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“Why did you only come forward now? Huh?! Because you’re a coward!”
The words struck Tory harder than she thought it would. The more people surrounded them the more she felt overwhelmed. The next thing she knew, Robby was in front of her.
This was not part of her plan.
Under normal circumstances that would’ve brought her a sense of comfort but it only stressed her out even more.
“Screw you, Larusso.” were the only words she managed with a hoarse voice. “I knew this was a mistake.”
Her vision was slowly blurring and she felt her throat tighten.
She wanted to leave.
She needed to leave.
Tory spared a glance back again to Robby but that only made her feel worse as hot tears filled up her eyes.
Her feet quickly started walking as far away from the scene as she can. As if simply being there any longer suffocates her.
“Tory!” Robby calls out but she doesn’t look back. He hears Miguel do the same for Sam but both of their girls’ footsteps just grew fainter as they left.
“Did you know about any of this?”
“No. I had no idea.” he sighs.
For a beat they just stand there taking in what they just witnessed. Though it wasn’t long until Robby decided to follow Tory’s direction.
He had barely processed what just happened but everything in Robby was telling him to follow her. Whatever he is feeling right now – guilt, worry, confusion – about what he just found out can wait.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Miguel asks.
“I’m going after her,” he tells him as he’s walking away. “Party’s over. You can tell everyone else to go home.”
Miguel didn’t seem to have any complaints as he spoke inaudibly to whom Robby can only assume, Hawk. A couple murmurs come from others who were at the party but he’s not too keen on entertaining people’s perception of what just happened tonight.
All that mattered to him right now was Tory.
A lot of things have been going pretty great for Robby recently for the first time in a while. He has worked through a lot of his issues with his dad and Miguel, he was getting along with Mr. Larusso, Sam and his former teammates again as he returns to Miyagi-Do, and he has a stable homelife now too. But he doesn’t feel as satisfied as he wanted himself to be because someone kept invading his thoughts.
Tory wasn’t a part of his life anymore. So logically, she should be the last thing on his mind right now.
But his mind refused to stop.
The truth was one of the reasons he even thought about going back to Miyagi-Do again was Tory. The same way she was the reason he even stayed in Cobra Kai in the first place. Now he wants that dojo to be taken down for good. To get everyone, especially the ones he cared about, out of that hellhole.
Robby only admits now that he was lying to himself back at the waterpark when he said those words to Tory before leaving her. He wasn’t done. He found himself actively looking for ways to help still.
Even when he was celebrating with his friends after the match to enter the Sekkai Taikai not long ago, in the back of his mind, he still longed for Tory; his worry for her was inexorable. As much as he wanted to push away and block the remnant feelings he had for her so much so that he didn’t have to dwell on them, something kept pulling him back to her like she was some magnetic force.
Tory still being a part of his life is something he wants more than anything and any sign or chance of that is why he keeps on reaching for her.
He wanted to know where she was and if she’s okay. However, seeing her current state after it was revealed that Silver cheated the All Valley Tournament, and Tory was working with Kreese confirms she was far from okay.
Robby can’t see Tory anywhere which doesn’t surprise him, since Tory has taken on a disappearing act lately. Still, it’s killing him inside. Not even knowing half of what she has been going through since they broke up did nothing to soothe him. Seeing Tory used to be typically the best part of his day, and he’s missed out on that a lot recently now that they’re over. Things are tense between the two dojos, nothing new, but he’d childishly held onto the hope that Tory might show up at the party. She did but not for the reasons he had hoped.
As he made it outside the apartment complex he wasn't more than twenty feet away when he saw her. Before any thoughts could enter his brain, Robby was running towards her frame. “Tory, wait!”
She doesn’t reply and only walks faster.
“We need to talk.” his voice was a little louder this time as he tried to catch up with her.
“Secret’s out already, Robby. You heard Larusso.” she shakes her head, her voice unsteady. “I’m apparently a coward who made everyone’s lives suffer and she’s right. What’s more there to talk about?”
“Please.”
Her footsteps slow down.
“Hey,” he said in a softer tone as the space between them slowly narrowed. “I want to talk to you. ”
“You do?” she turns around to face him, her eyes glazed.
For a shuddering moment, time seems to freeze as Robby properly lays eyes on Tory for the first time in days.
It seemed as though she was taunting him but the weariness in her voice made him take no offense to it. A tear slid down her cheek, but she hastened to wipe it away. Outside his father’s apartment complex, late at night with Tory was the last thing Robby expected to happen today, but there she is - looking as if she’d rather hide herself from everyone, but there.
“You have something you want to say to me?”
Tory holds on to every bit of harshness she had left in her to keep the walls she built around herself up.
“So much actually.”
She gazed at him intently before shaking her head and turning to walk away again like she had no time for this.
“That's it? You’re just gonna leave and not hear what I have to say?”
She lets out a humorless laugh. “That’s rich, coming from you.”
It’s clear Tory has her guard up and had no plan of lowering it around him. Robby didn’t blame her. He knew he deserved this for turning his back on her after giving an ultimatum.
That stupid ultimatum that he regretted so much, haunted him everyday since.
Tory was tired of giving. Not when what she receives is not even close to what she has given. She was so tired.
For once, she wanted him to be the one that follows right behind her. So he would know how it feels.
“Tory.” he follows after her.
“Robby, please just go back home.”
She starts getting irritated that he won’t let this go. She desperately wanted to resist falling into his gravitational pull and just run away somewhere far from him but the closer his footsteps got the more she felt helpless .
“I know something’s wrong and I don’t want you to go through it alone.”
“Too bad. It’s none of your business anymore.”
“Well you can’t just keep running away and I don’t want to have to keep on chasing after you.” The words came out of his mouth spontaneously, getting caught up at the heat of the moment.
“Who asked you to?! I don’t even know why you are.” she turns around and glares at him while raising her voice.
Robby felt himself start getting mad too. “Yeah? Have you ever thought that I care about you?”
Tory hesitantly pauses before scoffing. “Go home, Robby.”
When he doesn’t move, she adds. “You said it yourself. You’re done trying to help, remember?”
“I know what I said.” Robby kept his voice calm and steady.
“So then why are you still here?” she stepped closer.
“I’m here for you .”
Neither of them avert their gazes. Tory’s eyes were saying so much yet so little. Robby could feel her keeping something from him and as much as he wanted to know, he remained patient.
“You have every right to walk away from me. I deserve it.” he sighed. “Back at the waterpark, I shouldn’t have just left, I said some things that I wish I could take back. I should’ve tried harder with you and not let the rivalry of the dojos get in between us. ”
“I assumed that you would never want to leave Cobra Kai and god I was so selfish to break us apart because of it. I’ve… I’ve messed this up so many times. And you’ve made it very clear that you’re not my business anymore but I just couldn’t help myself. If you want me to stop, please, please stop me.”
Tory found it harder to breathe as time went on. How could she keep her walls up when Robby knows the exact words to say.
“But I’m here right now, to let you know that I will always be here for you Tory, and I’m sorry that I didn’t make you feel like it before. I know something happened- a lot has happened after the tournament that you didn’t tell me… or at least you weren’t comfortable enough to.”
Tory shook her head, “I made a mistake. It’s not your fault. I pushed you away.”
“And I let you.”
Robby firmly adds, “That was my mistake. I’m not doing that again.”
She inhaled sharply. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.” He drilled his green eyes into hers and she found herself unable to respond.
In a softer voice, he said, “That’s all I’m trying to do, Tory.”
She attempts to look anywhere but at him.
Her despair almost drove her mad. She wanted to be angry. To be angry at him. To yell at him and release all her frustrations that it would make him go away. She would do anything to replace the sadness that’s overtaking her right now.
But she couldn’t find herself to do so.
Instead, a wave of exhaustion just washes over her.
She’d grown tired, and in the past month or so, her tiredness had been morphing into frustration because she didn’t want to be weak and cry her heart out. She was easily annoyed, especially with everything that has been bothering her. In an attempt to not hurt the people she cares about, she had almost fully kept all her problems to herself. If anyone noticed, it’s either she had closed herself off so much that they attempted to give her the space she wanted so badly, or they did not care enough to try and check up on her about it.
But Robby did.
He cared. And Tory knows he still does because he was standing in front of her right now.
He cared enough to worry about her.
The words a sensei had told her before echoed in her mind.
If you want to break free from troubles, you must face them directly.
And maybe something in Robby’s tone convinces her she’s going to lose this battle, so she took a deep breath before facing him again.
“You weren’t supposed to find out like this.” she says, her voice small and defeated.
When her eyes met his green ones that were sad yet full of love – love for her – she couldn’t help but let the tears fall.
Robby doesn’t give her an answer. He just wraps both his arms around Tory and pulls her closer to him.
The battle between her armor and exhaustion raged. And then it was over, and a choked sob forced its way out of her throat as she tried to catch her breath.
“I got you.” he murmured.
She clung to him — her safe place — and buried her face in his neck.
They held onto each other like they never wanted to let go ever.
Tory needed this. She doesn’t care if Robby wasn’t hers anymore, she would let herself be selfish even for just one night and have this with him.
When a bit of time had passed, Robby slowly pulled away from the hug and placed his hand on her cheek to wipe away her tears. “Feeling better?”
She nods before her face turns serious again and she faintly shakes her head.
“There’s so much to say but I don’t know where to start.” she said rather hesitantly and he doesn’t miss this.
Robby offers her a reassuring smile. “We could always take things slow.”
“I guess that’s true.” Tory chuckles lowly in response. They stand silently for a few moments.
Tory eyes him carefully. “We’ll talk soon. It’s just…” she trails off, and Robby gets the sense she’s holding back from him again. “There’s some things I have to handle on my own first.”
Robby nods slowly. “I understand.”
Remembering the issue that continues to linger between them, she kept her head hung low.
“If you’re gonna tell me to get out of Cobra Kai, I ca-”
“I won’t.” he interrupts.
This made her look back up at him.
“I want you to.” he swallows, attempting to hide the pain in his voice. “but I’m not gonna make you leave if you’re not ready. You were right, you can make your own decisions, I won't stop you. And I believe you’ll make the right one.”
“Robby…”
“Please, let’s just—“ He catches Tory’s hand. “Let’s talk sometime tomorrow, okay? I’ve really missed you.”
Tory takes a while to respond, so much so that Robby wonders if he’s even going to get an answer.
Then, she says in a whisper. “I’ve missed you, too.”
Robby faintly smiles, relief flooding into his chest. He gives Tory’s hand a final squeeze before finally releasing her.
“I should really get going.” she said. “Thanks… for this.”
“Don’t mention it.” he replies. “Be careful.”
Robby watched Tory leave and slowly disappear from his vision. This wasn’t the first time that has happened and he’s sure it won’t be the last either.
But it hurted all the same.