Before I Forget

Payback

The arcade had always been one of Hawk's favorite places.

He'd taken Sky here on a date more than once, but even before that, when he had still been Eli, he had spent so many fun days here with Demetri, playing the games, trying to smash their old records, escaping reality the best they could in the world of games, lights, music, and fast food.

But all that stupid nerd stuff was of course in the past now. He wasn't here to play the games tonight, he wasn't that guy anymore. Tonight he was running through the arcade with his friends, laughing loudly as they stole some chic's tickets, snickering as he knocked the ball from some poor kid's hands. He enjoyed the havoc and the chaos he caused, it filled the hole in his chest so that he could almost pretend that it didn't exist at all.

He was the Hawk and he didn't care about anything.

He didn't care about his fight with Mom yesterday, he didn't care about his piece of shit Dad. Flashing a grin to his friends, he rushed through the arcade, ignoring the yells of the girl whose tickets he had stolen, Hell, he didn't give shit about her either. And he didn't care about Sky, the fact that she had ripped his heart out of his chest. He was tougher than that, and the louder he laughed, the easier it became to believe.

He slammed the tickets on the counter, and the fat nerd in a stupid Golf N' Stuff uniform behind it turned to look.

Chris.

Hawk hadn't known Chris worked here, but all the better. Glancing at his former teammate, Hawk let out a dry, amused laugh.

"Hey buddy!" he smirked, drawing Chris' attention to himself.

"Hey, prize wench," added Assface, earning a laugh from Hawk.

It had been a while since Hawk had seen this loser who had quit Cobra Kai after Hawk had trashed Miyagi Do. That sudden memory almost stung - not the one about Chris leaving, that pathetic nerd had always been too soft for Cobra Kai anyways - but the memory about trashing the dojo, stealing the medal, losing Sky—

Hawk shoved those images away, pushed them into the farthest corner of his mind. He wasn't going to think about Sky, not tonight, not ever again. After last night's embarrassing jerk off session while watching Sky's photos, Hawk had decided that enough was enough. Sky had dumped him, It was over, and he wasn't going to think about her again. He would fill that hole in his chest, by any means necessary - and so far this night was going great.

Chris frowned, glancing from Hawk to his friends. "What do you guys want?"

"Well, to spend our hard-earned tickets, of course," Hawk replied, faking a serious face. "Why don't you be a good girl and grab us one of those bobbleheads?"

With a frown, Chris turned and walked to the shelves to pick up the said item - which was exactly what Hawk had expected him to do. With one, swift move he jumped over the counter and started grabbing everything he could get his hands on, filling his arms with stuffed animals.

The look on Chris' face when he noticed, was fucking hilarious. Hawk couldn't help laughing when he tossed the prizes to his friends over the counter, and jumped back, ignoring Chris' alarmed shouts.

"Thanks, Chris!" Assface laughed, as they were rushing out. "Tell your mom I miss her."

"Yeah, and tell her to stop calling me," Hawk mocked, making a rude gesture.

Hawk didn't stop to hear what that nerd replied, his legs carried him out of the room and he couldn't stop laughing as they ran through the arcade with their stolen prizes.

They made their way to the abandoned laser tag place next door, their loud laughter and nonstop joking filling this empty place, filling the hole in Hawk's chest.