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It was the perfect kind of early summer day. Just sweet, warm sunlight without the oppressive humidity that sets in during later months. It was the prospect of losing any more of this precious day that truly spurred Hitoshi on through his usual morning chores. The cows were quickly milked, with really an acceptable amount of loss due to spillage, and the chickens got enough feed not to complain.
Hitoshi raced toward the farmhouse to change out of his chore clothes. As he passed the garden, he heard a voice call out to him. Crap.
“Toshiii! Can you come here and help me out?”
Hitoshi skidded to a halt and started toward the garden.
“Papa, I was just about to go!”
“I’m sorry, kiddo, but I need you to finish this up before you leave today.”
Yamada wandered over to meet Shinsou at the edge of the garden.
“Some weeds are starting to pop up, especially around the tomatoes. The plants are still so young, I don’t want them to get choked out.”
“But Papaa,” Hitoshi whined lightly, “I was going to go meet my friends at the lake! Kaminari even got the day off from his family’s shop in town!”
“You can still do that. They’ll still be there when you’re done.”
“But the garden’s so huge! It’ll take me forever!”
“Not if you work efficiently. Come on now, Hitoshi, you know where the tools are so get started, please,” Yamada said cheerfully.
He clapped Shinsou’s shoulder affectionately and walked into the house.
Hitoshi grumbled his assent and rolled his eyes once he was out of sight of his father. He trudged over to the shed and gathered up the gardening tools.
What had been delightfully warm sunshine now seemed like overbearing heat as Shinsou sweated in the dirt over scattered clumps of weeds. The more he looked at the seemingly endless rows of young vegetable plants interspersed with young weeds, the more annoyed he got. By tomorrow morning, this perfect day at the lake with his friends would be gone, but everything in the garden would still be here. The plants could last another day in their valiant fight against encroaching weeds.
Shinsou decided that he would just do the first couple rows facing the house. Beyond them, all the plant life just kind of blended together from the viewpoint of someone walking by. He would finish the rest tomorrow and Yamada wouldn't even know the difference.
Reinvigorated, Hitoshi quickly pulled out the unwanted sprouts and tossed them in the compost heap.
As he went back into the farmhouse to change out of his dirt-covered clothes, he was cautious to avoid his father's notice. Hitoshi assured himself he wasn't really doing anything wrong, the garden would last just one more day... But it was probably best just to let him assume that Hitoshi left by himself after he had finished. He could finish up tomorrow morning.
After quietly slipping out of the house in his everyday shirt and pants, Shinsou tore down the path toward the lake. He even remembered to bring a thermos of lemonade and some sweet donuts Yamada had made the day before!
Hitoshi was right: The day was perfect. He and his friends swam in the lake, a refreshing cool to contrast with the lazy warmth of the sun. Denki got the whole day off from his family's general store, the lucky bastard, so he was full of energy and fun. Kirishima's pa let him come after he completed the morning deliveries from their blacksmith shop.
For hours, the three of them laughed and played and bantered. The stress of the recently ended school year couldn't bother them here.
Eventually, the light began to dim as the sun moved lower in the sky. It was well before sunset, but Hitoshi had to get home for evening chores. Animals don't take a day off. He gathered up his empty containers and said goodbye. The boys promised to meet again soon for the very same experience. Early summer always felt full of possibility.
As he neared the barn Izuku caught sight of him. Shinsou felt a little bad about not inviting him today, but he had just wanted to hang out with his friends, not be responsible for his younger brother. But Izuku did not betray jealousy or betrayal. Instead, Hitoshi thought he perceived pity in those green eyes.
He hadn't been nervous all day... It's not like his father would really care, or even notice, right? But Shinsou hurried to get started on his chores anyway.
After putting in all the animals for the night, he started pumping water to bring in for the household. He carried the heavy buckets into the back door of their old house, careful not to slosh them too much.
"Hitoshi? Is that you?" Yamada called from the kitchen.
Shinsou gently sat the buckets down in the entryway. That voice wasn't the most cheerful.
"Yes, Papa?"
"I had asked you to do something before you went out today."
Shinsou walked toward his father in the next room, a pit growing in his stomach.
"I started on it..."
Yamada turned to look at him.
"Hitoshi. You know I wanted you to finish it before you left."
Shinsou hated seeing disappointment on his father's face. In an effort to deny that feeling, he found himself growing defensive.
"I'll finish it tomorrow, ok?? It will be fine for one day."
"You're allowed to go with your friends to have fun after you finish helping around the house. You can go play but you need to do your chores first."
"I did everything else! It was just one little thing!"
"But it was an important thing! We rely on those vegetables from the garden during the winter, you know this."
"It was just one day! What's the damn difference?"
Hitoshi felt it slip out before he could stop himself. Any other time, the look of shock on his papa’s face might have been funny, but right now it completely snuffed out the indignant fire that had been fueling his backtalk.
A deep voice boomed behind him, "What did you just say?"
Shinsou felt his heart drop a bit. He whipped his head around to see his other father walk through the back door at the worst possible time.
Aizawa hung up his coat in the entryway and looked toward his son with stern, dark eyes.
"I asked you a question, boy. What did you just say to your papa?"
Hitoshi's eyes felt like they were opened so wide they might pop out of his head.
"Nothing, Daddy," he answered quickly, his voice high and nervous.
Aizawa stepped up to his son. It seemed to Hitoshi that he was even bigger and taller than normal.
“Were you just cursing out your father?” Aizawa said stonily.
Hitoshi didn’t know what to say; he could barely think with his father looking at him so directly. His stomach twisted in his gut.
"I- I didn't mean to, Papa," Hitoshi said with a strained voice as he averted his glance to Yamada.
Unfortunately for Hitoshi, Yamada was silent. He did not smooth things over like he might have. Hitoshi knew what that meant. He had likely already been in for a spanking from Papa, but now he had certainly upped his punishment to a whipping.
Aizawa looked toward his husband, who set his face grimly.
The silence was too much for Shinsou to bear.
“I- I just..” he wavered.
"Seems like that's twice you've disrespected your father today, Hitoshi."
Aizawa didn’t give him a chance to refute, or, perhaps mercifully, to dig himself any deeper.
"Go and wait for me in the barn," Aizawa said with unsettling finality.
Although Shinsou knew those words were coming, they weren’t any easier to hear. He was happy to extricate himself from this immediate tension, though, so he quickly turned around and ran out to the barn.
He didn’t look up to see if Izuku or Eri were around. He didn’t need the confirmation that they were watching to add to his mounting shame. Besides, they were sure to know later anyway.
Although his father hadn’t specified which of their multiple barns to go into, Hitoshi knew which one. This one didn’t house any animals or expensive equipment. It was the oldest one on the property, now used mainly just for storage of miscellaneous items. The best of these included their fishing poles and tackle. The worst of these included the leather strap.
He couldn’t help but look at it as he walked inside, even though the sight of it was odious to him. It hung on the wall by a single nail, unassuming. One might even miss it if they weren’t looking for it. But Shinsou could feel it staring right back at him.
He paced around for a few seconds, before settling on an old wooden crate. He tried to calm himself down, tried to tell himself it wasn’t as bad as he thought, but his heart was thumping wildly in his chest.
Honestly, it wasn’t great. Hitoshi hadn’t even figured on getting caught with skimping on the weeding this morning. If Papa was mad enough about that to spank him, then he really shouldn’t have pressed his luck by arguing. He just hadn’t wanted to admit that he’d done something wrong. And disappointing Papa was never something he liked. It was just easier to make it all out to Yamada being unreasonable.
Swearing at Papa, though… That was pretty bad no matter how you looked at it. Hitoshi brought his leg up to rest on the crate he was sitting on and laid his chin on his knee in an attempt to comfort himself.
Dad catching him doing that was probably the worst of all. Talk about rotten timing. He really didn’t stand for disrespect, especially of his husband. It was one of the few things that actually got the man mad.
Shinsou didn’t have much longer to ruminate on it, as he heard Aizawa step into the old barn.
Dark eyes flashed as they met Hitoshi’s, who sucked in a sudden breath. He rapidly got to his feet.
Despite the momentary interruption, his father’s face looked no less thunderous than it had back in the house.
“You, boy, have a lotta nerve if you think this is the way you can treat your father.”
Aizawa went over to the strap and removed it from where it hung.
“No, Daddy,” Hitoshi responded, voice shaky, “I- I don’t think so…”
“I don’t think you understand, boy.”
Hitoshi couldn’t take his wide eyes off his father as he stepped closer. He clutched his hands together behind his back nervously.
“Papa works hard for you.”
Aizawa stood right in front of him.
“What did you do this afternoon, Hitoshi?”
“Um… I… Uh… I went to the lake with my friends?”
“Right. And what did Papa do?”
“Um.. I guess he stayed at home today.”
Hitoshi was a little unsure about this line of questioning, and the looming whipping was making him less than clearheaded.
“He stayed home and worked. He wanted you to enjoy a day off with your friends. So, he didn’t ask you to transplant the squash seedlings. He didn’t ask you to mend the fence out back. He didn’t ask you to start cleaning out the root cellar. Papa wanted you to go out and be happy in the sunshine.”
Hitoshi had felt bad almost immediately when he swore at his father, but now he felt guilty about a whole lot more. He shifted quite uncomfortably and looked anywhere but Aizawa’s face.
“I have two questions for you. First is this: Why did you do the first few rows of weeding? Why those ones in particular?”
The meaning of the question was obvious to Hitoshi, who didn’t like the feeling of being seen through so easily.
“I- I did them because I didn’t want Papa to see that I hadn’t finished yet,” Hitoshi muttered.
“You did those rows in particular because those are the ones that can be easily seen by someone walking by, and you wanted to try to fool your father into thinking you had done what he asked of you. Is that correct?”
It sounded bad when he put it like that. Hitoshi hung his head.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you wanted to do that because you knew what you were doing was wrong. Isn’t that right?”
Hitoshi did not want to answer, but he knew he had to.
“…yes, sir.”
“Now, for my second question. Tell me, Hitoshi, what you did when you come home today. What did you do just now?”
His voice had a sharp edge to it that made Shinsou’s stomach flip-flop. His eyes flitted up to meet his father’s, but the intensity of his glare was too much, and he dropped his gaze back down to the floor.
“Um… I…”
Hitoshi could barely get any words out.
“I asked you a question, boy. What did you do just now?”
Hitoshi shrunk in on himself. He felt about an inch tall.
“I cursed at Papa,” he whispered.
As soon as he said it, Aizawa grabbed his arm and turned him around, shoving him none too gently in the direction of an old workbench.
“Take ‘em down and bend over.”
Hitoshi caught himself against the workbench and took down his pants right away. It sounded like this was going to be a bad one, so there was no sense in incensing the man any further.
The first lick fell almost as soon as his pants hit his ankles, and before he had even fully braced himself. It was hard, too. Hitoshi let out a surprised squawk.
Again, the strap fell hard. Hitoshi was grunting from the get-go and hot tears were rapidly welling up in his eyes.
It always surprised him just how much it hurt, even from the first strike. Though, this whipping felt like it hurt more than usual. Hitoshi didn’t have time to keep pondering this, though, as the strap shook him out of it quickly.
Hitoshi dropped from leaning on his hands to his elbows after only a few licks, then to his chest a few more after that. All his effort went into keeping his legs up underneath him, he couldn’t afford the energy to keep his top half in a more dignified position.
His breathing was ragged and heavy, or at least it was in between yelps.
“I do not have patience for disrespectful boys. You know that.”
“Yes- AUGHH- yes, sirrr,” Hitoshi managed to push out. His tears were freely flowing now.
“Papa, especially, does not deserve that.”
It didn’t seem like a response was required, so Hitoshi just let himself continue to cry.
He hadn’t bothered to count the strokes, but it felt like they were endless. His legs were trembling under the effort of staying upright, and they weren’t helped by the kicks and stomps his feet seemed to perform on their own after every lick.
Tears and snot ran together down his chin as he sobbed. He hated having to resort to begging, but he really thought he couldn’t take any more. His whole body felt weak and his ass was white hot. It had been awhile since he’d taken a whipping like this one.
“I’m sorryyy! Dadd-yyyyy,,, p-pleasee,” Hitoshi wept.
“Five more, kid.”
Aizawa’s voice was softer than before, but still determined.
Five more times the strap fell on his burning skin and five more times Hitoshi howled out.
Once it was done, he felt his father’s hand rub up and down his back, rhythmically stroking. It felt reassuring after the long, hard whipping, but Hitoshi’s sobbing was slow to abate. His ass throbbed and burned.
Aizawa leaned on the workbench and pulled Hitoshi up by his arms, gathering the boy into his embrace.
“Shh, shh. It’s alright, now,” he murmured.
Hitoshi buried his face into his father’s chest while fresh tears burst forth. His dad pet his hair gently.
They stayed like that for a long time, even after Hitoshi’s breathing had evened out. His face was still flushed and was slightly itchy from the many tear tracks.
Aizawa broke the comfortable silence first, patting Hitoshi’s back.
“We should go inside. It’s almost dark now.”
Shinsou realized for the first time how long they had been out there. They had certainly stayed long enough to miss dinner. The sun was getting ready to set, casting a light lavender hue over the quiet landscape.
He found with some embarrassment that his pants were still down, so he carefully pulled them up while his father hung the strap back up on the wall. Hitoshi rubbed his face with his hands and walked toward his father at the barn’s entrance.
Aizawa pulled his son in with an arm over his shoulders as they made their way back to the old farmhouse.
“I’m sure if you apologize to Papa, he’ll heat something up for you.”
Shinsou blushed a bit.
“I would’ve anyway.”
“I know.”
The house was quiet as the pair entered through the back door. Eri and Izuku were nowhere to be seen, to Hitoshi’s relief. They must have been sent upstairs already. Papa was good like that, not wanting to embarrass him, he thought with a renewed pang of guilt.
They heard movement in the parlor where they found Yamada on the sofa with a book. He looked up at them. Shinsou thought his face was surprisingly gentle. He felt nervous suddenly, and ashamed at how he had acted that day, and he stopped in the doorway.
Aizawa nudged him into the room until he stood in front of his father. He tried to look at his face, but could only manage to give his apology to just below the man’s neck.
“Papa, I’m really sorry about today. I- I shouldn’t have left before I was done earlier and… and… I’m really really sorry for cursing at you, Papa.”
Hitoshi could feel himself start to sniffle, despite his best efforts to swallow his emotions.
Yamada smiled softly.
“I know, Hitoshi. You’re forgiven.”
He opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. Hitoshi embraced the opportunity like a child, eagerly diving into his father’s arms and breaking out in sobs again.
“I’m sorryyyy, Papaaa!” Hitoshi wailed as his breath hitched and he curled up next to the larger man.
Yamada chuckled lightly, a little surprised at the intensity of his son’s response.
“It’s okay! It’s okay! I know…”
“No, Papa, I’m sorry,” Hitoshi said between tears, “I was ungrateful and mean and I don’t want to hurt you, Papaaa!”
The two older men shared a bemused look. Yamada tutted gently while rubbing the boy soothingly.
“Daddy went pretty hard on you, huh, boy?”
Hitoshi pressed his face into his father’s shirt, feeling a bit bad about getting it wet with his tears.
“Well, don’t worry about it too much,” Yamada said with a smile.
He deftly reached over and popped Hitoshi’s butt. The teenager yelped in surprise, then looked up at his father with indignance. After all, he was still damn sore!
“See,” Yamada grinned, “you’re still my little spitfire underneath all this!”
Aizawa and Yamada laughed, but Shinsou couldn’t find it within himself to be too upset.
“Zashi, you and Toshi stay here,” said Aizawa as he turned out of the room with a soft smile, “I’ll go scrounge for something to eat.”
Hitoshi allowed himself to be comforted, melting further into the soft cushions and laying his head on his father’s lap.
“I am sorry, Papa.”
“I know, sweet boy. I love you.”