Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone

[strikefirster]

Who: Johnny, Daniel, Ortus, Gideon Nav's Exquisite Corpse, Paul, Kaworu, Deku, Harrow, Maybe more?
What: Kidnapping, Forced Adoption, Getting these kids away from the Emperor
When: Shortly after boatgate
Where: The Bone House and Cobra Kai

Content Warnings: Probably references to Murder, Manipulation, Johnny Lawrence.

Prompts and Mingle will be in the comments.

Comments

[peripheries]

Are you going to tell me what I fool I've been? I suppose you have the right.

[He mumbles, wrapping his arms around his knees, and resting his chin on them. He looks small, insignificant, nothing like an Angel and nothing like the Beast who terrorized the beach.]

[strikefirster]

[It's odd to say that Johnny looked thoughtful, but there were certainly gears grinding in his head about how to respond to that.

The kids had all made some mistakes but they were all following someone who they legitimately believed in and had too. He knows what it's like to have the rugged pulled out from under him.

He also didn't want to push his own bullshit and regrets about what happened to him on this situation.]

Actually I was going to say I'm glad you decided to come around. I'm pretty sure the last place you want to be is holed up with me. But the other kids missed you.

[peripheries]

...I thought I'd be happier to know I was missed. Now I just feel nothing but guilt.

[He briefly, very briefly, glances upwards at Johnny's face trying to see if he's being mocked or teased. But there's an odd sincerity in the man's gaze that makes the angel avert his eyes.

Part of him wishes for cruelty instead. It would be easier to bear.]

[strikefirster]

[Johnny was very detached from the side of him that might want to mock Kaworu. All of the kids who had shown up at the dojo had been through something far worse than he had ever experienced as a kid, and he was aware of how messed up just that had made him.

So instead he wanted to try and help them get up and dust themselves off after this mess.]

Yeah. Well- Maybe you screwed up by waiting so long. But that shit doesn't matter. As long as you own up to it there's always a chance you can make things right.

[peripheries]

What if nothing goes back to being right? What am I supposed to do?

[He drops his head between his knees. Despite everything, he hadn't felt much like crying. And in the moments he wanted to, the tears never came, leaving him unfulfilled and desperate for relief.

Now he feels prickling, still alien, at the edges of his eyes and suddenly he's ashamed of it.]

Perhaps you were right about me.

[strikefirster]

[Johnny actually gives Kaworu a perplexed look as though he doesn't really understand what he's saying at first.]

Right? You mean when we fought?

You showed me just how fucking wrong I was about you when we did that.

It might take some work to get it out of you but deep down you've got the heart of a true badass in there. That nothing will stop you when you actually put your mind to it.

[Perhaps more literally than Johnny would like to admit but he didn't have a magic shield or some bullshit like that. He did see that Kaworu was unwavering in his dedication to Paul though.]

But take it from me, kid. You have to work to make things right.

I spent thirty years of my life not trying to do that and just watched as everything broke down around me. It took someone else to remind me that striking first isn't just something you do in a fight. It's something you need to do in everyday life too.

[peripheries]

[There's a sniffle from the boy curled up in on himself. He never expected this sort of kindness. Especially not from Johnny Lawrence. He doesn't know how to feel about it. It makes him desperate for more. It makes him regret the way he thought about the man before. It makes him wonder why Johnny hadn't been like this before. Or if he always had been and Kaworu just hadn't noticed.

He scrubs his face with the back of his knuckles.]

I'd do anything to fix it.