Finding Eden (Tory/Robby)

Chapter 1: Ohana means family

[Nearly two years later] ...

In Johnny's mind, it seemed like an entire lifetime had passed before he received any kind of actual face-to-face correspondence with his son, and when he got the opportunity, he'd nearly missed his chance, because he was still a dumbass at heart when it came to technology, and he didn't completely understand how to answer video calls.

It started innocently enough with Johnny spotting a notification of a video call on his co-sensei's open laptop and deciding to check out the message the two karate instructors had missed due to being outside in the Miyagi-do backyard running a class.

"Missed call from Nichols..." he read out loud.

He scowled and hit "ignore".

His actions prompted immediate damage control.

Daniel hurried over to his computer, feeling irritated by the man's idiocy, and pushed his former bully out of the way with a shove. "Don't delete it, you dumbass! Nichols is Tory's last name. It's got to be Robby who tried to call me."

Why couldn't Johnny just hit call back like a normal person?

Why did everything with him have to be so difficult?

• • •

"This is a computer," Johnny pointed to it unnecessarily like his rival was too stupid to understand the concept. "You can't make phone calls on this thing. So obviously it's one of those robots trying to steal your identity that Miguel warned me about."

Daniel barely resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall at that ridiculous train of thought. "Seriously, Johnny! Talk about having a blonde moment."

The karate instructor looked at him with clear annoyance written on his face as he ran his hand through his hair as if the comment personally offended him. "What is this obsession you have with my hair?"

Daniel pointedly ignored him as he hit the button on the screen to return the call.

They watched the mouse buffer as it tried to connect.

Johnny scoffed initially, not believing the concept, but then turned a little pale when he saw the computer trying to reach someone. "Are you saying it was actually Robby calling you?" The realization that he'd nearly sent his sons first and to his knowledge, only, attempt to reach either of them into the trash bin without even opening it was finally dawning on him.

The father watched the screen with his heart in his throat as the screen remained dark for a few seconds as it tried to connect with the call they'd missed and then let out a sigh of relief when he saw a very familiar (but unexpected face) appear on the computer screen.

It wasn't Robby.

It also wasn't a robot.

~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~💍~~~💍~

"Hey there, kiddo," Daniel greeted automatically as he scanned the decidedly unfamiliar room in the background.

In his experience, even the most modern hotels in Okinawa had some hint of their Japanese origin, whereas the room the eight-year-old was currently occupying had a strangely Hawaiian theme to the future and decor that looked out of place.

Brandon was staring into the computer's camera like he couldn't quite make out who was on the other side of the screen.