BACK TO THE FUTURE ; cobra kai/the karate kid

━ 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤; 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮, 𝙢𝙖𝙣

MIGUEL COULDN'T SLEEP. As he laid in Ali's guest bedroom, he felt like a little kid attending their first sleepover. He was restless the entire night and couldn't get his mind to stop running a mile a minute. It was just thought after thought and not a single one of them were good. Miguel racked his brain trying to think of how he was supposed to get back to his own time. He did not want to be stuck in the eighties and risk changing the timeline. If he had learned anything from watching Back to the Future, it was that he needed to do everything he could to ensure that everything happened the way it did before he got here. That meant that Ali had to meet Daniel and fall for him, and Johnny had to try and fight Daniel at the beach. The events of the Halloween dance needed to happen and Johnny, as devastating as it had been for him, had to lose to Daniel at the All Valley tournament.

The only issue was that Ali seemed to be entirely focused on Miguel. It had been clear the moment she saw him in her room. It became even more clear when she kept scooting closer to him during dinner and made every excuse that she could think of to touch his arm. Miguel wasn't sure what to think about Ali maybe having a crush on him. Even though it was teenage Ali, technically she was old enough to be his mom. Miguel never thought it was possible to feel so uncomfortable, but Ali proved him wrong and she continued to prove him wrong when he woke up the next morning to see her sitting on the bed, her face towering over him. Miguel shot upright in the bed, causing Ali to jump backwards. Ali smiled at him, every single one of her teeth showing. Miguel furrowed his eyebrows in fear and confusion.

"Ali...what—what are you doing?" Miguel asked.

"Just waking you up, silly," Ali said sweetly. "How'd you sleep?"

"Uh..." Miguel responded, not exactly sure what to say.

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good," Ali said, sounding disappointed but that quickly changed. "Anyway, a few of my friends and I are going to the beach later. Do you want to come?"

The beach was where it had all started—where Ali had met Daniel for the first time. If Miguel didn't go, then Ali would see Daniel, instantly have a crush on him, and the course would be on track. Ali would forget all about Miguel and put her focus entirely on Daniel. All he had to do was stay back and let nature run its course. Miguel wouldn't have to do anything. But that wasn't going to happen. As long as Miguel was in the picture, Ali wasn't going to be giving Daniel any of her attention and she wasn't going to take no for an answer. It didn't matter how many times Miguel tried to say that he didn't want to go to the beach, Ali wouldn't take it. She just smiled at him, grabbed his arm, and tried to pull him out of bed.

"Ali—Ali stop!" Miguel said, trying to reason with her, but it was no use. "Okay! Okay, I'll go to the beach with you!"

Ali let go of his arm and smiled, giving him the same big, toothy grin she had before. "Great! It's going to be so much fun. You won't regret it!"

The second Ali left the room, Miguel sighed and flopped back down on the bed. He placed his face in his hands and groaned. All he wanted to do was just scream into the pillow. Going to the beach was an extremely bad idea, but maybe if he could just push Ali towards Daniel and figure out a way to make sure she gravitated towards him, then it wouldn't be so bad. The only question was how. How could he get Ali's focus off of him and onto Daniel?

An hour later, Miguel sat on the sandy beach with Ali and her friends. They had all been interested to know who this mysterious boy was and why they had never seen him around before. They were all only interested in Miguel and where he had come from. At first, no one had even noticed the group of boys kicking a soccer ball around until sand was practically being thrown into their faces. Miguel looked up and saw a familiar face that he knew could only be Daniel. Miguel was surprised at how much he still looked the same. It was like he had barely changed at all.