Dark and Red

When I walked into the room, the three boys were waiting nervously. Ethan was sprawled across his bed, arm thrown across his eyes. Bryce was sitting next to him, leaning back enough that he could kick his feet. Jeremy was pacing back and forth, stopping occasionally to glance at the bookshelf. All of them jumped when I came in.

Without saying anything, I walked over to the desk, pulled the chair from it, turned it to face into the room, then sat. While I sometimes do that just to talk, other things happened often enough that Bryce’s tension level obviously jumped.

"Do you guys want to tell me why you were late?"

"It wasn’t after 6:30, Dad," Ethan rushed to assure me, just in case I’d forgotten how to tell time.

"I know what time it was, Ethan. That’s not what we’re talking about."

"We were practicing good bike safety, Dad," Bryce added in an attempt to de-rail the question.

"That’s good, but it still doesn’t have to do with what I asked."

I stopped and looked up at them. They’d all three gravitated to me, and were now standing, almost in a line, as we talked.

"Didn’t we just have a talk yesterday, guys?"

Slowly, reluctantly, Bryce nodded. The other two boys joined in after a second.

"What did we talk about?"

They stood silent.

"Jeremy, did we talk about the time change?"

"Yes, sir," he said as he nodded.

"And what did I say about it?"

His answer was almost too quiet for me to hear.

"You said it was getting dark earlier?"

"That wasn’t all I said was it, Bryce?"

"No, you told us we needed to be around the house before it got dark. But, Dad, we were riding safe."

"Bryce, that doesn’t matter. I didn’t tell you guys I wanted you close to home before then because I’m worried about you. I’m worried about the drivers who are suddenly going home in the dark. It doesn’t matter how safe you’re being – it only takes one driver who’s not paying attention. Didn’t I say that?"

"Yes, sir," Ethan answered.

"But, Dad, I just took them to Briscoe," Bryce explained, referring to the intermediate school where my kids had been attending fifth and sixth grade, "so they could see where Ethan is gonna be going."

"And did you ask me?"

"But you said we didn’t have to ask to go riding around."

"That’s true, but if you’d asked me, I would have told you that you didn’t have time to get there and back before it got dark."

I looked at all three of them. They weren’t looking at me, but when I stayed quiet, they all finally looked up.

"I don’t treat you boys like I do the little guys. With Van, Leif, and Kenny, they’re not really allowed to go places unless they let me or Bobby know. If they want to go bike riding, they have to stay right in this area. I don’t make you do that, do I?"

"No, sir," they all admitted.

"Do you like having more freedom, or do I need to start treating you like I do the younger boys?"

There was a bit of confusion with the answers, but they all agreed they liked it.

"The thing is, when I give you more freedom, that means you also have more responsibility. If I trust you to go riding around without specifically telling me where you’re going to be, or if I trust you to go riding around without staying right in this area, you have to earn that trust, repay that trust, by being back here when you’re supposed to be. Do you understand that?"

They all nodded, though none of them wanted to meet my eyes.

"When someone trusts you to be responsible, when they tell you the rules and give you a chance to follow them, and you do, then they trust you more. That’s why Noah and Barry can go more places without checking with me, and that’s why you guys can go more places than the younger kids."

I paused to give that a chance to soak in.

"Getting more trust and more freedom for being responsible and following the rules is a good consequence, but when you don’t follow the rules, there are bad consequences, aren’t there, Bryce?"

"Yes, sir."

"What’s a bad consequence for boys in this house, Ethan?"

"Spankings," he answered in a sad voice.

"Are you going to spank us, Jack?" Jeremy asked.

"Do boys who can’t mind the rules and follow instructions deserve spankings, Jeremy?"

"Yes, sir," he admitted.

"Did I tell you boys yesterday that I wanted you back here before dark?"

"Yes, sir," he said again, his voice breaking slightly.

"Then do you deserve spankings?"

"Yes, sir," he said with a sob in your voice.

"I think so, too. Come here."

I gestured in a line in front of me, and all three boys stepped up. It was interesting to note that Ethan was in the middle, almost like the two older boys were protecting him, even though he was about as tall as Bryce.

"Shirts up," I told them.

Ethan had already had enough practice that he did it like Bryce did. Jeremy had obviously had the process explained to him, but he was still a bit slower and fumbled as he lifted the shirt, pausing to look at the other boys, before giving it a slight adjustment.

I’d already noticed all three boys had taken off their shoes as I’d told them when I sent them to their room, so I knew we were ready to go.

I started with Jeremy. He seemed the most nervous, and I was afraid that keeping him waiting would just make it worse for him.

Jeremy isn’t tall for twelve (which he just turned last month), but he is built solidly and a bit stocky. His belly is flat and firm. He sucked it in a bit as my fingers found the tab of his zipper, then squirmed just a little as I slid the zipper open. Then I undid the button and spread the jeans apart, exposing the snowy expanse of his Fruit of the Looms.

I try to have a certain ritual feel when I spank the boys, as much so they know what’s coming as anything else – a bit of comfort and stability in an extremely uncomfortable situation. I also, however, try not to be too much a slave to routine. Normally I’d work back and forth, removing each boy’s pants in stages. This time, with one boy who’d never been spanked, one who was inexperienced, and dinnertime approaching, I decided to go for expeditious over routine, and slid Jeremy’s pants down his legs.

When the jeans hit his ankles, Jeremy again showed that his brothers had given him detailed instructions on what to expect. He lifted his left foot without me having to say anything, though I did tell him he could put his hands on my shoulders if he needed when he began listing to the right. A second later, I felt him grip me, and his hands stayed there as he shifted from one foot to the other.

As soon as his jeans were off, Jeremy’s hands came away from my shoulders and returned to the hem of his shirt. I’ve seen Jeremy in his underwear and naked any number of times since the Colters moved in with me, but I had to admit there was something especially charming about him standing there helping me undress him, knowing what was coming.

I looked up at Jeremy’s face, and there was no doubt that it was full of nervous trepidation, which was perfectly understandable in that situation. That’s not all that was there, though, and it took me a moment to decide what else it might be. Was there some relief that the fate that his brothers had all experienced but he’d so far avoided, and that he had to feel awaited all boys, was finally coming to him, or was it something else?

My mind flashed back to the conversation Jeremy and I had had only a few days before. He’d asked then if he could call me ‘Dad’, and I’d assured him he could. I’d honestly thought he was just looking for a bit of stability, or maybe a stronger link to his brothers, from whom he’d soon be moving. But now I had to wonder, was that something I saw in his eyes as simple as love and trust?

I turned slightly away from Jeremy and to his closest brother, still pondering that. Unlike Jeremy, Ethan knew exactly what was coming, and it was obvious he wasn’t happy about it. He was shifting his weight back and forth, and a small whine escaped him as my hands reached towards his fly. He didn’t move away or resist though.

Ethan’s blue-banded, double seat briefs were exposed as I stretched the fly of his jeans open, then slid the pants down. It had only been about a month since I’d gained custody of the Colters and let them know that they now faced spankings like my other boys did. Ethan wasn’t exactly experienced yet, but he’d already had more trips than he probably would have preferred, and he moved around to help me get his pants off without any hesitation or clumsiness.

I looked up at him and nodded. He wasn’t any less nervous than Jeremy, maybe more so, but a brief smile still crossed his lean face at my acknowledgement of him.

Unlike his new younger brothers, Bryce was experienced at this drill – possibly even expert at it, one could say – and his jeans were off almost as quickly as I could tell the tale. I reached for his briefs but stopped, then turned back to Jeremy.

Briefs come off much more quickly and easily than jeans, and soon enough all three boys were practically naked.

The three of them had been sharing bedroom and bathroom for about two months now and didn’t have any physical modesty left among them. As a matter of fact, there had been several times I’d found various pairs of them, and even all three of them, sleeping together. I didn’t know and really didn’t care if they’d slept that way for comfort or something else, but I was sure their bodies didn’t have any secrets from each other.

Of course, this was different than just being undressed or even examining each other’s bodies. This was the first time I was going to spank Jeremy, and he was obviously nervous about it. It wasn’t the first time I’d spanked Ethan, but it was the first time he’d shared a spanking. I know that spankings are uncomfortable, and his first time having his witnessed couldn’t be making that any better for him. And while Bryce has had years worth of spankings from me, and I could think of any number of boys whom he’d been spanked with or in front of, it still had to be worrying for him to be spanked in front of new, younger boys for the first time.

It was interesting to look at them all. While neither of the Colters is big for his age, Bryce is small for his. Despite being almost eight months younger than Bryce, Jeremy is actually a bit bigger than the older boy. Ethan and Bryce are almost the same size, though Bryce is more toned and athletic. Ethan and Bryce both have slender builds, but it’s only when the clothes come off that you can see the difference caused by Ethan’s casual activity and Bryce’s more serious approach.

With them bared and next to each other, it was easy to see that Ethan and Bryce were similar in another way as well. Both of them are in what I’d call the very earliest stages of adolescence. Their peters were far from anything you could call big, but they weren’t tiny anymore either. More importantly, while their balls were still small, they weren’t right up between their legs anymore, as both of them were starting to get a little dangle in their sacs.

As for Jeremy, he wasn’t much better hung than the other two boys, though it’s hard to be sure since all of them were about as soft as it’s possible to get. On the other hand, his balls didn’t really look to be dangling at all, which had more to do with the way they’d swollen, filling his sac, which had drooped, but not quite enough yet.

All together, they were a charming picture of early adolescence. Unfortunately for them, they were a picture of naughty early adolescence, so I moved on.

"Bryce, would you get Heat, please?"

Bryce must have known it was coming, and he complied without a word. I think Ethan whimpered again. Jeremy looked up and watched as his big brother crossed the room towards the paddle that hung by the doorway.

"Jeremy?"

The boy jumped when I said his name.

"I normally spank from youngest to oldest. In this case, Ethan already knows what one of my spankings is like and you don’t."

As I spoke, I watched both boys carefully.

"I had thought that maybe I should let you go first and get it over with. On the other hand, Ethan does know what’s coming, so it might be more fair for you to have to watch…"

I let my voice drift off without stating a decision. I’d wanted to see how they reacted. Ethan was definitely torn, unsure of whether getting it over with was better than delaying as long as possible. It was Jeremy whom I was really watching, though.

"I think it’s best we do things like normal, don’t you?"

He nodded. I don’t know which way would have been better. Even if you separate them, there’s not a great way to punish multiple boys, since it seems like waiting just makes things worse. What had really made my decision was the fact that Jeremy seemed uncomfortable at being treated differently.

"Ethan, over my lap, please."

Both of them faced away from me as Bryce returned with the paddle. When Ethan saw that paddle in his brother’s hand, he took a step back, but then I watched him take a deep breath before he stepped up to my side and let me help him across my lap.

"Can you hold your hand on the chair this time, or do you want me to hold it for you?"

He was quiet a minute.

"You do it," he finally mumbled.

I took his hand as it reached behind him, then laid it against the small of his back. I placed my left arm in its normal place, which had my upper forearm lying across the small of his back, pinning his wrist between the two. My left hand was still in good position to take a firm grip on his hip.

I held my hand out to Bryce, and he put the paddle in it. Ethan must have been looking back up at me, because he shivered when Bryce handed me the paddle. I ignored the shiver, let the paddle gently come to rest across the upper part of his cheeks, then lifted it, and with a snap of my elbow and flick of my wrist, began.

If stoical and Ethan have ever met, they’re nothing more than nodding acquaintances. Ethan was fussing and fidgeting almost from the first swat. It’s not that he was struggling to escape or trying to convince me he was crying so I’d stop early. It was more like quiet, almost swallowed, yips and ohs, with little jerks of his legs and squirms. I really just think it was sore enough that he had to express himself.

I started with him as I always do, with the paddle running lengthwise across his cheeks, and centered so about half of the blade fell on either cheek. Three swats down the crack that way, then I moved to the left cheek, and counted four swats from the top of that side, all the way down to his sit spots, so the last one just caught a hint of his upper legs. Then I did the same to his right cheek.

Ethan has a round, spankable bottom. He has some muscle and firmness, but there’s a layer of softness over it, and he has almost no dimple unless he’s doing an extreme tense. The way he was squirming, he couldn’t tense too much, and the paddle did a bit of compression each time it smacked down. I’d lift the paddle to watch the skin turn briefly white, before blood rushed back in with pink blossoms.

Ethan’s reactions stayed pretty steady that entire time, but when the paddle moved back to the center, darkening those light pink cheeks, his quiet ohs became louder ows. His legs went from slight jerks to small, rapid kicks up and down, almost as if he was trying to kick up a wake.

The paddle kept going, despite his louder protests, tracking three more down his crack, then a couple on each side towards where his slight dimples sometimes appeared, before running a third set where his cheeks met. By the last of those, his ows were loud and hard and broken by real sobs.

He didn’t grow quieter as I placed a couple of swats on each leg, though he was really kicking now, trying to keep those swats from landing. I think he would happily have got his foot in the way of a couple of smacks, but the way he lay, with his mid-section elevated over my lap, he couldn’t quite get the leverage to get them up that far or keep them up.

As the paddle finished its first trip by placing a couple of swats on his right leg, then started its tour again, Ethan’s broken sobs grew louder for just a second, before his upper body began shaking with true crying.

As I lined up the first swat on the second pattern, I glanced up briefly. Bryce seemed torn between watching and looking away, but I don’t think Jeremy had a choice. He knew he was watching his onrushing fate, and I saw his chin quivering. His eyes were already shiny, but I don’t think he could have looked away without someone physically turning his face.

As the paddle finished another trip down Ethan’s crack and I moved my attention back to each cheek, working back and forth this time, left, then right, though still from top to bottom, Ethan was fighting to get away from me. He was yanking at his pinned hand, as his left hand waved around, trying to find a way past my body. His legs were kicking up and down, across each other, doing everything but circles to help him escape. I had to slow down to be sure of my aim as I finished another trip down his crack, leaving the majority of both cheeks a true red, and placed a couple of swats towards the dimple area. Then the last trip down his crack drew a long, sustained howl from him and he collapsed across my lap, bawling.

Ethan barely jerked as the last few swats cracked down, and I knew he’d had enough, but I still placed one more swat on each sit spot, because that’s how spankings end, and I expected his brothers were both going to need those.

Tucking the paddle under my right leg, I reached down and rolled Ethan into a sitting position, then pulled him against my chest.

"It’s all over now, buddy. You took it and you’re going to live."

He was crying too hard to say anything, so I just squeezed him.

"Never forget that I love you, but never forget that your actions have consequences, okay?"

He must have been listening, because he managed a nod.

I helped him to his feet.

"Jeremy," I said, motioning to my lap as his little brother vacated it.

Jeremy moaned, but stepped forward. I don’t now how much effort and bravery that took on his part, but I reached up and patted his back to let him know I appreciated it, before guiding him into place.

When I had Jeremy settled, without me saying a thing, he put his hand behind him. I pinned it like I had his brother’s, then picked up the paddle.

I suppose it has to do with his football playing, but Jeremy was much more familiar with stoical than his little brother was. In the long run it didn’t matter, but he stayed still and quiet as I started moving the paddle back and forth across his cheeks in the short, stinging swats I use that make so many smacks possible without being abusive.

Jeremy has a stockier build than Ethan, but he’s also firmer, and his bottom had a decent shape, but it lacked the softness and some of the fullness that Ethan’s rear has. The paddle brought blush to both those cheeks, then worked back down the middle, before heading over to his moderate dimples. That seemed to really get to him, and I could hear him start making hissing, moaning sounds as the smacks caught those spots. He also began squirming a bit – not much, but he was definitely shifting around and pulling at his pinned hand.

It seems he’d stayed quiet as long as he could, and as I ran three more swats down the center of his rosy cheeks, the quiet noises quickly became louder, until I placed the first swat on his left leg.

"No," he asserted firmly, as he really started to struggle. "No, no, no…" he added.

The paddle and I ignored his instructions and shifted over to the right leg for two more swats.

"Ow!," he exclaimed. "Please, no. I’m sorry, I’m… OW!"

The paddle started at the beginning again, tracking over those already sensitive cheeks.

"Please, I won’t… OW! Please, no. I’m so… Ow, I’m sorr… Ow!, I’m … I… Oh-ho-how!"

The paddle had been moving back and forth from right cheek to left, painting each cheek a deep red as it moved from the top to the bottom. As the last two swats caught the sit spot on each side, Jeremy broke.

Jeremy was crying hard and loud as the paddle moved back down the center of his bottom, then back over to each side. As it made a final trip down the crack, I could tell he was on the ragged edge of totally losing it.

The boy never did struggle as much as his brother had, but he was definitely struggling – flopping around and squirming. If not for my firm grip on his hip and my arm across his back, he would have gone off my lap like a fish flopping back into the river.

It was the legs that did him in – a sharp swat on the upper left, followed by the upper right, and he lost it, bawling just as hard as his brother had been. I placed the last two swats just below those, then paused for just a second before placing two final swats, one on each sit spot.

I’d quickly considered another swat on each sit spot, especially since he was older than Ethan and bigger than both the other boys, but it was his first spanking from me, and I had no doubt the point had been made.

Tucking the paddle behind me, I gave him the same treatment I had Ethan. He clung to me fiercely for a second. Despite how hard he was crying, he still managed a broken, ‘I’m sorry.’

"It’s all right now, buddy. You’ve paid for it. You’re forgiven. And don’t forget that I always love you."

I think he said it back to me, but he was sobbing even harder now, maybe from relief.

Bryce was not especially thankful at how quickly I got Jeremy back on his feet.

Bryce wasn’t stoical as he went over my lap… More like resigned, like finding out you were going to have that same teacher you’d hated last year. You know how to get along, but there’s just no way to make it pleasant.

The bad thing for Bryce was, I’d been taking it easy on him and Van as I’d been bringing the Colters up to speed on how things are done in my house, and he’d apparently gotten out of training. As the paddle moved back and forth, the wood caressing his firm flesh and bringing a blush to it, he broke down almost as fast as his new brothers had.

He’d actually done a pretty good job at first, but Bryce is almost eight months older than Jeremy and more than a year older than Ethan, not to mention that he’s lived with me nearly half his life now. He knows the rules and knows what happens when they aren’t followed.

His spanking started the same, but when I got to his legs, I snuck in a bit of the deluxe treatment. The first two swats to each leg were angled a bit towards the outsides, and then were followed by two more, angled to catch more of the inner thighs.

He couldn’t hold back anymore and was crying by the time the paddle made it back up to his bottom. As his cheeks grew redder and redder, his crying grew louder and louder. As the paddle made its last trip down his crack, I could tell he was about to break. I skipped the extra leg smacks this time, cracking two swats, back and forth, on the center of his leg. Then I went to the sit spots.

Bryce was holding on to his last vestige of control by a fingernail. One, two swats, back and forth between each sit spot, and it was gone. He howled once, and as the paddle moved back and forth between those tender spots, he bawled.

Two more swats, centered to catch both spots, and I put the paddle down.

As I rolled Bryce up into my lap, he lunged forward, clinging to me more fiercely than either of the other boys had. He was mumbling something that might have been an apology, but I just wasn’t sure.

It didn’t matter anyway.

"It’s okay now, baby," I murmured to him. "It’s over now, and you know I love you. It’s going to be okay now."

He resisted as I stood him up, but not too much.

A spanking like that takes longer to tell than to give, and both the other boys were still crying, though Jeremy was no longer bawling, and Ethan was starting to really settle down.

"Corner time now, guys. No rubbing unless you want more smacks. And I want you guys thinking about how easy it would have been to avoid this."

Meekly, all three boys lined up at the indicated spot, their noses to the wall.

The boys had ended up with Jeremy in the center this time, and it made a nice contrast, since both the smaller boys had rounder bottoms than he did, though Bryce’s is much firmer than Ethan’s.

Normally, if I felt Bryce needed corner time, I would have left him there for about twelve minutes. This time, I just waited until his crying had mostly faded and the other two were under control. I made a quick trip to the bathroom for a dry wash rag, but mostly watched them.

"C’mere you," I said, as I put my hand on Ethan’s shoulder and pulled him to me.

I’d gone down on one knee, which made me just about his height. He rested his chin on my shoulder as I pulled him in and hugged him against me.

"You gonna live?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it burns really bad."

"Yeah, but you know that’s what happens around here when you break the rules, don’t you?"

"Yeah."

"You know I love you, don’t you?"

I could feel him nod.

"I love you too, Dad."

It was my turn to nod.

"Are you sorry you asked to stay here?"

"Huh uh. I really like it here, even if I do gotta get spankings sometimes."

"I’m glad, Ethan, because we really like you being here."

I pulled back a bit and looked at his face. He was beaming, even with tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes.

I dried his face a bit, then pulled him down for a quick kiss on his forehead.

"Let me talk to Jeremy now. You can rub your rear now, if you want."

He wanted.

Jeremy came to me easily, and clung to me tightly. I had to wonder if any of these boys had ever had any real physical masculine affection, or any affection at all. Ethan had rather quickly adapted to my tendency to hug, pat, and kiss, but Jeremy had been more standoffish. Now he clung to me like he wanted to make up for lost time.

"I’m really, really sorry, Jack," he told me with a painful amount of sincerity.

"It’s okay, now, Jer. You messed up, but now you’ve taken the consequences, and we’re going to put this behind us."

"We are?"

"Yeah. I’ll keep this in mind, in case this kind of thing becomes a problem, but that’s the only way we’ll ever worry about it again. It’s over and done. And don’t ever forget that I love you, even when I’m spanking you."

"I love you, too. You’re really not mad?" he added, almost shyly.

"No, sweetheart. I’m not mad. I’m impressed. You saw how much Ethan’s spanking hurt, but you were still really brave."

"I was?"

I nodded.

"Now c’mere," I said, hugging him tighter for just a second, and letting him squeeze me.

I broke the hug a bit, keeping one arm around his waist while I wiped his face. Then I bent him down for a quick kiss. As I started to move him away, he leaned back in and put a quick kiss on my cheek.

"Thank you. You know… For letting us stay here, and not being mad, and… and just everything. Thank you, Dad."

It was hard for me not to start crying right then, but I choked out, "You’re welcome," without too much effort.

After telling him he could rub, I took Bryce out of the corner. He’d still been sobbing a bit when I’d started with Ethan, but he was almost completely under control when I pulled him into my arms.

"I’m sorry I didn’t get them home on time, Dad," he told me.

"It’s not your job to get them home on time, Bryce. That’s why you all got spanked."

He started to answer, but I shushed him.

"That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t help them remember the rules. You’ve been here a very long time, and you know how things work around here, but just remember that you can only suggest things. You’re not in charge of them, I won’t hold you responsible for them, and you’ll just make them mad if you try to be. Okay?"

He thought about it for a second, then nodded.

"Good. You know I love you?"

He smiled a bit and nodded.

"You know I love you?" he asked in return.

I nodded back.

Bryce leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead.

"Can I rub now?"

"Not yet, you little smart aleck. C’mere."

I wiped his face a bit, then pulled him down for a kiss.



Bryce got a minute to rub, then I had them stand back in a line, hands back by their sides, and we did another lecture. This time, I made them explain things to me, though, telling me why they needed to be right around the house earlier now, why riding after dark was especially dangerous right now, and why boys who can’t mind get spanked.

It wasn’t long, but I think Jeremy and Ethan were both impressed (maybe distressed would be the better word) over the reverse lecture. Whichever is true, they all promised they’d be much more careful about being home on time and about bike safety in general.

"Okay then, I need to get dinner served. You three can wash up and get your clothes back on."

I carried the paddle back to the door and hung it. I couldn’t resist one last glance back. Would you believe that all three of them decided to wash up before covering their bottoms?







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