❛ nothing that is important to you is dumb
to me. ❜

     MIGUEL WALKED OVER TO THE PUNCH table, refilling his glass.

He kept looking back at Ayane and Robby, practically watching their every move. If Robby tried anything, Miguel was going to punch him in the face.

Ayane and Robby found the other Cobra Kai students. Kyler, Vincent, Piper and some of the others were all in a group, taking pictures.

"Ayane!" Vincent smiled upon seeing her, pulling her into the group. "Smile for the camera."

She did so, even laughing a little at the dumb face Vincent made.

"You look amazing," Piper told her. "I'm surprised you didn't come with that boy you were with the other day. What was his name? Mi–"

"Oh my God, Piper, we should go dance!" Ayane cut her off, suddenly grabbing her hand and pulling her away. No one else seemed to catch on, thank God.

Miguel walked back over to his table, noticing that Demetri was gone.

"Where'd Demetri go?" he asked Eli, who nodded toward the dance floor.

"Yasmine made a surprise appearance," he replied. "Looks like it's just me and you now."

Miguel sighed, finding Ayane once more. She was dancing with Piper, and actually looked to be having fun.

"Yo, is that Sam... with Tory?" Eli hit Miguel on the arm, seeing the two girls walk into the room. Together.

Miguel raised his eyebrows. "...That was not on my prom night bingo card."

Tory found her way to the other Cobra Kais. Ayane saw her, giving the dancing a break and walking over.

"Hi Tory," she said with a quick smile. "I like your dress."

Tory smiled a little. "Thanks. So... you guys coming to the afterparty?"

Ayane looked down at Robby who was sitting at the table. He shrugged. "We can go if you want."

She looked back up at Tory. "Yeah, why not? It's prom night."

Ayane turned, seeing Miguel and Eli still standing at the table. She wanted to dance with him so bad.

"So are you gonna leave me without a dance?" Robby asked her. Ayane looked down, sighing.

At once, she held out her hand. "Only one dance."

Robby grinned, taking her hand and standing up.

Miguel was already watching, straining to see over all of the people as Robby led Ayane onto the dance floor.

"You good, man?" Eli asked, noticing how upset Miguel looked.

He huffed, looking away. "I hate Robby Keene."

Ayane spun around and Robby pulled her back in, taking her by surprise.

"I told you I'm a good dancer," he said with a smile.

She shrugged. "Good, not great."

"Hey, you're not one to talk either," he replied. "You've stepped on my toes like five times already."

Ayane looked down, scooting her feet back.

She turned her head to see Miguel, softly smiling. Robby also turned to see who she was looking at.

"You wanna make him jealous?"

Ayane frowned, looking at Robby. "Uh, no. I just– miss him."

Robby's smile faded. He felt somewhat bad for all the shit he had been giving Ayane.

"I didn't realize you still... had feelings for him," Robby replied.

Ayane glanced down. "I feel like you're gonna try to lecture me if I said I did."

"No. I... I understand. Sometimes... I miss what I had with Sam."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, about to reply when Vincent came over.

"Ayane!"

She turned. "Hey Vince."

He rubbed his hands together. "Uh, may I– can you um– would you like to dance? W-With me?"

Ayane glanced at Robby, who just shrugged.

She didn't want to turn him down, because Ayane could see how nervous he was.

"Alright Robby, your time is up."

He laughed lightly. "See you in a minute."

Robby walked away and Ayane turned to Vincent with a coy smile.

"You going to the afterparty?" she asked him, taking his hand as he put the other on her waist.

Vincent shrugged. "Are you?"

Ayane nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, you only get to do it once."

She did not like that the music had shifted to a slow song. Ayane was hoping it would have been something more upbeat so they could dance like dumbasses instead.

Vincent met her eyes, becoming more serious.

"Can I tell you something?"

Ayane hesitated, then inhaled sharply. "Sure."

Vincent licked his lips, trying not to stumble over his words.

"I like you, Ayane. I've been trying to tell you for awhile now but– I keep backing out."

Ayane feared that had been coming. She glanced over at Miguel. He looked away when she did.

She felt really bad for what she was about to do.

"You're a great guy, Vincent. And a good friend. I-I'm sorry."

He looked down, only nodding. "It's okay. I understand. Uh... thank you for being honest."

Ayane smiled warmly.

"So, are you ready for this tournament?"

Vincent glanced up. "Yeah, actually. I'm not sure how good I'll do, but I'm gonna try my best."

"That's all that matters," Ayane replied. "You know, someone gave me some really good advice the other day. It doesn't matter what dojo you're a part of, as long as you're fighting for yourself."

Vincent narrowed his eyes, then nodded after a moment.

"I could see you being a sensei one day."

Ayane arched an eyebrow. "Me?"

Vincent smiled, nodding again. "Yeah, totally. If I have kids, I'd definitely let you teach them karate."

She laughed.

"I'd be honored, Mr. Hayes."

Miguel watched as Ayane laughed with Vincent, and it only brought him more hurt. He had so much built up rage in him at the moment.

He wanted to hurt Vincent.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

     "WHO'S HOUSE IS THIS?"

Robby shrugged, getting out of the car and Ayane as well.

"No clue. I'm just here to get a drink, see some people and then go home."

Ayane sighed, walking up the steps of the house.

She walked into the living room, seeing Eli on the couch. Beside him was an entangled mess of Yasmine and Demetri.

Ayane cringed a little, pushing past them to get to Eli.

"Hawk."

He looked up. "Oh, hey. Uh– you can call me Eli now."

She frowned. "I'm really sorry about that, by the way. I had no idea they even did it."

"I know," he nodded, his eyes trailing to the floor. "I'm sorry for treating you like you were one of them. I should've known better."

Ayane smiled, nudging his shoulder. "No worries. Hey, have you seen Miguel anywhere?"

Eli looked up. "Yeah, he said he was gonna go look for you. Maybe check upstairs?"

She nodded.

"Thanks."

Ayane turned and went up the stairs, pushing past multiple couples making out on her way up. She was scared to open any closed bedroom doors.

"Ayane?"

She turned, coming face to face with Miguel in the hall.

"Miguel. I was looking for you."

He placed his hands in his pockets with a small smile.

"You look beautiful."

She smiled, looking down. "You're not too bad yourself."

Miguel seemed distracted, like he had a lot of things on his mind. Ayane could always tell when something was bothering him.

"Do you wanna go on the balcony?" he asked, pointing behind him. "I mean– we could finally have a moment to ourselves."

Ayane quickly nodded, reaching out for his hand.

"Yes, definitely."

He pulled her along, leading her out onto the balcony.

"Did you have fun?" she asked, looking over at him.

Miguel laughed quietly, dropping his head. "Not really. It looked like you did, though."

Ayane breathed in slowly.

"Yeah, sort of. But... you still owe me a dance."

Miguel scrunched his nose, looking down at her. "Really? You still wanna dance after you danced with like five different people?"

Ayane put her arms around his shoulders. "Yeah. Because none of them were you."

He pulled out his phone, unlocking it. A moment later, a song began playing.

"This song always makes me think of you. I always imagined us slow dancing to it, so... it's fitting."

He set his phone on a nearby table, then put his hands around Ayane's waist.

They swayed along to the music, staring deeply into each other's eyes. Ayane's heart still did cartwheels like the first time she realized she loved him.

"What's bothering you?" she finally questioned.

Miguel pursed his lips. "I haven't really... felt like myself lately. Things between me and Sensei are weird, and it's just kinda confusing. I miss being able to see you whenever I want, and..."

He trailed off, then shook his head. "Never mind. It's kinda dumb."

Ayane cupped his chin. "Miguel. Nothing that is important to you is dumb to me."

She let him go and he sighed.

"I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. My– my real dad. I– this might sound crazy, but I think I want to meet him."

Ayane tilted her head. She rarely heard Miguel talk about his dad.

"Do you know where he lives?"

Miguel nodded. "Mexico. I don't know, it just sounds kind of stupid."

Ayane shook her head.

"It's not stupid. Look, I completely get it. And you never know, maybe things could turn out better than you'd ever expect."

Miguel wrapped his arms around her tighter, searching her eyes. "I think I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Ayane leaned forward, resting her chin on his shoulder. "And I think you're my one."

They stayed like that for a while, simply swaying to the music.

And then, their peace was quickly interrupted.

The balcony door opened, and Vincent burst through. "Ayane, I was looking everywhere for you– wait, what are you doing here?"

Vincent looked between her and Miguel, shaking his head with confusion.

"Ayane, what's going on here?"

She stepped toward Vincent, her eyes wide. "Vincent, just wait a second–"

"You lied to me, didn't you? You never really broke up with him."

Miguel took a step forward. "I'm not in the mood for your shit tonight. You need to leave."

He turned and grabbed Ayane's hand, pushing past Vincent aggressively.

Ayane followed Miguel downstairs, frustrated with herself.

"I think I need a drink," he said, letting her hand go. "You wanna come outside with me?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

They both went outside the back where the pool was. A lot of kids were out there. Miguel started to fill his cup with beer while Ayane waited.

"Hey, I'll be right back, I gotta go to the bathroom," she told him, walking back inside.

Meanwhile, Vincent was angrier than ever before. He walked outside in search of Miguel, and very quickly found him.

Vincent walked toward him, tapping him on the shoulder.

Miguel turned, not having time to say anything when Vincent threw a punch. He barely dodged it, leaning backwards quickly. Miguel dropped his cup, almost smiling.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this," Miguel sneered, pulling off his tuxedo jacket.

Vincent threw another punch and turned on his heel with a kick, though Miguel blocked and pushed him back. Miguel put forward two kicks, hitting Vincent with the second one.

Ayane walked back outside just then, her eyes suddenly going wide at the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Ayane!" Robby ran up next to her, confused. "What's going on?"

"I-I don't know, I just went to pee and came back to– this," she gestured in front of her.

He shook his head. "You grab Miguel, I'll grab Vincent."

Ayane nodded, running forward. "Miguel!" She tried to grab him but Vincent's fist came flying dangerously close to her face. And that only pissed off Miguel more. He grabbed Vincent by his shirt, pulling him forward and rearing his fist back to punch him. Robby suddenly kicked Miguel and threw him off, grabbing Vincent.

"Oh, so you wanna fight too?" Miguel said through gritted teeth, pushing up his sleeves. "I can do two on one."

Miguel started forward and Ayane stepped in the way, grabbing his arm. Vincent managed to fight out of Robby's grip, running forward. He meant to shove Miguel, but Ayane got caught up in the middle. Robby tried to stop Vincent, but it was too late. Before he knew it, all three of them went into the swimming pool.

Ayane gasped for air, floating there with shock. She looked over at Miguel, and then Vincent.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

Miguel swam over. "Ayane, I'm sorry. He– he came at me first."

She glared over at Vincent, standing up to get out of the water. Miguel, who's bowtie was now hanging loose around his neck, followed after her.

Ayane saw Robby standing there with an apologetic expression.

"I-I'm just gonna catch a ride home with someone else. I don't wanna mess up the car."

She and Miguel walked out of the house while he looked for the keys to his mom's car.

"Ayane, I'm sorry again," he repeated. "I didn't know that Vincent was gonna–"

Ayane went forward and kissed Miguel, throwing him off.

She pulled away. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself for thinking it was a smart idea to trust Vincent."

They both got in the car, though Ayane felt bad because she was soaking wet.

Miguel started to drive to Encino, but Ayane said, "We can go to your place for a little while. If you want."

He nodded, continuing along to Reseda.

They both got out of the car. Miguel started toward his apartment but stopped, looking over at Johnny's. The door was cracked.

Miguel frowned. "Uh, wait here for a second. Let me go check on Sensei."

Ayane nodded, shivering a bit and hugging herself.

She stood around outside, waiting patiently. When Miguel returned a few minutes later, she immediately saw that something was wrong.

Squinting in the darkness, Ayane frowned.

"Miguel?"

He sniffled, suddenly stepping toward her with a sob escaping his mouth. Ayane was more worried than she had ever been, pulling him into her arms. He buried his face in her neck, crying uncontrollably and Ayane not knowing why.

She put a hand over his head, trying to comfort him as best as she could.

"Miguel, what's wrong?"

He hugged her tighter.

"I just need you right now."

notes.
sobbing and throwing up why did i do this to myself

by the way, the song i imagined ayane and miguel slow dancing to was 'sunsetz' by cigarettes after sex (:

no bc this physically pained me to write, but i love them so much and they are my whole world

even more nervy bc next chapter is the all valley 🧍‍♀️ boy this is gonna be fun