Forbidden Things || Cobra Kai

07 Thinking About It

There were a lot of things Hawk had come to hate about the world. At first it was just how cruel people were and how mistreatment usually went without consequences. The golden children and athletes got away with whatever they did because they were popular or, somehow, star students or model citizens; they could do no wrong. It was bullshit as far as he was concerned.

He had also hated himself, but that wasn't a problem for his present self.

Now most of his hatred was directed toward anything that reminded him of his past self; that loser who hardly had any friends and no self confidence. Anything geeky or nerdy had been banished from his bedroom in favor of karate gear and whatever else he needed for that; his training wasn't over just because he left the dojo everyday. He had turned his room into a space where he could keep going and ensure that he was going to be good at karate.

He needed that assurance.

So he had nothing left of his former self; nothing lying around to remind him of the horrid past and the torment. His mom had taken some things she "just couldn't part with" and stored them away for safekeeping, which made him roll his eyes but it was whatever. As far as he was concerned, that part of his life was over, he was in a new age, and his parents were the only people who could still call him Eli.

Speaking of his mother, she was the reason he was walking through the damn bookstore. He was trailing behind her, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket as she browsed the bookcases. They had come in for one thing, the next book that had been chosen for her book club, but she already had an entire basket full of items she'd found on sale. He should have expected it, but she had said, "Really, Eli, I swear. It'll only take a minute."

A minute, my ass, was what he wanted to say, but he held his tongue. He knew he could talk like that with his friends, but not with his mother. She still thought he was her sweet little Eli who had just happened to change up his entire look because, as she put it, he was "exploring" himself. Regardless of what his mom told his dad, he didn't care. He still knew he had to act a certain way around his parents or else his mom might think he was going through a crisis.

"I just want to make sure there's nothing good hiding here," she said, breaking through his thought process. He blinked at her as she didn't look away from the shelf she was inspecting. "You know, you could go look at the comics, maybe pick something out for yourself."

This was why he hated the bookstore now.

While she had helped him redecorate his room and throw out, or store away, all the nerdy shit he didn't want anymore, she was still trying to evoke the old Eli out of him. This was maybe the third time he'd been dragged into the bookstore and encouraged to get something he would have liked months ago. She didn't get it yet that he wasn't that stupid, shy kid anymore and he felt like he was going to scream.

"Yeah, okay," he sighed and started walking away from her. He figured if it made the time pass by faster, he could browse.

So he wandered around the store a bit, giving short glances to the cases of books and their colorful covers. Nothing stuck out to him, but he wasn't really paying attention. He just wanted to get out of there so he could go home and get his afternoon workout in.

As he passed by one aisle, he had to come to a stop. Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he took a couple of steps back, looking down the little corridor. At the very end stood a pink haired cutie dressed in all black.

Penelope was dressed like she had walked out of a Hot Topic store, which wasn't a bad look by any means. He actually liked it a lot, with her black boots, black dress, oversized black sweater with a large white skull on its front, and black mini backpack hanging off her shoulder. He couldn't help but notice the sweater nearly swallowed her up, hiding her plump figure and her hands from the rest of the world.