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SOOMIN chose to be a moral support for Demetri.
That's why she's decided to be with him during his first class. Though it's very difficult with someone like him, it made Soomin question how they became friends.
"The whole fence?" Demetri spoke, not so liking towards the task he was given. "That's like 1200 square feet!" Demetri adds,
"The other side too, Demi. 2400 square feet." Soomin corrects, giving Demetri a paintbrush. She was beside Daniel LaRusso.
Demetri groaned, "Okay, I get it. You're teaching me muscle memory. Do it a bunch of times, develop unconscious karate techniques." He moved his arms around while assuming, then put a hand on Daniel's shoulder.
"How about we just cut to the chase and you show me the moves?" Demetri tried to give back the paintbrush. Daniel sighed and gave Demetri a pat on the back.
Soomin grinned too, "I'll try to do it with you too, if that makes you feel better."
"Oh yeah, someone with more experience in karate doing beginner lessons with me? So helpful." Demetri retorts. "Well fuck me for trying to be nice." Soomin rolled her eyes.
In the end, Soomin decided to do the lessons with Demetri too, solely out of boredom. And secretly, Demetri appreciated it.
The first routine was doing kata. Daniel and Soomin were doing it just fine, but obviously Demetri struggled.
"I'm not exactly the most flexible." Demetri explained, "That's..." Daniel tried to reassure, stopping his kata moves.
"And I have a little trouble maintaining balance. Hope that's not an issue." He held out his arms stiffly, "Disproportionate limbs."
"Just give him some time." Soomin whispered.
Then the two had to paint a wall. Soomin was grateful she didn't have to go through this kinda torture.
"That's it, side to side." Daniel says, doing the specific hand move. "Can we at least use a roller?" Demetri asked, Soomin snorted.
Then they had to sand the floor, "Left circle, right circle." Daniel instructs. Then Demetri dropped his brush and whimpered, "Oh we got a splinter here!" Soomin announces.
"What happened?" Daniel asked, "What she said." Demetri explained, "And it's a big one." He adds.
Then the three had to do some meditating yoga poses, it was going kinda well. Until Demetri broke positions.
"How much longer are we doing this? My arms are getting tired and I've had to pee since before we started." Daniel let out a big sigh. Soomin was heavily amused.
♡
"I don't know if we'll ever use this in a fight, but if we're ever forced into a dance battle, we're set." Robby spoke to Soomin. Sam laughed at the joke, she was sitting down nearby.
The two were practicing the wheel technique. Soomin giggled, but almost fell. Robby caught her arm and stared, "It's okay, would've been worse if you drenched me in water."
"Uh hey, are we doing shirts versus skins?" Demetri called out, soomin turned and looked at her friend. "'Cause I prefer to be a shirt. Not saying that you have to be a skin. Unless you want to. I support your right to choose." Demetri said.
"Demetri, over here." Daniel instructed, Demetri followed.
"I think it's Sam's turn to practice, my legs are tired." Soomin spoke, really she wanted to eavesdrop on the conversation Demetri and Daniel were gonna have.
Sam nodded as Soomin went off the board. Soomin also had to pretend she was watching the other two do the technique.
"I think we're getting better at this." Soomin noticed the duo. "We are!" Sam agreed.
"Ow! You kicked me!" Demetri yelled, causing Robby and Sam to get distracted. The two fell in the pond as Soomin tried to hold in her laugh.
"You guys alright?" Daniel looked over, the two were drenched in water.
"I think I tasted some of the pond water..." Robby comments, "Can we dry off?" Sam asked, voice filled with disgust.
"You guys will be fine. Just try it again until I say we're done." Daniel instructs.
"Can I just switch places with Min?" Robby asked, "She's the only one not drenched...well besides Demetri." He adds.
"Should've blamed it on Demetri." Soomin instigated. "Soomin he kicked me!" Demetri explained, "Demetri, it's karate! That's the point!"
"Hey! Don't be arguing in this type of dojo. Go and focus on the wheel, I'll focus on Demetri." Daniel spoke, Soomin and Demetri went quiet.
"Soomin, you still wanna switch with me?" Robby questioned.
♡
Later on, Sam invited Miyagi for a trip at the mall. In celebration for a new student.
The mall was crowded, as usual. The students were eating at a table while Demetri was buying chicken.
Robby was showing Soomin and Sam his drivers license. Soomin didn't have one yet, so she needed all the self preparation to take her photo.
"Oh-ho! Sweet man bun." Sam comments at the photo, "A man bun?! Let me see!" Soomin got out of her chair and next to Sam, Robby laughed.
"I was telling you, it was a horrible picture!" Robby explained, "If you were friends with us at the time, we could've warned you this was a fad." Sam suggests.
"Yeah, well, I'm stuck with it for five years. So no biggie, right?" Robby said, "Thank god I have time to prepare for mine." Soomin sighed.
"You still don't have yours yet?" Robby asked, "Well I have a bike; I spend my money on cards, comics, and cds; what else would I need?" Soomin shrugged.
"I don't know, being a car drive you could ride home with?" Robby guessed, "Why would I be that when I have others to do it for me?" Soomin smirked.
"Wait. 'Robert Swayze Keene'?" Sam gasped, "My mom was a huge fan of Patrick Swayze." Robby replied. "Who?" Soomin asked.
"He was an actor in the '80s." Robby explained, "Oh please, like I haven't watched Dirty Dancing like a hundred times!" Sam grinned.
"My mom made me watch it all the time." Robby adds."Well my mom made me watch it never." Soomin internally retorts. "Made you?" Sam questioned.
"Okay...maybe I liked it." Robby admitted, Sam chuckled. "I still don't know what that is." Soomin muttered.
"Soomin, once we plan the movie night to binge watch all of Patrick Swayze you'll know him very well." Sam said. "Okay, we'll see about that." Soomin went back to her seat, eating a French fry.
"I'm more partial to his performance in Donnie Darko." Demetri was back with his chicken, taking a seat at the table. "Interesting movie. Time travel logic left a lot to be desired." He adds.
"Wait, is today Wednesday?" Demetri asked, "Oh my god that's today!?" Soomin realized. "What's today?" Sam asked.
"The new issue of Dungeon Lord came out!" Demetri explained, "Um, do you guys want anything from the comic book store?" Demetri asked the group.
Sam and Robby declined, "I'll go with you!" Soomin also stood up. "Okay, great. I'll be right back. Make sure no one throws away my chicken." Robby began to walk, or more of run, to the comic store with Soomin trailing behind.
"What do you think is gonna happen in the new issue?" Soomin asked, the two were walking down. "I don't even know, min. That ending of the last one left me shook." Demetri said.
The two made it to the shop, Soomin came to the backer isles to check on mangas while Demetri went to the front.
It's been a while since Soomin has visited the comic store. The last time she remembers stepping foot into one was...well, she couldn't even remember due to how long ago it was!
So Soomin was busy checking out all the latest volumes she's missed out on, wanting to hang out with Demetri even more to read them.
Though she did think that Demetri was probably caught up with them already.
Too much thinking for Soomin, she barely heard the sound of falling comic racks. Hence barely, luckily she did. It did disturb her daydreaming, so she was pretty upset about it.
Because of that, Soomin set down the manga she was reading the sypnosis of and checked where she heard the noise. She remembered it was where Demetri was at—that made Soomin worry.
"You think I'm afraid of you?" There came the voice of Demetri, Soomin knew she had to be hidden before anyone had seen her. She hid behind a shelf nearby.
"I know who you really are, Eli." Oh shit, code red for Soomin. The name she's been trying to avoid so badly was in the same radius as her.
She was full of worry, she took a peak from behind the shelf and was grateful neither of them had noticed.
Soomin noticed the change in Hawk. The red hair, the anger in his eyes, the clothes he was wearing. Everything has changed, and definitely for the worse.
Soomin hid behind a shelf instead of stepping up was because she was so nervous to even be spotted by Hawk. The change in him had unintentionally affected her so dramatically it hurt to her.
"So why don't you, Rocksteady and Bebop just leave me alone. Okay?" Demetri tried to leave, but was met with two other Cobra Kai students.
That made Soomin's heart drop for the boy. She felt horrible for not trying to step in, she didn't know if she was even capable of doing so.
"Great. So this is what it's come to. Gang assault." Demetri scoffed.
"Take it down, or we take you down." Hawk threatened, the tone Soomin hadn't seen since the All Valley.
She didn't know why, but even though she saw him at the Valley Fest it didn't feel so nerve racking than being in a comic store. Soomin assumed because of Moon the tensions decreased heavily. Maybe because it was that Soomin knew not interacting with him in this situation wasn't possible.
"You'd actually hurt me?" Demetri said, you could hear how hurt he sounded.
The fact that Eli didn't respond and stood there in silence made Soomin feel horrible.
"You're not the only one that knows karate. I just joined Miyagi-Do." Demetri said, "He's gonna get himself killed." Soomin thought. The boy had barely learned wax on and wax off.
Hawk smirked, and got into a stance. "Okay, let's see what you got."
Soomin knew it would only get worse. And always as expected it did. In the blink of an eye Demetri was kicked to the ground.
Okay, if it was for Demetri, Soomin genuinely had to step in. "Leave him alone!" She walked out from the shelf and helped up Demetri.
Soomin couldn't even care of the faltered look on Hawk seeing her. It enraged her that Hawk could actually do something like that.
"Why are you even here? I thought you didn't like nerdy shit anymore." Soomin glared. And before Hawk could mumble an answer, a store clerk noticed the commotion. "Hey! What's going on back there?"
Demetri took the distraction as a chance to run away, he grabbed Soomin's wrist while getting to his knees. Soomin noticed the quick move, and shoved two other friends of Hawk out the way.
After racing out of the comic store, Demetri let go of Soomin's hand. Though Demetri was quick to run even farther. "Why are we running away?" Soomin asked, she could barely catch up.
"Do you think we could take them in a fight?!" Demetri asked.
The duo knew the answers to that.
"Well maybe not Eli in a fight..." was a thought soomin was urging to joke. It wasn't matching for the situation, and Soomin hated him too much at the moment to even mention his actual name.
The two bumped into many things. People, sunglasses rack, more people.
"We're gonna fucking die! I'm out breath!" Soomin cried, "Get to your feet and run god damnit!" Demetri ordered.
"See! The food court is right there!" Demetri points. Soomin groaned but followed him anyway, what other better things could she do?
"They're fucking gone!" Soomin noticed the empty table. "I could see that, dimwit!" Demetri argued. "Of course they left!" He adds.
"Maybe they're getting more—" Soomin tried to say, but noticed the sight of the red mohawk advancing towards them.
"You know, it didn't have to be this way." Hawk spoke, "You could've joined Cobra Kai if you weren't such a pussy." That remark was mostly towards Demetri, obviously.
"At least he's not an a-hole!" Soomin retorts, really all the insults she were saying were out of thought. Anything to defend Demetri.
The closer and closer Hawk walked towards them Demetri was grabbed. "Get away from—!" Soomin tried to fight off the other dude, but did get the same treatment from another one.
Soomin felt two arms grab her and tug in a tight grip. "Ow! Let go of us!" Soomin exclaimed.
"You're dead meat." Hawk told Demetri.
"We could settle this fight some other way!" Soomin called out. "And that's your best friend, Hawk!"
Hawk, wow. Did Soomin ever let that name slip out her mouth?
Well it did something. Soomin noticed the angered look in his eye fade for split second, looking at her. Though, with a blink, it was gone again. Hawk looked back at Demetri, ready to give an attack.
Though that never came to reality, Sam appeared and jumped off a table. She kicked the two boys off of Demetri first, letting him free.
Then Soomin felt her arms feel more light. Turning around to meet eyes with Robby, "Thanks." Soomin was out of breath. "Don't mention it. You okay?" Robby was concerned for a friend, Soomin nods.
Soomin took the chance to gain more distance, shuffling behind with Robby having a slight hold of her arm. Sam and Demetri did the same.
"You guys need to back off." Sam spoke, her fists were clenched.
Hawk turned to glance at Soomin, noticing the stare Robby gave to her. Soomin looked at him too, noticing the slight droop of his lips.
The small moment quickly turned as Hawk turned to Sam, "I don't wanna have to hit a girl." Hawk replied. "You wouldn't stand a chance." Robby walked forward.
"Five against four?" Hawk scoffed, then looked at Demetri, "More like three and a half."
With chuckles from the cobras, a slight nod from Hawk and all hell broke loose.
Shit shit shit. Soomin panicked. The last fight she's ever been in was the one with Miguel and Kyler. That was like what...five months ago?
Kicks were given. Hits were thrown. Everything was chaos.
Unknowingly Robby and Soomin initiated the wheel technique. It was mostly out of instinct. Demetri stood there like a deer while Sam took care of the others.
By now there was crowd around the food court. Soomin noticed how Demetri wanted to help, but his lack of skills couldn't help.
"Demi, look out!" Soomin yelled, pushing him back from Hawk. Then Demetri was grabbed by Robby, he was crouching. Somehow Soomin found the success to kick a cobra into a table.
Then Soomin kinda beat up that cobra with kicks for the rest of the time. Robby was still with Demetri, making sure there wasn't a single scratch on the newbie karate student.
A fight always comes to an end somehow. Though it wasn't the most ideal for this scenario. Hawk was kicked and knocked down in the face by Robby.
Soomin gasped, she was with Sam making sure Demetri was safe. If Hawk was still Eli, Soomin would've helped. Obviously the boy was in pain, but Soomin noticed his wrongful actions. It felt wrong to help Hawk after what he tried to do to Demetri.
Yet Soomin still wanted a reason to help him.
"We saved your chicken." Sam spoke to Demetri. "Oh, thanks." Demetri grabbed the container. Sam was proud of herself, smiling of the victory.
So was Robby, but Soomin couldn't say the same. She felt horrible for even fighting. She was quiet the ride back, with mixed feelings about the incident.
Instead of staying with Sam and Robby to be excited about their newfound accomplishment or being there for Demetri, Soomin had other thoughts.
She was drowning herself in music on a couch thinking of what just happened.
Why would Hawk actually hurt Demetri—not even caring about if Soomin herself got hurt. She thought she'd never see the light of day where Hawk would see Demetri only with the intent to cause harm.
Yeah. Eli had changed, but soomin wasn't aware it was so drastic. It was the script flip that was draining everyone. More of draining her.
It was so difficult to take in, she remembered taking a Polaroid with Miguel then to last talking to him since the All Valley. Or when the friend group she and Demetri were in were still a thing.
Sometimes it made Soo wonder how things would go is Eli never listened to Lawrence. Or never join the dojo at all.
Maybe they'd still be dating and actually have their comic store date. Or it wouldn't have gone so drama filled and be peaceful.
Soomin knew she couldn't talk to anyone about it. Sam and Robby were too busy being happy, she didn't wanna ruin the fun. Demetri had the problem of one of his "best friends" and other things. Soomin was too awkward to open up to her parents.
Sehun was an option, but his gap year was turning into more of a genuine summer break. He was busy studying in universities to attend and working and building his own life.
Soomin felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to notice Daniel. "Hi, Mr. LaRusso." Soomin said, putting her music at a pause.
"Hi Soo, you okay?" Daniel asked, "Your eyes look moist, is there something in there?"
Soomin then began to wipe her sudden teary eyes. How did the bland action of thinking manage to make her so emotional?!
"Nothing, I think I've thought too much today." Soomin replied. Daniel chuckled, "Yeah, we all do that. You mind if I could have a seat?"
Soomin nodded, and scooted to the side for a place Daniel could sit in. Soomin knew it was probably gonna end up as a venting moment. And boy had she always vented in her notes app.
Daniel stayed for a moment, then took a breath. "You don't mind if I could ask what you're talking about, right? Heard it's easier if you let it all out." Daniel says.
"I've been dealing with the change of everything lately. It's hard, honestly." Soomin slightly explained, that basically did sum up most of her thoughts without the gooey and angst-y parts.
"The change of, I'm assuming, your friends?" Daniel asked, "Exactly that. It's weird dealing with change. Like a few months ago I was with Miguel, Demetri, and Eli." Soomin explained.
"Eli? Is that the?..." Daniel asked, "Red Mohawk. I used to have a fat crush on him before he had that haircut. I liked his grandpa sweaters." Soomin slightly chuckled.
"You guys saw him today at the mall, yes?" Daniel questioned, Soomin nodded. "Unfortunately he was the one that instigated it. I don't even know what it was about when they started it. Me and Demetri just wanted to buy a comic." Soomin said.
"I think I'm mostly stuck with how to deal with things. I mostly shove them under the rug and don't talk about it. I just can't grasp of how tainted my friendships turned out to be. I just wanted summer to be drama free and where I can just laugh and make memories." Soomin realized, and noticed her eyes were watering while saying words.
"Oh I'm probably rambling. Sorry." Soomin mumbled. "You might think this is pointless." She sniffled, wiping her eyes.
The boy who once wore warm sweaters with a shy personality is the one who's turning into a bully. The other boy who she was friends with is busy being Cobra Kai's best student and an All Valley champion. They haven't talked since.
The only person who's been stuck with her was Demetri, who soomin was very grateful of.
Daniel sighed softly, before putting a hand on her shoulder. "You know what I think of all of this?" Daniel asked, "Hm?"
"I know everything's gonna get better in the end." Daniel replied, "You sure? I mean that's what I'm trying to believe but that's hard." Soomin said.
"I'm sure of it. I promise." Daniel reassured, "A pinky promise?" Soomin held out her pinky. Daniel chuckled, "I pinky promise." Then the two crossed pinkies.
"Thank you." Soomin smiled, before taking a tight hug on her Sensei. "Of course." Daniel also hugged, patting her back.
Now, winning the fight at the mall didn't seem so bad for her.
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inspo for the Daniel and Min scene are from justauthoring's "Shadow of Yourself" series on tumblr and ao3! Their story actually inspired me to create this story, definitely recommend!!
And thank you for 5OO reads! I love you all so much <3 next chapter will be out ASAP!