Daniel LaRusso (The Karate Kid ) x Reader

Oh My God. I can't believe we...

I found myself leaning onto the side of the door,
where the window would usually roll up.
Watching a looking at the city
while Daniel drove past.
The cool night air, gushing through my hair.
Stores were closed, barely any cars,
and a couple street lights flickering.
And god I hated my brain,
because my mind had been back-and-tracking
over Daniel the whole night.
Just from the way he'd leaned against
the doorframe, and the subtle shift in his tone, every little detail I'd probably spent
the last hour overanalyzing.

I leaned back, and watched
the empty road ahead.
I felt the temptation to look at Daniel for a second, but I knew if I would,
I'd make a complete fool out of myself.
I scanned the car inside, looking at anything and found them interesting enough.
Then just below the dashboard was the most essential thing a car could have.
Besides well, everything else.
A stereo!
Desperate for a distraction, my fingers reached for the dashboard,
twisting the radio knob.
The loud sharp crackle of static broke the silence,
cutting through the heavy loop of thoughts running through my head.
Static.
"Sorry..."
I apologized before clicking another button.
A low hum.
Then the smooth, tinny voice of an old-school
DJ fading in,
and then the opening chords of an annoying jingle that advertised some candy bar.
Which I knew for a fact Daniel hated.
As did I...
"Uhh, could y'a change it,"
Daniel said, his voice cutting through the speaker's buzz.
"I'm trying!"
I muttered, tapping the dial with a little too much force as the station flickered in and out.
As I scrambled with the controls,
my eyes caught on something else on the center console, the narrow,
dark mouth of the car's cassette slot.
My hands went still.
My brain instantly zipped to the weight sitting
at the bottom of my bag.
As if you could mentally picture the lightbulb lighting above my head.

The Mixtape.
The Walkman.

These past few days of dreading, yearning,
and constant unrequited feelings...
I'd spent hours curating a tape for Daniel,
carefully pressing record-and-pause
at just the right seconds,
writing out the tracklist of both A & B on the little paper insert.
The original plan was to wait until later,
maybe hand it to him quietly at the end of the night, but seeing that tape deck sitting right there completely shattered my resolve.
My heart did a sudden, nervous flip.

"Daniel, I, um...
I actually have something for you,"
I blurted out before I could convince myself
to shut up.

Daniel shifted in the driver's seat,
casting a quick glance sideways at me.
His expression softened,
a small, reassuring smile tugging
at the corner of his mouth.
"Awwwhh, Y/n, you- you know didn't
have to get me anything?"
He says and to avoid him from seeing sudden heat rushed straight to my face,
I reached dow, took my bag,
and placed it on my lap.
"I know, I know. But I wanted to,"
Still looking down, smiling,
"Besides, I don't think it beats the car."
"You crazy? Anything from you beats this."
Daniel chuckle, patting the dashboard.
"Oh you're just saying that cause
Mr. Miyagi isn't here."
I say as my cheeks burned so hot I immediately regretted opening my mouth.
Why did I say anything? Why am I like this? Most importantly, why did Daniel say that?
"I ain't lyin'!"
Daniel insisted, and I turned to look at him,
in disbelief.
"Okay, well show me what you got?
Then I'll decide."
"Unbelievable."
I chuckled, driven by sheer panic and a need to cover up my blushing,
I opened my bag and fished out the plastic cassette case.
I held it up between us, trying for a look of confident pride to mask
the absolute chaos happening in my chest.
Daniel's eyes widened.
The calm cool he usually carried flickered into genuine surprise.
"Is that... a tape?
Did you- You made one for me?"
His tone, shocked.
"Yeah. I know it's not much,"
I said, clutching it tightly.
"What's on it?"
He asked, leaning in slightly,
a spark of curiosity in his eyes.
I pulled the tape back toward my chest defensively.
"Hey! No cheating!
You'll just have to listen to find out, LaRusso."
I noticed we were already entering the streets
near South Seas apartment building.
"Well, I wanna hear a couple.
Just let me uh- park."
Daniel pulling over, and instead of parking right outside, we circled around and straight next to an empty parking spot next to his mom's car.
He cut the engine, turning fully in his seat.
"Alright,"
The boy said softly, eyeing the tape.
"Let's hear it."
My breath hitched.
I leaned forward, holding the cassette,
aiming it toward the player on the dash.
At the exact same second,
Daniel reached out to hit the eject button to clear the slot.
Our hands collided.
The touch was brief, just the side of his knuckles brushing against my fingers,
but it felt like a static shock.
We both froze instantly, suspended in the quiet space of the car.