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He still hasn’t asked Miyagi the question so instead of doing that while Miyagi cooks them both dinner Daniel drags Johnny out into the yard. Daniel need to center himself and so did Johnny. And maybe he thought he’d get a kick out of watching Johnny fail at something for once in his life.
“Now don’t hate me.” He smiles and easy smile, when did smiling at Johnny become a thing? That’s right, when he found out that smiling at Johnny makes Johnny blush and smile back. “But I really think you could benefit from finding some balance in your life.”
Johnny rolls his eyes but doesn’t contradict what Daniel said so that’s a start.
Daniel starts to go through the motions. He shows Johnny the first move and after some nudging Johnny falls in to copy him. He does it all wrong. So wrong Daniel starts to laugh. He’s all stiff limbed like a robot. Completely misunderstanding the moves. A perfect copy but like a puppet on a string. So Daniel says that.
“Hey!” Johnny’s look at him with some of that old anger and before Daniel can react Johnny shoves him hard. Daniel hits the soft ground with a grunt but he didn’t spend the better half of his last year in high school running away from Johnny and his gang just to be pushed down in his own home. Daniel launches himself back up and lands a punch to the gut. Johnny doubles over and Daniel dances back ready for the next hit.
It doesn’t come.
“Jesus I was just messing with you.” Johnny’s voice comes out a little wheezy as he straightens up. “Come on just show me again Mr. Perfect.”
So Daniel shows him again.
And again.
And every time he corrects Johnny’s stance Johnny lets him. And every time he tells Johnny to move into the next one Johnny does so without a moments hesitation. It’s like he’s under some sort of spell, soaking in every word Daniel says and making himself perfect.
Moulding himself into the perfect student even under a completely different style.
The thought makes Daniel a little sick.
Johnny’s still not really breathing through the motions so Daniel just starts talking, maybe he’ll get it if Daniel tells him all the fascinating history behind Kata.
“Wait, Kata? That’s what we’re doing?”
“Yes.” Daniel arches his eyebrows at Johnny, had the boy really just started following him without knowing what they were doing.
But Johnny’s looking at him with betrayal in his eyes. He’s looking at Daniel like Daniel just told him his favorite pet is dead. He’s looking at Daniel like he’d put all his trust in him and now Daniel’s ruined it. And he doesn’t even know why.
“I don’t do karate anymore.”
“It’s different than Cobra Kai.”
“I don’t want anything to do with karate.”
He half expects Johnny to hit him again but he doesn’t. He just turns and walks away.
By the time Daniel feels like he can face down the other boy without yelling at him his limbs are aching. He’d gone through the motions so many times he lost count. And he was still healing. His knee was on fire but he only stoped when he fell over for the third time and it was agony to get back up.
When he entered the house again he thought Mr. Miyagi’s disappointed look was due to his own actions. Then he looked where the older man was staring. Out in the driveway there was another car and Johnny was walking towards it. He didn’t understand but Daniel forced his legs which felt like jelly to move.
Outside Johnny was strolling purposefully forward and Daniel saw Ducth hop out of the parked car blocking the driveway. Before be could even think he rushed forward putting himself between Dutch and Johnny.
“Um … hey?” Dutch just stared at them both. Daniel swallowed, what he hell is wrong with me?
“You don’t have to worry about me staying here anymore.” Johnny wouldn’t look him in the eyes.
“Yeah we’ve got this sweet va-ca to the Caribbean planed, no need to hang out with dweeby LaRusso all day.” Dutch sneered.
“What the hell Johnny?” Daniel turned to him anger filling him. “Why did you beg to stay here if you had this planed all along?” It’s harsh, way to harsh, and he’s not even mad at Johnny he’s mad at himself for thinking Johnny could be anything but a bully from the hills. For a moment Johnny opens his mouth and looks at Daniel like he’s going to apologize. Instead he says.
“Thanks for the offer twerp but I’ve got better things to do.”
And just like that Johnny Lawrence brushes past him and walks out of Daniel’s life.
It wasn’t safe to stay with Daniel if he was just going to treat him like Kreese did. And he knew he couldn’t stay even if he wanted to. And god did he want to. He wanted to learn kata and let Daniel wash away all his cobra training. He wanted to be perfect, he wanted to be liquid for Daniel to shape him.
But he couldn’t ask that of the other boy.
He couldn’t ask that of Mr. Miyagi.
He’d asked in a moment of weakness and they’d both said he could stay, but that had been the Johnny who was crying in Daniel’s arms. He knew crying like that was a pussy move, it was a manipulation. Crocodile tears, Sid had called them after he first hit Johnny. It hadn’t even hurt that much and Johnny was just crying to make him stop. That’s what he’d done to Daniel and his sensei. He’d made them pity him so he could stay.
They wouldn’t want Johnny after they saw the real him.
So he’d called Dutch. And Dutch had called a friend. And a friend had called a friend. The job was in Utah of all places. No oceans there. No sleeping on beaches when things got too rough at home. No midnight swims. Just work. But good work, cars. He knew a lot about them, nothing about fixing them, but he was a quick study. He knew how to let someone teach him. How to let them guide him.
He’d told Dutch to make up the whole wild summer vacation story and bless him the other boy had listened for once in his life. Maybe he couldn’t stand knowing what Daniel would think of him if he knew. He’d already told Daniel too much, told him more in two days than he’d ever said to anyone else.
Johnny knew there would be questions, he could practically see them bubbling up in Dutch as they both retreated to their cars. Johnny didn’t look back, he didn’t want to see the look on Daniel’s face. Would he be angry, annoyed, disappointed? Probably relived. Johnny decided.
As he slipped into the front seat of the Avanti Dutch leaned in the window.
“You’re letting me buy you dinner first.”
“It’s fine.” Johnny smiled even as his stomach twisted at the thought of a jerky dinner after everything delicious Miyagi had made him.
“And you’re crashing at my place before you head off.”
“I can drive through the night.”
“What did I just say Mr. Lawrence?”
Johnny’s face went ashen. Dutch looked apologetic. They knew. All the Cobra’s knew Johnny’s greatest weakness. And sometimes they slipped up. Sometimes Bobby would order him to come home after a night of drinking when he knew Johnny wouldn’t resist, Johnny would hate him in the morning for taking advantage of that and Bobby would hate himself but as long as Johnny was safe he’d do it again in a heart beat. Sometimes Tommy would jokingly say ‘get me a beer’ and everyone would watch in horror a Johnny jumped to obey. Jimmy would jokingly suggest Johnny should pay for the whole table and Johnny would find himself drawing out his wallet without a second thought even though Sid would probably beat him bloody if he overdrew his account again.
Utah would be better. In Utah no one would know that Johnny Lawrence always followed orders.
He didn’t look in his rearview mirror as he pulled out. He didn’t see Daniel’s sad face just watching him. He didn’t keep glancing back as the house faded away. No, not Johnny, he didn’t do any of those things because that would mean the image of Daniel LaRusso standing on Mr. Miyagi’s pouch fighting back tears would haunt him for the next thirty years.