CHAPTER 35

So the evening began. And things were… awkward, to say the least. The tension in the air was palpable, as both Robby and Miguel were silently seething, and Carmen and Johnny were both terrified at how this could potentially pan out into an all-out brawl between the two boys. They wanted nothing more than to keep their sons as far away from each other as possible, but they knew that for the sake of the unborn child, they needed to keep them somewhat together to try to start and build a foundation between them. That being said, they came up with a compromise: for the first time ever, Miguel and Robby were in the same apartment, under the same roof as each other, but they separated them to opposite sides of the apartment as dinner was still being prepared. While Miguel stayed in the kitchen to help his yaya with the cooking, Carmen, Johnny and Robby sat in the living room. While an icy silence emerged from the living room, Miguel and his yaya were chatting at full force in the kitchen.

"So this Robby guy… he seems like a real prick." Miguel's yaya remarked in Spanish, causing Miguel to laugh and glance at Robby, who shot back a dirty look upon hearing his name and realising they were talking about him.

"Yeah, I know right." Miguel murmured back, once again speaking in his mother tongue so Robby couldn't understand.

"Hey, some things have improved I guess. His haircut no longer makes him look like a… what's the word again? Oh yeah, lesbian." Rosa commented. Miguel very nearly doubled over laughing, bursting into tears of hysterics. His yaya's bluntness had sliced through the tension and brought much needed laughter into the boiling pot of a situation they were in. But while it helped cheer Miguel up, it only brought a further scowl and more fury into Robby. He knew full well that they were talking about him and not only had they said his name, they were also constantly looking over at him and laughing his way. Miguel had a very relaxed look on his face and both Miguel and Robby knew why: they were in Miguel's domain. This was his home. This was his turf. Robby was very much a fish out of water here.

Soon, Miguel and his yaya had finished preparing the dinner and the 5 of them sat at the table. Needless to say, Miguel and Robby were seated as far from each other as possible, with Miguel on one head of the table and Robby on the other, with Johnny, Carmen and Rosa in between them. Very strategic placement from the adults in case shit hit the fan and things erupted between the boys. Dead silence filled the room as Miguel and Robby eyed each other like tigers about to strike, and Carmen and Johnny were on their toes, ready to stop a fight if one happened to break out. And Miguel's yaya… well, she was just finding the whole thing really entertaining and was loving every second of it.

Nobody spoke for one minute. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. It felt like forever as they all tucked into the food, Johnny and Carmen looking down at their plates awkwardly as Miguel and Robby locked eyes for an interminably long time. They didn't want away, back down from the unspoken challenge they were giving one another.

"So… Robby… how's karate training going? What's it like being trained by your dad?" Carmen asked, attempting to mitigate the tension but choosing an awful choice of topic to do so. She realised that, but in fairness to her, she didn't have much to go off of. It's not like Robby was in school: he had been expelled after the school fight. She couldn't exactly ask him how things were going with Tory, Miguel's ex-girlfriend. She had a severe lack of conversation topics, so she decided to shoot with the karate one.

"It's good." Robby answered shortly, his eyes still very much on Miguel and not on Carmen.

"Training hard for another second place win?" Miguel remarked, causing Johnny, Carmen and Robby all to shoot glares at him.

"Miguel…" Carmen whispered quietly, gently hitting his leg under the table to try and tell him to stop.

"What? It's just a joke between soon to be brothers, isn't that right Robby?" Miguel said, smirking at Robby, who scowled back at him. Robby opened his mouth, ready to shoot back a retort, but Johnny interrupted him before he could to try and ease the situation a little.

"You know, I'm still kind of sad that you aren't joining us in Eagle-Fang, Miguel." Johnny siad to his former student, to which Miguel sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, join Eagle-Fang, Miguel!" Robby exclaimed, almost sounding sincere. When Miguel raised an eyebrow, Robby smirked at him and continued. "The punching bag at the dojo is getting kind of worn. I could use a new one."

As Miguel listened to the arrogant comment, he felt his hard slowly curl into a fist and his face begin to turn red in his exhausting effort trying to keep himself from lunging across the table at Robby.

"Robby…" Johnny hissed at him, annoyed. Robby shrugged.

"What? It's just a joke between soon to be brothers." Robby cleverly threw Miguel's words right back at him to get him under Miguel's skin. And it worked too, as Miguel got even redder. But it wasn't Miguel who spoke next. Nor was it Robby. Nor was it Johnny, or even Carmen. It was Miguel's yaya.

"Robby, tienes suerte de que Miguel no se una a tu dojo, porque te volverá a golpear." Rosa remarked, causing her grandson beside her to snigger quietly as they both looked at Robby. Rosa honestly couldn't give a damn at this making peace business that Johnny and Carmen were trying to do. She was all for whatever Miguel wanted. If that was fighting, then it was fighting. If it was peace, then it was peace.

"What? What'd she say?" Robby snapped questioningly at Miguel, who glowered at him.

"Well, first off, she has a name. Show some manners, you piece of shit." Miguel spat back in reply. "And my yaya said that you're lucky. You're lucky that I'm not joining your dojo or I would just whoop your ass again."

Robby laughed and raised ane yebrow.

"That right? Then what happened the last time we fought? Oh yeah. Guess you're lucky we're in a one-storey house for this one."

"Robby!" Johnny exclaimed, but him and Carmen were practically powerless to stop the verbal spars from bouncing back and forth between the two warriors.

"Don't test me. I could tear you apart limb from limb if I wanted to." Miguel snarled. Robby raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever gets you through the night, man." Robby remarked, sarcastically. "But then if that's the case, why haven't you joined Eagle-Fang?"

Miguel's eyes flickered from Robby, to Johnny, then back to Robby as he chose his next words carefully so as not to offend his former sensei.

"Because unlike you, I actually have a chance at doing something with my life so I need to work as much as I can to earn the money to do. I can't be wasting my time with Karate anymore."

"You can't spare a couple of hours a week out of your busy schedule?" Robby asked, disbelievingly, before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't buy it. I think I know what it is though. It's about my dad, isn't it? You jealous that I'm training with your precious sensei? It's like I told you that night. My dad doesn't care about you. He was just trying to make himself feel better about screwing up with me. And now that I'm here again, you've… lost your use to him."

That was it. Robby had crossed a line there. The temperature in the room went up a few notches as the tension rose to its climax.

"Robby, what the hell?!" Johnny shouted, his head swivelling back and forth from Robby to Miguel, trying desperately to see who would rise first to the fight and so he could stop them. But surprisingly, Miguel seemed rooted to his seat, still perfectly calm, still perfectly relaxed. In fact, he even chuckled slightly at Robby's comment.

"Vamos, Miguel! Patearle el culo!" Rosa exclaimed, literally telling her grandson to 'kick his ass.' Carmen shot her mom an angry look as she looked on nervously too, very close to pulling the plug on the entire night and tell Robby and Johnny to go home so her son wouldn't end up doing something he would regret.

"I'm not going to kick his ass, yaya. At least not yet." Miguel told her, before he turned back to his enemy. "And you know why, Robby? Because right now, I feel kinda bad for you. You know, it's funny you of all people talk about jealousy, when literally every move you make in your life, I've made first. Joining Cobra Kai. Joining Eagle-Fang. Only difference between you and me… I actually won. But that's the story of your life, isn't it? Second place to me."

"Miguel…" Johnny growled, warning Miguel to stop as he noticed Robby's face darken as the latest of Miguel's barrage of insults finally managed to pierce through Robby and anger him deeply. But Miguel didn't take heed, and he instead continued.

"With your sensei. With the All-Valley." Miguel paused at this moment before he smiled mirthlessly at his foe and let loose the killer blow... "Hell, even the girls you've dated are the ones I dated first. Sam… Tory… just can't help but get my sloppy seconds, get my rejects, can you?"

The loud voices that were currently echoing through the dining room suddenly drew to an abrupt silence. Miguel had dropped an absolute missile on Robby, and it took them a few seconds to truly comprehend what he had said. Johnny and Carmen's jaws went slack in shock. Rosa looked positive amused as she smirked at Miguel. But their reactions paled in comparison to Robby's. Robby went through a combination of shock and upset for a few moments, before eventually coming to settle on a third emotion: rage. Fury coursed through his veins, feeling like a fire that he had never felt before. But this wasn't a burning fire. No, instead it felt… cold. Because he was cold, laser-focused, with one goal in mind… beat the living shit out of Miguel Diaz.

Robby slowly rose from his chair and seeing this, Miguel shot up too. Not that he needed to even lift a hand though, because as soon as Robby charged at him, Johnny was up, catching his son in the air and pulling him away.

"Yeah, sorry, Carmen, I think we're going to have to cut the night short." Johnny remarked as he struggled to hold back his son, who was hell-bent on getting to the boy just a few feet away from him. But he had no success, as Johnny grabbed him and pulled him towards the door. Carmen nodded, still in shock at the events that she had just witnessed. She knew that Miguel and Robby were hardly the best of friends, but she figured it was similar to the grudges that all teenagers had with some people. But no. This was COMPLETELY different! The animosity between them was insane!

Neither Miguel, nor Carmen, nor Rosa said a word or even moved for the next 20 minutes. Carmen and Rosa were in shock, and Miguel was silently stewing in anger. The three sat silently at the dining table, not eating, not speaking, the only part of them moving was their minds, which whirred at supersonic speeds as they reflected on what had just happened. At this point, nearly a half an hour later, the door to the apartment swung open again and Johnny stepped inside.

"I dropped Robby home." He declared, before turning to the teenager, who had stood up when Johnny arrived, half-expecting him to be Robby back for a fight. "Miguel, what the fuck was that?!"

Miguel stared at him and blinked several times, confused.

"Um… what? Me?!"

"Going after his girlfriends?! Going after his All-Valleys?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Miguel's eyes practically bugged out of his head in shock, and he did a double take to make sure he had even heard this correctly.

"Wait… you're blaming me?! What about that bullshit he said beforehand? And when he shoved me the moment he entered this house?! You wanted me to just sit around and take it?!"

"Well… yes, Miguel! You be the fucking bigger man!" Johnny exclaimed, as the two stood face to face and Miguel looked at him, his face filled with bewilderment.

"So tell him that! I was just standing up myself, like YOU taught me!"

"Yeah, well, in some situations, maybe defending yourself isn't the best option." Johnny snapped.

Suddenly, it all snapped into place. It all made sense. Why Johnny had reacted this way. Miguel laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, see, I get it now. Stand up for myself, UNTIL it's your son on the other end." Miguel remarked. Johnny glared at him.

"Miguel…" He murmured. Miguel shook his head.

"No, seriously! If you were at all unbiased, you would have seen that he threw the first punch in here today when he pushed me! From that point on, all I did was respond, and respond, and respond. It's not my fault he's such a bitch he was hurt by the insults."

"Yeah, well then maybe it's time to stop insulting so much and try to make peace!" Johnny shouted. "Miguel, one of you has to be the first one to show that you don't want to fight anymore. You're a big man. Let it be you."

Miguel chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Why? I'm perfectly fine where I am." Miguel remarked. "The only person crying right now from the insults is Robby. So I mean I guess I know why you want me to stop defending myself against him. Poor little Johnny jr. can't take the heat, so he's getting his daddy to fight for him."

"Hey, watch it, Miguel!" Johnny growled, stepping closer to him. Miguel was unfazed though. He wasn't scared. No, instead, he was distraught.

"You remember that night in the burger restaurant last summer?" Miguel suddenly asked. Johnny looked at him, confused, but nodded. "You told me that night that you would always have my back no matter what."

"Well… I do." Johnny stated. Miguel shook his head, no longer worked up now, but instead much calmer.

"No, you don't. You have my back until it's your son involved, and then it's just what is the best option for your son." Miguel replied. "And you know what, Johnny? I don't even blame you."

"Miguel…" Johnny mumbled, shaking his head. "That's not…"

"Yes, it is, Johnny." Miguel replied softly. "And that's okay. He's your kid after all. Your real kid. You're always going to try and protect him no matter what. Because that's what a father does."

For a moment, Miguel paused as the two stared at one another, devastation on both of their faces.

"But… I can't have someone claiming to want to help guide me, that I know doesn't have my best interests at heart anymore. Because if I do that, I guarantee that it won't be long before I'm back in the wheelchair…"

With that, Miguel stepped back slightly, before facing his mom too.

"Look, guys, I'm really sorry this dinner didn't go the way you hoped, but I honestly don't know how you were expecting anything different." Miguel stated. "I think I need to go for a week, clear my head a little. I'll be back soon…"

With that, Miguel walked out of his house and began to walk down the empty streets of Reseda. In a weird way, he wasn't even angry. The rage had begun to wear off the second Robby had left the house. Instead, he had been filled with this calm… acceptance. This was how things were going to be now. There was no hiding from it, there was no changing it. It was just what was going to happen, and Miguel needed to accept it. Robby was Johnny's priority now. And as great as Johnny was, he couldn't have two polar-opposite best interests at heart when giving them both advice on how to navigate through their rivalry. And he didn't hate Johnny for it. Quite frankly, he was happy that Johnny had found his son. It was just… sad, that's all. Like an era of his life, where his relationship with Johnny had been such a massive part of his life, was over. And as the tides turned, Miguel needed to turn with them. And in a way, this whole thing had made his life easier. He knew that now that he no longer had that same bond, loyalty and allegiance that he used to, he wouldn't be feeling as guilty for what he was about to do.

A couple of minutes later, Miguel turned one more corner and arrived at his destination: a miniscule strip mall on Hollywood Boulevard in the middle of Reseda. It was a mall he hadn't been to since a long night on December 19th, and everything was still the same. The pawnshop was still there. The mini market. The bookstore. And at the far corner of the mall, the place he was looking for…