Molly laid back onto the tattoo chair with a small smile on her face and a cluster of nerves buzzing through her stomach.

Since she wanted a tattoo just below her collarbone, she decided to just wear a tube top and as soon as her shoulders hit the cold leather seats, she shivered.

Hawk, who made an appointment to get two tattoos done after Molly, stood beside the seat and noticed her shiver.

His hand moved to hers, squeezing. When she turned to look at him, Hawk's head lowered, looking down at Molly with worried eyes. "You okay?" He asked, his thumb gently rubbing small circles on her hands.

Molly took a deep breath, nodding her head as the tattoo machine started to whirl. "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay." She breathed out just before the tattoo gun hit her skin.

Molly's face scrunched and she squeezed Hawk's hand as tight as she could. "You're okay. You're okay." Hawk whispered, still rubbing her hand. Molly licked her lips and slowly felt herself start to get used to the scratchy feeling.

Slowly, Molly eased her grip on Eli's hand, but she still held on. She looked up at Eli and felt the fluttering in her stomach grow at the smile on his face as he looked down at her.

"I must say, I am very happy to see my parents together again." Demetri said, standing up from the line of chairs against the wall with Miguel to walk toward Molly and Eli.

When the two turned to face him, Molly having to crane her neck in an uncomfortable way since she was lying down, Demetri raised his eyebrows. "Am I finally free from the constant custody battles?"

Molly scoffed at that, earning a small scolding from Rico, but she ignored him. "Custody battles? What are you talking about? I definitely had full custody." Molly said and Demetri pursed his lips, thinking about what Molly said, before he realized she was right.

Eli glared tiredly at Demetri, shaking his head. "Can you please stop calling us your parents?" He asked. Eli wasn't there when Demetri first called him and Molly his parents, and he hadn't been close with them in the past year to see how much it's stuck.

Molly turned back to Eli, shaking her head just a tad so she didn't disrupt the man tattooing her. "He will never stop. And it doesn't just relate to just us." Molly responded without thinking. Her eyes widened as she realized she was referencing Demetri calling Robby his step dad and she quickly spoke again.

"I'm surprised he hasn't called one of my mom's grandma yet." Molly hummed, Demetri sighing from above her, silently proud of her save.

Eli gently continued to rub his thumb across her hand. "Does it hurt there?" Eli asked softly, making Molly relax in her seat.

She looked up at the ceiling as she tried to not only focus on the feeling just below her collarbone, but also trying to think back to when she got a tattoo on her ribs.

After a couple seconds, Molly turned back to Eli and shook her head. "Hurts less." She answered quickly before her eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

Eli quickly shook his head, only giving the girl a small smile. "No reason. Just wanting to see how you were doing."

"He's getting a tattoo in the same spot." Rico said, not even looking up from Mollys collarbone.

Molly's eyes widened and she stared up at Hawk. "You copy cat!" She whisper yelled and Eli quickly shook his head to defend himself. "You told me about that spot, and I thought it'd be cool to get something there too!"

"Well, then what are you getting?" Molly asked, raising her head a little higher tauntingly.

Eli's neck, ears, and cheeks started to pink up at the question, suddenly getting nervous to tell Molly what he was getting done.

Wanting to get himself off the hot seat, he leaned down and kissed Molly fast enough that she was dazed, her lips chasing his. He smirked down at her when he pulled away, still rubbing his thumb along the side of her hand. "You'll just have to wait and see."

...

In about 45 minutes, Mollys tattoo was done. She slowly sat up with the help of Eli, who kept one hand on the small of her back and the other on her waist.

Molly looked down at her tattoo and smiled so hard, her face was starting to hurt. "Thanks, Rico." She said through her grin as Eli and Demetri started to walk around tattoo bench to stand in front of Molly.

Demetri squinted at the tattoo. "Three messy hearts." Demetri muttered to himself before he looked up from Molly's collarbone to her eyes. "Why three messy hearts?"

Molly blushed, suddenly feeling very nervous about sharing why she got the tattoo. That was always something Molly was nervous of when getting any tattoo. What if people didn't like the meaning behind it?

"I had both of my moms draw a heart and then they drew one together. So it's the two of them and me. I'm the middle one since that's the one they worked on together." Molly explained, trying her hardest to point at the middle heart without actually touching it.

Demetri and Eli smiled at the sentiment and when Molly looked down to watch Rico put on the second skin, Demetri leaned toward Eli's ear. "Isn't your tattoo gone be three—"

"Shut up!" Eli whisper yelled back at Demetri, not wanting Molly to overhear them and call him a copy cat again.

Once Rico was officially done with her tattoo, Molly looked to the three boys that came with her and finally realized Miguel hadn't left the chair in the corner of the tattoo parlor since they got there,

"Hey, Miguel." Molly called out, making the boy finally look up from his phone. Molly's eyebrows furrowed together at the glum look on his face and she pushed her self off of the tattoo bench, walking toward him. "Everything okay?" She asked, Demetri and Eli trailing behind her.

Miguel pushed his phone into his pocket and stood up, tiredly rubbing his eyes. "Yeah. Uh, tired from the trip is all." He muttered and Hawk snickered.

"Yeah, you spent how many hours in a car with Robby?" He asked playfully and Molly crossed her arms. She honestly didn't understand why on Earth Johnny thought it was a good idea to bring Robby with him to Mexico.

"I've never seen you around him without a John Wick-style fight." Demetri added and Miguel sighed tiredly. His eyes moved to Molly, grateful that she didn't make any comment, but also nervous to say what he was going to say next.

"For sensei's sake, I'm trying not to let it get up to that. Even if he deserves it. Robby says he's done with Cobra Kai. We'll see how that goes." He muttered, rubbing his eyes to purposefully miss Molly's reaction. He knew that while he was gone, Molly and Eli started... something, and he didn't want bringing up Robby leaving Cobra Kai to ruin that.

Molly's eyes widened at Miguel's words while Eli's squinted from next to her. "Wait, really?" Eli asked. His eyes made the mistake of looking to Molly, and his heart sank at the look on her face.

Was she happy Robby was out of karate? She wasn't hoping to get back with him, right? He and Molly just planned their date!

Eli was snapped out of his thoughts when Miguel's phone beeped. He shook his head to get the rest of the thoughts out of his head as Miguel pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Is that Sam? She finally text back?" He asked and Miguel hardly looked up from his phone to nod.

"Yeah. Says she wants to, uh, talk tonight." Miguel said, shrugging his shoulders as he put his phone back into his pocket.

Molly froze at his words, looking back and forth between Demetri and Eli beside her, whose eyes were wide.

Demetri hissed under his breath as Molly turned back to Miguel. "What did she say exactly?" Molly asked and Miguel squinted at her. He pulled his phone back out of his pocket and handed Molly the phone.

"It says, 'We should talk?'" Demetri asked as Molly read over the text. Molly gulped at Sam's message. It read nothing like how Sam normally texted. The first letter was capitalized, she didn't use any emojis, and she ended it with a period.

"We should talk."

Molly looked back up to Demetri, nodding to answer the question. As she handed the phone back to Miguel, Demetri winced, shaking his head. "Oh, brother, you're in deep." He muttered as if he were in pain, but Miguel thought nothing of it, taking his phone back from Molly.

"She's right. We should talk. Last time we spoke, we had a fight." Miguel said and Molly nervously frowned, her head tilting sympathetically.  "Yeah, but as someone who has both said it and received it, 'We should talk' is code for 'I want to break up.'"

Miguel's entire face dropped at Molly's words, looking between his three friends with a panicked look. "What? It is?" He whisper yelled.

Demetri didn't answer, since he had never been broken up with, but both Molly and Hawk nodded; Hawk having used that phrase when he broke up with Molly at the canyons—not his proudest moment—, and Molly using it with Robby at the zoo.

But Molly didn't want to freak Miguel out too much. She reassuringly held her hand up, silently telling him to hold on. "You need more information to be sure." She explained and all three boys nodded.

Demetri took the phone from Molly. "Uh, we should send a trial balloon. Something that puts the ball in her court." Demetri explained and Miguel eagerly nodded his head, loving the idea. He would love any suggestion that would leave him not getting dumped.

"Can't wait to see you tonight. How are you?" Demetri repeated as he typed away at Miguel's phone.

Miguel nodded, liking Demetri's suggestion. He went to look between Eli and Molly, wanting to hear their opinions, but his eyes stayed on just Molly. "That's good. Right?" He asked, making Demetri and Eli turn to her too.

Mollys eyes widened at the eyes on her and she quickly shook her head, panicked. "Why are you looking at me?" She yelped, looking between her three boys nervously.

Miguel stared at Molly as if she had just asked if the sky was blue. "You're the girl!" He yelled as if it were obvious.

Molly shut her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah. Yeah." She muttered and as she opened her eyes, they immediately doubled in size when she saw Miguel hit send on the text.

"No! I didn't mean yes for the text! I meant yes for the girl part!" Molly screamed and Miguel paled. He looked back and forth between his phone and Molly while Demetri looked at Molly accusingly. "What's wrong with what I typed out?

"It sounds desperate!" Molly said and Demetri threw his hands out sarcastically.

"We are desperate!"

Suddenly, Miguel's phone beeped again. Molly and Demetri quickly shut their mouths and leaned forward to see what Sam had responded with.

"I'm okay."

Molly gasped, leaning away from Miguel and taking a small step back. She accident bumped into Eli, the boy wrapping his arm around Mollys waist so she didn't trip. Molly turned her head to face Eli, hiding her mouth in his shoulder to drown out any shocked laughter.

"Dude, that's bad. There's not even an emoji." Eli said and Demetri shook his head in defeat. 

"Yeah, man, she is not okay." Demetri sighed out.

"What do I do?" Miguel asked, his shoulders raising in panic as he looked between his three friends. Molly, not being able to stop herself, raising her eyebrows and let out a small laugh.

"What did you do?" Molly asked, emphasizing the "you" in her words. She didn't noticed Miguel's face drop into a glare as she looked back down at the messages, shaking her head in disbelief. "I mean... Damn." She whispered, pushing Miguel to his limit.

He turned to Hawk, pointing at Molly. "Okay, why is she here?" Miguel asked, making Mollys head snap back up, her jaw dropped at his bluntness.

Miguel turned back to Molly and raised his eyebrows accusingly. "Why aren't you with Sam, Moon and Yasmine?"

Molly scoffed at Miguels words. She wasn't actually mad at him, just like Miguels wasn't actually mad at her. Johnny made a comment once during Eagle Fang practice that they were acting more and more like siblings everyday, and now everyone was staring to see it.

"Um... First of all, rude." Molly said, holding up one finger before she lifted another. "Second of all, you think I'd want to go into a deprivation tank with my motion sickness? I wouldn't even last five minutes!" She complained. Just the thought alone made her dizzy.

When she put her hand down, Molly felt her collarbone burn and the second skin covering her tattoo stretch. She looked down at her new tattoo before she looked back up to Miguel. "Plus, I was the one that wanted a tattoo today."

Mollys eyes moved to Hawk beside her, but her body stayed facing Miguel, making her side eye Eli. "Somebody else heard the news and insisted on getting one too."

Demetri's face scrunched, this conversation starting to sound very familiar. "Didn't this happen last time?" He asked.

Molly turned her entire body to Hawk, her eyes on him while she answered Demetri, who was now standing behind her, "Yes! Do you only get tattoos when I get one?" Molly asked the last part toward Eli.

"I got the grim reaper without you!" Eli tried to defend himself and Molly laughed. He calmed down after that, he wasn't nervous about Molly actually being mad at him, but hearing her laugh still eased him.

"You came here today to cover it up! Face it, you need me when you get tattoos." Molly hummed, crossing her arms confidently.

Before Eli could defend himself, Rico called him over to the chair, ready to work on his tattoos.

Eli looked behind him to Rico before he turned back to Molly. He felt his heart jump at the cocky smile on her face, it made him struggle to hide his own.

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered under his breath, leaning toward Molly as his hand moved to rest under her chin.

He moved his hand, tilting Molly in the direction of his lips. The kiss was quick, knowing that Miguel and Demetri were right there and he didn't want to make Rico wait for him.

"Or I may just need you." He muttered in the small gap between their lips as he pulled away. Hawk smirked when he saw the dazed look on Molly's face and the way the corner of her lips started to twist up into a giddy smile.

As he walked toward the tattoo chair, Demetri snickered from beside Molly. "I don't remember my parents having this much tension." He muttered, making Molly, who had been staring at Hawk with practical heart-eyes, turn back around to Demetri and whack him upside the head.

...

Molly still hadn't seen Hawk's tattoo. While he was getting it done, Molly sat with Miguel to try and calm him down and when Hawk's tattoo was done, he quickly threw on his shirt before Molly could see anything.

After Eli paid, the four of them headed to a jewelry store Demetri and Molly knew all too well. Demetri insisted on going, saying it was Miguel's perfect shot at keeping Sam. He barely even waited for Molly to park before he started to drag Miguel out of the car.

The four walked into the store, the three boys staying at the front case of jewelry while Molly quietly walked past them, moving to a case toward the back of the store.

"I got Yasmine a charm bracelet here, plus a charm for every fight we have. She can barely lift her arm now." Demetri said confidently, even though neither Hawk or Miguel thought that was something too amazing to brag about.

Miguel sighed, looking down at the jewelry in front of him before looking back up to Demetri. "Okay, explain to me again why I have to buy expensive jewelry. Maybe Sam is okay, and you guys are just reading too much into it." Miguel suggested, shaking his head defensively.

"My friend, this is a five-alarm fire. If anything, we're not reading into it enough. Okay? Right, Molly?" Demetri asked, turning to his right, where he thought Molly was.

But when he turned around and saw her not beside him, but instead at the corner of the store where she'd always magically end up when he dragged her here, he sighed in defeat. "Ugh, nevermind. She's no use. I've lost her to that stupid locket again." He mutter begrudgingly.

Eli and Miguel both furrowed their brows at Demetri's words, Miguel's eyes moving to look at Molly while Eli just continued to squint at Demetri.

"What?" Eli asked and Demetri groaned, waving an annoyed hand to the girl across the store as he turned back to the boys. "Every time I come here, I bring Molly for a girls opinion and every time, she doesn't help me and just stares at some locket over there. She adores it."

Neither boys were able to ask any more questions after that, a worker coming over to see if they wanted to check out any of the jewelry.

But as the worker spoke to the three of them, Eli drowned out their conversation, his eyes moving to Molly. He watched as she stared down at the necklace perched in its glass case, her eyes practically sparkling in admiration and Eli felt himself start to smile at the sight.

...

After the jewelry store, Molly dropped Demetri off at his house and took Miguel to Miyagi-Do to meet with Sam.

By the time Molly started to drive home with Eli, it was dinner time. Her moms weren't home and Molly knew there was nothing good at home for the two of them so she quickly got something in the driver thru on the way home.

Eli insisted on paying. He practically crawled on-top of Molly to hand the man at the drive thru window his card so Molly wouldn't pay.

When they got to Molly's house, Eli immediately noticed Molly's moms weren't home, and he turned to her as she quickly sorted the food, keeping what she ordered in front of her while moving Hawks food in front of the seat beside her.

"Where's your moms?" He asked, moving around the island to walk toward Molly's fridge. Sure, they were still new this time around, but Eli had been used to Molly's home for years, so getting a water from the fridge was nothing to him.

"Date night. It's their anniversary." Molly answered as Eli closed the fridge behind him and took a long sip of his water.

He walked back around the island, kissing Mollys shoulder as he passed her, but she instantly hissed in pain, her hand going to the spot Eli just kissed—right by her tattoo.

"Your tattoos hurting?" He asked, taking a seat on the other side of Molly. His hand raised to rub her tattoo-free arm comfortingly as Molly sighed.

She shrugged off her jacket so she was only wearing the tube top, letting her tattoo no longer be covered. "Sore. I can't really move it. It feels like I got a shot." She said keeping her eyes on Eli as she unwrapped her food.

Her smile widened when Eli nodded in agreement. Up until that moment, Molly had completely forgotten he got a tattoo as well.

She swiveled in her spinning island chair to face Eli completely, her small side of fries resting in her lap as she watched his expectantly. "I just realized, I haven't seen your tattoos yet." Molly sang before she lightly kicked her leg out, nudging Hawks ankle with her foot. "Lemme see!"

He watched Molly for a second, wanting to mess with her for a minute, but the eager smile on her face quickly made Eli cave.

Eli rolled his eyes and leaned back to give himself space to take off his shirt. Mollys eyes guiltily stayed on the boy, her eyes trailing up his stomach and his muscles until her eyes landed on his peck.

His grim reaper tattoo was now covered up by a big lotus flower. Molly smiled at the coverup, but when her eyes moved to his new tattoo of the other side of his chest, Molly gasped.

"You copy cat!" Molly yelled, pointing a playfully accusing finger at the boy. "That's like both of my tattoos in one!"

On Eli's left collarbone were three stars—stars that were the same style as the stars Molly has tattooed on her ribs.

Immediately, Eli raised his hands to call innocence. Blush started to slowly creep up his neck and ears as he nervously smiled at the girl. "Hey, hey, hey." He said, reaching out and grabbing Mollys finger still pointing at him.

He dropped their hands into her lap, his hand maneuvering in the process until it was holding hers.

"I didn't copy the collar bone area. You can ask Miguel, I've been wanting to get stars there for you since the All Valley last year." Eli said, his hand that wasn't holding Molly's raised to try and defend himself.

Never in her life has Molly's brain turned to mush so fast. Her face softened, yet her eyebrows raised just a smidge in shock. "They're for me?" Molly asked. She didn't mean to but her voice came out just above a whisper.

Eli's face—as impossible as it may seem—turned even more red and his head turned away nervously. He raised his hand to rub the back of his neck as he shrugged bashfully. "Yeah, when we got the tattoos, I originally wanted to get the hawk and something that signified you, but I knew if you were there with me, you would've tried to get me to back out from doing it."

Molly snickered, her laugh coming out as a small snort that made Eli's heart leap. He turned back to face her, calming down a little when he realized she wasn't mad about what he had done.

He squeezed her hand and started to run his thumb up and down the side of her palm. "I wanted to get it to show you how much I loved you." Eli muttered, his words quiet, but Molly heard it loud and clear.

Her laughter slowed and her face softened as she listened to the boy. "We hadn't said it yet, and I was scared of saying it wrong and messing up. I figured the tattoo would say it for me." He explained before his free hand came up to his face and he rubbed his eye as a small sigh left his lips. "I even found the pinterest post you liked as inspiration and everything too."

Molly smiled at the memory, remembering the exact post she was talking about and his reaction when he saw it on her phone at the lunch table.

Eli's face fell. He licked his lips and suddenly struggled keeping eye contact with Molly. "And then..." He subconsciously squeezed Molly's hand tighter.

"And then you were stupid and broke up with me?" Molly asked, her eyebrows raising playfully to try and lighten the mood.

The boy scoffed out a laugh, looking back to Molly. When his eyes met hers, he nodded his head. "And then I was stupid and I broke up with you." He agreed, nodding his head. "But it only wanted me to get it more because I wanted you back and I thought that would be how I could show you I meant it."

Molly only listened now, nodding her head to silently tell Eli she was still hearing him.

Eli groaned, leaning back in his seat. "But shit kept happening, you started dating Robby and left Cobra Kai, I became a complete asshole... And I thought we were done for good." He admitted, his eyes on the ground,

It was silent for a couple seconds before his head lifted again and he smiled. Eli moved to the edge of his seat to be closer to the girl and his smile was biggest Molly had seen it all day.

His free hand moved to grab her other and and he squeezed both. "But now we're here. And we're going on a date on Friday..." Eli hummed, his smile turning into a small smirk when he noticed the smile on Mollys face she was trying to hide by turning away.

"And I thought..." He words died out, waiting for Molly to look back at him.

When she did, their faces were inches apart. Their noses just about two inches away from touching.

As soon as Molly's eyes were on him, Eli shrugged, squeezing Mollys hands in his own. "Why not?" He whispered, his voice being butterflies into Molly's stomach.

She could no longer fight the smile on her face. "You're so stupid." Molly breathed out, her voice higher from the smile on her face and the laugh coming out with her words.

Eli hummed, letting go of one of Molly's hands to cup her face. "But you love it." His voice rasped out before he pulled Molly's face toward his and kissed her.

emily speaks...
and so i died

oh how i've missed flirty, giddy, sappy moli
i know demetri is happy as shit that his parents are back and better than ever

anywho😋😋😋
mollys tattoo:

eli's tattoo: