THE DRUG IN ME IS YOU

Twenty-eight.

Hawk had never been to a funeral before. His grandparents on his mother's side had died when he was young, and his dad's parents were still alive.  He stood in the back of the room, eyes darting around, his hands in the pockets of his slacks, chewing heavily on the piece of gum in his mouth. 

He should have been up front, sitting with his girlfriend, supporting her and holding her hand, but that spot was currently occupied by Robby Keene, and while Wren's friendship with the Miyagi-do never bothered him before, it nagged at him now, harping at the back of his brain. 

"Just go up there," Miguel whispered from next to him from where he stood with Tory. All of the cobra kai students had come, literally took up the whole back wall of the funeral home.  Johnny sat up front next to Ali, and Wren sat in between her mother and Robby.  Cora, Demetri, Sam and Chris lingered on the other side of the room, talking quietly among themselves. 

"There's no place for me to sit man, I'm not gonna just shove my way up there," Hawk muttered, giving Miguel a hard look. Aisha looked at Tory and both girls rolled their eyes. 

The funeral service hadn't even started yet and there were still people loitering around, plenty of empty seats. Hawk wiped at his face, having opted to not spike his hair up for the day, pushed the hair from out of his face, sighing as it basically fell back into place. He was not in his element here, unaware and clueless, his confidence was not present and he could feel the 'Eli' part of him bubbling up with nerves. 

Then Wren turned around. 

Despite the broken look in her eyes, she smiled at Hawk and he could see the appreciation of him being there on her face. She sniffled and turned her head, whispering something to Robby.  Hawk narrowed his eyes, his brow raised as Robby nodded and got up and started to walk toward them. 

"Common, she wants you to come sit with her," Robby stated as he reached the group, giving Miguel a polite nod as he turned to head back up front, sliding himself into a chair behind Wren's mom. 

Miguel all but shoved Hawk to get him to move his feet and Hawk gave his friend a dirty look before taking his hands out of his pockets and moving up the aisle, sitting down quietly in the chair next to Wren. 

"Hey baby," he muttered quietly, putting his arm around the back of her chair, his right hand reaching across his lap to take her right hand.  

"Thank you for coming to sit with me," she whispered, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. 

"For you? Anything," he whispered back. 

----

Hawk was practically crawling out of his skin by the time Wren came back to school toward the end of the week.  She had been given a week of excused absence for the death of a parent, and even though she had been coming to karate practice every day, Wren was unfocused and distant. He hadn't expected her to come back before the week was up. 

He stood waiting for her at her locker, a cup of tea from starbucks in his hand for her when she walked in that Thursday. She smiled at him as she walked up, humming contently as he kissed her forehead and thanking him as he handed her the hot cup. 

"How are you feeling?" he questioned, wanting to smack himself the second the words had left his mouth. Her dad had just died, what kind of a dumbass question was that? 

"Better than the beginning of the week," she admitted with a sigh. "Thanks for picking up my homework from all the classes we don't have together." 

"I can't believe you actually wanted to do homework," Hawk replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

Hawk raised a brow, looking at Wren, he waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello?  Earth to my girlfriend, what are you looking at?" he questioned, looking over his shoulder in the direction she was looking. 

"Oh great, this bitch again," he muttered as he saw Ava walking up to them. 

"... I heard about your dad," Ava began, "And I just wanted to say I'm sorry... I lost my aunt to her addiction a few years ago." 

"Uhm... thanks, and I'm sorry to hear," Wren replied, her fingers gripping her starbucks cup a little harder. 

Ava gave her a small nod, walking away. 

"Holy shit, hell is gonna freeze over!" Hawk exclaimed with a laugh. Wren gave him a look, but a small giggle escaped her mouth. 

"There's my favorite sound," Hawk grinned at her leaning down to steal a quick kiss. 

"That's your favorite sound?" Wren questioned, raising a brow. 

"Sounds you make in public, anyway," Hawk muttered back, raising his brows suggestively.

 "Later at your place I'll get you to make my actual favorite sound." 

---

"Alright! Gather round! Let's chat!" Johnny called with the clap of his hands to the seven students he would be taking to the All Valley tournament in just three days. 

"You guys have been training super hard, and we've definitely had some challenges come at us over the last few days," he stated, looking at Wren briefly before turning his attention back to everybody. "But, I'm proud of where we are and what we've practiced, so we're gonna have one more official class tomorrow and then just come in Friday for some stretching and some last minute spar practice, and then Saturday.... Saturday we're gonna kick some ass!" 

The students cheered, fist bumping and high fiving each other. 

"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"