Then and Now // Robby Keene x Reader

Chapter 9: Starved

As soon as Mr. LaRusso got back from wherever he drove off to after seeing what happened to the dojo, he immediately started cleaning up with us.

We tried questioning Mr. LaRusso to see where he had gone, but he refused to tell us. The first day of cleaning up, Mr. LaRusso was silent and tense. But when we came back the second day, he was his usual happy self again.

We made a lot of progress in the dojo those first couple days. It, to our great surprise, didn't take long before it looked almost normal again.

The hardest thing to do was to get one of the large rocks back to standing upright after being knocked over. We all tried our hand at getting it back up, but it was just too heavy.

I stopped trying to get it to stand because I thought it was painfully obvious that we couldn't get it up with our bare hands. But, I didn't have another solution. So, I started scrubbing the paint off of the punching bag.

I laid the bag behind where Robby, Sam, and Demetri were still trying to fix the rock, because it was semi-shady. Between Robby trying to tell me to leave the other day and Cobra Kai destroying the dojo, I didn't really want to sit in the sun while I scrub clean this bag.

I had a bucket of water and dish soap and a bristled brush to clean the paint off with. I started scrubbing, moving the brush in small circles quickly. It was a slower process than I wanted, but the paint was chipping away.

The sound of the brush scrubbing against the bag was loud, but somehow something else got my attention. I moved my brush slower, trying to listen.

"Listen, about the other night..." I heard Robby speak lowly to Sam.

"Nothing happened," she told him. "So, there's no reason to feel uncomfortable, right?"

"Right..." Robby replied. "Exactly."

Something in my chest burned. I couldn't pinpoint what it was or why it was happening, so I went back to scrubbing—this time even quicker and harder than before.

"Y/n, go easy on that punching bag," Mr. LaRusso joked. I sighed, slowing my pace just a little.

"Are you guys lifting? Because I feel like I'm doing nothing here," Demetri spoke. I glanced up at the rock. The three of them gave up now too. "Forget it, all right? It's too heavy. We're gonna need a forklift," Robby retorted.

"I could've told you that," I whispered under my breath.

Robby looked down at me. "Have an idea, Y/n?" he asked, impatience lining his words. I glared at him through my eyebrows as I kept scrubbing.

"How'd they even knock it over?" Sam asked, holding her hand out to the rock.

"It's a lot easier to knock something down than it is to lift it up," Mr. LaRusso stated. "Don't worry. We'll get it up again."

"Uh... excuse me."

We all turned to look at the unfamiliar voice. Our eyes landed on several students from Cobra Kai. I recognized a couple of them from the fight at the mall. I stood to my feet.

What the hell are they doing back here...

"Is this Miyagi-Do?" one of them asked.

Mr. LaRusso said yes, but Robby stormed up to them. "Come back for another beating?" Robby asked angrily. Mr. LaRusso called Robby's name a couple times, finally getting him to stop.

"This is one of the guys who was beating on Demetri," Robby told Mr. LaRusso, pointing at the boy in front. Mr. LaRusso looked back at the Cobra Kai students. "Probably helped trash the dojo," Robby added.