Blaine came scampering into the living room, his arms full of books. He plunked the large stack down on the coffee table with a loud bang and scrambled up on the couch next to his husband, leaning his head against Kurt's shoulder. "Daddy, read me!" he begged, bunching a little in excitement.

Kurt looked over at the boy from the corner of his eye as he let the magazine he'd been reading close in his lap. He raised an eyebrow. "Read you? There aren't any words on you, though!"

Blaine giggled as he pointed at the books. "Daddy, read me!" he repeated.

Kurt narrowed his eyes. "Is that how you ask?"

Blaine blushed as he shook his head no.

"Words please, baby."

"Nu huh. Read me please, Daddy?"

Kurt grinned as he pulled Blaine into a quick side embrace. He quickly let his gaze fly to the oven timer in the kitchen. Their casserole for their dinner would be done in less than fifteen minutes. "Of course I'll read to you. What did you bring?" Kurt leaned forward to peruse the large stack of books on the coffee table. "The Cat in the Hat?" he questioned.

"Uh huh!" Blaine was back to bouncing, his earlier embarrassment forgotten. "Cat in the Hat! Cat in the Hat!"

"Okay," Kurt chuckled, and he cracked the book, beginning to read. "'The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day.'"

Blaine listened intently, head against Kurt's shoulder, thumb in his mouth, eyes trained on the pictures. However, when Kurt turned the page to the spot where the cat first appeared, Blaine looked expectantly at Kurt.

According to Blaine, his daddy "makes the best voices!"

Kurt couldn't help but smile as he remembered that day, his mind able to drift, even as he read because he had read this book to Blaine so many times.

That day hadn't started off well. He'd been frustrated by Blaine's naughty behavior; Blaine had been frustrated to the point of tears, upset by his newfound inability to tell his daddy how he was feeling with words. So, he was throwing a temper tantrum on the floor of the living room, legs and arms flailing, voice piercing the air at the top of his lungs, more wails than words.

"Blaine, you need to calm down. I can't help you if you throw a tantrum," Daddy had tried, but to no avail. He had tried walking away, ignoring his baby in hopes that he would stop without attention. All that had done was incite Blaine to throw a pillow across the room, knocking over a few pictures from the display shelf. So, Kurt had come back, anxious to find a solution to the tantrum. He'd tried rewards and incentives. He'd tried reasoning. He threatened to spank. Nothing worked. This hadn't happened before. They were still relatively new at this, a little over a month in. Kurt had no idea how to handle this particular behavior.

In a moment of desperation, he'd spotted their worn copy of Winnie the Pooh on the table. It reminded him of how he and his mother used to read together whenever he was sad. Though he and Blaine hadn't ever really read together, he thought it would be worth a shot. So, he picked it up and began to read. "'Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.'"

Kurt read through all of the first page and part of the second. Blaine hadn't stopped his tantrum yet, but he had quieted his wailing down to sobs, and his fists had stopped pounding the floor. Kurt kept going, encouraged by his progress. Kurt had given Christopher Robin and the narrator different voices, but when he got to one of Winnie's voices, Kurt made his voice just a little deeper, nasally and just slightly growl.

That's when Blaine's tantrum stopped completely, and he stared at Daddy in awe as Kurt read a few more pages, waiting to be sure that Blaine's tantrum was truly over. When he reached the bottom of the fifth page, Kurt pulled a Kleenex from the box on the table to mark his spot, then put the book back where he'd found it. He grabbed the box of Kleenex and came to sit on the floor next to Blaine. "Hi, baby," he greeted softly.

"Hi, Daddy," Blaine rasped. "You makes the best voices."

"Thank you," Kurt replied, running his fingers through Blaine's curls. "How are you feeling?"

Blaine moved to pillow his head in Kurt's lap. "'m tired, Daddy. And my groat is hurry." Blaine stuck out his lower lip in a pout.

"I bet it does," said Kurt, not unkindly. "That was a lot of yelling and screaming and crying. Blow," he instructed, holding a tissue to Blaine's nose.

Blaine did as he was told, then looked up at Kurt. "I'm sorry, Daddy," he whispered.

Kurt nodded. "Can you tell me what that was all about?"

"You weren't being fair," Blaine said sullenly.

"What was unfair?"

"You said we could watch the 'Cr edibles and go to the park today, but then you was main' me take a nap so you could do stupid work."

"Watch your language, little boy. You know I don't like that word."

"Yes, sir," Blaine whispered.

"And yes, I did say we could do those things. I was still planning to. After your nap, we were going to have a picnic at the park and play for a while. Then I was going to make homemade pizza with you and have a movie night with popcorn and lemonade."

"That sounds fun, Daddy!" Blaine sat up and bounced a little. "I'll take my nap now!"

"Yes, you will take your nap. In a little while. You're getting a spanking first. But, do you think little boys who throw tantrums and pillows deserve to do fun things like picnics and movie nights?"

Blaine's body had tensed at the mention of a spanking, not that he hadn't been expecting it. Throwing a tantrum, yelling, screaming, hitting and kicking was naughty all by itself, but throwing a pillow and yelling "No!" at Daddy made it extra naughty. Blaine sniffled. "Probably not," he whispered charily.

"Yeah. Probably not," Kurt agreed. He wasn't without sympathy, though. Blaine should feel badly about his poor choices, but Kurt was a firm believer in second chances. "But, I'll tell you what, baby. If you take your spanking and nap without fighting me, and you write your lines for me, if we still have time, we'll go to the park and watch The Incredible. Sound fair?"

Blaine sat up at that, giving Kurt a big hug. "Thank you, Daddy," he said softly.

"You're welcome, baby," Kurt murmured, kissing Blaine. Then, he tilted Blaine's chin up 'til their eyes met. "You ready for your spanking?"

"Yes, sir," Blaine responded, swallowing hard.

"Okay. Go get the spoon for me."

"Yes, sir," came the meek response as Blaine got to his feet, dragging them as he walked toward the kitchen.

Kurt stood and went to the couch, sitting toward the edge of the middle cushion so there was room on both sides of him. He glanced at his watch then listened for the sound of footsteps signaling Blaine's return. He heard only silence. "Blaine," he called. "Are you coming?"

Blaine had been standing dejectedly in the kitchen, staring at the horrible spoon in the naughty drawer. Upon hearing Daddy call for him, however, he grabbed it and slammed the drawer shut before calling back, "I'm coming, Daddy." Blaine trudged back to the living room to stand before Daddy. He handed him the spoon, and his bottom lip trembled a little. The spoon stung and was certainly one of his least favorite ways to be spanked.

Kurt placed his hands on either side of Blaine's hips and bent his neck to make eye contact with Blaine. "Do you understand why I have to do this, baby?" he asked gently.

Blaine sniffled a bit and nodded. "Is naughty to throw tantrums."

"That's right," Kurt responded. "It's okay to feel upset about something, but it is never okay to hit, kick, and scream or to throw a pillow. You need to talk to Daddy about how you feel, or I can't help you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Blaine nodded glumly.

"Good boy." Kurt pushed Blaine's pants and underwear to his ankles in one motion, helped him to step out of them, then guided him across his lap. Kurt scuffed his hand across Blaine's cheeks for just a moment before landing the first stingy swat to his left cheek. Normally, he'd lecture Blaine during the first part of his spanking, but he was pretty sure Blaine knew exactly what this was about.

Blaine certainly did know exactly what had landed him there. And he felt guilty about it. Which meant Daddy shouldn't spank so hard. But instead, Blaine thought Daddy was spanking extra hard today, and it hurt. Lots. Which meant he was having a hard time staying still. Every time Daddy's hand came down on his quickly heating bottom, he wiggled or kicked his feet. He was making quite a bit of noise, each smack causing an "Ow!" or a hissed "Ah!" or a whine. "Daddyyyyyyyyy! Please-ow-no more! Ah! Hurrrrrrrts!"

Kurt stopped and flexed his hand for a moment before picking up the spoon. He placed it gently against Blaine's red bottom as a warning. "It's supposed to hurt, baby. It's a punishment."

Blaine became a little more hysterical when he felt the dreaded spoon resting against his sore butt. "Daddy noose. I'm sorry I was Baal-aaaaad!" he wailed, voice catching in his throat.

"You aren't bad, munchkin. You just made a bad choice. And yes, you are getting spanked with the spoon. You know the rules about kicking and screaming, and you also know we don't throw things in the house. We talk about what we feel when we get angry."

"But I won't never ever do it 'gain! Pleeeeeeease!"

"We're almost done, baby," Daddy responded before raising the spoon and bringing it down with a harsh slap against Blaine's sore cheeks.

Blaine let out a loud, pitiful sob then slumped limply against Kurt's lap, crying uncontrollably.

Kurt couldn't bring himself to give Blaine more than a dozen swats with the spoon, and as soon as the last smack had been delivered, he tossed the spoon to the ground. Immediately, he began to rub Blaine's back soothingly, whispering calming sentences to him.

It took Blaine a few minutes to calm down and realize that Daddy had stopped using the terrible spoon. Once he had quieted to sniffles, he pushed his way up from Daddy's lap and into his arms, resting his damp cheek against Kurt's chest. "Sorry, Daddy," he mumbled.

"You're forgiven, baby," Kurt replied, pulling him close.

Blaine didn't say anything for a long moment. Then, "My butt hurts."

"It's supposed to."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"
"Can we still go to the park and watch 'Credibles and has pizza?"

"I told you before your spanking that we could if you took your spanking and nap without fighting me, and wrote your lines. So, now that your spanking is over, it's nap time."

"Kay, Daddy. Carry me?" Blaine scooted off of Kurt's lap to raise his arms.

"Sure, baby." Kurt scooped him up with little difficulty, carrying him toward the stairs.

"Can read me story wif your very best voices?"

"One story, but then it's nap time." Kurt rubbed a few circles against Blaine's back.

"Daddy? Daddy?" Blaine was pulling at Kurt's sleeve. "Daddy!"

Kurt snapped out of his reverie. "Yeah, baby?"

"The oven's beepin', Daddy!"

"Thank you, munchkin," Kurt replied, setting down The Cat in the Hat on the coffee table. He opened the door of the oven and sniffed appreciatively. Dinner was served. "Time to eat, Blaine! Come wash your hands, please." Kurt busied himself pulling plates from the cabinet and silverware from the drawer.

"But, Daddy! Readin'..."

"There will be time after dinner. Plus bedtime stories."

"But-"

"Do not argue with me, Blaine Devon." Kurt heard a little scuffle, then Blaine appeared in the kitchen, looking quite sad. He went to the sink to wash his hands and Kurt came to stand behind him. "I promise we will read more later. Right now, dinner is done, and we need to eat it before it gets cold."

Blaine leaned his head back against Kurt's chest. "I yike when you read, Daddy. You makes the best voices."

"Thank you, munchkin. I like reading to you."

Blaine turned so his back was to the sink and planted a kiss on Kurt's cheek. "'m hungry."

"Go sit down, then," Kurt replied with a smile. "I'll be right there to dish up your casserole."

Blaine nodded quickly, drying his hands on a towel. Then, he skipped toward the table, whispering to himself, "'Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now...'"