by Ariana May
Emery frowned. “No,” he said, knowing he was likely overstepping, but not caring. “Quentin, I insisted that you sit with me, so that you could relax, as I’m certain Master Jericho didn’t intend for you to be on your knees for as long as you were. And if he did, well, I’ll be the one taking any punishment for you not doing as you were asked. I’m the one that is responsible for that.”
“Both of you, stop it,” Jericho said firmly, looking between his two boys. “No one is being sent away, and no one is being punished because you drew some comfort from sitting with Emery. I said you were to be on your knees when I returned. Not that you had to wait for me on your knees. And you were on your knees when I returned, Quentin. Exactly as I asked. Such a good boy.” He kissed Quentin’s forehead. “Now, I know this isn’t going to be very pleasant for anyone involved, but I think it is best we get this over with as quickly as possible. What do you think, Quentin?”
“Yes, Master,” Quentin whispered, voice trembling. “Do....Do you want me to go the common room while you gather the other boys now?”
Emery opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it, his heart warring with his head, wanting to speak out against what appeared to be a cruel punishment, making Quentin submit to it in front of all the other boys, when what had been done hadn’t hurt any of them, hadn’t involved any of them. He was saved from his mental tug-of-war by Jericho’s next words.
“That won’t be necessary.” Jericho said kindly. “We’ll deal with your punishment tonight here in private, as I’ve some questions I’d like you to answer, for your own sake. Topics that I think you need to consider, but that I would prefer to allow you to keep between us. So Damien will administer the spankings as usual and I will ask my questions. Emery, can you sit by Quentin and hold his hands?”
Emery looked at Quentin. “Do you want me present?” he asked quietly. “I can be here, or if Master Jericho permits, I can leave.”
“I want you here,” Jericho said curtly. Then, softening at the realization of the nature of Emery’s kind gesture, he added, “But yes, Emery is right. Are you alright with his presence tonight Quentin?”
Quentin looked torn for a moment. “What I did directly affected Emery,” he said quietly. “He should be present.”
Jericho smiled down at Quentin, squeezing his shoulder. “Such a good boy.” Jericho gestured Damien forward to the chair and, offering a hand to Quentin, added, “Come on then, up you go.”
Quentin allowed his Master to pull him to his feet and guide him to lay face down over Damien’s lap. Once he was situated, Damien ghosted a hand over the cheeks of his ass and said, “Quentin, I want you tell me why you’re being punished today.”
Closing his eyes as if to shut out his misdeeds, Quentin whispered, “I broke Master’s rules. I spied on Master Jericho and Emery and I masturbated myself until I came.” Damien opened his mouth to accept Quentin’s response only to be brought up short by Quentin continuing. “I’m a bad boy. I masturbated because I wanted it to be me with Emery. I’m supposed to like girls, to marry a girl, and I wanted to have sex with a boy. I’m a bad boy.” Tears welled in Quentin’s eyes as his mind refocused on his fears and confusion and familial expectation, rather than his Master's rules.
“Oh Quentin, no!” Jericho said, his voice laden with sorrow and tender caring. He crouched down and gently cupped Quentin’s face in his hands. “You’re being punished for masturbating yourself to orgasm which is directly a broken rule. You’re being punished for spying on Emery and I, which is just rude because 1) it’s a breach of our privacy and 2) by not announcing yourself, you denied us the opportunity to ask you to join us.” Taking Quentin’s blush at this last as a positive sign, Jericho continued. “But Quentin, you are not being punished for wanting to join us, for wanting to have sex with Emery, for being attracted to Emery. These things do not make you a bad boy. They’re why I chose you, Quentin. They’re part of what make you my good boy. It’s okay to be attracted to boys as well as girls. You will never be punished for that and anyone who tries will answer to me. Do you understand me?”
“No, Master, but....but I want to,” Quentin whispered, sounding broken but also desperately hopeful.
Emery knelt next to Jericho and reached for Quentin's hands. "It's going to be alright," he whispered. He wasn’t sure what Jericho and Damien had in mind, but from Jericho’s talk of questions, he was sure they intended to use this opportunity to help Quentin accept himself. He would play along for now. “You’re going to be alright. Just let us take care of you. Let Master Jericho and Damien help you. Okay?”
Quentin hoped Emery was right. He just wanted everything to make sense again. He was scared, not of the spankings he’d earned, but of what Master had meant by questions. Still he trusted the three men in the room. And he wanted so desperately to be his Master’s good boy. He squeezed Emery’s hands like a lifeline and nodded. “You’ll stay?”
Emery nodded back, lightly caressing Quentin’s hands with his thumbs. “I’ll be right here.”
“And I’ll be right around you,” Jericho said. “Now, the way this punishment is going to work is that the spankings will go in rounds. For each round, I’m going to ask you a question which you are to think about during the spankings. I want you put everything else out of your mind. Think about my question and spankings. Nothing more. How many spankings you get will depend on how well you cooperate with thinking about the things I want you to focus on. When you have the answer, tell us. Do you understand, Quentin?”
Quentin understood the instructions, but not their meaning. This was unlike any punishment he’d seen or heard of. ‘But it’s not my place to understand. Just to obey. I can be Master’s good boy. I can.’ Shakily determined, Quentin murmured, “Yes, Master.”
“Okay then.” Jericho rose, trailing his hand along Quentin’s spine. “For the first question, we need some background information. Damien, who are the four most attractive people you’ve ever seen?”
“Aphrodite, Daven, Celestina Orion, and of course you master,” Damien said, running his hand gently over Quentin’s ass.
Jericho laughed. “Goddess aside, two men and one lovely actress. You’re attracted to both men and women, Damien?”
“Yes, Master,” Damien said. “I’m bisexual, as are several of your boys.”
“Thank you, Damien,” Jericho said as he tipped Quentin’s head up so that he could look into the boy’s eyes. “Damien is sexually attracted to both men and women. So are several other of my boys. Your first question is this: Is there anything wrong with them, Quentin?” Jericho released Quentin’s chin and nodded to Damien. “Begin when ready.”
Damien gave each of Quentin’s ass cheeks a soft rub before raising his hand up for the first strike. He brought his hand down in a slow series of light swats, little more than taps, intended to ease the boy into the punishment.
Quentin squirmed under Damien’s light spanking, each strike bringing only a little pain but warming his ass and focusing his attention nonetheless. ‘Was there anything wrong with Damien? No,’ Quentin thought. ‘Damien...Damien is incredible. So nice, so strong. There can’t be anything wrong with him. And I trust him. If he says he likes both boys and girls, he must really mean it. And he’s okay with it so it must be okay for boys like him, bisexual boys to like both.’
Nearing the end of his planned first round of spankings, Damien increased the pace with which his hand peppered the firm flesh of Quentin’s ass with light strikes, turning the cheeks a deep shade of pink.
“No, Master. No.” Quentin gasped out. Jericho raised his hand and Damien halted his strikes, shifting back to rubbing the pink skin, just hard enough to keep it warmed. “No, there’s nothing wrong with them. If Damien is comfortable with it, it must be okay.”
“Good, Quentin,” Jericho said, running fingers through the boy’s brown hair and lovingly caressing his head. “Now this is very important, Quentin. Is there something wrong with me?” Jericho asked. “Since I don�
�t prefer women at all? And what about Emery or Kai or Nico or any of my fully gay boys?”
“No, Master!” Quentin exclaimed, needing no time to think. “There’s nothing wrong with being gay. I know that. You have to know that I know that Master. There could never be anything wrong with you!”
Jericho chuckled at Quentin’s fervent vote of confidence. “Well, I don’t know about never and anything, but we’ll agree that this is one area where everything is perfectly fine. Okay, Quentin?” Jericho gave Quentin enough time to nod before moving on. “Well then you’ve saved your delectable ass one round of spanking. Now, your next question. I want you to think about this very carefully, Quentin, as the answer is perhaps the most vital answer you can ever give me. We’ve had sex, you and I, many times. Were you, are you willing? Do you enjoy our time together?”
Damien began again with a quick swat to each of Quentin’s ass cheeks. He increased the pace and force of his blows. Each strike, evenly distributed across Quentin’s ass, was now a sharp sting. Quentin whimpered as he forced himself to consider his Master’s question. ‘Of course, I’m willing to serve Master.’ Even as he thought it, Quentin knew that wasn’t what his Master meant. Quentin thought back to his first night. Master Jericho had entertained him, drawing him in over dinner, sharing stories and listening intently to Quentin’s. ‘I...I liked him, he was so nice. He seemed to care about me, even then, that first night. And when he undressed us, when he touched me for the first time....’ Quentin paused his thoughts not quite ready to face the memory. Damien, however was equally unwilling to allow him to distract himself. The blows on his ass were harder now, the pain building in intensity, as if to force Quentin to face the memory. ‘I...I wanted to be his. I wanted him. I wanted to have sex. And it was good. So good. Every bit as good as it was with the girls I fucked back home. I...like have sex with Master. I like it.’ “I like it!” Quentin cried out. “I’m willing Master. I like it. I like it.” Tears dropped from Quentin’s eyes as this truth coursed through him.
Damien halted his blows, returning to rubbing Quentin’s ass soothingly with one hand as he stroked the boy’s lower back with the other.
Jericho crouched down, kissing Quentin’s forehead. “I’m so glad, Quentin. I was so afraid I was hurting you.”
“No. No, Master.” Quentin released Emery’s hands to grab at Jericho’s. “You never hurt me. You take care of us, you and Damien. I...I’m happy serving you Master. I am.”
“Thank you, Quentin. Thank you.” Jericho whispered, stroking Quentin’s cheek and pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “I’m so happy to have you with us.” Jericho rose again and gestured for Emery to take Quentin’s hands once more. “You’ve been so good for me. Just a few more rounds ok?” At Quentin’s hesitant nod, Jericho continued, “You’ve admitted enjoying our time together, Quentin. What about Emery? You’re attracted to him, aren’t you? Did you enjoy having his hand on you during the circle jerk? Enjoy it as you enjoy our time together?”
Damien struck with the last syllable of Jericho’s question. His blows rained down harder and faster on Quentin’s ass, turning the flesh from pink to red. Quentin winced and moaned at the pain, gripping Emery’s hands tighter as he considered the beautiful boy before him. Of course he was attracted to Emery. That was the whole problem. He remembered the feel of Emery’s arms around him as they danced. The soft pleasure of sleeping in Emery’s arms. What it had felt like to have Emery’s hands on him, bringing him to orgasm. ‘It was so good. I liked it so much. He told me to think of someone else and I couldn’t. I...I wanted it to be him. And tonight...tonight, I wanted it to be him again. I...I’m attracted to Emery. I want to have sex with him. Like I want to have sex with Master.’ Quentin shuddered. ‘More.’ His ass on fire from the steady rain of spankings, Quentin whimpered and cried out, “Yes. Yes, Master. I liked it. I wanted it. I want it.” Each word was difficult to admit out loud. To bare himself in that manner. But Quentin continued, desperate to obey his master...and to stop Damien’s hand. “I want Emery. I want to have sex with him.”
Damien returned to rubbing, giving Quentin a short reprieve.
Emery leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to Quentin’s lips and hugging the boy as best as he could given their positions. “I want you that way too, Quentin. And it’s okay. Really, it is.”
Placing a hand on Quentin and Emery’s shoulders, Jericho said. “Yes, it is. Now, Quentin, I want you to think hard about when you were younger. Has any boy ever affected you the way Emery and I do? Did anything happen to make you feel it wasn’t okay to feel that way?”
Damien leaned down to whisper in Quentin’s ear. “Ready, Quentin? One more round. You can take that for me. Can’t you?”
Bracing himself, determined to get through it for Damien and his Master, Quentin whispered, “Yes.”
Damien gripped Quentin’s hip to hold him in place and struck, fast, hard, and with no mercy. He pummeled Quentin’s ass with an even spread of his strongest blows, driving out all thoughts in Quentin’s mind save the pain and the questions. Quentin squirmed at the pain, unable to escape the painful strikes. Each slap of Damien’s hand to his ass drilled into him, the physical pain focusing his mind, forcing him to seek out the emotional pain that was the source of his current troubles.
‘Another boy?’ Slap. ‘One that made me feel like Master and Emery.’ Slap. ‘There hasn’t been anyone else, just girls.’ Slap. Slap. Slap. Damien’s hand struck hard, forcing Quentin to ride higher on the waves of pain and deeper into memory. ‘Damien’ Hot tears flowed freely now, physical and emotional pain mixing as Quentin spoke, unaware that he was voicing aloud the memory. “Damien, the boy at the dance when I was eleven. He had been a school friend. He asked me to dance. My stomach fluttered when he twirled me around the room. I was supposed to dance with all the pretty girls my mother had pointed out, but I just wanted to dance with him. We danced the whole night. It was nice. I...I didn’t want to go home. Father had to come out to the dance floor to lead me away. Then...Then the next morning my mother took me aside. I wanted to go play with Damien, but she told me I had to have a play date with this girl from a wealthy family. She told me I needed to talk and dance with the pretty girls at parties so that I could marry well. So that I would do right by the family. That’s...That’s when I knew that I could only like girls. That I had to be straight. So I stopped. Stopped being friends with Damien. Stopped feeling that way.”
This time, Damien spoke as he slammed his hands down hard onto Quentin’s ass, delivering the final spankings of Quentin’s punishment. “But are you straight, Quentin? Do you want only girls?”
“No!” Quentin sobbed. “No, I like boys too...I like boys too.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Damien stopped spanking Quentin and drew the boy up and into his arms as Jericho and Emery moved to surround the boy in a tender group hug.
“Shhh...shhh, Quentin,” Jericho soothed. “It’s ok. It’s ok. Your mother was wrong to make you feel that way.”
“She...She was?” Quentin asked, pleading.
“Yes, Quentin, she was,” Jericho whispered. He kissed Quentin’s forehead. “It’s ok to be bisexual. Who your family wants you to marry has no bearing on your sexuality. It’s ok to forget what they want, to just be you. To just be my Quentin. If that’s what you want.”
Quentin nodded tearfully, “Yes, Master. Please. I just want to be your good boy. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m so messed up. That I misbehaved.”
“That is all forgiven, Quentin.” Jericho said, voice firm. “You are my good boy. My Quentin.” Jericho stroked Quentin’s hair, comforting the boy. “And I don’t want to hear you call yourself messed up. Your mother confused you, made you think that you couldn’t be yourself. You were just trying to be a good son. But Quentin, you need to be true to yourself. It only hurts you to deny yourself. Can you do that for me, Quentin? Can you try and accept your desires?”
Hunger looked deep into his Master’s eyes, seeing the love an
d care there. ‘Maybe, maybe it is okay. Maybe I can like boys as well as girls. If it’s okay for Damien and if Master says it’s okay.’ He nodded as whispered. “Yes, Master. I’ll try.”
“That’s all I ask.” Jericho said. “And Quentin, your life is your own. Whatever you want to do with, you’ll have my support. You don’t have to marry some girl because your parents tell you to. And even if you decide to do that, you can still like boys. You might not want to act on it once you are married, mind you, but you can still be attracted to boys. Okay?’
When Quentin gave a half laugh at that and nodded, Jericho brushed away the boy’s tears and rose. “Damien, tend to him for a few moments please. Emery, a word please, in my bedroom.”
Emery squeezed Quentin’s hand and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”
Quentin smiled and nodded at Emery before curling into Damien’s chest, allowing the older boy’s hands on his skin to soothe him.
Emery and Jericho moved into Jericho’s bedroom and Jericho drew Emery into his lap, kissing him softly. “Thank you for helping in there. I know it made it easier for him to have you there holding his hands. And I think having both of the objects of his desires present helped keep him from avoiding admitting those desires to himself.”
“You’re welcome,” Emery responded, considering the scene he had just witnessed and trying to formulate his questions. He was fairly certain that the spanking scene had been specially crafted to achieve the breakthrough Quentin had made, but it always paid to be sure. “Do you really do that every time one of the boys breaks a rule?”
Jericho shook his head. “No, that was to help Quentin. Oh, the spanking is standard, but usually it’s just spanking, no talking beyond making sure the boy understands what he did wrong. And Damien usually does it in the common room, to serve as a reminder and warning to the other boys. This was different though. Quentin was hurting so much and doing it in public would have just made it worse. And Damien and I wanted to use the opportunity to break through his wall of denials and help him to accept his bisexuality, to stop his sexuality from being a point of pain for him.”