A/N: I'm back (tentatively)! Did a lot of writing this weekend, gonna try to do some more, but it's been long enough since I posted that I figured I'd edit this chapter first. I struggled with this prompt. I knew I was going to have to be creative with this one, especially since I wanted to avoid writing an AU. In the end, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I think I struggled so much that I'm totally unsure if it's any good, but hopefully somebody gets a little bit of enjoyment out of it lol

Day 14 | Ryu Granger, Tyson, Bladebreakers | Rated: T

Sorcery

It put a smile on Ryu's face to hear his grandson outside jiving with his friends. It had been too long since he'd stood in the kitchen and listened to the whole team bicker and battle and bond.

Ever since the gang had touched down in Japan, they'd been training morning, noon, and night in preparation for the upcoming World Championships. They barely even stopped for meals – Tyson and Daichi were remarkably chill about it.

That, and the fact that every single one of them were way taller than he remembered, made it feel like they were growing up right before his eyes.

Ryu was drying his hands on a dish towel when Tyson toed off his shoes and crossed the threshold into the dojo.

"Smells good, Grampa!" he said, nodding to the stove where dinner was simmering away. He grabbed half a dozen bottles of water out of the fridge, then set them aside so he could crack one open for himself. "Can't wait to eat. Daichi's stomach's been growling for half an hour now."

His voice turned sarcastic toward the end and Ryu smiled fondly.

"Any of your friends stayin' for dinner, T-Dawg?" He knew the answer already. Some nights Hilary, Kenny, or Max would go home, but more often than not, they all stayed until it was too late to do anything other than collapse onto the training room floor.

"Yeah, I think everybody is." Tyson took a drink of water and wiped his mouth on his wrist. "Oh, except Max," he added. "He has to go back to the dentist. Lucky guy gets to leave before Hilary's last set of death drills."

Ryu raised an eyebrow.

It had only been a few weeks since the Bladebreakers were back to training as a team and Max had left practice early three times. This would be number four and something, probably the rehashed excuse, seemed fishy. There were only so many reasons boys Max's age skipped out on their responsibilities and since he wasn't usually the kinda kid to skive off…

"Everything okay with the little dude?" he asked, even as he began to paint his own picture of what was going on. Some of his suspicions must have shown on his face, judging by the look Tyson was giving him.

"He has a cavity, Grampa," Tyson said, waving him off. "He's not lying to get out of practice. Max just has the decency to tell us when he has places to be. Unlike Kai; when he disappears, it's radio silence."

"Kai's been cutting outta practice early too, then?"

Tyson hesitated for a second, before answering, somewhat reluctantly, "Well, no. Sometimes he's gone when we wake up. Or we'll just look up halfway through practice and he'll be gone. That doesn't mean that Max is trying to get out of practice on purpose."

"I didn't say he was trying to get outta practice. But I do think your homeboy might be hiding something." He ignored Tyson's doubtful expression and asked, "What's the lowdown on his other excuses?"

"I don't know Grampa. Something about the Hobby Shop and a video call with his mom?"

Ryu hummed thoughtfully and tapped his chin. "Does he seem nervous before he leaves?"

"Why would he be nervous?" Tyson countered, the non-answer giving Ryu all the reason he needed to do more digging.

"Does he stutter?" he asked. "Fidget? Blush?" He leaned closer to Tyson with each word, carefully studying his reaction.

Tyson leaned back, eyebrows knitting together. Then, after a few moments of hesitation, he said, "Maybe sometimes? I think he feels bad leaving early."

Aha! The kids really were growing up. Ryu straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest. "More like Maxie's got himself a stone-cold fox, ya dig?"

"A what?"

"A girlfriend, T-Dawg!"

Tyson blinked, staring at Ryu like a deer in the headlights, before his lips curled up into a smile and he burst into laughter. "A girlfriend?!" he cackled, nearly doubling over he was laughing so hard. Eventually he calmed down enough to choke out, "Max wouldn't cut practice for a girl, Grandpa!"

"Love is a strange kind of sorcery, Tyson," Ryu said sagely. "One day, you'll find a foxy mama of your own and you'll understand."

Tyson wrinkled his nose in disgust, all traces of laughter suddenly gone. "Grampa, don't ever say that again."

At that moment, Hilary poked her head inside, effectively cutting the conversation short.

"Tyson! When exactly are you planning on coming back outside?" she asked, a special irritation reserved for his grandson in her tone. Ryu smirked when he heard it. "Thanks to your dawdling, you missed the rest of Max and Daichi's battle. Next time, I'll get the water if you can't do it in a timely manner."

"Relax, Hilary." Tyson rolled his eyes and scooped up the water. "I'm coming – you don't have to nag." He breezed past her, pausing only to step back into his shoes, and left to rejoin his friends. No doubt he was moving faster to get away from the third degree Ryu was giving him. Lucky he had all the information he needed.

"Sorry about that, Grampa." Hilary bowed her head apologetically. "I need to steal Tyson back."

"More power to ya, Homegirl." He winked.

"Thanks!" Hilary smiled and followed Tyson back outside.

As if on autopilot, Ryu brought up the rear.

Outside, Kenny was checking out Strata Dragoon with Daichi on one side and Ray on the other. Hilary joined their circle, reading Dizzi's screen from over the top of their heads. Kai was on the porch, a little farther away, always on the outskirts of the group, but close enough to hear everything that went down. Tyson was handing the last water bottle to Max, who was still standing in the dirt beside the bey dish. For now.

"Sorry I missed you pulverizing Daichi," Tyson said, patting Max on the back, nearly causing him to slosh water all over himself. "I'll have to catch Kenny's instant replay."

"He's a defensive type," Daichi moaned. "Strata Dragoon should've had an advantage."

"Quit whining, Daichi," Tyson scolded. "Draciel isn't just any defensive type. Even I have trouble against him."

"Stats aren't everything," Kenny piped up, fingers gliding over his keyboard. "Max battles smart and strategically. Honestly, you could both stand to take notes."

While Tyson and Daichi rounded on Kenny, demanding to know what he meant by that and why he wasn't picking on Kai or Ray, Ryu kept a close eye on Max. He was watching the scene unfold with a grin on his face. Ryu was sure he was the only one seeing how he snuck glances at his watch, drumming his fingers on his water bottle and watching the others for an opportunity to make his exit.

Sly dog.

"Max," Hilary shouted to be heard over Tyson and Daichi's bellyaching, "don't you have a dentist appointment? Don't let these two make you late." She shot the pair of them a pointed look.

Ryu watched as Max took an overly obvious look at his watch, like he didn't know exactly what time it was, and fake surprise.

"Yeah, sorry guys," he sighed, the reluctance in his voice clashing with the fact that he'd already started backing slowly towards the front of the dojo. "I have to go."

"Good luck!" Ray said, having slid further back on the porch to get away from the Bermuda Triangle of Tyson, Daichi, and Hilary that poor Kenny was currently at the center of. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Let us know how it goes!" Hilary chimed in.

The rest of the team echoed similar sentiments and Ryu kept a keen eye on Max who was definitely starting to sweat.

"Oh, uh, thanks guys!" His laugh and wave reeked of nervous energy, solidifying Ryu's theory with each passing second.

As Max gathered up his things with oddly unsteady hands, Ryu was piecing together another way he could back up his hunch. And it was a way that only he could pull off without rousing suspicion. Ryu smirked. Sometimes there were perks to being old.

"Thanks for having me, Grampa," Max said as he passed, polite as always but with a glimmer of excitement in his eye that the dentist wouldn't see on the best of days.

"Anytime, Homie," he answered with a thumbs up. "Catch ya on the flip side."

Max smiled, waved, and started to jog away.

He was almost out of earshot when Ryu chuckled to himself, and shouted after him, "Hey Maxie, don't forget to wrap it before ya tap it, ya dig?!"

"Grampa!"

He ignored Tyson's indignant yell and the sound of one of the others choking on their water, in favor of watching Max trip over his own feet on his way out the gate. When he glanced back, his face was beet red and, judging by the poorly-concealed guilt, Ryu hadn't been totally off base about his girlfriend theory.

He chuckled to himself and watched as Max left at a new, forcibly sedate, pace.

"What's everybody freakin' out about?" Daichi piped up, looking around at the rest of the team with obvious confusion.

"Sorcery, Little Dude," Ryu answered when none of the others would meet Daichi's eyes. "The strangest kind of sorcery."

A/N: I think the hardest part about this was writing so much Ryu. I actually started rewriting this from more of Tyson's POV at one point, but it just didn't hit the same, so I started over for a third time and ended up here. I'm still not confident that I nailed the narrative, but I think it's okay.

Also, one of my coworkers used to give our younger coworkers Grampa's advice when they were going to parties. I always thought it sounded like the kind of advice he'd give, too lol

Thanks for reading. :)