A/N: The Quiver Kickback was one of my favourite things to write in the original version of this story, so I'm really looking forward to writing it again. Plus, it's before Christmas and New Year's (in the story, anyway). And Jason's house would be the perfect place to have a party. In my opinion, at least.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Karate Kid movies, Cobra Kai or anything else that I might reference.
Quiver Kickback
Training goes by pretty smoothly.
The sparring matches are relatively even.
Aisha beats Leonard, but it's a relatively close match.
And Bert manages to score a point against his opponent.
The whole dojo was invited to the Quiver Kickback, and had been invited for the last few weeks. Along with Sam, Demetri and some other people. Because it would have been a pretty boring party with just the dojo there.
"What are you all doing?" Sensei asks.
Miguel looks over at Sensei. "Oh! Sorry! We were just taking a few selfies, Sensei."
"You don't need to apologise, Diaz. Even if you kind of look ridiculous." Sensei has a slight smile on his face.
Miguel nods. "Thanks, Sensei. I guess we'll see you on Monday. And, I might see you earlier than that. Have a good weekend."
"Same here, Diaz. You guys have fun. Just don't do anything too crazy." Sensei replies.
Miguel grins. "We won't."
Sensei walks into his office as the students leave the dojo.
Jason announces the party on his Instagram before he picks up alcohol and snacks with Miguel and Claire.
Hawk and Aisha take care of the food.
The Quiver Kickback doesn't start until 7 PM, but all the students head over to Jason's house and hang out.
Jason has speakers and plays music.
Demetri arrives at around 5 before Sam and Moon arrive separately at 6.
Sam has brought more food and alcohol with her.
"Do you all mind if I talk to Aisha?" Moon asks.
Everybody looks around and nods.
Aisha looks at Moon. "So, what do you want to say?"
"I just wanted to apologise. It was wrong for me to make fun of you and it was wrong for me to go along with Yasmine. Hopefully you'll accept my apology, but I can understand if you don't accept it." Moon replies.
Aisha smiles. "I accept your apology."
The party starts getting going around 7 or 7:30.
"Hey? Jason? Two of my friends want to know your address so they get here relatively quickly. If that's okay with you, I mean?" Claire asks.
Jason nods. "That's fine. The more the merrier."
Everybody is having fun.
Claire's friends show up and Claire introduces them to Jason and the rest of the group.
Nobody knows George, but there's something sort of familiar about Robby.
George has brought beer with him, but Robby doesn't drink alcohol.
Robby grabs a soda while Miguel gets another beer.
"So, Jason just happens to live here by himself?" Robby asks.
Miguel nods. "Yeah. He's kind of an "emancipated minor." But I'm not really going to put a label on his situation."
"That makes sense. Is everybody at this party from Cobra Kai?" Robby wonders.
Miguel shakes his head. "Most of us are from Cobra Kai. But there are people here who aren't. Sam's my girlfriend, Demetri is one of my best friends, George has known Claire since she was a kid, Moon is kind of friends with Sam, some of the people at this party know people in Cobra Kai. And there's you."
"I've known Claire since she was little. Same as George. My dad just happens to be her godfather." Robby clarifies.
Miguel's eyes widen. "Who's your dad? Sensei?"
"Yep. Have you been doing karate for long?" Robby asks.
Miguel takes a sip of his beer. "I've been doing karate since the summer. Jason and I were two of Sensei's first students. And, I'd say that we're his best students. Do you do karate?"
"I have started training. So, technically, I am doing karate. But it's a different style to the one you're doing." Robby replies.
Miguel tilts his head slightly. "It is?"
"It's called Miyagi-Do. And it's more defensive than Cobra Kai." Robby answers.
Miguel takes another, longer, sip of his beer. "Oh. Did you see the video of the cafeteria fight?"
"Yeah. It spread around the Valley like wildfire. You and Jason are quite the team." Robby says.
Miguel smiles. "Thanks. I'm lucky to have him as a friend."
"Well, I'll just go and wander around. It was nice talking to you." Robby drinks his soda and walks off.
Miguel finishes his beer.
He finds Sam relatively quickly after that.
Sam is talking to some of the people who were invited by the other Cobras, possibly by Leonard.
She notices him walking towards them.
"Oh! Hey, Miguel!" Sam exclaims.
Miguel smiles. "Hey."
"So, what were you talking about?" Sam asks.
Miguel shrugs. "Not that much. Robby does karate as well, but he's only started training around a couple of weeks ago. Which means that he's not on the same level as the Cobras. But he'll catch up."
"He has a good teacher. Whoever he is. So, I'm fairly certain that he'll catch up." Sam says.
Miguel smiles. "Great."
Sam is about to say something when they see Leonard standing on a table.
"Hey, everybody! I'm Leonard and I just wanted to make a toast to our host!" Leonard starts.
Everybody cheers before he continues. "To my good friend, Jason Kreese!"
"To Jason!" Everybody raises their cans, cups or bottles.
Somebody starts playing Christmas music over the speakers.
Miguel isn't quite sure if it's Jason or someone else.
But it doesn't really matter.
They're all having too much fun to notice.
….
Jason had switched to drinking rum and cokes.
He noticed that Hawk had talked to Moon and exchanged numbers. But he doesn't say anything about it.
Jason looks around and sees Claire.
He walks over to her and stops when he's standing in front of her.
"I know you've probably heard it already, but this has been a really good party. You've done such a good job." Claire says.
Jason looks a little embarrassed. "Thanks. I'm glad that you and everybody are enjoying it.
"You're welcome." Claire replies.
Jason scratches his head. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."
"What is it that you want to tell me?" Claire asks.
Jason takes a deep breath. "A lot of things have changed after Halloween. I got suspended twice and more people joined Cobra Kai. I've had a lot of time to think about what's really important. And I've realised that you and our friends are what's important to me. I love you. Hopefully you feel the same way or I'm going to loo…"
He's cut off by Claire kissing him.
Time seems to slow down before they separate.
"I love you too." Claire says.
Jason looks relieved. "Awesome."
"Merry Christmas." Claire replies.
Jason smiles. "Merry Christmas."
"So, what do you want to do now?" Claire asks.
Jason thinks about it. "Get another drink."
"Good idea." Claire answers.
They go and get something to drink.
Everybody enjoys the rest of the party.
The only people left at the party by the end are Jason, Miguel, Claire, Aisha, Leonard, Sam, Hawk and Demetri.
Jason had turned off the loudspeaker and is charging it and his phone in his room, which he had left locked for most of the night.
Miguel, Hawk, Leonard and Demetri are staying over.
But everybody is just hanging out.
Jason goes to the kitchen in order to get another drink.
Miguel follows him.
"Did you finally do it?" Miguel asks.
Jason chuckles. "Well, yeah. I told her that I love her. And she said that she loves me too."
"Awesome. I'm happy for you guys." Miguel says.
Jason smiles. "Thanks."
"Me, Aisha and Leonard were taking bets on when you would tell Claire that you love her. I guess I win the bet, because I said that you'd say it before Christmas." Miguel adds.
Jason makes a rum and coke. "Well, I'm glad things worked out."
"Me too." Miguel takes a beer and opens it.
They walk back to where everybody is hanging around.
Jason looks around the room. "If you guys want to get any more drinks, now would be the time."
Claire, Aisha, Leonard, Hawk, Demetri and Sam look at each other and shake their heads.
"Happy Holidays!" Miguel exclaims.
Jason makes a toast and drinks. "Happy Holidays."
Miguel drinks his beer.
Claire, Aisha and Sam leave after saying their goodbyes.
Jason and Claire share a hug and a kiss. Miguel and Sam share a kiss as well.
"So, are we going to clean up now? Or are we going to wait until tomorrow?" Demetri asks.
Jason looks around the room. "Tomorrow."
"Cool. I could probably use a shower. And we would need to figure out sleeping arrangements and stuff." Hawk says.
Jason smiles. "Well, you and Demetri can take one of the guest rooms. And Miguel and Leonard can take the other one. I think I've got sleeping bags. That pretty much covers it."
"Cool. I guess we'll either decide who gets the beds. Or will we double up?" Leonard wonders.
Jason scratches his head. "I think you can figure it out, I guess."
Hawk goes to take a shower.
Jason goes to get sleeping bags while Miguel, Leonard and Demetri just hang out.
Hawk comes back downstairs after he has his shower.
Jason follows relatively closely behind after putting sleeping bags in the spare rooms.
Miguel goes up to the spare room he's sleeping in because he's kind of intoxicated.
Leonard decides to go upstairs as well.
Demetri ends up going upstairs, but not because he's drunk. He's just tired.
That just leaves Jason and Hawk.
"It's cool that you told Claire you love her." Hawk says.
Jason nods. "Yeah. I kind of had to do it at some point. So, how did things go with you and Moon?"
"I got her number, so I think things went pretty well. But I'll just take it slow." Hawk replies.
Jason grins. "Good plan."
"Thanks." Hawk smiles slightly.
Jason nods. "You're welcome."
"I've known Claire and her family almost as long as I've known Demetri. And, I would say that she's one of my closest friends. Which isn't too much of a stretch because I didn't really have many friends. But you and Miguel changed everything for us. And I never really got a chance to thank you guys for it. So, I'm thanking you now." Hawk says.
Jason smiles. "Thanks. It really means a lot."
"Don't mention it. I'm going to go and get some sleep. See you tomorrow." Hawk leaves the room.
Jason walks upstairs soon afterwards.
He gets changed into his pyjamas and gets into bed.
It doesn't take too long for him to fall asleep.