THIRTEEN.
( I'll spoil the surprise, take my hands off of your eyes. )

"I miss him a lot, you know?"

Daniel gasped and jumped around. "Emmy?"

She gave a strained smile, and a small wave. "Dad. I see you are officially cleaning the place up. Looks nice."

He just looked at her in shock. "What are you ⎯ what are you doing home? Are you ⎯ " He looked down at the bag on her shoulder. "Are you coming back?"

She laughed at his assumption. "Yeah, no. I'm just here to grab some more clothes because I didn't bring enough last time. But, just thought I'd stop by, say hi, and see how life without me is doing."

Daniel thickly swallowed, looking at the photo of Mr. Miyagi on the wall. "You were always his favorite."

Her lips pulled into a thin line, arms crossed over her chest. "I know."

He went to speak again, but Emmy walked away and into the main part of the house. She didn't see her mom sitting at the dining table with her laptop open so she guessed she was still at the dealership.

She slowly tread through the house, looking around her. It felt weird being back. I mean, she grew up here. This was her forever home. But she could have not felt more like a stranger.

Emmy shook off her depressing thoughts, forcing her feet to move faster and down the long hallway where her room sat at the very end. And as soon as she stepped foot into her bedroom, and inhaled a deep breath, she noticed something.

Her room was clean. As in no dust or spider webs clean. She walked in further, eyes looking over the white walls and her bed. Even her bed was made. She never made her bed.

"I've been cleaning it while you're gone."

She let out a small scream, whipping around and faced the door. "Anthony! Jesus, you scared me."

He just grinned, rushing forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I've missed you, Emmy."

She sadly smiled down at him, ruffling his long hair. "I missed you too, kiddo. Hope things haven't been too bad while I've been gone."

She heard Anthony sigh and felt him pull away. "Mom talks about you all the time, about trying to get you to come back, but dad tells her to give you time, that the last thing you would want is to be forced somewhere you don't wanna be."

Emmy frowned. Wow, Daniel got something right for once. "And what about you? How have you been?"

Anthony looked up at her, his lips pulled into a slight pout. "Boring! It's no fun making fun of Sam all by myself. You always backed me up."

She chuckled, get on her knees so that they were level. "Those were pretty fun, huh?"

"My best memories! When are you gonna come back?"

Emmy sighed, grabbing one of his hands. "I don't know, Ant. There are a lot of things going on, and it might take awhile to sort them out."

"How long?"

"I don't know," she repeated, catching his sad face. "Hey...It's not like I'm gonna be gone forever. I will come back. Just not now. But I promise that I will. Okay?"

"Okay," he nodded before throwing his arms around her neck, stuffing his face into her hair.

Emmy sighed, comfortingly rubbing his back while feeling her eyes tear up.

Anthony had always been her safe space. Her little brother was someone she cherished more than anyone. He was the person she loved most. Some would find it weird that she had such an emotional connection to her little brother, but Emmy knew that she would give up everything for him.

She sucked in a breath, quickly wiping her tears and pulled away. "I have to get some stuff, alright? Can't stay for long."

"Okay," Anthony said sadly, watching her get to her feet. "Are you gonna visit again?"

"For you? Of course," she ruffled his hair once more, making him laugh. "Okay, go play some videos games or something."

He nodded, rushing out of the room. Emmy let out a deep breath, opening her closet and throwing in whatever could fit into her bag. This was just as hard to do as the first time. But she just wanted to get in and out of there.

She practically sprinted out of her room and managed to open the door before, "Emmy?"

She let out a loud groan, turning around. "Hey."

But then she saw Robby next to her sister, and straighten her back, turning more genuine. "Hey."

"Hey," he said back, giving a wave.

Sam looked at them oddly. "Emmy, what are you doing back?"

"Just came to get some clothes. I'll be going now," she gave a sarcastic smile, and stepped one foot out of the front door.

"Wait!" Sam stopped her. "Don't you wanna stay a little longer?"

Emmy scoffed, narrowing her eyes at her. "Who the hell do you think I am?" And then she slammed the door.

✸

Emmy stood tense as she stared at Johnny's closed office door.

She wasn't pissed at Robby for being his son, he couldn't control that. But she was pissed that her sensei made it seem like he was mad for any other reason. He made them all look like fools.

"What do you think?"

Hawk's voice brought her back, and she turned to him. "What?"

"Nicknames," he answered, looking down at her with knitted eyebrows. "What's wrong with you? Your head's been everywhere but here."

"Nothing," Emmy rolled back her shoulders with a sigh. "And tell me why we can't just use their real names? Nicknames are so hard to remember."

"What about Shithead One and Shithead Two?" Hawk suggested, hand on his chin and he glanced at her. "They're always together, should be easy to remember."

She rolled her eyes. "Then just call them Thing 1 and Thing 2 at this point. No need for Shithead."

"I was thinking more Mary-Kate and Asshat," Aisha joined in, her and Hawk laughing.

Emmy looked to her left, seeing Bert laughing along as well. She then pulled out her phone, and handed it to him. "This is adult business. Go play."

He took her phone like a kid in a candy store, rushing away to a corner.

"Sometimes I forget he's the same age as Anthony," Emmy muttered, shaking her head.

"Well, I'm Chris ⎯ "

"Did I say you could speak?"

"Quit it!" Emmy hit his shoulder in a scolding manner.

"Guys, look, they're just messing with you," Miguel said in amusement as he walked into the conversation. "Besides, everyone knows your names are Assface and Douchebag."

"And that is enough of this topic," Emmy stepped forward, shoving Miguel with a laugh that he returned. "Your names are Chris and Mitch but I don't know how far that's gonna go."

"It's okay!" Mitch immediately reassured her. "You're the champ and you know our names. That's all that matters."

She gave him a look of surprise, eyebrows raised. "Wow, okay. Cool."

"Looks like someone has a little crush," Miguel whispered lowly into her ear.

She immediately swatted him away, feeling the heat creep up her neck. "Shut up."

Suddenly, the bell by the door rang and they all adverted their eyes to the door. The older man held a bag, and looked like he had a permanent smolder.

"And now I'm scared," Emmy took a step back, grabbing onto Hawk's arm.

Miguel moved to the side to speak to the man, and Emmy grew more frightened. "What if he's violent?"

Hawk turned to her with a weird look. "Then why would he go to a karate dojo?"

"I don't know. People do stupid things," Emmy replied, eyes staying on Miguel and the old guy as her grip on Hawk's arm tightened.

"Cutting off my circulation there," he pried her fingers off of him. "Stop worrying about your little boyfriend."

Emmy took a sharp inhale of air, harshly nudging his stomach, making him grunt. "Can you stop that? You are going to end up telling Miguel if you keep talking about that so loud."

"You know, you're gonna have to tell him one day," he told her with a pointed look. "I'm telling you, he's into you too."

"Don't give me false hope," she dug her finger into his face, him swatting it away. "That is honestly the last thing I need."

"Guy's weird," Emmy jumped out of her skin as Miguel came up behind her.

"Why?" she asked, trying to calm down her beating heart.

"I just asked him if I can help him and he just said, "No, but maybe I can help you.""

"The fuck?" Emmy immediately said, turning to look at the old guy. "What a creep."

But as she looked at him longer, her head tilted to the side. Why did he look familiar all of a sudden?

✸

"Why are you guys actually the most stupid people on earth? I leave for one practice and you decide to do the most humiliating thing imaginable?" Emmy flopped down onto Hawk's couch, moving her legs to rest of Miguel's lap. "God, I am never getting the look on Sensei's face out of my head."

"We were just trying to have fun," Hawk tried to reason, digging into the bowl of popcorn in his lap. "And I think he would have thought it was fun but that old guy was there."

"Hawk's right," Aisha sighed, falling next to him, "That dude totally changed him."

Emmy hummed in thought, and Miguel looked at her weirdly. "What?"

"I don't know. When I was looking at him earlier, I got, like, weirded out. Like, I've seen him before but can't really remember where," she twisted her blue hair around her finger. "Was he at the tournament?"

"No clue," Miguel shrugged. "He might've been in the audience and you just remember seeing him."

"Probably," Emmy shook off the thought.

"Hey, what movie are we watching?" Aisha asked.

"Fight club."

"Me before you."

Hawk and Emmy turned to each other, eyebrows furrowed.

"Me before you? Seriously?"

"Fight club? Cliche much?"

Aisha and Miguel rolled their eyes, leaning back against the couch knowing that this was going to take awhile.

✸

"Uh, Em? A little help here?" Miguel pointed to the cement mix he was stirring, watching her mindlessly scroll on her phone.

"Huh?" she looked up from her phone before her shaking her head. "Oh, no thanks."

Hawk stopped, looking at her confused. "Emmy, you're supposed to help. Sensei said."

"And Sensei can kiss my ass for all I care," she retorted. "If you think I'm risking getting cement on my clothes, hair, or skin, you're crazy."

The two boys glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. "So, you're just gonna sit there?"

Emmy looked up in thought. "Yeah. Pretty much. I already go through muscle torment training with all of you." She leaned back, eyes on Chris. "Because some of you don't know when too low is too low!"

She watched Chris wince. "Sorry about that, Champ!"

"Apology considered!" she then turned back to Miguel and Hawk. "Is this what power feels like?"

Miguel chuckled and shook his head. "Finally embracing the victory, huh?"

She cheekily smiled at him. "Yeah. I realized that I wasn't milking it enough."

Then, a truck horn blaring made her jump, nearly dropping her phone. Her eyes followed the large white vehicle with an even larger barrel stuck to the back of it. "Is that a cement truck?"

"I have no idea," Hawk muttered.

Emmy frowned, hopping off of the stacks of wood she was sitting on.

"All right guys, gather 'round!" Johnny shouted. They looked hesitantly at each other, not sure where this was going.

"I have another bad feeling," Emmy commented, helping Miguel and Hawk take off their gloves.

"Well, now you're making me feel even more nervous," Miguel mumbled back, pushing her towards everyone else.

Emmy stood with her arms crossed, eyes boring into the new, old guy. Why couldn't she put her finger on it?

"You think winning the All Valley gives you the right to goof off? Well, I got news for you. Winning one championship don't mean squat. A true champion never stops training. You gotta keep moving forward...or else you could get stuck where you are. It's like the cement in this truck. If that drum doesn't start turning, the cement inside will harden and get stuck. Is that what you want to happen to you?"

"No, Sensei!"

"Good. Then climb up, get inside, and make it spin."

"Excuse me?" Emmy couldn't help but let out. "Don't you think actually making us play out your metaphor is a bit much?"

"Sensei, we're sorry for messing around," Aisha added on.

"We learned our lesson," Hawk said after.

Johnny just simply ignored them, yanking down the ladder to the barrel. "Get in!"

"You can not be serious," Emmy deadpanned at him.

"Sensei, this seems dangerous. I mean, the fumes alone ⎯ "

"Quiet!" Kreese cut him off with a shout. "This man led you to the mountain top and you question him? Look at you. Look at all of you. I can't believe this pathetic pack of pussies competed in the All Valley, let alone won. It's an absolute miracle! And who's responsible for that miracle? Johnny Lawrence. The best student in the history of Cobra Kai. My student."

That was when it finally clicked in Emmy's mind, and she was flooded with realization. "Oh my god. That's where I've seen him."

"What?" Miguel looked at her.

"My dad's first tournament against Sensei," she explained. "I've seen dozens of pictures from that fight and Kreese was in some of them cause he's Sensei's sensei. I feel so much better now."

Kreese turned his attention to her, looking at her curiously. "You're the LaRusso girl. The one who won the All Valley."

Her eyes slightly widened, and she glanced around her before giving a nervous smile. "That's me."

"Hmm," he looked her up and down. "I can't help but wonder why a LaRusso would want to join Cobra Kai. I'm sure your father isn't pleased."

"I don't really care what my father thinks," she told, looking at him hesitantly.

He nodded with a hum. "Very well then. And I'll tell you I've never trained a tougher student in my whole life. And he tells me that you are by far one of the strongest competitors he has ever seen."

Her eyebrows flew up in surprise, eyes going to Johnny who looked at the ground like a shy kid. "Really? I suppose if Sensei Lawrence says it, then I'll believe it to be the truth."

"Then you better listen to every goddamn word he says," Kreese concludes.

Her eyes stayed on him as he moved out of her way, gesturing to the ladder. She groaned. "Fine."

She walked up the ladder, already getting a whiff of the cement. She dreaded each step of the ladder, before turning around. "Uh, hello?"

She looked at her three closest friends. "You three get your asses up here now. I am not doing this by myself."

They all looked up at her with twisted faces before Miguel sighed, going up first while the other two, and eventually everyone else followed.

Emmy looked through the small opening of the barrel, eyes widening. "You have got to be kidding me."

As she climbed in, she cringed at the feeling of wet cement on her hands, and looked down at her now fucked up shoes.

"Holy shit," she heard Miguel breath out behind her.

"Yeah, I know," she scoffed. "Sensei is so buying me new shoes."

Shortly after, Hawk, Aisha, Mitch, and Chris climbed into the barrel one by one, all letting out noises of disgust as they felt the cement sink into their shoes and clothes.

"Don't just stand there," they all turned to the opening, seeing Johnny's face peaking through. "You wanna get stuck? Move!"

"You are pure evil!" Emmy shouted, slowly getting to the other side of the barrel, the others following.

"Don't care, Pinky!"

The six of them pushed their palms against the barrel, feet continuously digging into the mushy, wet cement.

"Let's go, guys! Move it!"

"I am gonna kill him!" Aisha exclaimed, using all of her arm strength to try and get the damn barrel to spin.

They groaned in exhaustion, not knowing how much more they could take of this.

"Come on, Assface, don't just stand there!" Hawk yelled.

"Everyone shut the fuck up!" Emmy shouted, eyes squeezing shut as she tried to focus.

Then, she felt something shift underneath her feet, and she opened her eyes, and smiled in pure relief. "Oh my god!"

✸

Emmy cringed at the feeling of cement all over her body, and the water that Johnny was spraying at her wasn't helping.

"You should all be proud of yourselves. I know I'm proud. Your parents would be proud, too, if you told them what we did here today, which we won't. You pushed forward like champions. Never stopping. Never being satisfied. Never giving up. And if you keep pushing and keep moving forward, you're gonna to places you never even dreamed of."

As everyone was hosed off and began to leave, Emmy stayed behind, using a towel she has brought in her karate bag to wipe herself off.

"Hey, Sensei?" she hesitantly walked up to Johnny. "Can I talk to you?"

He looked at her and huffed, glancing around to make sure that no one was close enough to listen. "I'm guessing you know?"

"Yeah," she breathed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know."

"Look, Pinky. I'm sorry about ⎯ "

"Oh, no," she cut him off. "I'm not asking for an apology."

"But aren't you mad?"

"Oh, I'm mad. Furious even," she shrugged. "But at least I know that whatever happened, has nothing to do with me. I'm just asking you to please, don't treat your students like crap because you're guilty about being an absent father."

Johnny couldn't even retaliate. Any other sensei would have reprimanded Emmy for what she had said, but in reality, Johnny felt like he really needed to hear that. She was the only one who was able to blunt with him, and let him have it straight. She reminded him of himself in that way.

"Have you spoken to him?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded once. "I got upset after the tournament and he managed to make me hate him less. And then the day that I left early, I saw him at the convenience store and asked him what I asked you, and he made me hate him even more less. He's a good kid."

"He is," Emmy had never seen Johnny like this before. "But, Pinky, I really am sorry for what happened at the tournament. What you did should have been one of the best things for you, but, I let you believe otherwise."

"Thanks, Sensei," she gave a small smile.

"Emmy!" they both turned to see Miguel waving at her. "Come on!"

"Okay!" she shouted back, turning back to Johnny. An idea then popped in her mind. "Hey, Miguel and I were gonna go to that one diner near the apartment. Wanna join?"

"Isn't it a little weird for you to eat out with your sensei?"

Emmy gave him a knowing look. "I think we both know that you are way past a sensei for the two of us."

He looked at her for a moment, before his lips quirked up. "Alright. But you're paying."

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

the way johnny is literally just projecting when emmy's around