𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐒, robby keene

chapter thirteen, mediate

"It's about him and Robby Keene. I found a photo of him on his fridge when I was dropping off some food. He's his son, isn't he?"

Exhaling heavily, Bowie looked between the shocked faces of the two boys standing by him and Miguel.

"Yeah, he is," they answered, figuring there was very little point lying about it. "That's how I know him."

"Plot twist," Demetri gasped sarcastically, forcing a grin out of Bowie.

"That doesn't make any sense," Hawk insisted, and knowing the conversation was probably about to spiral into another anti-Robby debate that he had bore witness to a few times since he continued to hang around with the Cobras following the All Valley, Bowie turned towards Demetri.

"More volleyball?" He held the ball up to the lanky boy, who took it with a shrug, heading to the other side of the net, and this time, making a successful serve that Bowie returned.

"You know," Demetri said at the first drop of the ball on his side. "Those two are crazy. I don't know why they have such an issue with Robby. I mean, he seemed fairly amicable in the brief few seconds that I've met him."

"He is, most of the time," Bowie shrugged, reciprocating Demetri's serve with elegant ease. "He can hold a grudge like no one's business, though. And he doesn't like Miguel or Hawk any more than they like him."

Hawk caught Bowie's eye at the mention of his name and scowled, but didn't say anything. Miguel wasn't paying attention; Moon was fawning over him, telling him how Sam was doing even though it probably wasn't something the boy needed to hear.

"Care for some more volleyball?" Bowie called playfully towards them, earning a scoff of laughter from Demetri. Hawk looked outraged, but when Miguel shrugged and agreed, he followed, causing the curly haired boy to smirk at Demetri with a wink. Demetri's face flushed red.

☼

Ever since they were kids, Robby and Bowie had attended Valley Fest. It hadn't always gone to plan, with the first year ending in two ten year old boys lost in the crowd under Johnny Lawrence's lousy supervision, but it was tradition, and Robby, in particular, was a stickler for tradition.

The two arrived fairly early into the afternoon, eager to hit some of the collapsible rides that were definitely trustworthy before queues started to grow, but before they did, Robby wanted to go greet Mr LaRusso, over at the LaRusso Auto stand.

"Mr LaRusso, hi!" He waved towards the man, who gestured him over with a smile.

"Hi, Robby. Hi, Bowie, nice to see you again," Mr LaRusso said, straightening up some paperwork on the table. "You boys enjoying your afternoon at Valley Fest?"

Bowie nodded, watching some workers set up lighting on the stage opposite.

"Oh, Robby, if you have some time a little later, I was thinking of Miyagi-Do doing a demonstration on the stage over there. Stir up a few more customers."

Robby's eyes widened, and he looked to Bowie for an answer. They shrugged and nodded along.

"Yeah, that sounds good, Mr LaRusso. What would we do?"

"Sam's gonna be here in a couple minutes. Maybe you guys could practise, whip something up? If that's okay with Bowie, of course. I don't want to ruin you boys' evening."

"No, no, it's all good," Bowie nodded, rocking back and forth on his heels. "I'm excited to see you train. I wanna see how much you've learnt."