The next day Hawk and I made our way to the dojo…. With a sledge hammer. I told him not to be so dramatic, but I was also gonna have fun watching whoever wasn’t in the backyard lose their shit. Demetri and Bert should already be back there. When we got to the dojo Sam and Miguel were out front. Miguel tried to call us over but we just walked right past him and into the backyard. Just as I thought, Demetri and Bert were back there already, trying to push down the fence near the back, but they weren’t having a lot of luck.
“Stand back boys” Hawk smirked, lunging forwards and smacking down the fence with the sledge hammer
“Wow- okay way to knock us all down a peg” Demetri joked, happy to get this going faster
I smiled, now that a section of the fence was down it was a lot easier to push more of it down. The four of us all got to work instantly, Demetri, Hawk and I were bouncing back and forth with different schematics and a few more ideas for the ‘bridge’. Finally, Miguel and Sam made their way around to the back of the dojo, and boy did they look pissed.
“What the fuck Harley!?” Sam shouted
“Have you guys lost your minds-”
Miguel and Sam ran over to us, I quickly grabbed Demetri by the scruff of his shirt, dragging him towards the couple before they could reach Hawk and beat the shit out of him. In hindsight I could’ve just taken the tablet but I was thinking fast, not well.
“Hey hey hey, hold on” I held a hand out to stop them
“Hold on!? You’re destroying!-”
“Sam….” I cut her off. “Trust me. Just take a look at this” Demetri handed over to tablet to Miguel “And let us explain”
Sam and Miguel both looked down at the tablet, their eyes were just complete confusion. The more they looked at it, and all the empty space behind the fence, the less confused they looked, and it finally sunk in. Hawk walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders with a happy smile.
~~
Everyone else came for practice, but dad and Mr. Larusso were late, which was actually perfect. We got most of the fence down, while some other groups worked on clearing out all the dead brush and branches.
“Alright! Stand back, it’s coming down!” Hawk yelled as he knocked down a bit more of the fence
“Ya know” I smirked, walking over to him “Light side Hawk and a sledgehammer is a pretty hot mix”
“You just like watching my muscles flex when I swing” Hawk smirked, wrapping his arms around my waist
“Mmmm, maybe” I giggled, leaning up to press a kiss to his lips
“Aye! Track you two!” Demetri shouted over
I broke away from Hawk, turning to look at him “I’m sorry- did you just ‘track’ me? That’s my job you autistic fucker!”
It was very clearly a funny comment, and Demetri knew that, and took it that way. Demetri and Hawk were both on the ADHD autism spectrum, no matter how hard Hawk now tried to hide it. I was never bothered by it, why should I be? They were my little chaos baby's, always would be.
Everyone laughed and got back to work, including me and Hawk. Everyone was super down for the idea, and praised Hawk for his plan and his want to rebuild bridges with everyone. When Mr. Larusso and dad finally showed up, I had to hold back a laugh at the looks on their faces.
“Hey! What’re you doing!?” Mr. Larusso shouted
Mr. Larusso looked furious, when he and dad walked up Hawk looked nervous, so I grabbed his hand for reassurance so he could explain it.
“You were both right… talk is cheap. So I’m building a bridge”
“Oh- more specifically, an Okinawan sparring deck” Demetri walked up, holding his trusty tablet “Eli’s a design whiz. I looked it over and the physics check out” I waited a few seconds before elbowing Demetri in the side “Ow! What?”
“Harley checked over my math” Hawk smiled, wrapping an arm around my shoulder
“Mr. Miyagi just used this area for extra storage” Sam added on as she walked up “But a new deck would mean a lot more room for training”
“And we’re all gonna help build it!” Miguel smiled
“Assuming our sensei’s approve” I said, less asking, more telling
Mr. Larusso and Dad shared a look, they looked bewildered, proud, and weary at the same time, which made sense. I watched them look around at everyone, it wasn’t Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang, it was just friends working together, the way it should be.
“Sounds good to me” Mr. Larusso said with some hesitancy, looking at my dad
“Yeah, sounds awesome” Dad nodded
Everyone…. Who was listening, smiled. I was so happy I cheered. Like- full blown squealing cheered with my hands in the air, which made everyone laugh. I fell forwards against my dad, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Thank you thank you thank you! I love you dad! Oh thank fuck!” I shouted, making everyone laugh more.
The next few weeks of practice were devoted to fixing up the backyard and creating the sparring deck. It was a good way to keep up our physical strength, while not actually practising karate. But honestly, building this sparring deck was a much better way to spend our time, at least we were all happy.
~~
Later that night I was sitting on my bed working on some English homework. Advanced English was really kicking my ass this year, actually, school in itself was just kicking my ass, I couldn’t focus on anything other than my dad and the tournament. My phone started ringing, assuming it was Hawk I picked it up without even looking at the caller ID.
“Hey” I answered
“Hey sweetheart, it’s been a while”
I froze, and I almost dropped my phone “M-mom?” I quivered, cursing myself for stuttering
“Hey hunny, how are you?” She said softly
“I-...... I’m wondering how you got my number” I let out a breath, not sure to be happy or upset about this
“Oh- Robby gave it to me. I hope it’s okay that I’m calling”
I didn’t answer right away. I mean- mom and I had always gotten along about as well as dad and Robby, so….. yeah. I felt bad for being so quiet for so long, but what was I supposed to say? The last time I saw my mom was…. I can’t even remember.
“Yeah…. Sure mom” I finally mumbled
“Great” she sighed “Look hunny, I know that, we never had the best relationship, and I do take all the blame for that. But I thought, maybe since you and Robby have gotten closer, maybe we could too”
Now that, that threw me off. Were Robby and mom talking again? Last I heard she was in rehab, I assumed she’s either out or stable enough, which I was definitely proud of, could never get dad in rehab no matter how hard I tried. But the fact that Robby had not only been completely avoiding and ignoring me since the night at Cobra Kai dojo, but he had neglected to tell mom about it. That was what pissed me off….. But, I couldn’t tell mom. She sounded so hopeful, the last thing I want is to set her back.
“Yeah mom, we can try that” I said as pleasantly as I could muster up
“Great hunny, I’m really glad to hear that” she sounded like she was smiling, oh grief “Hey look we’ll set up a time to meet up, yeah?”
Way to take it slow mom “Yeah sounds great” I answered, on the bridge of tears “I gotta get some homework done though right now”
“Oh- yeah of course. Gosh hunny I’m so proud of you” Is she doing this on purpose? She has to be “I’ll talk to you later, I love you”
I held my breath, swallowing down the sob in my throat “I love you too mom” I shuddered, quickly hanging up the phone
As soon as I made sure the call was ended I dropped my phone on the floor, curling up in a ball on my bed and letting myself cry. I used to never let myself cry, now it was the only thing I felt like I could do. So now, just to recap. Not only does the weight of winning the All Valley, keeping my dad in check with Mr. Larusso, and getting good grades in school so I can apply to collages that I’ll have to make up some money for some fucking how…. Rest on my shoulders. But now I’ve pleasantly agreed to meeting up with my long lost mother who’s never shown me any affection until now. Fuck.
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