The two of them leaned against the rail guard, looking down at the stadium floor below, where Sam and Aisha were talking. Miguel's eyes lifted first, watching the way Robby stared at Sam. He expected faint lingering jealousy from a look like that, and was relieved to feel none.
Despite everything going on between the two of them lately, all of the fighting over Sensei, Miguel was finally willing to extend the olive branch. "Sam's a pretty good fighter, isn't she?"
Pressing his mouth into a thin line, Robby let skeptical silence hang between them, saying nothing.
"Don't worry," assured Miguel, knowing what that icy stillness indicated. Robby was assessing his casual statement as a threat of interest. "I didn't mean it like that. That's all in the past. Really."
The stiffness on Robby's features reluctantly relaxed, and the other boy allowed a smirk to curl around the corner of his mouth. "Sam's a great fighter."
"Hope she knows I'm not going easy on her in our match here soon," said Miguel.
Robby scoffed, but the smile stayed on his face. "You should be worried about her taking it easy on you. But I wouldn't count on it."
Knowing Robby was right, Miguel smirked. "Better not hope for Hawk to hold back against you, either."
"As long as he doesn't fight dirty this time," snipped Robby, eyes returning to the floor.
Miguel felt the tug of guilt pull at his insides, remembering their behaviors at the All-Valley Tournament. "He won't."
From where he sat on his bench, Hawk watched where Miguel and Robby were standing together. He could only wonder what they were talking about.
"Hey." Demetri sat down beside him. He had a lingering look of disappointment on his face, masked behind his usual sardonic smile.
Hawk nodded once. "Hey."
"Nice fight between Sam and Aisha, right?" asked Demetri, leaning forward. "I mean, not in a sleazy girl-on-girl fight kind of way. Strictly in the context of this rivalry we got going on between our dojos. I gotta say, after Aisha knocked me out, it felt pretty good to see Sam get her back. Kinda worried I'm falling into the trappings of tribalism here."
Hawk tried to hold back a smile. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Aisha beat you because you flinched at the last second. You should've countered."
"Yeah, Mr. LaRusso's still helping me on my reflexes," Demetri explained. "But you saw where I beat Bebop, right?"
"Mitch?" clarified Hawk. "You got lucky there. He was sloppy."
"C'mon, at least let me have my win," joked Demetri, elbowing him.
The two of them shared a look. It was the easiest they'd been with each other in months. It felt familiar. It felt nice.
Hawk watched Demetri peek up at Robby and Miguel before his gaze fell back on him. "So, are we gonna be cool if I root for Robby in this match between you guys?"
Hawk couldn't hold back his smile this time. "Yeah. We're cool."