh crap, now comes the even worse part." Miguel remarked.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"I already know my mom's going to want to talk about it, and that's going to lead to an unwanted conversation." Miguel stated. Sam's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"And that's a bad thing because…?" She asked. Miguel shrugged.

"Oh, come on! It's always easier to lie and pretend something didn't happen than to have the unwanted conversation!" Miguel exclaimed. Sam raised an eyebrow. Well, that was exactly what you wanted to hear from your boyfriend! Miguel realised what he had said a second after it had come out of his mouth and he stammered to take it back. "I mean, other than with you. Because with you, um… talking about things is much better… 'cause um…"

"Miguel, relax!" Sam giggled at his sudden discomfort. "I know you're not going to cheat because you know I'd dump your ass so hard if you did! And then I'd kick your ass too!"

"Ahaha that's funny." Miguel rolled his eyes. "You know, when my shoulder's better, we really need to sort out this argument about which of us is the better fighter once and for all!"

"Yeah, we really do!" Sam laughed. "How's your shoulder by the way?"

"It's okay." Miguel sighed. "It's definitely healing, but I probably won't be in fighting shape for the All-Valley. Anyways, I gotta go, babe. I can hear my mom walking towards my room outside."

Sam laughed at her boyfriend's fear.

"Okay, I lo… talk soon." She said, before quickly hanging up the phone and taking a deep breath. She had come extremely close to accidentally slipping out the L word, but managed to bite her tongue and stop herself just in time. She had been feeling it for a while and this wasn't the first time it had almost slipped out. However, she couldn't say it yet because she didn't want to pressure him into saying it back if he wasn't ready. Little did she know, he was going through the exact same thing, but he didn't want to say it so as not to pressure her into saying it back.

A couple of moments after Miguel was off the phone, he heard a knock on his door, and Johnny and Carmen walked into his room.

"Hey." Miguel murmured, not able to look Johnny and his mom in the eye after what he had seen.

"Hey. What are you doing?" Carmen asked, concerned. Miguel shrugged.

"Well, I was just looking at enlistment opportunities in the Marine Corps. I thought maybe a couple of tours of Afghanistan and seeing my fellow soldiers die on the battlefield would finally help me forget about what I just saw." Miguel remarked. Johnny snorted in laughter but a stern look from Carmen quickly wiped the grin off of his sensei's face.

"Look, Miguel, about what you saw…" Carmen started, but Miguel interrupted her.

"So, what? You guys are just casually banging when no one's around?" Miguel asked.

"No! Miguel! Don't be gross!" Johnny exclaimed. Miguel looked at his sensei and had to hold back a laugh.

"I'm sorry, you're telling me you've never slept with someone with no intention of having a relationship with them?" Miguel remarked to Johnny, cracking up laughing at the end part. He couldn't even get through that one sentence with a straight face. Johnny glared at him but even Carmen couldn't hold back a smile.

"Look, Miguel, this isn't just some dumb hookup." Johnny said. "We've been seriously dating ever since the day of the All-Valley hearing in November."

"You mean 4 months ago?!" Miguel exclaimed. "And neither of you told me?!"

"I'm so sorry, Miguel. Things were just going really well and we didn't want to jinx it by telling people, and…"

"Okay, okay, okay, slow down." Miguel murmured, his hands on the sides of his head as he attempted to take in the bombshell that Johnny and his mom had just told him. "I've got like a ton of questions."

"Fire away." Johnny said. Miguel took a deep breath.

"Okay, so you guys started dating the night of the All Valley hearing?" Miguel asked. Carmen shook her head.

"No, we actually went out the night before the school fight, but we broke things off when you got injured." Carmen replied.

"Yeah, that night is just the night we hooked up and the night we got back together." Johnny added. Miguel slowly nodded.

"Okay. And you've been dating ever since?" Miguel asked.

"Yeah, we have." Carmen replied.

"Um… okay. Next question. Isn't there a slight… age difference between the two of you. Like Sensei, I love you but, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, you are kinda old." Miguel stated.

"Hey!" Johnny exclaimed, indignantly. Miguel was right though. There was nearly a 20 year age gap between them, with Johnny 52 and Carmen 34. Carmen nodded and put an arm around Johnny.

"Yes, there is a slight age gap between us, but love doesn't care about age." Carmen said.

"And I act younger than I am." Johnny stated. Miguel chuckled.

"Okay, sure. And how long did it take me to teach you how to use Facebook agai… wait!" Miguel cut himself off, his eyes widening when he realised what his mom had just said. "Love? You guys love each other?"

Carmen kissed Johnny and Miguel closed his eyes out of sheer awkwardness.

"Yeah, yeah we do." Carmen said. Miguel's jaw dropped.

"Um… isn't it a bit soon? I mean, you guys have only been dating for three months." Miguel stated. Johnny shrugged.

"If this year has taught me anything, it's that life can change everything in the matter of seconds. Better treasure every moment you have with the people you love because you don't know when it will all be taken away." Johnny remarked. Miguel was absolutely floored.

"Wow, um… sensei… that was, um… actually insightful." Miguel stammered, struggling for words. He was extremely taken aback by Johnny's comment, and he stood up. He needed to go somewhere.

"Look, like I said, I love both of you and I'm happy and interested to see where this relationship goes. But you have to promise me one thing?"

"What?" Johnny and Carmen asked.

"You've gotta promise me that if you guys break up, it won't affect my relationship with either one of you because I can't lose either of you. Can you promise me that?" Miguel asked.

"Promise." They replied. Miguel smiled and nodded.

"Awesome. Look, I'm really sorry but I gotta go somewhere…"

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Miguel cycled over to the Larusso house as fast as he could, and he parked his bike in his usual place at the corner of the driveway. He knocked on the door and moments later, Amanda opened the door.

"Oh, hey Mrs. Larusso!" Miguel said.

"Hey, Miguel." Amanda said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Could I see Sam real quick?" Miguel asked. Amanda nodded.

"Yeah, she's up in her room." Amanda replied. "How's your shoulder doing?"

"Much better, thanks. Hopefully soon I can get rid of this ridiculous sling." Miguel replied. Amanda laughed.

"Well, just don't push yourself too far and injure yourself even more." Amanda said caringly. Miguel nodded and walked upstairs to Sam's familiar room. She was working on a school project when he walked in, and her face brightened considerably when she saw him.

"Hey, Miguel, how'd the conversation go with your mom and Johnny?" Sam asked. Miguel laughed.

"Kinda shocking, not gonna lie. They've apparently been dating for 4 months." Miguel said. Sam's eyes widened.

"Wow, really?" She asked, surprised. Miguel nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, and that's not why I'm here. I'm here because of something Sensei Lawrence said. He said treasure every moment you have with the people you love because you don't know when it will all be taken away.'"

"Johnny said that? But that's actually… profound!" Sam exclaimed, extremely surprised. She was just as shocked as Miguel. She had never heard Johnny say a sentence that didn't contain at least 1 insult.

"Yeah, and he has a point." Miguel said, before taking a deep breath. Here it goes… "I almost died this year. God could've extremely easily snapped his fingers and I wouldn't wake up from the coma."

"Miguel, don't say that!" Sam murmured.

"But he didn't. I'm alive today. I'm happy, healthy, surrounded by people I care about. God gave me a second chance and I am NOT going to screw it up, because I don't know when God is going to punch out my ticket on Earth. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, and if I do, I don't want to die with any regrets. So I want to say something, and you don't have to say it back. You don't have to feel the same way, but I just thought you should know that I do. I… I love you, Sam."

After Miguel had finished professing his feelings, there was a short silence that for him felt like an eternity.

"I'm… um… I'm gonna go…" Miguel stammered, and he started to walk towards Sam's bedroom door, but he was stopped when he felt Sam grab the sleeve of his jacket and turn him back towards her. She leaned in and kissed him, before breaking apart to finally speak after getting over her shock.

"I love you too…"