☞︎Y/N'S POV☜︎
"You did great yesterday, Ish!" I said.
Aisha and I were stretching while we waited for class to start. Eli wasn't here yet. Miguel was across the room, stretching with Tory. I think they're getting pretty serious. Miguel talks about her all the time; but still not as much as he talked about Sam.
"Thanks y/n/n. You did good too! I mean, you did get my headband." She said. "Yeah, sorry about that. But you didn't make it easy on me!" We both laughed. "Are we still cool?" I asked, hope filling my voice. "Of course." She smiled.
Then I heard the bell on the dojo door ring from behind me. I turn to see who arrived, and it's Eli. He set his things down by mine, and started to walk over to me; but before he arrived, Miguel interjected and started to talk to him.
I turn around and look back at Aisha. It was silent between us, before she spoke. "Is everything ok between you two? I heard what happened." She asked. I thought for a moment. "I'm not sure." I spoke. "Here he comes." Aisha whispered quietly to me.
"Uhm, y/n. Can I talk to you, please?" Eli asked from behind me. I looked at Aisha with pleading eyes, but she just nodded towards Eli, encouraging me to talk to him. I slightly rolled my eyes and stood to my feet. I followed Eli to an empty corner of the dojo so we could talk.
"What do you want, Hawk?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "I did it." He simply said. "Yeah, I know you did it. That's the problem-" I started, but he interrupted. "No. I mean, I returned it." He said quickly. "I returned the medal."
My arms fell to my sides and my jaw dropped slightly. "What?" I asked quietly. He nodded in response. I didn't know what to say. Instead of saying anything at all, I quickly threw my arms around him and embraced him in a hug.
He returned the embrace, squeezing me tightly. "Thank you." I spoke into his shirt. "Anything for you, Princess." He responded. Once we pulled apart, he kissed my forehead lightly. "So... are we cool?" He asked nervously.
"Yes, Eli. We are cool." I said with a small smile. "But have you apologized to Demitri?" I asked. He looked down and slowly shook his head. "Can I trust you'll do that?" I asked, leaning down so our eyes could connect. "Yeah. For sure." Said Eli.
"Everybody, fall in." Sensei yelled, making everyone get into their lines. Eli and I stood next to each other in out normal spots once again. He looked over and sent me a small smile.
"Today, we'll be learning one of the most important lessons a Cobra Kai could ever know." Sensei announced. "Where's Sensei Kreese?" Eli asked quickly. "Yeah. Shouldn't we wait for the sensei emeritus before we get going?" Stingray added from behind Eli.
Sensei just stared at Stingray with a face that had 'shut up' written all over it. "Or not." Stingray exhaled sharply.
"Mr. Kreese will no longer be joining us." Sensei announced. I let out a sigh of relief, but Eli and Miguel looked at each other with confused faces. The students around the room quietly let out confused murmurs. I think I was the only one in the room that was happy he was gone.
"I made a promise when I became your sensei. To always look out for your best interests." Sensei paused. "Despite how hard this might be for all of us, he didn't have our best interests at heart." Sensei said, looking over to me. I sent a slight nod.
"John Kreese may have founded Cobra Kai, but he no longer represents what this dojo stands for." Sensei spoke to the class. "His Cobra Kai was old and outdated. He refused to move forward. What happens when we do that, Mr. Diaz?" Sensei asked quickly.
"You get stuck like cement." Miguel replied. "Exactly. To be a great fighter, you gotta learn to adapt." Sensei said, before turning to the words on the dojo wall. "This creed on the wall." He said. "Follow it to the letter, it'll make you strong. It'll make you formidable. It will also make you an asshole." He explained. Eli looked down and away from the letters after Sensei's last statement.
"Cause that's just black paint on a white wall." Sensei spoke to the class again. "But life's not black and white. More often than not, it's grey. And it's in those grey areas where Johnny Lawrence's Cobra Kai... sometimes shows mercy." Sensei said.
Eli furrowed his eyebrows and looked over to Miguel again for a moment. "Doesn't mean you can't be badass. It's still a requirement. But you have to learn to think not just with your gut, or your fists..." Sensei looked at Eli. "But to really use... this." Sensei continued, tapping his head.
"Which leads me to today's lesson." He said, walking towards a small bench as picking up a small board. He held the board up to his face, and smashed it with his head. The students let out sounds of astonishment. "Headbutting." Sensei announced.
Eli, Miguel and I looked at each other, slowly nodding our heads with smirks on our faces. "Grab a partner." Sensei said. And at that, we started practicing. Students walked towards each other, finding their partners. I looked over to Eli, and he looked back at me.
I raised my eyebrows, silently asking if he wanted to be partners. "Oh no. No way I'm headbutting you." Eli said, shaking his head. "What! Why not!?" I asked. "Because I don't want to hurt you!" He responded.
"Oh please. Come on! I can take it. Headbutt me." I said, preparing myself for the headbutt. Eli sighed. "Are you sure?" He asked, and I nodded. "Are you sure you're sure?" He asked again. "Yes, Eli. I'll be fine. Bring it on." I said, waving my hands so he'd come closer to me.
"Fine..." he said, getting ready to headbutt me. I stood there with my eyes tightly closed, preparing for the pain. I'll be fine. I'm tough. I'm strong. It's just a headbu—
My thoughts were interrupted by Eli's head coming into a painful contact with mine. My hands fly up to where his head met mine and I stumbled back a little. "Are you ok?!" Eli yelled, quickly coming to my side.
"I'm fine!" I said through my hands. "Are you sure? Let me see!" He said, lifting up my head to face his. I slowly lower my hands, to reveal a large amount of warm, red liquid plastered around and dripping from my nose. "Oh shit!" Eli gasped. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do it that hard! I knew I shouldn't have agreed to it."
"Eli, it's ok! I'm fine, really. I just need to go clean up a little." I said, looking down to the ground where there were small drops of blood that dropped from my nose. "I'll be back. Go ahead and practice on some other people." I said, before turning to get to the bathroom.
I went into the bathroom and closed the door. I started to clean up my nose with a wet paper towel. I wiped and wiped, but the blood was still spewing out. "Damn." I whispered to myself.
Eventually, I stuck a piece of toilet paper up my nose, in hopes that it'll stop the blood from dripping out. Some toilet paper was still sticking out of my nose, and I could see more blood slowly being absorbed into it. I shrugged and left the bathroom.
I walked back to the mats, and Eli caught eye of my in the mirror. He turned around quickly and ran over to me. "It's still bleeding? Are you sure you're ok? Do you need to go to the hospital or something?!" He asked quickly, putting one hand on my back and another on my arm.
"No no no, Eli. I'm fine! I promise! It looks worse than it feels." I reassured. "It looks funnier too." We both laughed. "Well. You did it to me... so it's only fair if I do it to you back." I said. He smiled and stood up straight. "Hit me." Said Eli.
I got ready, then headbutted him right in the nose, like Sensei taught us. He groaned in pain and took a step back. "Yep. You definitely got me back with that one." He said, rubbing his nose. But unlike mine, his wasn't bleeding. We both laughed at each other. Then, it went awkwardly silent.
"I missed you, y/n." Eli spoke, taking a few steps closer to me. "I missed you too, Eli." I said, getting closer to him as well. I lifted my hands to cup his face, and connected our lips. He lifted his hands up to my hair, and ran his fingers through it.
We both pulled away, because we're not trying to give everyone in the dojo a free show. I look up at him. "Oh- Eli, you've got a little something right.." I said, pointing to a spot on his face beside his nose. He lifted his hand and wiped the substance off his face and looked back at his finger tips.
"Did you... get blood on me?" He asked with a wide smirk. "Maybe..." I said, trying to hold in my laughter. "You're lucky you're cute." He said, pointing a blood-covered finger at me.
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"Y/n! I need your help! Come on!" Miguel yelled through my front door.
I was taking a nap, when Miguel starts to bang on my front door. I slowly woke up and stretched, before going to the door. "What the hell! I've called you like, six times." Miguel said after I opened the door. "Well... Excuse me for trying to get some sleep." I said between a yawn. "Well wake up, sleepy head. Sensei and I need your help."
"Meet me in Sensei's apartment in two minutes. You might wanna... clean up..." he said, gesturing to my appearance.
I was just asleep! What'd he expect?!
I shut the door in his face and laughed. Then, I went to brush my hair and make it look like I wasn't just in a deep sleep. After a few minutes, I walk over to Sensei's apartment and go in.
"Finally you're here. What the hell took you so long?" Sensei exclaimed from the couch. "I'm sorry! Geez! I'm here now though! What do you guys want?" I raised my hands up in defense, then walked over and sat on the couch next to Sensei.
"We're trying to set Sensei up on a dating app." Miguel announced. I break into laughter. After a couple seconds of laughing, I notice no one else is laughing. "Uhm..." I cleared my throat. "Sorry, uh... What do you have so far?" I asked, stopping my laughter.
"Interests: muscle cars, martial arts, Iron Eagle, Iron Eagle II, and cavemen..." Miguel read off the list. Then he looked up at me with a cringe on his face. The look on my face turned into a grimace as I looked at Sensei.
"What the hell, guys! Those are the things I like! What's so wrong with those?" He defended, before taking a drink of his beer. "Listen, I think we can fill the rest of this out on our own." I said, grabbing the phone from Miguel.
"Alright. How about clothes? What are you wearing?" I ask. "You gonna teach me about fashion now?" Sensei asked. I pursed my lips slightly. "Might have to.." I said. Miguel patted Sensei's back and got up. "Lets take a look." Miguel said.
"Here. Start looking through some people." I said, handing Sensei the phone. I got up and joined Miguel at Sensei's closet.
His closet was plain and empty. It only had a couple plain, collared shirts, a couple wrinkled flannels, and other random pieces of clothing. I puffed out some air and scratched the back of my neck.
"So, I was thinking a buttoned-up shirt and some distressed jeans. Got any?" I yelled so Sensei could hear too. "I have old jeans, if that's what you're saying." Sensei yelled back. Miguel and I just looked at each other and mentally face-palmed.
"Hey! There's a chick on my app." Sensei yelled. "Alright! Just swipe right if you like her and we'll set up a bunch of dates." Miguel yelled, still looking into Sensei's closet.
"Woah... take a look at this!" I said, pulling out a red, leather jacket that had a Cobra Kai patch attached to it. It looked like it had just time-warped straight from the 80s. Miguel grabbed it off the hanger and looked at it in awe.
"Hey, can I borrow this jacket?" Miguel yelled to Sensei. "Huh? Yeah, whatever." Sensei said back, only half listening to what Miguel and I were saying.
"This'll be perfect!" Miguel exclaimed, his face beaming. "For what?" I asked. "Oh, well... Tory and I are doing this thing..." he started. "You're going on a date?! An official date, with Tory?!" I yelled excitedly. He blushed and smiled.
"Oh my god! I'm so happy for you!" I squeaked, shaking his arm. "Alright! Alright! You're gonna give me whiplash!" He said, referring to me shaking him. "Sorry.." I said, letting go of him. "But I am so happy for you!" I said once again.
"I gotta admit, I'm excited. It's 80s night over at the Roller Rink, so we're gonna eat food and talk while she works." He explained. "How romantic." I teased. "Yeah yeah..." he said back.
"I'm only joking, Miggy. It sounds like a blast." I smiled. He smiled back, but all the sudden his face changed, as if a lightbulb went off in his head. "Why don't you come too!" He exclaimed. "Heh, uhm, I don't really do the whole... third-wheeling thing..."
"That's not what I meant." He chuckled. "What I meant was.. how about you and Hawk come with Tory and I to the roller rink? It can be like a... like a double date!" He suggested.
"Hmmm..." I hummed quietly while I thought. "Alright! I'll ask him. Sounds like a double date could be fun! Unless, Tory wouldn't want any extra people?" I decided. "Tory won't mind! She likes you guys!"
"You're going. I'm deciding this for you." He said, before walking back to Sensei. "Oh, and remember!" Miguel yelled. "It's 80s night! So dress up! I don't want to hear any excuses!"
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I grabbed my phone. I called Eli, and waited for him to answer.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Hey Pigeon!"
"Sorry, who is this?" He asked sarcastically.
"Ha ha. Very funny."
"So, what's up, Doll-face?"
"I was wondering, want to go on a double date with Miguel and Tory at the Roller Rink?"
"Are you asking me out on a date?"
"Yeah. Thought I'd take initiative this time."
"Wow...."
"What do you mean, wow..?"
"It's pretty hot how you're taking control..."
I could almost hear the smirk through the phone.
Then I just hung up on him and laughed. A few seconds later, he called me back. I answered the phone.
"Why'd you hang up?" He asked.
"Sorry, who's this?" I asked sarcastically, repeating his words from last time.
"I'm a man who would love to go on a date with a gorgeous woman like you."
I blushed.
"Cool! I'll see you there! Oh, and don't forget. It's 80s night, so dress up. If you don't, I'm pretty much gonna have to beat your ass."
"Sorry to break it to you, but beating my ass doesn't really sound like a punishment..."
"Oh good lord. Just dress up, you prat! I'll see you there."
And at that, I hung up.
As crazy as he is, I love the guy.
Is that love like a friendly love, or love love... I'm not fully sure yet. But looking at Eli's efforts to make himself better really make me happy. He may seem like a huge asshole, but once you get to know him, he's the kindest person you'll ever meet.
What would I do without him...
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A/N: ALSO THANKS FOR 20k READS—
HOW IS THIS HAPPENING—