𝗦𝗨𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡 [eli moskowitz]

chapter 8

courage
🎶 you belong with me - taylor swift (tv)

Johnny cracked open a beer as the Cobra Kai students stood in a junk yard. "You've trained hard. You've gotten stronger, tougher, faster, you've done your best. You're ready for this tournament, am I right?"

"Yes sensei." The students said in sync.

"Wrong!" He yelled, throwing the beer at them. "Your best ain't shit. If you wanna win the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, you gotta give me better than your best. Which is why from now on, you're gonna get my worst. Do you understand?"

Previously, Fallon wasn't totally on board with Johnny's radical ways, but ever since she saw Eli become confident in his own skin because of this dojo, she was all in. "Yes sensei!" The replied.

"Are you losers?" He asked.

"No sensei!" They said.

"Are you nerds?" He yelled.

"No sensei!" They repeated.

"Are you sure?"

With that, Fallon cringed as a the students around her confidently yelled. "No sensei!"

Oddly, Fallon enjoyed his harsh training. It was a release of frustration. She huffed as she ran through tires, praying she wouldn't trip. "Come on Shepherd you can go faster than that!" He pushed.

Her next challenge, balancing over a pit of sharp metal and glass. This was scary for Fallon, in volleyball you have to be willing to fall. If you can't jump with no fear of hitting the ground, you're never really going to be good. Normally, that would apply to karate. However, it's downfall is that you never really learn to balance. So you could only imagine how shaky Fallon's legs were as she made her way across. She took a sharp breath in and tried to focus on her feet, ignoring everything under them.

She had to admit, she was really struggling. That was, until she looked up and met eyes with Eli. After that, she had something to focus on. Before she knew it, she had come across and landed safely next to him. "Nice job, Fal." Miguel smiled. "I told you karate wasn't so bad."

"It's growing on me." She nodded.

The next part of the training was her favorite. Channeling your anger, turning it into strength. She was given a crow bar, some goggles, and a car. Her only instructions, destroy it, and destroy she did. By the time Johnny told her she could stop, she had swung so aggressively at the car that you almost couldn't identify it as such. The only secret to destroying something for Fallon was to imagine Allison's face on it.

Sensei had called them all together and began handing out beef jerky. "You wanna win, you gotta be hungry. You guys hungry?"

"Yes sensei!" The group replied.

"I hate beef jerky." Fallon muttered.

"Good." Johnny said. "Cause so are they." He blew a whistle, and barking could be heard.

Fallon saw dogs running at her and started to understand what was going on. "Well shit." She ran as fast as she could, looking for a truck bed that wasn't destroyed. Once she saw one, she immediately jumped in. Hawk ran up beside the truck, and a dog had come right up to him, snapping at his ankles. "Eli don't you dare kick that dog!" Fallon yelled.

He swatted at it, trying to get it away. "Help me Fallon!"

Fallon extended her hand, pulling him up into the truck. "I have a soft spot for dogs, even scary ones." She smiled, throwing the dog her jerky.

"You couldn't have done that a couple seconds ago?"

-

Fallon had invited Eli and Luna to come over, swim, watch a movie, just be together. Apparently Eli needed to talk to her about something important, so it seemed like a good time. Fallon and Luna were in her bed, watching a movie when she heard a knock on the door. Unconsciously, she checked her hair in the mirror before answering the door.

Eli had taken his hair down, and it was now laying in a blue mop on his head. It reminded Fallon of the old him, the one she knew before karate. She cared for both versions of him, because she knew who he was underneath all of it.

"Hey Fal." He smiled. She saw his hand twitching, a nervous habit he didn't know he had. Fallon knew, she noticed everything about him. Every. Little. Detail.

"What's up?" She smiled, letting him into her house. "Luna's in my room. We just changed, and I finally figured out how to turn on the hot tub."

"Maybe if you weren't so stubborn I could have figured it out for you." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." She scoffed. "Luna! Eli's here let's go!"

"Coming!" She yelled in return.

It was a chilly night for being in California, but the hot tub was warm so Fallon didn't mind it. They all talked and laughed for awhile, and eventually Luna left to use the bathroom, which Eli had totally asked her to do.

"So, Fal." Eli began. "I've been needing to talk to you, about something really important, and I'm not going to tip toe around it because I'm trying to be more confident, you know, and- I'm rambling now."

Fallon let out a soft laugh. "It's okay. Just tell me."

"Fallon you're the only person in the world that knows me. Authentically. Not even Demetri and Luna know me the way you do. This is something I've know for a long time, and I haven't really had the courage to outwardly say it until this whole 'new me' thing. I'm just, I'm trying to express what I want. You know, that's the only way you'll get it." He sighed. "And I guess somethings are shown better with actions than words." Fallon took. a deep breath. Was this it, was this finally it? Fallon's stomach was in knots. She could feel it. It was different, something in the way he looked at her.

They stared at each other for awhile, searching each others eyes for a sign to move closer. Hawk decided to just go for it. Strike first. He placed a hand on Fallon's face, closing the space between them. It was only then that Fallon realized how close their faces were. "Eli." Fallon whispered. He could feel her breath against his face. "It's okay." She said. With that being the only permission he needed, he placed his lips onto hers.

It would be the first of many kisses between the two, but Eli swore there would never be a better one. Fallon's cheeks were bright red as she felt his lips against hers. Holy shit. She had to pull away for a second, just to look at him and make sure this was real. Once she accepted it was, she re-closed the gap between them.

Luna waited for them to stop before coming outside, but it was awhile before that happened.