SEVENTEEN
and i love you...

❪ tw: strong language, mentions of violence, and mentions of blood ❫

COBRA KAI
(season 3, ep 6)
part two

IT WAS THE NEXT day at school and when Scarlett went home that night she told Cleo and Moon what happened and had a short conversation with Tory. Her and Tory were always together when they were still friends and it felt good to talk to her again even if it was only for a few minutes.

She was just talking to Moon and as she was walking back to her locker, towards the front of the school—she caught a glimpse of Doni through the glass doors. Doni noticed the familiar wavy hair through the glass before he walked in. Scarlett turned around, opening her locker. Minutes later he was standing next to her.

"Hey." Doni greeted as he leaned against the locker next to her. Scarlett moved the locker door and looked to her right and a small smile grew on her face. "Hey." Scarlett sent him a smile and it went silent, just the voices of the hundred of other students were heard.

     "We can talk about it if you want to." Scarlett looked back over at him. "How about we talk about it at golf n stuff? Tonight." Doni slightly tilted his head. "Are you trying to ask me out on a date, Perez?" Scarlett smirked. "I guess I'm really bad at it." Doni chuckled. "You're not."
"If you don't want to I get it. And if you think that kiss was a mistake—" Doni started before Scarlett cut him off. "You talk a lot." Scarlett shut her locker door. "Just nervous."

"Well, I kind of have a lot going on today. Johnny is still trying to make Miguel stand and Miguel isn't in the best mood so he doesn't want to be alone. And Tory is coming over for a little bit." Scarlett explained. "You're talking to Tory again?" Doni's eyebrow quirked up. "Yeah but she just wants to talk that's why she's coming over. I just kinda feel like if we do become friends again it would make everyone mad. Like you, Miguel—and Demetri."

     "I'm not mad. Why would I? You can be friends with whoever you want no one should drag you for that. You and Tory were like inseparable once you got close."
"Are you just saying that because you're hoping I'll let you kiss me again?" Scarlett asked which made Doni dramatically gasp. "No..." Doni said while nodding which made Scarlett push him.

"That was a joke." He put his arms up in surrender. "I'll see you in class." Scarlett started to walk away but she stopped for a second and turned around. "And we can still go to Golf n Stuff let's just take things slow and not put any labels on it?"
"Yeah, I'm fine with that."

     TORY FACED SCARLETT as she sat in her desk chair and Scarlett sat across from her in the bed. As of right now, it was silent. Crickets. "Talking in real life is definitely way harder than talking on the phone." Scarlett tapped her finger against her knee. "Yeah. I don't know where to start."

"Do you regret it?" Scarlett asked. "The fight, I mean."
"It's literally my biggest regret. I messed everything up. And I don't think I can fix it anymore." Tory leaned back in the chair. "Miguel hates me doesn't he?" She asked. "If he did he would feel a lot better. He knew kissing Sam was a mistake. He pushed her away. But he feels really guilty." Tory listened to her words but she honestly didn't want to talk about Miguel right now so she didn't respond.

     "So how are you? After everything with Hawk. He told me." Tory stood up and sat next to her. "I'm really trying to be okay. But I think I'm faking it. At first, I thought I could get over it quicker because in my head it was a little crush but it was more than that." Scarlett shrugged.
"He really feels like shit." Tory mentioned. "Some days I do too. And I'm really scared."
"Why?"
"Don't tell him."
"I won't. You know me."

     "I just felt so strongly about him. I still do." Scarlett finally made eye contact with her. "Do you think it's love? Because I think you loved him." Tory questioned.

"I don't know what that type of love feels like." Scarlett sighed. "I always saw love as this thing that could just go horribly wrong and what if this is just a bad teen romance movie. The audience is waiting for these people to be together but they end up falling apart. And like most teen romance movies, the couple is happy in the end or one of them like dies but they end up showing the ending in this beautiful way and it's like they'll always be with them." Scarlett explained.

"And it's actually kind of like that. One of us didn't physically die but he changed and we left each other but I don't know if he can change. He's kind of been like this for a while it just got worse."

"He did something that made me see a completely different side of him and it was a little shocking," Tory said as she started to remember the moment. "This recruit came in the other day. And we're doing what we normally do with new people and Kreese told one of them to come to the mat and Hawk immediately wanted to fight him."

"He beat the shit out of him. Like once he got him to the ground he wouldn't stop punching him. The guy was bleeding and he just didn't stop and no one was trying to stop him. Then when he actually did stop he spit on him." Scarlett's eyes widened at her words but she was really confused. Why would he do all that to someone he didn't really know? "What did the guy look like?" Scarlett asked. "Blonde curly hair. Kind of fat. Really douchey."

"Brucks..." Scarlett trailed off, nodding. "It might be one of the guys who used to bully him. They're assholes, they deserve it."

     "I'm just so confused about everything like my mind feels like a fucking maze." Scarlett fell back onto her bed. "Are you okay?" Tory laid down beside her. "Yeah. I'm um...I'm in therapy and...AA."
"What?" Tory quickly turned her head towards her. "When did—" Tory began. "A while ago. Way before we met. It all helps though."

She told Tory everything. And now they were laughing together again and Scarlett loved every second of it. Scarlett was one of Tory's first friends that she actually could say she had love for. They really cared for each other.

      "YOU'RE HERE EARLY." Johnny's voice was heard after Scarlett walked through his front door. Miguel wasn't even here yet. "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you," Scarlett said as she walked towards the couch and sat down. "About what?" Johnny sat down next to her.

"After the school fight it was so hard to even think about doing karate again and I know you didn't want to teach anymore but...a few days ago I started training myself."
"But it would be better if I had a Sensei again."

"Are you asking me to keep training you?" Johnny asked. "Yes. But I totally get it if you don't want to—"
"What did I say I'll always be?"
"My Sensei."
"So, what do you think the answer is?"
"Thank you." Scarlett hugged him tightly which made a smile grow on Johnny's face. "Hey, I may not want to run an entire dojo but, anything for you."

...

     "FOCUS!" Johnny pulled the rope, lifting Miguel off of the floor. Scarlett stood in front of them, her arms crossed. "Come on, this is worse than yesterday! You aren't trying. What's the problem? You saw your ex. Big deal."
"Big deal? Dude, look at you. We spent all day doing bullshit for your ex, making you look like someone you're not. At least I told my ex how things really were!" Miguel snapped at him.

     "Okay, are you done with your little hissy fit or are you just giving up?"
"No, you are." Miguel mumbled, anger laced in his voice. "What'd you say?" Johnny asked. "Shit..." Scarlett trailed off, noticing Miguel's angry expression. "You're the one giving up." Miguel's raised his voice. "I don't know—" Johnny began to talk. "Quiet!" Miguel yelled which made both of them jump.

     "You let Kreese take your dojo. You let Hawk, Tory, and everyone else think you're weak."
"Because it was a mistake to begin with. I shouldn't have brought back Cobra Kai, look what happened." Johnny argued.

     "What happened is you helped people
then walked away like a pussy." Miguel seethed. Scarlett looked down for a second and her eyes widened at Miguel's feet touching the ground. "Holy shit. Miguel..." Scarlett spoke but he ignored her. "You're a sensei. It's who you are.
If you can't see that, you're blind." Scar started to slap Johnny's arm and he gave her a look. She pointed at Miguel's feet and shock rushed through Johnny's body. "Miguel..." Johnny said staring down at the floor. "What?" Miguel looked over. "Look." Scarlett pointed.

     "Am I doing it?" Miguel's expression turned from anger to excitement as he stared down at his legs. "Hell yeah, you're doing it!" Scarlett jumped up with a smile on her face. "Holy shit! I'm doing it." Miguel smiled, tears lining all of their eyes. "You're doing it!" Johnny wrapped his arms around Miguel. "Thank you."
"No, thank you. Thank you both." Johnny looked at the two kids. "Get in here." He held his arm out and Scarlett quickly placed herself in the hug.

     SCARLETT SAT IN BED, replaying the video she took of Miguel standing. She posted it along with a picture of him on Instagram an hour ago and captioned it "look who's standing!" and suddenly a notification popped up at the top of her screen.

     justhawk_ liked your post.

     They never blocked or unfollowed each other on anything. They didn't even block each other's numbers. But this was the first time she's even taken one look at his social media since they stopped talking.

     justhawk_ commented: proud of him❤️

     Scarlett just stared at it and slowly felt herself getting a little nostalgic. She just missed him. As much as she just wanted to forget she couldn't. But before she started to get upset she just liked the comment and switched apps.

...

    AS HE LAID in his bed, the red strands of hair covering a section of his eye, the room dim, and the phone screen brightening up his face, he stared at the text message. The message he wrote to Scarlett. He wanted to send it more than anything. His thumb hovered over the send button before an Instagram notification popped up.

     scar.cross liked your comment: proud of him❤️

     He was scared shitless to do this. He pressed his thumb against the send button and quickly took his phone off and placed it on the nightstand.

     hawk: i feel like complete shit. i know you don't want to hear it but i'm really sorry. words can't describe how sorry i am. you can ignore this or hate me forever but i just want you to know that i miss you. and i love you.
message failed to send

a/n: ty soo much for 30k! i love you guys sm. i also started to make a miguel fic so look forward to that