"Hey, Crona! You should totally come by our house later on, everyone is gonna be there!"
"O-oh...I mean...I'd have to check it out with Professor Stein and Ms. Marie-"
"Still calling Stein Professor and Marie miss, eh? They're practically your parents y'know."
Soul, Maka and Crona all stood in the hall just outside of their classroom exchanging words. Crona gasped, his face blushing as he crossed his arm over his chest and adverted his eyes. "I-I couldn't call them Mom and Dad...That would be too hard of a situation for me to deal with..." He whimpered, shuffling from foot to foot. He suddenly gasped when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and Stein bent at the waist slightly.
"Hi guys." He said, a smirk on his face as he patted Crona's head. "What are you all scheming?" He asked, chuckling and smiling at his students. Crona trembled lightly, nervously tapping his fingers together before looking up at him. "U-um...Professor Stein..." He began, pausing until he was sure Stein had heard him and he had his full attention. "...M-Maka invited me over tonight...W-would that be okay...? I could always eat there..."
Stein chuckled at Crona's timid nature, patting his head again. "I don't see why not. But knowing Marie, she probably wants you home for dinner. You know how she is...Yes, It'd be good for you to get out of the house. You go ahead to spend time with your friends, but be back home in time for dinner or we'll both have an angry Marie to answer to."
Crona immediately nodded as Stein straightened up, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Have fun, kids." He called as he made his way down the hall, headed home and ready to rest. Meanwhile, Ragnarok peered out of the boy's back.
"Do you even know what time dinner is?" The beasts teasing voice jeered. "...No..." Crona answered quietly as he followed Soul and Maka to their house. "...They won't mind that I'm a li-little late..."
4 hours later...
"Where IS he?" A screeching voice cried. Stein tightened his bolt, smoking his cigarette and calmly side stepping a pot of boiling water that was tossed in complete rage. The kitchen was going to be in ruins by the time Marie got a hold of herself.
"He's with Maka and Soul, I'm sure that he's fine." He began. That earned him a frying pan sent flying, almost whacking him right in the face. "How could you SAY that?" She cried, banging her fists against the counters. Her shoulders trembled as she hunched over the counter, looking ready to have a heart attack.
The door suddenly open and Crona stood in the doorway, panting. "I-I'm not late...am I?" Stein held up his finger and his thumb, an inch apart. "Little bit." He said as Marie stumbled out of the kitchen and grabbed him, holding her close to her chest.
"Crona! You're okay..." She whimpered, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. She embraced the boy tightly, her boobs slightly suffocating him. He slowly returned the hug, not knowing exactly how to react to this as he air was nearly squeezed out of him.
He took in Marie's scent and enjoyed this feeling, the feeling of being held...Something about it. It was broken as soon as Marie realized she was supposed to be upset with Crona. She stood up, breaking the hug and put both hands on her waist, towering over him with a murderous aura about her.
"Young man...Where the HELL where you?" She demanded, looking about ready to slap the scared child right across the face. Crona shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how to deal with this...I'm sorry, Ms. Marie...I just...I lost track of time..."
"We trust you to be back on time and this is what you do? Go to your room and wait for your punishment! You're in BIG trouble!" She scolded. The boy gulped, his eyes wide and full of pure fear. He processed all of this for a moment before dashing off to the designated location. "Y-yes ma'am!" He cried as he ran down the stitched hallway.
Marie frowned and suddenly ran to Stein, wrapping both arms around his middle. "...What am I going to do...?" She whimpered, tears trailing down her soft cheeks. Stein sighed, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her forehead. Deep compassion, Sadness. All these feelings in general weren't so easy for the man. But he had to try, to keep Marie sane.
"Well. What were you thinking when you told him you were going to punish him?"
He asked, taking a drag from his cigarette and holding the sobbing Marie with the other arm. She often lectured him on his habit, claiming he would get cancer and then she would kill herself or something dramatic. He had the excuse that it helped his madness, that's what mattered.
"I...Stein...I can't..."
"Let me rephrase it. What would our parents or teachers done when we were Crona's age and we acted in such a way?"
Marie gasped, blushing as she leaned back into her lovers chest. "Th-there's no way...I don't...I could never..." The little wheels of her own turned in her mind before suddenly, a light bulb went off. She had an idea.
"You could do it."
Stein groaned, lowering himself onto the couch and finishing his cigarette, putting it out in the ashtray on the coffee table as he turned his bolt. "And why would I want to do that? Isn't he timid enough without me mixing punishment into the mix so early?"
"No, Stein. For a structured, respected relationship between parent and child, you need to have balance between discipline and praise."
Marie had been reading those parenting books. At least she didn't demand they pop out one of their own yet. At least not that he knew of. She said she was on the pill.
He hoped.
"Marie, he doesn't feel comfortable with the idea of calling us his parents yet. I don't blame him either, we're practically strangers. He went 14 years without compassion and it's not something to be learned over night."
"Please, Stein? For me? Please?" Marie asked, sitting next to him and placing a hand on his chest, holding him close and kissing his neck, trailing a finger down his chest. "You know he deserves it, you were the one to warn him that he would be in trouble if he didn't come home..."
Stein sighed as he leaned back on the couch. She did have a point. One was or another he would need to realize what consequences his actions would have. "Go get started on dinner again and I'll see what I can do..." He said, going into his laboratory for a moment before coming out and headed towards Crona's room.
If you looked closely, you could see something sticking out of Stein's lab coat pocket. Something very ferocious looking.
He knocked on Crona's bedroom door before opening it, stumbling as it came to his realization all the lights were off. "Crona...?" He asked, carefully maneuvering his way to a lamp and switching it on. He caught no sight of the small boy for a few minutes until his timid voice called out.
"O-over here..." He said quietly. Stein raised an eyebrow, bending down and peering under the bed to show a very scared, teary eyed Crona who was clutching his legs to his chest. He flinched as Stein extended a hand, but took it when Stein pressed and showed Crona that he didn't have much of a choice to take it and allow himself to be dragged out from under the bed.
"Come on, let's have a little chat." Stein said, holding onto Crona's hand and sitting him on the bed, sitting next to him and looking him right in the face. "Now...for your punishment-"
"P-please don't make me sit in the dark all night without dinner, I'm so sorry! I won't know how to deal with it, Stein!" Crona interrupted, sitting with his arms crossed across his body and his back hunched gently. Tears slightly pooled around the corners of his eyes and Stein rested a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't know what punishment meant for you when you were with Medusa, but it has an entirely different meaning in this home. You will be punished firmly, Crona, but you must know that Marie and I...love you..." Stein nearly choked on his last words, why couldn't Marie do this? He wasn't good at this big sappy thing.
Crona stared at him as he struggled to comprehend this, his pink hair trembling along with the rest of his body as he relaxed, slightly. Only slightly. Stein sighed, keeping his hand on his shoulder and bringing Crona's chin up with a firm finger.
"I'm going to do something that is going to hurt. You're going to cry and it's not going to be pleasurable for either of us. But when it is over, I'll give you a hug. You'll be forgiven and then we'll go eat dinner. Okay?"
Crona frowned nervously, forcing his eyes to meet Stein's. He slowly nodded, what else could he do?
"Good. Take your robe off." He commanded firmly. Crona hesitated before standing, unbuttoning the robe and pulling it off over his head, leaving him with his bare chest exposed, along with his dark gray boxers. Stein nodded as well before taking Crona's forearm and dragging him across his lap, keeping the lanky teen partially supported by the bed and the rest of him supported by his thighs.
"Now...this will be your first spanking I assume...I don't expect you to stay still or stay quiet, it's going to hurt. All I need from you is to think about what you did, okay?"
Crona nodded, arching his back as he nervously lay over the mans lap. He twirled his fists around the bed sheets, raising his hips slightly and biting his lower lip. The only thing really reaching Crona's ears was that it was going to hurt. It was going to hurt. It was going to hurt. How badly? Would he be able to walk? Stand? Breathe?
"I don't know how to deal with this..."
"Just try your best."
Stein comforted his adopted son as he patted his bottom firmly over his boxers. He knew this may be a lot for the boy to handle at once, but he knew he would be sorry. He raised his hand and firmly began to bring it down on his thinly clad rear end.
"O-ow!" Crona cried out, not expecting that amount of pain. Stein sighed as he adjusted the spanks a bit. It WAS Crona's first spanking, he felt obligated to slow down the strength a bit. He did however, keep the smacks firm as they easily colored Crona's pale bottom.
"Ahh...! P-please, Professor, it hurts..." Crona whined, arching his back and holding back sniffles. Marie, who was listening at the door felt her heart crumble into a million pieces, sniffling gently as a few tears rolled down her face.
"I'm afraid to say, it's supposed to." Stein replied, not pausing his firm swats. The boy felt his eyes water, but not purely out of pain. The swats didn't hurt that much, and that's part of the reason he was so upset. Stein was doing this because he and Marie loved him? But, Marie seemed really angry earlier...
Stein continued the hand spanking, even pulling down Crona's underwear in the process and spanking his bare skin. As if it weren't embarrassing enough already! Crona wiggled his hips, a few tears rolling down his cheeks but otherwise stayed decently still his entire punishment.
"Now...Normally I would give you a lot more, but I'm going to just move ahead. This is going to hurt more, so get ready." Stein warned as he pulled a ruler out of his pocket. The ruler appeared to have stitch marks in it as well and he tapped it against Crona's pink rear end before bringing it down firmly across both cheeks.
Crona choked on a cry as he placed a hand on Stein's knee, pushing against it and trying to get away from the stinging pain. "O-OW!" He helped, wiggling his hips as more tears soaked the bedspread.
Stein steeled himself to his cries, landing another swat and another, each just below the last until he reached his upper thighs before starting at the top of his bottom again.
"Crona, when either Marie or myself...Tell you that you need to be home by a certain hour..Then we expect you home! Am I making myself heard?" Stein scolded, crashing the ruler down with firm authority in between swats, holding Crona's arm by the elbow before he could even consider reaching back.
Crona burst into loud wails, kicking his legs against the swats but it did no good. "Ye-yes sir! You are!" He cried, his voice growing raspy as he struggled against the bottom warming he was receiving. But just as soon as he had started crying, two real hard spanks landed on his upper thighs and he felt the burning sting fade as Stein set the ruler down and picked Crona off of his lap, hugging him close to his chest.
Stein felt a strange sensation in his chest as he did this, not knowing what exactly it meant. It was a strange feeling that he couldn't grasp, he knew he got the feeling often with Marie as well. Maybe it was the madness, having it's way with him. He sighed as Crona clutched his shirt, openly crying into it.
Stein rubbed his back, holding him close and sighing. "It's over now, Crona. That wasn't nearly as hard as it could have been, I want you to know that." He said, holding the boy close. Crona locked him in a death grip until suddenly, there was a knock and Marie came in, saying nothing, simply running in and grabbing Crona, pulling him into the tightest, most sincere hug she had ever given him.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, sweetie...I care for you a lot, I love you like my own child..." She whispered, petting his head. There was no hesitation, Crona immediately hugged Marie back.
"I'm sorry..." He whispered. Marie shook her head, wiping her eyes before pulling him away and wiping his own. "It's okay. You're forgiven now." She said. Stein looked ready to puke, hardly able to take all the emotions floating in the air.. "I'm going to go have a cigarette..." He announced, patting Crona's head as he returned the ruler to it's rightful place and sat on the sofa, lighting up again.
It was 20 minutes of pure cuddles until Crona finally emerged with Marie, his eyes red and puffy but he was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a ¾ sleeved, gray and red shirt. He blushed slightly as he sat on the couch next to Stein, shifting the weight off his bottom slightly and looking up at him.
"...Thanks Dad." he said in a quiet voice, almost like a whisper. Stein looked up at Marie who simply smirked, giving an innocent blush. He looked back at Crona and his expression softened, damn. There was that warm..fuzzy...chest tightening feeling. He twisted his bolt and rested a hand on Crona's head, giving him a smile.
And so they all lived happily ever after. At least until Marie's next meltdown.