A/N: Finals are done! (Woohoo!) So I am back with this nice and long chapter :)
It was an extra hot day in the Valley. As the stretches of cooler and windy weeks passed, the 80 degree weather and sun felt hot again.
The Miyagi-Do students arrived in various clusters of groups in the backyard and prepared for their training. The beads of sweat were already forming on their foreheads from just the light stretches they were doing to warm up.
Sam got up from her place on the grass and headed toward the deck where she kept her water. She lingered near the doorway, reaching down for her water bottle, when a hand circled around her wrist pulling her inside the dojo.
She gasped and whipped around at her assailant with her arms up at the ready. The light chuckle that filled her ears let her know who she was in the company with before she fully turned around.
"I come in peace," Robby joked with his arms up in mock-surrender.
Sam huffed, "You scared me, I thought you were like, a kidnapper or something."
Robby pursed his lips and took a step forward, rubbing his thumbs along her forearms for comfort. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to get you in here without drawing a lot of attention," he paused and lifted an eyebrow, "Which now that I think about it, sounds like a kidnapper-y thing to do."
Sam laughed and shook her head, "A simple 'hey Sam' would've been just fine." She took a step closer to him as his hands moved to loop around her waist. Most of the tension in her shoulders from her previous fright left her body upon his touch.
He dropped his head with a bashful smile on his face. "Well since we can't officially be together with anyone else around, I didn't want to risk messing up my only opportunity to do this," he leaned down and softly pressed his lips to hers in a soundless kiss. Sam felt herself melt into his kiss, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek. Robby pulled her waist closer into him, missing the way it felt to be together this way.
Reluctantly, Robby broke the kiss. He sighed out through his nose at the loss of contact between them. Sam dropped her head onto his shoulder where she nuzzled her nose into his shirt, breathing in the fresh scent of his body wash and deodorant. She brought her face up to meet his eyes, and she couldn't help the cheesy smile that broke out across her face from seeing the dopey gaze Robby was giving her.
"Thanks for kidnapping me," she giggled.
Robby smirked and shook his head lightly, "For you? Anytime," he joked.
The two made their way outside through the doors of the dojo together. The urge to grab ahold of Sam's hand was too tempting for Robby, and he had to shove both his hands into pockets as a precaution.
Sam didn't miss the careful glances that Miguel was sending her and Robby from across the yard. She met his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile. With hesitation, Miguel smiled back and made his way over to her.
As Miguel approached them, she could sense Robby stiffen up beside her. Sam wanted to reach out and give him some comfort in the moment, but because of the amount of eyes all around, she knew it wouldn't be a good idea.
"Hey Sam," Miguel waved as he came to stand in front of her. "I'm glad you seem to be feeling a lot better," he acknowledged. For a millisecond Miguel's eyes shifted toward Robby, who was staring at the ground trying to keep himself calm.
"Yeah, I am, the days off definitely helped. Thank you again, by the way, for sending me the homework assignments in our classes together. I was able to stay caught up, like I didn't miss any days at all," she smiled.
"That's good, and if you need any help and want to go over the notes for chemistry together, let me know...I'd be happy to help," Miguel said breezily, taking another glance in Robby's direction.
Robby's head snapped up to glare at Miguel for his not-so-subtle offer. He shifted uncomfortably between his feet, feeling an urge to wrap his arm around his girlfriend to ward Miguel off from flirting with her ever again — but he knew that Miguel was trying to get a rise out of him.
Whether he genuinely wanted to help or not, the way he kept sending glares over to Robby let him know that there was more behind his words. Robby took a deep inhale and let it out through his mouth slowly. He forced a smile on his face and looked up to lock his eyes on Miguel's.
Standing between the two boys, Sam rolled her eyes at the staring contest she seemed to find herself in the middle of. "Thanks, Miguel. I'll let you know if I need anything else," she nodded at him, and gave one more pointed look to Robby before walking out of the make-shift arena to go stand with another group of students.
The boys' heads followed her with disappointed stares as she walked away. The tension between them became even thicker after Sam had left; neither one knew where to look or what to do with their tightly clenched fists.
The silence was deafening. It heightened the awkwardness between the two boys, and made them both wish to vanish into thin air in order to escape this standoff. Miguel gulped, "...Your dad was looking for you by the way," he said with hesitation filling the silence. "You weren't around when we left for practice this morning, and he wasn't sure where you went."
Robby's forehead wrinkled and the glare in his piercing green eyes deepened, "Thanks for the message," he replied coldly.
Miguel scoffed and rolled his eyes with frustration. "I'm just letting you know. He was worried something happened to you — you shouldn't leave without telling someone where you're going," Miguel stressed.
Robby crossed his arms over his chest, "What are you his secretary now too?" He quipped. "I don't need you to be the communicator between my dad and I — he can tell me himself."
"Fine, whatever, I'm just trying to help," Miguel mumbled exasperated.
"Yeah, just like you were trying to help Sam with her homework by asking her on a date two minutes ago," Robby scoffed under his breath.
"What?" Miguel spoke up, taking a step closer to Robby.
Robby's eyes fixed on his steadily, "Don't play innocent, I know you were trying to ask her out," he threw back.
Miguel smirked, "And what if I am? Last time I checked, you guys aren't together anymore. She's free to do as she wants."
Robby bit down hard on his tongue to the point of tasting blood. He tried to hold himself back from telling Miguel that Sam chose to be with him out of respect for Sam's wishes, even though it caused his insides to boil with fury.
He closed his eyes momentarily, "You're right. She can do what she wants," he said simply, trying to ignore the grin on Miguel's face.
The commotion on the other side of the dojo pulled their attention away from each other.
Coming through the gates were Mitch and Bert, sparking a few turning heads and weary glances from Miyagi-Do students.
As if on cue, Nate took quick steps over to where his enemies stood and puffed out his chest, straining his neck to look them both in the eye. "Did you come here to mess the place up again?" He challenged.
"Hey, step off, runt," Mitch defended, coming in between Bert and the other small male.
"Don't call him a runt, Penis Breath," Chris challenged, hurriedly walking into the scene.
"It's Assface, come on man," Mitch whined.
"QUIET," Johnny yelled and effectively shut everyone up. The original Miyagi-Do students flinched, still not used to Johnny's intimidation methods. "God, you're all a bunch of whiny babies." He ran a hand through his sweaty hair and fixed his head wrap. "Assface, Bert, what are you guys doing here? Did Kreese send you?"
With their voices caught in their throats, Mitch and Bert shared a nervous glance. They were expecting this transition to go a bit smoother — perhaps that was naive.
"They left Cobra Kai, Sensei," Miguel spoke up. He made his way over to stand by his friends' sides. "They don't want to be a part of Kreese's Cobra Kai anymore, and I told them they could join us at Miyagi-Do," he stated confidently.
Daniel looked wearily at Johnny for a moment, silently asking him whether they could trust them.
Johnny eyed Miguel and the tall boy didn't back down. He held his stance beside his friends, eyes glimmering with determination. With a small nod, Johnny uncrossed his arms and switched his attention to the cowering new students before him. "Is that true? You guys don't want to be a part of Cobra Kai anymore?"
Bert shuffled his foot awkwardly, "It's not the same. Kreese is acting like he's preparing us for war and trying to turn us all on each other. I made all my friends from Cobra Kai, I don't want to lose them all just because of some karate war," the small boy squeaked.
Nate softened his threatening stare toward his enemy and found himself relating in some way. As much as he wanted to hold onto the grudge against his ex-best friend, it did suck to limit the already small group of people he could rely on.
"Well, as long as you are willing to change and unlearn some things, then our door is always open," Daniel pipped in. "Come on in, Bert and...uh...," Daniel stuttered looking at Mitch.
"Um...my real name is Mitch," he ducked his head away from Daniel's stare.
"Mitch...okay, you're gonna go by Mitch here," Daniel laughed and clapped him on the back.
Through the fence enclosing the backyard, a familiar red, spiking do poked out just above the top of the wooden planks. It caught the attention of Demetri who broke the tender moment in the dojo to alert the intruder that he'd been caught. "Hey, Eli! I see you out there," he called stepping toward the gate ready to rip it open. "Did you come here to spy on us or did your heart finally grow back to its — " the door flung open, almost knocking Demetri off his feet.
Directly in front of him was the steel, cold stare of John Kreese, who was fiercely gripping onto the wing of a shaken up and obviously petrified Hawk. "...normal...size," Demetri finished, barely audible. His eyes grew larger by the second and he retreated with steady steps backward.
As Kreese walked in dragging Hawk with him, gradually the rest of his quiver of students began to fan out behind him. Tory took her place in the front just behind Kreese. She crossed her arms and scowled at the group in front of her. Her eyes scanned the dojo a few times, unconsciously looking for Miguel even though she wasn't sure whether she really would want to see him there or not.
"Demetri, get back here," Sam yelled, quickly coming to his side in order to pull him away from the entrance protectively. Bert, Mitch, and Miguel moved out of the way from the entrance as well, naturally falling into the sea of students as if they belonged there.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Johnny growled under his breath. He marched in front of his students to add a barrier in between them and the Sensei emeritus.
"My apologies for the interruption, but I couldn't let another moment go knowing what you two have been up to," Kreese spoke, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"What the hell do you want, Kreese," Daniel cursed with a fire igniting in his eyes.
Kreese shrugged his shoulders. He peered down at Hawk who was uncomfortably stirring under his hold, "A little birdie told me that you two are in business together. Never thought I'd see the day." Hawk looked down at his feet with guilt-stricken eyes and a wobbly lip. He couldn't face the disappointed glares likely coming from his old Sensei and friends. "I was even more surprised, when one of my own students tried to recruit for you, out of my dojo. Isn't that right, Hawk?" Kreese intensified his grip on his arm, causing the boy's face to contort with pain.
"You're hurting him," Demetri whimpered, struggling against Sam's hold.
"That's enough, Kreese," Johnny boomed. "Let the kid go," Johnny took two steps forward ready to sever Kreese's hold from Hawk's arm himself if he had to.
"Fair enough," Kreese dropped his hold on Hawk, letting the struggling boy fall to the ground. Hawk scrambled on the ground away from Kreese and the other Senseis before him. He wrapped his arms around his knees with his head down, momentarily forgetting his badass persona and conforming back to Eli.
Staring at the shaken up boy brought an ounce of bitter nostalgia to Johnny. He saw himself in Hawk in more ways than he wanted to admit — the hard exterior to mask the emotional mess that's on the inside, the bursts of anger that come from not knowing how to deal with those emotions — to name a few. And the worst part is, he had a hand in making him into this cowering ball of destruction.
"Get off my property or I'll call the police, Kreese, I'm serious," Daniel fuemed.
Kreese tasked, "Now don't be hasty, Daniel-san. Seems like you need another lesson on controlling your anger." Daniel clenched his fists at the nickname. He could barely hear what Kreese was saying over the blaring ringing in his ears from his anger. "I don't want any trouble," he smirked. "But you didn't think I would let you off easy when you send your student to steal my own," Kreese's eyes drifted over to Miguel's in a chilling squint.
Johnny reacted, stepping up closer to Kreese to block off his view of the students. "You're one to talk about stealing students with the way you stole my dojo," Johnny hissed.
"All is fair in war," Kreese shrugged, he cracked his knuckles one by one while looking Johnny in the eyes.
"You're the only one that wanted a war Kreese," Daniel accused. "Why don't you just give up now and go back to the hole you came out of."
Kreese let out a slow, unnerving chuckle. He took slow steps to stand directly in front of Daniel and stuck out a finger to poke him in the chest. Daniel didn't back down from his stance and swatted at the finger that tried to intimidate him.
"...Dad…" Sam uttered nervously. Robby unconsciously gripped her hand in his to give her some comfort, as well as to make sure that she didn't try to get in between whatever was about to surmount between her dad and the psychopath they let in, for his own ease of mind. Miguel had glanced back to check on Sam's state and watched the action between the two with his own eyes. He felt his heart thud when Sam seemed to soften at Robby's touch and not pull away. Something about the action seemed natural for her — a little too natural if you asked him.
"Fine," Kreese shrugged. "If you're finally going to join the war, then we're going to need a battle. The All Valley. If I win, then Cobra Kai remains the only dojo in the west valley. If you win," he paused for effect, licking his chops, "Then I'll surrender."
"One condition," Daniel stated without hesitation. "For the remaining time until the All Valley, your students have to leave ours alone." Daniel felt chills run down his body. He could still remember vividly the image of his hero negotiating for his safety with the evil villain in front of him within the unsacred walls of Cobra Kai. It pissed him off that his Mr. Miyagi wasn't here, but this cruel man was. When he spoke those words, however, he could almost feel Mr. Miyagi there — he was within him. Where he always would stay.
Kreese held his grimace. The remembrance of the moment wasn't lost on him. "Deal." He uttered. He stayed put, staring at Daniel for a moment longer, then gave one glance to Johnny before turning around and walking out of the gate.
His group of students started to follow him, leaving threatening glares to the Miyagi-Dos on their way out. Tory hung around for a moment longer. She marched up to where Hawk was balled up on the ground clutching his knees to his chest.
"Come on, Hawk. We're leaving," she ordered.
It might have been that he was so disappointed in himself that anyone showing him attention was exciting, or maybe he thought he had been kicked out of Cobra Kai so having Tory offer him another chance was a relief, but Hawk's eyes filled up with hope at the offer. He jumped up upon the command and scrambled to wipe the tears from his face and follow behind the leading cobra.
"Hawk," Johnny called. Both Hawk and Tory turned around. Tory looked peeved and uncomfortable at having to be subject to the stares of the Miyagi-Do students for longer than she already had to.
"If you want to be in Miyagi-Do, you can," Johnny said, making a few students look up in protest. "You don't have to go back to Cobra Kai. I know you're scared, man. I was scared too. But Kreese doesn't care about you...I do. And your friends here do too. So what do you say?"
Hawk looked up at Tory's pissed off face snarling at Johnny. She looked back at Hawk and pleaded with him not to leave. Hawk could remember when he saw the flicker of her vulnerability shine through her eyes, if only for a second. The vulnerability was back. It came and went so quickly that if Hawk hadn't looked up in time he would've missed it. The thought of leaving her to fight on her own left an unsettling feeling in his gut.
But Johnny had a point. And the thought of returning to Cobra Kai only to get beat up and ridiculed left a different, a much more frightening feeling in his stomach.
And did Johnny just say he cared about him? Hawk looked up to see the eyes of his first Sensei. Johnny was hopelessly hanging onto the connection between them that might have a chance to pull him back in. Hawk took the bait.
He looked up at Tory. "I'm sorry…" Hawk swallowed. As if moving through water, he crossed over to the other side and made his way to stand by the other students, keeping his distance of course. Johnny clapped him on the back as he passed by, happy to have his student back.
"Traitor," Tory bellowed. She shook her head at him, squinting her eyes and crossing her arms. Hawk couldn't convince himself to look back at her. He kept his head down staring at his shoes and wondering if he made the right decision.
Tory was just about to leave when Miguel spoke up, "Wait, Tory." She paused in her tracks reluctantly, but she didn't turn around. If Miguel saw the way his voice softened her features and made her want to cry then she wouldn't be able to uphold her 'I'm over it' persona. "Tory you don't have to go back to Cobra Kai either. Kreese doesn't care about you like you think he does. He isn't helping you, he's just using you to help himself. You don't have to go back there," Miguel pleaded.
Sam's body tensed and she looked at Miguel with concern. If Tory left Cobra Kai would she come back here? She wondered. Hawk was already a challenge, but Tory? Sam couldn't imagine that going well for her.
Tory let Miguel's words wash over her a few times, and she wished that what he said was true. And maybe it was true, but she knew that Kreese was all she had right now. He was her only hope at winning in life. Even if his methods aren't sustainable, he's the only one that cares enough to try for her. If she left Cobra Kai, there would be no one to look out for her.
With one last shake of her head, Tory marched off through the gate of Miyagi-Do.
A tense silence hung around the backyard with no one really knowing what to say.
Daniel looked around at their slightly larger group of students. This was definitely a sign of improvement. Although, he didn't feel at ease yet. He could only hope that Kreese would take their deal seriously and not send any of his students to attack his own...but that would be assuming that Kreese was trustworthy, which he is not. If he wanted to lessen his worries, then he would have to defeat Cobra Kai once and for all, and that was only going to happen if he and Johnny intensified their training.
"Alright everybody, listen up," Daniel called to the group. The unenthusiastic bunch barely lifted their eyes to acknowledge him. Daniel sighed and he glanced at Johnny with his hopeless expression. "I know, guys, that — that wasn't at all what we expected," he rubbed his hand over his face. "We can't let this get to us. The All Valley is a lot sooner than we think, and now it's more important than ever that we pull together as a team. Put whatever happened in the past behind you. You're all working toward the same goal now."
Johnny nodded his head and crossed his arms, "That's right. No whining or arguing with each other like pussies. Cobra Kai will use any weakness they can get at against you, don't make it easy for them," he warned. "We're going to have to push you guys harder than we have before if we want to win this fight," he shouted.
For the rest of practice, Daniel and Johnny led their students through drills, and they followed along doing the motions, but it was obvious that there was a hum of discontent in the air.
Sam made sure to keep one eye on Demetri and one on Hawk throughout the entire practice. Maybe she was being overprotective but she didn't trust Hawk yet. It was definitely better to have him on their side instead of the other, but he was a loose canon. After the way he had been treating Demetri at school she wasn't willing to let any of his bullying slide.
Sam noticed that she wasn't the only student on edge about the new recruits. Mitch, Bert, Chris, and Nate all seemed to have the same skeptical attitudes toward each other. Not to mention, Robby and Miguel haven't been able to stop sending each other threatening glares since the start of practice. Despite their senseis' speeches, there was still work to do.
Practice ended anti-climatically, and they all shared a sigh of relief at being able to leave the tense atmosphere of the dojo. Sam made her way over to the sanded deck to gather her things, and she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Turning her head, her eyes widened when she saw Miguel standing there beside her with his hands rubbing together and rocking back on his heels.
"Hey," Sam smiled, turning to fully face him.
Miguel gave her a right smile back, "Hey, can we talk? Like...just us?" He asked looking over to the remaining students lingering around the backyard and waiting for their rides to pick them up.
Sam looked over to where Robby was in a conversation with her dad and Johnny before meeting Miguel's eyes again. "Yeah sure, let's go in here," she led him into the indoor dojo and took a seat on one of the benches in the corner.
Her eyes followed him with uncertainty as he made his way to sit next to her. "That was a pretty intense practice, right," she attempted to break the uncomfortable silence between them.
"Yeah, yeah it was. I'm glad that we got three of Cobra Kai's students out of it though," he returned staring at his feet.
"Yeah, that was the goal, right?" Sam chuckled lightly. Another moment of harsh silence drifted over them. Sam swallowed and tried to figure out why Miguel maybe wanted to speak to her alone.
Miguel shifted slightly in his seat, coming to partially face her. "So...what's going on with you and Robby?" He asked. Sam felt her shoulders tense up to her ears and she sucked in a deep breath. "I realized that, we talked a lot about what happened between us, and we talked about Tory and I, but we never talked about where you're at with Robby. Sometimes I look at you too and it's like you're still together. But then, I remember how it is when we're together, and how you asked me stuff about being with Tory, and I don't know, Sam. I'm just confused right now," he said.
Sam bit her lip and looked down, struggling to meet his eyes. She didn't blame him for being confused — she was confused herself until maybe a week ago. It's no wonder that her wishy-washy mindset rubbed off on him. Sam let out a sharp breath and pulled her head up to look at him. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and offered him a shy smile. "I'm sorry, Miguel. I didn't want to confuse you, I was confused myself, for like the entire year so far, and it just took me now to understand where my feelings are at," she sighed.
He wrinkled his forehead not quite understanding where this could be going.
"I — after we kissed at Moon's party, a lot of my feelings for you resurfaced and it made me feel like a terrible person for liking you and liking Robby at the same time. But I couldn't help it, that's what I felt. And then when everything happened that next day, things just became so much more complicated. I almost lost you for good, and I didn't want to imagine how horrible that would be. And Robby ran away and then he was in the detention center — it was like there was no easy way of solving this. I had to just sit with my confused feelings because there were more important things that were happening," Sam took a long inhale realizing that she hadn't been breathing. Miguel was listening patiently to her unravel this story. His face remained stoic and she couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"So finally, once we got to talking again, I realized how good it felt to be with you. We spent so much time being mad at each other last year, once things were cleared up it felt so natural and healthy. I didn't want to mess things up again," she sighed. Miguel nodded ever so slightly at her words, she could tell that he felt the same way. It hurt her to know that. Because she feared that if she broke his heart, then things wouldn't be the same between them. "When Robby came home, we talked and I explained to him how I was confused and we decided to break up. So all of my interactions with you, Miguel were all real. I wasn't trying to lead you on or anything like that, I really was just working through my feelings. And I think I finally got clarity — and it wasn't anything you did — it was just that I realized how even when we were dating, we didn't even call it that," she chuckled lightly remembering. "We functioned so easily when there was no pressure of what we were supposed to be. And as soon as that pressure started to come from my dad, your Sensei, other people, we cracked. I don't really know what we would be like together in a relationship. But I know that having you as my friend is something that I never want to lose."
Miguel broke his gaze with Sam to look down at his hands again. He could feel the hole of disappointment expanding in his chest, and he couldn't do anything about it. He knew she was following her heart, and that's why this hurt even more. Whatever she felt for him, it apparently wasn't the same as he felt for her. "So," he cleared his raspy throat, "You're with Robby now?" He asked, remembering all the signs of them off talking alone and the not-so-subtle hand holding earlier.
Sam opened her mouth and closed it again. Her right hand flew up to rub at her shoulder awkwardly. "Yeah," she answered quietly, scratching her nose. "Since last Wednesday. I didn't expect it, it just felt right. But I don't want this to change anything between us. I care about you a lot, and I don't want to go back to not being able to speak to each other."
Miguel scoffed and threw his head back, smiling malhumorously at her words. "Well of course it's going to change stuff between us, Sam. Robby and I aren't on good terms. Because of him I had to spend the last six months trying to learn to walk again, and he's pissed at me for god knows why," Miguel burst. He rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I — I don't know what you want to happen between us now, but it's not going to be easy when you're with him."
Sam dropped her head to stare at her hands that were mindlessly ringing together. She expected him to respond like this. Only in her best case scenario would he be totally cool with her telling him that she and Robby are dating now and they have to just be friends. She was hoping that he would be a little more understanding of her feelings though.
She shook her head, "I know. Trust me, I get it," she stressed looking up at him. "If roles were reversed and you were telling me that you were with Tory now, I would be pissed too. And I'm not going to try and convince you to like Robby, I know that that's not fair, and even though I think you guys probably have more in common than you realize, I know that there's a lot of bad history that makes it difficult. So I'm not asking you to get along with him, but I don't want you to think I'm choosing him over you. Because I'm not. I'm choosing us. I want us to be friends. I don't want anything to come between us anymore," she pleaded, scanning both of his eyes to see how he is feeling.
Sighing out, Miguel let himself meet her eyes and felt his heart open once he locked onto her blue seas of sorrow. He cocked his head to the side and held her gaze for just a moment longer. "Okay. I trust you. I'm going to need some time to just get used to it all, but...if you say you want us to stay close then I'll try my best to make sure it happens," he stated, his voice low.
Sam's face lit up ever so slightly. "So we're okay then?" She asked timidly.
He sniffed a light laugh, "Yeah," Miguel answered smiling. "We'll always be okay," he said and nudged her with his shoulder gently.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the circus :)