TWENTY SEVEN.
( hopelessly devoted to you. )

Emmy watched in pure disbelief as Johnny shoved a single chopstick into one of the sushi rolls. "Are you kidding?"

"That's one way to do it," Miguel commented.

Johnny then took a sniff of the food, reeling back with a grimace. "What the hell is this shit?"

Miguel chuckled. "It's a dragon roll. So basically, you have some fresh avocado, some chopped up cucumber, some snow crab, and unagi on top."

"Un-what? "Unagi"?"

"Freshwater eel," Emmy informed him, grabbing one from the plate and dropping it into her mouth.

"Eel? People actually eat the crap?"

"It's good!" Emmy elbowed his side.

"Just have an open mind," Miguel told him.

"All right, just take a picture, okay?" Emmy rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day, grabbing her cup of lemon water and taking a long sip through the straw.

"This is ridiculous. What if she wants to do these types of things with you, only to find out that you don't have a single hobby?" she asked him.

"Shut your mouth, Pinky," he said.

"Told you to stop calling me that," she grumbled as Miguel began to take the pictures. She immediately reeled back in disgust as he took a bite, causing the entire roll to fall apart. And once Miguel got all the pictures he needed, he immediately spat the roll out. "Seriously? Do you know how expensive sushi is these days?"

Johnny grabbed a napkin, aggressively wiping his mouth. "All right, I'm gonna go wash my mouth out. You want that?"

"Uh, no, not anymore," Miguel answered.

"Ditto," Emmy pushed the plate further away from her and Johnny left the table. "How good are the pictures?"

"Not gonna lie," Miguel chuckled. "He looks really stupid."

"Told you so," she laughed, taking another sip of her water. "I've been telling you guys this whole time. He should just be himself. It's better to find someone who is interested in your actual interests than finding a Pinterest mom who wants a new daddy for her kids."

"You really think he'll listen to that though?" Miguel questioned, still scrolling through all the photos.

"Oh, absolutely not. But it's nice to dream," she sighed.

"How's Cobra Kai?" Miguel then asked.

Emmy was a bit taken aback, since he never really ever wanted to talk about it. "Uh, it's good. Although, we did get some new students the other day."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"It is. Except when it's the dude who should burn in the fiery pits of hell," she scoffed, folding her arms over her chest.

"No way. Kyler?" his eyes widened. "Kyler is in Cobra Kai now?"

"Yep," Emmy huffed. "And it's absolute bull. He replaced Mitch who has been there way longer."

"Mitch?"

"Assface."

"Oh!"

She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Whatever. I don't even want to think about that. What matters is spending time with you."

Miguel smiled sweetly at her, grabbing her hand from across the table. "You know, I never thought you would like me back."

"What? Why?" she chuckled, sitting up straighter.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "You were just so cool and way out of my league. I honestly thought you would date Demetri before dating me."

"Demetri? Seriously?" her eyebrows flew up. "Gross. He was like my brother."

"I got that," Miguel laughed. "I'm just saying that I didn't expect a girl like me to go for a guy like me?"

"Oh, yeah? What's a girl like me like?"

"Pretty, funny, charming. A hell of a fighter."

Emmy giggled, feeling her cheeks start to heat up. "Shut up. You're all those things too."

Miguel's smile grew wider, and the two's faces began to simultaneously blush.

"Miguel?"

They both looked up and turned, faces dropping. Emmy suddenly felt Miguel slip his hand away from hers, and frowned.

"Tory," Miguel said.

"How'd you know I worked here?" Tory asked, and then her eyes landed on Emmy. "Did you bring him here?"

"I ⎯ I totally forgot that you worked here," Emmy sheepishly said.

"I thought you worked at the roller rink," Miguel told her.

"No, that's at night," Tory corrected. "I gotta work two jobs now. Mom's not doing well."

Emmy slowly exhaled and got up from her seat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom. You two can catch up."

She gave a faux smile before going back into the restaurant, her face instantly dropping. Emmy wasn't stupid. Miguel pulled his hand away because he saw Tory.

She quickly shook her head, about to head to the bathrooms when she saw a familiar face. "Kenny?"

Kenny looked over, carrying a bag with takeout boxes. His face lit up once he saw her, and started to walk towards her. "Em! Hey!"

"Hey, buddy," she chuckled, pulling him in for a short hug. "How've you been?"

She could see him hesitate a bit. "Good, good. It's my aunts birthday so we're bringing sushi for dinner."

"Oh, tell her I said happy birthday then," she smiled, before it slowly dropped. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm in no rush anyways," he looked innocently up at her.

Emmy sighed. "Why didn't you tell me that my brother and his friends were messing with you at the arcade?"

Kenny's smile dropped. "Oh, Shawn told you."

"Yeah, he did," she placed her hands on her hips. "He was so pissed about it that he called me. And you and I both now that Shawn never calls. Kenny, you gotta tell me these things. Anthony is my brother, but you're like one to me too."

"I just didn't want you to be mad at your own brother," Kenny muttered.

"Well, too bad. Okay? The last thing I want is for him to end up like me."

Kenny's head snapped up. "Like you? But, I think you're great."

She smiled sadly at him, squeezing his shoulder. "Thanks, bud. But, I've done things I'm not proud of and I would hate for him to go down the same road. So, next time he does anything, you come straight to me, not your brother, alright? Shawn's already up my ass about you enough."

"Okay," Kenny chuckled. "It was nice seeing you, Em."

"You too. Have fun," she pat his back, and Kenny walked out. A breeze made her turn, seeing Tory walk into the building and into a staff room.

Emmy furrowed her eyebrows, walking back out to her table and saw Miguel's face. "Bad?"

"Yeah," he lowly said, looking down at his hands.

She sighed, sitting back in her seat. "Just give her some time. She's been going through a lot and you just gotta let her do her own thing."

"I get it," he pressed his lips into a thin line. "I just wish things ended a lot differently."

For some reason, Emmy didn't really like that comment, and she couldn't figure out why. "Well, all you can do is move forward. You're alive, we're...us, you're helping a man get a girl, life is good."

Miguel smiled at her again, grabbing her hand and gave her knuckles a kiss. "Life is good."

✸

"El Serpiente!"

Emmy rushed past Hawk, quickly throwing her arms around Miguel with a squeal. "Look at you!"

Miguel let out a loud laugh, tightly hugging her back. "Hey, Em."

She pulled away with a huge smile, hands cupping his face. "That man really is a miracle worker."

"Tell me about it," he chuckled, and Hawk walked up to him. "What's up?"

"Welcome back, man," the two dabbed each other up.

"Good to be back."

"They give you bionic legs or some shit or some shit like that?"

"No, same old boring human legs."

"Which is even better," Emmy interjected, interlacing her and Miguel's hands.

Miguel smiled at her, bring up their hands and gave hers a quick peck. "Thanks for being there. I would have been miserable without you."

She leaned up, kissing his cheek. "It was my pleasure. I was scared he was gonna end up lighting your whole body on fire."

"Dude, Cobra Kai is crushing it right now," Hawk commented.

"Uh, I've been actually meaning to talk to you both about that," Miguel added, but then, the sound of the bell ringing stopped him. "I'll talk to you about it at lunch."

"Of course," Emmy and Hawk had the same class so they went up the stairs while Miguel walked down the hall.

"You guys were a lot closer back there," Hawk said. "You guys finally official?"

"Nope," Emmy sighed. "We talked and we compromised. Miguel's not ready to put a label on anything yet and I wanna give him all the time he needs. So, we're doing everything a couple does but without the "boyfriend and girlfriend" title."

"But that's not what you want."

"Obviously," she huffed. "But I'm respecting what he wants. If he needs time then I'll give him all the time in the world."

"So," they both stopped at the top of the stairs. "What I'm hearing is I still have a chance."

Emmy snorted, shoving him towards their class as he burst out laughing. "Keep dreaming, loser."

✸

"See you tomorrow, Emmy!"

"Bye, guys," Emmy flashed a smile to the group of girls, grabbing her lunch tray and headed for her usual table. She started off by walking with confidence, something that she's always had, but it slowly decreased as she saw Hawk's foot on top of her chair, and Mitch standing in front of her.

"Uh, excuse me," she tapped his shoulder, and he turned around, moving a bit off to the side. "Thank you."

She dropped her tray onto the table, sitting in her seat next to Hawk.

"Sorry," Hawk spoke up. "Party's full."

Mitch awkwardly looked around. "Where am I supposed to sit?"

"The rejects' table," Hawk informed him. "Over there."

They all looked towards an almost empty table where Bert and another boy say. Emmy frowned at the sight of the boy and leaned back in her seat. She quickly swatted away his foot from her chair, watching Mitch go to that table. "Kinda sucks. He was actually really funny."

"And a wimp," Hawk joked, causing her to snort and smack his chest.

Then the sight of Miguel coming through the lunch doors made Hawk stand up, but Emmy noticed how off the former's body language and face was. He didn't look happy. "Hey, man."

"I heard about what happened with Demetri," Emmy's face dropped. "How could you do that?"

Hawk's body language immediately changed, his guard now up. "You should be thanking me for getting revenge on Miyagi-Do. For what they did to you and Emmy. Besides, they started the fight. We finished it."

"That's not what our sensei taught us."

"He's not my sensei anymore."

Emmy felt almost suffocated by tense atmosphere, and stood up from her seat. "Guys, not now. Not here."

"Did you know what he did?" Miguel abruptly turned to her.

"I... Yeah," she looked down.

"After everything he did for you guys, you betray him?" Miguel asked.

"He betrayed us," Hawk said.

Miguel took a deep breath. "Look, this isn't you talking. It's Kreese, he's got in your head."

"Don't talk about him like that," Emmy spoke up, a deep frown on her face.

Miguel furrowed his eyebrows at her. "You can change that if you leave Cobra Kai and join Sensei Lawrence's new dojo. If you two come, others will follow. Ok? We can show everyone we're not a bunch of bullies. It could be like before."

"He has a new dojo?" Hawk asked, the exact same question in Emmy's head.

"Hey, guys," they all turned their attention to Kyler, who was no holding up Demetri's casted arm. "Check this guy out. Standing around with a dick in his hand."

A vivid drawing of a dick was all over Demetri's white cast, and the boy walked out of the cafeteria in embarrassment.

"So, these are your friends now?" Miguel said in disbelief.

"Miguel ⎯ " Emmy went to grab his hand, but he pulled away from her, walking away.

✸

"Ok, listen up!"

Emmy whipped around, face immediately scrunching up at the sight of Johnny Lawrence walking up to her and her friend group. She looked around, making sure that she was at school. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I screwed up," he said, only confusing her more and she crossed her arms over her chest. "And I'm sorry. I made it about me. And that's not what a sensei does."

The girl's eyebrows flew up, and she glanced over at Hawk who shrugged.

"I took the easy way out. I gave up. What happened here at this school...it rocked me to my core. I couldn't look myself in the eye, let alone face all of you."

"Yeah. I guess it makes it easier to tell yourself that," Hawk stepped forward. "But the truth is, you bailed on us long before that fight happened. You got soft. And we paid the price."

Johnny looked like he couldn't believe he was being talked to like this, and came chest to chest with the teen. "Now you listen up. When you came into my dojo, you were softer than a baby's ass. I made you what you are, not Kreese. He doesn't give a shit about you. About any of you. So if you wanna keep whining about the past like a bunch of pussies, fine. We can play that game. Wanna stick with Kreese? Go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you when your life ends up in the shitter. Or you could sack up and join my dojo. Havenhurst and Magnolia, tomorrow at 4:00. If you wanna save yourselves, train the right way...you better be there. And don't be late!"

All Emmy could do was stand there, eyes burning into the ground with an unreadable expression on her face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

when miguel and emmy now is just robby and emmy in season 2