valentine gonzalez was an oddball in the eyes of very much everyone. he was not exactly the optimistic type and he hardly ever seemed excited or eager about anything. he had learned from a young age that it is best to be do the bare minimum than to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Standing in the kitchen, a smile existed on Valentine's lips as he scrolled through the latest selfies that he and Miguel had taken on their recent date. The last picture made his smile grow further than he thought imaginable, Miguel had placed a kiss on his cheek and caused his cheeks to flush.
The doorbell rang and Anthony jumped up from the sofa near the door, where he sat with Sam, announcing the arrival of his and his sister's grandmother. His sister followed and stood next to him as he opened the door. Valentine was making his way over to greet the older woman.
"Hey, cutie, give me a hug," Lucille greeted Anthony as she wrapped her arms around her grandson. Her eyes then came upon her granddaughter. "Oh, Sammie. When are you gonna stop getting so pretty?" When she caught sight of Valentine, her smile grew bigger. She pulled him into a hug. "Vale, how have you been, sweetie? Did you get those treats I sent you?"
"Yes, and they were delicious, thank you, Ms. Lucille," the Gonzalez boy let out. Daniel came down the stairs just as the woman and boy pulled away from their hug.
"Ah, there are those baby browns. Get over here," Lucille told her son. She and Daniel hugged and kissed each other on the cheek.
"You know, it's bad enough that this monster is teaching kids. Now he's somehow convinced the All Valley Board to let Cobra Kai back in the tournament," Daniel explained to his mother and brother. The hot dogs on the grill sizzled in the air.
"Oh, that's terrible. They can't let them back," Lucille agreed. "Oh, they're nothing but a bunch of bullies."
"They can't all be bullies, right?" Sam asked. Her eyes met her adoptive brother at the topic of Cobra Kai, the dojo where Valentine's... Miguel had been a student ever since they met him.
"Yeah, they can't all be bullies," Valentine defended, having Miguel in the back of his mind. "I-I mean, I've had a class or two with a few of them and they're not mean or anything."
"Trust me, sweethearts, you don't know the half of it. Those Cobra jerks made my little boy's life miserable," proclaimed Lucille. Amanda finally joined the table outside after having gone inside to grab something from the refrigerator. "Tell them how they pushed you down that hill."
"Well, they've already heard it, Ma," Daniel replied, flagging off the opportunity to share the story again.
"I thought it was a cliff," Anthony reminded his father of the version that he had been told.
"You want pasta salad?" Amanda asked her mother-in-law as she stirred her spoon around the container filled with pasta salad. She only responded with, "Oh, no, thank you. I-I-I don't like that packaged stuff from the store. It's..." Lucille trailed off as she shuddered at the thought of eating it.
"Oh, well, I would've made some, but I got home late from the dealership," Amanda declared, taking her seat.
"Oh no. That's okay. I get it. It's tough being a working mom, but at least you have a partner," Lucille replied. She looked at her son as he approached the table with a plate of piping-hot hot dogs in his hand. "Remember how I used to come home from work and then started cooking from scratch?"
