Written for the prompt: It's report card day and Burt spanks Finn and Puck (who practically lives there now) bare-assed and OTK for any bad grades while Kurt watches with his good report card.
Sequel to Truth and Consequence and Best Intentions, although it stands alone.
"Hi, everyone," Kurt said, a little breathlessly, as he came into the dining room. "I'm sorry I'm late. Warblers went long today."
He slid into his seat next to Puck and set a piece of paper down next to his plate. Puck had become a fixture in their house after getting out of juvy, complete with his own seat at Friday Night Dinner and half his belongings in the "guest" room next to Kurt's.
"Emergency two step dance class?" Puck asked, passing over the vegetable platter.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "No. Emergency vocal rearrangement. Nick failed a class and is out on probation. We needed to work around him for the next exhibition."
"I thought report cards came out next week," Carole said. "You said that the quarters were the same as McKinley."
"They are," Kurt said, frowning. "And it was definitely today." He pointed at the paper with his fork.
Finn and Puck exchanged glances and shoveled big bites of lasagne into their mouths. Carole raised her eyebrow at them.
"So, how'd you do?" Burt asked.
Kurt hesitated. "It...well, Dalton is not McKinley. I worked hard, but it's a lot more difficult and I didn't do as well as usual." He passed the grades over to Burt and Carole leaned over.
"3 Bs and 3 As? Kurt, you did great," Carole said, surprised.
Burt nodded. "She's right, son. This is good work, I'm proud of you."
Kurt smiled, a little uncertainly. "I suppose. I'm just used to As. I'll try to get them up for the next quarter."
"I admire that, but Kurt, honey, be proud of this," Carole said. "You really had to play catch up in your classes, and you rose to the challenge. Good job."
"Well, thank you," Kurt said, looking pleased.
"So, boys," Carole said, turning to Finn and Puck. "Which was it? Report cards today or next week?"
Finn looked down at his plate, but Puck just kept eating.
"Finn?" Burt said. "Your mom asked a question."
"Well, I guess it was today," Finn said, uncomfortably.
Puck rolled his eyes at how easily he folded. So much for their plan. Finn always had been a pussy.
"You guess?" Carole asked. "Well, what do you guess your grades were? Both of you."
Finn hesitated. "I don't remember," he said finally.
"Good thing they give you print outs," Carole said. "Go get them."
Finn looked a little panicked, but they obeyed.
Carole looked at Burt and sighed. "I don't think this will go well," she said.
"Doesn't seem like it," Burt agreed.
Carole leaned over to whisper in Burt's ear and Kurt pretended that he couldn't hear, cutting his food neatly even as he shamelessly eavesdropped. Now that his anxieties over his own grades were calmed, he was starting to feel a little smug, secure in the thought that he was currently the Good Kid. It was a nice feeling, he had to admit. Just one more perk of having this new family.
The boys returned, grade slips in hand.
"Let's see 'em," Burt said, holding out his hand. Finn and Puck passed them over before taking their seats again.
"Finn!" Carole exclaimed. "What happened?"
Finn fidgeted. "I don't know," he said. "It just happened."
"Just happened?" Burt said incredulously. "I think a lot of things had to not happen for these grades. C-, C-, D, C, D? You dropped in every class."
"And an A," Finn said, defensively. "I got an A."
"In PE," Carole said. "That's great, but that's not your education."
"And Noah," Burt said. "3 Ds and 2 Cs."
"Hey, I brought up my geometry grade," Puck said. "That's a C+. That has to count for something."
"So you can work hard and bring up your grades, good, but you still dropped everywhere else," Burt said. "Every day, you two say you're doing homework upstairs. So why don't these grades show that?"
Finn shrugged, not wanting to admit that most days, they just played video games.
"That's not a question to shrug off," Carole said. "Are you doing your homework every day? Or are you lying to us?" The boys' silence was enough of an answer for her. "Wonderful."
"Look, I'm not smart like, like Kurt is," Finn said. "Give me a break!"
"We're not comparing your grades to Kurt's," his mom said. "We're comparing them to what we expect you'd get if you actually did your work. And you know what, young man? I don't like your tone right there."
Finn flushed and glared down at his plate.
"We'll do some extra credit, okay?" Puck said. He was starting to get a little uneasy - Burt and Carole were way more upset than he'd figured on. He guessed he shouldn't be surprised, he remembered Finn getting grounded once or twice for bad grades before, but he hadn't thought it would be this big a deal. He'd underestimated them.
"Why should we believe that you'll do extra work if you can't even do the work you're supposed to?" Burt asked. "This is not okay, boys. Finn, you know that or you wouldn't be so defensive. Noah, maybe you're not used to people caring about your grades, but we do. And we expect you to, as well."
"It's bad enough you tried to lie to us today and hide your grades," Carole said. "Then it turns out that you've been lying for months. Big trouble, boys."
"Carole and I will talk about how homework will go from now on," Burt said. "Something's gotta change, since we can't trust you with it anymore. But in the meantime, we can settle up on the lies and the bad grades."
"Settle up how?" Puck asked, knot forming in his stomach, as Finn's head jerked up.
"Finish your dinners," Burt said. "You're both cleaning everything up tonight, I don't care whose turn it is. When you're done, meet me in the living room for your punishments."
"You don't mean," Finn stuttered out. "No, come on! No law breaking!"
"No one ever said that was the only thing that would get you spanked," Carole said. "You know that, we've talked about this. You've behaved poorly, Finn, you and Noah both, and you have earned this just like you earned those grades."
"Ugh," Finn growled, slamming his fork down in frustration.
"Hey!" Carole said, but Burt touched her wrist.
"Finn, maybe you'd like to take a moment and calm down," he said evenly.
"Fine," Finn muttered, shoving his chair back and stomping out to the hallway.
"Well," Kurt said after a pause. "It's like dinner theater here tonight. Without the exorbitant ticket prices."
Puck snorted despite himself as Burt said, "Kurt," in a warning tone.
"Sorry."
When Finn came back in a few minutes later, he was still tense but looked more embarrassed than angry. "Sorry," he mumbled, sliding back into his seat. He poked at his lasagne as his parents talked with Kurt and Puck.
"All right, boys," Burt said finally. "Clean up, and I'll see you in twenty."
Kurt hung back a little after Burt and Carole left the room. Finn noticed him as he stacked dishes and frowned. "Don't start, man."
"I'm not starting anything," Kurt protested. "What do you think I'm starting?"
"I don't know," Finn said. "I'm just not in the mood for anything, okay? You and those damn As."
"It's not my fault you didn't do your work," Kurt said, stung. "I was just going to offer my sympathy. You may remember that I've been in your position more times than either of you. And I thought I could also offer my assistance with any homework questions you two had this weekend, but now I think my damn As and I will just worry about ourselves."
Finn had the grace to look embarrassed. "I'm -" he began, but was cut off by Burt calling for Kurt.
"Whatever," Kurt said and flounced out.
***
When Finn and Puck walked into the living room twenty minutes later, Kurt was curled up in his dad's armchair, reading.
"Hey, man, what are you doing here?" Finn asked. "I'm sorry about before. You didn't get in trouble, too, did you?"
"Nope," Kurt said airily, flicking a page. "Just hanging out."
Puck saw that his report card was sticking up out of the book and snorted. Brat.
"But we're getting- in trouble," Finn said, frowning. "You shouldn't be here."
"It's my house, too," Kurt shrugged.
Finn was getting visibly frustrated when Burt followed them in.
"Sit down, boys," he said, pointing to the love seat as he sat on the couch.
"Burt, you gotta make Kurt go away!" Finn protested.
Burt glanced over to where Kurt sat, avoiding his gaze. "He's the least of your problems right now. I told you to sit."
"But," Finn said helplessly.
"I really suggest you not make this worse for yourself," Burt said and Finn finally sat next to Puck, stealing a glare at Kurt, who gave him a little smirk in return.
"I hope you boys understand why Carole and I are disappointed by your behavior today and for the last several weeks. Why did you try to hide your grades?" Burt asked, looking at Finn.
Finn shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Well, uh, I-I don't know," he said, looking down. "I guess I figured Mom wouldn't like them. I didn't think they were going to be that bad," he admitted. "I didn't want her, or you, to be upset."
"We were going to find out anyway, right?" Burt asked. Finn was silent. "Noah, why did you two tell us that report cards were out next week?"
Puck hesitated and then met Burt's gaze. "Because I thought we could get them changed," he said, and Finn and Kurt's eyes popped. "Lauren's good with computers."
Burt just nodded. "I figured. I'm glad you can be honest when it's tough." He rubbed at his head. "Okay. So, the way I see it, you took the easy way out during the quarter, skipping whatever you wanted, and then decided to take the easy way out again and avoid the fall out for your bad decisions. That sound about right?"
Finn shrugged, eyes still down.
"I'd like an answer, boys."
"Yes, sir," they chorused.
"All those easy ways are about to make your life a lot harder than it would have been," Burt said. "All these stupid decisions you two made, they have long term consequences that you apparently never think about. Things like what colleges will think, maybe losing a chance to get out of here. Or things like how now you're going to be spending every afternoon doing homework here or at the garage while me or Carole watch."
"Wait, what?" Finn protested as Puck looked dismayed.
Burt held up his hand and Finn bit his lip. "I don't think you're in any position to argue here," he said. "It's not like this is going to be fun for us, either. We thought that we could trust you, that at 16 you two could take some responsibility for yourselves, but we were wrong.
"If we could have trusted you, if you hadn't lied to us so many times and you hadn't earned those grades, then you wouldn't be sitting here, waiting to be spanked," he continued. "Actions have consequences. Didn't you think of any of this the last few months?"
Finn shrugged again, avoiding Burt's eyes.
"Noah, I've talked to you about this before and now I want you to think about this, too, Finn. Until you can start thinking about long term consequences, this is your short term one. Think about if what you are doing will get you a spanking when we find out. If it is, and you're feeling smart, you'll reconsider. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Fine. Finn, come here," Burt said.
Finn glanced over to where Kurt was still reading.
"Finn." Burt's tone didn't allow for argument.
Finn reluctantly stood up and crossed the room to Burt.
"You know what to do," Burt reminded him.
Finn flushed and undid his jeans, shoving them and his boxers down and throwing himself over Burt's lap as fast as possible. He shut his eyes tight and tried to pretend he didn't have an audience.
Burt didn't waste time, landing a hard smack square on his backside. Finn jumped and bit his lip to keep from gasping out loud. The next swat and the next came quickly as Burt covered every inch of bare skin and all thoughts of Kurt and Puck watching were driven out of his head with each impact.
After ten more solid smacks, Finn's rapidly reddening ass was stinging hard. A particularly sharp swat landed and he groaned. "Ah, God, fuck," he hissed, but Burt heard him.
"Language," he admonished, and landed an equally sharp swat in the same location.
"Sorry," Finn said, his voice scaling up. "Ah, ow, it hurts." He couldn't help trying to wiggle away from the unrelenting slaps, but Burt held him pretty well.
"I know, kid," Burt said, matching each word with a smack. "I need you to keep thinking about this tonight, about all those lies you told, and what they mean. This is how little you respect your mom and me, and yourself?" He landed the next few on Finn's thighs, making him kick and give a little whimper. "This is the kind of man you want to be, lazy and not trustworthy?"
"No-ohh," Finn gasped, tears starting to sting his eyes. "No, no, I'm sorry. I, ah, messed up. 'M sorry," he repeated, the first tears spilling over from guilt and pain as Burt continued to smack his thighs, turning them hot and cherry red.
"You're capable of doing better in school, and we expect to see improvements. We won't tolerate this behavior anymore, got me?" Burt asked, now concentrating on the curve of Finn's backside, right where he'd be sitting.
"Ye-es," Finn said, his voice hitching through the tears. "Yes, Burt, I'm sorry, so sorry," he said miserably. This was so not worth those extra hours of video games. His parents were disappointed, his butt was on fire, and it was all his stupid fault. "I won't, ow, I promise, I won't," he said, and Burt understood.
"Good, kid," he said, swatting harder for emphasis. "Remember this the next time you think about taking the easy way out. It's never worth it."
He gave him a few more smacks before finishing up with one last strong slap. Finn groaned, and Burt rested his hand on his back.
"You're done," he said, patting gently. Finn hung down for another minute, trying to get his tears and breathing back under control. He finally pushed himself back, wiping at his eyes.
"You can go find your corner while I deal with Noah," Burt said, and Finn got to his feet, wincing.
He made his way to the back corner, sagging against it in relief. His butt was throbbing and he bit his lip to try to deflect the pain, and then remembered Kurt. He tipped his head to the side and tried to peek without Burt noticing. It looked like he had his head in the book, thank God.
Kurt hadn't been looking at his book the entire time, though. He'd been plenty annoyed with Finn, annoyed enough that he hadn't cared to give him privacy at the start of his punishment. He couldn't help glancing over and watching (in a purely clinical manner, of course) Finn go so red so quickly, smirking a little bit at the sight. But then he'd started to feel guilty when Finn started sounding through the pain because it reminded him how it felt to have an audience. After that, the fun had gone out of it and he settled into trying to focus on the words in front of him instead of the sound of Burt's hand.
While Kurt had watched Finn, Puck had been watching Kurt, welcoming the distraction as he waited for his turn. When Burt called him over now, he caught Kurt's eye and raised his eyebrow at him. Kurt flushed and looked away.
Puck took the few steps to Burt and undid his jeans. His stomach was tied up in knots as he laid himself down over Burt's lap; this might be the third time he'd found himself there, but he wasn't sure that knowing what to expect was a good thing in this case. He glanced over to see if Kurt was watching again. He was, and Puck couldn't resist giving him a wink even as his stomach twisted. Kurt rolled his eyes before returning to the book, fingers playing with the edge of his grade report.
Puck grinned but that disappeared fast when Burt raised his hand and brought it down with a loud snap onto his ass. Puck clenched his teeth tightly as the next smack came almost immediately and the pain radiated out. The next several smacks fell fast and furious until Puck was gasping. He grabbed at Burt's jeans and tightened his fists in the hem.
"Do I have your attention now?" Burt asked, landing another swat.
"Yes," Puck said, voice unsteady. "Yes, sir."
"Good," Burt said, slowing his tempo a little. "Because I want you to understand how disappointed I am in your decisions here. I know what you can do, Noah. I know your work at the shop, I know you can work hard."
Puck groaned a little as the firm swats started falling faster again, covering his ass and setting it glowing and hot. "Ahh," he panted, biting back swears. He clenched his fists harder as Burt landed a swat on his thigh, fighting the urge to reach back. "Oh, man." He wasn't sure what was worse, the rapid fire smacks or the ones with pauses in between.
"I'm also upset by all of your lies," Burt said, continuing the assault on Puck's thighs. Puck flinched. "I need to be able to trust you, as one of my kids here and my employee at work. Do you understand that?"
"Ye-es," Puck said, his voice scaling up as Burt piled two searing swats in a row on the undercurve of his ass. "Ow, geez, I'm sorry." He blinked furiously, but tears wouldn't stop forming. Fuck, he hated that he'd disappointed the one person who'd given him a chance. How stupid could he have been to think Burt wouldn't care?
"I expect better things from you, Noah," Burt said, laying down another volley of swats and causing Puck's tears to fall over.
"I'll do better," Puck promised, his voice wavering. "I'll work harder."
"Good," Burt said. "I'm holding you to that." He kept up the swats on Puck's red ass to make his point and finished with one last smack to his thighs. "Okay, kid," he said finally. "You're done."
Puck nodded weakly, swiping at his tear-streaked face and struggling to catch his breath. Burt moved his hand in small circles on Puck's back until Puck was able to push himself up.
"Find your corner," Burt told him, and he shuffled off obediently. "All right, Finn. Come here."
Finn stepped back from the wall and pulled his jeans back up, wincing as the fabric grazed his skin and renewed the sting. He walked carefully over to Burt, feeling subdued.
"You're a good kid, Finn, but you need to start taking responsibility for your actions," Burt said and Finn nodded. "You can do better than this."
"I will," Finn said. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I lied about studying, and about the grades. That was- it was stupid, all of it, and I'm sorry I broke your trust."
"Thank you," Burt said. "I know you're going to work hard to fix it." He reached out and pulled Finn into a hug, which Finn returned.
"You're excused for tonight," Burt said, pulling back. "But tomorrow, the homework starts at the kitchen table at 10 sharp. Your mom's been printing out your missed assignments, and you'll be working on those, too."
Finn nodded and left the living room. Burt turned to Puck, who was shifting his weight in the corner. "Noah."
Puck was surprised at the short corner time, but tugged his jeans back up and turned to Burt, eyes still red.
"Come here, kid," Burt said, and Noah made his way over. Burt wrapped his arms around him and Puck let himself relax into the embrace. "I meant what I said, okay? You're better than this. I care about what you do, but more than that, I want you to care, too. Got me?"
"Yes, sir," Puck said quietly, stepping back.
"Good. You're excused, too, until ten tomorrow." Burt waited until Puck had gone upstairs before turning to his son. "Kurt."
Kurt looked up at him, a little hesitantly.
"Pull this kind of bratty stunt again, and you'll be joining them. Got it?"
"Yes, sir," he said.
To Kurt's surprise, Burt shook his head and laughed. "I was a little brother, too." He ruffled Kurt's hair on his way out of the room and Kurt let out his breath. He set down the book and headed for the kitchen. He probably owed the boys some sort of apology.
***
Kurt kicked lightly on Finn's door and peeked in. "Gentlemen? If I may?"
Puck nodded at him and he pushed the door open with his hip. He came in carrying a tray that held three glasses, set it on Finn's desk and handed them each one.
"It's something of an olive branch," Kurt said, rubbing the rim of his glass before taking a sip.
"What is it?" Puck asked suspiciously, sniffing it.
"Warm milk," Kurt said. "It's comforting. I thought it might make you feel better."
Puck took a sip and shrugged. "Not bad. Thanks, dude."
"I can't believe you stayed," Finn burst out, scowling.
Kurt looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't really think Dad would let me. I was just messing with you. I've never had a brother to tease before. It's...fun."
Puck laughed and Finn glared at him. "Aw, get a sense of humor, man," Puck said. Kurt had what his nana called moxie and he could appreciate that.
"I'd never do that to you," Finn said.
"I am sure you will find some other way to bug me, uniquely your own," Kurt said, saluting him with his glass. "Forgive?"
Finn frowned but finally shrugged. "I guess."
"Good." Kurt smiled at them both. "I'll be around tomorrow if you need any help. Sweet dreams, boys."
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