Cobra Kai Oneshots

[S2 Request] Keep The Pace Just In Case... - Robby & Daniel & Johnny

Full title on AO3 : Keep The Pace Just In Case All The Magic Dies (Cause This Is Driving Me Crazy)
Title from : Dementia by Owl City
Original request : Ooh I'd love to see maybe a follow up to this, with Robby trying to mask while living with the LaRussos but when his dad shows up it maybe breaks away from canon and he has a meltdown and they comfort him while he explains.
Requested by : TheyDontBurnLikeUs_27 on AO3
Chronology : Season 2, not canon compliant
Headcanons : Autistic!Robby, Daniel has ADHD, Autistic!Johnny (doesn't come up at all, just something to keep in mind)
Author's note : This made me realize I too was burning out, so that was fun. Seriously though, this is and has always been, at heart, a coping mechanism for me (writing fanfiction), so it worked out.

Daniel knew there was something a little different about Robby, but he didn't know what that something was.

See, Robby was a master at masking it. He needed to get by- His mom had been disappointed as all hell when he'd gotten diagnosed, and from that moment on, he knew that he had to be as not Autistic as he could manage in order for her to care for him... Not that she ever did anyways. But, it didn't matter either way. Because, when she wasn't around, the guys he got roped in with were no better. Hell, they were worse. If they knew the truth, they'd surely beat him into oblivion and call him a few slurs while doing it.

No, it was a matter of safety for Robby, and so he built up a list of rules in his head because clear-cut rules were easier to follow if he had them mapped out as opposed to just hoping to get by. Be mindful of your facial expressions. Maintain eye contact unless it's someone safe. Don't complain about your clothes or your food. Don't ramble for more than 2 sentences. Don't mess with your hands. If something is too loud or bright, just grin and bear it. The list went on for a while.

He followed it pretty closely, too. It helped him get by. No one suspected a thing. They left it at the mask and never bothered to look deeper. And that's what made Mr. LaRusso so scary to Robby.

He looked deeper.

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The first thing that immediately stood out to Daniel upon the kid moving in was his food patterns. While Robby would eat anything you set in front of him, whenever he had the choice he always wound up choosing Pops cereal. Always. Without fail. That's part of why Daniel promised himself to pack a lunch for the kid when school started back up, just to make sure the kid didn't live off of Pops.

That was decidedly not normal. Neither was the constant, subtle fidgets the kid would do, like bouncing his leg or fiddling with his fingers when he thought no one was looking. Daniel recognized that pretty quickly due to him having similar mannerisms because of his ADHD. So, that's what he wrote it off as. The kid probably just has ADHD he thought to himself, content with his answer until the cracks in the façade continued to pile up in ways that could not be written off as 'just ADHD'

He didn't know what to do, though. Clearly the kid was putting forth substantial effort to hide whatever it was that made him different, and Daniel didn't want to upset him by prying. Besides, it's not like it caused him enough trouble (at least that Daniel could see) to be worth poking at. So, Daniel left it. He accepted all of Robby's quirks along with the rest of him. It didn't make much of a difference.

Well... Until it did.

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It had been a normal day until Johnny showed up at the LaRusso household to ask about the logistics of Robby starting high school. He just wanted to see if Daniel needed any paperwork, stuff like that. He may not have been an active father but he wasn't entirely absent either. However, Daniel was in the bathroom, Amanda was at the dealership, and Sam was in her room calling Moon, so Robby was the one to answer the door.