— chapter thirteen, mediate!
BOWIE WOKE THE next morning to another text from Demetri on his phone. His mood was still solemn, but his car was still in the driveway, so that's how he ended up at the beach that afternoon, in a tame game of volleyball with Demetri and Hawk.
"Uh... Mulligan, send it back," Demetri called sheepishly after hitting the net, earning a scoff from the blue haired boy opposite him.
"There's no mulligans in volleyball."
"Says you," Demetri played off, handing the ball to Bowie and ducking out of the game for a water break, which the other boys followed.
The dark haired boy wiped the sweat from his face with a Cobra Kai towel that made Bowie cock an eyebrow, which caught the attention of some girls passing by.
"Cobra Kai? You guys won that karate tournament, right?"
He paused for a long moment, stammering as he looked between the girls and Bowie before managing a response: "Um... The All Valley? The Rumble in Reseda? Yes, uh, we certainly did."
"Cool," the dark haired girl grinned. "We're gonna go for a swim, but maybe play with you later?"
"Pfft, most def. Uh, that means 'most definitely'," Demetri managed in response, leaning awkwardly against the volleyball post and earning a laugh from the girls before they continued down the beach.
"You know no one has ever called it 'The Rumble in Reseda', right?" Bowie raised an eyebrow before grinning as Demetri blushed.
"Look at you, player," Moon joked as she walked up the sand, throwing Bowie a small wave.
"It'd be nice if you earned the Cobra Kai cred you're so happy to take," Hawk snapped unhappily. "When are you ever gonna sign up?"
"I don't know. I'm kind of enjoying the gain without the pain."
Before Hawk could retort with something else, Miguel arrived at the net, greeting the three of them.
"Hey, there's the man."
"What's up? Hey, Demetri. Hey, Bowie."
"No. No more of this," Hawk insisted, noticing the boy's sombre attitude. "Look, it's a beautiful day out. The beach is packed with babes. No more sulking about Sam."
"I'm not sulking about Sam," Miguel insisted. "It's about Sensei." He turned to look at Bowie. "You do know Sensei Lawrence, don't you?"
The curly haired boy swallowed thickly, rotating the volleyball between their fingers.
"Is this about his rap sheet?" Hawk asked. "My parents read it online. I think it makes him more badass."
Miguel shook his head tiredly, his eyes remaining on Bowie.
"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."
"Robby tells me you've been training all summer at Red Tigers. I've seen you fighting in a few All Valleys. You've got skills, kid," Daniel commented.
"Thanks, Mr LaRusso," Bowie smiled, surprised. "I've been trying to get Robby to train with me for years, but he'd never crack."
"He's got a natural talent," the man nodded. "Just like you do. It would be great to see you train together some time. My dojo is always open if you wanna stop by. Not that I'm trying to poach you from Sensei Blakeway."
"I'll consider it," the curly haired boy agreed, noticing as Sam approached the two of them, waving.
"Hey, Robby. Hi, Bowie, how have you been?"
"Hi, Sam," they responded, noticing the familiarity in the way Sam seemed to look at Robby.
"My dad told me what was happening. Ready to get this routine figured out and stage ready?"
"Sure," Robby nodded, looking towards Bowie. "You can stand by and watch, if you like? Or you could help? We can hit the rides after, I promise."
"It's all good." Bowie pocketed his hands. "Demetri and Aisha are about somewhere. I think I'm gonna go find them for a little bit, if that's okay."
"Yeah, okay," Robby smiled smally.
"You and Demetri, huh?" Sam cocked an eyebrow questioningly, causing Bowie to flush pink.
"We're friends."
"Yeah, sure," the LaRusso girl smirked. "We'll see you both at the front of the crowd cheering us on?"
"Of course," Bowie nodded, wetting his lips slightly. "I'll make a banner."
Robby grinned at that, waving Bowie off as he slipped into the crowd. It didn't take long for him to spot Demetri in the crowd, but he seemed to be alone, not accompanied by Hawk and Aisha like Bowie thought he would be. Bowie silently clocked his Cobra Kai shirt.
"Hey, Dem," Bowie grinned, taking a piece of popcorn that the boy offered him. "You're here alone?"
"Eli and Aisha disappeared about ten minutes ago or so. They're on Cobra Kai business, apparently."
Bowie cocked his head, confused, but shrugged it off when he caught sight of an opening at one of the milk bottle games at a stall. He ushered Demetri over, handing the worker some change and collecting three of the heavy moon balls in response.
"You know, statistically speaking, you just wasted five bucks," Demetri pointed out.
"I did not," Bowie shushed him, grinning. "One thing you are yet to know about me, Demetri, is that I have never lost at a fair game in my life."
"That seems vastly improbable," the dark haired boy argued, setting his popcorn down to watch all the same.
Cocking an eyebrow, Bowie wet his lips, bringing his arm back dramatically and throwing the first ball, shifting the weighted metal bottles backwards significantly, but not felling them. Demetri grimaced, shrugging his shoulders pessimistically.
With the second ball, Bowie managed to knock over only the top bottle, but with the third, all of them came tumbling down, landing on the foot of the unexpecting worker which caused them to stifle a laugh as Demetri clapped a hand to their shoulder, an impressed look passing over his face.
"I stand corrected, Bowie. You clearly have excellent statistics for defying the odds."
"What do you want as your prize?" they asked him, causing his cheeks to flush.
"My prize? But you're the victor here, I contributed nothing except cynicism."
Bowie ignored his remark.
"I'm thinking the giraffe. You strike me as a guy that respects giraffes."
Despite his furrowed brow, Demetri let out a shout of laughter.
"I don't even know what that means." Demetri shook his head, but accepted the giraffe from Bowie all the same once the worker handed it to him tiredly.
The two walked about as the fair continued, making easy conversation, yet avoiding the fairground rides. It wasn't brought up, due to the fact that Demetri was particularly susceptible to motion sickness and complaining about the lack of safety of temporary fairground rides, which kept Bowie from having to make a decision when it came to sticking to his tradition with Robby.
Once the sun had set and Bowie had beat just about every game there was– to the point where the stall holders were starting to confer on their radios, informing the others of a curly haired kid who had to be cheating whom they should watch out for– the two made their way back towards the stalls, humming along to the final notes of the singer who left to make space for the next act.
"All right, all right, all right!" A woman in red cheered into the microphone. "Coming up next, do I have a treat for you. Please, direct your attention to the LaRusso Auto booth for a presentation from Miyagi-Do Karate."
Applauding, the crowd shuffled along to the next stage behind Bowie and Demetri, who were still yet to locate Hawk or Aisha after their disappearance, not that either boy minded. On the stage, Robby, Sam and Mr LaRusso were silhouetted over a white bonsai tree on a red background, standing in yoi. Meeting his best friend's eyes, Robby cocked an eyebrow silently. Bowie grinned.
Bowing in, the three took their stances, performing kata moves Bowie recognised, and the audience gave a satisfied applause. Tapping Bowie's arm, Moon appeared beside the two boys.
"Is there gonna be any fighting?"
"I think so?" Demetri answered before looking towards Bowie, who shrugged.
Mr LaRusso picked up a bo staff as they bowed once again, and began performing a second kata that Bowie knew, before the two teenagers turned on Mr LaRusso, striking and allowing him to deflect with the weapon. Robby's hair fell in his face as he met Bowie's eyes in the crowd, and he smiled.
"Now, time for the grand finale," Mr LaRusso announced, smiling, before jogging off stage and pushing forward a stand full of six slabs of ice. Bowie's eyes widened. He'd heard of people breaking through fibreboard, or plastic breaking boards, sure, but six slabs of ice was ambitious, even for someone as skilled as Mr LaRusso.
He never got the chance to prove himself, however, as in that moment, the power shut down, and the crowd's attention turned to a loud scream that became a chant from the other side of the festival: Cobra Kai.
Bowie scoffed, seeing the pack of Cobras marching through the crowd with Miguel and Hawk upfront. Robby, Mr LaRusso and Sam shared equally crestfallen looks at the escapade as the Cobras earnt cheers and applause, taking the attention from the LaRusso Auto booth and dragging spectators back to the main stage, including Moon and an apologetic looking Demetri.
The curly haired boy watched from afar as the Cobras took the stage, banners falling and crowds roaring as they did kihon in a style Bowie had never seen before. He noticed Robby, catching sight of Johnny Lawrence egging his students on from the sidelines, and Sam, glaring at Miguel, but he couldn't deny that he was drawn to the theatrics. Miguel and Hawk dominated the stage, throwing kicks and punches and felling their opponents, and the crowd only cheered louder.
Aisha was next up, blindfolded and breaking boards, and then Hawk was hauling an unwitting Demetri onto the stage to hold the board for his grand finale, a jumping spinning kick that had even Bowie impressed and Demetri looking, awe-stricken at the now-broken board he had just been holding. Cobra Kai merchandise was thrown into the crowd as Mr LaRusso fumed, and for the final spectacle of the show, Johnny Lawrence broke through flaming concrete with his bare fist. That wasn't a skill Bowie ever remembered learning in all their years of martial arts.
When the escapade ended, Bowie let out a long sigh, turning to find Robby, before realising that he and the LaRussos had already left.