CHAPTER 42

A few hours later and the party was reaching the beginning of the end. The drinks had all been drunk. All the partying, socialising, making out… everything that makes a successful party had been a success. Moon's whole party had been a success, a far cry from the last one she had the previous summer that had ended in disaster. People were starting to file out, Tory being the first, leaving right after her conversation with Miguel, as well as most of the younger people. There were only a few people left, and they were scattered all over the canyon with their various friends and significant others. A few people sat around alone, including Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, all spread out around the party so they wouldn't have to come into contact with one another. As they knew that they were all sitting on a heap of dry logs, and all that was needed was a match to light an entire inferno.

Miguel just lay there on the bench for a while, letting himself be consumed with his thoughts, almost zen-like in his meditation and reflection on life. Though things were much better for him right now, a lot of his life was still a mess. His friendships with anyone in Miyagi-Do was already dead in the water, things between him and Robby were more tense than ever… and he knew while that was okay now, it wouldn't be come the time when Carmen was readying to give birth to the baby and they would have a new sibling.

After a while of laying there with his eyes closed, he could feel sleep starting to knock at the door. He wasn't drunk by any means - hell, he hadn't even had enough to not be able to drive - but he had had enough beers just to take the edge off. He felt that warm, fuzzy feeling inside him, that was tempting to transition into sleep. Miguel knew that now was the time to check out and go home, so he slowly rolled off the bench, yawning and blinking sleep out of his eyes. Shaking himself off a little to wake up fully, he then slowly made his way back up to the top of the canyon. Pretty much everyone he knew had gone home, so he walked up the hill towards his car, ready to follow them and do the same. He made it over to the Ferrari that Silver had allowed him to borrow, but a couple of feet away from it, he had to stop in his tracks, because leaning against the car was none other than Hawk…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rage. That was the emotion that had coursed through Hawk's veins the moment he had seen Miguel with the serpent logo emblazoned on his chest for the first time. You know, everyone had their reaction. Demetri was in shock. Sam was devastated. But him… no, there was just one feeling pumping through his body as that was a white-hot fury that he had never felt before. There was no excuses. Nothing Miguel could say to redeem himself. As soon as he had thrown on the gi of their enemies, he was just that… their enemy. Miguel had been in a coma, but it hadn't been a coma so long he hadn't witnessed all of the events last year. He had witnessed the break-in at the Larusso house. He had witnessed them ruthlessly scalping him to try and get him out the tournament. He had witnessed every dirty trick they threw at them at the tournament, and yet he had still chosen to join them. He had chosen his side in this battle, and now it was up to him to reap what he had sown. Hawk knew what Mr. Larusso would have said in this situation. Forgiveness. That was what Miyagi-Do was all about. But forgiveness was the last thing on Hawk's mind. Fucking Hypocrite. That's what Hawk thought about his former friend as he stared at Miguel in the distance. The boy had the nerve to tell him (rightfully!) that Cobra Kai was evil, and now he was joining them?! And Hawk knew exactly why! Miguel had as good as told him! He didn't fit in in either dojo, Miguel had said. Not with Sam in Miyagi-Do. Not with Tory and Robby in Eagle-Fang. That piece of shit was going back to Cobra Kai, COBRA KAI, just because he was scared of a temporarily awkward situation in the actual good dojos.

Hawk knew he wasn't exactly thinking clearly, that he was being consumed by his anger, but quite frankly, he didn't give a shit. That fury building inside him, shaking violently like an earthquake, was like nothing he had ever felt before. And the only thing that could quench that slightly, was the countless number of shots he took before the evening was over. Drink after drink after drink to try and get his mind not away from Miguel, but so conked out that he physically couldn't think about Miguel. That was his only option, and it only worked when he was so drunk that he could hardly work. Issue was after the novelty of the drunkenness wore off, his mind even in its woozy state still remembered Miguel and what the piece of shit had done, and it made him hungrier than ever for revenge.

And that's how Hawk ended up there, resting against the side door of Miguel's convertible, as Miguel nodded at him.

"Hey man." Miguel murmured. "You need me to drive you home or something?"

"How could you do this?" Hawk snarled lowly at him. Miguel sighed and looked down. He was so exhausted that he honestly didn't have the energy for another person yelling at him about his decision. He had gotten enough of that earlier, and now he just wanted to go home.

"Look, man…"

"Do you not remember Cobra Kai?!" Hawk snapped. "The Cobra Kai that shaved my head? The Cobra Kai that were ready to put you back in your coma the night at the drive-in theatre? You're just going back to them with open arms."

"Look, it's more complicated than that." Miguel mumbled quietly. "Can we please just talk about it tomorrow when you're a bit more sober?"

"What's there to talk about?" Hawk remarked. "You joined Cobra Kai because you want to go back to beating the shit out of Miyagi-Do. Well guess what… I'm there now. I'm their leader, and I'm not going to let anything happen to them."

Miguel nodded.

"That's good. That's great, man. I'm happy you're happy over there." Miguel replied, tiredly. "Now, could you please move aside so I can go home?"

"No!" Hawk spat, planting his feet on the ground aggressively and refusing to move. "You wanted to talk about you joining Cobra Kai? Well let's talk about it then!"

"Hawk, please, can we just wait until you're sober?" Miguel begged. Hawk shook his head.

"No. Because it's pretty damn obvious why you've joined them!" Hawk snapped. Miguel sighed, getting frustrated and just wanting this conversation to end ASAP.

"And why's that Hawk?" He grumbled, already fantasising about his warm, comfortable bed at home. Hawk grinned mirthlessly at him. At this point, a crowd including crucially Robby, had begun to form around them, listening intently as Hawk lay verbal blows on Miguel. But the thing was neither boy actually noticed, as both were so deep into their conversation.

"Johnny doesn't want you. Sam doesn't want you. Your dad doesn't want you. No dojo wants you. Nobody wants you anymore, Miguel. You're all alone, and for good reason. Hell, even your mom is having another kid purely to try and fix the screw-up she calls her other son."

An audible gasp spread through everyone around them, jaws dropping, eyes widening, at the insults. Miguel took this verbal blow right on the chin, and it was what finally made him snap. Finally made him lose his cool. He slowly prowled towards Hawk so the pair's faces were so close that Miguel could smell the alcohol on his ex-friend's breath.

"Hey, you leave my mom out of this." He growled. Hawk smirked and shrugged.

"What are you going to do about it?" He laughed, trying hard to provoke Miguel into a fight in his drunken state. He wanted to show everyone that it was Cobra Kai who escalated any verbal spat into blows. But he was unlucky, as Miguel merely shook his head.

"I'm not going to fight you. At least not while you're drunk anyways." He whispered so quietly that only Hawk could hear him. "I want you to be sober when I kick your ass."

With that, Miguel shouldered past Hawk and shoved past him, trying to get to his car and get home once and for all. But just as he managed to have a hand on the door handle and managed to open the door, he felt a foot roughly kick him square in the middle of his back. Taken by surprise, Miguel fell forward at the feeling of the kick, and he fell right against the side of the car. But to his horror, he heard a CRACK and something fall to the ground, and he realised that he had fallen right on the car's door and in his awkward landing, he had broken the car door right off its hinges. Miguel's eyes widened in alarm as he took in the damage he - well, Hawk - had done to the priceless car, and he turned towards Hawk, his calm eyes turned stormy.

"Alright, fine. You wanted to fight?" Miguel growled, storming over to Hawk and knocking him to the jaw as hard as he could. In his drunk state, Hawk couldn't react in time to block it, so he was floored with the shockingly powerful blow. But Miguel wasn't done yet. Hawk needed to pay for what he had done. That imbecile had done thousands of dollars worth of damage to the car! And he had the audacity no call Cobra Kai the assholes?! No, this boy needed a lesson in respect.

So while Hawk was on the ground, stumbling onto all fours as his woozy mind tried to pull him to his feet, Miguel brought his leg back and punted Hawk in the stomach. He made sure to aim away from the ribs and away from the head, as the last thing he needed was to seriously injure the other teenager, but the crushing blow was enough to knock Hawk right back down onto his stomach.

"Come on, let's fight man! You wanted to fight? Why are you wussing out now?"

Miguel was sick of it all. Sick of automatically being painted the villain just because of the gi he wore. Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang acting so high and mighty when they were just as flawed as Cobra Kai. A dojo is made of its students, and given that most of Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang is former Cobra Kai students, they weren't so different from the serpentine dojo themselves. But no… they sat right there up on their high horses, acting like they were so much better, when quite frankly, they were worse. Because at least Cobra Kai knew where they stood. Miyagi-Do had this ridiculously warped perspective where they were the out and out good guys in all this. Well news flash… no asshole who breaks a fucking car door in anger is a 'good guy!'

Miguel brought back his leg to kick Hawk again, but this time, before he did, he saw someone break free from the crowd, who were all watching the fight unfold, eagerly. The throng of students didn't give a shit about stopping the fighting. They loved every second of the drama, during the school fight, during the tournament, and now too. But there was one guy who wasn't loving it, who had a bigger bone to pick with Miguel than Hawk ever could. And seeing Miguel beating up a drunk Hawk lit that match that started the fire. He immediately sprang free from the crowd and sprinted over to Miguel, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and throwing him away from Hawk. Miguel had to stumble for balance for a few moments at the sudden intrusion, and that gave Hawk enough time to slip away, but when he saw who had grabbed him, he didn't care about the formerly mohawked teen. His face broke out into a mirthless smile as he advanced towards the other person, and they did the same, until they were face to face.

"Last chance to back out, man. I'm warning you, it's not going to be pretty what I'm about to do." Miguel snapped, genuinely asking him. Because while he was going to be the one to throw the first punch, and he was going to beat the shit out of this guy when they eventually came to blows, he didn't want anyone saying that he didn't give him the choice to opt out.

But as expected, Robby shook his head.

"Fuck no, I'm not going anywhere." Robby growled as the pair properly squared up with no adults or friends to stop them for the first time since they had come to vicious blows at the school fight. Miguel smirked as his fists slowly curled up into balls.

"Okay, then, don't say I didn't warn you…"