Chapter Text
The rest of 1985 was...well, even worse than their trip to Okinawa. (Which by the way, felt like some type of weird fever dream).
Once they got back, the other ex-Cobras went their separate ways. Tommy followed Ali to her medical school in Denver, Jimmy and Bobby went off to different colleges in other parts of California, and Dutch? Well, originally Kumiko was going to come back to Los Angeles with them, but got a last minute offer for a job at a dance school in Tokyo. She asked Dutch to stay with her, and he accepted, since he was very, VERY in love with her. Johnny was somewhat sad that he was staying in Okinawa, it would be weird without him around, but he knew Dutch would be happy there with Kumiko, they were basically inseparable at this point and him and the other guys made bets on when they’d get married.
As for Daniel and Johnny, things were going good for them. Great, even. Johnny continued to work so he could keep affording their shitty apartment, but looked for a better job whenever he could. Daniel decided to just start college at the beginning of next year, and Johnny just decided that he’d start then too. On top of that, they opened a little bonsai shop along with Mr Miyagi after he lost his job at South Seas, so there was that. And they were happy to live together, setting into a new routine of waking up to sleepy kisses and making breakfast together and cuddling after work and falling asleep in each other’s arms along with other things was just, perfect. They had done it several times before but it was different now, it was their own place. It felt right, being there, just the two of them.
And see, things were perfectly normal for a few weeks, until Daniel got a letter from the All-Valley, asking if he wanted to enter so he could reclaim his title. Daniel got the letter in their mail and brought it into the bonsai shop, where Miyagi was trimming one of the trees and Johnny was helping place things around, since he didn’t have work that day.
“Hey uh, I got a letter from the All-Valley asking if I wanna re-enter and defend my title. What do ya think?” Daniel asked as he slid next to Johnny, leaning back on the table that Johnny was working on. Johnny raised an eyebrow at him, since he didn’t think Daniel cared about tournaments that much. He only entered last year so the Cobras would leave him alone, and after what happened at the end...well, Johnny didn’t think he’d wanna be in another one. Of course he didn’t have a problem with it and would go to cheer Daniel on, but he didn’t want to do it, since there wasn’t really a point.
“You can if you want. I’m not gonna.” Johnny shrugged, continuing to re-order things.
“Well, they have a new rule, it says under the new rules, the defending champion only needs to fight in the final match, isn’t that great?” Daniel sounded enthusiastic and Johnny cracked a smile at how happy he was, before realizing what he just said.
“Now that’s bullshit.” Johnny muttered, a hint of playfulness in his voice. Daniel rolled his eyes and swatted at him, the hit being dodged like always.
“Shut up, blondie. What do you think, Mr. Miyagi? Will you train me?” Daniel walked over to where Miyagi was trimming the trees, expecting him to say yes.
“No.” Miyagi answered instead, not bothering to look up from the bonsai.
“Oh come on, that’s one fight, that limits my fights to just one. It’s better than what I had to put up with last year, right? And let’s face it, it’s a year later I’m a lot more experienced, so I think we should consider this, right?” Daniel rambled, pacing around the room. Johnny shook his head at the boy, he was such a chatterbox and he wished he could go over and kiss him to shut him up.
“Wrong.” Johnny wondered how Miyagi managed to sound so patient, especially since Daniel was literally running in circles around him and becoming slightly annoyed.
“Wrong? What’s your problem with this?” Daniel stammered, crossing his arms and pouting. Johnny wanted to go over and bite the bottom lip that was sticking out, but decided not to since Miyagi was in here, and now he was turning around to face Daniel.
“Daniel-San, if karate used defend honor, defend life, karate mean something. If karate used to defend plastic trophy, karate no mean nothing. Understand?” Miyagi explained, a sincere look in his eyes. Daniel sighed and looked down, feeling conflicted about this whole thing. He didn’t really get why fighting in the tournament was a problem, if it was just for fun.
“I wish I did.” Daniel mumbled, fiddling with his sleeve. Johnny didn’t really get it either, but he wasn’t going to say anything.
“Go find pot for bonsai across street.” Miyagi waved Daniel off, gesturing for him to walk towards the door.
“Well just in case you change your mind, here’s the application. Come on, Johnny.” Daniel handed Miyagi the application before grabbing Johnny’s arm and dragging him out, ignoring his protests. Johnny looked back and saw Miyagi toss the application to the side, not bothering to even look at it. He didn’t say anything to Daniel and just looked forward, letting Daniel pretty much drag him across the road.
“I don’t get it, man. What’s the big deal?” Daniel was proud of his title and didn’t get why it was a big deal, and now he was going to rant about it to the one person who truly got him. He could tell Johnny anything, even if he was a little punk sometimes.
“I don’t know either. But you only competed last year because you had to, right? What’s the point of doing it again?” Johnny really didn’t care either way, but he wanted Daniel to be happy, so he just tried to see it from both sides. Daniel was quiet for like, two seconds as he thought it over, before speaking again.
“It’ll be fun. But you’re right, babe, it’s pointless.” It was just a tournament, after all, it didn’t mean anything.
Daniel and Johnny entered pottery store, where they met a girl named Jessica. Johnny was only a tad bit jealous over the quick friendship she formed with Daniel, before she told them the headless picture of a girl on her wall was her girlfriend, who she was mad at. Well, the fact that she had a headless picture alone made Johnny grow fond of her real fast.
Later that day, Daniel decided that he wasn’t going to do the tournament, because he wanted to follow what Miyagi taught him. So he listened to what Miyagi told him a few hours before, which was to get a match and burn the application. Johnny watched as Daniel did the honors, laughing like a maniac because well, it was fun to watch.
They both thought that was the end of it, but little did they know, they were far from the end.
~
A few days later, Daniel and Johnny were closing up the bonsai shop, which was code for just hanging around and goofing off.
Well, more like Johnny had Daniel pinned against the wall, keeping Daniel’s legs around his waist as he held him up. Johnny was sucking bruises into the smooth skin of Daniel’s neck, causing the other boy to bite his lip to keep from moaning.
“Johnny, we shouldn’t do this in here.” Daniel groaned, slightly trying to nudge Johnny off of him, even though he didn’t really want to. Still, getting frisky in an unfinished bonsai shop didn’t sound like such a good idea.
“Mmm, and why not? No ones gonna walk in.” Johnny backed away, but only a little, keeping Daniel in his arms, his hands moving down to his hips. He leaned in to roughly kiss Daniel again, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist. The kiss left both boys breathless, pulling apart with a huff.
“Alright alright, but only for a second.” Daniel muttered, and Johnny grinned before pressing a kiss on his jawline, and going down, having to kneel as he trailed kisses down Daniel’s clothed chest and stomach.
But before Johnny could even slip his hands up Daniel’s shirt, the door to the shop opened, causing Johnny to stand up quickly and Daniel to back away. When Johnny looked over, he expected it to be Miyagi, but it was two guys he’d never seen before in his life. One of them was kind of chubby and looked like a fool, while the other one looked serious and just plain rude.
“Room for one more down there?” The chubby one teased, walking over to them with the other guy trailing behind him. Johnny and Daniel looked at each other in confusion and then back to the guys, the chubby one grinning vindictively and the other one keeping his blank expression. Johnny didn’t know what he meant by what he said, but he didn’t like it.
“What are you doing? We’re not open.” Daniel tried to usher them out, but they wouldn’t budge.
“The doors open.” The chubby one shrugged, grin growing wider and borderline physcotic.
“No, he meant for business.” Johnny grumbled, grabbing Daniel’s wrist and pulling him closer, not liking how close these guys were getting. The chubby one looked amused at the action, and Johnny thought his face would break from how wide he was smiling.
“I didn’t come here for business. I came here to talk to you. We heard you weren’t entering the All-Valley this year, is that true, Daniel?” The same guy kept talking, and the other one was starting to look annoyed. Johnny was confused, because what the hell was he even talking about?
“Yeah that’s true, so what?” Daniel was also confused, how would he even know that and why was he here?
“So, we’d like you to reconsider.”
“And why’s that? What’s your problem, man?” Johnny snapped, already having enough of this asshole and stepping in front of Daniel, to maybe get them to back up. The chubby one started to mouth off again but the other one rolled his eyes and shoved him aside, moving to the place where he was standing.
“Yeah look, I need your title.” The other one glowered, getting all up in Johnny’s face but glaring back at Daniel. Johnny didn’t like that one bit and nearly shoved the guy back, before Daniel tugged on his shirt like he knew what he was thinking him, making him restrain.
“So then enter the tournament and go for it.” Daniel cut in, sounding nervous because he could see where this was going.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I need your title. You don’t enter and that effects my financial future, Daniel, and I’m not gonna let that happen, get it?” The guy raised his voice, stepping impossibly closer and almost pushing Johnny away, but Johnny shoved him backwards before he could. Daniel let him this time, trying to process what he was saying, because he honestly didn’t understand.
“Hey man, why don’t you back it up?” Johnny scowled, watching as the asshole caught himself and glared daggers into him. He didn’t back down, though, and moved right back in front of him.
“And who are you, huh? His bitch?” The guy sneered, stepping forward, back in the same spot he was. What was it with people and not backing down? Johnny tensed and was ready to give this dude a real good beating, but Daniel came to his side, putting his raised fist down.
“Hey knock it off, I said I have nothing to prove, all right? I have no reason to fight.” Daniel tried to reason, tried to be patient, but it only seemed to make him angrier.
“Yeah well I do, I got some money to make so sign me the application!” The guy sneered, shoving a new application into Daniel’s chest. Daniel looked at him like he was crazy, but Johnny looked enraged. He didn’t waste another second before nailing the guy right in the nose, sending him backwards. Johnny was surprised the hit didn’t knock him to the ground, and was disappointed about it.
“He’s not signing it, so why don’t you just forget about it?” Johnny growled, clenching his fists and preparing to throw another hit. But Daniel was already in front of him, balling up the application and throwing it at the guy.
“Why don’t you sign it?” Daniel backed up as the guy got up again, cursing and attempting to lunge at him, only being stopped by his friend holding him back and dragging him towards the door.
“Maybe you’ll sleep on it then!” The guy shouted as his friend pushed him out. Well, at least they were leaving.
“You’ll have to excuse him, he’s usually such a mellow guy, y’know? Later.” The chubby guy left after that, leaving both Daniel and Johnny dazed and confused.
“The fuck? Who even were those assholes, you know them?” Johnny questioned as he turned to Daniel, concern in his features because he wasn’t ready to deal with anyone else trying to hurt his boyfriend.
“No, and I wanna keep it that way.” Daniel murmured, wrapping his arms around Johnny’s waist, hugging him.
“Yeah, me too. I’ll kick his ass if I see him again.” Johnny hugged him back, putting his arms around Daniel’s back and pulling him in tight. Daniel found it cute when Johnny got all over-protective, he could take care of himself, but it was still funny and absolutely adorable.
“My hero.” Daniel said sarcastically, grinning. Johnny rolled his eyes before leaning forward and kissing him quickly but softly. He still had no idea what just happened, but he hoped that would be the end of it.