elimetri trash

am i still ill ?

Oh this is a good one!

In the beginning of the show Hawk doesn’t like being called Eli anymore, let’s break down why. When he first meets Johnny and their few subsequent meetings after that Johnny drills into his head and the group that he must change who he is, he must distract from his “fucked up scar” he must “flip the script” so he can be a “better, cooler, badass” person. Johnny teaches Hawk that if he doesn’t distract and make himself different he’ll always be a “loser” and so the MAJOR masking and mimicking begins starting with new hair.

The new name was Johnny’s choice, so it has a lot of new sentimental value to Hawk it represents everything Johnny does for him, taking him from “loser” to “badass” and it’s one of the biggest pieces of the mask (even Kyler says in season 3 they thought Eli had moved away and Hawk was a different person).

So with that being said when Demetri calls him Eli in season 1 it upsets him because the nickname is fresh just like the mask is fresh, he’s still building it and Demetri calling him Eli is breaking it or prying it back open. Eli desperately wants Demetri to accept him as Hawk and it’s hard for Demetri because he knows Hawk is masking and mimicking.

As Hawk’s mask becomes more and more solid the use of his name from Demetri specifically becomes less upsetting and more annoying/makes him kinda jump to an Eli head space. When Demetri uses it it’s almost always in the context of “I know who you really are” which is almost always Demetri begging for Hawk to either see “reason” or for Hawk to pay attention to him.

When Demetri is begging him not to break his arm “Eli, Eli stop it’s me”it definitely is one of the reasons he hesitates so much, Demetri is his best friend, he can beat him up, pour beer on him, be a little fucking brat but he still has a wealth of emotions attached to this gangly kid and hearing Demetri begging Eli to stop really throws him off. Bringing it back to masking Demetri knows Hawk’s masking so hard, in his moment of anguish he literally says “it’s me” because he knows Hawk is so fucking absorbed in his mask that he’s losing Eli and obviously he can hear the group pushing Hawk. He is on Demetri’s back for a decent amount of time conflicted.

Post season 3 I think we’ll likely see Demetri calling Hawk both Hawk and Eli, maybe when they are alone he’ll call him Eli more often which I don’t think would bother Hawk, because it’s not really about the name it’s about the mask built around the name. In terms of other people, Eli is almost private to Demetri and I think he’d only be comfortable with Demetri calling him that.

Aaaaahhhhh I can totally see this happening!!! Like Demetri seeing that kiss incident as all water under the bridge and not thinking it matters anymore, and figuring hey, they’re among friends now--no one there is going to judge them for some dumb practice kissing they did years ago. And him just completely underestimating how embarrassed and ashamed Eli still is of the whole thing, and how much he still isn’t really...over it. 

“Then why did you say all of that private stuff? One public humiliation wasn’t enough?” AHHHHH I CRI ;____; Yeahhh...despite how much Demetri and Eli want back in each other’s lives, Eli ain’t forgetting that little speech at Moon’s party in a hurry. As awful as Eli was to Demetri prior to that, and as much as Eli honestly had it coming, it’s hard not to feel bad for Eli that he was honestly probably terrified after that of Demetri throwing out more private stuff about him whenever Demetri wanted, and Eli couldn’t do anything about it. And, of course, he was probably terrified the whole time they had their rivalry that Demetri would let loose about the time they made out. Demetri would never stoop that low, of course, and it would also kinda be throwing Dem himself under the bus (it takes two tango--or have a gay makeout sesh, in this case--after all), but Eli had no way of guaranteeing that, and of course was probably really paranoid after the whole sleep enuresis thing getting revealed. Demetri’s definitely got some work to do before Eli fully trusts him the way he used to.

Eli flinching when Demetri’s like “No one things you like guys or anything”...ouch, my heart :( Poor boy has enough internalized homophobia to fill a small country, probably. But Demetri putting together that Eli does like boys and IMMEDIATELY going in to support him and reassure him and make sure he knows that he doesn’t think any less of him and that he still cares for Eli immensely??? Demetri holding Eli while he cries it out, and letting him process his emotions while showing he’s still there for him no matter what??? Absolute perfection. The pinnacle of human creativity and imagination.

And Demetri’s totally right, for the record--none of their friends are about to think poorly of them for a few stolen gay practice kisses in middle school, and in fact Miguel basically concluded these two were homosexuals from Day 1 anyhow. So when they walk back into that room finally, and if/when Eli chooses to open up to the rest of the team about being gay, you dun best believe the whole dojo is gonna have his back! No one’s gonna think any less of Eli for liking/having kissed Demetri--after all, everyone already called it anyways XD Someone owes someone $20, I’m betting.

AlSO CONFESS YOUR LOVE YOU DAMN IDIOTS DEMETRI YOU LIKE MEN TOO YOU ABSOLUTE FOOL, DID YOU THINK KISSING ELI AND LOVING IT WASN’T GAY??? I’VE GOT SOME BAD NEWS FOR YOU PAL

wAIT HOLY SHIT I DIDN’T EVEN THINK OF THAT??? BUT YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT???

Demetri DOES legitimately seem to like the color blue--there might not be enough canon basis to say it’s his favorite, but a lot of his flannels and other clothes are either blue or have blue pretty prominently in them!!! It’s partly for the Miyagi-Do imagery, of course, but I think he wore a fair bit of blue even before he joined, so I like to think he just is fond of the color and joining Miyagi-Do just gave him an excuse to wear it more lol. But I really like the idea of Hawk getting a wacky new hairstyle when he Flipped The Script that he legitimately thought Demetri would like and think was cool, in a color he knew Demetri liked, and was just...lowkey kinda crushed when Demetri didn’t really take to it :( In fact, in 1x09, if you watch how Hawk reacts to Demetri being kinda weirded out and dismissive of the whole new “Hawk” persona, it reads a bit like Hawk is disappointed and almost a bit hurt that Demetri isn’t more impressed with his new “coolness” upgrade. Almost like...he was kinda hoping to impress Demetri??? Maybe not on like a conscious level, but he’s certainly seeking Demetri’s approval to some degree and gets annoyed and hurt when he doesn’t get it (i.e. “All right, I see how you’re saying [Hawk], and I don’t like it.”). I also like the idea that maybe Eli chose to dye his hair that color to maybe help Demetri be more comfortable with his change to Hawk--like “alright, I kinda feel like I need to revamp who I am and change how I approach my life to be more secure in myself and feel safer existing in the world, but you’re still an important person to me and this change doesn’t have to be something that’s bad for you.”

AlsO, if you want to take the hair symbolism a step further, it’s interesting to note that Hawk’s hair is blue while he’s still holding on to Demetri to some extent, and also still holding onto the original Eli that Demetri loved and was best friends with. Hawk continues to be friends with Demetri through the end of Season 1 and into the beginning of Season 2, and still shows shades of the old timid, nervous Eli while he has the blue hair. And then as SOON as he gets his hair dyed red and gets the moon tattoo (which we’re led to believe happened VERY close together, since he’s getting his hawk’s hair updated at the same time he gets the moon tattoo), his relationship with Demetri falls apart. So in a way, getting rid of the blue hair kinda symbolizes fully letting Demetri go, with the red hair symbolizing his full commitment to Cobra Kai and the moon tattoo he gets at the same time symbolizing his full commitment to his relationship with Moon (and having to presumably let go of any lingering feelings he might have for Demetri). Lowkey ingenious symbolism but oh BOY does it make me depressed to think about :(