Hard Surfaces

The cool linen curtains and the soft breeze did nothing to cool or soften Brad's
temperament as he sulked on the floor under the window in the study. However,
when he noticed Toby glance over at him Brad's sulk quickly turned to a defiant
one.

"Don't waste that look on me," Toby said as he turned back to his desk, ignoring
Brad's mood.

Brad growled frustratingly under his breath. This was not his first time sitting
under the window when nothing was his fault. Toby apparently loved this
"thinking spot" and said every time "You need to realize what you did wrong.
The method that works best for you is to sit under that window and think for as
long as it takes."

He hated when Toby sat him under this window and left him to think. Well, hate
was a strong word. Maybe he didn't hate it so much except when he was actually
going through it, like right now. Brad just knew that it was wrong to make a
grown man sit on the hard floor with his butt already sore and think. He was
sure that there was some federal law out there that made this punishment
illegal. This must be a violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and
unusual punishment. Maybe when he was finally released he would do some research
and write a brief on the continuous and unreasonable violation of his rights.

He knew Toby wouldn't give in to his sulking and pouting or any other actions he
pulled, and he hated that too. Well, if he was honest with himself (which was
usually the problem), he didn't hate it. He loved the result of it. After these
window sitting sessions, Brad could breath in and out and that overwhelming
sense of guilt would be gone, but Toby, bastard that he was, would force Brad to
go through all of the motions, including sitting on the hard, unyielding ground,
on a freshly spanked bottom and think about exactly why he was in this mess.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Brad had gotten home from a trip to the store that morning and was ready to have
some fun time with his lover after a long hard week at the school and the
library. The first thing he noticed was the gate was open and that damn dog was
back in the garden. The gate needed to be oiled and would stick. The dog had,
over the past week, gotten into the garden three times because they thought the
door was shut when it really wasn't. And Brad had been promising to fix it for
over a week.

And then everything went downhill fast. At that moment, Toby walked out and
found his ruined garden. Brad would have sworn that Toby was laughing at the
damn dog's antics as he chomped his way through the carrots and carefully
avoided touching any of the squash (smart dog), but that couldn't have been
right. And then Toby had said the most damning words of the day. "So, what
happened? I thought you were going to fix the gate yesterday."

Brad opened his mouth to confess that he had worked late at the library and that
he just hadn't been able to get to it yet. In fact, he had gone that morning to
buy more supplies to fix it. But what came out of his mouth was "I did fix it.
Someone else must have left the gate open." Brad was horrified at himself for
saying that. It had been weeks since he had last blurted out a lie when there
was absolutely no reason to. He was getting better at just saying what went
wrong.

When Toby and Brad had first started dating, Brad would blurt out lies all the
time, for no apparent reason. From little social lies like "I feel fine" when he
had the headache from hell to "I tried to call but the phone was busy" when he
forgot about meeting up. Brad never lied about really big stuff, but only
"little white lies" that he grew up hearing from his parents to cover their
wandering habits. Brad grew up believing that these falsehoods weren't really
lies so much as protection for others from hard truths.

It wasn't until Toby that Brad started to realize not only was this a habit he
wasn't stopping on his own but that these lies did in fact hurt others. About a
year into dating, in a moment of insane maturity, he had discussed with Toby
that he hated that about himself and he wanted to stop doing it. When he
graduated from law school, he had a job lined up to work with the judge in town
and he knew he couldn't risk any job or career by careless stupid falsehoods.
Especially when the lies made no sense and had no reason. Toby had kissed him
and agreed to help. But that meant giving in to Toby's methods of helping which
usually resulted in a sore backside and a hard surface under the window, which
lead him back to his current predicament.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Toby," Brad growled out as he used his hands to lift his aching butt off the
hard wood floor. "This floor is hard and my butt aches. I've been here forever,
let me up."

"Yes, the floor is hard but it's a good place for you and you can continue to
sit right there until you're ready to be honest about this whole situation.
You've only been there for five minutes and judging by your tone, you need some
more time. Hands off the floor."

"This is just not fair. I don't know why you're mad at me." Brad mumbled as he
reluctantly picked his hands up and put them in his lap.

Toby turned completely around in his chair and stared down at Brad at his feet.
"Excuse me, young man?"

Brad started and shifted restlessly as he belatedly realized that he may have
been a bit louder than he thought.

Toby continued to stare. "First of all, this is your own doing. You are free to
get up from there and come back over my lap as soon as you want to start talking
honestly about what happened today." Brad gulped audibly at the threat to his
backside. "Second of all," Toby continued, "I am not mad at you, and you know
it. I am upset about your actions but I am not upset with or mad at you. Tell
me when you are ready to talk about this. It is really up to you."

Toby turned back to his desk and continued to work while Brad continued to fume.
Brad started shifting and tried not to use his hands to push himself up off the
floor to ease the hard surface. He tried to decide which was worse, the pain in
his behind or the pain of having this conversation with the man he loved.

Within ten minutes of shifting and thinking, Brad looked at Toby and attempted
to work up the courage to say what he needed to say.

"Toby?" Brad said softly, not knowing whether he hoped to get Toby's attention
or whether he hoped not to get it.

"Yes, Brad"

"Ummmm, nothing."

"Take your time. When you are ready, tell me." Brad could hear the
understanding, patience and love in Toby's voice even with Toby's back still to
him.

Another five minutes passed before Brad tried again. "I'm sorry the vegetable
garden was ruined." He choked out.

"I know you are sweetie" Toby said as he continued to face his desk.

Three more minutes of silence followed during which Brad felt nothing but the
hard surface under him and the guilt of the upcoming confession. Brad wanted to
again push up on his fingers to ease his aching bottom. The small spanking Toby
had started with had been enough to ignite his backside, especially after
sitting on the hard floor in nothing but his boxers, but it hadn't been enough
to deal with his guilt.

It was obvious that Toby knew everything, but his guilt over having to confess
it still consumed Brad. He didn't always understand why he did what he did, but
Toby was wonderfully patient and kind and was working on it with him.

"Toby?"

"Yes, Brad."

"Um, I didn't get a chance to work on the gate yet and Jack got out and dug up
the garden."

Toby turned around in his chair. "Thank you for telling me that, Brad. That was
brave of you to tell me the truth about what happened. Why don't you get up,
come here and let's settle this and get it behind us." Brad grabbed on to
Toby's outstretched hand to help him stand, holding on to it like the lifeline
that it was.

Brad stood before Toby in his white boxers and fidgeted from foot to foot while
rubbing his already sore bottom with his free hand. He knew that now that he was
up off his butt, it wasn't over, but he was finally ready to face Toby.

"I don't know why I lie about things like this. It was a stupid thing to do."

"You are getting better Brad, and I'm proud of you for telling me the truth."
Brad heard Toby say as he allowed himself to be guided over Toby's lap and felt
his boxers pushed down past his knees. "This spanking is only for lying. If
you had told me the truth when I first asked about the garden, there would have
been no punishment except maybe helping me clean up the garden this afternoon.
But you knew when you lied about what happened that you would be held
accountable. Those earlier spanks, the time spent on the hard floor and your
being over my lap now are all a result of you lying to me again."

Brad grasped Toby's leg when he felt Toby's hand rest on his bare backside.

"What is this for?" Toby asked.

"Lying to you." Brad said as he felt Toby's hand start to connect with his naked
bottom. He started to quietly cry both because of the renewed pain in his bottom
and because he knew better than to lie about anything, much less something that
wouldn't have been an issue at all.

After a few moments, quiet was no longer an option and Brad began sobbing out
"sorry, sorry, sorry" over and over again as he felt the heat and sting building
on his backside . As always, in the instant he knew that one more spank would
be too many, he was suddenly being pulled upright and settled onto Toby's lap.

"It's alright now." Toby said. "This is behind us. Let's move forward and work
on not being here again."

Brad immediately started wiggling "Owwww. Your thighs are as hard as that floor
was." Brad said, causing Toby to laugh and to lift him over onto his side to
ease the ache. Brad snuggled in to the best part of a spanking from Toby, the
long luxurious cuddle afterward.

Brad fit just perfectly on Toby's lap. His head, with just the least little bit
of bending, fit into that perfect notch between Toby's chin and his shoulder.
Having tired himself with emotions and crying, he loved to just fall into that
perfect spot and be held and loved and know that he was forgiven.