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Early Bryan often chose to read in the living area of the dorm he shared with several of his teammates. Not only did he find the chair comfortable, it let him unobtrusively keep tabs on the others. As the only full Top of the group, he found himself stepping into that role on a somewhat regular basis. Not that he minded. He had known he was a Top since he'd first explored the subject on the internet at far too young of an age.
Bobby “Bratty” Williams, a masochistic bottom, had a palpable need for fairly regular spankings. He didn't misbehave often, but Early had learned to read the signs when the need started to make him reckless. Once Bratty started complaining about not sleeping well, he would discreetly suggest the junior find a playdate, and, if that wasn't possible, he'd offer to take care of it himself. Anthony “Tony” Lasslo also sometimes smacked Bratty, but as a bottom-leaning somewhat bratty switch himself, Early had him over a knee on average of once a month or so. Then there was Rory Osmac, a freshman switch, and Early’s assigned accountability partner. Rory seemed more Top-leaning than not. Even so, he'd still been over Early's lap a handful of times as he adjusted to life at one of the country's preeminent Lifestyle Colleges, and Coach Tortazo's hefty expectations of his baseball players.
In fact, Early currently sat waiting for the youngest roommate to come home. His phone sat on the small side table, next to the heavy slotted spoon his grandmother had gifted him once she'd gotten over his plans to leave Atlanta for college. Early could still almost smell her kitchen, but he only planned to cook one thing today, and it didn't require him to be anywhere near a stove. Flipping the page, he paused when the dormitory door opened.
Tony made it halfway across the room before his eyes locked on the spoon on the table and his steps faltered. “Umm, Early? What's with the spoon?”
Early didn't look up, and flipped another page. “I believe you're well acquainted with it.” He watched from the corner of his eye as Tony squirmed, and hid a grin.
“But, it's not - I mean, yeah. But it's not, like… for me? Right?”
Early looked up at the question and lifted an eyebrow. “Do you need your bottom blistered, Tony?”
“No!” The indignant protest came instantly and Early narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Do you deserve to have your bottom blistered?”
“God, Early!” Tony turned scarlet, but he still managed to look vaguely affronted. “Stop asking me that!”
“You didn't answer me yet,” Early pointed out.
“No! I don't!” Tony crossed his arms and glared.
Early nodded, hiding another smile. “If you remember differently, let me know.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “I'm an angel.”
“Even angels fall sometimes,” Early said, turning a page in his book. He caught sight of Tony's appalled expression, but before he could respond, the door opened and Rory walked in. Early calmly shut his book and Tony looked between them and made a face.
Turning to Rory, he said, “RIP, man,” with a jaunty salute. Then he skedaddled off to his room, ducking his head at Early’s warning Look. Rory stood frozen, taking in the spoon and Early's expression in a glance.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Early nodded slowly, his deep brown eyes studying Rory, looking for signs of whether Rory was safewording, or if he were just gearing up for a fit. “Why not?”
The question startled Rory into silence. He watched Early, nonplussed, until the older boy stood up. “Why not?” Early repeated, sounding reasonable. “I had not one, but two TATLs about you today, Rory Osmac. Turning up for class late? Then getting detention for being mouthy about it? Seems like you might be looking for a little attention.”
“Well, I'm not.” Rory crossed his arms. “And I don't want a… a…”
“Spanking?” Early asked, crossing his arms and watching Rory’s eyes drop to his biceps.
“Oh, fuck off!” Rory exploded. “I'm just having a shit week, and the last thing I need is you on my ass about it.”
Early held up a finger. “We're going to have to agree to disagree about that. From where I'm standing, it's obvious you need a good spanking.” He lifted a second finger. “I'm sorry you're having a bad week. If you want to talk about it, I'm happy to listen. In the future, you should talk about it before you earn yourself a butt blistering.” He held up a third finger. “And so far, I've heard a lot of whining, a little bit of a temper tantrum, and an obscenity thrown in my direction, but I haven't heard a safeword.”
“Why do I have to use a safeword? I already told you I didn't want it!” Rory crossed his own arms, but his skin looked pale. “You can just do this! I have rights! And I'm saying no to a- a-”
“A spanking,” Early repeated, pointedly. “It's alright. You don't have to want a spanking to geta spanking. You just have to agree to give someone the authority to give you a spanking when they think you need it.”
Rory sputtered.
Early reached for the spoon. “I think you need it, and you've given me that authority. And if you really think you don't deserve one, I'm open to hearing why not. I've asked you twice. But so far, you haven't answered me. You've just yelled at me, cussed at me, and pitched a fit.”
Rory deflated slightly. “Early, come on.”
“If you don't want to do this here, I suggest you go to our room.”
“I'm not going to our room!” Rory started shouting again. “You're being an ass!”
Early crossed to where Rory stood in two quick steps, his hand flying out to catch Rory by the ear. “I can tell you what's not going to happen. You're not going to keep cussing at me. I consider that proof that you really do need your backside worn out. Happy to oblige.”
Rory bent forward at the waist and staggered forward as Early dragged him back to the sofa. He tripped over his feet trying to keep the pressure off his ear. “Early! Wait! No! Stop!”
Early didn't wait. Nor did he stop. Nor did he put much stock in the shouting. Instead he sat in the middle of the sofa and pulled Rory down over his lap, so that he was jackknifed over his knees. Wrapping an arm around his waist, Early felt fairly confident he could keep the freshman in place, no matter how much wiggling he did. Rory instantly tested that theory.
Early set the spoon down next to his hip on the cushion. He lifted his hand and brought it down firmly, but not hard, on Rory's jean covered ass. Rory shouted like he'd been branded and threw himself back and forth trying to escape. Early just repeated the motion with the same level of force. Over and over, he patted Rory's bottom while the freshman shouted and yelled and called him names. Idly, he kept a mental tally of how many times Rory cussed at him.
They were only a month into this AP journey together, and Early had been expecting some kind of crash out. Rory just kept tying himself into knots, the pressure of school and the pressure of baseball wrapping him fully around the axle. His designation paperwork had suggested that his bottom side needed stress relief spankings, although Rory had denied it when they had been doing their initial negotiations.
Early didn't put much faith in that self-assessment; he'd been at RBU long enough to know that most freshmen had no idea what they actually needed in terms of the Lifestyle. And those that did were often reluctant to share.
After a solid few minutes of kicking and struggling, Rory settled slightly. Seething, he ordered, “Let me go!”
Early’s eyebrows rose at the tone and he added a little extra oomph to the next swat he landed on Rory’s wiggling backside, while still not actually spanking him. “No.”
“Damnit, Early! What the fuck? Let me go!”
“No.” That set off another full tantrum, with kicking legs and fists banged on the floor and another half dozen obscenities added to Early’s mental tally. When nothing helped, Rory raised his voice to a bellow. “Early, I swear to God…”
Early swatted Rory hard enough that he caught his undivided attention. “Enough. Even if I didn't already think you need this, I would now. You don't need to alert the entire dormitory to your spanking. And there's no need to swear at the Almighty.”
“Early, come on!” Rory changed tone, the belligerence fading into a whine that made Early grit his teeth. “I just had a bad day!”
“No,” Early corrected with another firm swat. “I believe you had a bad day, but your behavior is what earned you a trip over my knee. There is no “just” like you weren't in control of your actions.”
Rory squirmed before muttering, “It’s not like I cheated on a test.”
Early smacked him again, although still not hard. “And you’re not getting the kind of blistering that misbehavior would have earned you. But you are going to get the spanking you earned today. And then we’re going to have a little conversation about the consequences of cussing at folks who have the authority to discipline you, Rory Osmac.”
Rory stilled, craning to look over his shoulder in horrified dismay. He’d already witnessed Tony getting his mouth washed out, so Early felt sure he understood what that meant. “‘I’m sorry,” Rory said hesitantly after a moment.
Early grunted. “Show me,” he said. “I’m going to let you up, and you’re going to drop your jeans.”
Rory nodded, his reluctance obvious, and Early released him. Rory stood up and turned to stare at Early beseechingly. “Early, do we have to?”
“Oh, yeah,” Early said dryly. “We have to.”
“Can we go to our room?” Rory asked, voice small.
Early lifted his eyebrow. “We could have when I asked you about it a minute ago. That time has passed.” He crossed his arms and waited while Rory stared at him for a minute longer, looking all the world like he expected a miracle to occur.
When angels didn’t appear, the freshman reluctantly moved to unfasten his jeans. Slowly, he inched them down. “Keep going,” Early said when it looked like he might stop. “They’re still covering territory I plan to use to make my point.”
Rory whined again but reluctantly did as he was told. When his jeans finally hit his knees, Early caught his arm and hauled him back over his lap. Pushing Rory’s head towards the floor, Early made sure that his bottom was front and center, then gave him a solid smack. The missing layer of denim coupled with the fact that Early didn’t hold back tore a startled yelp from Rory’s throat. “Oww! Damnit, not so hard.”
Early ignored him, fingers moving to Rory’s underwear and pulling it down in one swift motion. Rory stiffened. “Hey!”
“Settle down,” Early ordered, a little surprised when it worked. “It’s better for us both if I can see the damage as I go.” Rory shifted uneasily, but Early didn’t keep him waiting for long after that. The redhead’s skin, always pale, showed faint traces of pink from Early’s ongoing efforts, and Early could see fingermarks from his last swat. Satisfied that he had plenty of space to work before he risked actually harming Rory, Early debated for a moment before he picked up the spoon.
“Normally, I’d warm you up,” Early said sternly. “But since you’re in the mood to fuss, I figure I’ll give you something to fuss about.”
“Wait!” Rory jerked up, hands pushing up from the floor. “I’m sorry! I won’t do it again! Early, don’t - OW!”
Early stopped the flow of panic promises with a solid swat from his trusty wooden spoon. For something that size and weight, it stung fiercely. He heard Rory suck in a breath, but kept moving with purpose, dropped two more searing spanks before Rory vocalized his protest. “Owwwwwww!”
The spoon left bright red circles behind, the slots in the center of the spoon adding a level of “owch” that Early appreciated when he was wrangling a brat over his knee. Rory bucked up and down, feet kicking wildly as Early painted both of his pale cheeks with fierce burning crimson strokes.
“Ahhh! Owwww!” Rory's ongoing tantrum did nothing to disuade Early from taking his time. Early simply pulled Rory back into place whenever he managed to wiggle too far afield. While Early didn't hate paddles, he genuinely appreciated the spoon’s smaller surface. It required more to do less, and he found that combination worked wonders to help realign the wobbly bottom - or switch - that made their way over his knee from time to time. And he was a patient man.
He'd only spanked Rory's few times before this, but all of those had been for blatant rule violations. Missed curfew. A skipped class. Tardy to study hall. Rory had accepted those with no more enthusiasm, but considerably more dignity. Being punished for a generally bad attitude seemed harder on him. Aiming the spoon at the delicate skin that covered the crease between thigh and ass cheek, Early mulled over the reasoning, and decided it likely stemmed from the same reason that Rory had cussed at him. Subconsciously, or not, the freshman was looking for a boundary.
Although Early didn't get angry easily, and wasn't angry now, he had no problem laying down a firm boundary. His own freshman AP, Conrad Strong, had taught him the value of clear lines and straightforward consequences. He'd also modeled a calm, unflappable energy that Early had appreciated, even on those occasions Early’s own butt paid for his indiscretions.
A sniffle caught Early’s attention, pulling his focus firmly back on the now hot looking bottom over his legs. Eyeing it critically, Early shifted targets to bring both globes to a more uniform glow. Rory lay quietly now, his hitching breaths and sniffles giving eloquence to his regret, as Early continued paddling him until he knew for certain Rory wouldn't sit comfortably for the rest of the day. The sniffles turned into little hiccoughing cries, the sound tugging at Early’s heart and making him all the more convinced to finish well. It wouldn't do to have to spank Rory all over again because Early stopped too soon.
Shifting one knee up and dropping the other slanted Rory's long legs at a more steep angle and Rory whimpered, one hand moving from where he held himself up from the floor to clutch at Early's ankle. “Early…?”
“I know,” Early soothed, tapping the spoon lightly against the freshly exposed pale patches. “It burns like fire. But you pitched quite the fit there. I think you need a burning bottom more than you know. Go ahead and cry those fires out.”
“But I'm sor-OW! OW! I'm SORRY!” Early’s free arm snaked around Rory's waist just in time to keep him from escaping. The younger boy kicked his legs frantically, motivated less by temper now than the desire to escape the snap and pop of Early’s spoon. Sucking in a breath, Rory let out a pitiful howl that quickly melted into full broken sobs as Early continued his efforts to ensure that he wouldn't sit fully comfortably the next day either. Early had settled into his own style of spanking quickly, preferring lengthy to harder. He brought the spoon down with alarming speed, but not much force, wanting more to overwhelm than bruise. Some bottoms, Rory clearly included at the moment, simply couldn't let go until their petulance had been outlasted.
Eventually, though, Early got them there he wanted them to be. Rory, like nearly all penitents who'd been over Early’s knee, completely lost the battle for dignity. All his escape efforts ended, and he simply held on to Early's leg and sobbed. By the time Early flipped him upright to hold him, Rory's face looked a blotched, sticky mess. Early held him close with one arm and reached for a tissue with the other, quietly amused when Rory made no effort to assist mopping himself up.
Hearing the front door open, Early looked over to see Bratty slip inside. The junior gave a small wave, but ducked down and quickly made his way to the bedroom he shared with Tony. Based on the expression on his face, Early surmised that Bratty had probably been waiting in the hallway for a break in the action. Rory groaned, mortified, and ducked his face into Early's shoulder pulling a chuckle from the senior. “Next time, I suggest you accept our room as the better option.”
“Yeah, alright,” Rory managed, his voice a raw croak. He figured his eyes with the back of one hand, suddenly looking half his age, and Early squeezed him hard enough to pull a soft huff free. “That sucked, Early.”
Early grunted. “You must have needed it. You want to tell me what got you so jacked up?”
“I just-” Rory blew out a breath. “I don't know. I just- I miss home. Its dumb.”
“Not dumb,” Early pushed back. “Moving to college, moving away from your family and friends, it’s hard. It's alright to miss people. It's alright to be homesick.”
Rory sighed, easing to his feet and pulling his shorts back into place with an embarrassed wince and a sheepish half-glare, changed the subject. “You're too good at this.”
Early lifted an eyebrow thoughtfully, then shrugged. “I've had practice.” He stood, too. “If you want to talk, I'm here to listen.”
“Even if I'm being ridiculous.”
“Even then,” Early promised. “But I will say one thing, you're not gonna cuss at me again.”
“Sorry,” Rory winced, his expression pinched. “I won't.”
“Let's get your slate cleared,” Early said, nodding towards their room and its shared bathroom. “There's Articulate Wipes in the top drawer.”
“You don't-” Early reached for the spoon and Rory stopped with an audible swallow. “Okay. Sorry.”
Grabbing it anyway, Early waited until Rory shuffled into the bathroom, his walk familiarly stilted in that way that made Early hide a smile. He couldn't help that he found well spanked brats adorable, but he didn't need to advertise it. Inside the bathroom, he set the spoon on the counter and opened the top drawer. Shuffling for a minute, he found a pack of Articulate Wipes.
It only took a moment until Early held a wipe in his fingers. Rory eyed it like it might poison him, backing up a step instinctively before he swallowed again. He huffed a strong breath, before grimacing and stepping forward. He closed his eyes. “Do it fast, okay?”
Early obliged, quickly pushing the wipe into Rory's open mouth. Rory gagged slightly, and Early paused, letting the wipe sit on Rory's tongue until he felt sure that Rory had control. Unlike his spanking, Rory took this punishment with a stoic silence. “You can be mad at me,” Early said conversationally, and Rory opened his eyes. “You can safeword if you really think you don't deserve somethin’ I'm gonna give you. But I don't appreciate being cussed. Understand?” Rory flushed, but nodded slightly. “Good boy. Then we understand each other.”
Early swirled the wipe around Rory's mouth, making sure he got the fronts and back of his teeth. Not wanting to drag this out, and satisfied that Rory had learned this particular lesson, Early pulled the wipe free. Rory immediately spit into the sink, turning the water on and looking to Early for approval to rinse his mouth. Early nodded, and Rory quickly cut his hands under the water and began the fruitless effort to get rid of the foul taste.
Early let him take his time but lingered in the doorway of the bathroom. Arms folded, he leaned back against the door jamb and watched until Rory finally gave up. The expression on the younger boy’s face, woebegone and uncertain, made him look about 10 years old. Early straightened, before reaching over to pull Rory into a hug.
“I'm on your side, you know.” Early spoke softly. “It's my job to help you succeed here, and you're doing really well.”
“How can you say that after what just happened?” Rory sounded more embarrassed than defensive, and Early chuckled.
“We all stumble sometimes.”
“That was a face plant,” Rory muttered, pulling back and Early made a show of scrutinizing his face. “What?”
“I don't think it was a face plant. Your face isn't red enough.” Early smirked. “Your backside on the other hand…?”
“Oh my God,” Rory protested with a strangled laugh. “Stoooop.” Early opened his mouth to respond, but Rory shook his head. “I know, I know, stop isn't a safeword."
“Now you're catching on,” Early joked. “Looks like you're trainable after all.”
“I hope so,” Rory said fervently, hands moving back to rub his sore bottom. “I don't ever want to do that again.”
Early ducked his head, his expression still teasing. “May the odds be ever in your favor.” Then he shrugged one shoulder, his grin flashing even white teeth. “But this is RBU. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.”