Chapter Thirteen: Toxic Masculinity

"Bad mistakes, I've made a few. I've had my share of sand kicked in my face, but I've come through. We are the champions, my friends and we'll keep on fighting 'til the end."

~We Are the Champions by Queen~

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Revised: July 5, 2022

Warnings: abuse, domestic violence, sexual harassment/assault, language, violence, and other mature themes

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Zion's POV

I walk back to the arena with a weight off of my chest; I feel relief about having her leave me alone... for now, at least.

On the mat, I see some guy in a blue gi talking with Robby, Sensei, Miguel, Hawk, and the other Sensei behind the announcer.

"And as I look around this arena, I pray for every race, religion, and gender, that we can live together in peace." I look in confusion at what's happening. "Please join me in a moment of silence as we strive to end intolerance in our time."

I look around and see everyone look down and actually sit in silence. I decide to just sneak back to my team by going the back way. I run to the locker rooms and then out to the arena where everybody is set up to fight and my dojo is in a line.

"Z, you okay?" Sensei checks on me when I come back in.

"Never better, Sensei," I nod to him.

I squeeze in next to Hawk and see Miguel is already on the mat with the guy from Topanga Karate.

"Really?" Hawk looks at me in concern and I nod, grabbing his hand. He grabs it back and I smile.

"I took care of my mom. Showed her 'no mercy,'" I explain.

"Nice. Did you kill her?" he asks and I laugh.

"No, but I did threaten to report her to the authorities if she didn't leave me alone," I explain.

"Badass. I'm proud of you, Z," he whispers.

"Fight!" My attention is drawn to the ref beginning Miguel's fight.

Miguel wins one point after a moment of struggle. We all cheer, Hawk and I going crazy with excitement. The semi-finals play to five points instead of three. I watch as he goes against the boy again and loses the point.

"That's okay, you've got this, Miggie!" I tease, wondering if he can even hear me through the yelling.

I look over and see Robby looking at me. Oh, yeah, I forgot about him when I got distracted by Janice; I'll need to figure out what to tell the guys.

"Focus, Diaz!" Sensei yells. Then, Miguel fights him again, a bit harder this time, kicking and then goes into a jump spinning crescent kick. This sends his opponent to the ground, making the score 2-1. "Offense! Stay on offense!"

"Fighting positions. Ready? And fight!" Miguel stays on offense until the blue guy goes down and then pops back up, now taking offense on Miguel.

"You've got this!" Hawk yells.

"Come on! You can do it!" I scream.

"Let's go, Diaz! Don't let him trick you," Sensei says.

Miguel is not fazed by his opponent's flips and instead takes what he knows and kicks, sending the boy to the ground and winning the point.

"YES!" I jump up and down in excitement. He's moving on to the finals.

"Miguel Diaz is headed to the finals. Next up, Hawk versus Keene," the announcer says.

Oh, shit.

Robby steps onto the mat and Hawk kisses me deeply for a moment.

I smile at him and then see him looking over at Robby; using me to get into Robby's head is his play. I don't like it.

"Something wrong, Sensei?" Hawk turns to him. He does have a weird look on his face.

"No," Sensei says, "show him what you got."

Hawk does his handshake with Miguel and I watch as he jumps up to the mat. Wow. That was admittedly awesome.

They bow to the ref, then to each other. They get into their fighting positions and stare in shock when it begins and Robby is immediately on offense, throwing Hawk off guard.

Hawk catches Robby in his grip and throttles him to the ground. Hawk smirks and I see Robby on the ground in shock that he lost that; up until now he was winning basically every point. They walk back into position and Robby looks shaken.

"Remember what you learned, Robby!" a voice yells from the audience: Sam's dad.

I see Miguel tense as Robby nods, getting into the zone. He does some deep breathing with his eyes closed and I watch in awe.

"Ready? And fight," the ref says.

This time Hawk is on offense. Robby pushes him off once. Hawk tries again and then suddenly Robby kicks Hawk and he falls to the ground.

"Stop. One point, Keene."

Hawk gets up and gets right up in Robby's personal space. I stare in confusion as they share some words and look tensely at each other. Robby smirks and walks away from Hawk.

Before I know it, Hawk pushes the ref aside and runs behind Robby. Then he kicks him in the shoulder blade and he falls down.

"Oh my god!" I exclaim.

"Robby!" Sensei yells and runs over.

I watch in shock as the ref pushes Hawk back. "That's enough! Illegal contact. You're disqualified," the ref tells him.

"Bullshit!" Hawk yells.

I see Sensei kneeling by Robby and I'm very confused. I momentarily focus on Sensei worrying about Robby more than his student. What the fuck?

"What the hell were you thinking, man?" Sensei is ushered back over to us.

"What was I supposed to do? Be a pussy?" Hawk says. I stare in shock as he jumps back down to us.

"I can't believe you did that," Aisha scolds.

I look over at Robby as he clutches his shoulder in pain. I try not to show on my face how worried I am.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" even Miguel asks.

"Are you okay?" I ask, reaching for his hand. He yanks it away and I frown. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he says. I turn him to face me and he doesn't look away as our eyes connect.

"What did he say?" I ask. Hawk hesitates.

"That son of a bitch insulted my mohawk," Hawk whispers so only I hear.

"Oh," I say in understanding.

While it may seem petty to some, I know this cuts Hawk deeply. Eli wanted to not be ridiculed for his lip, so he got this awesome mohawk. Then his haircut is insulted and this shakes all the confidence he's worked on.

"I understand you're angry, but maybe hurting him wasn't the solution," I say.

"With that disqualification, Keene earns a trip to the finals. We'll see him back here after a short break," the announcer says and the crowd claps as he gets up.

"Figures you would say that," Hawk says and turns away coldly again. What did I do? Or, what did Robby say?

"What do you mean by that?" I ask. He shakes his head and I groan, "What is it? Eli?"

"How do you know Robby Keene?" Hawk spins around to meet my gaze.

I look at him like a deer in the headlights.

"You know Robby Keene?" Miguel overhears and I curse as everyone else has dispersed but them.

"I-I," I try to think of something to say. They look at me expectantly and I know I can't lie. "How did you know?"

"Well, you and Keene were talking during your fight and then he just brought it up. The mohawk wasn't the only thing he insulted," Hawk explains.

"What did he say?" I ask and Hawk sighs. Miguel looks interested, too.

"He said something to the effect of he doesn't understand how I got you," he says and I sigh. Robby said that?

"How do you know him?" Miguel asks.

"Uh, before I moved here, I hung out with some friends and we partied and all that great stuff. They were usually really big parties and uh... I met Robby there. I knew he was from out of town, but not from where exactly."

"Oh my God, was he the guy you lost it to?" Hawk asks, suddenly getting all personal and Miguel looks at us uncomfortably.

"No, no, no, that was my first boyfriend," I say. "Um, no, Robby and I just... fooled around, but it was never that serious or official." I'm making this worse, I think. "Fooled around" was probably the wrong term to use. This is impossible.

"Fooled around?" Hawk asks, sending a death glare in the direction of where Robby was.

"And you didn't mention this based on last night?" Miguel asks in question.

"No, because I didn't know it was him until today. Last night I didn't get a good look at him and I was super drunk," I explain. "Okay, so, Robby and I talked for a bit and then he had to leave to go back home. We hung out the middle half of last summer before my dad died and I moved here. We bonded and then just stopped talking, losing contact as people do. I never really expected to see him again."

I see Hawk upset and angry. I grab his hands, swinging them back and forth.

"You don't need to worry. You're the only one for me. I won't stray for anyone," I say and he smiles a little. "As for you," I turn to Miguel, "don't worry about this Robby stuff; it's all in the past and you should go kick his ass properly. You've got this."

"I know. I'm so excited to win this!" Miguel says in excitement.

Sensei walks over, steals Miguel, and I stand happily with Hawk now. Even though I feel badly for Robby's shoulder, I know I should be loyal to Hawk now.

"Hey," I grab Hawk and pull him back.

"What's up?" he asks me.

"Robby was there for me when my dad was having bad health problems and... I know you and Miguel don't like him, but he is a good guy. He wouldn't steal Sam from Miguel," I explain.

"I'm glad he was there for you," I sense jealousy in his voice, "but there's still a chance he hurt Miguel."

"He wouldn't do that," I argue.

"So, you're siding with your ex?" he asks me in frustration.

"No!" I exclaim. "I'm siding with you, but saying that in the future maybe cool the anger."

Hawk looks at me angrily. I take his hand.

"For me?"

"For you," he nods and the tension in his body releases a little.

"The final match will begin shortly," the announcer says.

Everyone is on break right now. I don't see Robby. Aisha is talking to Sam and I see Miguel notice, too.

I nervously grab my phone to find Robby's contact.

Z to Robby: Hey, I hope this number still works. Are you okay? I'm sorry about Hawk

"Sam!" Miguel stands up from stretching.

"He should give up on her. Once he wins this, he can have any babe he wants," Hawk says.

"Oh, let him be. He'll figure something out one way or another," I say. Miguel walks way from Sam and she looks upset and so does he. Wow, I wonder what happened. "Are you okay?" I ask as he walks past us.

"Just going to get into the zone," he says with a coldness in his voice.

I'm worried about Robby again.

"Everyone, back to your seats. The final match is about to begin," the announcer says.

I walk with Hawk to our lines beside the mat with the rest of our dojo. Sensei and Miguel are on the mats already. Robby is on the other side. This should be an interesting match.

"This is it, folks! The moment we've all been waiting for. The final match to determine who will be victor and champion. Will it be Miguel Diaz from Cobra Kai Karate?" the announcer says.

We all cheer loudly.

"Will it be Robby Keene, unaffili-" the announcer is cut off by a woman running up and whispering to him. Hawk and I share a look of confusion. "Daniel LaRusso's gonna coach? Daniel LaRusso is gonna coach! I'm sorry, folks, there's been a change. Robby Keene will now be fighting for Myagi-Do Karate with former champion Daniel LaRusso as his sensei!"

The crowd erupts into cheering and I glare at the man walking onto the mats. This man is Sensei's rival and the father of the girl who hurt Miguel. This is not what was supposed to happen. Of course I want Robby to stay safe, but it's important Miguel win for himself and for Cobra Kai. I guess Daniel LaRusso is a big deal here; I would love to see him knocked off his high horse with that smug look on his face.

"How about that? Good luck, gentlemen!"

Sensei walks over to talk to Daniel LaRusso and we stare in shock as Robby prepares. I'm not worried, though. I've fought Robby and Miguel. They're both good inside and out. It'll be fine.

I just need Robby to stay safe. But not because I still like him or anything, of course. Just because we were... friends once.

We applaud as they both go to the center of the mats.

They bow to the ref, then to each other, and then take their positions. Miguel is on offense, taking control, and then suddenly Robby kicks Miguel and he falls down quickly. The point goes to Keene and I sigh. We clap for Miguel still, cheering him on.

"No mercy!" I scream as he gets up again.

Robby looks at me and I stare back, our eyes meeting.

"You've got this!" Hawk yells, snapping me out of it.

"Remember the pitching machine. Don't get hit!" Sensei yells.

Miguel goes again, but this time Robby is on offense. Miguel blocks very well and avoids everything Robby gives him. Miguel kicks Robby's back and then punches his chest. Robby goes down and we cheer. Robby clutches his shoulder in pain a second and then I remember he's injured. I wonder how bad it is.

The next point they go at each other. Miguel's easily better as Robby clutches his injury. He elbows his shoulder, kicks him down, and then punches his gut. Miguel is filled with rage and it's awesome to see my best friend winning.

"Hell yeah!" I cheer with my dojo.

"Time! Time!" LaRusso yells.

Robby is down and in pain as Miguel walks back over to us; he's determined and I smirk at him, letting him know that he's doing amazing. But something in me feels sad when I look at Robby who is so obviously in pain. But no mercy. We came to win. Sympathy is for the weak, right? And anyway, Robby gets up and Miguel goes back for the next fight. So he's probably okay.

"Fighting positions," the next round begins and I see Sensei looking uneasily towards LaRusso. Is he intimidated? "And fight!" Miguel strikes first with a kick that Robby swiftly blocks. Wow. Miguel continues, but Robby blocks him continuously with his good arm and then kicks Miguel out of bounds. "Stop! Out of bounds. Out of bounds."

"He's good," I say nervously.

"But Miguel is better," Hawk responds.

"No point. Out of bounds," the ref says as they get back into position. "Ready? And fight." Miguel runs over and pushes Robby down. Then he kicks him and Robby falls back more, rolling on the ground. Miguel tries to hit him again and Robby rolls over and basically does a one-handed handstand. With this, he kicks Miguel back and down, winning the point.

"NO!" Hawk and Aisha yell together in frustration. Wow, Robby is better than I gave him credit for - especially injured.

"How about that? A two-legged kick!" the announcer yells.

"Come on!" Aisha screams.

I look to see Robby being a good sport and helping Miguel up. Miguel hesitates, then reaches for Robby's bad arm and yanks it down, hurting him even more.

"Yeah!" Hawk yells.

I look in concern over at Robby. The crowd begins booing us.

Hawk looks at me, "What's their problem?"

I look over at Aisha who doesn't look pleased but doesn't say anything. I hope Robby is okay.

"That's one warning for unsportsmanlike contact," the ref says and I groan. Miguel could have just cost us this.

"Earth to Z," Hawk snaps me out of my thoughts. "No mercy, right?"

"Right," I nod. Robby gets up and goes back over to LaRusso, clutching his shoulder. He's fine. He'll still fight to the end. I just hope Miguel wins.

"Whoever wins the next point will be the new champion!" the announcer says. The crowd cheers.

"It's 2-2. Next point wins," the ref yells. "Okay, good luck to both of you."

"Go, Miguel!" Aisha and I yell.

Robby looks at me as we make eye contact for a few seconds again; he looks confused. Why? Because I'm on Cobra Kai? It's my teammate I'm cheering for. What's his problem?

"And fight!" the ref yells.

Miguel goes at Robby who gets a good kick in. Miguel recovers quickly and kicks Robby, his foot landing on his shoulder. Miguel grunts, kicks Robby's shoulder, and then kicks him to the ground.

He hit his injured shoulder and I guess that's good enough to win because the ref yells, "Stop! Point! Winner!"

Miguel's arm is pulled into the air and Hawk drags me with him to go celebrate the champ. Hawk crushes Miguel in a hug as I scream and we all pile on Miguel.

"Let's go!" Hawk yells.

"Sensei! We did it!" Miguel screams, adrenaline surely rushing through his veins.

I smile at his victory and hug Hawk. He pulls me in for a kiss and I feel the passion behind it. As we pull away, the announcer continues talking,

"...this year's new champion, Miguel Diaz and the Cobra Kai dojo!" Miguel holds the trophy up in victory and I scream with the rest of our team.

This is amazing. I feel like we're on top of the world. I see his Yaya and mom in the audience and I smile; it's nice to have supportive family.

"Anything you wanna to say to the people, son?"

"I just wanted to say that if it wasn't for my sensei I wouldn't be here," Miguel says into the mic. "So, this is for Sensei Johnny Lawrence and Cobra Kai!"

We scream in celebration with the crowd yet again. I hug Miguel, so proud of him.

"Cobra Kai!" Everyone begins chanting in excitement. 

I take this moment to look around for Robby to congratulate him on being the runner-up and to check that he's okay, but Hawk grabs my hand and pulls me back.

"You all right?" he asks. I nod in response, thinking that it probably isn't a good idea for me to talk to Robby here anyway, just incase Hawk were to get jealous again.

Miguel goes over to his family and I stand with Hawk. "Your mom didn't come, did she?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"She was working anyway, so I didn't really make a big deal out of it," he explains.

"She probably would have loved to be here," I say.

"And see me lose?"

"You did your best up until the disqualification," I remind him.

"That was bullshit," he says and I sigh. I really should find Robby and apologize.

"Hey," I see Demetri walking over, followed by Moon. His eye is black and I wonder if Hawk will notice... probably. I hope Demetri won't rat me out. Also, I hope Moon stays back from my boyfriend, so I bring his arm around my waist.

"Hey, what's wrong with your eye?" Hawk asks.

Demetri looks at me, I glare at him, and he looks back at Hawk. A coward.

"I ran into a door," he shrugs.

"I still don't understand how a door did that," Moon says worriedly.

"A door? Damn, I though you'd finally gotten into a fight," Hawk says disappointedly. Demetri won't even look at me.

"Yeah, the door was pretty vicious," he says. "I don't really want to talk about it." He says and closes the topic.

"You were really awesome out there. Both of you," Moon smiles. She looks at Hawk and I lean into him more as he looks at her for too long for my liking. Why am I turning into a jealous girlfriend? That's not me.

"Thanks. It's really cool of you to come support us," Hawk says and Moon giggles.

I look over and see Robby walking out. I need to talk to him.

"Hey, I'll be back," I tell Hawk and he nods.

I glare at Demetri as I run past him to Robby.

"Robby!"

"Zion?" he looks at me in confusion.

"Hey, you were awesome out there," I say awkwardly.

"Yeah, well not awesome enough," he sighs. "Especially since your dojo fights dirty. Not that I'm surprised." He mumbles the last part.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Nothing. I'm just surprised you got caught up with the snakes," he explains. "The Zion I knew wasn't anything like that. And she would never date anybody like that."

"Woah, don't insult Hawk," I say and he nods.

"Okay, too far. Sorry. I just have missed you and I figured if I ever saw you again... well, it wouldn't be like this," he explains.

"I get it. I thought the circumstances would be different, too."

"So, how's your..." he brings up my dad and I sigh. He met my dad before he passed away and Robby and I grew apart about a month before he died.

"He... passed away a bit ago. I just moved to Reseda with my mom, actually, but I'm not there anymore. Long story," I explain, trying to suppress my tears.

"Oh, I'm really sorry," he says and I nod. "I didn't know."

"I know. It's all right. How's your mom?" I ask. I know his dad has been out of the picture forever, so it's just him and his mom.

"Wasted, as usual," he sighs.

"Sounds like my mom," I say and he looks at me in question, his beautiful eyes meeting mine. "Like I said, long story."

"Maybe you can tell me sometime. You know, when we aren't mortal enemies," he says gesturing around us.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," I say and he smiles. "How's your shoulder holding up?"

"Not great, no thanks to your boyfriend and other friend over there," he says. I don't correct the fact that Miguel is my best friend. "...Sorry."

"No, it's okay. You have a right to be mad. I hope it gets better soon," I say.

"Thanks. I've really missed you, Zion," he says.

I smile now, "I've missed you, too, Keene."

"Robby!" a voice yells and I look over to see Daniel LaRusso standing next to a judgmental Sam.

"That's kind of my ride," he says.

"Okay. You have some explaining to do, too," I say as I glance back at Sam and recall the drama that's spiraled out of control since last night.

"That's also a long story. But, I'll tell you about it all sometime. See you around," he chuckles and walks away.

"Yeah, see you," I say and turn around to walk through the crowd of people.

I look out for my mom on the way back to my boyfriend, just in case.

"Where'd you go?" Hawk asks me.

"To make sure my mom isn't still here," I sort of lie.

He wouldn't like me talking to Robby Keene, right? It's fine to lie because we're just friends.

"We're going out to celebrate tomorrow," Hawk tells me.

"We'll see you then?" Demetri asks, still not looking at me.

I'm not complaining, but I wonder if Hawk will notice. This is Demetri's way of signaling he wants to leave from being around me.

"Sure," Hawk nods obliviously.

"See you guys then!" Moon waves goodbye.

I frown. She's coming to the victory party for a dojo she isn't apart of. She gave an apology, sure, but I don't know about her.

"Demetri was acting weird. Do you know what's going on with him?" Hawk asks me.

"I don't know," I lie. "I wouldn't overthink it. He's just weird."

"You're right. I'm sure it's nothing," he kisses me and we walk to my car together.

On the way, I think about my past twenty-four hours. I got drunk, punched my boyfriend's best friend and got away with it, slept in bed with Hawk for the first time, won a fight, lost a fight, reconnected with an old flame who doesn't like my friends or boyfriend and vice versa, actually got my mom out of my life, and celebrated my dojo's victory. What a crazy day. And I can only wait to see what comes next.

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A/N: So, the first season is done! Yay! What did you all think?

Are you excited for season 2? I am. This is going to be so much fun to write.

Season two will probably come out in a week or two, just because I go back to school Monday and idk how much time I'll have to write.

If you enjoyed this chapter, please vote! Thank you :)