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Johnny had been casting furtive glances towards the sky all morning, and his preoccupation was beginning to distract Daniel as well.
He shakes his head and centers himself. They need to hurry up if they want the kids to have time to practice on the balance wheel before the rain starts.
"C'mon Johnny, are we going to get up there and give these kids a demonstration or what?"
"Not on your life LaRusso." He rolls his eyes.
Daniel's teeth grit together and that familiar pang behind his eye warning of the oncoming headache starts to throb. Johnny always does this to him. "What, scared a little water might ruin that 'pretty boy' hair?"
Johnny glares at him. "Forget it LaRusso." He warns.
He doesn't understand why he's being so stubborn about it! They had an agreement to work together after all.
"Some sensei," he goads. "How are they supposed to learn something you won't help teach?"
The kids shift nervously watching the pair of them.
"It's okay, dad." Sam volunteers. "I could help you-
Daniel smirks at Johnny and goes in for the point. "Gonna let a girl show you up and do your job for you?"
And, really? He should have seen it coming, but the leg sweep takes him by surprise as do the the hands on his chest shoving him back.
He hits the water with a splash, arms flailing embarrassingly. When he comes up sputtering it's to Johnny storming away.
Miguel watches his retreating form hesitantly, then bites his lip and offers Daniel a hand.
"Uh, sorry," he mumbles. He doesn't know why he feels he has to apologize for his sensei, but he does.
"It's fine." He tries to smile and pats his shoulder.
Overhead dark storm clouds inch closer. "Class dismissed," he calls. "Those clouds aren't going to hold back much longer. Everyone drive careful, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Dad?" Sam says twisting her hair around her finger.
Daniel pauses in wringing out his dripping shirt and looks up at her tone. "Yeah?"
"I um, I think you should apologize to sensei Lawrence."
"What?" He pushes his hair back and huffs out a breath. He can't believe this, his own daughter's already under Johnny's spell.
"I think... I think maybe he doesn't like the water," she whispers.
She has always been rather astute, but Johnny pitching a fit over a little water seems preposterous. He has California beach bum written all over him.
"I don't think-
"Please, dad. I like training with all the guys. I really want this to work."
He sighs at her large puppy dog eyes. "I'll see what I can do." He grimaces.
She beams. "Thanks dad."
She doesn't know what she's asking for, he thinks warily, climbing the steps.
He enters the dojo and goes straight for a change of clothes.
Once dry, he walks through the rooms towling his hair in search of Johnny.
He finds him hunched over the table meticulously scribbling notes.
It baffles him. He won't do the wheel, he makes fun of his katas, his philosophies. And yet, he stays late everyday going over notes and lesson plans trying to make this work.
He stands watching him uncertainly for a minute, slipping his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, John?"
"Hmm?" He grunts flipping through pages of their past notes making comparisons.
"Look, uh." He fiddles with his keys. He really hates having to swallow his pride. "I shouldn't have goaded you in front of the kids like that I'm sorry, alright?"
"Alright." He agrees easily still flipping pages.
"That's it?"
"What do you want from me, Danielle?" He finally snaps shoving the papers away.
"To share my feelings, paint each others nails? Just leave it," he growls standing and pushing past him.
He follows him out onto the deck watching him leave.
"I tried, Sam." He throws his hands up. Then his shoulders slump and he sighs. "Fine," he grumbles towards the rumbling sky. "Fine." He'll try one more time before he heads home. For Sam. Not because of Johnny's hang dog look and sad eyes.
***
"What are you doing here?" Johnny scowls when he opens the door to find Daniel on the other side.
He holds up a case of light beer.
Johnny snorts. "Trying to poison me LaRusso?" He really wishes his fridge wasn't empty right now or he wouldn't be so desperate.
Daniel grins at the way he's eyeing the case. "Can I come in?"
"Why?"
He shrugs. "To talk?"
"You already said your 'apologies', so forget it."
"I think Hawk's really excited to learn that flying tornado kick you've been talking about. Think he's ready?"
Johnny's eyes narrow. He knows what he's doing. But they really do need to talk about their students and the progress they've been making. He sighs opening the door a little wider.
Daniel grins at him shuffling through and making his way to the kitchen.
"Yeah make yourself at home," he mutters following behind.
"So anyway," he says holding out a beer.
Johnny's about to respond to his pitiful attempts at conversation when
thunder cracks the sky with enough force the walls seem to shake with it.
His knuckles go white where they grip the counter.
Daniel glances down at his hands. "Not a fan of storms, I take it?"
He glares snatching the beer and brushes past him to flop on the sofa.
Daniel hesitates. Well, he didn't exactly kick him out, not that he thinks he really would in this down pour, but still. He follows him to the sofa taking a seat. "Perfectly understandable," he says, "Even, uh." He closes his mouth. Somehow he doesn't think sharing that Anthony is still afraid of storms is going to help anything.
"Shut up LaRusso," he grumbles getting up to slide a tape into his VCR.
Daniel frowns and sinks back into the sofa to watch whatever bad eighties fight flick he's picked out.
And he tries to ignore the tension rolling off of him. Tries to ignore the slight jump everytime the thunder rolls. The way he keeps reaching for the stupid cheap beer
But with every crack and every flicker of the lights it gets harder and harder.
Lightning cracks the sky again moments later and the lights inside go out for good.
"Crap crap crap!" Johnny hisses clunking the bottle down on the coffee table.
"It's alright." Daniel finds himself saying. "I'm sure they'll have it back on soon."
"Right."
"Um, got any candles?"
"Yeah, I got some lovely lavender ones in the bedroom. Who do I look like, your wife?" He snarls.
"A flashlight then?" Daniel asks rolling his eyes.
"Kitchen drawer." He finally grumbles.
Daniel stumbles around a bit but finally manages.
"Here we go." He comes back to Johnny taking up half the couch. He sighs and takes a seat by his head.
Outside the storm picks up and he can feel Johnny's breathing do the same. Without thinking, he finds himself doing the same
thing he does when comforting one of his own children, absently combing his fingers through his hair. He doesn't even realize he's doing it until several minutes later. He starts to freeze, but Johnny hasn't yelled at him or tried to punch him yet. He risks a glance down.
Johnny's staring blankly up at the ceiling apparently a million miles away.
"Hey." Daniel murmurs, idly twisting a lock of silky smooth hair. "Where'd you go, huh?"
His face shutters. "Same place I always go," he mutters looking towards his unfinished beer.
"Take me there." Daniel says without thinking. "He'd really just been searching for a distraction to keep him from getting too far in the bottle.
The huffed laugh is dry and humorless. "Alright," he says. "Six years old, my mom's deadbeat boyfriend takes me out on his boat alone. Says he's gonna teach me to swim, right."
Daniel's fingers twitch. "Go on."
"Well, he taught me. Threw me straight overboard. Everytime I'd get close he'd pull the boat further away. I treaded water for what felt like hours until I couldn't any longer. Lucky for me I guess, some guy and his wife were out fishing. They were able to pull me out. ...do CPR."
"God, Johnny." Daniel breathes.
"Yeah, well," he grumbles. "It started storming on the way to the hospital, and all I could think about was how I screwed up another one of my moms relationships." He snorts.
"I...
He doesn't know what to say. He knows any kind of apology is just going to make him angry. "So uh, no pushing you in the pond unless we're willing to do CPR on this ugly mug, huh?" He gives his hair a slight tug carding his fingers through the fine strands and hopes he knows what he's trying to say.
"Hmm," he hums closing his eyes.
They stay together like that awhile longer. Until well after the rains stopped and the lights have finally flickered back to life.
Johnny squints up at him from where his heads still pressed against his thigh.
"Hey, LaRuss... uh, Daniel." He fumbles. "I um," He coughs. "Your beer sucks."
Daniel snorts and shakes his head.
"Yeah, you're welcome," he murmurs hearing the thanks for what it is.