atelophobia 🖤 lawrusso

- 04 -

"You can't be serious."

Johnny looked up at the handful of classmates that still attended Cobra Kai. Everyone was looking back at him with skeptical eyes, although none of them seemed to be willing to cross him. He straightened up, meeting each of their gazes steadily.

"Why now?" Tommy demanded, stepping forward. It seemed he was feeling rather bold that evening. "Kreese has been gone for three months. You've been running class this whole time the same way he always used to. Why now are you changing things up? What's the good in a kata anyway?" Slight frustration caused Johnny's cheeks to darken in color. He lifted his chin slightly and straightened his posture.

"Kata is good for focus and working up a sweat without pointless and mindless sparring. It will be a good workout. Kreese hasn't come back yet, he doesn't have to know." Johnny scowled at the expressions on everyone's faces. Tommy scoffed, but he got back in line.

"If none of you have any more complaints, then we will begin." Nobody stepped forward. Johnny nodded faintly, and fell into the routine he had been settling and adjusting to over the past few weeks. Daniel's voice drifted in one ear and out the other, but what it was saying always stuck, and he found himself repeating them back out loud. He went through the motions slowly, demonstrating each segment of footwork to his friends.

It was so drastically different from everything he had ever done, and it was some say to become lost in it, drowning out the rest of the world and just focusing on the voice of someone else as they directed him on how to move his arms and where to put his feet, a thick Jersey accent causing him to sound out of place, and yet he still radiated confidence.

For the first time, he moved within the dojo feeling like water instead of electricity. His eyes fluttered shut, and his droning on about each movement went on, but he could barely hear himself. Every second that passed he regretted giving LaRusso his phone number a little less. The dojo was quieter than it had ever been in all of the years he had trained there, and for a brief few minutes, his mind was quiet too. That was the type of bliss Daniel had given him. Freedom from his own thoughts. Freedom from the thoughts Kreese had put in his head.

"What the hell is going on here?" Johnny froze in his movements and the silence was shattered. Shards of figurative glass came pelting down on him and his skin felt like it was on fire as the glass cut into it like it was nothing. His world came to a screeching halt as he opened his eyes to see utter chaos.

The remaining five students besides him scrambled to get in line as a towering figure blocked the light from the doorway. Johnny straightened up, staring at Kreese from his position all the way across the room. The man looked like shit. He had a bottle in one hand and a box containing three more in the other. His facial hair looked like it hadn't been shaven since the tournament, and his hair was even crazier. He looked practically homeless.

He put down his bottle and his box, kicking off his shoes and practically stalking towards Johnny, who took a step back. The man reeked of alcohol from at least five feet away, and the stench only grew as he got closer. Kreese smirked, towering over Johnny with mere inches between them as Johnny's back hit the wall, and suddenly the blonde was stuck in the past.

"What is the problem, Mr. Lawrence?" Kreese asked, his breath fanning over Johnny's face. It took all he had not to gag, but he didn't turn his head out of pure fear. His heart raced as he pressed against the mirrors, waiting for the screaming that was about to take place.

"There's no problem, Sensei. Just training." His voice came out quiet, quieter than it was supposed to. His heart felt like it was about to explode. It was stupid, but he found himself trying to remember the weird breathing exercises that Daniel had taught him every weekend for the past three months of Kreese's absence.