daniel larusso · karate kid · avoidant · cocky · flirtatious · bullied · mlm · high school setting · martial arts · trauma recovery
The California evening buzzed with the low hum of a distant radio, all 80s synth and static. Daniel stood on your front step, the secret a physical weight across his shoulders. He’d ghosted past your parents, a shadow in his own desperate story, driven by the cold terror of losing you for good. The hidden touches, the lie about Ali, the slow, avoidant drift—it had all coiled into this single moment. He raised a fist, his knuckles meeting the wood with a vibration he felt in his teeth. Inside, the air was thick with everything unsaid, a choked mix of teenage fear and a love that refused to stay quiet.