CHAPTER 63

About 15 minutes later, Miguel and Brandon arrived at the police station. It was kind of strange for Miguel as they walked in. It was his first time in a police station and it was absolutely bustling with activity, to the extent that it took Miguel nearly 5 minutes just to find someone to talk to inside. He eventually came to what looked like a front desk and, still holding Brandon's hand, he nodded at the cop behind the desk.

"Hey, how's it going?" Miguel murmured to them.

"What can I help you with sir?" The policeman asked.

"So I was in the park about a half hour ago and found my friend's younger brother. Apparently him and her got separated and he couldn't find her again, so I was wondering if you'd be able to somehow call her to tell her that he's here and he's safe."

"This Brandon Nichols?" The cop suddenly asked. Miguel nodded, slightly taken aback.

"Uh… yeah, actually. How'd you know?" Miguel asked.

"His sister called in a little while ago, asking us if we'd give her a call if someone brought him in. I'll let her know that he's here. You and Mr. Nichols are free to wait in the waiting room around the corner if you want."

Miguel thanked him and the two went over to the waiting room, taking a seat. They had nothing to do but wait now for Tory to arrive, so Miguel took out his phone and scrolled through social media for a while. Brandon was trying to sleep on one of the chairs in the room so Miguel didn't have to worry about entertaining him until they arrived, so he was able to lose himself for a while on Instagram.

"I knew it!"

A familiar voice snapped Miguel back to reality, and he looked up to see Robby bursting through the waiting room door, his eyes wide in alarm as he saw Miguel sitting there. Tory was close behind him and while she immediately went to embrace her little brother, Robby went straight for Miguel. Miguel stood up, only to get shoved against the wall by Robby and pressed up against it, with Robby's hands pushing Miguel's shoulders and refusing to let go.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! You tried to abduct Tory's brother?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Miguel scowled at him, not moving to shove Robby's hands off him, and instead just glaring at Robby, perfectly relaxed. He knew that they weren't about to start a brawl in the middle of a police station. That was like the last place either wanted to be picking fights.

"Okay, first of all, 'Tory's brother' has a name." Miguel snapped at him. "And second, I didn't kidnap Brandon. I found him in the park and some drunk jackasses tried to grab him. I stopped them and them immediately brought him here."

"Is that true, Brandon?" Tory asked her younger brother, unsure what to belief to be honest, incredibly relieved that her brother was okay. Brandon nodded, smiling widely.

"Yeah, a bad man tried to take me so I started shouting like you taught me. Then Miguel came and fought like 4 guys! It was so cool! He was like a ninja!"

After Brandon finished recounting the story, Robby's hands that were grabbing Miguel dropped to his sides, and he looked down guiltily. Once again, he had just gone flying in, assuming that Miguel was the bad guy, and once again he wasn't in this case.

"I, um… I guess we owe you an apology then, Miguel." Tory murmured. "Thank you so much."

Miguel shrugged.

"Yeah, no problem." He replied. "Look, it's been a long day so I'm going to get going. Goodnight, guys."

As Miguel turned towards the door, he immediately felt Brandon run over to him and grab his leg.

"Wait! Don't leave! Stay! I want to hang out with you!" Brandon exclaimed. Miguel knelt down slightly so the two were eye level, and he smiled at Brandon.

"Come on, man. I've got to go." Miguel said. "But don't worry. It's alright. You've got Robby to hang out with you!"

"NO! I HATE Robby!" Brandon shouted, stomping his foot on the ground.

"Brandon!" Tory exclaimed at her brother's outburst. Miguel laughed loudly at this, mainly to piss off Robby who was glaring at both of them, and he smirked at the teenager.

"Nah, come on! I'm sure you don't hate him. He's a cool guy. I guess. If you squint really hard so you don't have to look at him." Miguel remarked, causing Robby's scowl to deepen.

"You're so much cooler than he is!" Brandon stated. "He's boring! You used to play soccer with me all the time. Robby doesn't even know how to play! He's so bad!"

"Well I mean nobody in this world is as good as me at soccer. You gotta lower your expectations buddy!" Miguel joked. "But I'm sure Robby is fun at other stuff."

"No! He isn't! All he likes doing is playing board games! They're such boring ones too!" Brandon replied. Miguel raised an eyebrow and turned to Robby.

"Board games? What are you, his grandma?" Miguel laughed at him as Robby blushed, further embarrassed.

"Shut up." Robby snapped at him, but Miguel's large grin didn't fade. He knew that this pro-Miguel, anti-Robby rant that Brandon was on right now was only rubbing salt into Robby's wounds and was bound to cause some jealousy and insecurity within him.

Miguel turned back to Brandon, smiling at him.

"Hey, how about this, buddy? How about in a few weeks, I come over and all of us… you, your sister, Robby, myself, all your friends… we can all play a big game of soccer together."

Brandon nodded and smiled at Miguel.

"That's awesome!" Brandon responded, jumping up and down in joy. "But you and I have to be on the same team though!"

Miguel nodded.

"Oh yeah, 100%." Miguel laughed. "And Robby and Tory can be on the other team. What should our team name be, do you reckon?"

"Um… how about 'The Cool Kids'?" Brandon suggested.

"Works for me, man. What about them? What do we call them?" Miguel asked. Brandon grinned.

"Hmmm… Crap Bags!"

"Brandon! Language!" Tory exclaimed, extremely uncomfortable as she felt the anger radiating off Robby rise by the second. Miguel nearly choked in hysterical laughter as he heard this. Tears of laughter rolled down his cheeks as he all but rolled around on the police station floor.

"Crap Bags sounds great." Miguel replied. "Well, I gotta go now, buddy. I'll see you soon, though!"

Brandon suddenly threw his arms around Miguel's neck and pulled him into a crushing hug.

"Bye, Miguel! I love you!" He said. Miguel was taken aback by the three latter words Brandon said to him. That was the first time someone had said that to him in… well, a very long time. Longer than he could even imagined, and it brought a genuine smile to Miguel's lips.

"I, uh… I love you too man." Miguel replied, before turning to leave the station. Tory decided to walk him out, and the two walked outside into the night air.

"You know he's going to hold you to that deal, right? About the soccer game?" Tory remarked as the two faced one another. Miguel shrugged.

"Guess I better make good on my word then. Team Cool Kids vs. Team Crap Bag. It's the battle America's been waiting for." Miguel remarked drily. Tory chuckled and smiled faintly at him.

"Look, I want to thank you for what you did tonight. So much." She said. "I know you didn't have to do that. You could've just walked away, especially when you realised who it was, but the fact that you didn't…"

"Hey, come on, give me some credit!" Miguel exclaimed. "Look, just because I'm Cobra Kai, that doesn't mean I'm not me anymore. I'm still me, and I was never going to let some drunk assholes kidnap a kid. Least of all your brother. I'm just surprised Brandon remembered me."

"Remember you? He talks about you all the time!" Tory exclaimed. Miguel laughed.

"That's awesome." He remarked, and the two stood opposite one another, the ghost of smiles still on their lips. So much they had been through both together over the summer, and in the past year afterwards. They had been pitted against one another by their respective dojos, but in that moment, they remembered how much even just their friendship meant to one another. They missed each other's company. Not in a romantic way. Just as friends, in a platonic way.

"Look, I know this is pretty rich for me to say given that you were in Eagle-Fang well before me." Tory started, taking a deep breath. "But if you ever want to come back…"

"I know." Miguel nodded. "Thank you."

That was all they needed to say to one another. Miguel wouldn't be leaving Cobra Kai, at least for now, and Tory respected that. They said good night to each other for a final time, and Miguel then turned to walk down the street. However, he didn't make it 50 meters before he heard another voice calling to him from behind. This one, however, wasn't as much of a pleasant one.

Miguel sighed as he turned around, his fists already clenched, ready for a fight.

"What do you want, Robby?" Miguel snapped, expecting Robby to want to attack him after the comments he and Brandon had made at the station.

However, much to Miguel's surprise, Robby raised his hands in surrender, a symbol that he came in peace.

"Easy. I don't want to fight." Robby said. As Miguel slowly let his own fists drop to his sides, Robby took a deep breath. This was it.

At that moment, Miguel heard words come out of the brunette's mouth that he didn't, in a million years, expect.

"I'm sorry…"

Miguel's jaw dropped, and he had to blink a few times to make sure this was actually happening.

"Excuse me?" Miguel stammered.

"I'm sorry." Robby repeated, as Miguel's chocolate eyes stared right at him, trying to pierce inside and tell if Robby was serious, or if this was just some ploy for some ambush. Wildly, as Robby spoke, he almost seemed… genuine. Sincere in his apology.

"Sorry for what?" Miguel snapped. "Accusing me of abducting a child? Stalking and ambushing me at Golf n Stuff? Starting a fight with me at the party? Trying to attack me as soon as I got out of a wheelchair? Putting me in that fucking wheelchair in the first place?"

Pain and misery seeped into Miguel's voice as he responded, as he listed all of the shit Robby had put him through in the past year. That didn't even include everything that had occurred before the school fight. Guilt was definitely evident in Robby's eyes as he nodded.

"Yeah. All of it. From the bottom of my heart, I am so, so sorry. I was recently shown how much pain I put you and your family, and nobody deserves it… not even you."

Miguel raised an eyebrow at the veiled insult.

"This your first apology?" Miguel remarked. Robby shook his head.

"Don't get me wrong. I still dislike you. A lot. More than I ever thought I was capable of hating someone…"

"Damn, this apology is kind of falling apart." Miguel commented. Robby glared at him.

"But…" Robby continued, ignoring Miguel's commentary. "That doesn't change the fact that I've done things to you that I definitely regret, and for that I apologise."

Miguel, who was standing a few feet away from his nemesis, was absolutely thrown. He had spent so long painting the image of Robby being a heartless piece of shit in his head. That was what he needed to do in his mind to be able to fight him. But hearing all of this… it had absolutely shattered that image of his rival.

"I… I appreciate that." Miguel eventually found the words to reply. Robby nodded.

"Look, I'm not trying to convince you to join Eagle-Fang. Quite frankly, I see enough of you already that half of my dreams at night end with me punching you in the face, and I'm sure the feeling is mutual." Robby said. "But why don't we call a truce?"

"A truce?" Miguel stammered. After 2 years of fighting this war, the word truce was practically foreign to him. Robby nodded.

"Yeah, a truce." He responded. "I can convince Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang to back off and leave you guys alone. Maybe you can convince Cobra Kai likewise. Just because we're in rival dojos, doesn't mean we have to fight anymore. We can put an end to all of this, put an end to this stupid war once and for all. What do you say?"

Robby held out a hand for Miguel to shake and Miguel walked a few steps closer so they were right opposite one another, his eyes not leaving Robby. He glanced down at the hand, and then back up at Robby's eyes, his emotions conflicted. On one hand, he wanted an end to this stupid war more than anyone. It was tiring and it had cost his family so much. But on the other, he didn't know if he could forgive and forget with Robby so soon after what had happened. After all, it had only been 24 hours since the boy had literally stalked and ambushed him in the public bathroom. So much pain, so much anguish, so many nights spent crying into his pillow, cursing the boy for what he had done to him. And he was supposed to just forgive him that easily? Miguel stared at the hand a few moments longer, before shaking his head turning around and beginning to walk away.

However, after moving a couple of meters, Miguel stopped, not even turning around to face Robby when he spoke again.

"Hey, Robby." Miguel called. "Do me a favour and uh… keep an extra eye on Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang in the near future, okay?"

"What?" Robby asked. Miguel sighed and turned around to face him again, a short distance apart from each other as they stood face to face again.

"Things are changing at Cobra Kai, and not in the good way. In the near future, there's a good chance my ability to keep our students away from yours will be severely compromised. If that happens… well, I wouldn't want any innocent people getting hurt, and I'm sure you wouldn't either."

With that, Miguel turned and walked out into the night, leaving Robby reflecting on the words as he watched the other teenager leave. Miguel's words weren't a threat. In fact, they were an exact opposite. A warning. A warning and almost an ask for help that Robby would keep the Miyagi-Dos and Eagle-Fangs safe in case of disaster. It wasn't much at all, but it was a million times better than Miguel and Robby had ever had before. There wasn't love, there wasn't a liking, there wasn't even respect for one another. But that new fragment that had fallen into place in their feud was something that had never been there before. Coexistence…