Burt brought his son over to the armchair to get this unpleasant business over with. While his own father put him over a knee at least twice a week as far as he could recall, he usually didn't find it necessary. For the most part Kurt was pretty attached to his privileges as he'd grown up, and any threat that they might be taken away was taken very seriously. Compared to a lot of kids Kurt didn't get into trouble about a lot of things, but he could be fresh when he wanted to and that more than anything else was what usually pushed Burt to spank him recently. His mouth is probably still going to be getting him in trouble when he's in high school.

Aside from the occasional slipup, Kurt was behaving fairly well these days. There had been a period about six months ago when he was bugging the crap out of him with whining and backtalk, when Burt was at his wit's end. The therapist said he thought it was time to reiterate the rules of the house and be more consistent with consequences, and Burt had to admit that he'd started letting his kid walk all over him a bit. He was still grieving himself, and if letting Kurt watch TV an extra hour rather than arguing about bedtime saved him a fight, he was finding himself more and more willing to let it go. Having the whole world feel sorry for Kurt this past year probably hadn't helped matters, either. His teacher was probably letting him get away with murder, too. After an understandable push back once Burt tried to reinstitute normal consequences for poor behavior, Kurt adjusted pretty well and most of behaviors driving Burt crazy were at least down to a manageable level. God it's been a long year.

Since that talk with the therapist, Burt had been slowly finding his way back to his normal parenting style, which was to be pretty strict about certain things like safety and basic manners, but to be fairly hands off about some things that mattered less to him. He let his kid decorate his room how he wanted and let him ride his bike all the way down to the park a good year before the neighbors even considered it for their kid. He knew the Changs next door made a big deal about grades, but not being someone who had ever really been more than a B or C student most of his life, he didn't see a lot of point to pushing that with Kurt unless the teacher was calling. He actually think Mr. Chang had been rather shocked one time when he'd been over dropping something off and saw that Kurt had a spelling test with a B+ on it hanging on the refrigerator. He was pretty sure if little Mike ever got a B+ he'd probably be grounded.

Burt had gotten closer to their neighbors after Elizabeth had died. Elizabeth had been in a book club with Mrs. Chang for a long time but Burt only really knew them as people who occasionally came in the shop to get an oil change. Truth be told, he'd been kind of intimidated by them before because they always presented themselves as really educated people. Their kid always looked sort of perfect and clean, while his kid was always walking around with marker stains all over his hands from drawing new fashion designs. But when Elizabeth died they went out of their way to volunteer to babysit and helped organize people in the neighborhood to make him and Kurt dinner for two whole months after the funeral. And Mr. Chang had recommended that therapist for Kurt because he was a friend of his colleague, and while Burt didn't particularly relish talking to her himself, she'd definitely helped Kurt quite a bit. I guess we got pretty lucky in the neighbor department.

Now that Kurt knew he was getting a spanking he was scowling up a storm. "This is NO fair!" he whined.

"I don't know where you got the idea that I'd be fine with you almost setting the house on fire, mister, but we're going to fix that right quick." Burt lectured, unbuttoning his son's pants.

"Heyyyy…." Kurt whimpered, batting at his father's hands.

"Sorry kiddo. You know you've earned a proper spanking for this, and like your grandfather used to say, proper spankings are always on the bare bottom."

Burt pulled down his pouting son's pants and unceremoniously lifted him across his knee. He pulled his underwear down to his knees, ignoring the whining that commenced once his bottom was bared. Compared to Burt's own upbringing, Kurt was pretty spoiled, Burt was sure. But he wasn't going to cut corners with something like this. Burt Hummel had never reneged on a promise for a good spanking before and he wasn't going to start now. He lifted his calloused hand and gave the little bottom across his knee a good SLAP that sent Kurt squealing.

"I don't mess around with safety, young man," he scolded, punctuating his statement with another SPANK. "You knew better."

"Nooo…. I-I didn't mean tooooooo," Kurt whimpered.

"Oh you meant to," Burt reprimanded, setting to light Kurt's bottom up with a series of swift smacks that quickly had him squirming over his knee. "Don't you lie to me. You knew you weren't supposed to use the stove. You just were hoping you wouldn't get caught."

"Owwwww….it hurtssssss." Kurt whined, kicking his feet.

Burt smacked at his child's sit spots, stern. "It's meant to, young man. If you don't like getting your bare bottom spanked you had better make sure you don't pull another stunt like this again."

"Okay OW okayyyy I'm sorryyyyy…"

Burt pulled him tighter, holding him in place as he spanked. "I thought you knew this rule, but we're going to make sure. Little boys who use the stove without an adult can expect a good bottom warming, you hear me?"

"Okayyyyy…" Kurt grumbled, staring at the floor and clearly just wanting it to be over.

Burt kept spanking, hoping that being thorough here would make this less necessary in the future. "And you're going to be watching your attitude, too," he added with a SWAT. "Because I've about had it with your backtalk, young man. If you don't know how to talk to me without being fresh, you're going to be finding your bare bottom over my knee a lot more often, got it?"

"Yessssss OWWWW." Kurt whimpered, feeling his father wallop his reddening behind.

"I don't like giving you a spanking, Kurt, but if your behavior tells me you need one, I will."

"Yesss Dad I'm sorryyyyyyyy….I'll behaaaave…." Kurt cried.

Burt silently breathed a bit of relief at the tears, which he always viewed as a good sign his message had gotten through. Kurt could be stubborn at times and wasn't one for crocodile tears. Even when he was smaller, crying usually meant he was likely feeling some actual remorse and not just anger about getting punished in the first place. He finished up with a few well-placed spanks and then let his sobbing son cry it out a bit. He leaned back against the armchair and closed his eyes a moment, glad to have it over.