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ᗩ/ᑎ ᑭ.O.ᐯ
"I'm telling you (y/n), his heart just isn't in it," Eli insisted, giving you a look.
"Well he looks pretty in it to me," you sighed. Both of you were staring at Robby and Tory as they danced their perfect little Cobra Kai snake dance.
Both you and Eli were dateless for prom, so you decided to go together. Matching corsage and boutonnière, coordinating colors, the whole nine yards. Neither of you wanted to admit that you just didn't want to look like a loser. And it was more believable, since you were already friends and trained with Miyagi Fang together.
It didn't stop the desire deep in your heart, though. What you had really dreamed of was coming to prom with Robby. But Robby broke up with you when you came to visit him in juvie, telling you that he just wasn't in the place for a relationship. He was a shell of the person he used to be, and you still couldn't forgive Johnny or Daniel for the pain they'd caused him. But you still loved him, even all these months later. So saying that it hurt you to see him with Tory was, well, putting it very mildly.
"You guys were like, a thing. The power couple of Miyagi-Do, if I do say so myself. Just because I can't have my happy ending doesn't mean you can't have yours. Go ask him to dance after this song," Eli suggested, gesturing his cup of punch over at the couple.
"I can't compete with Tory Nichols. She literally terrorized my best friend and her dress is, like, a hundred times more slutty than mine," you laughed.
You looked down at your dress self-consciously, then back up at Tory as she salsa danced with your ex-boyfriend. Tears pricked your eyes. You knew you were young, but you had thought Robby was the one. You had felt love at first sight when you met him at the LaRusso's car dealership last year and your entire relationship had been nothing but happiness. Until the school fight, that is.
"You'll never know if you don't try. C'mon, (y/n). If Johnny was here, he'd call you a total pussy."
And at that very moment, you looked up and locked eyes with him. Robby Keene. For the first time in months you looked him in the eyes across the dance floor and felt the very same chemistry as a year ago.
-
"C'mon Robby, I think we've done enough. You caught her attention," Tory sighed as they walked off the dance floor.
Robby had just met your eyes for the first time in as long as he could remember. He immediately remembered the happy, warm days of training at Miyagi-Do with you. The way your smile lit up when one of you learned a new move, or the way you encouraged him at his first All-Valley. He never forgot any of it. One of the only belongings he kept when he went into juvie was a polaroid picture Daniel had taken of you both soaking wet after you had just nailed the floating wheel moves together. He never stopped loving you.
"I still can't believe she came with that Eli kid. I can't believe he'd even show his face after what he did to Kenny-" Robby began, clenching his jaw in anger.
"Robby, I care about you but I'm tired of watching you pine over (y/n). I agreed to help you make her jealous, but I think she deserves to know the truth. Even if she is a Miyagi-Do wimp,"
Tory explained. She nodded her head in your direction as she tried to persuade Robby to admit his feelings for you.
Tory knew if Robby missed his chance, he'd never have another. You would move on with Eli or someone else, just like Miguel had done to her. Even if she had deserved it, you and Robby didn't. So Tory made her way over to where Kyler and some other Cobras stood, hoping for nothing but the best in your relationship.
-
You tried to play it cool and scroll on your phone as Tory and Robby talked slightly off of the dance floor. But when Eli nudged you and said Robby was heading your way, your instincts told you to run.
"(Y/n)! (Y/n), wait!" Robby yelled. You had somehow stumbled upon an empty corridor in the venue. The only way out other than the way you came was through a locked door. You had nowhere to go; you were trapped.
"Robby, just leave me alone and go back with Tory, please," you said, calmly. You looked down at your trembling hands and held them behind your back.
"Will you let me explain? I-I just want to talk. Please."
"Okay, Robby. Go ahead," you sighed, allowing him to come closer to you.
"I thought of you every day I was in juvie. I just- I couldn't let you get caught up in my shit, okay? You deserve someone better than me. I almost killed your friend, I-" you cut him off by embracing him. He was shaking, and you were too. He smelled different, like Lysol and Old Spice. Your bodies filled in the gaps of each other's, just like it had been before.
"I don't blame you for that, Robby. I know it was a mistake. I'm not angry," you promised as you both drew away from the hug.
"I brought Tory thinking it would help me ignore my feelings and I could make you jealous. I was just angry that you were dating Eli of all people. But you deserve to move on and I-"
"What? I am not dating Eli! I don't like him like that," you said, shaking your head.
"Really?! The pictures you posted seemed pretty romantic to me," Robby laughed.
"Nah, it was all for show. We just came together because neither of us had a date."
"(Y/n), I am so, so sorry about everything. A-and every time I wanted to reach out all I could think of was you crying as you left juvie when I broke up with you. How betrayed you must've felt. I never want to hurt you like that again," Robby confessed.
The two of you were now leaning against the cold cement wall, facing each other. Nothing else mattered to you, not in that moment.
"I never stopped loving you, Robby. I tried to, I really did. I tried to move on but I couldn't," you sniffled.
"I feel the same. I never should've broken up with you," he said, softly. He wiped away your tears with a sympathetic look on your face.
"Can we start over? We could even have our own Romeo-and-Juliet-karate-dojo moment," you giggled.
"I like the sound of that," Robby laughed, brushing your hair out of your face and leaning over to kiss you.
Your love was more powerful than any karate war, and you both knew it. You didn't have to fight for the soul of the valley: it was right here all along.
