#Johnny Lawrence and the five Love languages

[sharlinefreire]

What lawrusso fics have you read and loved already? Hard to know what to rec without knowing where you've left off

hi, anon!

as i said before, i already read most of the fics on ao3. but i will tell you my favorites so you can get an idea:

1. The Recidivists by vimesbootstheory

2. feather in the quiver by icedin

3. Ambidextrous by pinkgrapefloyd

4. Knife Skills by skeilig

5. no love lost by narcissablaxk

6. Be Kind, Rewind by BackinBlack_80

7. Accollasse (v) by theremin

8. Mistletoe by DarthDisco

9. get him back! by theremin

10. Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages by narcissablaxk

obs: i prefer adult lawrusso than teenagers lawrusso, because i love old men yaoi.

[ao3feed-johnnylawrence]

Why does he love you. And not me

by The_gay_dink

Robby is stuck living with his dad for the summer, which he hates. Not only does he have to stick around his old man he has to be around Miguel diaz. He doesn't have that bad of a problem with him in all honesty, but when Miguel mentions Tory he snaps. The two get into a fight which leads to a make out session. Which soon happens more and more but when all of the gang is over he realizes that Miguel has been doing the same with hawk.

(Season five spoilers)

Words: 1857, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Cobra Kai (TV), Karate Kid (Movies)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage

Categories: Gen, M/M, Multi

Characters: Miguel Diaz (Cobra Kai), Robby Keene, Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz, Tory Nichols, Demetri Alexopoulos, Johnny Lawrence, Daniel LaRusso, John Kreese, Terry Silver, Samantha LaRusso, Anthony LaRusso

Relationships: Miguel Diaz/Robby Keene, Miguel Diaz/Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz

Additional Tags: Gay, Season/Series 05, Blow Jobs, Robby Keene-centric, Jealous Robby keene, Fights, Annoyed Eli "hawk" moskowitz, Miguel Diaz being comfortable in his sexuality, Bi-miguel, Tired Johny lawrense, Guilty Robby keene

from AO3 works tagged 'Johnny Lawrence' https://ift.tt/E8oAbIx

[klovenhooves]

Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages, Chapter Five: Words of Affirmation

Johnny yanked open his closet door, eyes searching the sparse offerings, brow furrowed. Behind him, Miguel shifted his weight onto his other foot, face similarly focused, eyes critically searching the clothes.

 “He knows what kind of clothes you wear, Sensei,” he started hopefully. “I don’t think you need to –”

 “So you’re just going to wear whatever, then?” he asked, his tone vaguely snappy, and Miguel pursed his lips. “You and I are both under the microscope, Diaz,” he said, turning back to the closet. “And I am always worse upon closer inspection.”

 “Sensei, don’t be ridiculous,” Miguel reassured, dropping a hand to Johnny’s shoulder. “He wouldn’t have invited you if he didn’t like you.”

Which, fine, Johnny could accept that idea, but that didn’t make him feel any less nervous. It certainly didn’t answer the question of what he should wear to this ill-advised get together that he’d been invited to. He was reminded, far too often, of his first date with Ali, where they spent the whole night dancing around the idea of their first kiss, only to chicken out and then not, ultimately ruining the romance the first kiss deserved.

 In the months following, they laughed about that story like it was charming, but it always seemed weird to Johnny. Even now, years later, that was still an indicator of what overthinking could do, and now that he and LaRusso had been interrupted not once but twice, he had to wonder if the actual act would live up to the anticipation.

 “You and Miguel should come to dinner at my place,” Daniel had said over the phone, the tone of his voice alone telling Johnny that he was smiling. “Robby, Sam, and Anthony will be here.”

 “What, like a –” he caught himself before the word ‘date’ could come out, but the silence on the other end of the line told him that Daniel was waiting for him to finish the sentence. Stubbornly, he stayed quiet, Miguel, on his couch, looked at him in confusion.

 “Who is it?” he had mouthed, waving his arms to get Johnny’s attention.

 “It can be whatever you want it to be, John,” Daniel said into the silence that showed no signs of abating. “Will you come?”

 Johnny snapped his jaw shut where it had fallen open against his will. He wasn’t sure when he started to notice the innuendo in some of the things Daniel said, but now that he was aware of it, talking to the man was far more difficult.

 “Johnny?”

 “Sensei, why is your face red?”

 “When?” he asked into the phone, noticing as he spoke how rough his voice sounded. He cleared his throat.

 He could hear Daniel smiling again. “Tomorrow? 7.”

 “You free tomorrow at 7?” he asked Miguel, who looked at him with wide, confused eyes.

 “We’ll be there,” he said, shushing Miguel with a hand, eyes on the coffee table, listening for Daniel’s response.

 “Good,” Daniel said, satisfied. “It’s a date.”

 He hung up before Johnny could respond, but he kept the phone to his ear, spluttering, while Miguel stared at him with a half-smile.

 And now they were here, Johnny quickly realizing that he was probably going to need a beer before he even got to LaRusso’s place if he wanted to keep his cool. Miguel impatiently nudged him out of the way and started flicking through the shirts, making noises under his breath that he couldn’t decipher. Most of them seemed confused, but there were a few scoffs of disbelief in there, too.

 Maybe Johnny should go into his closet and do the same thing, see how the little twerp liked it.

 “Here, wear this one,” Miguel finally said, pulling a baby blue shirt out of the back of Johnny’s closet, so old he’d forgotten it was even there. “It’ll bring out your eyes.”

 “What am I, a girl?” Johnny asked, taking the hanger anyway.

 Miguel chuckled. “No, but you’re in looooooooove,” he drew the word out, dodging the shirt that Johnny threw at him, trotting down the hallway back to the living room.

 “Get out of my house, Diaz,” Johnny called after him, the boy’s laughter as good a response as he was going to get.

 ***

 “Dad, I made you some tea,” Sam gently set the cup on the edge of the coffee table, catching Daniel’s eyes on her way back up. “Chamomile.”

 He smiled at his daughter and took the cup. “That’s so nice, sweetie, you didn’t have to do that,” he said, taking a shallow sip of the still-too-hot tea.

 “I did,” she laughed. “You’ve been staring into space for like…half an hour. Figured you needed something to calm you down.”

 “Calm me down?” he asked. “I am calm!”

 She raised her eyebrows. “Sure, and your leg is tapping like that because…?”

 He looked down at his jumping leg and put a hand over it. “Habit,” he said with a shrug.

 “Dad,” she took the tea cup from his hands and sat on the edge of the coffee table. “Sensei Lawrence is coming here. For a date.”

 He laughed nervously. “It’s not a –”

 “I can literally hear all of your phone conversations,” she interrupted with a stern look that reminded him so much of himself. “You’re allowed to be nervous.”

 “Did I tell you that I invited Miguel, too?” he asked.

 “No!” she jumped up from her spot. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

 “I forgot!”

 “I’m going on a double date with my dad and his arch nemesis,” she buried her face in her hands. “I can’t believe this.” She snatched his cup of tea off the table. “I need this more than you do now,” she said firmly, taking a long drink before stalking off, shutting her bedroom door solidly behind her.

 Daniel understood how she felt. Was it good to be nervous? Was that a bad sign? He couldn’t figure it out, and the longer he sat there, thinking about it, the closer the clock inched toward 7. He thought about Johnny, leaning on him on the surfboard in the middle of the night, head cradled by his arm. He thought about Robby, excited about the possibility of living with his father after sixteen years without him.

 He thought about Johnny under the stream of the shower, chest rising and falling under his hand, eyes clouded, deep in thought.

 They’d almost kissed twice – why was he nervous about the idea of a date?

 “Dad, I’m hungry,” Anthony whined, his voice shocking Daniel violently out of his thoughts.

 “I’m cooking dinner,” Daniel called out, knowing that his son was going to grab some junk food out of the pantry anyway and stalk back up to his room. Amanda was the one who was better at curbing Anthony’s impulsive choices – Amanda, who was in Malibu visiting her parents to tell them about their divorce.

 “Sensei Lawrence is coming to dinner, right?” Anthony asked from behind him, his mouth full. Daniel struggled not to roll his eyes. Trust his son to be predictable.

 “Yes, he is,” he answered, turning in his seat to see his son completely. “Be nice.”

 “I’m always nice.”

 “I seem to remember you telling Johnny that I would kill him,” Daniel recounted. Anthony grinned.

 “That was me being nice,” he said, rummaging in the bag of cheese puffs. “It was a warning.”

 “Be nicer, please,” Daniel pleaded, but he was almost smiling.

 Anthony shrugged. “I’m just trying to protect you, Dad. What if he takes your heart and karate chops it into little pieces?”

 Daniel squinted at him, suspicious. “Quit watching CW shows on Netflix.”

 “Tell Sam to stop watching Riverdale,” Anthony said, still unbothered.

 “Leave the cheese puffs in the kitchen, please,” he called, but Anthony was already halfway up the stairs, the cheese puffs still clutched in his fist.

 ***

 “If you’re worried about the first kiss, why don’t you just get it over with?” Miguel asked, safely buckled into the front seat of Johnny’s Challenger, flipping through Johnny’s tapes. “Do it first thing.”

 “I didn’t – I didn’t say I was,” Johnny stammered, hands white on the steering wheel. “You said I was.”

 Miguel shrugged. “You’re easy to read, Sensei.”

 “Shut up, no I’m not.”

 Miguel didn’t look up from the tapes, his finger tapping on top of Guns ‘n’ Roses. “Then why is your face red?”

 “Are you going to play music or are we going to talk about our girly feelings for the whole drive?”

 Miguel pulled free the tape and turned up the volume, leaving Johnny to marinate in his thoughts. As much as he wished he didn’t, Miguel had a point. Would he be able to sit through an entire dinner while he overthought everything that would come after? Would he be able to make the same mistake he made with Ali?

 He was still thinking about it when they pulled up to Daniel’s house and turned off the car. Miguel led the way to the front door, but Johnny could see the lights sparkling on the terrace, near the pool. The table was set and ready for them, the lighting dark and romantic. It seemed almost too pristine for something that was supposed to include him.

 Miguel looked back at him, almost on the doorstep.

 “You alright?” he asked, and Johnny so clearly saw himself, a teenager again, standing on Ali’s doorstep, nervously waiting to be scrutinized by her rich parents, all the while knowing they thought he was more like them than he could ever be. Yet here was Miguel, standing bravely on the doorstep, in a red flannel shirt and jeans, asking if the grown man was okay.

 “I’m fine, Diaz,” he choked out, and Miguel raised his eyebrows at him like he didn’t really believe it and rang the doorbell.

 Sam answered the door, in a yellow dress that Miguel immediately complimented, slipping an arm around her shoulders for a sneaky hug that he managed to get away with before Daniel appeared beside her, sleeves rolled up toward his elbows, a smile already on his face.

 He stepped aside to let Miguel through, offering him a hand to shake that Miguel took easily, and damn, when did that kid get so comfortable in his own skin? Johnny envied him – he wished he didn’t feel like such a kid when Daniel was around.

 “Johnny?” He pulled himself out of his thoughts to find Daniel looking at him curiously, the light of his home behind him illuminating him around the edges. Johnny felt curiously like he was looking at a painting from a museum he’d never think to go into. “Are you coming inside?”

 Why don’t you just get it over with?

 He reached out for Daniel, pleased when the man offered his hand without question, and yanked him out the front door and onto the porch.

 “What the hell –”

 He stumbled farther than Johnny imagined he would, and he caught him against his chest, one hand steadying Daniel around the waist. When Daniel looked up at him, confused and indignant, Johnny slipped his other hand around the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss that no one had enough time to interrupt because if someone interrupted him a third time, he was going to have to throw all of their children and surrogate children into the pool.

 Daniel made a confused sound against his lips, but his hands were clenched tightly in the fabric of Johnny’s shirt, pliant in his arms. Johnny pulled away long enough to see Miguel walking by, who gave him a wide-eyed thumbs up as he eased the front door closed. He rolled his eyes and let Daniel pull him in for another kiss, this one breathless and desperate and not at all like a first kiss.

 He had to force himself to pull away because he was maddeningly aware that the longer they were gone, the more likely it was that they would be interrupted. Daniel was grinning when he pulled back, all teeth and Jersey pomp, his eyes still closed, and Johnny wished he had done this thirty years ago instead of knocking the kid into the sand. They could have had thirty more years.

 “Does that mean you’re coming inside?” Daniel asked, his voice so soft it didn’t even sound like him, and Johnny tilted his head back to plant a kiss on his throat, backing him up so he was against the wall, the mostly closed front door on his left, the light from the kitchen barely illuminating them, the sound of their children a delicate soundtrack.

 “In a minute,” Johnny said, lips still on Daniel’s neck, and Daniel exhaled a shaky breath, dropping one of his hands to Johnny’s forearm, like he needed to be stabilized.

 “Take your time,” Daniel replied, head tilted back to the wall, eyes closed. Johnny pulled back for a moment to take him in, still perfect hair, slightly darker lips, face arranged in an expression he never thought he’d get to see, dazed and happy.

 He pulled him back in, taking great care to run his fingers through Daniel’s hair, feeling rather than seeing the mess of it he was making, Daniel groaning against his lips, thoroughly distracted. Johnny could get used to this – kissing the man to distraction. He made a brief mental note to thank Diaz for the idea later.

And then Daniel was turning him around so he was pressed to the brick instead and all thoughts of Miguel went out of the window.

 ***

 “Where did my dad go?” Sam asked, her eyes searching the empty kitchen. “He never leaves the kitchen while he’s cooking.”

 Miguel watched her eyes go to the slightly open front door and linger. He could see the wheels turning there. After a moment’s awkward silence, she gasped.

 “No way.”

 “Maybe don’t go out there looking for him,” Miguel said with a laugh, slipping his arm around her shoulders while he could.

 “Oh my god,” he thought she was angry for a moment, and then he looked down at her, and they both started giggling. “Thank God that finally happened.”

“Thank God what finally happened?” Robby asked, offering a fist for Miguel to bump.

 “My dad and your dad are totally making out outside,” Sam said, loud enough that Anthony, sitting in front of the television, turned around to join the conversation.

 “Ugh, Sam, too much information,” Robby groaned, but he grinned anyway. “So which one of us wins the bet?”

 “Bet?” Miguel asked, looking between them.

 “Well, I bet that they would avoid their feelings forever,” Sam said, counting them off on her fingers, “Robby bet that they were already hooking up, which, gross,” Robby shrugged. “And Anthony bet –”

 “I bet they’d do some dramatic confessing after dinner,” Anthony grumbled. “So none of us win.”

 “If I’m the one who told Sensei Lawrence to do…” Miguel faltered, trying to find the right word, “what he’s doing…does that mean I win?”

 Sam gaped at him, eyes wide. “Wh – what? What did you do?”

 He shrugged. “I gave him some advice. You know, strike first or whatever,” Miguel laughed.

 “He doesn’t win!” Anthony whined. “He didn’t bet!”

 “Didn’t bet what?”

 All four kids went still, frozen like they’d been doing something far worse than having a conversation. Miguel was the first one of them to turn around, trying to keep the smile off his face. Johnny’s barely concealed smirk told him he wasn’t being as sneaky as he thought he was.

 “Nothing, Sensei,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

 “Are you kids gambling?” Daniel asked, his voice teasing.

 “If I say yes will you fix your hair, please?” Sam asked, hiding a laugh behind her hand.

 “What’s wrong with my hair?” Daniel asked, a hand already rising to smooth it back down.

 “Nothing,” Johnny said hurriedly, biting back a grin. “Nothing, it’s fine.”

 “It looks like sex hair,” Anthony half-shouted from his place on the couch.

 The room went silent. Johnny looked over to Daniel, who looked momentarily horrified before he just closed his eyes and started laughing. The rest of the room looked at each other, Johnny trying to hide a self-satisfied smirk before Daniel shoved him, playful and embarrassed, and everyone else started laughing.

 ***

 Dinner started out surprisingly successful – Daniel had always expected this dinner to be awkward, with Miguel and Robby at the same table, himself and Johnny watching their kids stumble through conversation, Anthony being antagonistic, as only he could be.

 But Miguel and Robby were fine, chatting amiably while Sam sat between them, happy and at ease. Anthony had his own comments to make, but Johnny handled him nicely, and even he had to admit that he was amused by Johnny’s newest nemesis. When he realized he was losing whatever conversational battle he and Johnny were currently entangled in, he switched to his usual home run shot:

 “My dad could kill you,” he said, but it didn’t have the venom it usually did, when he was saying it to people who might actually believe him.

 Johnny rolled his eyes. “Your dad is too much of a good guy to actually kill me.”

 Anthony shook his head. “He could still do it. He was a Cobra Kai once.”

 “Anthony!” Sam admonished from across the table. Daniel felt his limbs go numb.

 “No he wasn’t,” Johnny laughed, his eyes sliding from Daniel’s son to Daniel himself. Daniel, who felt the blood drain from his face the longer Johnny looked at him. Johnny stared, mouth slightly open. “You weren’t. Right?”

 “Maybe we should go –” Sam was halfway out of her chair already.

 “No, Sam, it’s fine,” Daniel reassured her. “It’s – it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t join Cobra Kai, I trained for a little bit with one of Cobra Kai’s…senseis.”

 “So you joined Cobra Kai,” Johnny finished. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

 “Cobra Kai wasn’t around at the time,” Daniel pointed out. “The guy told me he was Kreese’s sensei, that Kreese was dead, all of that nonsense, and I needed someone to train with for the ’85 All Valley, so –”

 “What about –”

 “Mr. Miyagi didn’t want me to compete. But I was…” he struggled to find the right word.

 “Blackmailed,” Sam supplied helpfully. “He was blackmailed into competing. Some guy threatened to beat him within an inch of his life every day if he didn’t.”

 “And I needed a trainer,” Daniel finished with a heavy sigh, his eyes on the table.

“You didn’t tell me you were blackmailed,” Anthony piped up indignantly from the other end of the table.

 “Anthony only thinks Dad joined Cobra Kai because he found the gi in a box one day,” Sam added, eyes on Johnny. “Dad doesn’t…” she looked over at her dad, and then back to him. “Dad doesn’t like to talk about it.”

 Johnny nodded, tightening his jaw. Daniel could see him trying to decide what to do, how to move forward with their kids watching.

 “Then we won’t talk about it,” he said firmly, turning back to his food. He caught Daniel’s gaze and gave him a wan smile. Daniel didn’t know what to make of it.

 He still wasn’t sure what to make of it when dinner was done, and Sam met him at the counter with dishes, muttering that she was going to take Robby, Miguel, and Anthony to Golf ‘n’ Stuff for a little while, knowing that she was trying to give him the privacy to talk to Johnny without any interruptions. He thought about telling her not to; he didn’t want to tell the story, definitely didn’t want to see Johnny’s reaction. Having the kids as a buffer might be good.

 “If you really like him, you’re going to have to tell him eventually,” she said when he didn’t answer, clasping his arm for a moment before ushering everyone outside and into her car.

 He didn’t have to listen hard to hear Johnny’s careful approach. He didn’t have to look to know what he was doing – leaning against the counter, hands in his pockets, eyes on his feet.

 “We still don’t have to talk about it,” he said, and Daniel felt a surge of affection for him that almost knocked him off balance.

 “But you want to know,” Daniel said wearily, grabbing a kitchen towel to dry his hands, turning around to see Johnny completely. He could still see the wrinkles in his shirt where his hands had been clenched earlier.

 “Of course I do, LaRusso,” Johnny said. “But I’m not going to force you to tell me.”

 Daniel shrugged. “You already know most of it. Kreese told Terry Silver to make me bleed, to make me suffer for ruining Cobra Kai. And then Kreese appeared, back from the dead, and,” he shrugged, trying to fight the urge to turn away from Johnny’s horrified gaze, “tried to kill me. Typical Kreese.”

 “He made you bleed.” It wasn’t a question.

 Daniel held out his hands, knuckles marred with thin scars from the wood. “He succeeded.”

 Johnny took his hands in his own, eyes on the scars. Daniel could feel him shaking with anger. He looked up to his face, tight and stern, the very image of a terrifying fighter. “I know where he lives,” he said, his eyes rising to find Daniel’s. “Kreese.”

 “John, don’t,” Daniel pulled his hands back. “It’s not worth it.”

 Johnny scoffed, pushing himself off from the counter, where he was still leaning, to cage Daniel in with his arms. “It is worth it,” he insisted. “He shouldn’t have blamed you because we left.”

 Daniel shrugged, and Johnny made a disapproving noise.

 “That’s why you hated Cobra Kai so much when I brought it back,” Johnny said thoughtfully. He paused, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “I don’t blame you.” He brought one hand up to gently trace the line of Daniel’s jaw. “You didn’t need Terry Silver,” he said. “You’ve always been a great fighter.”

 Daniel stared at him, trying to think of something to say, coming up empty.

 “Terry and Kreese might have made you bleed, but they couldn’t really break you,” he continued, surveying Daniel’s face while still managing to avoid eye contact. “You’re too stubborn for that.”

 Daniel managed a weak laugh, the sound of which relaxed the tense lines of Johnny’s face. “Jersey tough,” he said quietly, and Johnny finally met his gaze, blue eyes full of something Daniel couldn’t really identify. It was painfully soft, overwhelming to look at for too long.

 “Yeah you are,” Johnny said softly.

 He pulled him in for a kiss instead of saying something else, frustrated with his son for making tonight too serious, wishing fervently that he could go back to the front step, before they had to discuss their pasts, before Johnny had to fluster him with pretty words.

 Johnny lifted him, like he weighed nothing, onto the counter, and dropped his hands to Daniel’s thighs, clearly deciding that he was going to kiss all of his seriousness away. Daniel let him, content to be pulled along by the sensation of his hands, of his lips. But this was unhurried, unlike their time outside the front door, exploratory, a different kind of intoxicating.

 Johnny pulled back, just far enough that Daniel became aware that he was taller than him this way, blue eyes gazing up at him, sparkling in the light.

 And then he sighed, almost like he was exasperated, even while he still looked at him with a fond smile, and pulled him back to his mouth.

 “I love you,” he said against Daniel’s lips, so quiet that Daniel could almost pretend he hadn’t said it at all.

 But he clutched him tighter, holding onto him fiercely, just in case he was thinking of backing away, of hiding. He could feel Johnny laugh against his mouth, the laugh almost a sob, and kissed him deeper, communicating what he was always too afraid to say.

 “I love you too.”

[oceluna]

Lawrusso + 5 Love Languages

[secondclassfangirl]

Rules: Post your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers!

Thanks so much for tagging me @zerrah !💗

All of my fics are very much self-indulgent and/or cathartic writes, so this was actually pretty difficult lol. Definitely a welcome break from stressing over finals though! ;)

Johnny Lawrence, Ace Degenerate

Summary: Johnny learns about asexuality and discovers a few things about himself.

This one is very near and dear to my heart. I prompted the concept on the Kink Meme because I didn’t have a solid idea for it, but then with help from some commenters I got some inspiration and wrote it in two sittings. Definitely the shortest amount of time I’ve spent writing a fic, but also one of my favorites. ;)

to have and to hold

Summary: Johnny is worn out on their wedding night, so Daniel offers to take the reins.

I really loved this one from the start, because y’all know I’m an absolute sucker for some sappy, filthy lawrusso. But I also happened to post it the night before my family experienced an extremely heartbreaking loss. It was such an emotional, awful day, but I’ll never forget the little sparks of joy I felt every time I opened my inbox and saw a comment on this fic. Thank you guys so much for your words—they mean more than you know <3

morning after

Summary: Johnny's train of thought the morning after he and Daniel finally hook up.

This is approximately 3K of word vomit and introspection and I loved writing it so much. I loved getting to glimpse into Johnny’s head without having to be so nitpicky over sentence structure and language. I tried my best to replicate his stream of consciousness, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. And of course, I’m a sucker for some lawrusso sweet, emotional hurt/comfort.

my love, my darling (i’ve hungered for your touch)

Summary: Some days, Daniel swears he can feel Johnny with him. (Or: the Ghost AU that literally no one asked for).

Wrote this one night for Cobra Kai Halloween and I really loved how it turned out! Again, I love emotional hurt/comfort and sappiness with lawrusso, and this one’s full of it. Also my first delve into writing grief, and I’m pretty proud of it.

how do i know when it’s love

Summary: One very small, repressed boy from Jersey tries to figure things out

This is by far one of the most personal fics I’ve written. I don’t write gen fics that often, but I absolutely loved filling this prompt and writing Daniel’s internal struggles and gradual acceptance of himself. Also one of the few times I’ve written Mr. Miyagi, and I’m really proud of his conversation with Daniel at the end.

This was super fun! I’ll tag @lulamadison @strikelikeacobrakai @ziltoidcoffee @variousqueerthings @pinktintedmonocle and anyone else who wants to do it! 💗

[cades-outsider]

Older Johnny Lawrence X Reader *SMUT*

Warnings? SMUT! SMUT! Language! And praising!

Praise Me

Walking along the side walk you smile to yourself as Cobra Kai comes into view, one of your good friends Johnny Lawrence had opened up his very own dojo. You knew his past with his sensei Krease, Johnny after much trusting had told you everything that Krease had put in his head and done to him.

Johnny explained that he was not going to put the kids in that situation Krease had done to him and his friends. Pushing open the door the famous bell chimes as you walk in, the door closing behind you.

Johnny comes out of the back drying his hands with a towel, he smiles once he sees that it’s you. "Y/n hey" he greets pulling you into a hug.

You inhale his scent which consisted of fresh green mint, causing you to swoon as you hugged back. "Hey Johnny" you giggle.

Oh how much he loved that pretty giggle of yours, it was music to his ears. "Where’s Miguel" You ask curiously as you both pulled away from the hug.

"His mom called him, she said she needed to speak to him about something" Johnny shrugs throwing the towel on the beating mannequin as you like to call.

"How about we talk in my office" He says smugly, now that he had a office causing you to giggle.

"I’d like that Sensei Lawrence" You play along as he takes your hand and leads you into his office.

He goes to his fridge and pulls out one of his Coors Banquets Beers "want one?" He questions looking at you.

You debate for a moment before shaking your head "sure, why not" you start "-I gotta see what the hype is about these, they must be good if the Johnny Lawrence loves them" You tease as he takes the two beers and places them on his desk.

He sits in his office chair while you sit in the comfortable chair on in front of him "well then-" he stops for a moment to do his famous 'beer opening trick' "-here you go" he says handing it over to you before doing the same with his.

He holds his beer up in the air "to...." he hums as he thinks of nothing to celebrate to causing you to laugh.

"To Johnny Lawrence doing something he loves" You say rising your beer up hitting it with his gently.

Johnny smirks shaking his head before taking a sip, you do the same "Hmm, pretty good Lawrence" you chuckle as you hold the bottle in your hand resting it on your thigh.

"Speaking of love.... have you been seeing anybody?" Johnny asks taking a bigger gulp of his beer this time.

You chuckle "nope, I swear I grew up in the wrong time" You joke.

Johnny raises his brows "why do you say that?" He asks curiously.

You sigh "it’s just the men, well I can’t even say men. Boys, are so not gentlemen like at all" You say shaking your head.

"Why what are they like now?" He asks genuine.

"They are definitely not romantic-" you scoff "-they don’t open doors for me, or the don’t do any romantic gestures" you sigh "-there just not educated" you giggle at the last part causing Johnny to smile.

"Oh and the sex!" You groan throwing your head back "-the sex is just horrible" You finally let loose.

You notice Johnny’s hands grip his beer firmer as his hand starts to turn white before he calms down "seems like you get the young and dumb batch" he chuckles gulping down some more beer.

"Ugh, remember my last relationship?" You question.

"Oh that guy was a dick, I can’t believe he did that to you" Johnny says gritting his teeth.

"Me either" you say remembering the time your ex treated you so badly you ran to Johnny’s at three am at night, but he held you that whole night not complaining once.

"But you were there for me" You hum as a small smile forms onto your lips.

Johnny smiles "always" he says as your eyes connect, his beautiful icy clue ones piercing through yours as if he was reading everything about you in that moment.

  "Johnny I need to tell you something" You say breaking the already sexual tension.

  He clears his throat "yes?" He asks taking another sip of beer.

  'I'm into you' You think "I'm into older men" But you actually say.

  Johnny's eye widen, until slowly a small smile appears on his face now feeling confident that he could have a chance with you.

  "Let me prove to you that all men aren't like that" He stops for a moment "-let me take you out on a date" he finishes as he slides the unfinished beer in the trash beside him.

  You're taken aback but also excited seeing as you have kinda caught feelings for him "alright deal" you smile.

  Johnny smiles widely in return "great I'll pick you up at 7" he says with a small smirk.

  "In the firebird?" You smirk.

  "You know it baby" Johnny winks as you get up, getting ready to leave.

  He stands up "give me that, I don't need my gir-" he stops before shaking his head "-I don't need you drinking and driving" he says taking the beer from you and placing it in the trash.

You chuckle at his antics "I wasn’t even going to carry it" you say sticking out your tongue at him playfully.

"Hey. That’s offensive" He says 'seriously' as he leans on the wall.

"Oh I bet Sensei" You joke as you start walking out of the office.

"I’ll see you at seven!" You hear Johnny yell as he runs out of the office.

You turn around "I’ll see you at seven" you repeat as a blush forms over your cheeks.

Johnny rushes over to the door and opens it for you letting you walk out, as he does he kisses your cheek. As you walk out of the building and into your car, your heart races as you could not believe that just happened.

On the way home all you could do was smile, excited for your date with Johnny. Someone who you caught feeling for on the first day of meeting but didn’t know.

You make it home and start rummaging through your dresses trying to pick out something not to like 'desperate' as they call or something to revealing.

You finally just decide on a white well fit thigh high dress and some black heels. You weren’t insecure about your body, but sometimes you would get self cautious.

Deciding to go all out tonight you apply the littlest amount of make up and curl your hair.

Meanwhile, Johnny was throwing almost every piece of clothing he owned around his room, panicking as he couldn’t find anything to wear. With a frustrated sigh he throws all his clothes back in his closet before seeing a white suit catch his eye.

'That’s the one' he thought as he picked it up and slid it on. By the time you both were done it was around 6:50. Johnny was thankful that you only lived five minutes away from him.

He quickly got in his fire bird and made his way to you. You were more excited than anything. I mean how often is it that a guy you like asks you out on a date, and especially a decent guy.

Johnny arrived at your door at exactly 7 o'clock on the dot. Hearing a knock on your front door you walk as fast as you can to the door in heels, letting out a breath of nervousness as you open the door.

  Johnny looks up, his mouth gape open as he looks at your beauty "I- wow were matching" you say noticing Johnny's white suit that he looked mighty fine in.

  "-wow you look beautiful" Johnny says mind blown, I mean he always admired you and thought you were the most gorgeous girl but now you just looked breath taking.

"Thank you Johnny, you look handsome... as always" you compliment with a sweet smile.

The smallest blush falls onto his face, so faint you almost missed it. Johnny holds out his hand gesturing for you to take it "shall we go?" He asks as you take his hand.

  "We shall" You comment with a side smile.

He leads you to his well cleaned up fire bird, rushing to your side to open the door for you "my lady" he jokes, you giggle as you slide into the passengers seat.

"Thank you may gentlemen" You blush, as Johnny runs over to his side entering the car and cranking it up.

The drive was silent, comfortable silence of course. You both were just simply enjoying each other's company as you finally made it to your destination.

A small fancy Italian restaurant, Johnny gets out of his side and rushes to your side opening the door before you could even put your hand on the handle to get out.

You smile as your heart swells with joy and love, "thank you" you comment politely as you get out of the car.

Johnny closes the door and takes your hand "my pleasure love" He says grabbing your hand and walking you up to the door once again opening the door for you leading you in.

  A waitress leads you to your guys table handing you your menus and asks for your drink preference. Soon she leaves giving you some time to pick out your orders before bringing your favorite drink back and Johnny's coke.

  You both order your meals after she returns, before going back and putting your orders in. You rest your chin on your hand as you gaze up at Johnny.

Johnny freezes "what? Is there something on my face?" He asks wiping his clean face.

You chuckle "no of course not you’re just a pretty sight" you reply giddily.

He smirks "is that all you see me as?" He questions playfully.

"No I see you as much more" you wink as the waiter brings your food before Johnny could reply back.

She places the food on the table before quickly rushing off, noticing the long awaited sexual tension.

You clear your throat "so, how does it feel to be back into karate sensei?" You spark up, interested as you both dig into your meals.

"It feels great to be back, granted Miguel is my only student but he’s a good kid" He compliments with a small smile.

"Yeah, I’ve seen you guys practice he’s getting better" You say impressed.

"I know, he deserves so much more than I can give him" Johnny says looking down.

"Hey don’t say that, you’re doing amazing and I’m so proud of you. He couldn’t learn from anyone better" you say, completely dissing his thought.

Johnny looks up, both of your eyes connect. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife "you wanna get out of here?" He asks before putting his fork down.

"Yes" you answer quickly already getting excited for what’s to come.

The waitress comes over "we’ll take the check please" Johnny says with a smile that reads 'were in a hurry here' to which the waitress quickly nods becoming awkward.

Though she doesn’t move "uh- you guys didn’t finish so there for it’s on the house and you get to keep your meals" she explains grabbing two container boxes and handing them to you.

"Thank you" you say politely as you hand one to Johnny and the waitress quickly runs away.

"That was weird I’ve never heard of that before" you say as you put your food in the box, Johnny doing the same knowing you’ll both get hungry eventually.

"I know" He comments as he grabs your hand and quickly rushes you guys outside.

He places the boxes on the hood of his car before gently pushing you up against the passenger door and connecting his lips to yours in a passionate kiss.

You reply by pushing your lips against his firmer, before things could escalate to quickly and you’d give the whole restaurant a show Johnny quickly pulls away opening the door for you letting you sit, and getting into his side.

Nothing was said while driving, just heavy breathing as you both were excited for what was to come once Johnny made it to his apartment.

Soon you guys parked and Johnny quickly rushed over to your side of the door and helped you out. Before you could make it to Johnny’s door he placed his lips on yours. Your back hitting the door, he quickly pulls out his keys and opens the door letting you both in and closing it with his foot.

Johnny carries you over to the wall and pushes you up against it, not to hard but enough to make you weak. He reconnects your lips back together once again in a rougher kiss, still gentle.

He pulls away to trail slow and sweet kisses to your neck to which he immediately finds your sweet spot as you let him know by moaning.

He continues to abuse that spot as you start to speak up "Johnny.... more" you practically beg.

He caved in and taps your leg signaling for you to jump to which you do. The ends of your dress ripping immediately, causing you to gasp and Johnny to laugh.

"It’s fine I didn’t like it anyways" you say breathlessly as being turned on took you out of your thinking process.

You roughly place your lips back onto his as he carries you over to the kitchen counter roughly swapping everything away with his free arm before sitting you on it.

"Then you won’t mind if I take it off?" He asks for consent, shyly because he didn’t want to mess this up.

"Yes please" You say giving him permission.

As a gentleman he doesn’t finish ripping the dress but he pulls the zipper down slipping it halfway off til it wrapped around your waist.

Your strapless white bra being exposed to which Johnny admires as he places more kisses over your neck and the top of your boobs.

Johnny picks you back up before this time carrying you in his room placing you gently on his bed. "God your so beautiful" He compliments as he kisses up your chest, going down to your stomach.

He pulls the rest of the dress down, discarding it somewhere in the room. He runs his hand gently around your thighs and stomach.

You whine in pleasure he comes back up and places his fingers over the button on the front of your bra "can I?" He asks watching your eyes for any sign of discomfort to find none.

You simply nod giving your consent as he unbuttons the bra slowly dragging it down your body before discarding of it. Your breasts now bare to him to which you look away shyly as your hands start to cover yourself up.

"Don’t my love, you look like a goddess" he starts before placing kisses all over your chest "-you’re so perfect" Johnny finishes, love dripping with every word.

He swirls his tongue around your harden nipple causing your back to arch as a moan falls out.

He places kisses everywhere down your stomach until he gets to your soaking core. He tugs at the side of your underwear asking to pull it off to which you nod letting him do so.

Your bottom half now completely bare to him, he spreads open your legs resting his hands on your thighs. He kisses just above your core, slowly he trails more kisses until he finally connects his lips with your clit, sucking harshly but lovingly.

"You’re so beautiful" He praises once more as continues his assault on your clit, now slipping two fingers into your dripping core.

Wanting you to cum around his cock, he takes his fingers out before sucking them dry and licking his lips causing more moans to fly out your mouth

"You taste wonderful" he says as lust fills his bow darkened blue eyes.

He pulls his shirt off revealing his toned shaped body before discarding of his pants leaving himself only in his boxers.

"Are you sure you want to do this Y/n" Johnny asks sincerely.

"Of course I want to do this with you Johnny" You comply.

Nodding he removes his boxers letting his hard on slap against your core, both letting out a groan at contact.

Lining his cock up at your entrance he looks up at you once more only for you to nod your head yes.

He slowly slides his cock inside your core, feeling you clench around his cock causing him to moan you following behind feeling him stretch you out.

"I’m going to treat you so well" He says whilst rubbing your thighs slowly thrusting his hips against yours.

You moan "Johnny-" you whimper as he speeds up his pace more.

His cock hitting all the right places and more, thrusting at a firmer pace he grips your hips so he could go faster. Hitting your G- spot dead on causing your back to arch and a moan to escape your plump lips.

"You’re doing so good for me, taking me so well" he compliments as he try’s to contain his breathing and moans.

"Princess, you’re taking my cock in like a good girl" He praises as he slams his hips against yours finding a faster rhythm.

You whimper "so g-good" you stutter as Johnny leans down, readjusting his posture to kiss you.

You run your hands through his hair as you feel your climax reaching. "I’m close Johnny-" you moan aloud as you chase that burning sensation.

"Yeah? You’re going to cum for me beautiful" he continues to praise as he drops a hand down to your core and rubs your clit in figure eights causing you to arch your chest into his and cum around his cock, feeling him twitch as you do so.

Johnny follows behind as he cums inside you, filling you up as he continues to ride out both of your orgasms.

Gently pulling out his cock he turns over to his back and pulls you to lean into his chest. "Words cannot describe how amazing that was Y/n" he says feeling as though he was on top of the world.

You nod agreeing along "it was amazing Johnny" you compliment.

"Y/n.... I love you" Johnny says waiting patiently for your response.

You nuzzle your neck into his; lovingly "I love you Johnny Lawrence"

_______________________________________________

Thank you for requesting @peachymelon69 I hope you enjoyed!

[variousqueerthings]

some thoughts on queerness in narrative (using cobra kai as a main point)

1. intro

It’s interesting getting to engage with pop culture right now versus even five years ago, where there was something kinda sordid and undercover about queer reads of text and even just talking about being into stuff very passionately while being queer in spaces that included creators was considered somehow icky (supernatural is always a good example, but definitely was just the most visible of these types of interactions between fans and cast/creators). Obviously that’s where a lot of modern definitions about queerbaiting and bury your gays comes from.

A lot of this kind of drama centred on queer ships rather than queer characters in their own right (dean/castiel, merlin/arthur, derek/styles and maaaan just a lot of white brunette/blond pairings, which is another post and I acknowledge that Lawrusso is also literally that... the irony)

But also this isn’t so much about “shipping.”

2.

There’s a danger of flattening out the ways in which we create a dialogue with text when it becomes just about whether or not our ships become canon (in general the way fandom discourse revolves around ships can be incredibly unhelpful for engaging critically with text) – for context I am queer and I’m queer through my transness and aromanticness and asexuality, and I also write a fair bit of shippy fanfiction and analysis, but personally am not (always) thaaat bothered about how the connections with queer-coded people are realised in text, as long as those connections are acknowledged in a queer way. How that works varies from text to text.  There is no one-size fits all proper queer representation.

An example: SE Hinton (because I just read The Outsiders/watched the movie) being really dismissive of people reading her characters as gay on twitter (why do we ever try to do this sort of deep textual analysis on twitter, why do creators – like Hinton – think that they ought to espouse opinions on twitter, why twitter folx?)

I wrote – kinda for the void, because I write a lot and I like posting some of that on tumblr, but I don’t expect people to engage necessarily – about how The Outsiders is absolutely a queer text, whether or not the creator intended for it to be. Long story short, queerness has been – and often still is – illegal and/or frowned upon in canon text, so a semiotics was created to make something queer if you knew how to read it. The fact that cis-straight creators play with and use those semiotics without knowing doesn’t negate the fact that that language is there and was deliberately created for that purpose.

That also doesn’t make it queerbaiting. Maybe cis-straight dumbassery, idk (wouldn’t be if you just went “huh, didn’t think about that, cool read”)

Intentionally playing with and acknowledging those semiotics also isn’t necessarily queerbaiting.

Definitely queercoding though.

3.

Anyway this is all a bit murky territory, so let’s talk about Cobra Kai, my current little obsession, and about Star Trek, my always-obsession. Time-was you could get sued for your Star Trek fanfiction. Nowadays that fanfiction can get turned into a for-fun zoom play and read out loud by the two actors who played the original characters (Alexander Siddig and Andy Robinson). This is very fun, new territory for a lot of us.

Meanwhile Hayden Schlossberg and the other writers of Cobra Kai are openly aware of the fact that lots of people read their lead characters – Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence - as probably bisexual (and probably as in love) and are on good terms with several active members of fandom and fic-writing. This is… so fucking fun. And it doesn’t have that weird overtone of shit like Teen Wolf (“We’re on a ship” winky-face, followed by that about heel-turn “just think it’s weird and strange” or however tf it was described later on - that shit: definitely queerbaiting).

In Star Trek there’s a slim-to-none chance that these characters will ever become canonically queer in the main text, but the acknowledgement and the light-hearted open engagement with it makes such a massive difference (not that Siddig and Robinson weren’t talking openly about it as far back as the 90s).

In Cobra Kai there is no obligation to make Johnny or Daniel canonically bi because there’s been no promise to do so – there is, in my opinion, an obligation to create a world in which queerness exists and not just on the sidelines. In the same way as there’s an obligation to generally create a world that accurately depicts what LA looks like in multiple other ways (cough, not mainly white, cough). If a part of that were through exploring how 80s era toxic heteronormative masculinity could throw people deep into the closet for most of their lives, hey, that’d be a neat storyline (such a neat fucking storyline), but it’s not the only way to do it.

While I do like canonically queer couples in stories, I also think it’d really limit what queerness can do for a text if that were the only way it was represented - sure I ship Lawrusso, but I find the above-mentioned analysis of toxic masculinity’s effects on the characters-as-queer-coded to go much deeper than whether or not they get together. 

I also would love trans and/or other-gender characters - we all know Johnny needs his “gender-what?” ignorance challenged and the potential for characters like that to fit into a narrative around trauma, loneliness, and misfit-families is kinda perfect (and when I say characters, I mean that plural, we’re not a one-size fits all).

Lastly I think there is also an obligation to do exactly what the showrunners are doing - what didn’t happen with Hinton or SPN or Teen Wolf or Star Trek of yore or so much other popular fiction: say, oh yeah, that language is absolutely there, we recognise it, we can read it and it’s not weird or sordid or something to be judged. So that’s already a massive thumbs up/promising start.

4. some final thoughts:

Idk where all this’ll go. I’m still missing a lot of canonically queer representation - and when I say representation I mean more than just shoving in a queer character into a scene and not thinking about how that affects the world that’s been established. But I’m feeling a lot better about queerness and story than I used to.

I’m hoping that whatever comes moving forwards in culture in general it’ll have some thought put into it. I’m hoping that queerness and queer allegory and coding will be recognised more and more as important reads of text and will go into informing how something is made (Hannibal, Black Sails, Sense8, Pose). I’m just hoping this’ll mean some interesting, intelligent, wildly varied narratives.

Just very excited.

[lupines-slash-recs]

Rec: Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages by narcissablaxk

Title: Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages Author: narcissablaxk Canon: Cobra Kai Pairing: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence Rating: Teen [PG] Word Count: 15,470 Summary: Johnny couldn’t explain how it had come to this. It was bad enough that he was

Continue reading...

[trillgutterbug]

Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus 😊 thanks friend!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

64! only five more to the magic number ayyyyy and then i’m legally obligated to never post another one.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

289,575 apparently??? which seems way way way higher than i ever would have guessed, wow. who knew!

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

31 on ao3, although that’s lumping, eg, all marvel subfandoms together. but i have a ridiculous amount of wips in all kinds of other fandoms that i haven’t/won’t post, soooo.... more than that! and i don’t want to list them all bc that’d be a long boring read!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it serenely disdains to destroy us, a magnus archives fic that, i somewhat vainly note, has been orbiting in the top few top kudosed fics in the tag since i posted it womp womp.

concerning flight, because we all thirsty for thor/loki+gender and i for one support us.

untitled porny snippet (yes that’s actually what it’s called), because same as above. (i see u, kudos-to-comment ratio and i aint mad but.... i see u. all you dirty birds out there shamefully yet silently jerking it. kudos to YOU.)

an experiment in posthumous subsistence, a batman/joker zombie au i wrote fucking TEN YEARS AGO ALMOST. why???? why is this fic so popular?? i’m barely a good writer now and i sure as shit wasn’t one a decade ago! the terrible title alone should disqualify it from being read, but i guess the people want what they want. and what they want is batman and joker handcuffed together, trying to escape the zombie apocalypse  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

all good things, some stucky hydra trash party-adjacent smut regarding piercings. i stand by this one 100%, it deserves every kudo(s?) tbh.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i do, depending on the comment! i don’t think comments like “loved this!” / “thanks for writing!” are written with the intent to receive a response (or at least, when i write them on other people’s fics, i certainly don’t expect one). they’re like an extra kudo(s?), and i appreciate them a lot, but they’re not really an invitation to Discuss. whereas if someone clearly has put a lot of thought into a comment, or asked a question, or made some observations that i jive with, or just seems like they want to engage, then hell yeah i jump in there. love that shit. 

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i guess arguably thine own self, which is some hydra husbands abo. laugh all you want, it’s one of my fave of all my fics lmao. probably specifically bc of the unpleasant/open ending.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

probably moderation is a memory! since it, unlike 99% of all my other stuff, isn’t just total smut, and the whole point of writing it was to wallow as deep as possible in the sauce of giddy teenage infatuation, it got the opportunity to have an actual emotional arc (more or less). furthermore i could not possibly bring myself to break johnny lawrence’s tender little heart ever, that would hurt me far more than it would hurt him.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i only realised while answering this question that apparently.... no i don’t write crossovers! which is not at all a deliberate choice, i guess a compelling enough one just hasn’t occurred to me yet! 

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

shockingly no! by some accidental miracle i’ve managed to fly under the radar so far, despite some of the really buckwild stuff i’ve posted. however, considering some of the stuff i’m probably ABOUT to post.... that clean track record might soon come to an end lmao.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

lmao. uhhhh. almost exclusively, and i guess??? all kinds? this is clearly a question composed by someone who does not write smut.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and i wouldn’t really care if i did. 

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah i think a few....? a number of people have asked anyway and i always say yes, so probably there’s at least one floating around out there somewhere.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have! just once, and we really made it count. it’s called a reptile dysfunction, which should tell you all you need to know. 

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

thorki, probably. i always have and always will come back to it, no matter what. it’s got such a ferociously timeless staying power and so much potential variation, i don’t think i could ever get bored of it, regardless of what level of marvel-exhaustion i might feel at a given time, or what tropes, kinks, or stage of literary pretension i’m at. truly the oh tee pee. 

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

ohhhhh all 836575927 of them, but. there’s this one thorki fic i started almost ten years ago as an experiment with a new-to-me style, which turned out over the intervening years to become my main style, and looking back on that fic, which for many years was a touchstone of writing-to-aspire to for me, it’s actually Not Very Good lol. but i still love the core concept, which is a canon divergence berserker thor au, but not only is it a somewhat inaccessible (admittedly less so since the deadpool movies came out, which was a hilarious pipe dream back when i started writing it) x-force comics crossover, but i wrote myself into a bunch of corners and have yet to dig up the energy to write myself back out of them! i go and reread it every year or so and think “hmm... maybe now...” but tbh it’s just not really good enough to bother! perhaps someday i’ll repurpose the best elements of it into something new.

16) What are your writing strengths?

man, it’s so hard to say. in much the same way that you can spend hours every day staring at yourself in a mirror, yet be utterly incapable of picking yourself out of a lineup, i spend a lot of time eyeballing my writing, but stepping back it seems like a chaotic mass of nonsense with few cohesive throughlines. i’m good at writing smut, i know that much! and in that vein, i think i am good at smut bc i am very good at committing to the bit, as it were. getting into the nitty gritty of experience and sensation (physical or emotional) and rendering largely abstract internal concepts in fairly comprehensible ways. i think my prose is quite decent on a sentence level too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

utterly incapable of finishing anything! or plotting anything! can’t mange a cohesive emotional arc! write myself into overly structured corners or out onto a vast plain with no structure in sight! all the macro elements of storytelling totally elude me, which is very frustrating when i have all this tasty fleshed out micro-level character stuff, but no narrative skeleton upon which to drape it.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?   don’t! unless you are very sure you know what you’re doing, and the other language bits are a) very few, b) easily contextually understood, and c) actually adding something other than a weird flex that you know google translate exists.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

11yo me wrote spock/kirk/janice rand and thought she invented the concept of a threesome. brand been stronk since day one 🤘. (the vulcan salute is right next to the devil horns in my emoji list, so....)

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

i love the (ongoing) better with you series very much, not least because i’m still absolutely flabbergasted that i wrote something that long. i think it’s actually pretty good all things considered and it’s very dear to me on many many levels. but the fic that i just viscerally adore, that i love the style of, and that i had such a transcendent, invigorating, organic Experience writing, is temper its strength, adding honey until quite cold, which is a terror fic with the inexplicable pairing of edward little/hartnell, featuring crossdressing and gender stuff. it just burst out of me fully formed one day and i don’t think i’ve managed to top it yet! 

lowkey tagging @lingua-mortua @pitcherplant @kaasknot @froggy-babyy @deputychairman @nomercyonlytears @clockheartedcrocodile

[missviolethunter]

3rd Annual Cobra Kai Fan Fiction Awards - Results, Day 5

Hello to the Cobra Kai fandom!

As many of you know, the Cobra Kai Fanfiction Awards ceremony has taken place, with lots of very deserved awards going to a bunch of talented writers. For those of you who weren’t able to attend the ceremony, or want to revisit the Awards, we will be posting links to all the runners up and winners for every category over the next several days. And it also serves as a list of reading recommendations, of course!

You can find the posts with the previous categories' winners here:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

The Day 5 Categories are:

Best Fluff

Winner: call it what you want by poetdameron

Runner Up: to the moon and to saturn. by poetdameron

Best Comedy

Winner: An Indecent Encounter by lostmagician

Runner Up: In The Business of Date Crashing by Narcissablaxk

Best Character Study

Winner: Johnny Lawrence in tiny furniture by poetdameron

Runner Up: Johnny Lawrence in Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages by Narcissablaxk

Best Challenge Response

Winner: October Prompt Challenge by OutForAWalkBitkah3568

Runner Up: A Bobby Brown Christmas by KingKarate

Best Angst

Winner: for the small weird loves. by poetdameron

Runner Up: What Kind Of Man Doesn’t? by menocchio

(Any winners that were not able to attend the ceremony, please contact @outforawalkbitkah to receive your award)

[klovenhooves]

Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages, Chapter Three: Receiving Gifts

It took him two weeks to get back to Daniel. Those fourteen days were a blur of legal conversations, skimming stacks of papers, finding ways to make sure Kreese’s influence over his students hadn’t warped them beyond recognition. By the end of the first week, Kreese had been removed from Cobra Kai, Johnny had secured the ownership of his dojo, and Hawk had been identified as the ringleader of the vandalism excursion. Johnny sent him with Miguel to return Miyagi’s Medal of Honor to Daniel personally.

 And then Tommy died.

 The second week was like wading through water too deep. He, Bobby, and Jimmy pored over Tommy’s documents, his whole life spread over the small space of a desk. Johnny had no idea how to handle someone’s affairs after they died, and it didn’t seem like Bobby or Jimmy did either. So they spent a few days trying to pack up his stuff, realizing far too late that they had no one to give it to. Most of Tommy’s clothes ended up donated to a local charity, and Bobby took the rest of his stuff to put into storage until they could figure out what to do with it.

There was no family; no one but them.

The funeral had been a nightmare, the wake a nightmare with booze. He left Cobra Kai alone during that week, confident that Miguel was still making sure Kreese couldn’t sink his hooks into anyone.

 He came home at the end of the second week, bone tired and prepared to sleep for another two days, if given the opportunity, but instead of rest, he found Daniel LaRusso standing on his doorstep.

 “Didn’t you hear?” he called, startling Daniel out of whatever reverie he was in. “I’m not home.”

 Daniel gave him a bracing look that told Johnny someone had already informed him about Tommy’s death. “Miguel told Sam you were coming back today,” he explained. “I thought I’d bring you something.”

 He noticed the package in Daniel’s hand as the words left his mouth. “You don’t have to –”

 “It’s customary to send flowers,” Daniel interrupted as Johnny fumbled with his keys in the lock, “but I figured whiskey was more appropriate.”

 Johnny didn’t answer, but pushed his door open and stepped aside to let Daniel through first. The place seemed emptier now that it had been empty for a week, and Johnny wasted no time in grabbing two glasses from his cabinet and holding his hand out for the bottle.

 “Thank you,” Daniel said as Johnny twisted the bottle open, the label cracking in the silence. “For sending Hawk –”

 “It was the least he could do,” Johnny answered, pouring a generous amount in each glass.

 “Still,” Daniel took the offered glass and held it up. “To Tommy.”

 Johnny had to swallow past the lump in his throat. He took a sip of the whiskey, the smell alone reminding him of the wake, of acquaintances with casseroles and black suits on squeaky pews. He watched Daniel finish the whole drink in one swallow, his mind trying to find its way back out of the week’s memories.

 “What do you do?” Daniel asked when Johnny didn’t say anything.

 “What do you mean?”

 Daniel carefully put his glass in the sink behind Johnny, his arm just barely making contact with Johnny’s jacket. “I mean when something bad happens. What do you do?”

 Johnny held up his glass, whiskey still lingering at the bottom. “You’re looking at it, kid,” he said.

 Daniel rolled his eyes. “Anything else?”

 Johnny shrugged. Nothing seemed particularly appealing right now, other than standing in his half-dark kitchen, listening to Daniel talk. He took another sip of his whiskey. “Trying to cheer me up, LaRusso?” he asked.

 “Well, you’re certainly not making it easy,” Daniel groused, leaning against the counter. Johnny watched him lean, his worn Mets shirt riding up as he leaned back. How obvious would it be if he told Daniel that this was just fine?

 Or maybe it was that it didn’t really feel right to be having fun so soon after Tommy’s death. Just yesterday he had been hauling Tommy’s old dirt bike into storage, memories washing over him. Today he was considering putting all of that out of his mind for a chance at mild amusement for a few hours. Wasn’t that disrespectful?

 “Come on,” Daniel broke through his thoughts, gently extricating Johnny’s glass from his hand. “We’re going to the beach.”

 “We’re what?”

 “You said you were going to teach me how to surf,” Daniel pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, go get your stuff, we’re going to the beach.”

 Johnny huffed a laugh, eyes searching Daniel’s countenance for the punchline. “You’re serious,” he said when he found nothing but sincerity.

 “Absolutely serious,” Daniel said, crossing out of the kitchen and back into the living room. “Go get dressed. I mean it. Wetsuit and everything.”

 “I’m not putting on that wetsuit,” Johnny called back on his way to his bedroom. He felt exhaustion seeping into every movement, languid and delayed. He was too tired for this. Still, he grabbed some black trunks from a long-forgotten corner of his drawers and put them on.

 He met Daniel in the living room in a black muscle shirt and black trunks.

 “If I fall asleep in the ocean, you better become a lifeguard,” he warned.

 Daniel smiled, the quirk of his mouth looking more sad than happy. “Something tells me just sitting on your surfboard in the water is going to make you feel better.”

 Johnny shrugged, but unbidden, he remembered spending hours at a time just sitting in the water, his feet submerged, after Ali dumped him, and again after the All Valley in ’84, and then again when his mother died. There was no way LaRusso could know about that, was there?

 He turned away from him to get his surfboard out of the closet in the hallway, his eyes landing on the white bag on the floor as he did. He scooped it up. He had planned something different, but this was as good a time as any.

 “Here,” he said, passing the bag over to Daniel, who looked taken aback. “I noticed yours were looking a little run down,” he continued as Daniel peered inside the bag, his eyes meeting his before he pulled out the little clippers. “You use those on your bonsais, right?”

 “Yeah,” Daniel said softly, looking down at the shears like he didn’t know what to make of them. “I – you – you got these for me?”

 Johnny huffed a laugh. “No, LaRusso, I stole them.”

 “When did you have the time?” He let the stealing line slide by uncontested.

 “The day after I helped you clean up your dojo,” Johnny supplied, grabbing his keys from the counter, leaving Daniel behind, staring down at the gift.

 ***

 He still couldn’t decide what to make of it when they pulled up at the beach, Johnny dozing lightly in the passenger seat. It had been a battle to convince him not to drive, won only because Daniel threw bungee cords at him and told him to shut up and just strap the surfboard to the roof already.

 The silence of the drive did nothing but allow Daniel the space and quiet to obsess over the little clippers currently sitting in his cup holder. He found his eyes straying to them more often than he’d ever admit. He still couldn’t figure out what they meant.

 When had Johnny even seen his old pair of shears, admittedly rusted and creaky from old age? And why had he taken it upon himself to buy Daniel a new pair? It was a thoughtful gift, sure, but did Johnny do thoughtful gifts?

 He had more questions than answers.

 Along with those questions, he had questions for himself to mirror them. Why had he decided to go by Johnny’s place on the night he was coming home? His condolences could have waited a night. He hadn’t spared a whole lot of time for thinking – Sam had wandered by, thrown out as an afterthought that Miguel mentioned Sensei Lawrence was coming back into town tonight, and then Daniel was up and grabbing his keys before he could examine why.

 Perhaps it was simple curiosity. Johnny had been Kreese’s lackey, his surrogate son, for as long as Daniel had known him. And then, that day at his dojo, he climbed out of the balance pond and faced his mentor, all steely gaze and clenched fists, and told him he wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

 Daniel hadn’t even been given the opportunity to say anything. He just stood there, dripping, eyes wide and mouth half open, while Johnny enumerated all of the reasons he realized Kreese had been behind the vandalism of Miyagi-do. He thought about that afternoon every day while Johnny was gone, first to make sure Kreese couldn’t endanger his students, and then gone to see and bury Tommy.

 He had questions he wanted to ask, thoughts he wanted to say out loud, but now wasn’t the time. There were more important things than Johnny’s allegiance, especially tonight.

 Johnny jerked awake when he put the car in park, his eyes dark in the shadow. Daniel just gave him a momentary smile and pushed the door open, content to let him wake up while he unhooked the surfboard.

 “You aren’t wearing swim trunks,” Johnny pointed out when he finally wrestled the surfboard down.

 “All clothes can get wet,” Daniel shrugged, toeing off his shoes and leaving them behind on the floor of his car.

 Johnny didn’t answer, and Daniel wondered if he was also thinking of their time in the balance pond. How Johnny had definitely leaned in for a kiss before they were interrupted. How Daniel had definitely not stopped him.

 “Who told you about Tommy?” Johnny asked on their walk toward the water, the ocean a gentle giant ahead of them, sparkling in the moonlight.

 “Bobby,” Daniel said, pulling his shirt off and leaving it behind on the sand. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Johnny doing the same. “Apparently you talked about me to him.”

 Johnny almost stumbled, a momentary loss of balance that a normal observer wouldn’t have caught, but Daniel carefully noted it and continued.

 “He wanted to warn me that if you came back trying to pick a fight, there was a reason.”

 “Bobby fucking Brown,” Johnny muttered under his breath, the comment almost lost by the sound of the waves. And then he stopped walking. “How does Bobby have your number?”

 Daniel shrugged, trying to read the expression on Johnny’s face from the side. “Maybe you gave it to him.”

 “No, I didn’t,” he said, so sure of himself that Daniel wanted to ask how he knew, why he was so confident that he wasn’t just handing out Daniel’s phone number to other people.

 Bobby had always been the most reasonable of Johnny’s friends, in Daniel’s opinion. He had watched him, from the relative protection of Miyagi’s side, try to defend Johnny the night he lost the All Valley; he had seen him go pale when Kreese shoved him away and tightened his hold around Johnny’s neck.

 “Do you talk to them?” Daniel asked as the water slipped over their feet, a cold and sharp reminder of their reality. “The Cobras?”

 Johnny scoffed at the name, the sound lost by the waves. “I should, shouldn’t I?” he asked, looking over. His eyes were painfully sad.

 “Their numbers are in your phone,” Daniel pointed out, the water rising up to his knees.

 Johnny put the surfboard down in the water and held it in place with one hand. “It’s not that simple, LaRusso.”

 And oh, did Daniel understand him. How many friends did he have that he regularly talked to? None, if he excluded family and his own employees. He had plenty of phone numbers in his contacts, plenty of people who were quick to catch up with him at the club, but were they friends? Would they miss him if he died? He understood that terrible loneliness, and how hard it was to crawl out from under it.

 “I suppose not,” he said, and he could see Johnny looking at him from the corner of his eye, searching for an explanation, a story to go along with his offhand comment. Daniel didn’t give him one.

 “Come on, LaRusso,” he said finally, patting the surfboard. “Up you go.”

 The water was just above waist height, the tide strong enough that it was constantly tilting Daniel off-balance. He heaved himself onto the surfboard as gracefully as possible, feeling at least marginally satisfied with himself when he didn’t immediately fall off.

 “Up you go,” he said, patting the surfboard in front of him. Johnny furrowed his brows, mouth twisting into an amused grimace. “Come on, Johnny, get on the surfboard.”

 “I thought I was teaching you how to surf.”

 “I lied,” Daniel shrugged. “Besides, you’re way too tired for that. Get on the damn surfboard, don’t be a baby.”

 Johnny eyed him curiously, long enough that Daniel almost took back his suggestion, almost abandoned the enterprise altogether. Maybe he had miscalculated – perhaps he had misunderstood Johnny in the balance pond two weeks ago. And then Johnny bit his lip and pulled himself onto the surfboard, hardly jostling Daniel at all, settling on the surfboard with his back to Daniel.

 “You could call them,” Daniel said to Johnny’s back, the sentence flowing out of his mouth with ease now that Johnny wasn’t looking at him. “Your friends.”

 “They all have lives, LaRusso,” Johnny muttered, his feet barely kicking. “Careers, wives, children –”

 “You could be a part of it –”

 Johnny scoffed, the movement driving his back into Daniel’s chest. “I can barely handle my own career, my own kid.”

 “You don’t have to handle your friends, Johnny.”

 “They’d have to handle me.”

 A wave jostled them and Daniel instinctively wrapped his arms around Johnny’s middle, trying to keep himself on the board. Johnny went still – all the way down to his feet – until the wave passed and the board mellowed out. He took his arms back, making sure to gently remove them, and considered Johnny’s statement.

 He didn’t say anything – Johnny didn’t give him the time.

 “Sometimes it feels like friendship doesn’t exist,” he said into the darkness, his head tilted just barely upward to look at the moon. “We’re just near each other – if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be friends.”

 Daniel couldn’t tell if he was talking about the Cobras or about Daniel himself.

 “I know,” he said.

 “Tommy was sick,” Johnny said, leaning back until he was pressed completely to Daniel’s chest. “I didn’t even know.”

 Daniel let his hands settle around Johnny’s middle, fingers threaded together to keep them together. “Sickness happens.”

 He remembered his father, vivacious and friendly one day, withdrawn and weak the next. The smell of the hospital that seemed to permeate all of his clothes, even down to his skin. The sad way his eyes would look when he turned his wistful gaze to the window near the end. Like he was waiting for it.

 “I could have –”

 Daniel held him tighter. “You were there when it mattered.”

 Johnny kicked one foot in the water listlessly. “Every day mattered, LaRusso.”

 Daniel didn’t say anything. He could feel the familiar ache that came with nostalgia, bittersweet and tender. It, along with the warmth of Johnny’s body pressed to his chest, the lulling of the waves, made him feel peculiarly dreamy.

 “How did Bobby get your number?” Johnny asked after a long bout of silence.

 Daniel closed his eyes and rested his forehead on Johnny’s shoulder. “Jealous?” he asked.

 Johnny exhaled a laugh, lost to the sound of the waves. “All the time,” he said.

 “You gave him my number when you were drunk,” Daniel murmured, pulling his head off of Johnny’s shoulder and pulling him farther back, comfortably lounging. “He told me himself.”

 “Why did he really call you?”

 Daniel looked down at him, blond head resting over his heart. “So I could be here when you got back.”

 Johnny shifted, his eyes just barely managing to catch Daniel’s before he looked out over the water again. “Did he tell you about the ocean?”

 Daniel furrowed his brows. “I don’t think so.”

 “How did you know I like being out here when I’m sad?” Johnny asked, turning to see Daniel more completely, his head now on Daniel’s bicep, the surfboard tilting with their weight just enough to make Daniel uncomfortable.

 He sighed. “Because I’m paying attention.”

 They stayed that way for a long time, in comfortable silence, long enough that Daniel felt the moment Johnny drifted off to sleep, head resting on his chest, close to his neck. He let him sleep for an hour or so, holding tightly to him, the wind sending him the smell of the ocean and Johnny’s shampoo, thinking of Bobby Brown and his father and all of the others.

 They drove home in peaceful silence.

[storyshark2005]

Fanart for @klovenhooves, “Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages”, Chapter 1: Quality Time - beach/surf aesthetic 

(I kind of suck at this sort of thing but there you go!) 

Read it, it’s so sweet!!

[silent-era-of-cinema]

Lupe Vélez (born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez; July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood films.

Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. Vélez then made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in several successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked after appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on Vélez's well-documented fiery personality.

Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, Vélez's personal life was as colorful as her screen persona. She had several highly publicized romances with Hollywood actors and a stormy marriage with Johnny Weissmuller. In December 1944, Vélez died of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.

Vélez was born in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and his wife Josefina Vélez, an opera singer according to some sources, or vaudeville singer according to others. She was one of five children; she had three sisters: Mercedes, Reina and Josefina and a brother, Emigdio. According to Vélez's second cousin, the Villalobos family were considered prominent in San Luis Potosí and most of the male family members were college educated. The family was also financially comfortable and lived in a large home.

At the age of 13, her parents sent her to study at Our Lady of the Lake (now Our Lady of the Lake University) in San Antonio, Texas. It was at Our Lady of the Lake that Vélez learned to speak English and began to dance. She later admitted that she liked dance class, but was otherwise a poor student.

Vélez began her career in Mexican revues in the early 1920s. She initially performed under her paternal surname (see Hispanic American naming customs) of Villalobos, but after her father returned home from the war (he did not die in combat as some sources state), he was outraged that his daughter had decided to become a stage performer. She chose her maternal surname Vélez as her stage name. Their mother introduced Vélez and her sister Josefina to the popular Spanish Mexican vedette María Conesa, "La Gatita Blanca". Vélez debuted in a show led by Conesa, where she sang "Oh Charley, My Boy" and danced the shimmy.[6] In 1924, Aurelio Campos, a young pianist and friend of the Vélez sisters, recommended Vélez to stage producers Carlos Ortega and Manuel Castro. Ortega and Castro were preparing a season revue at the Regis Theatre, and hired Vélez to join the company in March 1925. Later that year, Vélez starred in the revues Mexican Rataplan and ¡No lo tapes! (both parodies of the Bataclan's shows in Paris). Her suggestive singing and provocative dancing was a hit with audiences, and she soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. After a year and a half, Vélez left the revue after the manager refused to give her a raise. She then joined the Teatro Principal, but was fired after three months due to her "feisty attitude". Vélez was quickly hired by the Teatro Lirico, where her salary rose to 100 pesos a day.

Vélez, whose volatile and spirited personality and feuds with other performers were often covered by the Mexican press, also honed her ability for garnering publicity. Her most bitter rivals included the Mexican vedettes Celia Padilla, Celia Montalván, and Delia Magaña. Called La Niña Lupe because of her youth, Vélez soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. Among her admirers were notable Mexican poets and writers like José Gorostiza and Renato Leduc.

In 1926, Frank A. Woodyard, an American who had seen Vélez perform, recommended her to stage director Richard Bennett (the father of actresses Joan and Constance Bennett). Bennett was looking for an actress to portray a Mexican cantina singer in his upcoming play The Dove. He sent Vélez a telegram inviting her to Los Angeles to appear in the play. Vélez had been planning to go to Cuba to perform, but quickly changed her plans and traveled to Los Angeles. However, upon arrival, she discovered that she had been replaced by another actress.

While in Los Angeles, she met the comedian Fanny Brice. Brice was taken with Vélez and later said she had never met a more fascinating personality. She promoted Vélez's career as a dancer and recommended her to Flo Ziegfeld, who hired her to perform in New York City. While Vélez was preparing to leave Los Angeles, she received a call from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Harry Rapf, who offered her a screen test. Producer and director Hal Roach saw Vélez's screen test and hired her for a small role in the comic Laurel and Hardy short Sailors, Beware!.

After her debut in the short film Sailors, Beware!, Vélez appeared in the Hal Roach short, What Women Did for Me, opposite Charley Chase. Later that year, she did a screen test for the upcoming Douglas Fairbanks full length film The Gaucho. Fairbanks was impressed by Vélez and he quickly signed her to a contract. Upon its release in 1927, The Gaucho was a hit and critics were duly impressed with Vélez's ability to hold her own alongside Fairbanks, who was well known for his spirited acting and impressive stunts.

Vélez made her second major film, Stand and Deliver (1928), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. That same year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1929, Vélez appeared in Lady of the Pavements, directed by D. W. Griffith and Where East Is East, playing a young Chinese woman. In the western film Wolf Song directed by Victor Fleming, she appears alongside Gary Cooper. As she was regularly cast as "exotic" or "ethnic" women that were volatile and hot tempered, gossip columnists took to referring to Vélez as "Mexican Hurricane", "The Mexican Wildcat", "The Mexican Madcap", "Whoopee Lupe" and "The Hot Tamale".

By 1929, the film industry was transitioning from silents to sound films. Several stars of the era saw their careers abruptly end due to heavy accents or voices that recorded poorly. Studio executives predicted that Vélez's accent would likely hamper her ability to make the transition. That idea was dispelled after she appeared in her first all-talking picture in 1929, the Rin Tin Tin vehicle, Tiger Rose. The film was a hit and Vélez's sound career was established.

With the arrival of talkies, Vélez appeared in a series of Pre-Code films like Hell Harbor (directed by Henry King), The Storm (1930, directed by William Wyler), and the crime drama East Is West opposite Edward G. Robinson (1930). In 1931, she appeared in her second film for Cecil B. DeMille, Squaw Man, opposite Warner Baxter, and in Resurrection, directed by Edwin Carewe. In 1932, Vélez filmed The Cuban Love Song (1931), with the popular singer Lawrence Tibbett. That same year, she had a supporting role in Kongo (a sound remake of West of Zanzibar), with Walter Huston. She also starred in Spanish-language versions of some of her movies produced by the Universal Studios like Resurrección (1931, the Spanish version of Resurrection), and Hombres en mi vida (1932, the Spanish version of Men in Her Life). Vélez soon found her niche in comedy, playing beautiful, but volatile, characters.

In February 1932, Vélez took a break from her film career and traveled to New York City where she was signed by Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. to take over the role of "Conchita" in the musical revue Hot-Cha!. The show also starred Bert Lahr, Eleanor Powell and Buddy Rogers.

In 1933, Vélez appeared in the films The Half-Naked Truth with Lee Tracy and Hot Pepper, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. Later that year, she returned to Broadway where she starred opposite Jimmy Durante in the musical revue Strike Me Pink. In 1934, she filmed Palooka and Strictly Dynamite (both also with Durante). That same year, Vélez was cast as "Slim Girl" in Laughing Boy with Ramón Novarro. The film was quietly released and largely ignored. The few reviews it received panned the film, but praised Vélez's performance. She had more success with her brief appearance in the star packed film Hollywood Party, where she has a magnificent comic routine with Laurel and Hardy. Although Vélez was a popular actress, RKO Pictures did not renew her contract in 1934. Over the next few years, Vélez worked for various studios as a freelance actress; she also spent two years in England where she filmed The Morals of Marcus and Gypsy Melody (both 1936). She returned to Los Angeles the following year where she appeared in the final part of the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy High Flyers (1937).

Vélez last Broadway performance was in the 1938 musical You Never Know, by Cole Porter. The show received poor reviews from critics, but received a large amount of publicity due to the feud between Vélez and fellow cast member Libby Holman. Holman was also irritated by the attention Vélez garnered from the show with her impressions of several actresses including Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn and Shirley Temple. The feud came to a head during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut after Vélez punched Holman in between curtain calls and gave her a black eye. The feud effectively ended the show.

Upon her return to Mexico City in 1938 to star in her first Mexican film, Vélez was greeted by ten thousand fans. The film La Zandunga directed by Fernando de Fuentes, co-starring Mexican actor Arturo de Córdova, was a critical and financial success and Vélez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films. She instead returned to Los Angeles and went back to work for RKO Pictures.

In 1939, Vélez was cast opposite Leon Errol and Donald Woods in a B-comedy, The Girl from Mexico. Despite being a B film, it was a hit with audiences and RKO re-teamed her with Errol and Wood for a sequel, Mexican Spitfire. That film was also a success and led to a series of Spitfire films (eight in all). In the series, Vélez portrays "Carmelita Lindsay", a temperamental yet friendly Mexican singer married to Dennis "Denny" Lindsay (Woods), an elegant American gentleman.[26] The Spitfire films rejuvenated Vélez's career. Moreover, they were films in which a Latina headlined for eight movies straight –a true rarity.

In addition to the Spitfire series, she was cast in another musical and comedy features for RKO, Universal Pictures, and Columbia Pictures. Some of these films were Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (1941), Playmates (1941), opposite John Barrymore, and Redhead from Manhattan (1943). In 1943, the final film in the Spitfire series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event, was released. By that time, the novelty of the series had begun to wane.

Vélez co-starred with Eddie Albert in a 1943 romantic comedy, Ladies' Day, about an actress and a baseball player. In 1944, Vélez returned to Mexico to star in an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel Nana, which was well-received. It would be her final film. After filming wrapped, Vélez returned to Los Angeles and began preparing for another stage role in New York.

On the evening of December 13, 1944, Vélez dined with her two friends, the silent film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of December 14, Vélez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, found the actress's body on her bed later that morning. A suicide note addressed to Harald Ramond was found nearby. It read:

To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him. – Lupe.

On the back of the note, Vélez wrote:

How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time, you didn't want us? I see no other way out for me, so goodbye, and good luck to you, Love Lupe.[

The day after Vélez's death, Harald Ramond told the press that he was "so confused" by Vélez's suicide, and claimed that even though the two had broken up, he had agreed to marry Vélez.[33] He admitted that he once asked Vélez to sign an agreement stating that he was only marrying her to "give the baby a name", but claimed he only did so because he and Vélez had had a fight, and he was in a "terrible temper". Actress Estelle Taylor, who was with Vélez from 9:00 the previous night until 3:30 the morning Vélez died, told the press that Vélez had told her of her pregnancy, but said she would rather kill herself than have an abortion (Vélez was a devout Roman Catholic). Beulah Kinder, Vélez's secretary, later told investigators that after Vélez broke off the relationship with Ramond, she planned to go to Mexico to have her baby. Kinder said Vélez soon changed her mind after concluding that Ramond "faked" the relationship and considered having an abortion.

The day after Vélez's death, the Los Angeles County coroner requested that an inquest be opened to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death. On December 16, the coroner dropped the request, after determining that Vélez had written the notes, and that she had intended to kill herself. On December 22, a funeral for Vélez was held at the mortuary at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Among the pallbearers were Vélez's ex-husband, Johnny Weissmuller, and actor Gilbert Roland. After the service, Vélez's body was sent by train to Mexico City, where a second service was held on December 27. Her body was then interred at Panteón Civil de Dolores Cemetery.

Despite the coroner's ruling that Vélez committed suicide to avoid the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, some authors have theorized that this was not entirely true.

In the book From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture, Rosa-Linda Fregoso wrote that Vélez was known for her defiance of contemporary moral convention, and that it seems unlikely that she could not have reconciled having a child out of wedlock. Fregoso believes that in the final year of her life, Vélez exhibited signs of extreme mania and depression. Fregoso goes on to speculate that Vélez's death may have been the result of an untreated mental illness such as bipolar disorder.

Robert Slatzer (who later claimed to have been secretly married to Marilyn Monroe) claimed that a few weeks before Vélez's death, he interviewed her at her home and she confided in him that she was pregnant with Gary Cooper's child (by that time, Cooper was married to socialite Veronica "Rocky" Balfe). According to Slatzer, Vélez said that Cooper refused to acknowledge the child, believing that Harald Ramond was the father. After Vélez died, Slatzer said he asked Cooper about the situation and Cooper confirmed that it was possible he might have been the father. Slatzer further claimed that he also interviewed Clara Bow (who had also dated Cooper in the 1920s), who revealed that shortly before Vélez's death, Cooper called her and screamed that he was going to kill Harald Ramond for impregnating Vélez. Slazter claimed that Bow told him that she never believed Vélez's baby was fathered by Ramond, and that she was convinced that Vélez had attempted to get Ramond to marry her to protect Cooper's reputation. Biographer Michelle Vogel speculated that if Cooper was the father, his rejection of Vélez and their child coupled with the idea of having to raise a child alone may have sent Vélez "over the edge".

In the 2002 book Tarzan, My Father Johnny Weissmuller Jr recounted the events surrounding Vélez's death as a mystery caused by an attempt to "put a lid" on what happened. It states her housekeeper discovered her body and called Bo Roos, Vélez's business manager, who called his friend and Beverly Hills Police Chief Anderson to the scene. The book states after Vélez arranged to meet Ramond, decorated her room and dressed in a negligee, her ingestion of Seconal was either to calm her nerves to meet him or a failed dramatic gesture to scare him. The book also suggested the baby was fathered possibly by Cooper not Ramond.

Vélez's death was recounted in the 1959 book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger and has become urban legend. In his telling, Vélez planned to stage a beautiful suicide scene atop her satin bed, but the Seconal did not mix well with the "Mexi-Spice Last Supper" she had eaten earlier that evening. As a result, she became violently ill, stumbled to the bathroom to vomit, slipped on the bathroom floor tile and fell head first into the toilet, where she subsequently drowned. Anger claimed that Vélez's "chambermaid" Juanita found her the next morning. Despite the fact that his version of events contradicts published reports and the official ruling, his story is often repeated as fact or for comedic effect – it was recounted in the pilot episode of the television comedy series Frasier, and also referenced in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons. Vélez's biographer, Michelle Vogel, points out that it would have been "virtually impossible" for Vélez to have "stumbled to the bathroom" or even get off her bed after having consumed such a large amount of Seconal. Seconal, a barbiturate, is noted for being fast acting even in small doses and Vélez's death was likely instantaneous. Her death certificate lists "Seconal poisoning" due to "ingestion of Seconal" as the cause of death, not drowning. Further, there was also no evidence to suggest Vélez had vomited.

Throughout her career, Vélez's onscreen persona of a hot tempered, lusty "wild" woman was closely tied to her off screen personality. The press often referred to her by such names as "The Mexican Spitfire", "The Mexican It girl" and "The Mexican Kitten". Publicly promoted with the "Whoopee Lupe" persona that tried to define her, she dismissed the idea that she was uncontrollably wild. In an interview, she said:

What I attribute my success?, I think, simply, because I'm different. I'm not beautiful, but I have beautiful eyes and know exactly what to do with them. Although the public thinks that I'm a very wild girl. Actually I'm not. I'm just me, Lupe Vélez, simple and natural Lupe. If I'm happy, I dance and sing and acted like a child. And if something irritates me, I cry and sob. Someone called that 'personality'. The Personality is nothing more than behave with others as you really are. If I tried to look and act like Norma Talmadge, the great dramatic actress, or like Corinne Griffith, the aristocrat of the movies, or like Mary Pickford, the sweet and gentle Mary, I would be nothing more than an imitation. I just want to be myself: Lupe Vélez.

Vélez's off-screen behavior blurred the line between her onscreen persona and her real personality. After her death, journalist Bob Thomas recalled that Vélez was a "lively part of the Hollywood scene" who wore loud clothing and made as much noise as possible. She attended boxing matches every Friday night at the Hollywood Legion Stadium and would stand on her ringside seat and scream at the fighters.

Vélez's temper and jealousy in her often tempestuous romantic relationships were well documented and became tabloid fodder, often overshadowing her career. Vélez was straightforward with the press and was regularly contacted by gossip columnists for stories about her romantic exploits. One such incident included Vélez chasing her lover Gary Cooper around with a knife during an argument and cutting him severely enough to require stitches. After their breakup, Vélez attempted to shoot Cooper while he boarded a train. During her marriage to actor Johnny Weissmuller, stories of their frequent physical fights were regularly reported in the press. Vélez reportedly inflicted scratches, bruises, and love-bites on Weissmuller during their fights and "passionate love-making".

Vélez often targeted fellow actresses whom she deemed as rivals, professionally or otherwise, a habit which began back in her vaudeville days and continued in films. Vélez's image was that of a wild, highly sexualized woman who spoke her mind and was not considered a "lady", while fellow Mexican actress Dolores del Río projected herself as sensual, but classy and restrained, often hailing from aristocratic roots. Vélez hated del Río, and called her "bird of bad omen". Del Río was terrified to meet her in public places. When this happened, Vélez was scathing and aggressive. Vélez openly mimicked del Río, ironically making fun of her elegance. Vélez also disliked Marlene Dietrich whom she suspected of having an affair with Gary Cooper while filming Morocco in 1930. Her rivalries with Jetta Goudal, Lilyan Tashman and Libby Holman were also well documented. In retaliation, Vélez would perform scathing impersonations of the women she disliked at Hollywood parties. Also notable are her imitations of figures such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Fanny Brice, Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn, Simone Simon, and Shirley Temple.

Vélez was involved in several highly publicized and often stormy relationships. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she was linked to actors Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable. Her first long-term, high-profile relationship was with Gary Cooper. Vélez and Cooper met while filming 1929s Wolf Song and began a two-year relationship that was passionate and often stormy. When angered, Vélez was reported to have physically assaulted Cooper. Cooper eventually ended the relationship in mid-1931, at the behest of his mother Alice who after meeting her, strongly disapproved of Vélez.[51] With plans to marry him gone, she spoke to the press in 1931: "I turned Cooper down because his parents didn't want me to marry him and because the studio thought it would injure his career. Now its over, I'm glad I feel so free ... I must be free. I know men to well they are all the same, no? If you love them they want to be boss. I will never have a boss." The rocky relationship had taken its toll on Cooper, who had lost 45 pounds and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Paramount Pictures ordered him to take a vacation to recuperate and while he was boarding the train, Vélez showed up at the station and fired a pistol at him.

After her breakup with Cooper, Vélez began a short-lived relationship with actor John Gilbert. They began dating in late 1931, while Gilbert was separated from his third wife Ina Claire. Rumors of an engagement were fueled by the couple, but Gilbert ended the relationship in early 1932, and attempted to reconcile with Claire.

Shortly thereafter, Vélez met Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller while the two were in New York. They dated off and on when they returned to Los Angeles, while Vélez also dated actor Errol Flynn.[63] On October 8, 1933, Vélez and Weissmuller were married in Las Vegas. There were reports of domestic violence and public fights. In July 1934, after ten months of marriage, Vélez filed for divorce citing "cruelty". She withdrew the petition a week later after reconciling with Weissmuller. On January 3, 1935, she filed for divorce a second time and was granted an interlocutory decree. That decree was dismissed when the couple reconciled a month later. In August 1938, Vélez filed for divorce for a third time, again charging Weissmuller with cruelty. Their divorce was finalized in August 1939.

After the divorce became final, Vélez began dating polo player Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in late 1940. The couple were engaged, but never married. In late 1941, she became involved with author Erich Maria Remarque. Actress Luise Rainer recalled that Remarque told her "with the greatest of glee" that he found Vélez's volatility wonderful when he recounted to her an occasion where Vélez became so angry with him that she took her shoe off and hit him with it. After dating Remarque, Vélez was linked to boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey.

In 1943, Vélez began an affair with her La Zandunga co-star Arturo de Córdova. De Córdova had recently moved to Los Angeles after signing with Paramount. Despite the fact that de Córdova was married to Mexican actress Enna Arana with whom he had four children, Vélez granted an interview to gossip columnist Louella Parsons in September 1943 and announced that the two were engaged. She told Parsons that she planned to retire after marrying de Córdova to "cook ... and keep house". Vélez ended the engagement in early 1944, after de Córdova's wife refused to give him a divorce.

Vélez then met and began dating a struggling young Austrian actor named Harald Maresch, whose stage name was Harald Ramond. In September 1944, she discovered she was pregnant with Ramond's child. She announced their engagement in late November 1944. On December 10, four days before her death, Vélez announced she had ended the engagement and kicked Ramond out of her home.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Lupe Vélez has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.

Lupe Vélez has a sculpture in her honor located in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The sculpture was done by artist Emilio Borjas in 2017 and is located in the Garden of San Sebastian, the neighborhood where the actress was born.

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Lupe Vélez (born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez; July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood films.

Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. Vélez then made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in several successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked after appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on Vélez's well-documented fiery personality.

Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, Vélez's personal life was as colorful as her screen persona. She had several highly publicized romances with Hollywood actors and a stormy marriage with Johnny Weissmuller. In December 1944, Vélez died of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.

Vélez was born in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and his wife Josefina Vélez, an opera singer according to some sources, or vaudeville singer according to others. She was one of five children; she had three sisters: Mercedes, Reina and Josefina and a brother, Emigdio. According to Vélez's second cousin, the Villalobos family were considered prominent in San Luis Potosí and most of the male family members were college educated. The family was also financially comfortable and lived in a large home.

At the age of 13, her parents sent her to study at Our Lady of the Lake (now Our Lady of the Lake University) in San Antonio, Texas. It was at Our Lady of the Lake that Vélez learned to speak English and began to dance. She later admitted that she liked dance class, but was otherwise a poor student.

Vélez began her career in Mexican revues in the early 1920s. She initially performed under her paternal surname (see Hispanic American naming customs) of Villalobos, but after her father returned home from the war (he did not die in combat as some sources state), he was outraged that his daughter had decided to become a stage performer. She chose her maternal surname Vélez as her stage name. Their mother introduced Vélez and her sister Josefina to the popular Spanish Mexican vedette María Conesa, "La Gatita Blanca". Vélez debuted in a show led by Conesa, where she sang "Oh Charley, My Boy" and danced the shimmy.[6] In 1924, Aurelio Campos, a young pianist and friend of the Vélez sisters, recommended Vélez to stage producers Carlos Ortega and Manuel Castro. Ortega and Castro were preparing a season revue at the Regis Theatre, and hired Vélez to join the company in March 1925. Later that year, Vélez starred in the revues Mexican Rataplan and ¡No lo tapes! (both parodies of the Bataclan's shows in Paris). Her suggestive singing and provocative dancing was a hit with audiences, and she soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. After a year and a half, Vélez left the revue after the manager refused to give her a raise. She then joined the Teatro Principal, but was fired after three months due to her "feisty attitude". Vélez was quickly hired by the Teatro Lirico, where her salary rose to 100 pesos a day.

Vélez, whose volatile and spirited personality and feuds with other performers were often covered by the Mexican press, also honed her ability for garnering publicity. Her most bitter rivals included the Mexican vedettes Celia Padilla, Celia Montalván, and Delia Magaña. Called La Niña Lupe because of her youth, Vélez soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. Among her admirers were notable Mexican poets and writers like José Gorostiza and Renato Leduc.

In 1926, Frank A. Woodyard, an American who had seen Vélez perform, recommended her to stage director Richard Bennett (the father of actresses Joan and Constance Bennett). Bennett was looking for an actress to portray a Mexican cantina singer in his upcoming play The Dove. He sent Vélez a telegram inviting her to Los Angeles to appear in the play. Vélez had been planning to go to Cuba to perform, but quickly changed her plans and traveled to Los Angeles. However, upon arrival, she discovered that she had been replaced by another actress.

While in Los Angeles, she met the comedian Fanny Brice. Brice was taken with Vélez and later said she had never met a more fascinating personality. She promoted Vélez's career as a dancer and recommended her to Flo Ziegfeld, who hired her to perform in New York City. While Vélez was preparing to leave Los Angeles, she received a call from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Harry Rapf, who offered her a screen test. Producer and director Hal Roach saw Vélez's screen test and hired her for a small role in the comic Laurel and Hardy short Sailors, Beware!.

After her debut in the short film Sailors, Beware!, Vélez appeared in the Hal Roach short, What Women Did for Me, opposite Charley Chase. Later that year, she did a screen test for the upcoming Douglas Fairbanks full length film The Gaucho. Fairbanks was impressed by Vélez and he quickly signed her to a contract. Upon its release in 1927, The Gaucho was a hit and critics were duly impressed with Vélez's ability to hold her own alongside Fairbanks, who was well known for his spirited acting and impressive stunts.

Vélez made her second major film, Stand and Deliver (1928), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. That same year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1929, Vélez appeared in Lady of the Pavements, directed by D. W. Griffith and Where East Is East, playing a young Chinese woman. In the western film Wolf Song directed by Victor Fleming, she appears alongside Gary Cooper. As she was regularly cast as "exotic" or "ethnic" women that were volatile and hot tempered, gossip columnists took to referring to Vélez as "Mexican Hurricane", "The Mexican Wildcat", "The Mexican Madcap", "Whoopee Lupe" and "The Hot Tamale".

By 1929, the film industry was transitioning from silents to sound films. Several stars of the era saw their careers abruptly end due to heavy accents or voices that recorded poorly. Studio executives predicted that Vélez's accent would likely hamper her ability to make the transition. That idea was dispelled after she appeared in her first all-talking picture in 1929, the Rin Tin Tin vehicle, Tiger Rose. The film was a hit and Vélez's sound career was established.

With the arrival of talkies, Vélez appeared in a series of Pre-Code films like Hell Harbor (directed by Henry King), The Storm (1930, directed by William Wyler), and the crime drama East Is West opposite Edward G. Robinson (1930). In 1931, she appeared in her second film for Cecil B. DeMille, Squaw Man, opposite Warner Baxter, and in Resurrection, directed by Edwin Carewe. In 1932, Vélez filmed The Cuban Love Song (1931), with the popular singer Lawrence Tibbett. That same year, she had a supporting role in Kongo (a sound remake of West of Zanzibar), with Walter Huston. She also starred in Spanish-language versions of some of her movies produced by the Universal Studios like Resurrección (1931, the Spanish version of Resurrection), and Hombres en mi vida (1932, the Spanish version of Men in Her Life). Vélez soon found her niche in comedy, playing beautiful, but volatile, characters.

In February 1932, Vélez took a break from her film career and traveled to New York City where she was signed by Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. to take over the role of "Conchita" in the musical revue Hot-Cha!. The show also starred Bert Lahr, Eleanor Powell and Buddy Rogers.

In 1933, Vélez appeared in the films The Half-Naked Truth with Lee Tracy and Hot Pepper, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. Later that year, she returned to Broadway where she starred opposite Jimmy Durante in the musical revue Strike Me Pink. In 1934, she filmed Palooka and Strictly Dynamite (both also with Durante). That same year, Vélez was cast as "Slim Girl" in Laughing Boy with Ramón Novarro. The film was quietly released and largely ignored. The few reviews it received panned the film, but praised Vélez's performance. She had more success with her brief appearance in the star packed film Hollywood Party, where she has a magnificent comic routine with Laurel and Hardy. Although Vélez was a popular actress, RKO Pictures did not renew her contract in 1934. Over the next few years, Vélez worked for various studios as a freelance actress; she also spent two years in England where she filmed The Morals of Marcus and Gypsy Melody (both 1936). She returned to Los Angeles the following year where she appeared in the final part of the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy High Flyers (1937).

Vélez last Broadway performance was in the 1938 musical You Never Know, by Cole Porter. The show received poor reviews from critics, but received a large amount of publicity due to the feud between Vélez and fellow cast member Libby Holman. Holman was also irritated by the attention Vélez garnered from the show with her impressions of several actresses including Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn and Shirley Temple. The feud came to a head during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut after Vélez punched Holman in between curtain calls and gave her a black eye. The feud effectively ended the show.

Upon her return to Mexico City in 1938 to star in her first Mexican film, Vélez was greeted by ten thousand fans. The film La Zandunga directed by Fernando de Fuentes, co-starring Mexican actor Arturo de Córdova, was a critical and financial success and Vélez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films. She instead returned to Los Angeles and went back to work for RKO Pictures.

In 1939, Vélez was cast opposite Leon Errol and Donald Woods in a B-comedy, The Girl from Mexico. Despite being a B film, it was a hit with audiences and RKO re-teamed her with Errol and Wood for a sequel, Mexican Spitfire. That film was also a success and led to a series of Spitfire films (eight in all). In the series, Vélez portrays "Carmelita Lindsay", a temperamental yet friendly Mexican singer married to Dennis "Denny" Lindsay (Woods), an elegant American gentleman.[26] The Spitfire films rejuvenated Vélez's career. Moreover, they were films in which a Latina headlined for eight movies straight –a true rarity.

In addition to the Spitfire series, she was cast in another musical and comedy features for RKO, Universal Pictures, and Columbia Pictures. Some of these films were Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (1941), Playmates (1941), opposite John Barrymore, and Redhead from Manhattan (1943). In 1943, the final film in the Spitfire series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event, was released. By that time, the novelty of the series had begun to wane.

Vélez co-starred with Eddie Albert in a 1943 romantic comedy, Ladies' Day, about an actress and a baseball player. In 1944, Vélez returned to Mexico to star in an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel Nana, which was well-received. It would be her final film. After filming wrapped, Vélez returned to Los Angeles and began preparing for another stage role in New York.

On the evening of December 13, 1944, Vélez dined with her two friends, the silent film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of December 14, Vélez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, found the actress's body on her bed later that morning. A suicide note addressed to Harald Ramond was found nearby. It read:

To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him. – Lupe.

On the back of the note, Vélez wrote:

How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time, you didn't want us? I see no other way out for me, so goodbye, and good luck to you, Love Lupe.[

The day after Vélez's death, Harald Ramond told the press that he was "so confused" by Vélez's suicide, and claimed that even though the two had broken up, he had agreed to marry Vélez.[33] He admitted that he once asked Vélez to sign an agreement stating that he was only marrying her to "give the baby a name", but claimed he only did so because he and Vélez had had a fight, and he was in a "terrible temper". Actress Estelle Taylor, who was with Vélez from 9:00 the previous night until 3:30 the morning Vélez died, told the press that Vélez had told her of her pregnancy, but said she would rather kill herself than have an abortion (Vélez was a devout Roman Catholic). Beulah Kinder, Vélez's secretary, later told investigators that after Vélez broke off the relationship with Ramond, she planned to go to Mexico to have her baby. Kinder said Vélez soon changed her mind after concluding that Ramond "faked" the relationship and considered having an abortion.

The day after Vélez's death, the Los Angeles County coroner requested that an inquest be opened to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death. On December 16, the coroner dropped the request, after determining that Vélez had written the notes, and that she had intended to kill herself. On December 22, a funeral for Vélez was held at the mortuary at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Among the pallbearers were Vélez's ex-husband, Johnny Weissmuller, and actor Gilbert Roland. After the service, Vélez's body was sent by train to Mexico City, where a second service was held on December 27. Her body was then interred at Panteón Civil de Dolores Cemetery.

Despite the coroner's ruling that Vélez committed suicide to avoid the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, some authors have theorized that this was not entirely true.

In the book From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture, Rosa-Linda Fregoso wrote that Vélez was known for her defiance of contemporary moral convention, and that it seems unlikely that she could not have reconciled having a child out of wedlock. Fregoso believes that in the final year of her life, Vélez exhibited signs of extreme mania and depression. Fregoso goes on to speculate that Vélez's death may have been the result of an untreated mental illness such as bipolar disorder.

Robert Slatzer (who later claimed to have been secretly married to Marilyn Monroe) claimed that a few weeks before Vélez's death, he interviewed her at her home and she confided in him that she was pregnant with Gary Cooper's child (by that time, Cooper was married to socialite Veronica "Rocky" Balfe). According to Slatzer, Vélez said that Cooper refused to acknowledge the child, believing that Harald Ramond was the father. After Vélez died, Slatzer said he asked Cooper about the situation and Cooper confirmed that it was possible he might have been the father. Slatzer further claimed that he also interviewed Clara Bow (who had also dated Cooper in the 1920s), who revealed that shortly before Vélez's death, Cooper called her and screamed that he was going to kill Harald Ramond for impregnating Vélez. Slazter claimed that Bow told him that she never believed Vélez's baby was fathered by Ramond, and that she was convinced that Vélez had attempted to get Ramond to marry her to protect Cooper's reputation. Biographer Michelle Vogel speculated that if Cooper was the father, his rejection of Vélez and their child coupled with the idea of having to raise a child alone may have sent Vélez "over the edge".

In the 2002 book Tarzan, My Father Johnny Weissmuller Jr recounted the events surrounding Vélez's death as a mystery caused by an attempt to "put a lid" on what happened. It states her housekeeper discovered her body and called Bo Roos, Vélez's business manager, who called his friend and Beverly Hills Police Chief Anderson to the scene. The book states after Vélez arranged to meet Ramond, decorated her room and dressed in a negligee, her ingestion of Seconal was either to calm her nerves to meet him or a failed dramatic gesture to scare him. The book also suggested the baby was fathered possibly by Cooper not Ramond.

Vélez's death was recounted in the 1959 book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger and has become urban legend. In his telling, Vélez planned to stage a beautiful suicide scene atop her satin bed, but the Seconal did not mix well with the "Mexi-Spice Last Supper" she had eaten earlier that evening. As a result, she became violently ill, stumbled to the bathroom to vomit, slipped on the bathroom floor tile and fell head first into the toilet, where she subsequently drowned. Anger claimed that Vélez's "chambermaid" Juanita found her the next morning. Despite the fact that his version of events contradicts published reports and the official ruling, his story is often repeated as fact or for comedic effect – it was recounted in the pilot episode of the television comedy series Frasier, and also referenced in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons. Vélez's biographer, Michelle Vogel, points out that it would have been "virtually impossible" for Vélez to have "stumbled to the bathroom" or even get off her bed after having consumed such a large amount of Seconal. Seconal, a barbiturate, is noted for being fast acting even in small doses and Vélez's death was likely instantaneous. Her death certificate lists "Seconal poisoning" due to "ingestion of Seconal" as the cause of death, not drowning. Further, there was also no evidence to suggest Vélez had vomited.

Throughout her career, Vélez's onscreen persona of a hot tempered, lusty "wild" woman was closely tied to her off screen personality. The press often referred to her by such names as "The Mexican Spitfire", "The Mexican It girl" and "The Mexican Kitten". Publicly promoted with the "Whoopee Lupe" persona that tried to define her, she dismissed the idea that she was uncontrollably wild. In an interview, she said:

What I attribute my success?, I think, simply, because I'm different. I'm not beautiful, but I have beautiful eyes and know exactly what to do with them. Although the public thinks that I'm a very wild girl. Actually I'm not. I'm just me, Lupe Vélez, simple and natural Lupe. If I'm happy, I dance and sing and acted like a child. And if something irritates me, I cry and sob. Someone called that 'personality'. The Personality is nothing more than behave with others as you really are. If I tried to look and act like Norma Talmadge, the great dramatic actress, or like Corinne Griffith, the aristocrat of the movies, or like Mary Pickford, the sweet and gentle Mary, I would be nothing more than an imitation. I just want to be myself: Lupe Vélez.

Vélez's off-screen behavior blurred the line between her onscreen persona and her real personality. After her death, journalist Bob Thomas recalled that Vélez was a "lively part of the Hollywood scene" who wore loud clothing and made as much noise as possible. She attended boxing matches every Friday night at the Hollywood Legion Stadium and would stand on her ringside seat and scream at the fighters.

Vélez's temper and jealousy in her often tempestuous romantic relationships were well documented and became tabloid fodder, often overshadowing her career. Vélez was straightforward with the press and was regularly contacted by gossip columnists for stories about her romantic exploits. One such incident included Vélez chasing her lover Gary Cooper around with a knife during an argument and cutting him severely enough to require stitches. After their breakup, Vélez attempted to shoot Cooper while he boarded a train. During her marriage to actor Johnny Weissmuller, stories of their frequent physical fights were regularly reported in the press. Vélez reportedly inflicted scratches, bruises, and love-bites on Weissmuller during their fights and "passionate love-making".

Vélez often targeted fellow actresses whom she deemed as rivals, professionally or otherwise, a habit which began back in her vaudeville days and continued in films. Vélez's image was that of a wild, highly sexualized woman who spoke her mind and was not considered a "lady", while fellow Mexican actress Dolores del Río projected herself as sensual, but classy and restrained, often hailing from aristocratic roots. Vélez hated del Río, and called her "bird of bad omen". Del Río was terrified to meet her in public places. When this happened, Vélez was scathing and aggressive. Vélez openly mimicked del Río, ironically making fun of her elegance. Vélez also disliked Marlene Dietrich whom she suspected of having an affair with Gary Cooper while filming Morocco in 1930. Her rivalries with Jetta Goudal, Lilyan Tashman and Libby Holman were also well documented. In retaliation, Vélez would perform scathing impersonations of the women she disliked at Hollywood parties. Also notable are her imitations of figures such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Fanny Brice, Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn, Simone Simon, and Shirley Temple.

Vélez was involved in several highly publicized and often stormy relationships. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she was linked to actors Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable. Her first long-term, high-profile relationship was with Gary Cooper. Vélez and Cooper met while filming 1929s Wolf Song and began a two-year relationship that was passionate and often stormy. When angered, Vélez was reported to have physically assaulted Cooper. Cooper eventually ended the relationship in mid-1931, at the behest of his mother Alice who after meeting her, strongly disapproved of Vélez.[51] With plans to marry him gone, she spoke to the press in 1931: "I turned Cooper down because his parents didn't want me to marry him and because the studio thought it would injure his career. Now its over, I'm glad I feel so free ... I must be free. I know men to well they are all the same, no? If you love them they want to be boss. I will never have a boss." The rocky relationship had taken its toll on Cooper, who had lost 45 pounds and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Paramount Pictures ordered him to take a vacation to recuperate and while he was boarding the train, Vélez showed up at the station and fired a pistol at him.

After her breakup with Cooper, Vélez began a short-lived relationship with actor John Gilbert. They began dating in late 1931, while Gilbert was separated from his third wife Ina Claire. Rumors of an engagement were fueled by the couple, but Gilbert ended the relationship in early 1932, and attempted to reconcile with Claire.

Shortly thereafter, Vélez met Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller while the two were in New York. They dated off and on when they returned to Los Angeles, while Vélez also dated actor Errol Flynn.[63] On October 8, 1933, Vélez and Weissmuller were married in Las Vegas. There were reports of domestic violence and public fights. In July 1934, after ten months of marriage, Vélez filed for divorce citing "cruelty". She withdrew the petition a week later after reconciling with Weissmuller. On January 3, 1935, she filed for divorce a second time and was granted an interlocutory decree. That decree was dismissed when the couple reconciled a month later. In August 1938, Vélez filed for divorce for a third time, again charging Weissmuller with cruelty. Their divorce was finalized in August 1939.

After the divorce became final, Vélez began dating polo player Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in late 1940. The couple were engaged, but never married. In late 1941, she became involved with author Erich Maria Remarque. Actress Luise Rainer recalled that Remarque told her "with the greatest of glee" that he found Vélez's volatility wonderful when he recounted to her an occasion where Vélez became so angry with him that she took her shoe off and hit him with it. After dating Remarque, Vélez was linked to boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey.

In 1943, Vélez began an affair with her La Zandunga co-star Arturo de Córdova. De Córdova had recently moved to Los Angeles after signing with Paramount. Despite the fact that de Córdova was married to Mexican actress Enna Arana with whom he had four children, Vélez granted an interview to gossip columnist Louella Parsons in September 1943 and announced that the two were engaged. She told Parsons that she planned to retire after marrying de Córdova to "cook ... and keep house". Vélez ended the engagement in early 1944, after de Córdova's wife refused to give him a divorce.

Vélez then met and began dating a struggling young Austrian actor named Harald Maresch, whose stage name was Harald Ramond. In September 1944, she discovered she was pregnant with Ramond's child. She announced their engagement in late November 1944. On December 10, four days before her death, Vélez announced she had ended the engagement and kicked Ramond out of her home.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Lupe Vélez has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.

Lupe Vélez has a sculpture in her honor located in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The sculpture was done by artist Emilio Borjas in 2017 and is located in the Garden of San Sebastian, the neighborhood where the actress was born.

[lalka-laski]

If money was no object, would you change your wardrobe? No doubt about it. I actually have a keen eye for style & can coordinate outfits really well. I used to do it for houuuurs on Polyvore (is that still a site?). But alas, I don’t have the money to dress to my heart’s desire. 

How do you/did you get to school? From elementary school through high school, I rode the bus, Then in college, I walked.

Have you ever been in trouble for something you honestly didn’t do? I’m sure at some point. I grew up with two sisters so that’s bound to happen. 

Is the idea of having a secret admirer creepy or romantic? I’m more inclined to say it’s creepy however, Glenn actually was admiring me for years before I even knew who he was. But he never acted on that attraction so does that count as a secret admirer? 

What was the last song you sung out loud? One’s not coming to mind

Have you ever had to have a pet put down? UGH WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME THINK ABOUT THIS

Were you excited to learn to drive, or scared? I still haven’t learned because I’m too scared.

What was the last book you read? I’m in the middle of Daisy Jones & The Six right now and I’m completely hooked! Tons of people have recommended it to me & I’m beating myself up that it took me this long. 

Did you enjoy it, or were you glad to be finished? Oh I’m loving every minute of it. I even brought it with me to work today hoping I could sneak a few pages, maybe a few chapters in.

Do you ever wonder what other people are thinking when they stare at you? Those are the thoughts that constantly torture me. 

Have you ever gone out of your way to get someone’s attention? I was a teenage girl at one point. Let’s be real.

When was the last time you felt incredibly tired? Yesterday was BRUTAL. I only got 3-4 hours sleep tops and I am absolutely not the type of person who can function without rest. Last night I got a little more sleep but I’m hyped on caffeine so I hardly notice. 

What candy cane flavor is your favorite? I’ve never put much thought into it. The fruity ones like Starburst & Jolly Rancher are really good, I gotta admit.

In your opinion, who doesn’t deserve to be famous? A huge majority of Hollywood. Too many to list.

Do you get angry when fast food restaurants mess up your order? I get a little bummed but ONLY because it seems like *I* am the only person whose order gets messed up or forgotten. Even my sister has noticed that it seems to always happen to me. And I don’t have complicated orders by any means! So it bums me out but it doesn’t actually make me angry. And I would NEVER stage a complaint. I’d go hungry before I go Karen. 

Have you ever had a ridiculous hair cut? Yeah. After my last breakup I cut my hair collarbone length hoping I’d give off some Jennifer Lawrence vibes. I was not Jennifer Lawrence. I was fucking Lord Farquaad. 

What was your favorite elective class in high school? High school was too long ago for me to remember but my guess is it was some type of creative writing. 

Did you ever wish you could be homeschooled? Uh, no.  Was it hard for you to get up this morning? I moaned & groaned like usual but it surprisingly wasn’t as hard as most mornings. 

Have you ever had a dream so realistic you could’ve sworn it happened? Those terrify me. It’s extra unnerving because I have a hard time distinguishing between real and imagined memories as it is. 

When was the last time you colored with crayons or colored pencils? I did a lot of coloring at the beginning of quarantine. None since though. 

Can you remember the first survey you filled out? Oh God, no clue. It was back in the Myspace days, I know that much... 

Do you have any mental disorders? WHERE. DO. I. BEGIN. 

Do you feel comfortable talking about these disorders, if you have them? Well anyone who’s spent 15 seconds with me knows I have anxiety, so I can’t even hide that if I tried. And I’m pretty open about my other diagnoses if/when they come up in conversation.

Where did you go on your last field trip? I guess Senior Trip my senior year of high school? I don’t recall taking any field trips in college. 

Are you able to agree to disagree? Or do you have to have the last word? I don’t like confrontation so I try to shut things down as quickly as possible. I’m ok with someone having the last word. But that likely stems from my lack of confidence. I tend to second-guess myself in arguments, even if I’m well-versed on the topic at hand. 

Do you think you make a good first impression? I make great first, even second, impressions. I think it’s when people start to truly know me that things unravel. 

Do other people’s first impressions stick with you? OH YES. I should be more understanding and forgiving but if someone rubs me the wrong way right off the bat, I can’t shake it. Bad energy is bad energy! 

Are your friends who you thought they were when you first met? Not all of them. Some for the better, some for worse. 

How have you changed in the past year? If we examine where I was this day last year, I’ve made considerable progress with my mental and physical health. But that progress took a nosedive during quarantine. Ok, maybe not a nosedive. I’m still an improved version of myself from last year and I should celebrate that. 

How about in the past five years? 2020 Elizabeth is living 2015 Elizabeth’s wildest dreams!!!! I am leagues ahead of where I was then. 

What do you do when you feel like giving up on something? I hate to say it but I usually just give up. I’m not much of a fighter. 

Have you ever had to give up on someone? Many a time. 

Would you rather break up with someone, or them break up with you? Um well, my self-esteem is easily shattered enough as it is so I do NOT handle breakups well. But breaking someone’s heart is an equally awful feeling so

Is there a cover song you like better than the original version? Blackbird by David Gray. 

Do you think it’s okay to like a cover more than an original? Of course it is. It’s a commonly accepted opinion that Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” is better than the original. There are plenty other examples I’m sure but that came to mind first.

Do you still watch any cartoons? You mean from childhood? I honestly don’t but I should. That could be really soothing. 

Are you just too lazy to recycle? Guilty as charged

Think of the last person you talked to–do you love him/her? In person? No. Via text? Yes. 

Do you fit your zodiac sign? I’m a Cancer to a fault. 

What is one of your weak points? Hyper-sensitivity (see above^) 

What is one of your strong points? Empathy 

Are you calm in emergency situations? FAR FAR FROM IT. 

When was the last time you cursed at someone? As far as cursing directly AT somebody out of anger or something, I don’t remember. 

Are you afraid of losing someone you love? That’s my biggest fear

Who are you most attached to? Glenn

What do you depend on other people for? Providing a rational response to my irrational emotions, calming me down, soothing my anxiety. 

Are you good at reading other people’s body language? I don’t know actually? 

Do you like facial hair? How about chest hair? I love both. Glenn doesn’t believe that I’m attracted to his chest hair (actually, all his body hair) but I find it incredibly sexy. 

If you have a favorite number, how did you choose it? I don’t really have one. I guess either 7 or 13 because those are my birthdate numbers? 

What goes through your mind when someone breaks up with you? Well I have an inferiority complex so breakups just confirm all the pre-existing thoughts I have about myself. 

What goes through your mind when someone asks you out? This is gonna sound funny considering my previous response but my usual reaction to getting asked out is fear. Ever since the first time a boy asked me out, I found it more scary and nerve-wracking than flattering. 

Do you match your shoes with your outfit? Sort of? 

Do you style your hair daily? Hell nope

Who was the last person to compliment your appearance? What’d they say? Glenn called me pretty last night but I’m not sure that really counts because he’s my boyfriend and isn’t that his job? Is there any movie you just can’t stand to watch? Most movies. They’re just not my thing.

What do you think of pornography? Most porn I watch isn’t actual intercourse. But I love bondage so I like roleplay vids and stuff like that. 

What hair products do you use regularly? Daily I just use shampoo and conditioner, and then purple toning shampoo once-twice a week and hairspray on days I curl my hair. Lately I’ve been trying out a texturizing/volumizing spray but most of the time I forget ‘till it’s too late. 

Does it bother you when people use extremely bad grammar? Nah. Language skills vary wildly and are often informed by a person’s culture, family, or socioeconomic background. It’s classist & racist to judge a person’s intelligence or abilities on his/her grammar.  Do you have a hard time talking about sex with the opposite gender? Not at all. I might even be TOO comfortable with it. 

Do you feel more comfortable with a male or female doctor/nurse? Female, for sure. My pediatrician was a male & he was wonderful but I prefer only females for any type of medical situation now. Oh, except for my dentist. But that’s only because I think he’s hot :P

Have you ever had major surgery? Not really. I had my tonsils out when I was a kid but that’s pretty run-of-the-mill I think? 

Could you go a month without speaking? Uh maybe?

Is there any food you don’t like that a lot of others do? Well I don’t eat any type of meat or fish so, I guess that. 

Have you ever followed a trend? If so, what was it? Lots of them as a tween/teen. It’s par for the course at that age. 

Have you ever started a trend, even a small one? Likely not. I hold no sway anywhere lol

What was the last thing you bragged about? I’m not much of a bragger. At least I don’t think?

[klovenhooves]

Johnny Lawrence and the Five Love Languages Chapter One: Quality Time

Johnny couldn’t explain how it had come to this. It was bad enough that he was sitting here, on the edge of the parking lot outside of Cobra Kai, staring down into a can of Coca Cola, with Miguel on the other side, looking at him furtively out of his peripherals like Johnny couldn’t see him doing it. It was worse that they were currently discussing Johnny’s latest and possibly worst epiphany to date.

 “So you have a crush on your greatest rival, there have been tons of movies about that,” Miguel said bracingly, turning his gaze completely out to the parking lot.

 Johnny grimaced, his grip tightening on the can of soda. “I don’t have a crush, Diaz, shit, you make me sound like a high school girl.”

 “Oh, sorry, should I have said that you’re in love with –”

 “Not if you want to keep all of your teeth.”

 Miguel laughed in that nervous way he did when he was pretty sure Johnny was bluffing, but he didn’t want to push it. Johnny couldn’t bring himself to look over at the kid to read his face – he could feel that his face was warm, and as long as he kept looking out over the parking lot, he could claim it was a sunburn. People got sunburned in California, after all. It was a worthy excuse.

 After a long bout of silence, Miguel cleared his throat and tried again. “Have you considered telling him how you feel?”

 In fact, yes, Johnny had considered that, if only for a fraction of a second before he realized how stupid it was. What would Daniel say, anyway? He could map out the sequence of events with no trouble: Johnny would try to tell him the truth, and Daniel would laugh, not believe him, and get angry with him for trying to pull some sort of ill-conceived joke on him. Johnny would get embarrassed, and the conversation would end the way it had began – with them angry at each other.

 “That’s a stupid idea, Diaz.”

 Miguel sighed. “What’s stupid is trying to bottle up your feelings. What if he feels the same way?”

 Johnny almost laughed. “He doesn’t.”

 “You told me I should never take no for an answer,” Miguel pointed out.

 “That was when I thought you were talking about some random babe, not LaRusso’s kid,” Johnny mumbled. “It’s not the same.”

 “Why isn’t it the same?” Miguel asked, and Johnny could feel him turning his knees toward him, trying to face him completely.

 “You can pursue other random babes if one doesn’t like you,” Johnny said after fishing for the right words.

 Miguel scrunched up his face, trying to read between the lines. Johnny could practically see the gears in his head turning. “So…what you’re saying is ‘not taking no for an answer’ works with people you kind-of-sort-of like, because you won’t get your feelings hurt if they say no. And that same strategy won’t work with someone you love because their rejection will hurt more.”

 “That’s not what I’m saying –”

 “Have you tried maybe hinting that you like him?” Miguel interrupted. “See if he picks up on it?”

 Johnny tilted his head, finally catching Miguel’s concerned, serious gaze. “What do you mean?”

 “I mean, try being nice to him –”

 “That’s ridiculous –”

 “Okayyyyy,” Miguel said, trying to hide his smile behind his hand. “Have you heard of the five love languages?”

 Johnny squinted. “There are more than five sex positions, young grasshopper.”

 “No, I –” Miguel groaned, burying his face in his hands for a moment before trying again. “No, it’s – it’s this thing about how people show their love and receive love differently. Sam showed it to me, we took this test –”

 “Your girlfriend made you take a test?”

 “It tells you how you most like to receive affection,” Miguel’s face was darkening to pink now at the mention of his girlfriend, but Johnny was trying to ignore it. “There’s uhhhh, quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, and receiving gifts.”

 Johnny took a long sip of his now lukewarm soda. “How do you know which one you are?”

 Miguel shrugged. “You could take the test.”

 “I’m not a nerd.”

 “It doesn’t really matter anyway,” Miguel brushed him off. “What matters is what Mr. LaRusso is.”

 “How do I get him to take the test?” Johnny asked. “Show up at his house, put on a disguise, tell him I’m taking surveys?”

 “What? No, Sensei, this isn’t Looney Tunes,” Miguel laughed. “Just…try some of them out. See how he responds.”

 “So just…” Johnny grimaced. “Give him a gift?”

 “Yeah,” Miguel said. “Or try spending some time with him, or do something for him, stuff like that.”

 “I don’t know, Diaz…”

 Miguel turned away and looked out over the parking lot again. “Or you could just pine after your karate rival until you’re old and gray and life has passed you by.”

 “What the hell kind of Lifetime movie crap is that LaRusso girl making you watch?”

 ***

 Johnny, true to his word, refused to take the love language test. He didn’t have to take the test to know what he liked – he just needed to know how to get it. So, against his better judgment, he found himself writing down the love languages on an old gas station receipt in his apartment and trying to figure out which one to try on LaRusso first.

 He still hadn’t settled on which one when his phone vibrated on the kitchen counter, startling him out of his reverie.

 It was a text from Robby: “Meet at the beach on Saturday? Surfing?”

 He smiled down at the text. He was still struggling with finding ways to connect to his son, but sometimes, things just worked out.

 “Let’s make a day of it,” he texted back. “Bring LaRusso and his kid.”

 “You mean his kids?”

 “Sure, yeah, why not?”

 In record time, his phone was skittering across the countertop, the phone number on the display unknown. Johnny scooped it up and answered.

 “Yeah?”

 “What the hell are you planning, Johnny? A replay of our first fight on the beach?” Johnny almost grinned at the sound of LaRusso’s voice. He should have known he would be paranoid.

 “Paranoid, LaRusso?” he asked, and Daniel huffed over the line. “Just trying to be a good example for my kid, you know, like you told me I should be?”

 Daniel didn’t say anything.

 “Would it make you feel better if I called it a truce?” Johnny asked, a pit opening up in his stomach the longer Daniel was silent. Did he really believe Johnny was incapable of putting aside their rivalry for his son?

 “What time?”

 Triumph overshadowed the pit in his stomach. “Ten. Bring your surfboard.”

 “My wha –”

 ***

 LaRusso didn’t have a surfboard. That didn’t surprise Johnny – there was no way that he learned to surf in his time in California. He was too busy stealing guy’s girls on the beach and spending time with Mr. Miyagi. Still, he showed up, his two kids in tow, Robby lingering by the Volvo, unhooking his surfboard from the top rack.

 “You actually brought a surfboard,” Daniel remarked, his eyes traveling down Johnny’s short wetsuit. “Like, an actual surfboard.”

 “Some of us are actually from California, LaRusso,” Johnny replied, trying not to check out Daniel’s orange (peach? Pink?) swim trunks. “Want to learn?”

 “Do I have to wear a wetsuit?” Daniel asked, and Johnny could see him squinting behind his sunglasses.

 “You can borrow mine,” Johnny quipped, picking up the surfboard and turning toward the ocean, away from Daniel’s appraising gaze. “Unless you’re scared.”

 “Shut up and get in the water.”

 As if on cue, Robby whooshed past them both toward the water, surfboard under his hand. “Race you!” he shouted back to Johnny, who gave Daniel a proud look.

 “I’ll be right back,” he said, taking off toward the water, Robby with a clear head start. Daniel watched him go, brow furrowed, mind struggling to process this borderline-friendly Johnny Lawrence.

 He sat on his towel next to Sam while they surfed, pros in his eyes, since he didn’t really know what good surfing looked like, Robby completely at home, his smile so bright Daniel could see it from where he was sitting, Johnny as at ease on a surfboard as he was in a dojo.

 “Did you know Robby could surf?” Sam asked, looking over at her father from behind her sunglasses.

 “Nope.”

 “I wonder if he’ll teach me,” Anthony said from Sam’s other side, completely hidden underneath their huge beach umbrella, his eyes still trained on his Nintendo Switch.

 “Oh, you don’t want to learn karate but you’ll learn how to surf?” Daniel asked, halfway between irritated and amused.

 “The ocean isn’t going to kick me in the nuts, Dad.”

 “Gross,” Sam grumbled, turning a page in her book.

 Daniel let them bicker, content to watch Johnny and his son surf. There was something peaceful about it, watching a fractured family come together in those small moments, like when Johnny offered Robby a hand back onto his surfboard when he fell off, or when they high-fived for seemingly no reason at all. He was reminded of Miyagi telling him about plants in his garden that simply bloom later than others.

 “Doesn’t make them wrong, Daniel-san,” Miyagi had said, refilling his water can. “Just different.”

 “LaRusso,” Johnny’s voice shook him out of his memory, and suddenly he was standing in front of him, dripping wet, wetsuit far too tight for Daniel’s own comfort level, sticking to abs that Johnny had no right having, not with the amount of beer he consumed on a daily basis. “Come on, your turn.”

 “I – I don’t know, Johnny –”

 “I’m not going to throw you to the sharks, LaRusso, trust me.”

 There was something plaintive in the way he said “trust me,” that brought Daniel up short. They didn’t say things like that to each other; they didn’t say much to each other that wasn’t an insult. And yet, here they were, Johnny with an outstretched hand, water dripping down his tanned body, looking every bit a 90210 character, his eyes somehow still soft and a little bit uncertain.

 “Fine,” Daniel grumbled, allowing Johnny to pull him to his feet. “But no laughing.”

 “I promise nothing,” Johnny grinned, and it was a genuine, giddy smile, one that Daniel wasn’t sure he’d ever seen on Johnny’s face before. It was almost childlike, sunny in its intensity.

 It made him smile too.

 ***

 Apparently Anthony really did want to learn to surf, and Daniel found himself in the water beside his son, Johnny and Robby their respective teachers. Johnny had, so far, only taught Daniel how to straddle the surfboard so that he wouldn’t fall off, and was currently at the head of the surfboard, standing in the chest deep water, watching Anthony try to do the same thing.

 “You have to find your balance,” Robby was saying exasperatedly, but he was clearly trying to suppress his own smile. “You can’t just expect it to find you.”

 “It’s just sitting!” Anthony complained, shoving his wet hair out of his eyes. “How hard could it be?”

 Johnny huffed a laugh and turned back to Daniel. “I’m going to let go of the board, LaRusso, think you can stay on?”

 “I’ve used pool floaties before, Johnny,” Daniel retorted, and Johnny smirked knowingly. Well, that made him nervous.

 “Okay, genius, here you go,” he said, releasing the board just as a wave gently rocked it, and Daniel had to lurch forward to grab the edges to keep from slipping right off.

 “Tighten your legs, LaRusso,” Johnny said nonchalantly, and Daniel felt his face go hot.

 “I don’t – I – what?”

 Johnny’s hands gripped the surfboard again. He caught Daniel’s gaze and released it to take in the deep blush that had spread over his face and all the way to his ears. “I said, tighten your legs so you don’t fall off.” He peeled his eyes away from Daniel to find another wave coming. “Try it again.”

“No, Johnny don’t –” But his hands were already leaving the board, and the wave jostled the board sharply, this wave bigger than the one before. Daniel tightened his legs, the same way his weird cousin told him to do when he rode a horse on an ill-fated business retreat, and closed his eyes, waiting to slip off the board and into the water.

 And then the board mellowed out, and Daniel was still on it.

 He opened his eyes to find Johnny beaming up at him, eyes the same color as the ocean beneath him, water running down his face like it was trying to trace his skin in gold.

 “Good job, LaRusso,” he said, and Daniel could faintly hear the sound of Anthony spluttering in the distance. “Now let’s try it on your knees.”

 “On my what?”

 ***

 By the time the sun went down, Daniel had learned how to stand up on a surfboard, much to Johnny’s very infectious glee. He couldn’t actually surf on it yet, the standing was hard enough, but he still felt immensely accomplished. He imagined part of that had to do with Johnny’s proud smile.

 He understood, in those little in-between moments, when Johnny would tell him how to keep his balance, when he would cheer in the wake of Daniel’s very simple success, why he was such a good sensei. His enthusiasm was catching, and there was a childlike enjoyment that made the day feel more momentous, the whole thing felt very special.

 Sunset found them leaning against Johnny’s car, a beer in their hands, the salt drying on their skin.

 “This was fun,” Daniel said into the comfortable silence.

 Johnny, beside him, jerked his head around to look at him. He looked thrilled, like Daniel had given him much better news than he enjoyed himself. That was curious.

 “Really?” he asked, looking so much like a puppy that Daniel didn’t mind reassuring him.

 “Yeah, really,” he insisted. “I don’t think I’m a very good surfer –”

 “Everything takes practice, LaRusso,” Johnny interrupted smoothly, taking a sip of his beer. He was still smiling.

 “Then why don’t you teach me again next weekend?” Daniel asked.

 Johnny blinked. “You mean – you want to do this again?”

 Daniel shrugged. “I mean…if you want to.”

 “Yes,” Johnny said, a little too quickly. “I mean, yeah, I guess, if you want.”

 “Good,” Daniel smiled, turning back to the ocean, trying not to notice Johnny’s eyes on him. “Next weekend then.”