a niche in his chest where a heart would fit
by ferroxis

a niche in his chest where a heart would fit

ferroxis

Summary

“Either punch me or kiss me, man, but I gotta get back to my date.” He says the last word like a dare like he wants to piss Johnny off even more. It works, kind of, but it’s not the date part that pushes him into action. It’s the kiss part, the idea that he would ever, ever want to kiss Daniel LaRusso.

Notes

Untitled Chapter

“Got eyes like a baby deer.” That’s what Dutch mutters to him after the boy and his old teacher leave the dojo. Like Johnny didn’t already know exactly how big LaRusso’s eyes could get when he was scared, he had seen it up close on the beach and again on Halloween. They got so big, so bright, it was like looking up into the sky when he was high on the weed his friends always seemed to have around after tournaments. Never before, what if they are drug tested? Johnny wasn’t gonna take that risk, and sensei would kill him. Anyway, the stars and LaRusso. That’s what his eyes are like when they’re all big and terrified. Johnny’s obsessed with it, keeps seeing that shit in his dreams.

The normal ones, the ones where they’re facing off on the mat or where Johnny corners him after gym and tears him up in the locker room. And the other dreams, the ones where he does something else to him in the locker room. The smaller guy’s eyes get even wider then, down on his knees or with his face pressed into the lockers. It wasn’t fear in them, but it might’ve been easier if there was.

“Fucking prey, that’s what he is.” He isn’t sure which of the guys that is, or, maybe it’s Kreese’s voice in his head. That was it, it was the sensei, his voice rough and deep against the back of Johnny’s head as he corrects his stance and gives him instruction. The words are about LaRusso, but they’re also about some kid trying to join Cobra Kai. Johnny had nearly broken the kid’s arm. Kreese had been so proud of him. Had put his hand on the back of Johnny’s neck, in front of everyone, the tips of his finger’s just barely touching the bare skin over Johnny’s gi. It’s enough to make him want to giggle like a boy. And the idea of Kreese saying those same words about LaRusso? Maybe if he hurts him just as much Kreese will do the same, maybe more.

No, he’s not allowed to want that.

He’s only supposed to hurt the people his sensei wants him to, that’s all he’s meant to do. Kreese’s favorite weapon, it’s a name he wears proudly. “Prey, that’s it. That’s what I was thinking.” And that one is real, a voice at his side that Johnny recognizes even with his eyes closed. Sensei Kreese. “Well, you’ll show him what being hunted is like.” The words are said to the group but Johnny knows they’re for him, just him.

But there were rules now, they weren’t allowed to touch the other boy until the tournament. Or, no, that hadn’t been it. They, Johnny, wasn’t allowed to hurt him before the tournament. That didn’t say they couldn’t scare him.

Johnny isn’t what anyone, most famously his step-father, would call a planner. He didn’t really sit down and think through his actions, he just acted. More often than not it worked out, but mostly he doesn’t even consider the consequences. He moves his body and everything else just follows suit. Or it doesn’t. But that’s rarely been the problem, usually, his body leads and his friends follow and that’s all he needs to know.

That the Cobra Kais have his back, that his sensei has his back. And they do. Always.

(Right?)

Which is why he doesn’t actually plan when he’s going to scare the shit out of LaRusso, or even really that he is, he just knows that the punk needs someone to show him who is in charge here and it sure as shit isn’t some little skinny asshole that looked like he weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. And, yeah, he’d seen the guy in the showers after gym class because despite how small he was he always seemed to just fill up whatever room he was in. No one else noticed, but Johnny always did, always found his eyes drawn to him even when he should’ve been looking at anything else.

Fuck, the fag got under his skin and he needed to get him out.

It was just fucking luck that he ended up behind Daniel in the line at the snack bar at the drive-in movie.

The way LaRusso tenses when he realizes it is almost as beautiful as the way his lips fall open when he turns-no, fuck, not beautiful. Stupid, faggy, weak. That’s sensei’s voice again but Johnny prefers it to his own thoughts now anyway. Sensei has never called Johnny any of those words, Sid has, but if he’d told Kreese that he’s pretty sure Sid would’ve gotten a black eye. Sensei loved him like that.

“Ain’t allowed to touch me, remember? Unless you’re gonna break your sensei’s rules.” And he just keeps talking. Saying something about how Johnny ended up with a black eye and his sensei might just be around the corner, really Johnny stopped listening almost the second the kid started talking.

How did one kid talk so much? Didn’t he get tired? Johnny looked away from him, a part of his attention stays on LaRusso, making sure that if the punk took a swing at him he’d be able to block it, but mostly he was watching the people around him. Was anyone looking at them? No. Not really, too busy wrapped up in their own shit.

Without thinking Johnny wrapped his hand in the hood of LaRusso’s jacket, ignoring the kid’s yelp. Who fucking yelps like that? God, he really is fucking prey. That’s the only thing he can think as he hauls, a surprisingly pliant, LaRusso around the snack bar and into the shadowed edge of the drive-in. If anyone did see them it would probably look like he was taking a girl to make out, or like he was going to beat the shit out of some dude.

“Hey, Johnny, what the hell man? You aren’t allowed to hurt me!” Even his voice is fucking faggy. All weak and nasally. Is that what Sid hears when Johnny speaks? Maybe it’s good he tends to keep his mouth shut. He just wants LaRusso to shut up too, just wants him to stop.

So he slams him against the fence, harder than he should have probably, but it’s just chainlink, not like he pushed him against the pole, and puts an arm over the punk’s neck. Not enough to cut off his air, just enough to make himself feel better about what he’s doing. “Shut the fuck up, for once in your life.”

And he did. For about two seconds. But Johnny wasn’t listening anyway, he was hyperfocused, intent on the way his arm looked against LaRusso’s neck, the Cobra Kai jacket that was basically fused to him on that tan skin of Daniel’s throat.. The red looked beautiful next to hi-beautiful? No. That’s not the right voice. It looked badass, fierce, and terrifying all at once. Just like a good Cobra Kai.

“Either punch me or kiss me, man, but I gotta get back to my date.” He says the last word like a dare like he wants to piss Johnny off even more. It works, kind of, but it’s not the date part that pushes him into action. It’s the kiss part, the idea that he would ever, ever want to kiss Daniel LaRusso.

So he does neither. Johnny presses his body against the other boy’s, feels all the ways that LaRusso is smaller than him, that he should be weaker. But. But the kid keeps fucking getting back up. Anyone else would’ve just laid down and let the Cobra Kai boys get bored with them. Hell, Johnny thinks he probably would have if he’d been in Daniel’s shoes. Instead, Daniel keeps standing up, putting himself in front of Johnny, showing all the ways he’s brave. Johnny was brave too, but his was a learned braveness, boldness gifted to him by Kreese. This kid seemed to have it naturally. And that pissed him off. “Oh, that’s why you’re always looking at me when you’re with Ali, huh? Trying to make me jealous?” He shouldn’t be saying this, should just punch the kid out and walk away. This is dangerous. A red light flashes in his eyes like a warning, before he can decide to listen or ignore it the movie starts on the other side of the snack bar currently hiding them.

It’s like a spotlight shining down, except no one can see them, so all it does is bathe LaRusso in light. A fucking angel, something straight out of those sappy romance movies his mom loves so much.

He can’t even fucking breathe, and the other boy seems to be in the same boat considering how wide his eyes go, how his mouth opens but no sounds come out. Maybe the light is hitting him the same way it’s hitting Daniel. Maybe he feels the same terrible pit of hunger and hatred in his stomach that Johnny does.

Then he kisses him. Not on the lips because that would be too far, that would be letting LaRusso win. No, his lips land on the other’s neck, his jaw, the places that Johnny had put his fists before. He’d seen the bruise on Daniel’s jaw, and he had wanted to press his thumb against it just to see what he would do. Instead, he presses his lips to them, so soft that it terrifies him, must terrify Daniel too because he stiffens completely against Johnny but he doesn’t pull away. He could kick Johnny’s leg, knock him down, or press himself so far back against the fence behind him that he moved through it. He doesn’t. Just freezes.

Johnny had gone hunting with Bobby’s family once, had listened to his dad talk about how sometimes when a deer was confused or afraid it would freeze and just stare at the direction it thought the danger was coming from.

When Johnny pulled away, just enough to look at Daniel, he was staring straight a Johnny with those fucking eyes of his so wide that Johnny thinks he could fall into them. He’s the danger, and it’s beautiful how powerful that makes him feel. It’s the first time he’s got the upper hand, the first time he doesn’t feel like he’s reacting to the storm that is Daniel LaRusso, instead he’s acting, moving the planets around them instead of letting Daniel do the moving.

And he’s silent, for the first time since they met on that beach. Daniel is quiet, his eyes are locked onto Johnny and his hands moved to the front of his jacket while Johnny was busy. The grip was weak, unsure, but he kept them there.

The next time his lips touch Daniel it’s the skin next to the bruise, unmarked and beautiful, he wants to bite down hard enough to make it clear that he can, but it’s too high on him, too dangerous. When Daniel inhaled, harsh, just as his hands tightened on Johnny’s jacket, it was as if all the remaining self-control fled from him. All of his anger and desire poured out in one move of tightening hands.

His lips move down, still refusing to truly kiss him, and he uses one hand to pull at LaRusso’s neckline, showing more of his skin, low enough that Johnny can sink his teeth into it without as much worry. Someone will likely still see it, but that will be LaRusso’s problem, not his. “Fuck, Johnny, my mom’ll see that!” Even as he complains, his voice going all high and indignant, Daniel tugs Johnny closer by the lapels of his jacket. His fingers are dangerously close to the Cobra Kai patch over Johnny’s heart. The skin of Daniel’s neck is so warm, he can taste the sweat and the dust from the drive-thru on him and any other time the idea of that would disgust him, but he can’t get enough of it. Just because it means he’s not untouchable, he’s not perfect. That’s what he tells himself as his teeth find another spot to dig in, as Daniel lets out a sound Johnny has never heard before, a moan nearly desperate enough that it makes Johnny uses his lips instead of his teeth. Almost.

Daniel wants this just as much as Johnny pretends he doesn’t; that thought strikes him like a fist from his Sensei. Daniel wants him. That gives him power, he’s learned that lesson at the hands of Kreese as well. “You like it.” The words are soft against Daniel’s skin and he’s proud that he doesn’t end it like a question.

Johnny can feel the hard length of Daniel’s cock against his hip where he’s pressed against him, and Johnny is too far gone inside his own head to care that Daniel can likely feel his own. They’re young, it’s not exactly a surprise, but all Johnny has done is kiss his neck and leave marks for Ali to find. His body is a livewire, when Daniel finally unclenches his hands and puts them in the hair at the back of his neck it practically burns.

It wasn’t like this with Ali, this push and pull of fire in touches, but when Daniel tugs at his hair like he’s trying to move Johnny’s lips back up to his jawline, Johnny wants to throw him to the ground and tear him apart because of the way it set his blood burning with want. Instead, he goes where Daniel wants, he presses a kiss to the bruise he’d left days ago, it was quickly fading but he would remember the way it felt against his lips for the rest of his life.

What would Daniel look like when he came? It’s the only thought in Johnny’s mind as he kisses his way down his neck, moving his teeth over his pulse point. It would be so easy, so terribly easy, to bite down and Johnny does. Hard enough to leave another bruise, and Daniel presses against him again, this time Johnny slots his thigh between his legs and puts a hand on Daniel’s waist, helping him rub against Johnny’s thigh.

“I want to jerk you off.” It’s a surprise to him as much as it is to Daniel. But the other just nods, really enthusiastically, and uses his hand to guide Johnny’s below his waistband like Johnny didn’t fucking know how pants worked. When his hands touches flesh Johnny nearly chickens out, but that would be the opposite of the point, of proving his bravery to LaRusso and too himself. The way the punk gasps pushes him through the fear, not his own bravery, but he’ll pretend he doesn’t realize that for now.

The way Daniel pushes into his hand is enough to make Johnny want to fall to his knees in front of him, to see just how out of control the little freak could get if someone really touched him. But he doesn’t, won’t. His hand is strong, calloused and he uses that to his advantage. Jerking him hard and fast, probably too hard, but LaRusso doesn’t tell him to slow down so he doesn’t, and considering the way the guy can’t stop moaning he seems to like the rough treatment anyway. “Johnny, fuck, Johnny.” Of all the ways anyone has ever said his name, that has got to be the best.

When Daniel finishes, so fast that if either of them had been thinking straight Johnny would probably mock him for, he says Johnny’s name again. It all feels like the end of the fucking world, the sound of his name on those lips, and not a trace of fear in his voice. That’s a sound that could get him killed.

It’s better than Johnny had imagined, when Daniel’s eyes close and his mouth falls open because of something Johnny did. No pain or fear or blood, but it still makes him feel like he’s in control, that Daniel is his. No one else is allowed to scare him like Johnny does, and he’s sure as fuck certain that no one else has ever gotten him off like this before either. Ali likes to take it slow, and considering the little noises Daniel made he didn’t seem all that used to someone else touching his dick.

He has the presence of mind to try and wipe his hand off on the fence instead of on Daniel’s pants, little asshole should be grateful for that before his hands move back to Daniel’s shoulders and start to push him down. There’s not enough strength to force him down, just enough to make his desires clear, and to Johnny’s surprise, he actually goes. “You really wanted me bad, huh?” He saves the words for when LaRusso is fully on his knees in front of him.

“Knew you liked dick.” He’d had no fucking clue Daniel might want him or any other guy, the words just fell out because he knew they would get under the other’s skin, and that was how he stopped this from being anything other than a blowjob in an ally from a kid he hated. That gave him power, that made him the winner. Kreese would agree, that’s what Johnny would tell him at least. That he just fucked Daniel’s mouth to put him in his place, nothing else.

Daniel looked up at him, eyes narrowed instead of that wide-eyed looked that drove Johnny here. “You’re the one that made the first move.”

Yeah, he’s prince of Cobra Kai. That’s what they do. They strike first. “You’re the one on your knees.” The one clawing at Johnny’s belt to get it undone, the one who moaned Johnny’s name when he came just a few seconds ago. And Johnny won’t do something as embarrassing and faggy as that, he’ll keep his mouth shut like Kreese tells him to when he’s asking too many questions, or being too loud. He’d been so focused on getting Daniel off that he hadn’t realized how hard he was, but the second those slender fingers wrap around his cock Johnny feels like he’s going to explode.

In order to keep himself together long enough to enjoy this, Johnny wraps both hands in the wire of the fence behind Daniel, hard enough that the links will certainly leave marks in his palms, but it keeps him from coming too quickly. Besides, he’s used to pain and pleasure being linked.

“Jesus,” Daniel practically breaths the word more than says it but it’s enough to draw Johnny’s eyes back to him from where they had been fixed on the field behind them.

He smirks down at LaRusso, the point of his inceissor poking over over his lower lip. “Too big for you? Yeah, Ali said that the first time too.” She hadn’t said anything fucking like that, but it seemed to piss LaRusso off so he had said it. Didn’t piss him off enough to make him stop touching Johnny’s cock, or stop looking up at him like he wanted to swallow him whole. Johnny can’t help but wonder if he could.

For once in his life LaRusso decides to act before he speaks, though considering he still opens his fucking mouth it’s not completely different. He’s slow at first, Johnny can’t fault him for that he supposes but that doesn’t stop him from pressing himself into the eager mouth with more speed then he should. Daniel doesn’t stop him, just tries to keep up, like always the kid never knows when to give up and kneels their like he’s the one in charge.

His mouth is so fucking warm and wet, and Johnny feels like he could do this forever, but when the first noise escapes his mouth he pulls out of that daydream, and buries himself in LaRusso’s mouth. Finding the closest part of his arm, Johnny bites into his own jacket to stop himself from embarrassing himself like Daniel had when Johnny’d had his hand around his cock.

Daniel does something with his tongue and Johnny worries he’d bitten through the fabric under his teeth. He shouldn’t be good at this, maybe he isn’t and Johnny was just too turned on to care, but he’s fucking enthusastic, Johnny has to given him that. There’s not part of his cock that Daniel doesn’t touch. What he can’t get in his mouth he wraps a hand around, jerking him off in time with his mouth moving over him.

It’s when a moan comes out of Daniel, Johnny’s not even touching him and the kid moans, when everything falls apart. “Daniel! Where’d you go?” That’s Ali’s voice, Johnny would recognize it anywhere, and he pulls back so quickly he misses the way Daniel tries to chase after him with his mouth. Like he misses the feel of a cock between his lips. But once the sound of Ali yelling his name hits him, he launches to his feet, trying to fix himself while looking panicked.

Johnny’s only gotten his still hard dick into his pants when he has the idea. Really, less an idea, more like the same urge that forced him to grab and pull Daniel back here in the first place. “Hit me,” he wishpers it even though Ali isn’t near enough to hear or really see them. Thankfully. “Hit me, LaRusso.”

“What? What the fuck? I’m not going to hit you!” It’s not a protective instinct, not like he’s suddenly gone soft for Johnny, more like his moral compass knowing that something is fucked with hooking up with a guy and then clocking him. Johnny doesn’t share that compass, but he also knows that if Ali thinks he struck first it would get back to Kreese.

Rolling his eyes, he shoved at Daniel’s shoulder, just enough to get him to focus on him and not Ali’s approaching footsteps. “Hit me or she’ll know you’re a faggot.” That’s not important, not really, if Ali knows then it’ll get around. Kresse will know. Kreese will know. And the fear of that is enough to make Johnny not care about any other consequences. Johnny can’t even think about what he’ll do, how could he spin being caught with Daniel LaRusso sucking his dick into something that was good for Cobra Kai? If he told Kreese himself, if he could make it clear no one else had any idea, that there was nothing for him to worry about, maybe Sensei would get it. But this? Johnny Lawrence caught with another boy? No, that would be the end of everything.

So, Daniel hits him, later Johnny will realize it wasn’t the insult that drove him into action. It was the terror in Johnny’s voice when he said it. The hit is hard enough to send Johnny onto his ass, probably have a blackeye come morning. But that’s better than the alternative. “Stay away from me.” Despite the heat in Daniel’s voice, the words don’t ring true, they’re a script said for Ali’s benefit as she finally stumbles on them.

As she pulls Daniel away, fussing over him like he was the one with a split lip, Johnny feels all the bravado, all the fear, melt away. What the fuck is supposed to do now?