Robby "major sensei issues" Keene (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strongroots) wrote2023-07-11 06:52 pm
strongroots) wrote2023-07-11 06:52 pmEntry tags:
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strongroots) wrote2023-07-11 06:52 pm
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Because look who's coming with him when he stands up? And look at the face Robby makes when he sees you getting up, Daniel. Because that's a face of a boy who isn't very pleased to see their drunken companion getting out of bed, considering the empty bottle he had been accompanied by at the grave. Call it being a learned form of worry warting over drunken adults, but he figures he won't complain right away.
He'll let him get up to have a drink with his painkillers, have a bite to eat, and Robby can shove him back to bed if he needs to.
First things first: the door.
...which is an entirely undramatic affair when the handle is tried, and--what the fuck, it dares to open? What the fuck. And yes, Robby is internally pissed about that, because do you know how long he was sitting around inside that room because it wouldn't open?
--whatever. Whatever, we're not getting stuck on the door.
He's going to suck on the inside of the cheek and have Thoughts about it instead, curse it a little more, seeing as he can't move with Mister LaRusso stopping and typing. That would be rude. ]
You should've stayed in bed.
[ ...that callout isn't rude, though. It's just The Truth. But alright, alright: ] I'm fine. [ ...well. ] As fine as anyone here can be.
[ Which can only lead Robby to that question that was bugging him before, a small frown coming onto his face. He nods at Mister LaRusso. ]
Did someone here do that to you?
[ Your face. He's talking about your face. ]
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He can always do that later. He just-- He wants to spend a few more moments with Robby first. It feels too important to immediately go sleep again, no matter how much his head is pounding right now. It's hopefully nothing some hydratation and pills won't fix.
(A-And maybe a nap, but-- later, okay? Let a sensei have a moment with the boy he missed so much.)
Even if said boy is asking him one of the hardest possible questions. Daniel has had to open up a touch about what happened to the doctors here, since they needed to know what was wrong with him, but he's been so careful to keep any details about what happened hidden, not wanting to think or talk about them.
But he doesn't want to let Robby hanging either.
It makes Daniel suck in a deep breath, pushing his shoulder off the wall to instead support himself with one hand leaning against it, so he can start to move a little. Thankfully all the apartments are similar enough that he's got a good idea of where the kitchen is.
He is answering Robby though. Not verbally - or, you know, through the phone - but instead with a shake of his head.
He can't directly look at the boy as he shakes his head either. ]
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Granted, Robby doesn't exactly know what the answer tells, once it's given; a shake of the head that only comes once Mister LaRusso's walked through the door and made his way towards a kitchen (a pair of cups on the sink side turned over and washed out, a loaf of bread pushed by the wall, a very ordinary picture of a kitchen).
Shame, maybe. That's what Robby comes to, when he's met with a silence and nothing else, not even Mister LaRusso looking back at him.
He doesn't know what to immediately do with that, but with the man in the kitchen space and probably looking for that drink-- ] You get some water, I'll go get the painkillers.
[ Robby doesn't have time to exactly fold over this information, which is fairly apparent once he does. It was there, obviously: that if Mister LaRusso wasn't attacked in the city, then he was attacked back home. By who? Not a friend--Mister LaRusso would have waved a hand and been easier about saying no, right? Unless Robby's misinterpreted his current mood into something it's not.
He grabs the painkillers from the cupboard, opening up the packet while making his way back into the kitchen. Daniel's likely gotten his drink of water by now, right? And though it's not necessary, Robby's popped a couple-- no, three pills for the man.
You can't avoid looking at Robby if you want them, Daniel. A face that looks curious, but hesitant to ask the obvious follow-up.
What's been going on with you? ]
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Let alone a teenager that's invested in your wellbeing.
(A concept that may not have entirely been processed by Daniel's brain just yet, even though Robby took all the trouble of dragging him back to the apartment after finding him out there drunk in the first place.)
So Daniel stands there, glass of water in hand, moving to take the pills from Robby..
.. and then coming across that expression.
It says something about the boy's power over Daniel that it makes the man freeze up for a moment, just staring at those eyes. They've done so much to him in the past already. Given him hope during the early days of the dojo, shot bullets through his heart after Robby joined Cobra Kai - and now they still have that same power, rendering Daniel fully unable to shrug off the question in those eyes, even if he'd want to.
He ducks his head, popping the pills into his mouth one by one before washing them down with water. Swallowing them, chasing it with another mouthful of water, breathing in and out.
Daniel puts the glass back onto the counter, then takes a step back so he can lean his body against said counter as well, still unsteady on his feet. But he does take the phone back out of the pocket he dropped it into, answering rather than avoiding. ]
I tried to stop Cobra Kai.
[ He ponders leaving it at that. It's not like it isn't the full answer when it comes down to it, like the implications in that statement don't do a whole lot of work for him.
Daniel looks back at Robby, Daniel's own gaze slightly faltering, and decides he has to go on, at least a little bit. ]
I shut down the dojo so I could work on that with a friend I invited over from Okinawa. We wanted to stop Cobra Kai's expansion by exposing Silver for who he really is.
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Because trying to stop Cobra Kai can mean a lot of things, a direct confrontation--with Silver, Robby suspects. He almost asks, but he sees fingers moving and decides to wait.
Instead, he looks slightly confused, but more concerned, even when his assumption appears to have been in the right direction. ]
So...what did you do? Confront him directly?
[ Get his face smashed in for it? ]
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The answer to the question is a rather small shake of Daniel's head. Then some hesitation - (how much should he share with Robby, how much does he even want to say here?), then more typing. ]
Silver caught on to what I was doing. He cornered me and took me by surprise when I was alone. I tried fighting back, but he was too strong.
[ It's leaving out a lot. Mostly the emotional component of it all, the fact that Silver had already pretty much broken his spirit before the fight even happened.
But that feels like too much to share. He doesn't want the heavy burden on his own shoulders to become Robby's - especially not if they're going to be stuck here in this city. He wants to protect the boy from the nastiness of everything back home, even this far away from it.
So Daniel doesn't write more than that. Instead his gaze moves up, looking over at the boy, giving him a little apologetic gaze - even though it's hard to tell what the apology is for. Maybe for being in this state in the first place, when Daniel definitely wants to present other, better sides of himself to a boy who means so much to him.
Especially right after reuniting again after so long. ]
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(He can be a good liar to himself.)
His mouth tugs as he stands with the information, not sure what exactly he feels, other than...bad. What is there to say? Does he ask what exactly Mister LaRusso and his friend was doing? When the details don't seem....particularly important, other than the goal. Going up against a man like Silver.
Mister LaRusso was wealthy, but Silver was millionaire wealthy. ]
...My dad took the bet seriously. I figured you did too.
[ There's no judgment in that remark; only, an acknowledgement that Robby knows who's been missing in this takedown of Cobra Kai, when Mister LaRusso and his dad seemed to have been working together against them. His dad never talked deeply his feelings, and Robby doesn't know what he really thought about it--he just seemed to want to put it all behind him, focus on their relationship, and his life with Miss Diaz (...and Miguel).
He's quiet, but then asks, ] Did you and him talk about it?
[ Going up against Cobra Kai together? ]
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.. especially with what Johnny said. With Johnny's own feelings on the matter.
Daniel's gaze dips in a way that - at least partially - already answers the question before he actually tries to answer it. He stares at the kitchen floor for a moment, but then at the phone when he starts typing again. ]
Your father told me it was none of his business anymore after he got you out of Cobra Kai. He said we should leave it alone.
[ Looking back on the conversation isn't great for a myriad of reasons - certainly not least of which is Daniel feeling kind of ashamed of his own behaviour back there.
But something about the way Johnny seemed so uncaring about the influence it was still having on other kids still doesn't seem right with him, even when he disregards the stuff the other probably just said because Daniel came across like a raving lunatic. He might not always give the man leeway for his general Johnny-ness, but Daniel does realise he had a big hand himself in how that conversation went.
.. and look where it got him. Getting his ass kicked all by himself, then disappeared off to another city. Daniel wonders if anyone would've even found him there, were he not here instead now. ]
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What more could they actually do about Cobra Kai? How do you stop a business from running, that provided nothing but wins in tournaments? ]
Everything just...it felt like a lot back then. The tournaments, the drama in-between; I don't know how it was for you two, [ when they were working together, or even in the time he was in juvie, ] but with me and everything going on with the Diazs, nothing ever feeling like it was getting better...
[ But Robby can't finish that. How can he, when he's saying all this to Mister LaRusso--who continued to try and fight, got his ass kicked for it? Trying to explain his dad, a man he's still learning, trying to know-- ]
It was easier to quit. [ --but in reality, only explaining himself as he looks at Mister LaRusso with a complicated, unhappy expression. ] It was hard to see a way forward.
[ ...and yet, it doesn't feel right to even leave it at, true as the words are. Because there's been time since he left, time since the exhaustion of dealing with Tory and Kenny has become worrisome again. He couldn't get them out by himself, no, not just by his words. ]
...but the students there need a way out, too. Silver was just as bad as Kreese--he didn't care how you won. And they, uh--they really changed for the worse. [ He tips his head aside. ] And me.
[ He's acknowledged as much already, but maybe it bears repeating, just the way that dojo can screw with you. So maybe, even if it's hard, even if it seems impossible--taking it out is always a cause worth fighting. Not giving up for.
Robby lifts his gaze, briefly lowered, back over to Mister LaRusso. ]
Did you find out anything? About Silver?
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It makes it so easy to fall back into negative thoughts at everything Robby says. First the talk about Johnny - and maybe Johnny was the one in the right, maybe Daniel was crazy for continuing to fight, forever the one between the two of them who didn't know how to back then when he should, you couldn't leave well enough alone, you little twerp?
But he couldn't leave Cobra Kai alone. Not with what has been haunting his mind, the thoughts Robby voices here too. Cobra Kai is so bad. It's terrible for kids. If Daniel doesn't stop it, then more kids will keep getting hurt - just like Daniel was, all those years ago. (He knows how bad Silver is, doesn't need Robby to tell him, though he's keenly aware Robby has no idea just how well Daniel knew decades before getting beaten up by the man.)
And he lost. He didn't get anything done. He got people hurt, got Mike's store burned down, got his own ass kicked, then disappeared off to this place.
It looks like Daniel is wilting on the spot, only the fact that he doesn't want Robby to have to worry about him even further keeping him from just staying quiet altogether. The nausea still present in his stomach and the droning pain in his head sure doesn't help either. ]
He is the one who committed the crime Kreese was sent to jail for. He most likely set him up.
[ Maybe it's why his answer is relatively brief, despite everything Robby says. Daniel doesn't know how to address any of the rest of it that doesn't involve feeling like he failed in every single regard of his plan.
Especially in front of Robby. Robby, who got helped by Johnny, while Daniel was doing nothing but failing at the one thing he set out to do. ]
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Tory was more stubborn than he was, and Kenny--he didn't even know who he was, now.
Mister LaRusso's message at least spares Robby from suffering too far in that mentality, though--because it hits him, wide-eyed and staring at Mister LaRusso, like he'd said the words himself. ]
Silver did? How-- why? I thought they... [ Does it even matter what Robby thought? He doesn't bother to finish, taking in a breath, but still trying to even wrap his head around it. Why is everything so insane? ]
How did you find that out?
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There's already enough negative feelings trying to nest within him though, so it's a little easier to let go of that one for the moment. ]
I got something in the mail. A newspaper article about the incident. Someone wrote that the guy who got beaten up had lied. I don't know who sent it.
[ He did contemplate it being a trap by Silver, but-- the information had been right. And if he thinks back on his confrontation with Silver - not something he likes to do, but something that's burned into his brain all the same - then it's not like the guy seemed particularly happy that Daniel found out, or that he was trying to get Raymond to testify against Silver. ]
It's how Silver cornered me. I first went to talk to the guy with someone else, but then later returned on my own, and then Silver was waiting for me there instead of him.
[ Sorry, Robby.
Things were wild while you were getting distracted by your dad's antics. ]
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(He had done his best to ignore the parts of Cobra Kai he didn't like, after all. Isn't Cobra Kai just about winning, and surviving?)
But none of this is right--Mister LaRusso shouldn't have been by himself. Robby knows that things can't be made different, you can't change what's happened, but knowing what they've left back home and the mess that needs to be picked up--it's a frustration in his throat he can't swallow down. He could talk to his dad. He could talk to Tory again, Kenny--
Instead, they're stuck here. And Mister LaRusso... the state of him sticks with Robby when he looks at the man (and he's looking nowhere else). There's a mess they've left behind, and what was Mister LaRusso drinking about? Being away from his family? Silver being closer to them than he is?
He stands there, with so little to give. ]
--He's not getting away with it. With you gone, and me disappearing too? That's gonna cause problems for him and put our families on alert if he's the last person that saw you. I know it's not good to think about, [ worrying too deeply about what their families are going through, what they might be doing, ] but that's not going to be it for Silver... and right now...
[ He's stepping over, closer to Mister LaRusso; bringing them a step away from one another, just to allow them still their own space. Chin tilted up at him, meeting his eye. ]
...you should take it easy. You can sleep some more--unless you want some food first. But you can use my room instead of going back to your apartment. Plus...
[ ... ] You're not alone now.
[ Robby adds it weakly--at least, weak in the attempted positive note, a smile tugging on his lips. He doesn't know if being alone was a problem for the man, or what truly had him close to catatonic out by the graves, and he doesn't particularly want to ask either, but--
but maybe it can mean something small. Some kind of comfort, instead of landing nowhere at all. ]
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Robby is right in his earlier assessment - that it's not good to think about those other things. Daniel has been desperately trying to avoid thinking of what happened back home and its consequences, even if his anxiety- and depression-riddled mind didn't give him an easy time with trying to ignore those things. But he doesn't want to think about what Silver could be doing now, whether he'd try to follow up on his threat despite the circumstances. He doesn't want to think about how worried Amanda might be, or the kids. Despite the fight they had, surely Amanda would-- She'd still notice, eventually, she'd still care..
And he's hurt her enough.
So Daniel still doesn't want to think about that, even now. It makes him feel a little childish, especially when Robby - so much younger than him - is willing to address it, willing to reassure him, even though that should be the other way around here.
But thankfully the boy gives him something better to think about. Something positive in the middle of all the things that threaten to make Daniel stand on the cliff side of losing his mind, between his worried about everything back home and his worries about this place.
And that positive thing is Robby's presence. His sweet care, the way he words things.
Even if so much changed, it's like nothing has changed at all.
Daniel did look particularly miserable, discussing all of this, but it's when Robby speaks those last words and stands closer to him and smiles at him that the misery fades a little from the man's features. Not fully gone, especially not in the middle of a half-drunk-half-hangover state, but..
He smiles.
It means something.
Daniel doesn't address it using his phone, but it's like his gaze and that small smile say just as much as words could. He isn't alone, indeed. He's glad he isn't alone, even if that gladness might be selfish, even if Robby shouldn't be here.
Instead, when he types on his phone, it's just for it to read out: ]
I should eat something first. But then I will sleep.
[ Like Robby was fussing about at him a few moments ago-- ]
I don't want to make you worry too much about me here. [ Even if Daniel is giving the poor boy way too many reasons to do so. ]
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A way out would be good. A way back home would be really, really good.
The smile he gives back to Mister LaRusso is brighter, comes after his last message; after he's leaned off from the fridge, his hand now on its handle. ]
I'm worrying enough, [ he semi-chides, asserts, whichever way the man wants to take it. Looks at the fridge briefly. ] You want toast, a sandwich? There's meats in here. [ He tugs on the handle. ] You can pick what you want. I'll grab bread.
[ Which will mean them switching around, but hey, it'll be easier for Mister LaRusso to choose his sandwich (or toast) additions than for Robby to list out what they have. And Mister Larusso will probably feel better than if Robby babied every part of making food for him. ]