Qᵁᴱᴱᴺ ᴷᴬᴿᴬᵀᴱ

#QUEENKARATE.   welcome   to   my   INDEPENDENT   MUTUALS   AND   SELECTIVE   BLOG   FOR   COBRA   KAI   OC,   JEANNY   BROWN,   daughter   of   original   cobra   bobby   brown   based   on   the   karate   kid   franchise   and   netflix’s   cobra   kai.   heavely   affiliated   with   @vypcr​.  

          SHE’S GOT THE PRETTIEST SMILE HE’S EVER SEEN.  Leo’s used to the grins, the layers of attitude wrapped up in a tease. It’s different now, all the edges stripped away, like he’s seeing her smile for the very first time. And it’s something he hopes he never forgets.  That smile. This look on her face.  He commits it to memory as if it could be the last time he sees it in person. Not that he truly expects that, no, but a sight that precious is worth the effort to keep. It’s not like he ever expected them to be here in the first place. They used to hate each other. This? Whatever they are now? It was an accident. They were never supposed to get close like this. What if one day something happens and they go back to how they were before? What if this is temporary?  Simple risk assessment.  Leo can hear his father’s voice in his head, and it’s never sounded more annoying. But it’s not something he cares to think about right now. He likes Jeanny. God, he does. And he doesn’t want this to be temporary.

           ❝ You wanted to kiss me at the carnival? ❞  The slightest touch of playful smugness creeps across his features at her admission. Happy to hear he wasn’t the only one holding so much back over the past month. It’s good to know that it wasn’t just him slowly driving himself insane, and maybe she’s wanted this just as long as he has.  ❝ Good. I wanted to kiss you then, too. Might have been tempted more than once, actually. ❞  One hand pulls her closer as the other leaves her waist, pressing against the edge of the pool table so he can lean down, keeping their faces close.  ❝ Mean flirting? ❞  Brows twist in question. How can you flirt with someone by being mean to them? But he thinks about how things have gone recently, and maybe it makes a little bit of sense. Just a little.  ❝ Is that even a thing? ❞

SHE   DOESN’T   REALLY   DENY   IT.   BECAUSE   YEAH.   And   god   she   is   aware   of   how   annoying   her   sister   would   sound   the   moment   she   knows   that   she   had   been   right   all   along   regarding   them.   The   fact   that   yeah,   karate   rivals   do   not   invite   each   other   to   carnivals   or   trips   to   universal   and   horror   haunted   houses   and   pretend   those   excuses   to   get   closer   and   closes   are   anything   but   that,   excuses.   “Don’t   get   cocky.”   But   he   does   and   a   part   of   herself   enjoys   the   attitude.   That   little   quirk   of   his   eyebrow   and   the   dimple   on   the   side   of   his   smile.   Yeah   she   is   totally   into   the   attitude,   she   is   damned.  

          THOSE SCATTERED SECONDS BEFORE SHE ANSWERS HIM  are some of the most terrifying seconds of his life. Might be an exaggeration, might not, all he knows is that small moment of not knowing, of hanging in that limbo between acceptance and rejection, it could almost make his blood run cold. The same kind of feeling like when you wait for someone to tell you bad news.  But the bad news doesn’t come.  She speaks and ends the quiet torture, and it’s hard to describe the relief Leo feels when she pulls him down and returns his kiss with one of her own. He’s never been so afraid to kiss someone before, but he’s also never wanted to kiss someone more than he’s wanted to kiss Jeanny. He keeps trying and failing to find some label to call them. They’re not really enemies anymore. Rivals, yes, always, in the best sense of the word. But there’s something else there. Something he can’t find the right words to describe.

          Hate is a strong word, one they do use a lot, but he doesn’t really hate Jeanny. Not even close. Not like they still pretend they do. You can’t say you hate someone and be convincing when you’re always going out for pizza, or when you take them to the carnival, or when you invite them and their friends out to spend the weekend doing fun Halloween stuff at a theme park. He’d even gone so far as to lie and say they were complimentary passes from his mother’s work.  They weren’t. He bought them on a whim, just for her.  Basically bribed his dad into letting him take a Bentley from his garage, too, in an attempt to impress her and her friends. But why? Why do all of this? It’s a simple answer. He’s lost his fucking mind. Leo returns her kiss with another, a little deeper this time. More sure in his actions than the first now that he knows for certain that yeah, this is mutual. His hands find her waist and pull her closer, smile returning when he takes his next breath.  ❝ I’m an idiot, ❞   Leo chuckles, and he can’t fight back in this moment. He’s happy to have the little insult, proof that their banter won’t just evaporate even as things are starting to change between them.  ❝ Tell me the truth. Back when everything happened at the Cobra Kai dojo, did you almost kiss me for real then, too? Or was it a pity kiss with bad aim. ❞

SHE   WAS   NEVER   ONE   TO   BELIEVE   IN   ALL   THOSE   LOVE   TALES.   The   ones   that   say   that   every   sound   just   drowns   away   when   you   kiss   or   when   you   hold   each   other   close.   This   isn’t   love,   it’s   not   hate   eighter   and   by   all   means   she   is   content   with   just   figuring   out   what   is   happening   in   that   moment.   But   the   music   around   does   drown   down   when   he   kisses   her   again,   and   despite   all   of   her   hard   work   on   her   legs,   she   feels   them   like   jelly   and   she   is   so   thankful   that   he   is   holding   her   in   that   moment   and   her   grip   tightens   around   his   shoulders,   to   steady   herself.   

           ❝ JUST THIS ONCE, ❞  a slight laugh, glimmer in his eyes.  ❝ But I’m still counting this as a win for me. And I will never let you live it down. ❞  Leo’s not someone that easily loses focus. That’s always been one thing he’s prided himself on: his focus. It only adds to the frustration in the moment as he struggles to string together a single thought that isn’t about Jeanny Brown.  ( What the hell is happening to him ? )  If the dojo war wasn’t dead, he might be suspicious. She could be trying to get into his head on purpose, right? But there is no more war, not like how it was before. No real reason to play games. Oddly enough, even when they did hate each other, he can’t really remember a time when she was anything other than honest with him, often brutally so. Jeanny’s hand is on his chest, and when she asks what he wants, he can only think of one thing. Something, he thinks, maybe she’d allow. There’s always a chance he’s misreading this. Caution can save you from a lot of heartache. His dad’s basically drilled that into his head. Never make a rash decision. Only turn thoughts into action when you have all the facts, when you’re absolutely certain. Have a backup plan for a backup plan.

          But there are no plans here, and caution is not a word that exists in his vocabulary in the slow seconds it takes for him to lean down, eyes closing as he presses his lips to hers.  ( Shit. Why did he just do that !? )  The realization sinks in that he’s just jeopardized everything with that one kiss. Sure, she sort of kissed him before, that little kiss at the corner of his mouth that has stayed engraved in his memory, but there was enough plausible deniability there to keep things from being awkward. But this time, there is no hiding, no excuses for what just happened except that he wanted to kiss her.  ❝ Please tell me I didn’t just misread everything and make myself look like a complete idiot, ❞  Leo mumbles, hesitant to meet her eyes again after he pulls away.  ❝ Tell me that I didn’t just ruin … whatever this is between us. ❞

“YEAH,   YEAH,   YOU   CAN   HAVE   THIS   ONE   THING.   DON’T      GET   GREEDY.“   So   she   might   have   to   talk   to   her   sister   about   this   because   yeah,   the   energy   in   the   room   is   certainly   flirtacious   or   whatever   she   told   her.   School   yard   kind   of   flirting,   in   which   they   pull   each   other’s   metaphorical   pigtails   and   just   hope   to   get   the   attention.   Except   now,   there   is   no   real   reason   to   do   that   as   the   dojos   were   close.   Cobra   Kai   is   gone   and   Miyagi-Do   and   Eagle   Fang   are   closed   for   the   summer,   at   least,   until   she   is   told   otherwise. 

           ❝ I’D STILL BE TALLER WITH BUSTED KNEECAPS. ❞  He can’t help but tease back. There’s no genuine meanness left in it anymore; there hasn’t been for a while now. Strange how all the insults and teasing with someone he used to hate often feels more friendly than a conversation with his actual friends. Even stranger how he finds himself spending more time with her and less with everyone else. Part of it might have to do with Cobra Kai shutting down, yeah. Less reason to hang around people like Kyler. Maybe that’s also part of why he doesn’t feel so compelled to treat her like an enemy anymore. But that’s as much as he can rationalize it right now, lips pressing into a firm line as she calls him out for his poor choice of words.  ❝ Just you , ❞  he concedes, corner of his mouth curving into a crooked grin as he watches her make her next shot. She’s smiling and he can’t help but smile back, brows softening at how excited she looks.  ❝ See? Just like I told you. ❞ He’s ready to be smug about it, throw another tease, but she turns and he’s reminded just how close they are. Leo is silent for a moment, and maybe that silence says too much. Maybe he should take a step back, but he stays there, brown eyes looking down at Jeanny like there’s nothing else in the room. But he’s aware enough to know how it looks, and that he should say something, so he swallows and searches for his words. ❝ So, are you finally going to admit that I’m better than you at something or … ? ❞

           ❝ SEE? I KNEW YOU WERE JUST LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO KICK MY ASS AGAIN, ❞  he jokes, another sip of the cocoa beneath a half-hearted smirk. She’s right about one thing for sure: it’s never felt like he’s had a choice in the matter. His parents didn’t hesitate to throw that legacy on his shoulders and tell him to carry it. And he feels like he owes it to them for what he did. It’s his fault he’s their only option now, after all. There should be another one there to carry it together, a brother, a favored son, but he’s gone, and not a day goes by when Leo doesn’t believe that it’s all because of him. He thought for so long that he was doing the right thing by staying in Cobra Kai. It’s what his mother and father wanted from him. Ironic, how choosing to tie their name to Silver’s is now probably going to cost them more than it ever gained them. They’ll probably say it’s his fault, too. As if he could have known that his sensei was a cheater and a fraud. And he’s so tired of thinking about what comes next, because there is so much uncertainty, and the things that he is certain about? He dreads. It’s much better to focus on what’s happening now, and he’s grateful that he isn’t alone. That she’s here, sitting and talking with him. That he has this cup of cocoa, something sweet to drown out the bitterness that rests on his tongue.

          Just when he slips too far into the future, overthinking, she brings him back to the present, her lips sending a jolt of electricity through his skin. He can’t tell if she was aiming for his cheek or his lips, and it drives him a little bit crazy, all the things he could read in that tiny missed distance. Slow blinks, like he’s just woken up from a deep sleep, clearing his throat as he mirrors her, taking a drink from his cup to try and disguise the grin that spreads involuntarily. He doesn’t say anything about it, mostly because he’s still in disbelief. It’s confusing, but … he’s not mad about it.  ❝ Damn. And here I was planning on retreating into my secret ninja turtle sewer base. Guess you’re not gonna let me hide forever, huh? ❞

“WE   BOTH   KNOW   YOU   WOULD   ENJOY   THAT   WAY   TOO   MUCH,   EITHER   WAY.“   But   hey,   it’s   no   fun   kicking   his   ass   if   his   heart   isn’t   fully   into   it.   This,   whatever   they   have,   is   a   two   way   street.   They   banter,   push   and   pull   and   keep   with   each   other   in   a   way   that   seems   hard   to   follow.   And   Jeanny   sees   that   he   slips   into   something   else   than   the   present,   it’s   dangerous   to   her   tactics   to   keep   the   attention   upfront   is   unorthodox   at   best.   But   it   seems   to   work   as   he   snaps   back   to   reality   and   she   cannot   help   but   to   hide   the   smile   that   appears   on   her   lips   at   the   jolt   he   does.   If   she   wasn’t   being   merciful,   she   would   be   making   another   joke   at   his   expense,   but   hey,   she   is   trying   to   be   better.