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Sensei Toguchi dismissed them from training, marking the end of Robby's first day back at Miyagi-Do.
It went as good as it could have gone. Better than, really. Robby might even go as far as to say it was fun. He didn’t expect his time there to last any longer than it had to, but if that was what classes were going to be like, Robby could at least let himself enjoy it while he could.
It almost felt like old times.
Robby set his skateboard down, ready to take off, even as the happy chatter of the others filled the air as they lingered around the dojo. Good day or not, Robby was more of an outsider than anyone else there and he wasn’t about to overstay his welcome. Fool him once, right?
"Hey, Keene."
Robby took a foot off his skateboard, turning to see Hawk coming up to him, backpack slung over his shoulder. It was just him, Robby noted, using a foot to flip his board up and grab it by the axle. No Miguel or Demetri or anyone to posture around. This could be interesting.
"Hawk," Robby returned, the absurd nickname tasting odd on his tongue.
The animosity between them seemed to have fizzled into something more amicable and Robby could feel it comfortably, if cautiously, settle between them, but he kept his guard up nonetheless.
"Leaving already?" Hawk asked.
Robby shrugged. "Class is over."
Hawk pinched his lips, observing him. There was clearly something he wanted to say, so Robby watched him right back with a careful gaze, waiting patiently.
"I just wanted to say…" he hesitated. "You don't… totally suck."
Robby quirked an eyebrow. That was, oddly enough, the nicest thing Hawk's ever said to him. Things really do change.
"Thanks?" Robby wasn't sure what else to say. "You too… I guess."
"So we're cool now, right?" Hawk suddenly asked, gesturing to both of them.
Robby frowned. He kind of assumed that would go unspoken, but if the guy really needed confirmation… "As long as you don't start anything…” He gave a little shrug. “I'd say so, yeah."
"Good," Hawk said, looking somewhat intense. "Because I wanna be honest with you about something."
Robby turned to face him properly, wary but intrigued. "Go ahead."
He took a deep breath. "I always hated you."
Robby laughed, short and surprised. "No shit."
"It was for a lot of reasons," Hawk continued, ignoring him. "I mean, at first, at last year's All-Valley, that was just me being a dick. I could dish it out but I couldn't take it."
Well, props for self-awareness.
"If you asked me before the school fight, I would just say that it was because you were Miyagi-Do, so of course I hate you. Or it was on Miguel's behalf. And after the fight, what you did to Miguel — that was the big reason."
"Makes sense," Robby conceded.
"But that was never it. Because even if it weren't for Miguel, or you being in Miyagi-Do, I probably still would've hated you. I mean, I wanted to hate you."
Robby listened with rapt attention. "And why's that?"
"Because you saw through me, from day one," Hawk answered plainly. "You know, Sensei Lawrence — he's all about being macho and tough and badass. And before Cobra Kai, I was exactly the opposite of that. But then I joined, and I lapped up every word he said… and I tried so hard to be badass. With the hair, the tattoo, the whole attitude… even the damn motorbike. I thought I was the shit. But every time we'd cross paths, you looked at me like you thought I was a joke. It was like you could just… see through all of it. And it pissed me off. It made me feel like a poser."
It was all coming together.
Robby had thought he was a joke. Hawk was always putting on a show — the obnoxious jeers, the condescending smirks, the exaggerated swagger. It wasn't hard to sense something intrinsically pompous and fake about the way he carried himself. He was the textbook definition of a bully, hiding his own crippling insecurities behind dramatic tattoos and fancy hair. Not very well, either, given his outburst at their first All-Valley when Robby made a jab at his mohawk (fuck’s sake, Robby hadn't even started that trash talk). Robby found that people like that were best off out of sight, out of mind. They were impossible to take seriously.
"Yeah…" Robby agreed lightly. "You were kind of a tool, man."
Hawk snorted, clearly not offended. "I was."
"But now, I don't know." Robby smiled, despite himself. "You're alright, Moskowitz."
Hawk's lips turned upward too. "Appreciate it."
Robby had to know, "Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't… I just wanted you to know.” Hawk scratched his neck uncertainly. “It felt important, I guess."
"Okay," Robby said after a stunned moment, not knowing where to go from there. It felt important, he'd said. What the hell was that supposed to mean? "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"You don't wanna stick around?"
"You want me to stick around?" Robby wondered suspiciously. Hawk might've wanted Robby to know all about his backstory, for whatever reason, and they might've shared a moment of camaraderie during training, but that didn't make them… friends, or whatever. Respect was one thing. Was Hawk really open to anything beyond that?
Was Robby?
"You may as well," Hawk shrugged. "If you're back, we're gonna be around each other a lot anyway, right? May as well get used to it. Better soon than later."
That was his thought process too, striking up a conversation with Sam after everything that happened between them. He knew they’d have to break the ice eventually if they were going to be on the same side and come out of this karate gang-war victorious, without making themselves miserable in the process, so he'd initiated some small talk to release some of that tension.
But honestly? Robby didn't think he'd end up spending any more time around them than he had to. He was sure that he would never have been so easily accepted back if not for Miguel's stamp of approval. Hell, Nate had straight-up called him a traitor once during the stand-off at the drive-in, so Robby wouldn’t be surprised if that was the general consensus among the Miyagi-Dos.
So why should Robby waste his time on people who didn’t genuinely want him around? After all, he was only there on business. Once they took Cobra Kai down, once Robby made sure Tory and Kenny and everyone else were safe, he wasn't under the impression that this weirdly warm and comfortable dynamic between him and all these people would last. At best, Robby foresaw him going his own separate way while the rest forgot about him.
Out of sight, out of mind.
But Hawk kind of poured his heart out just now, all on his own volition, simply because he felt it was important somehow. And Robby didn't owe him anything, but something about it made him want to meet Hawk halfway.
"Alright," he relented.