Blaine was laying across the bed looking at his homework at the sound of the first smack. He had taken pains not to go out of his way to eavesdrop, but he'd known when his fiancé had said he needed a "chat" with Rachel and pointedly shooed him out of the room, it usually wasn't small-talk related. He bit his lip, unable to see through the curtain but having a good idea of what was going on behind it. The sound of a hand slapping against a bare bottom was pretty unmistakable, and of course Rachel's whines after each swat made it all the more clear. Poor Rachel. Blaine was often struck with empathy when Rachel was in trouble, even in times when it was hard to argue she didn't deserve it. He wondered what she'd done.

After a minute the spanking stopped and he could hear Kurt murmuring something and then a meeker Rachel saying "yes sir." There was a rustling about in the kitchen and then he heard the tap-tap of Rachel's heels going towards the bathroom and the creak of the door closing. Seconds later the woosh of the privacy curtain as Kurt opened it had him diving his eyes back to his homework.

Seeing Blaine's guilty face, Kurt shook his head. "Eavesdropping were we?" he accused mildly.

"No sir. I mean, not—purposely. It… got a little loud for a minute is all."

Kurt nodded. "She deserved it. Not that it's your concern," he added for good measure.

Blaine nodded, meek. "Chores again?" he asked timidly.

Kurt shook his head, sitting on the edge of the bed. He spoke quietly. "No. She's just not supposed to be eating all that sugar. I can't give her an inch on her diet when she's got the pressure of her opening night looming."

Blaine furrowed his brow. "I thought she said she made them for her cast."

"You her defense lawyer?"

"…No, sir."

"I know her tricks—it's her way of skirting the rules. When's the last time you saw her baking something?"

Blaine squirmed a moment. "Um… but sir—I kinda had one of those cookies," he said quietly.

Kurt shrugged. "I know."

"But aren't…I sort of supposed to be on a diet too?"

"Maybe. We did agree to start trying to eat healthier together. But you said you didn't want me monitoring your food that way, so I'm not."

Blaine chewed his lip. "But… it isn't really fair, if Rachel—"

"Who's in charge of your discipline, young man?"

"You sir, but—"

"Because this talk about what's fair is making it sound like you think you are."

"No—I- I'm just thinking that Rachel—"

"Last I checked I'm the one in charge of Rachel's discipline too. Correct?"

Blaine was quiet a moment, looking away. "…Of—of course sir," he said at last. "I just wouldn't want her to be mad if I get away with something that she gets taken to a woodshed for."

Kurt shook his head. "You worry about your own backside, she's fine. She admitted to eating three chocolate muffins yesterday too; she knows she broke the rules."

"You're… just really strict with her sometimes."

"I'm strict with both of you—when you need it. You need to trust me to discern when that is. But honestly, don't be going all soft and worrying I was too hard on her—it was only my hand and she didn't even cry this time. You know her, she practically always does," Kurt added, rolling his eyes.

Blaine nodded, knowing that was true. "So does this mean I can—really eat what I want?"

"For now. I can't say I'm not going to passive aggressively push healthy food your way more often now that I know you want to get healthier, because I totally am. And if I heard you had like 15 cronuts for breakfast or something, I think I'd be well within my rights to give you a good talking-to. But I'm not going to punish you for something we haven't discussed as an expectation. And after surviving your first abs class a cookie seems like a reasonable reward. Of course we can re-evaluate at any time, but right now I think for the most part you need encouragement with this getting healthier thing more than punishment."

Blaine smiled. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean to be comparing, I just know she will."

"She'sonly going to compare if she's having trouble owning her own mistakes. Rachel knows what her expectations are and what she has coming when she doesn't meet them. If she takes an issue with what you get punished for or not you can send her to me because I'll tell her exactly what I told you about her. If you both keep your heads in the game and focused on your own responsibilities neither one of you would need to be concerned about the prospect of having a spanking coming."

There was a pause as they heard the door to the bathroom creaking back open. Knowing Rachel, Blaine figured she'd taken the time to pull herself together after her chastisement. She could be noisy and unrepentant during a lot of punishments but she usually admitted her mistakes after she'd had some time to cool off. Maybe I'm making a big deal about nothing.

"Now are we done talking about this? Because as I recall someone has a monologue to memorize, and homework is absolutely in the category of things I discipline you for when needed." Kurt said pointedly.

"Yessir," Blaine murmured, returning his eyes to his work.