•~3rd person P.O.V~•
Eli repeated over and over that it was a surprise. She didn't know where he was taking her or why, but she quickly recognized the tattoo shop where Eli got his eagle tattoo at. Maya was told to sit in a seating area where she couldn't see the chair where he sat to get his tattoo done.
When Eli finally came out, his hair was red and the mohawk on the eagle was red as well. Hawk knew about Maya's love for astrology and the sky, he even researched it before he and Maya had gotten together so he'd have something to talk to her about. There was a tattoo on his chest, a moon drawn on it with an 'm' written in the middle.
"Is that for me?" Maya smiled slowly, looking up at him.
"I have something else too." Eli reached inside his bag, pulling out a necklace with a silver moon pendant, and on the edge was a pink heart. "You can wear it under your shirt so Miguel doesn't think anything of it." Maya smiled as Eli draped the necklace across her chest and clasped it on.
"Thank you, Eli, I love it." Maya turned around and kissed him, Eli threw his arm around her and walked out of the tattoo parlor.
~
Karate practice that day wasn't hard. They watched Sensei Kreese and Sensei Lawrence fight, giving them a fighting lesson and a life lesson. "Go all in", they had said. A lot of things Johnny said weren't intended to be inspirational, but they were.
"You don't apologize for hitting someone who asked for it."
"Flip the script."
"Go all in."
Almost all of the things Johnny said stuck with Maya in some sort of way. Johnny wasn't just a Sensei to Miguel or Maya but more of a father. Maya and Miguel didn't know their father, although sometimes their Ya-Ya would say they acted or looked like him, and they didn't even know what that meant.
After practice, they all went out to eat, at the same restaurant where they had their victory dinner. Miguel was still sulking over Sam. Aisha, Moon, Tory, and Maya all sat at the same table. Eli came with them, with a couple of the new recruits that were sort of his friends. Aisha and Moon were talking about Yasmine when Maya got a text.
Eli🤍:C'mere
Maya:what's wrong?
Eli🤍:Just c'mere, pls.
Aisha looked confused as Maya stood, sliding her phone into her back pocket. Maya didn't explain, she just went to the table where she knew that Eli was. She slid into the seat next to him, the two new recruits Eli started hanging out with, in front of them.
"What's up, Little Diaz." One of the boys smirked, Eli quickly glaring at him.
"Shut up, Penis Breath." Maya put her hand on his knee, and Eli quickly looked at Maya. "Show her the comment." The boy gave her his phone, it was a comment about Cobra Kai.
"Who made this comment?" Maya asked, looking at Eli.
"Demi," Hawk said in quotation marks. Maya looked back at the phone and the comment showing on the screen. The vocabulary sounded like Demi, and the comment sounded so official but it didn't seem like something Demi would do.
"Demi wouldn't do something like this." Maya shook her head, handing the phone to Eli until he shoved it back in her hand.
"It's his profile." Maya saw Demi's face as his profile picture and his username as DMan2002. Maya could see that Eli was pissed, just by the look on his face and the way he spoke.
"Why would he say something like that? He doesn't have any reason not to like Cobra Kai, besides Sensei throwing him to the ground a couple of months ago." Hawk shook his head, he thought Demetri would've told her what happened between him and Kreese.
"Demetri came to the dojo when only Sensei Kreese was there, Demetri tried laying down some pussy rules and Kreese punched him in the nose." Maya looked away from Eli, he was talking about someone who was his friend. Or someone who was supposed to be his friend. "I guess he got his panties in a twist about it." Maya nodded slowly.
"We gotta do something about it." One of the boys said, Maya's head quickly whipping in his direction.
"I'm sure if you just ask him to take it down he would." Hawk felt slightly annoyed that she was defending Demetri, but she didn't feel as passionate about Cobra Kai as he did. She'd been a student only a fraction of the time he had, although she was arguably better than him.
"Sure, we can ask him," Hawk responded, Maya's eyes looking at every inch of his face. Something about the way he had said it, told Maya that he wasn't going to just ask him to take it down. "Maya, would you wanna go to the mall?" Maya smiled, Eli hated the mall. He only went when Maya begged him to go with her, and even then he dragged his feet.
"That's a stupid question, of course, I do!" Maya squealed, Hawk chuckling.
"Go tell Miguel you're going with me." Maya nodded quickly, running off to the table that Miguel sat at, alone.
"Why are we going to the mall? She's hot, but not hot enough to go to the mall for." Of course, Hawk disagreed, he would do anything for Maya. Anything she wanted, he gave her. She had him wrapped around her finger, and everyone around them knew it too. Maya seemed to be irresistible to him.
"Demetri's there, he's probably getting his nerdy comic book shit," Hawk muttered, the two other boys smirking at each other.
"Miggy, I'm going with Eli. He's taking me to the mall." Miguel raised his eyebrow, finally looking up from his computer.
"Why's he taking you to the mall? That's the last place he wants to be." Maya shrugged.
"He just asked me if I wanted to go, and I said yes." Miguel sighed. "You can stay here and hang out with Toryy, all alonee." Maya watched Miguel's face turn pink as he shook his head.
"Fine, call me when you're on your way home." Maya smiled and nodded, running off in the direction of Eli's table.
~
"We're just gonna go to the comic store, we'll be right back." Maya smiled and nodded her head as Eli handed her money and left her inside Bath and Body Works.
Maya went from Bath and Body Works to Victoria's Secret to other clothing stores, when she realized that it had been almost thirty minutes since Eli had left. When she went by the comic store, he wasn't in there. She felt her stomach plummet when she could hear a fight going on in the food court. Maya ran to the noises, seeing Eli throwing kicks and punches at Demetri and Sam, and Robby. Robby spun, kicking Eli to the floor.
Maya felt frozen, almost as if she were a statue. She thought Eli becoming Hawk and gaining confidence was a good thing, but now she wasn't so sure. He was pushing Demetri away because he reminded him of someone he didn't want to be anyone. Someone who he was embarrassed to be.
As Hawk pushed himself up, along with the others around him, he saw Maya. Maya stood frozen in place, holding about four bags. He quickly stood up, despite his head pounding and feeling like it would fall off his shoulders. He stopped as he watched Robby approach her, but Maya was still staring at him.
"Maya, you okay?" Robby asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. Maya just stared at Eli, Demetri was their friend. Eli had hurt their friend. Maya spun on her heel, walking quickly away.
~
Hawk:Maya pls
Hawk:Maya answer me pls
Hawk:I'm begging you
Hawk:Maya
Hawk:I'm sorry
Hawk:pls
Hawk sighed, slamming his phone down. He was at the dojo, and in between punches he would text her but as she ignored him it made him angrier. Even more furious.
Hawk:Maya just let me explain myself, please
Hawk:just hear me out
Maya sighed, Miguel, looked at her as her phone continued to buzz. She had her phone turned face down, and even if it was face up you couldn't see the contact names without her facial recognition.
"Who's blowing your phone up?" Miguel asked, chuckling.
"My boyfriend." She spat bitterly, a scowl placed on her face.
"Answer him." Maya rolled her eyes.
"No, he's a fucking asshole." Miguel paused the TV.
"What'd he do?" Miguel asked quickly, his eyes turning a shade darker.
"Nothing to me, he did something to someone else." Maya sat with her arms crossed, her phone buzzing again.
"Don't you wanna hear him out?" Miguel asked, drinking from a can of pop.
"Not really, at this rate he might be single soon." Even though Miguel hadn't even met the guy, not to his knowledge at least, he felt defensive. He could stop what was happening between them so they wouldn't end up like Sam and himself. Maya was so happy with the guy, and all he wanted was for Maya to be happy.
"Maya, just hear him out. Sam didn't hear me out." Miguel watched Maya's face soften, her eyes trailing to the corner of the room. She didn't want to be Sam, but she still wanted to be friends with Demi.
"God, I don't wanna be Sam." Miguel laughed.
"Guess what." Maya looked up.
"What, Miggy?"
"I kissed Tory." Maya turned her whole body quickly.
"What?! So y'all are like, together now?" Miguel nodded, Maya's mouth dropping open.
"I didn't think you could pull her but good for you." Miguel rolled his eyes.
"Go text your boyfriend before you do something you regret." Maya sighed, picking up her phone and going to her room.
Eli💗:Maya pls
Eli💗:Maya answer me pls
Eli💗:I'm begging you
Eli💗:Maya
Eli💗:I'm sorry
Eli💗:pls
Eli💗:Maya just let me explain myself, please
Eli💗:just hear me out
Maya sighed, pressing a button to call Eli. He answered almost immediately.
"Maya-"
"I want you to come over and explain yourself." Maya interrupted, her voice strong and steady.
"Okay, I will. Is Miguel there?" Hawk asked quickly, practically running out of the dojo and hopping into his car.
"Yeah, and he's awake so you gotta be quiet," Maya spoke, hearing his car start in the background.
"Okay, I'm on my way." Maya nodded, almost as if he were there, hanging up. Hawk sighed, throwing his phone in the seat beside him and pulling the gearshift.
He knew he could get his license revoked if he was speeding, but he didn't care. Luckily no cops saw him, but he slowed down when he neared Maya's apartment. He parked in the old parking lot where he always did, running to Maya's window and quickly sliding it open. Maya slid through Tiktoks, watching random YouTube videos and doing anything the pretend like she didn't care when Eli arrived.
"Maya," Eli whispered, closing the window and he was fully inside.
"Eli." Hawk felt like it was a small breakthrough that she was still calling him Eli. Hawk sat at the end of her bed, Maya got up and locked her bedroom door. Although everyone could hear Miguel's game he was playing, he definitely wouldn't be able to hear them.
"Maya-"
"Why?" Hawk sighed, Maya, sitting next to him.
"What do you mean, Maya?" He asked, Maya, looked angrier than he'd ever seen her before.
"Why did you try and fight Demi?" She asked, Hawk's leg bouncing up and down.
"Because of the comment he made on Yelp, and I did what you said. I asked him to take it down." Maya sighed, looking down at the ground.
"He was your friend, Eli." Hawk quickly stood.
"He was a nerdy loser." Maya looked up at him, tears brimming her eyes.
"You were a 'nerd' too, Eli." Maya put the word, nerd, in quotation marks.
"And I was bullied for it but you wouldn't know anything about stuff like that, you wouldn't understand! Because you're perfect, everything about you is perfect. Every inch and crevice of you is perfect, and that's great. It amazes me how perfect you are, Maya, but that doesn't mean that everyone else is." Maya looked away from him, slowly sitting back on her bed.
"I do understand, Eli." Hawk pursed his lips, slowly sitting down on the end of her bed.
"I told you about the ataxophobia," Hawk nodded, he told Demetri about it at one point even though he promised not to. He thought Demetri was always going to be his friend, so he thought Maya wouldn't mind. "but you know how when you're younger you just tell random people your business? You tell them like our whole life story?" Hawk smiled a bit, nodding.
"Yeah."
"Well when I was diagnosed, I told this girl about it in like third grade, because I thought she was my friend. She started telling everyone, and she would bring in worms and dirt and put them on me, in my hair, or my backpack." Hawk looked at Maya's face. Maya told him how badly she used to be afraid of being dirty, having panic attacks, and everything. "My mom had to move our schools because it got so bad." Maya looked up at Eli. "I know it's not the same, I know it wasn't like what you went through, and it wasn't for the length of time that you were tormented but I've had an experience. I can try to understand, I just don't want you to hurt Demi and regret it." Hawk hated seeing Maya's chin wobble, knowing she was going to cry. He hated it even more when he saw a tear trickle down her cheek.
"I-I'm sorry, Maya." Maya took in a deep breath, looking up at Eli.
"Please promise me you won't hurt Demetri anymore. Unless he picks a fight." Hawk stared at Maya for a moment. "Please, Eli," Maya begged, Hawk, clasped her hand in his.
"Okay, I won't hurt Demetri, Maya."
~
"Nice work, Diaz." Johnny congratulated Eli and Miguel, bowing. Maya still felt uneasy, although she told Eli everything was okay. She didn't know how to feel, because Demetri already had blocked her on everything. She didn't think she'd done anything wrong, he didn't even say anything to her. But Maya pretended everything was okay like she did usually. "Bow. Go again."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Johnny asked, all of the students standing.
"Like you don't know," Daniel uttered, Maya could see he was upset.
"Take your shoes off the mat. You're disrespecting my dojo." Johnny said.
"You're seriously gonna talk to me about disrespecting dojos after what you just did to mine?" Maya furrowed her eyebrows, looking at Johnny.
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to your dojo." Johnny admitted.
"Just like you didn't slug one of my employees, huh? You know, part of me actually felt bad for you at one point, but you make it so easy to remember who the bad guy is in all of this. You call yourself a sensei? You don't even know what a sensei is. A sensei mentors. A sensei elevates. He doesn't teach destruction and disrespect!" Daniel shouted.
"I already said I don't know what you're talking about, LaRusso. And you don't know what you're talking about either." Johnny chuckled.
"Yeah, well, I know you don't...you don't earn the Medal of Honor by stealing it. Let me tell you something about your sensei. He might teach you how to fight, but he doesn't know a thing about what it takes to truly win in life. If you want to help yourselves before it's too late, the doors of Miyagi-Do are wide open." Daniel started to walk away.
"You think you can come in here and poach my students?" Johnny asked defensively.
"And what are you gonna do about it? You know, I'm not gonna strike first. I'm gonna be a bigger man." Daniel scowled, turning on his heel and leaving.
"Yeah," Johnny mumbled.
Maya felt so bad. Someone had stolen a Medal of Honor? Maya didn't know much about the military or their medals, but it sounded very important and special. They'd also trashed his dojo, and Maya just wanted to help clean it up and find the medal as well. She told herself she would. She would clean it up, even if Daniel didn't want her to. She'd find the medal, she'd give it bad and she'd apologize on behalf of Cobra Kai.
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A/n: I'm sorry for the chapters being few and far between, but school's kicking my butt rn and I don't think we're going to have any school days off anytime soon. I hope you liked this chapter🫶🏼
Word Count:2,846