#johnny watches soap operas religiously and no one can change my mind

[wicked-jade]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @russolaw.

This is from "Heroes in a Half Shell", an AU I'm writing where Johnny ends up raising Robby on his own. For context, Robby wants to go the Halloween carnival at Bobby's church, but Johnny can't afford to buy him the Ninja Turtle costume that he wants.

Sure enough, he was still looking at him expectantly, his eyes wide and full of hope. “Please, dad? It says here that the carnival ends at eight. We don’t even have to stay the whole time! Just for a little while. I won’t make you late for work again, I promise.”

In his head, Johnny cursed Bobby to hell and back. Because as much as he hated to tell Robby no, there was no way he could justify the extra expense. Not right now, when he was barely managing to keep a roof over their heads.

And Bobby knew that. It was shitty for him to get Robby’s hopes up. The second Robby left for school, he was gonna call that bald bastard and give him a piece of his mind. Because as good as his intentions might’ve been, it felt like he was deliberately setting him up for failure.

And he didn’t need any help in that department. He was failing spectacularly, all on his own. At adulthood, at fatherhood, at life in general…

“…and can I be Donatello? He’s the purple one, with the staff.” Robby babbled, blissfully unaware of his dad’s latest existential crisis. When he didn’t respond, he tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. “And if you can’t find him, I guess Leonardo’s okay, too. Hey! Hey Dad, are you listening to me?”

Johnny could feel the tears of frustration pricking at his eyes. He blinked them back and forced another smile. Time to try another tactic.

“Donatello, right,” he said absently, struggling to focus through the haze of pain and mounting anxiety. “You know, at this late date, I bet all the really cool costumes are already gone. Like, there probably aren’t any Ninja Turtles left. And if there are, they probably won’t be your size. Maybe if we wait and go to next year’s carnival, I can get you a really badass costume so you can win that contest. How about that?”

Robby looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “But I don’t care about winning. I just wanna go.”

It took all of Johnny’s willpower to not roll his one good eye. Jesus. Didn’t care about winning? Sometimes he really wondered if this kid was even his. Sure, he had the DNA test results to prove it, but those things could be faked, right?  

They did it all the time on Days of our Lives.

Tagging: @phoomwhoosh, @lulamadison, @desolateice, @pfaerie, and whoever else might want to do it who wasn't been tagged yet.

#johnny watches soap operas religiously and no one can change my mind #wip wednesday #johnny lawrence #robby keene #cobra kai fanfic #fic: heroes in a half shell