The Serpent Queen

Miyagi-Do | Part Four

Twenty minutes later, George came outside and sat in the other chair also with a cup of coffee in hand, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Hawk lied, fidgeting with his fingers.

"You sure?"

"Yeah..."

"Because you seem terrified of something you've done. Afraid what the consequences would be. The feeling of guilt, self loathing, and regret."

"I'm not."

"Don't try to deny it. I know that look very well. Too well.  I spent some time in my past looking at my reflection with the same look. You want to talk to Phoebe? What about?"

"That's between me and her."

"Fair enough. You can't blame me for wanting to look out for my daughter's well-being."

"Can't blame you for that either. I haven't been the best boyfriend lately."

"So you are together? I knew there was something going on with her. She's been more cheerful than usual, and I know you've been in the apartment while Sophie and I haven't been." He glanced to the boy who had a questioning expression on his face as to why he would know that. George clarified for him, "The neighbour next to Johnny is quite nosey. Loves to peak their head out between the curtains every so often, and tell me the comings, goings, and the drama of the complex."

"Yeah, we are together." Hawk confirmed.

"Look, it's no secret that I have been on the fence about you in the past. But you make my daughter happy and that's all that matters. Now since you're hear to talk to her and it's important even for you to sit out here all night. I'm guessing you two are fighting about something."

"Kinda. It's about my involvement with Cobra Kai."

"Ah, the dojo strikes again. It ruins people's lives."

"I can see that."

"What did you do?"

Hawk furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"We both know you did something."

Hawk admitted, "It's bad. Really bad. I really fucked up."

"It can't be as bad as what I did."

"I'm telling you, it's bad..." Hawk proceeded to tell him about the events of the night. He didn't mean to tell George first before Phoebe, but he got the sense that George wouldn't judge him because he was an ex-Cobra and understood firsthand how Kreese worked and he felt as if he could trust him. Even being Phoebe's dad and Demetri's uncle. "I-I didn't want to do it, but I did. There's a lot of other shitty things I've done."

"Peer pressure sucks. You don't want to know all the shit I did back in the day."

"But that's just it. Some of it wasn't peer pressure. It was about being cool and fitting in. Why did you leave Cobra Kai?" Hawk wondered out of curiosity.

"Kreese was mad that I won second place and attempted to strangle me with a chokehold...and then I got sucked back in, and I properly left after the tournament in 1985. Those lessons stayed with me into my adult life, I nearly beat my friend to death because of them. That's when and why I decided to move."

"You moved all the way to England to get away from Cobra Kai?"

"To get away from the remnants left behind by Kreese."

"Does everyone leave Cobra Kai that way? Doing something violent or having it done against them?"

"Mostly yes. Me, Phoebe, Johnny, the rest of the OG boys. It's a pattern."