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Robbe is halfway through his lunch when he gets the call.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Mr IJzermans? This is Gill from Stedelijke Basisschool I’m calling about your son David—"
Robbe’s heart stutters to a halt. “Wait, wait, what happened, is he okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine, there was an incident between him and another student, we’d like you or your partner to come meet with Mrs Martens.”
Robbe is already throwing his food in the bin and shoving his bag over his shoulder. “Yes of course, I’ll leave work now, but what sort of incident?”
“He was in a fight with another student.”
Robbe stops walking, shock rippling up his spine. David? In a fight? How is that even… He clears his throat hurriedly. “Oh okay, I’ll be right there, thank you.”
He hangs up and then starts tapping away again as he fast-walks back to the office. He raises the phone back to his ear, steering past people as he strides inside the main building.
Sander picks up on the third ring, “Baby? What’s up I have a lecture in fifteen minutes.”
Robbe sighs, “Yeah, I know, but I just got a call from the school, David got in a fight with another student, and I have to go in and meet with the principal.”
Sander makes a strangled noise on the other end of the line. “David, in a fight? There’s no way, what the fuck.”
Robbe laughs, though it comes out sounding stressed. “Yeah, I just wanted to let you know we’ll be home early.”
“Let me know? No, I’m coming in too, they can explain to me why this other kid provoked my child.”
Robbe pauses halfway up the stairs. “Sander, I can handle it, you don’t need to come, you’ve got a lecture to give.”
Sander falls silent for a second, but when he speaks again his voice is calm and determined. “Look, this is the first time this has happened and hopefully the last, I want to be there, Louis won’t mind, I record the lecture and post it anyway.”
Robbe worries his bottom lip, contemplating arguing some more, but Sander is fucking stubborn so instead he sighs again and says, “Okay I’ll ask them to wait for you, you’ll be like 10 minutes later?”
“Yeah probably, okay I gotta go sort this out, I’ll see you soon, love you.”
“Love you too, bye.” Robbe crams the phone into the outside pocket of his bag, jogging up the final few steps and hurrying across the bullpen to the Head of Media office.
The door is wedged open, but he still knocks smartly waiting until Julie looks up. “Robbe?”
“Hey Julie, sorry to bother you, I’ve had a family emergency. I have to go pick my son up from school, just wanted to let you know, I can come in early tomorrow to make up the missed couple hours.”
Julie shakes her head and waves a hand at him. “No, no worries, you’ve already submitted the edited footage, don't worry about it. I hope everything’s okay though?”
“Yeah, yeah it’s fine but,”—he checks his watch— “I really have to leave now, thank you!”
She flashes him a smile. “See you tomorrow.”
Robbe turns on his heel and strides back out of the building and into his car.
David’s school is only about a ten-minute drive away and Robbe is pulling into a parking space before he even has time to prepare himself. He takes a deep breath and gets out, remembering to lock the car door behind him.
He walks quickly to the main building, pushing open the glass door and moving straight towards the admin desk.
He puts both hands on the counter and summons what he hopes is a somewhat convincing smile. “Hi, I’m Robbe IJzermans, I’m here to see Mrs Martens?”
The lady behind the desk, Gill, he assumes, smiles and points over her shoulder. “Yes, her office is just back there, she’s expecting you.”
“Oh uh—” Robbe fumbles for the right words. “I’m actually waiting for my partner? He shouldn’t be long.”
Gill nods. “That’s okay, I’ll let Mrs Martens know, you can take a seat over there.” She gestures to a couple of chairs lined up against the window.
He thanks her and sits down heavily into a chair, bouncing his foot as he waits.
What can only be twelve minutes, but feels like forever later, Sander walks into the office, looking around before his eyes settle on Robbe.
Robbe stands and migrates to his side, glancing at Gill and nodding towards the back. Gill offers him a smile and tells them, “You can go through.”
Robbe leads, Sander at his back and they walk down a small passage with a dark wood door at the end. Robbe puts a hand on the door handle and pushes it open part-way and looks inside.
There’s a woman sitting at a wooden desk, her hands folded neatly in front of her, and she gives him a brief smile, her red painted lips ticking up at the corners. “Come in.”
They cross the threshold into the room, and Robbe takes in the scene in front of him.
There are two sets of chairs positioned facing the desk. David is occupying one of the chairs, an open one beside him, but the other two are taken up by another man and a child about David’s age.
David doesn’t turn around to look at them, though he must know they’re there, so Robbe walks around to the empty chair and takes a seat, watching David the whole time. David won’t look at them, but his eyes are clouded with guilt and it makes Robbe’s stomach hurt.
He hears Sander shift behind them and then his hand falls on Robbe’s shoulder, squeezing once, gently and then staying there. His other hand is propped on the back of David’s chair.
Mrs Martens clears her throat and unfolds her hands. “I’m sure you all know why you’re here, but I’ll go into more detail now that we’re all together. This morning there was an argument between David and Mats,”— she gestures to the other boy— “Which resulted in David punching Mats in the face, they’ve spoken about the incident to their teacher, but they’re both unwilling to explain what started it and why it escalated to violence.” She crosses her arms, her mouth a thin line. “We don’t tolerate fighting, but I understand they’re both young and usually there is an explanation for these things.” She looks sternly at the two boys. “Your parents and I would really like to hear from you both what happened.”
David stares down at his sneakers, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. So Mrs Martens turns her eyes on Mats. “Mats? Why don’t you go first.”
Mats looks at his father nervously and then mumbles something too low to hear. His father nudges him softly. “Come on Mats.”
Mats glances around at the five of them and then down at his lap. “We were arguing and then David got really mad and then he punched me.”
David scowls at his laces and Robbe glances up at Sander, who’s matching his troubled expression. Both of them bewildered by David’s obvious anger.
“What were you arguing about?” Mrs Martens pushes, leaning toward him, forcing him to meet her eyes.
Mats bites at his lip and then grumbles his answer. “I dunno we were talking about our parents and then he punched me.”
David’s head snaps up and he glares at Mats. “You’re such a liar.”
“No, I’m not!”
Robbe stares at David in surprise. He knew David would’ve had to have gotten really mad to have actually wanted to punch someone, but it’s clear the anger is still there, fizzing just below the surface.
“David.” Sander soothes, stroking a thumb over his back. David still doesn’t look at them, but he seems to settle.
“David.” Mrs Martens repeats, “why don’t you tell us your version.”
David finally turns to Robbe and Sander, gazing up at them. They both give him encouraging smiles, but David still returns to studying his shoes before answering.
“He said I didn’t have a real family because I don’t have a mum.” He takes a deep breath. “He said I wasn’t normal.”
The room falls into stilted silence.
Before Mrs Martens has a chance to take control of the situation Sander speaks up, his tone mostly blasé, but the edges of the words are rough.
“Well normally I don’t condone violence, but I’m more lenient when someone is being openly homophobic.”
“Sander!” Robbe hisses, looking towards Mats’ father nervously. Robbe doesn’t like it any more than Sander does and though honestly, he’s kind of proud of David for punching the kid, he’d rather not help get his child suspended.
“That’s why I punched him.” David adds, helpfully.
Mats, for his part, is aware he’s done something wrong, looking anywhere but at them.
“Mats?” Mrs Martens prompts, “did you say that?”
“Yes.” Mats mumbles, cheeks red.
“Mats, that’s absolutely unacceptable.” Mats’ father scolds and his voice is surprisingly angry. “That’s a horrible thing to say to someone, David’s family is exactly the same as yours.”
Mats shrinks in on himself, thoroughly chastised. His father turns to Robbe and Sander. “I’m so sorry I really thought we’d taught him better than that, but clearly we need to do more, I promise we’ll be discussing it thoroughly at home.”
Robbe shakes his head. “It’s not your fault, kids are ignorant sometimes, David shouldn’t have escalated to violence like that.”
Sander makes a disagreeing noise and Robbe glares at him until Mrs Martens interrupts.
“Okay, well if you’re both satisfied and are agreeing to talk with your children about this behaviour I think you can all go home. I’ll keep them both in at lunch tomorrow, but, unless you object, I don’t think further punishment is necessary.” All the parents nod, though Sander’s is more begrudging acceptance than agreement. “If either of them does anything like this again, there will be harsher penalties, but I’m hoping they’ve both learned something. You’re welcome to take them home now, thank you for coming in.”
There’s a handful of slightly awkward goodbyes as they all leave. Robbe takes David and Sander drives home separately in his own car.
Once they’re all back at the apartment, they sit David down on the couch.
“You were right to punch him Bowie, that little punk had it coming.” Sander tells him, ruffling David’s hair until David gives in and smiles.
“Sander,” Robbe reprimands, “he could have been suspended, he can’t just go around punching every homophobe he meets.”
“Are you mad at me Papa?” David asks in a small voice and Robbe melts, just like he always does.
“Of course not, I’m so proud of you, for standing up for yourself and for us and I probably would’ve done the same thing.” He sighs, but he’s smiling. “But one of your parents has to be at least somewhat responsible.”
Sander snorts and David giggles and then Sander and Robbe are both tickling him into the couch, their laughter spilling into the small space.
Robbe doesn’t think there’s a better sound.