Chapter Text
Robby couldn't say why, but it seemed like Kwon had something more to him, the blond barely knew him but couldn't get the image of him out of his head.
He didn't know why, probably because he was annoying and rude, but no, Robby knew that wasn't it, at the same time he tried not to think about it, tried not to think about Kwon's smirk and usual provocations, after all, that was what he wanted, he wanted Robby to pay attention and react to his provocations, he wanted to irritate him when he talked about Tory and Robby couldn't give in.
Getting out of the shower the boy looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath, he needed to stay focused, the fights would start soon and he couldn't lose his head or get distracted, the team needed him, he needed to stay focused and do his best and lead his team to victory.
He couldn't be distracted, even though his situation with Tory was on a thin line and even now when he was sure that Kwon would do everything to destabilize him, Robby knew he couldn't give in.
Everything would be fine, he just needed to keep calm and keep his head on straight.
♧☆♧
It was easier said than done, Robby had always heard that it was, but it was different to do something in theory and then do it in practice.
It turned out that the captains were almost like royalty, being there was like being among several Kings and Queens who were always ready for a coup d'état and trying to dethrone the others.
But it also meant spending more time with Tory – and consequently with Kwon – and she seemed dejected, despite Kwon always whispering things to her, things to which she just nodded in response, Robby wondered what the Korean was whispering but in a way, he knew it was none of his business, as sad as life was, that was how it was. But he still couldn't watch her walk away without going after her, following the woman almost blindly through the Aquarium
Kwon no understand just watched the couple walk away while sighing, lightly touching the leather bracelet on his wrist, the Korean went to Yoon.
“Are you okay?” – His friend asked as he started walking with Kwon through the aquarium. Kwon just nodded without thinking much.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m not going to die because of this.” – Sung said unconcernedly, but Yoon just stared at him with an arched eyebrow, making Kwon groan in irritation.
“Okay, okay, you win, idiot. I’m pissed at her.” – Kwon said, and Yoon gave a smug smile that made Kwon roll his eyes.
“Now the question, my old friend, is why you’re pissed at her.” – Yoon said, trying to impose a wise tone that only served to make Kwon roll his eyes.
“We’re on top of the world, Yoon, and she can ruin EVERYTHING because of that boy!” – Kwon said, and Do-Jin looked at him.
“Don’t be so angry about everything, Kwon.” – Yoon said, and Kwon simply looked at him.
“Anger is what saved my life.” – Kwon says and then continues walking through the aquarium, Yoon coming not far behind as he sighs.
“Kwon, don’t be so proud, your mother and brother would be proud of you and your father… your real father is proud too, I’m sure.” – Yoon says to him smiling which makes Kwon smile, Jae-Sung looks at his friend smiling while Yoon smiles back and the pair continues walking.
Maybe anger saved his life, but having Yoon as a friend certainly kept his sanity in place, Yoon was his voice of reason, his best friend, despite the fights and the physical confrontation months ago, Jae-Sung knew that Do-Jin was not offended and in reality he knew that Yoon tried to understand him much more than anyone else, and that made Kwon laugh more than he should.
But what could he do? The two had known each other their entire lives and knew almost everything about each other, Yoon was the only person who knew why Kwon seemed so obsessed with the idea of feeling angry.
And that was enough.
Somewhere between the walk and the conversation Kwon started a kicking contest, which certainly amused the Cobra Kai crew, it was genuinely funny to see the other competitors hit higher than Kwon, so far none of them had succeeded, none of them had even come close.
After another attempt and failure, Kwon went to the marks and said with a proud smile on his face:
“Not very close! The record is still mine!” – the Korean says with a proud smile on his face while his dojo laughs, until he notices the American team approaching and says:
“Team United States!” – Kwon’s smile widened and Yoon could see the hungry gleam in his friend’s eyes, oh, this was going to be good.
“Everyone knows that Americans are the best of everything, right? Why don’t you try to kick higher?” – Kwon says smiling and then he starts to pull the crowd to shout: “United States! United States!”, the teasing seemed to work and Yoon noticed that the boy with the mohawk – who was literally the American flag, too patriotic, he must have been too much of an idiot – would accept the challenge and kick.
Smiling provocatively the Korean approaches and says:
“Are you seriously the best your dojo has?” – Do-Jin says with a provocative tone in his voice, Kwon smiles at his friend's provocation that clearly seemed to hurt the idiot American boy's pride.
"I'm good enough to finish you off." – Says the mohawk and Kwon laughs sarcastically, does that boy really think he can handle Yoon Do-Jin?
"You're not even the captain." – Kwon says out of nowhere, ready to defend his friend's potential and honor that had been insulted, Yoon laughs at Kwon's words, the other Koreans just watch and listen to the scene that unfolds, they know that the pair of friends worked like this, one provokes and the other is always ready to defend the honor of the one who provokes if he is insulted.
It became normal after a while.
But Kwon's speech clearly seemed to unsettle the mohawk, Yoon noticed this with amusement, just a few words were enough to unsettle Hawk, this would be fun.
"I want the captain! Where is he!?" - Kwon exclaims and Robby approaches, having returned from his conversation with Tory.
"I'm right here, come on guys, let's go, this is no good" - Robby says, Yoon noticed that he and the curly boy seemed to be the only ones with any sense in the entire dojo, but even so they seemed easy to manipulate.
"What? Do you always run away from a challenge? Or..." - Kwon smiles and Yoon knew that now the provocation would become personal.
"Is it just because your girlfriend is in our dojo?" - the boys behind Kwon laugh while he himself has a proud smile on his face.
Robby's face becomes serious and he approaches Kwon, coming face to face with Jae-Sung. Yoon smiles, great, he had fallen for Kwon's provocation.
"Just kick higher than that line?" - Robby asks, his deep and serious voice for some reason makes Kwon feel a twinge in his lower abdomen, but he decides to ignore it and smiles.
"Do you think it's easy? So how about a bet? You kick and then I kick, if you kick higher you get my room, if I kick higher, you get my room." - Kwon says, showing the room card. Yoon noticed that some people looked at him, but he wasn't worried, in fact his calm smile remained present on his face and he watched everything with amusement.
“Deal.” – Robby said and Kwon smiled, stepping away, giving the American space to chalk his shoes and prepare for the kick.
Now, call Yoon confident, selfless or a fool, but he knew Kwon well enough to know that the boy would not lose, he had already seen Kwon kick much higher than the line there, Jae-Sung was taking everything in stride and now he would be more serious.
Soon Robby positioned himself and kicked, hitting a line higher than Kwon's, the dojo audience behind them made a sound of surprise but Kwon himself just laughed, taking off his jacket and handing it to Yoon so he could hold it, the Korean made a muscle relaxation movement and let out a scream, gaining momentum and jumping, scoring a line above the line that Robby had scored.
Yoon smiled seeing the scene, but he didn't fail to notice how Kwon stiffened when landing, he would talk to him about it later, for now the friends decided to celebrate gaining a new hotel room.
♧☆♧
Kwon and Yoon were taking Robby and Demitri's things out of the room when Yoon dared to ask:
"Is everything okay? I saw how you landed..." - Do-Jin says and Kwon looks at him, his face somber but then the boy lowers his head and simply says:
"Can you help me with the exercises again?" - And Yoon understands everything, smiling in understanding and approaching Kwon.
"Sure, let's go, soon they'll come after us." - Yoon says and Kwon smiles lying on the bed, Yoon gets on top of him and then the exercises begin.
Meanwhile Robby and Demitri were adjusting their things in the room that would now be the 4 of them, Robby failed again, he promised himself that he would be better than this, that he would be better than an angry teenager but it seemed like they were empty words and thoughts.
Miguel was right to be upset, Robby knew he needed to improve since they lost their room because of a bet that wasn't even necessary, it was just something childish that cost them comfort and privacy.
Robby got out of bed frustrated, he needed to get out of this place for a while, the room seemed too small, too cramped, with too many people.
"Robby where are you-" - the blond didn't even stay until the end of the sentence, leaving the room and going to the hotel reception, sitting there and observing the night and the movement of things.
Robby took a deep breath and went to buy some tea, it would be a difficult event, difficult days, and he couldn't ruin everything, the blond barely noticed Kwon sitting near the stairs, but when he heard Yoon's voice the American stopped and decided to listen to the conversation.
"It still doesn't seem like enough, I need to train more!" - Kwon's voice was broken and nervous, Yoon just hugged his friend.
“That’s enough, we’re the best here.” – Yoon says and Kwon denies.
“We’re still going to have some difficulties, we can’t! I need to take home the victory! I- I need to make my mother proud! My brother! They…they….” – Kwon is interrupted by Yoon hugging him tighter and then everything became a sound of intense crying.
“They’re proud of where you’ve come Kwon, I’m sure they are.” – Yoon says as he wipes his best friend’s tears.
“We’ll leave here as champions and then… there’ll be a party in heaven.” – Yoon says and Kwon smiles.
“Yes, we’ll win but-” – Kwon is interrupted by Yoon.
“We’ll train like always, we’ll use Barcelona to train like we always train, we’ll run in the morning, work out in the afternoon, train our flexibility and go beyond what we’ve achieved, like we’ve always done.” – Yoon says and Kwon nods, then gets up and they both go up the stairs, Robby just watches them go.
He had twice as much to think about now.