White Wolf Fan Fiction Presents:

~Zero's Fanfiction~

A Fandom Collection

Title: Protector

Pairing(s): Cheng/Dre and mentions of Mei Ying and Harry

Fandom(s): The Karate Kid

Words: 1,293

Rating: T

Warnings: Mild-violence, Yaoi, hurt/comfort, and fluff.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

Summary: Cheng goes for a walk and stumbles upon something he'd never thought he'd see and he really doesn't like it. Not one bit.

-0-

Cheng sighed as he walked down the calm and quiet streets of the city. It was a slow day and he had nothing to do, since apparently his friends were out doing something else and school was cancelled for the day; he didn't have any homework either. He didn't have training to do and Mei Ying was out with her own friends and her boyfriend, Harry.

The one thing he was bummed about more than anything else was that he hadn't been able to spend time with Dre, his newest friend and his current crush. It'd been three days since he'd seen him, that was had been when he left Dre's house, after spending time studying for a test and goofing off the majority of the time.

Cheng had small doubts that Dre had been avoiding him, but that was impossible… right? At least, he thought it was since he hadn't done anything wrong lately that would signify that kind of response.

"H-hey!" Cheng perked up when he heard the familiar voice of his friend, Dre, though it was concerning since it was more of a frightened squeak than his usual confident drawl.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Dre~" Cheng also recognized the voice of his friend, and ex-sidekick. "What a nice little surprise." Cheng rounded the corner and he could hear multiple snickers near-by. It meant that all of his friends were currently present, and something was very terribly wrong.

"G-go away! I've done nothing wrong!" Dre hissed and Cheng frowned, nearing a small gap in the fence and he looked through it, seeing his friends surrounding Dre, who looked like a frightened rabbit ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

"We know," snickers were heard once more, "we just wanted to make sure you'd keep your little promise." Cheng saw Dre flinch and anger flared through him when he saw tears well up in those beautiful brown eyes.

"I-I have." He spit out, clutching tightly to the strap of his bag. "I've stayed away from… from Cheng… I p-promised I would."

"Good, because you know what would happen if you didn't." Cheng couldn't see his friends faces but he could clearly see Dre's and what he saw, he didn't like.

Cheng finally made the decision and interrupt and pulled open the near-by gate, growling low in his throat. "Zhè dàodǐ shì nǐmen gànshénme!" He demanded and all his friends whirled around to see him, even Dre's eyes widen with shock, surprise and, strangely enough, delight and relief.

"Cheng! Wǒmen zhǐshì è..."

"Save the bullshit." Cheng sneered, switching back to the strange English that Dre had gotten him to use more often than not, and stalked towards his friends. "What are you doing with Dre?"

"Cheng…" Dre breathed out, frowning just a little now, and he tried to puff out his chest, "I can handle this myself."

"Dre," he growled in warning and the younger teen shrunk back, though he still looked a little put off. "Answer me." He turned the growl to his friends, who clearly looked like they knew they were in trouble.

"Cheng, we were just having a little fun with little Dre," his friend spoke, chuckling nervously, "weren't we guys?" They all nodded in agreement and before he could turn to Dre to ask the same thing, Cheng got into his face.

"Oh? And here it sounded to me like you were threatening him." He spoke calmly and he could see the panic on their faces. "You listen to me and listen closely because I'm not telling you again. Nǐ yuǎnlí gāngmén zhǐ zhěn." He pushed him back before turning and he grabbed Dre's arm, pulling him along, ignoring the squeak and the protested 'hey!'.

When they were finally long away from the others, Dre managed to wrench to a stop, pulling his arm from Cheng's grip. "What the hell, dude!?" He hissed, sounding almost hurt now and just a bit mad.

Cheng slowed to a stop, his emotions calming a bit from the terse walk and he let out a harsh sigh as he ran a hand over his face and through his hair before he whipped around, arms crossed as he glared at Dre. "I could ask the same thing, Dre." He growled out and Dre stiffened, puffing out a scoff. "When were you going to tell me they were beating on you!?" He demanded, throwing out his arm and pointing in the direction they came from.

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, I wasn't exactly around the last few days to tell you! And what the hell is with the attitude! You act like I can't take care of myself. If you forget, I beat you in the tournament!" Dre snapped back and Cheng flinched, reminding him of his still healing ego and pride. But he was quickly back into the game and he was even more pissed.

"Clearly I was seeing a different image. Damn it, Dre! Do you have any idea what they could've done like that!? What did you think, that you would just ask them to fight you one on one and you'd get away? No, they'd have all gone at you at the same time, leaving no questions asked and you would not have walked away in one piece."

"I knew what I was doing, Cheng." Dre hissed, standing up straight and Cheng froze, seeing the tears welling up.

But still he had to ask, "Then please, enlighten me... what were you doing?" Cheng said, stepping forward, grabbing at Dre's arm and the younger male didn't even try to struggle out of the impossibly tight grip as he just looked at the ground before closing his eyes.

"I was protecting you." He said, voice quiet and Cheng gaped at him.

"W-what...?" He frowned, looking down at the other.

"They told me... if I didn't stay away from you they'd hurt us both... I couldn't risk that. So... I stayed away, to protect you." Dre deflated and Cheng sighed, moving his free hand up to tilt Dre's chin up, forcing him to meet his steady gaze.

"You're an idiot, Dre." He said fondly and Dre frowned, his gaze narrowing in slight anger and confusion.

"What are you-mmf!?" His eyes widen when Cheng leaned down and kissed him, effectively cutting him off.

When Cheng pulled away, Dre was dazed and too confused and hopeful to even speak. "I would rather see you safe and sound with me than not see you at all and constantly worry for you." He sighed and stepped away, hoping he didn't just royally fuck everything up. When silence met his ears, he frowned and turned away. "I'm sorry..."

"Cheng, w-wait!" Dre suddenly shouted as he started to walk away and he turned just in time to see Dre stumble over his own feet. He moved quickly to catch the other before he fell and he almost smirked when he saw the bright flush that spread across Dre's cheeks in embarrassment. His breath caught though when Dre looked up and he noticed then that their faces were mere inches apart and he saw Dre gulp, his blush darkening.

"Dre..." Dre quickly shook his head and righted himself, gripping tightly to Cheng's arms and Cheng stopped talking, whatever he was going to say flying from his mind as Dre leaned up and kissed him, the kiss barely just a peck on the lips.

"T-thank you..." Dre said and Cheng chuckled and wrapped his arms tighter around Dre as he kissed him again, this time not letting go.

Whether Dre was thanking him for what he said or for saving him, or for even just being there, neither cared and they were content to keep it that way.

Fifteenth one in the collection~ Next one is for A Knight's Tale and will be posted tomorrow.

~The White Wolf, Zero