Work Text:
Johnny had been trying to ditch his “ace degenerate” status, he really had. But then the All Valley happened, Daniel LaRusso happened, and maybe Johnny had started skipping class again.
(And maybe he’d been sleeping poorly, waking up with the phantom feeling of rough hands squeezing the breath from his lungs and filling them back up with stale cigar smoke, panting and sweaty--but that was nobody’s business but his own.)
So here he is, stuck in detention after missing one too many of Mrs. Anderson’s American history classes.
“You’re not stupid, Mr. Lawrence,” she’d told him as she wrote up the detention slip, “but laziness makes fools of us all.”
Johnny still thinks that’s kinda dumb. He’d nodded politely at the time, obviously, but sitting here in detention with nothing else to think about except whatever shitstorm he’s got to look forward to at home when Sid notices him coming in late, he’s starting to see the merits of a deeper, philosophical analysis of the sentiment.
That is, until Daniel LaRusso walks--or rather, hobbles --through the door.
“Right there, Mr. LaRusso,” Ms. Ross, the librarian, says, pointing to the seat next to Johnny.
Daniel freezes, brown eyes wide like a deer in headlights. Johnny stares back, daring him to do… something.
“Is there a problem?” Ms. Ross asks, unamused.
Daniel visibly snaps himself out of it, and turns to Ms. Ross with a shit-eating grin.
“No, ma’am,” he replies, “Just, uh… surprised to see my friend, here.”
Ms. Ross looks at him blankly. “You shouldn’t be. Mr. Lawrence is a regular customer.”
Daniel chuckles awkwardly, and makes his way over to the seat across from Johnny. Johnny kicks at it, pushing it out from under the table so Daniel can sit down without letting go of his crutches. Daniel blinks at him.
“I’m sure your friend can explain the rules, Mr. LaRusso,” Ms. Ross says before turning and making her way back to the front desk.
Daniel sits down slowly in the proffered chair, one leg stretched out awkwardly and crutches leaning against the table.
“So,” he drawls, looking at Johnny. “Whatcha in for?”
Johnny snorts, and considers telling him to fuck off. They’re not friends, post-All Valley truce notwithstanding, and Johnny’s barely spoken ten words to the other boy since they’ve been back in school.
In the end, though, he mutters, “Skipped one too many history classes.”
Daniel nods sagely. “Tough break.”
Johnny says, “I guess,” before his curiosity gets the best of him and he forces himself to ask, “What about you, huh?”
Daniel looks vaguely shamefaced, and rubs at the back of his neck.
“We were doin’ atomic models in science, and uh… well, let’s just say I can’t juggle as well as I used to, alright?”
Johnny covers his mouth with his hand to stop himself from laughing out loud, and says, “You… you got detention for, what, failing to juggle?”
Daniel flushes. “Maybe I also knocked over one of the bins of protons with my crutches. Accidentally!” he hastens to add, as if Johnny might think he’d done it on purpose.
Johnny suppresses another snort of laughter. “Who d’you have for science?” he asks.
“Uh,” Daniel replies. “Mr. Andrews.”
Johnny hums. “Tip for next time you wanna show off,” he says, ignoring Daniel’s squawk of protest, “tell him a science joke. He loves those, probably coulda gotten out of the detention.”
Daniel blinks, bemused, and Johnny feels compelled to elaborate. “Y'know, like, ‘Why shouldn’t you trust atoms? ‘Cause they make up everything!’, that kinda stuff.”
Daniel’s eyes go wide, and it’s his turn to cover his mouth to stifle a laugh.
Johnny smirks. “Yeah, you would find that hilarious, you dork.”
Daniel rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning. “You’re the one who knew the joke, man.”
They lapse into silence, and Johnny forces himself to stop staring at the other boy, to stop making things weird.
Eventually, Daniel speaks up again, glancing at the librarian and leaning over in a conspiratorial way and saying, “Whoever’s in charge of making sure we don’t kill each other on school property is really slackin’.”
It’s a joke, obviously, and Daniel seems perfectly at ease sitting next to him, but Johnny can’t help but flinch, slightly, and look at his hands.
He thinks back to before their ‘arrangement’ that the Cobras would leave Daniel alone to train. They’d spent their days trading barbs and pranks back and forth, and by the time Halloween had rolled around, the school admin had clued in, and seemed to be actively trying to keep him and Daniel apart--futile as their attempts ended up being, what with the way the Halloween dance ended.
“I never wanted to kill you,” Johnny mumbles awkwardly.
Daniel snorts, and it sounds vaguely bitter in a way that makes Johnny’s chest ache. “Well,” he replies, “coulda fooled me.”
Johnny finally looks up at him again, and Daniel’s brown eyes are wide as always, and steady. He’s handsome in a way that feels like a punch to Johnny’s gut, all tan skin and wavy dark hair and easy smiles.
Johnny remembers the way he looked right after he’d punched Johnny in the face on the beach the night they met. Defiant, eyes flashing and hands up in front of him-- all wrong , his stance had been all wrong , and Johnny could’ve shown him the proper way to face your opponent, could’ve adjusted his form with gentle hands--and it was terrifying , the sudden and dizzying want Johnny had felt. He’d reached up, felt the blood dripping from his nose, and met the other boy’s eyes, and ached .
So he’d lashed out, and even though he could’ve backed off at school, he hadn’t. Daniel was always with Ali, and that had made Johnny’s blood burn hot and angry--although he never would’ve admitted to not knowing who he was jealous of. So maybe it was stupid to keep seeking the other boy out, but… well, Johnny had always been a little self-destructive.
But he’d never wanted to kill Daniel, and it hurts that Daniel thinks that, after everything that’s happened between them, that Johnny might still harbour any kind of violent impulses towards him.
“Hey, man,” Daniel says, maybe clueing in to Johnny’s discomfort, one hand coming up to make an awkward waving motion, “water under the bridge, yeah? It’s in the past, an’ all that jazz.”
“I guess,” Johnny mutters, sliding a bit further down in his chair. His foot bumps into Daniel’s brace, and Daniel winces, and Johnny feels like the biggest asshole on the planet. “I’m--I’m sorry,” he blurts, forcing himself to sit up straight and pulling his legs back under his chair.
Daniel offers him a grin. “S’okay,” he says. “The number of times I bump this thing into stuff throughout the day is, like, astronomical, so believe me when I say you hittin’ it with your foot is nothin’.”
Johnny looks back at his hands, picking at one of his cuticles. That really isn’t as reassuring as Daniel probably thinks it is, considering Johnny’s the reason he even has to wear the damn thing.
Despite their truce after the All Valley, they hadn’t actually… talked at all, so Johnny still hadn’t technically apologized for what he’d done to Daniel’s knee. He’d meant to, he really had, but every time he thought about walking over to Daniel at lunch or after school, he’d freeze up and pussy out.
Bobby had talked to him, Johnny knew, ‘cause Bobby had called him afterwards, damn near waxing poetic about how great a guy LaRusso was, how gracious and shit.
Johnny doesn’t know if the thought of LaRusso being gracious to him is reassuring or just another thing that makes the idea of apologizing terrifying--but he’s kinda already said the hard part, technically, so all that’s left is, “Not… not just about that.”
“Oh,” Daniel exhales. “I… yeah, okay.”
Johnny looks up. “Okay?” he echoes.
Daniel sighs, and gives another little smile. “Yeah,” he replies, “okay. Like I said, water under the bridge. And…” he trails off, like he isn’t sure whether he should say what he’s planning to, and Johnny realizes why he was hesitant when the next words out of his mouth are, “I know it wasn’t entirely your fault, y’know, ‘cause of Kreese.”
The name makes Johnny’s blood run cold, and he clenches his hands into fists on the table. He’s tried valiantly to avoid thinking about his sensei since the tournament, even going so far as to take the long way home so he didn’t have to pass the dojo, just in case Kreese was lurking around outside. It makes him feel like a pussy, but he isn’t entirely certain he won’t do something ridiculous like cry if he sees the man again, and that’d make him an even bigger pussy, so. Avoidance it is.
“Whatever, man,” Johnny says, harsh, hoping Daniel takes the hint and shuts up. “Let’s just get through detention in peace.”
Daniel looks slightly stung, and Johnny feels like an asshole again. But he does drop it, and they lapse into silence.
The rest of detention is spent in tense silence. Occasionally, Johnny looks up and catches Daniel staring at him, brown eyes scrutinizing, and Johnny has to force himself to break eye contact out of fear that he’ll start blushing or something.
When Ms. Ross comes back over to let them know they’re free, Daniel gives her a charming smile, and Johnny surprises himself by being able to tell that it’s fake.
They end up walking out together, Johnny slowing his pace to match Daniel’s rickety one. He even offers to carry Daniel’s bag, which gets him a laugh and a “No way, man, I don’t need to feel more emasculated than I already do.”
In the parking lot, they stand around awkwardly for a couple of seconds, before Johnny says, “Um, see you on Monday,” and takes off towards his car. It’s not that he doesn’t wanna spend more time with Daniel, but… well, the fact that he wants to is dangerous. He hears Daniel call out a goodbye behind him, and stuffs his hands into his pockets to fish out his car keys.
Once he’s sitting behind the wheel, engine purring, he lets himself look up at Daniel again.
The other boy looks kinda lost, leaning on his crutches and looking disgruntled. It makes something twinge uncomfortably in Johnny’s chest, and before he knows it he’s pulling up beside the curb where Daniel is standing and popping the car into park.
“Waitin’ for someone?” he asks, aiming for nonchalance.
Daniel looks startled. “Um,” he replies, swaying a bit on his crutches awkwardly. “My ma, I guess, but she, uh. She doesn’t get off work until late, so.” He shrugs, like it’s no big deal, like standing around outside while the sun slowly sinks below the horizon is totally a normal thing to do.
“You planning on standing around here until she gets off work?” Johnny asks, bemused.
Daniel sniffs, and straightens himself up a bit. “Well yeah,” he replies, “what else am I supposed to do? S’not like I can drive with my foot jacked up like this.” He gestures to his leg brace, and Johnny winces.
He decides to blame the guilt for why he says what he says next, which is: “Lemme give you a ride.”
Daniel blinks. “Huh?” he replies, sounding bewildered, but recovering quick enough to shoot back, tone mocking, “Did I just hear that right? Johnny Lawrence wants to give me a ride?”
Johnny rolls his eyes. “Yeah, you heard it right, and I ain’t gonna say it again, so if you want in you better say so now or forever hold your peace.”
“I want in,” Daniel reassures quickly, shifting on his crutches so he can grab them both in one hand. Johnny reaches over the passenger seat to pop the door open for him.
Once Daniel has settled in, his crutches laying across the back seat, Johnny shifts into gear and pulls out of the parking lot.
It isn’t actually that long a drive into Reseda, to the apartment complex that Johnny knows Daniel lives in. They’d been able to run there on Halloween, after all--and that’s a train of thought that Johnny quickly squashes, guilt making his gut churn and his palms sweat. Point is, it really isn’t all that far out of Johnny’s way to drop Daniel off.
But the closer they get, the less Johnny wants the other boy to go, which is weird.
Usually when Johnny drives people places, he feels like he needs to charm them, through loud music or some kind of running commentary, like if he doesn’t keep them entertained they’ll open the passenger door and tuck ‘n roll out onto the pavement. It always leaves him feeling kinda raw, like he just embarrassed himself in front of the entire school by butchering a Madonna song on stage at the annual talent show.
It doesn’t feel like that with Daniel. They’re sitting in silence, and Johnny feels like it should be deeply awkward, but somehow… it isn’t. Daniel is looking out the window at the storefronts as they pass, humming along to the radio that’s quietly playing the week’s top 100 pop hits. Every once in a while he’ll look over at Johnny and catch his eye, and his lips will twitch upward in a small smile before he turns away again.
It’s so beyond anything Johnny has experienced before, and every time he meets Daniel’s eyes it’s like he’s being lit up from the inside out, like Daniel is setting off fireworks in his chest, and he feels suddenly, fiercely, like he needs to try and keep this for as long as he can.
So he asks, in a moment of insane courage, “Can I show you something?”
Daniel looks at him, grinning lazily, and says, “I got no place to be.”
They drive past the turn off for Daniel’s street, and Johnny steers them back towards Encino.
The last time he’d driven up this way had been the night after the tournament. He’d managed to shake off his concerned friends with reassurances that he’d be fine, and told them to go look after their own bruises and bloody noses, before getting in his car and just… driving. He hadn’t wanted to go home, obviously, not feeling up to seeing his mom’s pitying looks or hearing Sid’s derisive laughter.
Another failure, huh Johnny boy? he could hear his step-father saying. Big surprise. Nothing good ever lasts with you, does it?
He’d known where he was going before he’d even really made the decision to go there--a place he’d privately thought of as his Fortress of Solitude since he’d stumbled upon it while riding his bike one night when they’d first moved to Encino.
(It was a reference he would never admit to knowing on pain of death, because comic books were for losers, and Johnny Lawrence had left his loserhood behind when he’d joined Cobra Kai--even if he hadn’t been able to make himself throw away the comics themselves.)
That night, he’d sat in his car, driver’s seat pushed all the way back, and stared up at the sky, feeling small and scared and trying desperately to pretend his cheeks weren’t wet.
Tonight, though, Daniel LaRusso is with him, and Johnny doesn’t feel as small as they pull onto the secluded dirt path.
“You’re not bringin’ me out here to murder me, are you?” Daniel asks dubiously, watching the dust clouds that the car kicks up.
“Yeah,” Johnny replies, rolling his eyes, “you got me. My entire plan hinged on us both getting detention on the same day, and your mom workin’ late. Real maniacal stuff.”
“Crime of opportunity,” Daniel shoots back, grinning. “Saw your chance and ran with it.”
Johnny snorts. “How could I ever compete with your superior intellect, huh?” he drawls. “Aw nuts, foiled again.”
“Yeah,” Daniel says, “that’s right! I’m like Sherlock Holmes, always crackin' the case.”
“More like Scooby Doo,” Johnny replies, grinning despite himself.
“Well,” Daniel says loftily, “Scooby Doo is a great detective. I take that as a compliment.”
“He’s also a dog, so.”
Daniel laughs, turning his gaze back out the window when Johnny pulls off to the side and puts the car in park.
“Alright,” Johnny says quietly, “put your seat back and look up.”
Daniel looks dubious, but he does what he’s asked anyway, and Johnny watches as the other boy’s eyes go wide.
Because above them in the sky are stars, visible and twinkling faintly. They’re not far enough from the city to see anything really cool, but it’s still dark enough to make out the Big Dipper, and probably the general shape of Draco if they squinted.
“Never thought I’d get to see stars here,” Daniel whispers, awe making his voice soft.
“It’s pretty neat, right?” Johnny replies, pushing his own seat back and looking up to try and avoid thinking about the way Daniel’s hushed tone makes something squirm under his ribs. “This is one of the few places in L.A. you can see ‘em this clearly.”
“Wow,” Daniel breathes, eyes glued to the sky. “This is awesome!”
Something about the unabashed wonder in his voice makes Johnny’s chest ache, and he says, “I come out here to think and stuff, sometimes.”
Daniel looks at him, a smile tugging at his lips. “Like your very own Fortress of Solitude, huh?”
Johnny’s heart lurches. “W-What?” he stutters, caught off guard, because there was no way Daniel knew Johnny called it that… right?
But Daniel just blinks at him, eyes wide. “Y’know,” he says, bemused, “like Superman? The superhero?”
Johnny flushes. “I know who Superman is, genius,” he mutters, feeling stupid.
“Oh yeah?” Daniel replies, and he’s smiling outright now, and there’s no judgment in his tone at all. “I used to read the comics all the time as a kid, and, y’know, sometimes I still catch Super Friends on Saturdays.”
And yeah, Johnny watches Super Friends too when he can, huddled in front of the TV in his room that Sid had gotten him for his 14th birthday--but he’d never tell Daniel that, so he just snorts and says, “Yeah, ‘course you do, you dork.”
That actually makes Daniel bark out a laugh, and the sound makes that squirming thing behind Johnny’s ribs go nuts.
“Yeah, well, takes one to know one, huh?” Daniel replies, shoving at Johnny’s shoulder and grinning, and Johnny can’t help but grin helplessly right back.
They lapse into silence, both turning their gazes back up to the stars. The radio is still playing quietly, a sensual power ballad that makes everything feel dreamlike. Johnny’s chest is tight, and he’s briefly brought back to the night after the All Valley, and the uncertainty he’d struggled with as he stared up at the night sky and wondered what came next.
“You ever bring Ali here?” Daniel asks, making Johnny startle and look at him. He’s got a furrow between his brows, like he’s concentrating really hard on keeping his eyes on the sky.
Johnny doesn’t really know what Daniel is trying to get out of asking that, so he isn’t sure how to answer.
On the one hand, as far as Johnny knows, Daniel and Ali are together, so maybe he’s trying to scope out the competition. But on the other hand, something about his demeanor makes it seem like he’s hoping Johnny will say no, that Daniel is special or something, for getting to see this.
He settles on the truth, and replies, “No.”
Daniel’s brows smooth out. “Oh,” he says, followed by, “Y’know, you probably coulda gotten an extra month outta her at least if you had. This is pretty romantic.” It’s obviously a joke, but it sounds kinda forced, and Johnny isn’t sure why Daniel said it.
In any case, Daniel’s probably way off base. Hindsight has made Johnny realize that he and Ali were doomed from the start, having never quite been on the same page emotionally. Johnny isn’t sure what good a couple of extra months would’ve done him when he was incapable of talking about his feelings in a way that Ali understood.
He doesn’t know how to articulate this to Daniel though, or if he even wants to, so he just scoffs, and says, “Kinda weird of you to say that to your girlfriend’s ex, man.”
Daniel chuckles awkwardly, and brings his hand up to rub at the back of his neck. “We’re not--I mean, she isn’t actually, uh, my girlfriend. We’re just friends.”
“Coulda fooled me,” Johnny mumbles, suddenly feeling off-balance. He’d just been assuming that Daniel and Ali had made it official, since he’d seen them in the halls together after the tournament, Ali carrying Daniel’s books and walking him to class.
“Yeah, well,” Daniel replies, shrugging his shoulders, “we’re better as friends anyways, probably.”
“I guess,” Johnny says, heart beating wildly in his chest, a nervous tattoo of just friends just friends just friends. He turns his gaze skyward again to try and avoid thinking about it.
Daniel thinks this is romantic, his mind unhelpfully provides, and Johnny firmly tells it to shut the fuck up.
“I used to ride my bike out here all the time,” he blurts, for lack of anything else to say that isn’t super embarrassing. “It isn’t too far from the house, and if I came up here late enough I usually had the view to myself.”
“D’you still come out here a lot?” Daniel asks softly.
“Sometimes,” Johnny confesses, shifting in his seat and fidgeting. “It’s… it’s nice to just zone out and forget about stuff, y’know?”
“Yeah,” Daniel replies, sounding pensive.
Johnny risks a glance at him just as Daniel is turning to look back. When their eyes meet, Johnny feels like his heart, in true trashy romance novel fashion, skips a beat.
“You couldn’t see the stars in Jersey, either,” Daniel says quietly, “But before, uh… before my dad got sick, we used to drive out to Farney State Park on the weekends and go camping.” He pauses, eyes searching Johnny’s face.
Johnny isn’t sure what he’s looking for, doesn’t know how to give it to him, so he just hums in encouragement, and Daniel keeps talking.
“The first time I saw a sky full’a stars, I swear I almost passed out. ‘Cause like,” and he’s gesturing with his hands now, making sweeping motions as he speaks, “I knew about the stars and the planets and all that stuff, right? But like, objectively. Seein’ all those little points of light, and thinkin’ about how they’re whole other worlds just… really wigged me out.”
Johnny knows what he means, feels pretty wigged out himself every time he drives out here and contemplates his place in the universe. He’s never been able to figure out if being so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things is comforting or not.
“We could never afford the gear, my mom and I, before,” Johnny whispers, feeling Daniel’s eyes on the side of his face as he talks. “Then when she married Sid, we were suddenly too good for camping, like it was some kind of--of poor person’s vacation, I dunno. It’s not like I can imagine Sid ever willingly sleeping outdoors, either.”
Johnny isn’t sure what he expected Daniel to say, but it definitely isn’t, “I’ll go with you.”
Johnny blinks, and looks at him, trying to keep the amazement out of his voice when he says, “Oh yeah?”
“Sure,” Daniel replies. “Everyone should go camping at least once, I think. Learn to cook food on an open flame, how to pitch a tent, all that jazz.”
He’s so painfully earnest that it makes Johnny’s chest ache, and Johnny thinks he’d probably agree to whatever Daniel asked of him if only he’d keep looking at Johnny like he is right now.
“Alright,” Johnny whispers. “Let’s go camping.”
Daniel shifts, and holds out a hand in between them. “Shake on it,” he says.
Johnny snorts, and reaches over to take Daniel’s hand. His grip is firm, and his hands are slightly smaller than Johnny’s. Johnny’s palms feel sweaty, and he prays that Daniel can’t tell how nervous he is.
When Johnny goes to pull away, Daniel holds firm, and before Johnny can ask what he’s doing, Daniel is bridging the gap between them and pressing his lips to Johnny’s.
It’s such a shock that Johnny can’t respond, just sits there slack-jawed, and Daniel pulls back quickly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, meeting Johnny’s eyes with a sheepish smile. His cheeks are so flushed that Johnny can see it even in the dark, and he looks mortified.
He goes to pull his hand away, and Johnny grips tighter.
“You don’t have to apologize,” Johnny breathes, because wow, Daniel LaRusso just kissed him on purpose, and Johnny is helpless to do anything but pull the other boy closer.
It feels like a real kiss when their lips meet again. The fireworks are back, bigger and better than ever, like the biggest New Years Eve celebration of all time, complete with noise makers and the deafening cheer of the crowd.
Daniel melts into him, tilting his chin to deepen the kiss when Johnny turns their pseudo handshake into proper hand holding, complete with interlocked fingers. Johnny feels like his heart is gonna beat out of his chest, and he tightens his fingers at the nape of Daniel’s neck.
Daniel’s other hand comes up to rest against the side of his face, and when Daniel brushes his thumb gently across Johnny’s cheek, Johnny can’t help but gasp into the kiss, rocked to his core over something so fuckin’ small it’s almost embarrassing--but any embarrassment flies out the window the moment he feels Daniel’s tongue in his mouth.
It’s the hottest kiss Johnny has ever had, and how annoying is it that Daniel LaRusso is able to completely take Johnny apart in this, too, without even a single crane kick.
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise, though--Daniel had known how to push Johnny’s buttons from the moment they met.
When Johnny pulls back a breath, Daniel nips at his bottom lip, and Johnny can’t help the laugh the bubbles up in his throat.
“Down boy,” he teases, and Daniel grins and rubs their noses together.
It’s so effortlessly affectionate that Johnny has to kiss him again. Daniel responds enthusiastically, licking into Johnny’s mouth and making Johnny groan.
Things get heated pretty quickly, and Johnny can feel himself getting hard, straining against his jeans uncomfortably. He wonders if Daniel is hard, too, what the other boy would do if he reached over and--
Daniel pulls away abruptly, and Johnny feels himself flush when he glances down at Daniel’s kiss-bruised lips.
“We should, y’know… talk,” Daniel whispers, tilting his head so that their foreheads brush together.
“Definitely,” Johnny agrees, shifting in his seat uncomfortably and rubbing his thumb across Daniel’s knuckles.
“Is this… I mean, um, how are you feeling?” Daniel seems nervous, and he keeps fidgeting with the collar of Johnny’s shirt with his free hand.
Johnny doesn’t know what all this means, doesn’t know if Daniel is gay or if he’s gay, or how them having made out pretty solidly in the front seat of Johnny’s red Firebird on a school night will change things.
He does know, however, that he feels good, and that this feels important.
“I came here after winning my first All Valley,” Johnny confesses.
“Oh, uh, yeah?” Daniel sounds confused at the sudden topic change.
“After all the celebrations ‘n stuff, I couldn’t sleep,” Johnny tells him. “Y’know, like, with the adrenaline and whatever. So I drove out here, and I sat in my car and thought… this is it. I’m the happiest I’m ever gonna be, probably, right in this moment.”
Daniel stays quiet, watching him closely, brown eyes wide.
Johnny takes a breath, lets it out, and says, “This is better. What I feel right now… it’s better.”
“Oh,” Daniel breathes.
Johnny flushes. “I mean, whatever, it’s kinda stupid--”
“No,” Daniel cuts him off, fingers digging into Johnny’s shoulder. “No, it’s not stupid.”
“Okay,” Johnny whispers.
“Can I kiss you again?” Daniel asks seriously.
“Yeah,” Johnny replies, “absolutely. Any time you want, whatever you want.”
“Awesome,” Daniel sighs, sounding relieved, and presses his mouth against Johnny’s.
They make out lazily for a while, and Johnny’s heart feels like it’s gonna burst out of his chest. Daniel keeps making soft noises into the kisses, and Johnny thinks, briefly, that he could probably get off on this alone, if he wasn’t terrified of scaring Daniel away.
And it’s not like Johnny’s ever kissed a guy before, let alone made one come--although he can’t quite lie to himself and say he’d never thought about it--so he’s not entirely convinced he won’t scare himself off if he tries to… to…
Daniel breaks the kiss, moving to trail his lips across Johnny’s cheek and down to his neck.
“Holy shit,” Johnny breathes, tilting his head to give Daniel a better angle to suck what will definitely be a hickey into his neck. He should probably be concerned about how a mark will raise questions, but at this moment all Johnny can think about is Daniel LaRusso and his lips and the way it feels like he’s cracked Johnny’s chest open.
Daniel pulls back, eyes lingering on his handiwork, before looking up at Johnny. “Was that okay?” he asks tentatively, eyes wide.
“Yes,” Johnny says in a rush before flushing in embarrassment.
But Daniel looks pleased with himself. He leans in to peck Johnny’s lips, and Johnny sways towards him when he pulls away.
“I should probably get home,” he murmurs, mouth twisting into a rueful smile.
Johnny sighs. “Yeah, me too.”
Daniel pulls away completely, and Johnny feels colder than he has all night. Somewhere during their make-out session, they’d stopped holding hands. Johnny misses it, and finds himself reaching for Daniel’s hand over the console. Daniel’s fingers twine willingly with his, and Daniel smiles at him.
“One last look,” Daniel says, and tilts his head back up to stare at the stars.
Johnny looks at Daniel, and prays that isn’t true.
The drive back to Reseda is silent, save for the low tones of the radio, but it feels heavy in a way it hadn’t before. There’s so much unsaid between them, questions about what they are to each other now and what happens next. Johnny isn’t sure how to bring any of these things up, was never good at talking about feelings to begin with, and anyways, he doesn’t wanna fuck whatever this is up.
So he stays quiet, and holds Daniel’s hand.
When they pull up in front of Daniel’s apartment building, Johnny cuts the engine.
I wanna know what love is, I want you to show me, the radio croons, and Johnny looks at Daniel right as Daniel is turning to look at him.
The atmosphere around them feels charged. Daniel’s eyes are sweeping across Johnny’s face like he’s looking for something, or trying to memorize Johnny’s features. His brow is slightly furrowed, and he’s gripping Johnny’s hand tightly. He looks so reluctant to get out of the car that Johnny is half-tempted to just start the engine again and peel off down the street, curfew be damned.
That, more than anything else, gives Johnny enough insane bravery to blurt, “This meant something to me.”
Daniel stares at him, eyes wide and lips parted in surprise, and for a heart-wrenching moment, Johnny thinks he’s fucked everything up.
But then Daniel says, “Oh thank god,” all in a rush, and pulls Johnny into a hug. It’s an awkward angle, with the console between them and their seatbelts still on, but Johnny still sags into Daniel’s embrace, and he can feel Daniel grinning against his shoulder.
“It meant something to me, too,” Daniel murmurs. “Totally, yeah, it meant a lot.”
“Good,” Johnny replies, pulling out of Daniel’s arms so he can press their foreheads together.
Johnny wants to kiss him, and he thinks Daniel would let him, but they’re in public, and whatever bravery had pushed him to blurt his feelings is long gone, carried off into the warm California night alongside his words.
“D’you wanna come over tomorrow?” Daniel asks, pulling back and looking at Johnny, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “I may not have all the new technology that you rich kids got, but like, we could walk down to the beach, or hey! There’s a pizza place a block away that has passable pizza? I mean, nowhere near as good as Jersey, obviously, but--”
“Daniel,” Johnny interrupts, grinning despite himself.
“Yeah?” Daniel replies, eyes wide and cheeks flushed.
“I’ll come over,” Johnny says.
“Awesome,” Daniel breathes, an echo of his earlier sentiment, when he’d been relieved Johnny said he could kiss him again.
“It’s a date,” Johnny murmurs.
Daniel’s answering smile is brighter than any of the stars they’d seen.