Chapter Text
It wasn’t his first choice. If it was up to him he would have just taken the six months and got through it. But his mum had cried more tears than he thought she had in her, and she had begged. He’d always had a lot of trouble saying no to his mum when she looked at him like that.
So here he was, taking this ‘plea bargain’. Instead of six months in a juvenile detention centre, he was spending eight weeks in a ‘discipline program’ they had brought in earlier this year. The program was aimed for youths who hadn’t done anything bad enough to go to actual prison, but bad enough to be given a sentence of juvenile detention. They were required to complete the program instead of doing time in Juvie. It was a new program, this was only the third time they had trialled it, but a teacher at Noah’s school had suggested it to his mum who had talked to their lawyer about it and before Noah fully understood what was happening, he had a place in the new program starting that week.
“Please stand, young man.” The judge was saying, and Noah reluctantly got to his feet. “You have decided to accept the place offered to you in the discipline program?”
“Yes, sir.” Noah said, quietly.
“And you understand that at any point during the program you decide to leave, you are forfeiting your plea deal and will start the original sentence of six months in juvenile detention that was handed down?”
“Yes, sir.”
The judge nodded sharply. “I don’t expect to see you back in my court room.”
Nosh wasn’t sure if that was meant to be a question or a statement, but he decided the safest thing to do was to answer with another quick “yes, sir”
Noah said a quick goodbye to his mum who hadn’t stopped crying since she’d seen him walk out into the court room dressed in the mandatory uniform. She hugged him way too tightly, but Noah let her, it was probably going to be the only comfort he would be receiving in the next eight weeks and that made him involuntarily rest his head on his mums shoulder for just a second longer than he normally would.
^^^
There were five of them in the van that took them to the location, It was an old repurposed centre that’s had been used for outpatients, it still had many of the rooms but they had done it up to be more suitable for modern living. It didn’t actually look all that bad from the outside, a lot better than juvie did.
Noah was led into the foyer with the other four boys and down a corridor to what looked like a common area. The boys were sat on a couch and an official looking man with a clipboard came out and checked off their names.
Noah glanced around and estimated there were around thirty other boys, all looking similar age to him.
"Right, you all know why you are here, but I will go over some house keeping, just to make sure we are all on the same page.”
Noah bit his lip. Was this man about to say what was going to be happening here? Surely not in front of everyone? Noah thought there would be at least a slight bit of privacy In this place, they all knew what they were there for, but it didn’t mean that Noah wanted to hear it said out loud while squished on a couch between a nervous looking red head and a punk who looked like he had chosen his look out of a Goth magazine from the 90’s.
“You will each be designated a disciplinarian that will be responsible for you and your discipline. They will be in control of what you can and cannot do on a daily basis. If you feel like your disciplinarian is being unfair or cruel, there is a protocol to follow, and you will refer to me.”
Noah’s left knee jiggled up and down as the man made his speech, hoping he wouldn’t get more specific than that.
“As per your sentences, there will be nightly spankings every night for a week, and then four a week for the following seven weeks of your sentence.”
And there it was.
Noah didn’t think he’d ever been so embarrassed. How could this guy just say something like that as casually as he would if he was reading out a specials board at a restaurant? Noah’s face felt hot and he didn’t dare look anywhere but the ground.
“Those are the requirements of the discipline program. There will be added punishments as the weeks go on, like lines or assignments, and your disciplinarian may add extra punishments such as extra spankings or restrictions as they see fit. If you are put on restriction you will remain in your room for the day and your meals will be brought to you. If you are not on restriction, you are free to use the common area, gardens and games room. Meals will be at allocated times for the day, if you are more than 15 minutes late to any meal you will miss out. Is there any questions?”
Noah remained staring at the ground, wishing he was anywhere other than in that room listening to that speech.
“Very, well.” The man continued. “You will be shown to your rooms and your disciplinarian will be along soon to go over anything else you need to know”
Before he knew what was happening Noah found himself walking down the corridor again, this time being ushered into a room. When the door closed behind him, Noah let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He cautiously looked around the room and was surprised to see that it was actually nice. There was a soft looking double bed, a small desk with a chair, a double wardrove with a mirror, and a soft looking recliner chair. Noah guessed they needed to be soft looking because of what the occupants of the room were there for.
Noah sighed. The thought of the next eight weeks leaving a nervous pit in the bottom of his stomach.
His eyes fell on something he recognised. It was his suitcase. His mum must have packed it for him. He hadn’t needed it in the juvenile centre he had been held in before his court date because they had a mandatory uniform, but it would be nice to be able to wear his own clothes.
^^^
There was a short knock on the door and a tall, friendly looking man entered, smiling at Noah.
“Hi, Noah. My names Tim. I’m your disciplinarian for the next eight weeks.”
Tim reached out his right hand and Noah reluctantly shook it, trying not to think about the fact that the same hand would soon be used for a very different reason.
“How are you settling in?” Tim asked, his face friendly and open.
Noah scowled. “Oh, just dandy.” He said dryly. “This place is better than the four seasons.”
Tim’s smile didn’t falter, but Noah noticed his eyes narrowed slightly before he caught himself. “Okay. Well there are a few things I need to go over with you, so feel free to take a seat.”
Contrary to the words used, Noah could tell by the firmness of the tone that there wasn’t much choice in the matter and so he reluctantly took a seat on the bed.
Tim pulled the chair out from the desk and sat on it, turning it to face Noah. “I’m not going to repeat what you were told earlier. You know why you are here and you know what this program involves. I’m here to get you through this week and the next seven after that. For the next week your curfew will be at 7pm. You will need to have had dinner, be done with any chores or work you’ve been asked to do, and be in pyjamas or sweat pants ready for punishment by that time. Listen, and do what’s asked of you and you and I are going to get along great, otherwise, we will discuss extra consequences. Just know, I’m not the enemy, I’m here to guide you to make better choices”
Noah felt his ears going pink and gritted his teeth. Fury filled his chest as he tried to calm his breathing. Fuck this guy and his “I’m not like the others, I’m your friend who is going to make you a better person” speech bullshit. No-one was ever on Noah’s side. Not really.
Tim leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms casually obviously oblivious to Noah’s indignation. “Do you have any questions for me?”
Noah glared at him, his teeth grinding together in an effort not to tell the man that was assigned to discipline him to get fucked.
“Nope.” he managed to ground out, his lips making a popping sound on the ‘p’.
Tim seemed to study him for a moment before nodding. “Okay, well feel free to explore and meet some people and I will be back at 7pm on the dot.”
After Tim left Noah sighed heavily and picked up his suitcase. He might as well start unpacking, he was going to be here for eight weeks. His mum had packed him a lot of his favourite tshirts, which was nice of her, but he felt his face grown hot as he realized she also packed him an unusually high number of sweat pants. She must have known they were required for the punishments. Noah dropped the suitcase on his bed with disgust. Fuck these people and their rules. He rifled through his suitcase until he found what he was looking for. Denim. He pulled out the jeans with a feeling of triumph and quickly changed into them and his favourite sweat shirt. That would show Mr. “I’m not the enemy.”
Noah closed his case and walked it over to the wardrobe, shoving it in there. He would unpack later, it’s not like he had anything better to do.
As he went to close the wardrobe door something caught his eye and he did a double take. His mum had packed his basketball for him. Noah picked it up and twirled it in his hands. This ball used to be his most prized possession. His mum had got it for him for his 14th birthday and it had barely left his hands since. Noah had to clear his throat from the realisation that his mother had probably packed it to make his time there a little easier, she did things like that. Shaking those thoughts from his head, Noah left his room and went on the search for a hoop.