C o b r a   K a i
season one, episode six
✹ ❞ Quiver ❞ !

     WILLOW FOUND HERSELF at Eli's house a few hours after what had happened in the dojo with the difference that this time he did not open the door for her. Luckily, his parents seemed to be out once again, so she could open the door by herself and go straight into the boy's room. Her eyes widened in shock as soon as she saw what things were lying on his desk ── lots of packs of blue hair dyes ── something she would never expect. Especially since the boy had never dyed his hair before.

     ”What the hell? E?” the blonde girl spoke and then jumped on the spot as someone's arms grabbed her waist from behind. After the sudden reaction got out of her, she could hear a quiet chuckle right next to her ear, which sent chills through her body. Turning around, her friend's amused face appeared in her vision and with that, she sent him a murderous look. Oh, how much she wanted to kill him right now.

     And even more when he showed her one of his shy smiles that he mixed with playfulness. ”It's good to see you too,”

     Willow rolled her eyes a bit, and a sigh escaped her lips, because she did not expect the boy to pull her into a tight hug, his head resting in the crack of her neck ── his sudden piece of confidence was definitely something new to her, and guess she started to understand what he meant by telling her that he wanted to flip the script.

     She wasn't against it, because after all, what could've happened with a dose of self-confidence in the boy? Certainly nothing.

     Right?

     The blonde broke from the hug first and pointed to the things that were placed on the boy's desk, her face wearing confusion. ”So? What's with the hair dyes?” she asked.

     Eli shrugged, the smile still being on his lips. ”Guess I need you to dye my hair for me. I've never done it before and you dye your hair, like, every few months, so you obviously know a thing,”

     ”What?” Willow blinked several times, looking for any sign of a joke on Eli's face, but when it was nowhere to be found, she opened her mouth in surprise. ”God, you're serious,”

     Even though the girl's shock was simple, it was still misunderstood by Eli ── why was the girl so surprised about the fact that he wanted to dye his hair? He couldn't understand it, but the explanation was clear; it just felt strange, because even earlier she was sure that her Eli would never dye his hair just because of a comment their Sensei made. Right now she felt completely stupid by thinking that the ’flipping the script’ thing was only about gaining confidence and not a new look.

     ”I only dye my highlights, E. What if I'm gonna ruin your hair or something?” she tried to get the idea out of the boy's head, but he didn't let go.

     ”It'll be on me. Plus, you always look badass with your hair, so why not do mine?” he claimed, his body leaning against the desk as he scanned the girl up and down, a kind of smirk on his lips. ”You said you're fine with me flipping the script,” he reminded her, causing her to exhale loudly.

     The world was definitely against her today.

     She closed her eyes for a moment before opening it and looking at the boy once again. ”Because I am, E. It's just . . . are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to do anything that Johnny wants if you don't feel comfortable with it,” she reassured him, but he immediately nodded his head, agreeing on the question. ”You owe me a caramel chocolate,”

     The Moskowitz chuckled. ”I'll give you one after we're done,” he announced, but then added. ”And maybe you'll get something else too,” hearing that, the girl raised her eyebrow in suspicion, but the boy just ignored her and walked towards his closet, then opening it as if he was searching for something.

     ”You can wear one of my sweaters if you don't want to make your top dirty,” he didn't really wait for the girl's response, because he already threw one of his sweaters at her, her catching it in the last moment.

     ”It's your favorite one, ” Willow pointed out, and Eli just shrugged.

     ”You can have it. I mean, I don't think I'll ever wear those sweaters again,” his declaration made the girl look at him in disbelief once again. That was completely unexpected.

     Too many things had been shocking her lately, and it were only few hours after what had happened in the dojo. What was going to happen next? Him tattooing his whole body or what?

     ”Well, if you'd make a final decision, let me know. I'll proudly wear them,” she said, and when Eli was going to leave his room, she grabbed his elbow, stopping him. It caused him to look at her in confusion. ”Just . . . promise me you won't become an asshole like Johnny. I wouldn't handle it mentally,” even though the last sentence sounded like a joke, it was completely serious for the girl. She really wouldn't stand her best friend being an asshole.

     ”I promise you I won't be an asshole like Sensei,” he muttered and then finally made his way towards the bathroom. Even though he seemed believable to the girl, something made her still feel unsure.

     And she obviously didn't like that feeling.

     ”Are you coming?” Eli shouted, throwing the girl from her thoughts.

     ”One second!”

     With that, she grabbed the hair dyes, a sigh escaping her lips. Willow wished that the boy didn't take the Lawrence man's words to himself.

     But he did, so now she didn't have much of a choice ── she had to accept the Moskowitz boy flipping the script.

━━ ᕦ ✹ ▪ ✹ ▪ ✹ ᕤ ━━

     ❝OKAY, I THINK, we're done,” Willow said, and Eli blinked several times as he was mostly focusing on the girl's reflection in the mirror. He turned his head to her, his smile fading as he suddenly felt coldness on his whole body, because Willow stepped back to grab a hair dryer into her hands. Of course, nothing went her way, because the boy shook his head from side to side like a dog, and the water drops even got on the sweater she was wearing. ”Eli Moskowitz!” she shouted angrily and he suddenly stopped in his tracks, a confusion showing on his face.

     Then, his face changed into an apologetic one. ”Oh── sorry, Loo,”

     She gave him a small eye roll in response while she brushed invisible dust from her new sweater. ”It's fine. So, do you still need my help or . . .” she stopped herself, shrugging.

     Eli cleared his throat, because he clearly still wanted the girl's companion. Every time they were seeing each other, he had wished to spend time with her more and more.

     ”You can stay if you can,” he suggested, drying his blue hair with a towel. Willow nodded and laid against the washbasin, her intense gaze following the boy and making a shiver spread across his body. ”There's still some of the hair dye left. You're sure you don't want to dye yours?” he spoke again, her grimacing at his words.

     ”Nah, I would look like an idiot,” she responded.

     Eli shook his head. ”I think it would suit you,” he declared, wanting to convince the girl although she still stayed unconvinced. ”Only the ends? Please?” he begged, and she sighed in defeat.

     Eli definitely had no idea how much of an influence he had on the girl ── she would do literally everything for him. Even dye her hair with the colour she didn't like that much.

     ”Fine,”

     And so at the end of the day, Willow was ready to leave Eli's house with the purple ends of her hair being changed into dark blue ones, which matched with the boy's hair that looked pretty good, though.

     When she was ready to press the door handle, she was stopped by the boy who stood at the door at the last moment.

     ”You forget your caramel chocolate,” the Moskowitz said before the girl could even speak. ”And you have a hair dye on your cheek,” he then pointed to the girl's cheek, her immediately trying to find the thing he told her about.

     ”Is it gone?” she asked after some seconds. He shook his head.

     ”Nope, let me help you,”

     With that, the blue-haired boy's thumb landed on the girl's cheek, rubbing it lightly and getting a reaction out of the girl. Their eyes made an eye contact and the boy suddenly closed the gap between them, which was something that Willow was not sure of ── she didn't want to hurt his feelings by her indecision, so when their lips were about to meet together, she stepped back, the boy meeting with coldness instead of her touch.

     ”I'm── I'm still not ready. I'm sorry, E” she mumbled and the understanding dawned on his face; something she did not see coming.

     ”It's fine, Loo. I'll wait for you, alright?”

     Willow smiled.

     When she left, Eli leaned against the door, hiding face in his hands as a deep breath left his mouth. He really wished things wouldn't be that complicated between them.

     And Willow really hoped that flipping the script included her too.

━━ ᕦ ✹ ▪ ✹ ▪ ✹ ᕤ ━━

     SOMETHING SURELY OBVIOUS ── Willow was in the dojo once again. Her emerald green eyes could drift from all the students to then turn back on the ground, a disappointed sigh escaping her lips, because Eli was nowhere to be found. The image of the boy's new look showed in her mind after a while, making her blink several times and then finally look up, which caused her to catch Johnny walking out of his office with a serious look on his face. It only reminded her that she wasn't sure if she was ready to find out what he had planned for their training.

     Guess it was normal for everyone, because the man was literally unpredictable.

     The girl was brought out of her thoughts by Miguel clearing his throat loudly just to get the Lawrence's attention. ”Three more absences, Sensei,” he announced.

     ”Bunch of pussies,” Aisha spat out and when Willow found it very hard not to roll her eyes after hearing those words.

     Suddenly, Johnny said something the blonde would never expect from him. ”No, it's my fault.” he replied and stopped right in front of her. ”Since you joined Cobra Kai I have been hard on you. I've called you names, I've humiliated you, some of you I've hit. And for that, I don't apologize,” his voice became louder and processing every single word he said, Willow turned to Miguel with her eyebrows furrowed, him answering her with a simple shrug.

     It was obvious to her that the boy had something to do with it.

     ”Cobra Kai is about strength. If you're not strong on the inside, you can't be strong on the outside. And right now you're all weak, and I know that, because I was you,” the blonde man claimed, Willow nodding her head with appreciation before she heard the continuation of his speech. ”I used to have no friends, used to be the weirdo kid. Not that weird; I still hooked up with babes and all, but . . . The point is, I wasn't always the badass Sensei I am today. Just like a cobra, I had to shed my loser skin to find my true power. And you guys will too,” he reassured in the end and just after that, a door bell rang in the dojo, causing everyone to look that way.

     Seeing the person that just walked inside, Willow opened her eyes in shock. She knew about Eli having his hair blue, but obviously had no idea about him planning to style it into a Mohawk.

     ”Welcome to Cobra Kai,” Johnny spoke up, not being aware that he knew the person who just showed up.

     ”Eli, what happened?” the girl could hear Miguel's question, confusion echoing in his voice.

     The blue-haired boy made a short eye contact with Willow and smirked, sending a nod her way.

     ”I'm flipping the script,”

     That made the Lawrence finally realize something. ”Wait, are you the kid with the lip? Nice cut, bro.” he complimented and then pointed to the boy. ”You see that? Doesn't matter if you're a loser or a nerd, or a freak. All that matters is that you become badass,” with that, Eli smirked once again, which was definitely something new to Willow.

     ”Hawk, fall in.”

     The Froud girl frowned at the sudden nickname Johnny gave the boy, but shrugged it off and bit her lips as he stood next to her, looking at her out of the center of his eyes and sending a playful grin her way. Because of that, she felt butterflies in her stomach.

     Unfortunately, the small moment was stopped by their Sensei.

     ”Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?” Johnny asked as he stood in front of Hawk.

     ”No, Sensei!”

     With that, the man turned to Willow. ”Cowardice does not exist in this dojo, does it?”

     ”No, Sensei!”

     Johnny gave her a nod and turned his attention to Aisha. ”Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?”

     ”No, Sensei!”

     ”Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?”

     ”No, Sensei.”

     After that, Johnny turned to them with his back as he looked at their reflection in the mirror. ”Class, are you ready to learn the way of the fists?”

     ”Yes, Sensei!”

natalia speaks . . . !

rip eli and loo 💔

idk if i should hate what im gonna write or not, but i guess ill let you guys decide in the next chapter 😣😣

also, WHY CAN'T FLIPPING THE SCRIPT INCLUDE WILLOW TOO LIKE HELLO YOU LITERALLY TOLD HER THAT YOU'LL WAIT FOR HER AND NOW YOURE DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

me rn;