Barry and Mark
inThe (Post-)Halloween Caper
Part 5: Bedtime for Barry
I took a few minutes to myself, not wanting to rush Barry through his shower, before returning to their room. When I went back in, Misha and Barry were each sitting naked on their beds.
"Misha, have you had your shower yet?" I asked.
"No, sir. I was waiting on you. I figured you and Barry would want some privacy."
"That’s very thoughtful of you, Mish, especially since I'd swear I've heard you say that once already today. Today’s been very unfair to you. I hope you don’t mind too much."
"No, sir. It’s no big deal. Barry would do the same for me, anyway."
I nodded and the boy walked into the bathroom. Then I crossed the room to Barry. I started to sit on the bed, and he stood.
"Where you going, Barry?"
"To get Red."
"We’re not going to need your paddle, kiddo."
"Not the brush again," he said despairingly, and his shoulders slumped, even as he turned towards his dresser.
"We don’t need either one right now, Bear. C’mere."
He sat back down when I patted the bed, then I dropped my arm around him.
"Son, I want you to know that I’ve been very proud of you today."
"You have?" he asked, the tone of his voice matching the doubtful look he gave me.
"Okay, not about the stunts you pulled, but about how you’ve behaved since then. You’ve been very mature since then, and I’ve been very proud of that."
"The way you were responsible about taking your punishment. You reminded me that we’d agreed to try Mr. Flunt’s way, but you didn’t demand, you asked. Okay, we had to change positions, but it’s hard to control yourself during a spanking, especially one with a hairbrush, and when we had to change positions, you didn’t argue, fight or resist, but got right back over my lap. You were also very responsible about choosing the amount of corner time you thought you needed. I didn’t agree with it, I thought it was too long, but that’s what you thought you needed, and you took it. Then, when I asked you to help with Mark, you did it. I still think the little deer might have been better, but I think you choose what you thought would be best for him. You didn’t try to blame him for your punishment and try to make his worse, but you also didn’t try to let him off easy."
"Yes, son, you made a couple of bad decisions, but since then, you’ve accepted the consequences in a very mature manner and I am proud of you."
We sat like that for a minute: me with my arm around him,and him leaning against me. Both of us enjoying the quiet. After a few moments, I spoke.
"I don’t remember this with your brothers, Bear, but maybe this is the beginning of growing up. You’re starting to accept that you need and deserve your punishments. When you stop having to accept them because you just don’t earn them, then you’ll be really mature. Of course, some of us manage to do that without ever really growing up.
Barry smiled up at me. He wasn’t happy, after all, he was about to get his bottom smacked. Even so, he was glowing with the praise I’d just given him. We sat there for a moment, then I again broke the quiet.
"Okay, Bartholomew. We still have something we need to take care of, don’t we?"
He nodded and started to stand. I dropped my arm from his shoulders to the bed and pushed myself back, so I was sitting against the wall. He smiled at me, and I asked "Do you want to see how you can do with just a hand spanking this way?"
He didn’t quite smile, but nodded and climbed onto the bed and my lap. It took a little adjustment, but we got him in place.
His bottom was still showing some color and I knew my hand spanks were setting him of fire again. Still, he took it pretty good. I really did feel like he’d learned his lesson, but both of us knew we had to finish this. I carefully covered his whole bottom, quickly restoring it to a deep shade of rosy red. He didn’t squirm too much, but I could see his hands and feet digging into the bed, and he was crying loud and hard.
I stopped, probably sooner than he expected, and let him lay there with my hand gently rubbing his sore cheeks. After a moment, I guess when he realized the spanking was over, he pushed himself up onto hands and knees, then turned over so he was sitting in my lap. I held him by the waist while he adjusted his weight to where it hurt the least.
He wrapped his arms around my neck and I just held him while he cried himself out. After a while, when the crying had mostly died away, I felt him squeeze my neck a little tighter and he placed a light peck on my cheek before starting to rise.
"Where are you going, Barry?"
"Corner."
"No, I think you’ve done enough corner time today. Now it’s bedtime."
As I said it, I picked him up and stood, before laying him on the bed. It was a bit hard to lay him face down from that position, but I managed it. He wasn’t sobbing anymore, but was still leaking a bit, and was happy to stretch out.
He’d already folded his bed back, so I lifted the sheet and lightly drew it over him. He winced a bit, but didn’t stop me. I leaned down and kissed his cheek. He murmured something, but was already mostly gone in sleep. I turned off his bedside lamp and stood.
When I turned, Misha was standing in the bathroom door watching.
"Thank you for not paddling him," he told me.
"He didn’t need it this time."
"No, but I didn’t know if you’d realize that."
Misha always surprises me. Most of the time he’s so quiet, it’s easy to forget how smart he really is and how closely he watches us.
"Time for you to get in bed yourself, kiddo, before I have to spank you, too."
He didn’t answer, except to smile, but walked over to his bed. I headed for the door, but his voice stopped me.
"Jack?" He paused. "Dad?"
Misha didn’t often call me dad, and I didn’t push it. For him to do that was both unusual and curious. I turned back to see him walking towards me in all his naked, late pre-adolescent glory. When he reached me, he wrapped his arms around my chest and squeezed tight. I returned the hug.
"You’re a pretty good dad. Did you know that?"
"Yeah, but it’s nice to hear occasionally. You’re a pretty good kid. Did you know that?" I told him, laying a kiss on his forehead.
"Yeah," he replied as he let go and jumped onto his bed, "but it’s nice to hear occasionally," he repeated, and the last thing I saw was his smile as he flicked out his light.
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