Chapter 11: Pandora's Box

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[After the match:]

Aware that his students had hit the showers, Johnny approached his son as he finished talking to the long-haired brat from Topanga Karate and watched as he waved goodbye to the former winner as he headed out into the parking lot.

What was with those two lovebirds?

It was like they were dating or something.

Johnny discarded the thought immediately. Nah.

He wasn't the most discerning parent, but he'd have known if his son was interested in guys or both (what was that called again?) The whole flirting with other boys thing was just part of the act he put on for the crowd.

~ ~ ~


"Robby?" he called out.

He felt an ache in his heart when his son instantly went tense.

Robby turned around, feigned disinterest, and put his hands on his hips. "What do you want now?"


"I wanted to say I'm sorry for upsetting you."

"Which time?" his son remarked coldly.

Johnny rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I probably deserve that."

Robby snorted. "You deserve a hell of a lot more than that."

A beat.


"You're right," his father agreed without arguing. "I haven't always — I mean ever" — (he corrected himself hastily when his child glared daggers at him) — "been there for you when you needed me."

The teenager sighed and scrubbed at his face tiredly. "You just don't get it, do you? Even after everything."

His dad looked at him quizzically.


"I don't understand why you still literally can't see what's right in front of you. None of this was ever about me needing you in my life, dad. Only about WANTING you in it."

Johnny could feel his heart racing. The beginning of that sentence nearly gave him palpitations.


"I want that too, pup," his dad said sincerely. "God, Robby. You have no idea how much I---"

"Stop!" his son growled.

Johnny opened his mouth to argue.

"Don't give me any shit about mom," Robby said, cutting him off impatiently. "And don't give me some cock-and-bull excuse about trying to protect me from getting hurt. Newsflash, dad, I'm already hurting. The only thing you're going to accomplish by pushing me away is that I'm going to wind up hating you."


"Does that mean you don't hate me yet?" his dad was determined to find the good in this conversation.

Robby looked at him evenly. "If I'd given up on you, dad, I wouldn't have come to talk to you when mom mentioned to me that you wanted me to move in with you."

Johnny's mouth went dry. "You wanted to move in with me?"

"I was willing to give it a try," his son admitted.


A light bulb went on over the father's head as he reviewed that sentence in his mind. "Wait. You said you came to visit me. When did you do that? I might be absent-minded, but I would have remembered you coming to see me."

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