Work Text:
Robby had just arrived at juvey after being on the run from the cops. He knew why he was there, and, quite honestly, he knew he deserved the punishment, but he couldn’t help but hate it. Robby wanted to get better and more calm after the school fight. He knew that what he had done to Miguel was horrible and wrong and he regretted it deeply. And he just wanted to improve himself. That’s what juvey was supposed to do for him, help him be better by punishing him. It may have worked if some of the others' aggression wasn’t so extreme, but it was. It took everything that Robby had not to give into the aggression that he could feel all around him, but he didn’t want to fight anyone anymore, not without reason, and only to a certain extent.
One day, it seemed that the others were desperate to get him to fight. They started making comments about how he was a murderer, even though Robby knew that Miguel wasn’t dead (he’d been paying attention to the news on the matter, because it relieved his guilt slightly to know that, even if Miguel may be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, at least Robby hadn’t killed the other boy). It was obvious to Robby that they were trying to get him to fight, but he just didn’t want to. He honestly wasn’t sure if he would ever do Karate again. Robby ignoring them did not decrease the anger in the other boys. Instead, their anger increased dramatically.
They waited until the guard turned the corner before the largest boy, Shawn, Robby seemed to remember his name being, stared Robby down for hardly more than a moment, before he threw a punch. Robby blocked it with trained experience. But more blows kept coming. Over and over, he tried to block them all, but made no move to strike back. After a moment, Shawn called out to two of his lackeys, “Hold him down.” The grabbed Robby before he even had the opportunity to fight back he was held down on the floor so that Shawn could hit him more easily.
Robby took the blows as gracefully as he could, knowing that each punch and kick was a partial retribution for his mistake.