Chapter Text
Johnny sleeps in on Valentine’s Day. It’s Sunday and he’s got nowhere to be. He rolls around in bed, his arms searching instinctively for Daniel’s form without success.
He groans as he opens his eyes. LaRusso is rarely in bed when Johnny wakes up. He’s either up soon to go to the dealership or at the crack of dawn to do some stupid kata along the sunrise.
On Sundays, however, he sleeps in to indulge Johnny. They cuddle, fool around a bit, make sweet love if they feel like it, then they get up to have something Daniel calls brunch. If you ask Johnny, it’s just eating breakfast and lunch at the same time, it doesn’t need some fancy fucking name.
Daniel is not in bed though, and Johnny is already hating Valentine’s Day when the door to thr room opens. Daniel, dressed in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt, hair disheveled, falling on his forehead, enters bringing a trail.
He’s dressed like he used to be in High School and Johnny’s heart starts beating faster. Daniel smiles at him, dimples and all, and drops the trail on the bed. There’s pastries, bread, jam, bacon, scrambled eggs, fresh orange juice and everything Johnny could want.
There’s also a red rose in a vase, and Johnny recognizes the one he bought Daniel for the locker fiasco.
Daniel closes the distance between them, kissing him tenderly on the lips, a quick sip of his tongue on them.
“Happy Valentine’s Day. Would you be my Valentine, Johnny Lawrence?”
God, it’s the cheesiest line Johnny’s ever heard and he wants to make fun of it so badly, but he just nods, taking Daniel’s face between his hands so he can kiss him again.
Kobo chooses that moment to get on the bed and steal the bacon from the tray of food, knocking the orange juice in the meantime.
Johnny groans, but Daniel is laughing wholeheartedly, mirth dancing in his eyes.
“I love that dog.”
“Of course you do, he’s as noisy as you are.”
Daniel claps his hands and looks at Johnny.
“Okay, eat what’s left of your breakfast and pop into the shower. We’ve got plans.”
“Do we? But I want my bacon, LaRusso, bacon is my favorite.”
“You’re such a cry baby when you want to, there’s more bacon in the kitchen. We’re leaving at 4 pm sharp, Lawrence.”
***
LaRusso takes him to Golf’n’Stuff and Johnny doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They're too old for this shit.
“This is going to be full of teenagers. It will be a nightmare.”
Daniel smirks at him.
“It’s going to be full of teenagers, but I made sure we won’t run into Miguel and Samantha or Robbie and Moon. Plus, this place is a monument to nostalgia. There’s also going to be a multitude of eighties couples.”
“We’re not an eighties couple, LaRusso.”
Daniel hops down the car and gives Johnny his best smile as he shuts his door.
“Are we not, Lawrence?”
Johnny groans before following Daniel, getting lost in the crowd.
They have fun. They play every game available, their competitive nature showing. They make stupid bets and even more stupid jokes and they laugh harder than they have in a while. Johnny ends up winning a giant Teddy Bear for Daniel, the girl holding the stand cooing at them.
“You get me the nicest plush toys, Johnny Lawrence.”
Daniel’s voice is dripping with sarcasm, but it’s a sweet one, not an ounce of malice in it.
“Only the best for the best around, babe.”
And they laugh their head off, remembering the times when they used to pull girls with those lines. Johnny wonders what would his eighteen years old self say if he could see them now, holding hands and sharing candy. He’d probably have a seizure.
They end up at the mini golf, facing off like it's the Augusta's Master or something. When they get to hole nº5, Johnny smirks.
“This is the exact place where I kissed Ali for the first time.”
Daniel whistles at him as he aligns his body in relation to his target.
“Was it your first kiss?”
He aces it. Johnny snorts at him.
“Of course it wasn’t.”
It was and Daniel can see straight through his lie but he doesn’t say. Johnny’s lucky like that.
“Were you ever attracted to a guy back then?”
Johnny frowns, thinking hard about the question, as he practices a baseball grip on the club and gets the ball to go through the little tunnel in front of them.
“I don’t think so. I mean, once the boys found out I could swing both ways they were all convinced I had a fat crush on Bobby, but I didn’t. I’ve always loved Bobby, but I’ve never wanted to kiss him or anything like that.”
Daniel nods as they walk towards the next hole.
“I think I was attracted to you though.”
Daniel’s head shots up, because they’ve never talked about this before. They’ve come close, but they’ve never actually crossed the line.
“Yeah?”
Johnny shrugs, sheepishly.
“I mean, I didn’t know back then. It wasn’t a conscious thing, but how would you explain everything otherwise? Whatever I felt towards you, it was way too intense to be only about an ex girlfriend, even if said ex girlfriend was the great Ali Mills.”
Daniel smirks at him, gripping Johnny’s ass as he walks by.
“What about you?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve ever been attracted to any man but you.”
Daniel says it so casually, like it’s not big deal, but Johnny's knees almost buckle out at the confession.
They end up the game with a tie. 16 strokes each, although if you ask any of them he'll gladly tell you everything about he other had cheated his way through the course and he's the only lawful winner of the whole thing.
They take a stroll then, buying ice cream, chocolate and vanilla so they can each lick a side of the cone until their tongues find each other in the middle. They shuffle around some more until Daniel checks his watch and drags Johnny back to the car.
“Are we in a hurry?”
“We have somewhere else to be.”
Daniel takes them to the drive through cinema Johnny and the cobras used to go to in High School. It was a sacred place for an eighties teenager. It gave you the privacy of a hotel room for a quarter of its price.
“What are we watching?”
“Top Gun is on in about 10 minutes.”
“God, I love you LaRusso.”
“I know. I’m great like that.”
***
They stay to watch a couple more movies afterwards, Grease and The Breakfast Club, while they stuff their faces with popcorn and make out like horny teenagers who don’t have their own home with their own comfy bed in it to do as they please in the privacy of their shared room.
It’s a great night overall, and Johnny snorts mentally at himself. Of course Daniel would be efortlessly good at Valentine's Day. Was there a better gift than to give them the date they never got to enjoy in the eighties?
It's around 11 pm when they get home. They catch a glimpse of Princess when they arrive, running away as they come closer to the house. Kobo takes the exact opposite direction, running to their sides, lapping up the attention.
Daniel asks Johnny to wait for him in the garden while he gets something. He emerges out of the house a few minutes later, a blanket and a couple of beers in his hands. Once Daniel drops the blanket in the garden Johnny can see Daniel had been holding a folder underneath it.
"What's that?"
Daniel looks at him for a couple of seconds, doubt appearing in his shiny brown orbs, and he handles Johnny the folder.
"I don't understand. What's this?"
"It's a lease for a spot at the mall. I think it could be a good place to open a Karate dojo."
Johnny stares at him blankly, no words coming out of his mouth.
"You don't have to go through with it, I only payed a deposit and a month of rent, it's no big deal."
"Are you sure you want me to open a dojo again? Last time I did you freaked out pretty badly if I remember correctly."
"It wasn't against you, okay? It was against Cobra Kai and its fucked up values. We may not share the same outlook on Karate, Johnny, we probably never will, but I respect yours now. I know you're not Kreese nor Terry."
Johnny sighs, looking at the folder he's holding between his hands.
"What if I am though? Some things are difficult to shake, you know that LaRusso."
"You're not. You've learned your lesson. I trust you. If that's the only thing stopping you, I may have a solution."
Johnny's head shots up.
"Do you?"
"I was thinking we could be buiseness partners. You'll give the classes and I'll help you with the management, I could come teach sometimes."
Johnny hums, a smile appearing on its face.
"We could keep each other on his toes."
Daniel smiles at him and Johnny doesn't blame Ali anymore. Who could survive that smile? Come on.
"Shit, how did you manage to turn a fucking lease into something romantic, LaRusso?"
Daniel shrugs and smirks, revealing the Jersey cocky punk he's always been.
"What can I say? I'm fucking awesome at this Valentine's thing."
He drops on the blanket then and Johnny follows, snuggling into him as much as he can 'cause Febrauary's air is cold and chilly even in California sometimes.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for? It’s was a great date! Probably better than any of the ones I had in the eighties.”
Daniel smiles and shakes his head.
“I’m sorry to not have realized you’ve been my Valentine all week long.”
Johnny looks at him then groans.
“Who do I have to kill?”
“Your natural son and the unofficially adopted one.”
Johnny groans harder.
“That’s it. I’m giving Sam and Moon every shameful story I may gather on them.”
Daniel chuckles at that, tipping his head back.
“They were trying to help.”
“No one asked them to. Look, you don’t need to be sorry. It was a fucking disaster.”
“Stop being so hard on yourself. It was not a disaster. Plus, I got Princess and Kobo out of it. It’s been awesome.”
Johnny smirks at him.
“You’re a lost cause.”
“I’m serious, Johnny. No one has ever put that much effort into being my Valentine."
Johnny can feel his cheeks getting redder by the minute.
“What can I say, I was trying.”
“Yeah, and sometimes trying is everything you need to be doing, Lawrence. There’s no trophies in this.”
Daniel’s lips stop talking to move over Johnny’s.
When they stop to breathe, he puts a little box out of his pocket.
“So, you get me a ring but won’t give it to me? What happened to “Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy” Lawrence?”
“Was it Miguel?”
“Nope, it was in your pocket. I got it out when I put your jeans in the washing machine this morning.”
“God, can you stop snooping around? We already had the privacy talk.”
“Sorry”.
Daniel says the word but Johnny can clearly see he doesn’t mean it for a second.
“Asshole.”
He hands the box to Johnny who takes it, immediately handing it back to Daniel.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Daniel.”
Daniel opens the box, gasps as it as if he hadn’t already seen it, and smiles with every white tooth he’s got.
“Thank you, Johnny. It’s such a pretty ring. What does it mean?”
Johnny shrugs at him. “
Whatever you want it to mean.”
Daniel smirks at him, the words he had used on Christmas being thrown right back at him.
“You see, I’m kind of a traditional guy.”
“Are you?”
“Yeah, I don’t do one night stands or that kind of shit. I always date with forever in mind.”
“Hmm, does that mean you want to get married?”
Daniel shrugs feigning indifference, although a smile is already splitting his face.
“Not necessarily, although I wouldn’t say no if the right person asked.”
Johnny smirks, his heart beating faster by the second.
“You’re alright, LaRusso.”
Daniel is full on laughing by then and Johnny can’t help but joining in.
“If I’m marrying someone in this life it has to be you. Would you marry me?”
“Yeah, I’ll marry you Lawrence.”
They’re kissing until Daniel breaks away to whisper into Johnny’s ear.
“You know, the kids told me you prepared seven surprises, but I could only think of six until I decided to clean up our closet.”
Johnny groans.
“I swear it was Amanda’s idea.”
Daniel hums, laughing internally at the idea of his ex wife telling his partner about their sex life.
“I’ve never been the one to wear the candy underwear so I thought I could put it on to celebrate. I mean, my mouth won’t get irritated if you’re the one to eat it.”
Johnny groans at Daniel, getting harder with each word. He had never thought about Daniel’s in a posing pouch made of candy but now that the image was in his head, he'd never think about anything else ever again.
“What about the sheets?”
“There’s an old set I was going to throw away anyway, we could use it one last time. No mess to clean.”
Before he knows it, Daniel is being carried bridal style towards their bedroom as the air carry truthful laughs into the starry night.
Happy Valentine's Day indeed.