chapter seventeen, you drew stars around my scars

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          Izzy didn't know what she expected her day to start off as, but having Johnny Lawrence somehow convince Kayla to let Izzy off the hook early, was the one thing she wasn't expecting. He needed her help, because he had a plan to get Miguel and Robby to get along once his first plan didn't work out so well.

          Her job was easy: keep Miguel occupied while Johnny was done with some escape game he planned out thoroughly (and did plenty of research on, his words). It was awkward, because this has been the Sensei from her rival dojo, but it sort of felt nice that he wanted her to help in some way.

          Once they got to the complex, Johnny went to his apartment to make sure Robby was in his room and he could start setting everything up. Izzy wandered over to the door to the Diaz apartment, knocking on the door. She waited a few seconds before it swung open, revealing Miguel standing there and he smiled once he saw Izzy's face.

          "Hey," Miguel greeted, letting Izzy walk in before he closed the door. "Oh! I watched She's the Man last night, I remembered it was your favorite movie and I've never seen it so.." He rambled on, feeling his heart begin to race when she took hold of his hand and guided him over to the couch.

          Izzy smiled to herself, turning to face Miguel as she sat down on the couch, and sat down beside her. "You remembered that?" She asked. Ethan couldn't even remember her favorite color.

          "Uh, yeah. You told me the day you asked me about fake dating. I remember you said you have a fear of thunderstorms too." Miguel confessed, his body and face turned to look at the girl.

"I remember you making fun of that fear." Izzy joked, a small smile appearing on her lips.

          Miguel smiled for a second and he looked like he had something to say, he seemed hesitant, but then he finally spoke up. "Um, so I was thinking.. we've never really been on a date yet." Miguel thought out loud, his eyes on Izzy who stared at him.

          "Would you like to go on a date?" Izzy then asked.

          Miguel smiled, laughing a little bit, because that's what he was going to ask her. "I'd love to." He answered her.

"Did you have something in mind?" She asked out of curiosity.

"You remember, uh, at Nina's party? You asked me if I liked to stargaze, so I was thinking we could stargaze. We could do other things, if you want." Miguel explained and his words just made her smile.

She's aware remembering things should be the bare minimum of a boyfriend, but when her first boyfriend didn't care much about who she was and what she liked, it sort of sets the bar low. Miguel seemed to raise the bar to an unreachable level, at least to Izzy he has, even when he was a fake boyfriend and long before either of them fell for the other.

Izzy didn't want to let him go, ever. Miguel is the boy her dad would've loved, and that meant a lot more to Izzy than she'd like to admit. Who knew an unexpected love could make her feel so much in such a short time?

"I'd really like that," Izzy told him, but her eyebrows furrowed, "What 'other things' do you want to do?" She had a tempted look on her face, like this was a trick question for Miguel.

         A smile tugged at the corner of Miguel's lips. "I can show you." He shrugged, not giving time for Izzy to respond before he was pulling her face towards his and kissed her.

Izzy couldn't help but smile the moment their lips met, moving closer to the boy who pulled her on top of him, so the girl was straddling him. Neither of them broke the kiss, Izzy's arms coming up to wrap around his neck, but then Izzy quickly pulled away to look down at him.

          "What about your–"

         "My mom's at work. I'm pretty sure my Yaya is smoking a joint somewhere." Miguel answered, already knowing what she was going to ask, and he reconnected their lips.

As they kissed, Miguel's hands rested on her hips, but the moment didn't last too long because it was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. They both pulled away, letting out a sigh as Izzy moved off of Miguel and stood up from the couch as he went to go open the door.

Izzy walked over to see Johnny at the door, but the man guided the two across to his apartment. "You can relax, Robby isn't home if that's what you're worried about." Johnny reassured Miguel as they entered.

          They observed Johnny's apartment and Izzy furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed beer can boxes taped to the walls and it blocked off the hallway, acting like two doors. There was a piece of cardboard on the wall above it that had 'JAIL' written on it. Johnny walked through the makeshift doors and down his hallway, knocking on a door. He came back a few seconds later, but Robby was trailing behind him.

         "You literally just said he wasn't here." Miguel stated, looking over at Johnny.

Johnny shrugged. "I lied again. Not my fault you fell for it twice."

A sigh left Izzy's mouth as she pointed to the decorations that Johnny seemed to have made. "What even is this?" She questioned.

"I did some interneting and found some strategies for building trust and teamwork through cooperative exercises. The least lame one is called an escape room. How it works–"

Robby cut his dad off, "I know what an escape room is. I'm not doing it." He refused.

          "Yeah, that goes double for me." Miguel agreed, looking over at Izzy that told her he wanted to go, so he turned to go and open the door, but it didn't open.

          "I reversed the doorknobs. It's locked from the inside. And this is the only key." Johnny announced, holding up a gold key in his hand. They all watched as he put it in the sink and then flicked on the garbage disposal.

          Izzy's face dropped when she heard the metal clanking around, but Johnny wasn't done yet. "Glued the windows shut too. No one's getting out unless you work together." Johnny explained to the two boys.

         "You do realize you trapped me in here too, right?" Izzy spoke up, but Johnny gestured his hand at her like she was going to be fine.

          Johnny then went on to describe whatever theme this escape room was that he made. Izzy couldn't help but roll her eyes when Miguel called Johnny out for just copying the plot of a movie he had forgotten he saw with Miguel. The girl moved to sit in one of the chairs at the dining table, watching this scene before her.

          "You could lock us in here forever, and we're never gonna be friends." Robby told his dad.

          "Why are you suddenly pushing this so hard?" Miguel asked out of curiosity.

Johnny hesitated for a second. "Because me and your mom.. we're all sort of on our way to becoming a family."

Izzy watched Miguel get angry at his words, his voice got louder as he spoke. "A family? Me and him? Are you joking?" Miguel made it sound like it was the worst possible thing in the world.

"Maybe not the traditional kind–"

Robby cut Johnny off. "No! Not any kind. You two have your thing, whatever. Keep forcing this, all you'll do is get his ass kicked." Robby gestured to Miguel.

Izzy's eyebrows shot up at his words, sitting up in her seat as her eyes trailed to Miguel who just seemed to get angrier at his words. Miguel took a step toward Robby, "Ready when you are, runner-up." The Diaz boy told him.

          "Name the time and place," Robby shrugged, his eyes on Miguel.

          There was a knock on the door, and then it opened and Miguel's Yaya walked in wearing some sort of costume. Izzy's eyebrows furrowed when the woman waltzed in, "I am Billy the Kid, and I have a riddle for you." She spoke, having to read off her hand to remember what she had to say.

         Izzy let out a sigh, noticing how pissed-off and upset Miguel was right now, so once she realized the door was wide open, Izzy got up and grabbed Miguel's hand. She guided him back to his apartment where he didn't waste a second to start complaining the moment they got inside his home.

"Who does he even think he is? I–I don't even want to be friends with Robby and–and he expects us to act like some sort of family?" Miguel rambled on as Izzy followed him back to his room.

Izzy didn't say anything as she shut his bedroom door, but Miguel continued rambling on, complaining about this situation. "It just makes me so mad. He–he isn't even thinking about how I feel about this. Did you know he was doing this?" The words poured out of Miguel's mouth as he turned to look at his girlfriend.

          She could easily lie right now, but Izzy would feel guilty if she did. "He told me he wanted you guys to get along–" Izzy watched him scoff and roll his eyes, "But I didn't know he was going to do all of that." Izzy finished, her eyes on Miguel as he shook his head.

          "Hey," Izzy sighed, grabbing his hands and pulling him to the bed, "I'm sorry–"

           "No, please don't say that. None of this was your fault. I just–" Miguel huffed, trying to cool himself down, his eyes on the floor as they sat next to each other on the edge of the bed.

          He felt Izzy's hand come up to move his face so that he was looking at her. She could still see the anger in his eyes despite how much Miguel tried to act like he was starting to cool off. He really wanted to distract himself, so Miguel leaned in to kiss Izzy, and he just deepened the kiss when he felt the girl kiss him back.

          The kiss turned heated in seconds when Miguel pushed Izzy back to where she was laying back on his bed and he hovered over her. Izzy quickly put the pieces together what Miguel wanted to do and she wasn't going to complain, instead, a smile formed on her lips.

          Miguel broke the deep kiss after a few seconds though, his hands roaming down Izzy's body to where her shorts were at. He went to go unbutton them, but Izzy went to stop him when an idea came to her head. "Wait–" She muttered, watching Miguel's eyes meet with hers and he looked worried.

Izzy quickly switched their positions to where Miguel was laying back and she was straddling him. She reconnected their lips for a quick kiss, but Miguel held her face when he felt her go to pull away, just to keep kissing her for a few more seconds. She eventually pulled away, but her hands found the button of his jeans.

          The boy didn't stop her, and instead helped Izzy take his jeans off. Miguel sat up a little bit and kissed her again, but Izzy whispered against his lips. "Are you sure this is fine?" She asked.

"Yes. Totally. One hundred percent." Miguel smiled, kissing her once more to give her extra reassurance.

"Good," Izzy grinned, "Lay back down." She muttered to the boy.

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Being interrupted by a very loud and very annoying air horn blaring outside was not Miguel or Izzy's favorite thing. So, it was natural when they walked out to see Johnny standing in the middle of the small apartment complex, they weren't all too happy to see him. It made Miguel mad again after he just got over what Johnny pulled earlier.

Robby exited out of Johnny's apartment, clearly annoyed as well. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Yeah, I have better things to do." Miguel sighed, "If you're just trying to–"

"Quiet!" Johnny cut the boy off, his voice loud. "You wanna hang on to your grudge? Fine. At least be men about it. Put your fists where your mouths are." Johnny explained, looking in between the two boys.

Izzy let out an uneasy laugh. "Wait, you want them to fight?" She asked, looking up at Miguel and then over at Robby.

"No points. No mats." Johnny nodded, "Keep fighting til you get it off your systems." He explained.

          Miguel was quick to speak up. "What, here? Now?"

          "It's a time, this is a place. Unless that was just talk?" Johnny questioned.

          The Diaz boy just glared over at Robby. "Not for me." Miguel stated.

          Izzy let out a sigh the moment Robby shrugged and said, "Or me." This was either going to go end horribly or somehow work out, Izzy was hoping for everyone's sake, it would be the latter.

She shared a look with Miguel, telling him to be careful before she backed away towards Johnny and watched both Miguel and Robby get in their starting positions to fight. Izzy was nervous watching them begin, and it took Johnny having to provoke them to get the two boys to get angry.

Izzy watched Miguel kick Robby in the face, causing his nose to bleed, and Izzy smiled to herself for a split second, silently proud of Miguel. She anxiously brought her hand up, biting down on her nail as she watched the fight grow more aggressive. She winced the moment Robby kicked Miguel's leg, the boy landing hard on his back.

Izzy quickly glanced over at Johnny who had the same cringed expression, knowing that it must've hurt Miguel. She let out a sigh, realizing Johnny was letting this keep going and the girl looked back at the two boys fighting.

Although Robby and Izzy weren't that close, mostly because she didn't like him for conceited reasons, he seemed to really care about Izzy. If you asked Robby, he saw right through Izzy and knew what it was like to constantly try and go unnoticed. In this case, that was with Cobra Kai. They were also the only two who left Cobra Kai after the all Valley, so they seemed to have the same mindset.

Miguel had gotten a few good hits and kicks in, but Robby seemed to be getting just as aggressive, because after kicking Miguel in the side, Robby kicked him through the door that led to the stairwell.

"Oh shit." Izzy murmured.

"Hey! Stairwell's out of bounds!" Johnny called out, but the two boys ignored his voice and ended up fighting on the balcony of the second floor. "Alright, that's it. Fights over!"

Izzy watched as Miguel punched Robby in the face and it escalated very quickly, even after Johnny tried to get them to stop and Izzy stayed silent out of fear. But the moment Izzy saw Robby on the railing, taking punches from Miguel who seemed too far gone with the grip he had on Robby's shirt.

"Miguel!" Izzy shouted, her head quickly turning to Johnny. "Go do something!" She rushed the man who cursed under his breath, running past Izzy and to the stairwell.

As much as Izzy wanted to go up there, she knew she wasn't the one to finish it. Miguel let out a frustrated yell, nearly pushing Robby over the railing until he didn't. Miguel showed mercy, taking a step back away from Robby. A deep sigh left Izzy's lips, feeling relieved that this didn't end how Izzy thought it would.

           And what she least expected was to hear Johnny announce that he was having a baby with Miguel's mom, so he was serious when he mentioned them becoming a family earlier. It was also nice, and very surprising, to see Miguel and Robby put the past behind them.

          Miguel tried to get Izzy to stay for dinner, because it was going to be his family, Johnny, and Robby, and Miguel wanted Izzy there too. She didn't stay, though, because Izzy felt like she was intruding, so she said her goodbyes and went back home.

          The moment she got home, Izzy assumed Kayla was hidden away in her room and Izzy went straight to her own room, closing the door and falling onto her bed.

These past few days without Cobra Kai felt refreshing, she could finally be with Miguel without worrying about Cobra Kai. But Izzy sort of felt lost. Not having someone guiding her, or having someone to look up to, it was hard. She needed a Sensei to remind her to keep fighting, to remind her that she was doing just fine.

          And Izzy really didn't want a Sensei that paid for her to win to be that for her. That was why she took the Cobra Kai poster down, because was she really a champion? Did she deserve it? Izzy even thought for a split second that Sam could've easily won, but it disappeared quickly. All Izzy could do was hope that Cobra Kai continued to keep their distance from her, and vice versa.

          An hour or two had to have passed of Izzy just laying in bed, thinking and watching a movie on her laptop. The second she heard something outside of her window was when Izzy quickly sat up and went over to where her windows were. She drew back the curtains, a smile coming across her face when she saw Miguel, even though she was expecting to see him.

          Izzy pushed open the window, looking down at her boyfriend. "Is this our thing now? You showing up at my window at almost midnight?" She spoke quietly, but loud enough for the two.

          The boy smiled at her words, "I was going to use the front door, but I didn't know if you or your sister were asleep." Miguel explained.

"You could've texted me." Izzy brought up, but Miguel made a face like that wasn't an option for him.

"That would've ruined the surprise," Miguel told her.

Izzy furrowed her eyebrows. "Surprise?"

Miguel placed his hand out for Izzy to take, indicating he wanted her to leave her room. Izzy didn't hesitate to place her hand in his, the boy helping her out of the window. Izzy let out a quiet life when she nearly lost her balance, Miguel was quick to try and keep her up, smiling to himself when he heard her laugh.

She closed the window and Miguel's hand intertwined with hers, pulling her away from the window to her room and to the stairwell that led up to the roof of her apartment complex. Izzy wanted to question him and ask why they were going up to the roof, but Miguel said it was a surprise, and she didn't want to try and ruin it.

          When they got up to the roof, Izzy noticed a blanket laid down on the ground with two pillows on it. Izzy smiled to herself as they got closer and then she looked over at Miguel. "You came all the way here this late to do our date?" She asked him.

Miguel shrugged, smiling a little bit as his eyes flickered to the sky and then back at Izzy. "Yeah, I–I thought tonight was good. Come on," he pulled her over and onto the blanket, both of them laying beside each other as they stared at the star-filled sky.

It normally would've made Izzy sad, because of how much she used to do this with her dad and her sister, but laying here next to Miguel felt right. Everything with Miguel felt right and Izzy didn't want to let that go.

"So, you and Robby are cool now?" Izzy spoke up, her eyes glancing over at him, and he looked over at her too.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're cool now. It's a little weird, but it feels nice. He said he's changing and I–I believe him." Miguel explained, seeing Izzy smile softly at his words.

          "That's good," the girl whispered, her eyes going back to the sky.

          Miguel let out a quiet sigh. "Anyway, enough about Robby," he said with a light laugh, then pointing at a bundle of stars. "Do you know what that is?" He asked, testing her knowledge of the constellations.

          "Easy. Orion." Izzy answered, smiling over at the boy who seemed impressive, because he didn't even know that. She pointed at a different constellation, "Do you know that one?" She asked him.

The boy stared at the constellation and let out a deep sigh. He knew he was going to be wrong, but Miguel still answered. "Uh, Big Dipper?" He took a wild guess, turning his head to look at Izzy, who let out a quiet laugh.

"It's Cassiopeia." Izzy corrected him, talking in a whisper.

Miguel let out a laugh, making a face at the girl like he was just messing around. "Oh, yeah. I totally knew that." He told the girl, a small smile on his lips.

          Another laugh came from Izzy as her eyes shifted back to look at the sky. She felt Miguel's hand move to rest on top of intertwining their fingers, all it did was make Izzy's heart feel like it was about to beat out of her chest. They both still got extremely nervous at the little touches, because they told the three words both of them wanted to say desperately to each other.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Izzy finally spoke up, "My dad would have really liked you." She admitted to Miguel who looked over at the girl.

Miguel propped himself up on his elbows, keeping his eye on the girl. "Really?" He had a hint of a smile on his lips.

Izzy kept her head laying on the pillow, looking up at Miguel who stared down at her. She nodded, smiling a little bit. "Really. He–he hated the idea of me having a boyfriend. I didn't date a single boy until Ethan a few months ago. A part of me felt guilty for dating Ethan after my dad died, but.." Izzy trailed off, her eyes shifting to the stars as a sigh left her mouth, "You're different. I feel like if he was still here, he wouldn't want me to break up with you."

The confession that fell from Izzy's lips just made Miguel's smile grow. Was this her way of saying she wasn't going to leave Miguel? He didn't know, but it made Miguel feel good. Happy. It made him happy knowing that the girl he didn't want to lose, she didn't want to go anywhere. She wasn't planning on it either.

Miguel had the urge to say it again, I love you. He caught himself before he even spoke up, not knowing if it was too early or not. In the few months they have been together, they've seen each other at their worsts and their bests, and that was something neither of them wanted to give up on.

All Miguel could do was smile at his girlfriend before he spoke, "Well, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay." He whispered to her.

A bright smile appeared on Izzy's face at his words, but then she raised her pinky to him, Miguel's eyes looking at her hand as a laugh left his mouth. Just as Miguel wrapped his pinky around hers and that was when Izzy used her other hand to rest on the back of his neck, pulling his face closer to hers to kiss him and there was no hesitation as he kissed back.

As they lay there, under the stars, neither of them really knew what was going to happen tomorrow or next week or month, but neither of them cared. They promised they were going to stay. But if there was one thing about Miguel and Izzy, they weren't the best at keeping their promises.

They promised to not fall in love, and now look at them. Maybe their promise to stay was the start of their downfall, and they were going in blind.

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authors note.
ahhh i didn't really vibe with this chapter but i hope you guys enjoyed it!! there was some foreshadowing in here and it hurts me </3

next chapter is going to have a LOT of shit going down, i'm warning y'all now. it's going to be a roller coaster

( gif made by saevrz )