Solidarity in Helplessness:
Bucky watched with sickening anticipation as the deputy headmaster opened the door of the spacious office they were in, beckoning the no-doubt trembling victim in. Bucky was standing to the side of the deputy's desk, hands clasped dutifully behind his back, a look of cold stoicism etched into his features. He couldn't show a hint of sympathy lest someone else be called in to witness.
Steve walked in, knees knocking, his face greener than it ought to have been. His eyes immediately went to Bucky's, almost begging for him to pull some magical solution out of his back pocket. Bucky couldn't do that though, he would have to stand there and watch as his secret boyfriend would be caned within an inch of his life.
It was their own fault that this situation came about, but that didn't ease the tension in Bucky's gut. The day before they had agreed to meet up with each other in the second-floor changing-room in the east wing that night. It was a place they had met up dozens of times before to share tales of the day, to hold each other and kiss each other and other things that merely thinking of threatened to tighten Bucky's trousers. But last night something different happened, it was as they were leaving the changing-room that their hearts sunk. The deputy had decided to patrol that night, and he happened to cross their path at the absolute worst time. Steve had the immediate idea to pretend to have been caught by Bucky, who happened to be a respected prefect adored by the staff and especially by the deputy. Bucky's father was a highly-decorated military man who rubbed elbows with the right people and managed to secure his son a spot in this otherwise exclusive boarding school.
He never asked whether Bucky wanted to attend or not, it was just decided.
Bucky couldn't think of anything else so he immediately went along with Steve's scheme, ad-libbing some spiel about how he saw an empty bed and an ajar door and had to inspect to make sure no mischief was being planned.
The deputy soaked up his words as if they were gospel and didn't question anything further, not even what Steve's plans had been. He just put on a guilty face and the rest was clockwork. It helped that as much as the deputy liked Bucky, he loathed Steve every bit as much. Steve didn't get in because he had the right connections or because his family was wealthy, he won a scholarship in a lottery, and the deputy took exception to hand-outs being given to those who didn't earn them.
Utter hypocrisy in Bucky's opinion; most of the people attending this very school were only there because daddy asked, not because they earned it by getting good marks. They won a lottery too, just a much better lottery than Steve did, the lottery of being born into wealth.
"Why are you here, Rogers?" The deputy asked from behind his broad desk, gesturing for the door to be left wide open.
"I…I was out of bed after hours, sir." He said plainly, saying it just as he and Bucky had rehearsed.
"Correct, and?" The deputy asked with raised eyebrows.
Steve looked confused, his eyes darting to Bucky for just an instant.
"Don't bother looking at Barnes, Rogers, he's not going to help you weasel your way out of anything."
Bucky would happily take the thickest cane he could find out of the cabinet in the corner and whack the deputy over the head with it again and again if it meant saving Steve from something as minor as a splinter, let alone one of the deputy's notorious canings.
"And…I don't know what else sir." Steve admitted, looking down at the ground he wished would swallow him.
The wood in the fire cracked as a foreboding silence filled the room. The deputy exhaled, visibly irritated at Steve's admission, though he was no doubt relishing in the dread he was engulfing the boy in.
"Not only were you out of bed after hours, you made one of our fine prefects also leave bed to chase after you and stop whatever nonsense you were planning." He spat, letting venom drip from nearly every syllable.
Bucky wanted to say something, anything at all to contradict the deputy, but he knew that anything in Steve's defence would sound suspicious, and the last thing he wanted was for him to think there was anything deeper between them than what appeared on the surface.
"Apologise to the man, Rogers." The deputy ordered.
Steve turned to Bucky, glad to have a reason to look into his eyes that wouldn't raise the deputy's ire.
"I'm sorry, Barnes, sir." He said, bowing his head.
Bucky nodded in acknowledgment, hoping for all of this to be done with.
"Right, Rogers, enough procrastinating. Strip."
If possible, Steve turned even more green, and his hands trembled even more. He fumbled with the buckle of his belt, failing to pull it free. Bucky wanted to take him away from there, away from the slug they called a deputy and away from his dreadful canes.
"Oh, for god's sake, boy!" The deputy snapped, making Steve jump. "Can't you even undress yourself properly? Barnes, help the boy, he clearly needs it."
Steve's face turned from green to red, hating that his humiliation was going beyond the norm. Being naked was bad enough, being stripped was just demeaning. The only saving grace of the situation was the fact that it was Bucky doing the stripping. He'd stripped Steve many times before, albeit under more merry circumstances, and always relished in revealing more of his skin, his beautiful, pale skin. He'd look at it, touch it and kiss it to his heart's content, bringing Steve closer to climax with every stroke.
Now, Bucky didn't take his time. He wanted it to be over with quickly so he'd never have to associate Steve's nakedness with this horrendous event ever again. He started by getting on his knees and pulling off Steve's shoes and socks, then he undid Steve's belt and zipper, bringing his shorts down his spindly legs with as much care as he could muster. He didn't have it in him to bare Steve completely right away, he wanted to preserve his dignity for as long as possible before letting the man behind him see what only Bucky should ever see.
He unbuttoned Steve's blazer and pushed it down his shoulders before pulling his shirt and vest off too. Steve, left only in his briefs, was shivering. Bucky gripped the hem of Steve's underwear and, as if ripping off a band-aid, brought them down to his ankles, baring him completely to the room and to anyone who happened to walk by.
"Fold your clothes and put them on the chair outside my door, Rogers." The deputy commanded. Steve nodded wordlessly and red-faced, making quick work of collecting his clothes but hesitating to step outside in his vulnerable state. "Make haste Rogers, I haven't got all night. It isn't as if you have much to be seen anyway."
That made Bucky's blood boil something fierce. Steve had hated the way he looked for the longest of times, always thinking that he was too skinny, too short and too pale. Poppycock in Bucky's opinion, to him, Steve was beautiful, he was perfect and not a thing about him needed to change. He wanted to march right up to Steve, embrace him and tell him to not listen to a thing the deputy said and that he was perfect the way he was. He couldn't though, and that fact made him want to jump at the deputy's throat with a knife.
Bucky watched Steve's adorable little butt leave the room in a mild sprint. He knew that chair was a good ten feet to the left of the door, so he prayed that no one was there to see his boyfriend in such a state. Steve walked back in red-faced and trembling with the cold as well as the fear of the situation.
"Close the door." The deputy barked, much to Bucky's mild relief, at least any passers-by wouldn't get to see Steve's punishment in progress. "Go over to that cabinet and bring me the cane on the far right." He nodded to the cabinet full of canes in the corner of the room.
Steve did as ordered, trying to pull open the cabinet door with no success.
"It's locked, sir." Steve said in a barely audible whisper.
"Hm? Speak up, boy!" The deputy almost bellowed, though Bucky knew that he'd heard, he'd heard himself and he was farther from Steve than the man was.
"It's, it's locked sir!" Steve declared with more gusto.
"Yes, it is isn't it? You best come over and get the key from me, don't you reckon?" The deputy quipped with an irritating amount of smugness, holding the key up in front of him.
As soon as Steve was within reaching distance of the key, the deputy flicked it behind him. It landed about a foot or so behind Bucky. "Whoops." The deputy exclaimed jovially. "Butterfingers. Now go pick it up."
Bucky grit his teeth as his nude boyfriend shuffled passed him, his cock shrivelled in humiliation despite the roaring fire illuminating the room. Was it not bad enough that Steve was completely at the man's mercy, but now he had to play sick games with him? This whole thing was no-doubt doing horrors for Steve's self-esteem, and this was only throwing oil onto the fire.
After what seemed like hours since Steve walked back inside, the deputy had his desired cane in hand. It was a thin, long and ratty thing made of bamboo with a curved handle. Steve gulped when the deputy stood, his hands going back to cover his flawless bottom.
"None of that now. Stand in front of my desk and place your hands on it. Any fussing and we'll start over. Do you understand?"
Steve nodded, taking up the position.
The deputy removed his overcoat, draping it over the back of a chair he kept by the fire. Bucky eyed the raised cane with venom in his eyes and flinched when it whistled through the air, striking his boyfriend's perfect cheeks with a sickeningly high crack!
Steve yipped, his hands going back to rub at the sting.
"None of that, Rogers!" The deputy said, whipping the cane across Steve's knuckles. "Assume the position and count them out, that one didn't count, just so you know."
Bucky hated how the deputy didn't specify how many Steve would be getting. Since he was using the thinnest of canes, he could go on for a lot longer before really hurting Steve, dragging this out for as long as he wanted.
The next crack went much like the first, with Steve throwing his hands back.
"For god's sake, boy! Have you no self-control? Barnes, stand on the opposite side of my desk and pin his arms down!"
Bucky was sickened to have to play a part in Steve's punishment, but was somewhat relieved to not have to watch everything from the side. At least now he could look Steve in the eye and provide at least a modicum of comfort.
"Pull a bit, Barnes, I want to get a consistent angle but he's too short."
Wordlessly, Bucky pulled Steve over the desk even more. Steve whimpered, the edge of the desk was no-doubt digging into his hips. He could see from the reflection in the cabinet in the corner that Steve's toes were only just grazing the floor. He could just see the curved crest of Steve's cheeks, even more if he craned his neck, but he knew he wouldn't want to see what was about to happen.
"Much better." The deputy said, raising his weapon once again.
Crack!
"One!"
Crack!
"Two!"
Crack!
"Three!"
Crack!
"Four!"
Crack!
"Five!"
Crack!
"Six!"
Crack!
"Seven!"
Steve jolted and kicked with every snap of the cane, clutching onto Bucky's forearms as if his life depended on it. Each of those cracks made Bucky want to vault over the desk, grab the cane and shove it into the deputy's eye. Instead of that, he stood there as Steve counted through the teens, twenties, thirties and forties, each one delivered without a beat, and each one infuriating Bucky even more.
By thirty, Steve had tears falling down his cheeks and he was hiccupping each number. It wasn't until number fifty-eight that Steve let out a scream. Bucky didn't know what state Steve's behind was in, but he knew that if he saw, he'd probably kill the deputy.
"That one doesn't count, Rogers. Let's pick it up at fifty now." Bucky saw the dread on Steve's face and it just made him want to pick him up, hold him and tell him that everything was gonna be alright.
Steve tried his damnedest to keep on the count, Bucky's saw it on his face, but every now and then he'd be given a ripper that made him scream in so much pain that Bucky almost cried himself. Steve screamed on seventy-six, tried to mumble out the number but it was too late, and the deputy started at seventy again. Same thing happened at eighty-four.
Bucky prayed that when they got to one-hundred that it'd all be over, and for once, his prayer was answered. The deputy leaned the cane, which Bucky was fuming to see had spatters of red on it, against the side of the cabinet.
"Hold the position, Rogers, we're not quite finished yet." Steve let out a hearty sob at that declaration and looked up to Bucky. Bucky could only stare back and promise that he'd be able to comfort him later.
"Barnes," The deputy announced, walking back over to the desk with one of the thicker canes in hand. "you've been very quiet throughout this whole ordeal, but I'd like you to tell me, do you think Rogers has been sufficiently punished?"
"It, it wouldn't be my place to say, sir." Bucky answered, not realising until then how dry his throat had become.
"Come now, Barnes, the boy wronged you too. It's only fair that you, a prefect, got your licks in too." He held out the cane, it's curved handle taunting him. It may as well have been coated in poison, that would've been less painful that actually using the instrument that'd hurt his boyfriend so much. "Six of the best ought to really let the lesson sink in, don't you?"
Bucky swallowed a mouthful of spit, let go of Steve's forearms and took the cane from the deputy. "Of, of course, sir."
"That's a good man. Now I'll keep the boy in place, you just swing away now." He chuckled.
Bucky wanted to kill him.
He wasn't prepared to see the state of Steve's rear-end, it was a mess of red lines, thin bruises and welts, with a few seams of thinly split skin from which red droplets leaked all criss-crossed like a cruel game of norths and crosses.
Bucky gently tapped the cane against the fleshiest part of Steve's buttocks, raised it high and brought it down with a resounding CRACK!
Steve screamed bloody murder, sobbing and heaving from over the desk.
"Didn't count that one, Rog-"
"If it's alright with you, sir," Bucky interrupted, "I'd like to forgive him the count for just this once, I'm rather tired tonight and would like to see my bed sooner rather than later." He offered a curt smile, one that physically pained him to shoot in the deputy's direction.
The deputy gave a conceding not, apparently thinking nothing of the request. Bucky was at least grateful for that.
He raised the cane again and, SMACK! Steve cried out again, though Bucky made sure to hit a completely different spot than the last one. It was the least he could do to try and make this as easy as possible for Steve.
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
Bucky didn't want to waste more time than necessary on this, so he tried to tune out Steve's sobs and yells and just get it over with. He leaned the cane against the table and looked at the deputy. He released Steve's arms and the boy slumped against the desk, not even trying to compose himself.
"Right, Rogers," The deputy said, putting his overcoat on again. "go bring your clothes in here." Bucky could only watch as Steve attempted to stand on his shaking legs. It infuriated him to see that Steve's hips were also bleeding. Struggling against the corner of the desk for the better part of a quarter of an hour would do that to someone.
He limped to the door, Bucky wanting to prop him up the entire time, opened it and hobbled out into the hall, returning a moment later with his clothes in hand.
"Leave those on my desk, Rogers, you can come collect them in the morning." The deputy sneered, seating himself behind his desk again. Steve, if even possible, looked even more miserable than before, but he didn't resist. "Now off with you, boy."
"Am I also excused, sir?" Bucky asked, pretending to stifle a yawn.
"Of course, Barnes. I hope you're able to get a good night's sleep tonight." He offered Bucky a smile.
"Likewise, sir."
"Eat shit and die you disgusting old cunt."
Bucky closed the door behind himself and Steve and, making sure the coast was clear, shrugged his blazer off and draped it over his crying boyfriend's shoulders. He immediately scooped him up in his arms, being careful not to agitate his butt, and stormed off to the second-floor changing-room in the east wing. Thankfully it was late and curfew applied so no one was out and about on the way there.
He burst through the door and made his way to the farthest bench, hidden by rows of lockers, sat down and held Steve as close as physically possible.
"I'm so sorry, Stevie! God, I should've done something to stop that grimy old bastard!"
Steve just clutched onto Bucky's shirt and sobbed into his chest, just happy he was there.
"You, you made it easier." Steve sniffed, looking up into Bucky's eyes.
"Oh Stevie." Bucky whispered, leaning down and pressing his lips against Steve's. He hiccupped a few sobs into the kiss, but Bucky didn't care about that, nor that salty taste that came with kissing a tear-stained face, he was just glad he got to treat Steve the way he deserved. "C'mon, I'll help you get cleaned up."
Bucky knew what the deputy's punishment might involve, just not the degree, so he planned ahead and put some things in one of the lockers in that very room. He pulled out a washcloth, soap, coconut oil and a pair of towels.
Bucky got naked too and brought Steve over to the showers, turned one on and got blasted with cold water. He didn't mind though, it helped keep him alert. He got to work on cleaning Steve up, which consisted of him telling Steve to stand still while he wiped away the blood with the cloth as gently and as softly as he was able. Steve whimpered the whole time but didn't protest, he was just grateful that he had Bucky at all.
"Turn around, Stevie, I'm gonna try and make it up to you." Steve blushed, knowing what that meant when Bucky was kneeling before him like that. With one hand, Bucky cupped Steve's balls and with the other he stroked up and down his member, making it lengthen and harden before bringing his lips to the tip. He rolled back Steve's foreskin and took the whole thing into his mouth at once, sucking and licking the shaft. He knew he was doing a good job when Steve put his hands on his shoulders just so he could stand straight.
Steve came in Bucky's mouth with a moan and Bucky swallowed it all. Steve dropped to his knees and leaned into his boyfriend's chest, cherishing his warmth.
"Do you think we could…you know, do 'it' tonight?" Steve asked, tracing a circle into Bucky's abdomen.
"Are you sure? You've been through a lot tonight.
Steve looked up at him and nodded. "I just wanna be close with you right now, I want to feel you inside me again, cos then I just really really know you're there." He blushed.
"I'm always here, Stevie, for better or worse." He cupped Steve's cheek and brushed away a drop of water.
A few moments later they dried and went back to the benches.
"I didn't think we'd be doing it so I didn't bring any olive oil, just coconut oil for your rear." He took out the transparent jar. "Speaking of." Bucky draped his boyfriend over his lap, scooped the grainy oil onto his fingers and started massaging it into Steve's bruises and welts. Steve groaned and moaned, his wounds still very sore. Still, the oil was a wonderful painkiller and he knew it'd be worth it.
Bucky lay the towels on the ground for where they were going to do it, not only to make it more comfortable but to catch any mess they made. Steve got on all fours, head resting in his folded arms, butt raised in the air. Bucky lightly caressed it, the sight making his semi-erect dick rise to full mast.
He coated his fingers in the coconut oil again. It wasn't the best lubricant out there, but it'd do for now. Bucky slowly pushed one finger into Steve's twitching hole. He pushed back and Bucky needed to apply real restraint not to barrel into his beautiful boyfriend there and then.
He slowly loosened Steve with the one finger, then two, and then three. When Steve insisted that he was ready, Bucky lathered his own cock with the oil, grabbed Steve by one of his hips, lined his bulbous head up with Steve's hole and pushed in between those soft cheeks.
Steve gasped, resisting the urge to push himself back onto Bucky. Even if he tried, Bucky controlled the pace they went at entirely, he went as fast as he judged safe and as slow as needed to tease Steve mercilessly.
Slowly but surely, more of Bucky's shaft was sucked into Steve's warm, velvety hole. Steve clutched the towels, breathless. When he was all the way in, Bucky rested against Steve, hoping that he wasn't hurting his tenderised rear. Bucky nudged forward, hitting that bundle of nerves in Steve, making him spasm and throw his head back.
Bucky formed a steady rhythm, thrusting in and out at a progressively faster pace, clapping against Steve's ass with grunts and groans on his lips. Steve pushed back to meet Bucky's constant thrusts, almost forcing him to strike that spot in him every single time.
"God! God! God! Bucky!" Steve yelled, biting down on his own lips to keep from alerting the entire wing of their presence. "Faster!" He demanded.
With a grin, Bucky complied, thrusting into Steve's tight, warm hole with everything he had. Steve let a hand wander down to his leaking cock, stroking it in time with Bucky's bucking.
Bucky sped up as he felt his climax approach, making sure he hit Steve's sweet spot every time.
"I'm cumming!" He grunted, and with a final, loud thrust he spilled his seed inside of Steve. He pulled out and lay down, exhausted. "You okay?" He asked Steve as he lay down on his stomach.
"Yeah." He breathed. "I just won't be able to walk for a while." He grinned.