Jack walked up to the front door of Robby's house and knocked on the door, waiting patiently until it opened, and Robby's sister greeted him with a polite smile.
"Jack! It's so good to see you again," she said, giving him a brief and friendly side-hug before gesturing for him to come in.
"It's been a while," Jack said as he walked past her into the entryway, a notable limp to his gait due to a persistent pain at the amputation point of his leg that had suddenly appeared that morning. "How are Sam and the kids?" he asked as he set the pizza he brought on the kitchen counter.
"Everyone's good. Kira's a freshman in high school now if you can believe it," Kat answered. "Aaron's soccer team won the regional tournament, and Ethan's teacher said he won't need the remedial reading classes anymore next year."
Jack opened the pizza box and started plating up a few slices. "That's crazy. I remember when Kira was just a baby. They grow up fast, huh?" He handed her a plate. "Where's your little bro at?"
"Digging out dad's things from storage," Kat answered. She took the plate but hesitated. "Is this–"
"Yup. Got it from that Kosher vegetarian place in Squirrel Hill," Jack answered.
Kat smiled and gave his arm an appreciative squeeze. "You've always been such a dear. Are you and Michael back together?"
Jack laughed awkwardly, then just took a bite of the pizza to avoid answering.
As if on cue, Robby's heavy footsteps came down the stairs and they both peered over as Robby dropped a big box of crap on the living room floor, kicking it out of his way and leaving it there to walk into the kitchen.
"Hey, Mikey," Jack said, holding up the plate of pizza. "Hope you took a lactaid."
Robby only silently took the slice set out for him and went to sit on the couch.
Jack and Kat shared a look.
"I offered to help clean, but he said he didn't want me 'poking around' his things," she said quietly.
Jack shook his head. "What a little shit."
Kat chuckled, then sighed. "I know this is hard for him. Our father was a complicated man, and unfortunately, I have to say he probably got the worst of it."
"I can hear you, you know?" Robby called over his shoulder. He scoffed. "Complicated. There was nothing 'complicated' about him, Kat. He was a prick. Plain and simple."
"You were too young to remember, but he wasn't always like that," Kat said. "He used to be different before your mom died. Finding her changed him, Michael."
Jack's heart fell into his stomach. The second those words left her mouth, he felt the already tense energy of the house drastically shift.
But the explosive anger Robby was prone to in situations like this didn’t come. He didn’t get up and start shouting or telling Kat to get the fuck out or threatening to cancel the entire funeral and shiva and let his asshole of a father rot in a ditch somewhere instead.
He just quietly, almost inaudibly, said, "Please don't bring her into this."
Somehow, that felt worse. A lot fucking worse.
Jack struggled through the ache in his leg, ignoring the shock of pain that shot down through nonexistent nerves to a nonexistent foot, and hurried over to the living room, arriving by Robby's side just in time for him to start sobbing.
He didn't say anything. He took the plate of pizza from Robby's hands, set it on the coffee table, and sat beside him, pulling him in close and gently stroking his hair, soothing him the same way he always had. "You're okay, Mikey. You're gonna be okay."
Robby held onto him like his life depended on it, crying onto his shoulder with the anguish of a man who had never let himself properly grieve all the people he had lost.
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