can you keep a secret??-tory nichols

v. all in

"Okay, pay attention." Johnny instructed his class as the two senseis sparred with one another. "He's got my neck, I've got his elbow. If I try to break out..."

"I dig in and put him to sleep." Kreese finished the fellow sensei's sentence.

"If I go for his ribs..."

"He completely exposes his chest."

"Two difficult choices. What do you do?" Everyone in the class stayed silent, unsure of the answer to Johnny's question. He waited a moment more before kicking Kreese's leg, sending both men to the floor. "You damn the consequences and you power forward."

"You may get hurt, but nobody wins by doing nothing. You make a choice. You make a move. You go...all in." The words had their own respective meaning to the Diaz siblings. For Miguel, it meant doing everything in his power to get Sam back, but to Isabella, it meant telling her family something she'd been hiding for a long time.

XXX

"Hey, what's the deal with your brother?" Tory asked as she sat across from Isabella at the diner that had become a regular post practice spot for the Cobra Kai students.

"What about him?"

"He seems very in his own head, if that makes sense."

"Well, you remember Sam, right?" Tory nodded. "They dated and things ended badly, but Miguel desperately wants her back. It's like a puppy begging for a treat."

"Eesh, too bad, he's kinda cute." Tory admitted.

"Ew." Isabella cringed. "But, hey, if you really think so, make a move. Sensei literally just told us 'nobody wins by doing nothing.'"

"That is a terrible way to use Sensei's words." Tory joked. "But, uh, is everything okay with you? You looked kinda preoccupied before I came over here.

"Yeah, uh, I'm good. I'm just- it's nothing." Isabella assured her.

"Iz, come on. I'm your friend, I think. You can tell me anything." Tory tried to comfort her.

"I'm gonna come out to my family soon and I just don't know how to do it." She blurted out at once.

"Wow, okay. That's not what I was expecting at all." Tory admitted. "But, that's not bad at all. When I came out to my mom, I was just straight up with her. It wasn't bad at all."

Isabella furrowed her eyebrows. "You're not straight?"

"I'm bisexual. I'm so indecisive I'm into men and women." She joked.

"Huh." Isabella nodded.

"Anyways, thanks for the advice." Tory thanked her friend as she patted her shoulder and got up.

XXX

"Okay, I have some news." Isabella announced to her family as she entered the living room. It took her a minute before she spotted Johnny sitting between her mother and grandmother. "I guess Sensei gets to hear it too."

"What's going on?" Miguel questioned, having just gotten home from meeting with Tory.

"Good, you're here, sit." Isabella dragged her brother to an armchair next to the couch.

"Ay, it's cold in here. Let me turn up the heat." Isabella's mother tried to get up, but her daughter's voice stopped her.

"Mamá, this will only take a minute. Please, sit."

"I feel like I shouldn't be here for this." Johnny announced trying to get up before Isabella just pushed him to sit again.

"Sensei, just stay!"

"Okay, what do you want to tell us?" Miguel questioned, growing agitated. He had his own stuff to tell Isabella and Johnny, but he didn't feel comfortable doing it in front of his mother and grandmother.

"I'm a lesbian!" Isabella blurted out. "I like girls, okay?"

"Does that mean you, me, and Miguel can talk about hot babes together?" Johnny broke the silence.

"If you really want to, yes." Isabella nodded, looking at her mother and grandmother for an answer.

"Te amo mucho, mi amor." Her mother told her before standing up and hugging her. "Nothing will change that." And although she didn't say anything, Isabella's grandmother felt the same way, joining the hug. Miguel joined, saying something along the same lines before dragging Johnny, who was still sitting on the couch awkwardly, into the hug as well.

XXX

"Nice work, Miss Diaz." Johnny complimented Isabella, as she had gotten a point on Tory as they spared. "Bow, go again." The two got as far as bowing before Daniel LaRusso burst through the dojo door. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Johnny asked his nemesis.

"Like you don't know." Daniel retorted.

"Take your shoes off the mat, you're disrespecting my dojo."

"You're seriously gonna talk about disrespecting dojos after what you just did to mine?" Daniel screamed in Johnny's face.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to your dojo."

"Just like you didn't slug one of my employees, huh?" Johnny shrugged, knowing that he did in fact punch an employee of LaRusso auto a few weeks prior. "You know, part of me actually felt bad for you at one point, but you make it so easy to remember who the bad guy is in all of this. You call yourself a sensei? You don't even know what a sensei is. A sensei mentors. A sensei elevates. He doesn't teach destruction and disrespect!"

Johnny took a step closer to Daniel. "I already said I don't know what you're talking about, LaRusso. And you don't know what you're talking about either."

"Yeah, well, I know you don't...you don't earn the Medal of Honor by stealing it!" Nobody had ever seen Daniel break like that, but the man started to crack at the seams. "Let me tell you something about your sensei!" He announced to the class. "He might teach you how to fight, but he doesn't know a thing about what it takes to truly win at life. If you wanna help yourselves before it's too late, the doors of Miyagi Do are wide open."

"You think you can come in here and poach my students?"

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Daniel got all up in Johnny's face. "You know I'm not gonna strike first." But, Johnny didn't budge the way Daniel wanted him to.

"I'm gonna be a bigger man."

"Yeah." Daniel nodded. "We'll see about that." He left, and several of the Cobra Kai students started to pack their bags.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"What the hell, Chris?" Mitch asked him.

"I never liked it here." He admitted before walking out. Behind him came several others, all betraying Johnny and the Cobra Kai name.

XXX

TO: TORY

came out to my fam last night

it went great

thank u for the advice

TO: IZ

anytime

that's what friends are for