Ralph Macchio Imagines✨

Daniel LaRusso

      I sighed as I felt the blazing sun beat down on me. It was the typical California Monday in August, at this rate I would've jumped into the Antarctic. I quickly shoved my books back into my locker before the bell rang and before I passed out of a heat stroke. Couldn't say I was really fond of having a locker outdoors. With another huff I slammed it closed and turned to go inside. As I walked down the patio, though, I felt a sense of someone watching me. I paused for a bit then turned around to see Johnny Lawrence and his Cobra Kai gang following me. I rolled my eyes.
       "Problem Lawrence?" I spat. A mischievous grin appeared on the boys faces. What could they be up to this time?
      "No problem y/n," he sneered, "seen LaRusso lately?"
      "Why do you want to know? Why are you stalking me?"
     "We're not stalking you, we're just," he paused and turned to his friends for help as to what to say next. I raised my eyebrows.
     "You're what?"
     "We're just observing."
     "Yeah, so stalking," not wanting to bear another minute of this boys presence I turned to head back to class but felt a strong hand grip my arm. "Ow!" Johnny pulled me back to him to where we met eyes, the same smile on his face.
      "How close would you say you and LaRusso are?" He asked. I looked at the other cobras to see the same sneaky glare in their eyes.
     "What kind of question is that? Let go of me?" I gave a big shove and escaped his grasp as he barreled back into the other imbeciles. "We're just friends."
     "Interesting," he straightened himself up and flashed another grin. "LaRusso will be disappointed to here that." My attitude suddenly changed as he said this. Disappointed? Why would Daniel be disappointed? We've been best friends ever since we met this year. I gulped.
      "What are you talking about?" More chuckles were heard from the small group and Johnny said,
     "Isn't it obvious? Danielle has a little crush." The other boys finally looked at me and laughed. What?
    "On who?" This caused more laughter. I felt my cheeks burn red as I probably knew what they're next words were gonna be.
    "You obviously," Tommy laughed from behind. I looked down at the ground trying to hide my shocked and confused face. They had to be kidding with me, Daniel said I could never trust a Cobra Kai.
    "Oh, well speak of the devil," Dutch spat. I turned to see Daniel, who had seemed to have heard the entire conversation. My eyes widened and he darted away towards the other end of the school. I called out his name as he ran off.
    "Daniel! Wait!" I followed after him, with the ear splitting cackles of the Cobra Kai's echo-ing behind me. On convenient timing, of course, the bell rang and I knew I couldn't miss my next class. How was I supposed to concentrate on school when my relationship with my best friend was on the line? I stopped running and dried my tears as I went to class.

    Ever since the conversation with Johnny I hadn't seen Daniel all day. It was weird considering he always made sure to see me between classes and such, which as I thought about it, made it clear he did have feelings for me, I just didn't notice. I felt like crying the whole day, what if this meant that Daniel would never talk to me again? What if he thinks I hate him? I needed to see him immediately.

    I exited the building at the end of the day and peeked through the sea of kids to try and find Daniel. He must've exited through the side doors. I ran past the parking lot and searched for his yellow car. It was still there. I sprinted away and called out his name.
    "Daniel?" I yelled. Even as the crowd got thin there was no sign of him anywhere.
    "Looking for someone?" A voice asked. I stopped in my place and turned slowly, shooting daggers at whoever was behind me. Johnny of course. He backed away.
    "Woah there princess, wouldn't want to rile us up would you?" Tommy snickered.
    "Yeah you don't know who you're messing with!" Dutch shouted, in a rabid dog sort of way.
     "Where's Daniel, Johnny?"
     "Hell if I know."
    "Then what do you want? I can't believe you would say all that stuff to me in front of him!" I charged at the boy and started punching and slapping at his face. I was immediately met with hands grabbing at me to get me off of him but I was persistent.
    "Y/n! Y/n!" Another familiar voice yelled. I stopped and looked over to see Daniel trotting towards me. I looked back down at red-faced Johnny and hopped off of him.
     "Go away!" I yelled at them, and the gang slithered off to their motor bikes. "Daniel," I panted, "I've been looking for you all day. Where have you been?"
    "I'm sorry y/n, I guess after what Johnny told you I panicked. I shouldn't have hidden away like that."
    "It's okay. As long as I know we're still..." I stopped myself before I could go on. I knew saying "friends" would hurt Daniel, but in truth I was confused about my feelings for him as well. He's one of the best guys I've ever known. "As long as we're still okay," I finished. I noticed him bite his cheek and look down at the ground. "Daniel I'm really sorry if I-"
     "If you what?" He asked. I looked at him with panic in my eyes, I didn't know what to do next.
    "If I'm unsure of how I feel." He let out a disappointed sigh and looked away from me again. I regretted what I said, I felt like I was messing everything up. Daniel really was sweet and cute, but the timing of it just wasn't right. I never even thought about this sort of thing until today.
     "Daniel you know I love you very much," I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, "I just want some time okay? I'm also sorry I didn't notice your feelings earlier."
    "It's okay. At least Johnny did all the dirty work for me, I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell you."
    "Well either way it's not like it would push me away, I really care about you." He gave me a soft, sparkly look and smiled.
    "Want to go get a soda and something to eat? It's boiling out here."
    "Do you even have to ask?" With our hands still grazing against each other's we made our way to the parking lot.

    "This is great Daniel, thank you."
   "It's no problem," he looked down into his still full plate of food. I crossed my arms.
    "Dan, you've been playing with your food more than you've been eating it. If you want to talk, talk."
    "I'm fine. I just wish everything could've gone a bit differently I guess."
    "How many times do I have to tell you that everything's fine? You mean a lot to me, honest, and no way I'd let Johnny Lawrence get between us," I reached out and put another hand on his arm. He stared at it for a while in a state of nervousness. He then slowly moved his hand and interlocked it with mine. I suddenly felt a nervous twinge in my stomach. What was happening? This was my own best friend?
     Daniel pulled his hand away.
    "Sorry," he said.
    "Don't be," I took another quick sip of my soda as I avoided his gaze.

    The ride home wasn't as awkward surprisingly considering what happened at the ice cream shop, we talked as we usually did and sang together to the radio as we usually did. I still couldn't stop thinking about the touch of his hand though, it felt tough from all his karate lessons but it was still tender and warm. And the way he looked at me, I've never had someone look at me that way before.
    I peaked over at him in the drivers seat, he looked so nice. The almost-sunset complimented him and the slight wind blowing through his hair brought out how fluffy and long it was getting. I laid down in my seat and looked up at the sky.
    "Something wrong?" He asked.
    "No I'm just... thinking."
    "About what?" I sat up again and gave him a smirk.
    "About how you of all people, Daniel LaRusso, we're too afraid to handle things head on!" He smiled and rolled his eyes.
    "Whatever," he said, "I mean who saved you from getting in a fight with Johnny?"
    "More like you saved Johnny from me."
    "Tell me about it." I finally felt relaxed again as I looked around the city and listened to the purrs of the engine. I felt like my feelings about Daniel were clearer now.

     We pulled into the driveway of my house and walked together to the front door.
     "Thanks again for dinner Daniel," I said.
    "No problem as usual," he smiled. I giggled and opened the door to go inside."
    "You're the best."
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A/N
I've had this story in my head for a while now. I feel like I could've done a bit better with the rest of the story line (since it feels sort of repetitive to my other imagines) but I hope ya'll enjoyed anyways :)