I Hate Myself For Loving You

Chapter 16

The next morning Johnny and Daniel were gorging on waffles that were doused in maple syrup. Johnny noisily slurped the syrup from his plate, scraping the fork against it, and making a clicking noise. Daniel grabbed the fork from Johnny's grip and pretended to gouge him with it.

"No, please, no. I beg of you! Have mercy on me," Johnny pleaded as he covered his face with his sticky hands, giggling boyishly.

"There's no such thing as mercy," Daniel mocked him, putting the fork back on the table.

Johnny rolled his eyes and licked the syrup off his lips, getting ready to pick the fork back up as Daniel raised his eyebrows and wagged his finger.

"Don't misbehave with that fork or you'll be banned from using forks around me."

"Banned?! You already say I eat like a wild animal and now you're going to ban me from using forks? Make it make sense, LaRusso!" Johnny shouted, crossing his eyes before laughing.

"Oh shut up," Daniel said before becoming serious, drumming his fingers nervously on the kitchen table.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Johnny said softly, placing his hand on Daniel's shoulder, and pulling him in gently.

"The tournament is coming up soon and you know what that means, don't you? Do you think we could pull out?"

"Pull out?" Johnny questioned.

"Yeah, I mean I only got involved in this whole karate tournament because of you and your dumb ass friends, but you're not so bad now," Daniel sweetly said with a smile on his face.

Johnny became silent before he quietly spoke, "You know Kreese would kick my ass If I pulled out of the tournament, besides I've worked my ass off for the last year and a half for this tournament. Are you afraid I'm going to kick your ass in front of everybody, hmm?"

Daniel scowled and said, "Of course not! I can kick your ass any day of the week, or well... I don't know. This won't affect our relationship, will it? We'll have to go against each other..."

Johnny kissed the top of Daniel's head and rubbed a soothing hand down his back and gently said, "It's just a tournament. Whoever wins, wins you know? We both know how stupid we'd have to be if we let something like a silly, little tournament ruin our relationship."

"If you say so," Daniel mumbled, burying his face into Johnny's chest, as Johnny peppered kisses all over the top of his head.

"I promise, sweet boy."

They quickly pulled apart when they heard the soft patter of footsteps coming into the kitchen. Daniel's mother went to the fridge and grabbed an apple, taking a bite before a huge smile fell upon her face.

"Well hello, Johnny. It's nice to see you. I'm glad to see Daniel's finally making friends," Daniel's mother exclaimed happily.

"It's my honor, ma'am. I'm glad I could take Daniel under my wing."

"Please, call me Lucille."

"Yes, ma'- I mean Lucille," Johnny kindly said.

"Daniel, prom is coming up. Have you found any girl to ask yet? I've already found a wonderful tuxedo that would look just handsome on you," his mother said with excitement in her voice.

Daniel coughed awkwardly before saying, "Come on, Ma. You know I don't want to go. Why do you keep pushing it?"

"Because... I want you to get the best out of what you have left of your high school career. I know you'll regret not going to prom someday and I want you to go. For me, please?"