Part of Travelling Is Putting up with Close Quarters
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“How’s that feel?”
“Sharp.”
“Sharp?”
“Sharp. Like, not knife sharp, but tingly sharp.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“I think it’s good. Do it again just to see?”
“Okay.” James cracked the short whip they’d found on the ship against Ron’s butt again, and Ron yelped. “Okay?”
“Okay,” Ron confirmed. “It’s different than spanking. But I like it.”
“Hm,” said James, considering the whip. Ron was standing against a wall, arms and legs spread. “Okay then. It looks like it’s going to leave welts, so we’re only going to do ten hits.”
“Starting now or starting with the first test hit?” Ron asked.
“Starting now. Hold still.”
“Yes, sir,” Ron said, standing as still as he could on the moving ship. The Coven meeting was over and they were on their way back home, and it was nice to be doing something normal. Ron took a breath and relaxed, keeping still but also keeping calm.
James snapped the whip and hit his ass. “One,” he said casually. “Try not to yell again.”
Ron nodded, though he wasn’t sure how possible that was going to be. He grunted when the second hit touched his ass. “Two,” said James. Then he hit Ron again. “Three.”
“Ow,” Ron couldn’t help but say. It hurt a lot more than he’d expected after the first two hits. It was also a third of the way over. “I’m fine,” he said, realizing James had paused.
The whip hit him again and Ron cried out. “Four,” said James. “Five. Six.”
Ron was sweating even in the chilly night air, his ass on fire. “Seven,” said James, hitting him again. “Eight.”
He could feel that flying feeling he liked, just a little ways off, but just a little too far. It wasn’t going to get to him, not with just ten strikes. “Nine,” said James. He cracked the whip one last time. “Ten.”
Ron sagged against the wall, panting. “Ah,” he said.
“You did a good job,” James said, coming up behind him, stroking his hair. “You’re such a good boy, Ron.”
Ron nodded, smiling at that, leaning into James’s hand. “Thanks, sir. I love you.”
“I love you too. What did you think of that?”
Ron thought about it, about how much his ass stung, about how he’d felt while it was happening. “I’d do it again,” he decided. “I’m less into it than a normal spanking.”
“Okay,” James said, stroking Ron’s back. “Was it okay, pain-wise?”
“It’s right at the edge of what I could tolerate,” Ron reported. “I wish it could have been longer, but I don’t know if I could have handled it for long enough.”
“Right. I think if I were going to do it longer, I’d want to hit your back too. There’s not enough room on your ass for that many hits without making you bleed, and I don’t want that.”
“Me either.”
A clearing throat got Ron’s attention, and he looked over to see Horsey standing there. “Hey, you two. Sorry to interrupt.”
“It’s not a problem,” said Ron. James’s hand was still on his lower back. “We’re not bothering anyone, right?”
“No, not at all.” Horsey smiled. “Lots of people told me they’ve been enjoying watching you.”
Oh, fuck. Ron had forgotten that there were other people around. Wow, maybe he had been more into the whipping than he’d thought. Since heat was flooding his face and he couldn’t really talk, James took over. “I’m glad. What do you want?”
“Right,” Horsey said, gesturing. “We have a stowaway onboard, says he knows you.”
“Ah,” said James. “I assure you I didn’t smuggle anyone onboard. But I suspect I know who it is.” He went off in the direction Horsey was pointing, and Ron went with him, walking slowly.
“Glad someone’s using that old thing,” Horsey said conversationally. “It’s supposedly to discipline unruly crew members, but I haven’t had one of those pretty much ever, so it’s just gathering dust.”
“Not anymore,” Ron said, stretching his shoulders. “It still works, if you were wondering.”
Horsey nodded, crossing the deck with Ron. Sitting on the deck with another crewman guarding him was Jed, who looked very unhappy. “Hello,” James said.
“Hi,” Jed muttered. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Are you certain you want to start this conversation by lying to me?” James asked. “Because it looks like you tried to stow away in order to follow us and got caught.”
“Oh.” Jed cleared his throat. “Okay it’s a little bit what it looks like, but I only followed you because I want to research the god in your forest and learn about Black Clan forest magic.”
“Does your brother know you’re here?”
“I’m sure he’s noticed by now that I’m missing, yeah,” Jed said with a nod.
James sighed. “Fine. You can come with us, but you’re to send a message to your clan so they know we didn’t kidnap you. And you will be learning while you’re with us.”
“Fine,” said Jed. “That’s what I came to do. You think I crossed half the world so I could dick around?”
“Normally I expect stowaways to pay with blowjobs for the crew,” Horsey began.
“Uh, ew? Gross?” Jed said, backing away.
“But,” Horsey went on, sticking his hands in his coat pockets. “If he’s with you, I won’t charge him. But I don’t have a spare cabin, so he is going to have to stay with you.”
“That’s not a problem,” James said. “We don’t have a spare bedroom at home, so he’s going to have to get used to sleeping on the floor anyway. Ron, can you take him to the room?”
Ron nodded. “Sure. I’ll be back in a minute. It’s just over here.”
“I know, I saw you guys go over there before.”
“You’re not making a great case for the idea of you not spying on us,” said Ron, heading for the cabin.
“What, I don’t get the benefit of the doubt?” Jed asked, scowling. “Should I have gotten an advocate to stow away with me? God.”
Ron rolled his eyes, knocked on the cabin door, then opened it. “In here.”
“What the fuck?”
“Hey,” said Micha, sitting on their bed, hands and bottom half under a blanket in an obvious sort of way. “You promised you…what the fuck is he doing here?”
“That was my question!” Jed said, glaring at Micha. “You didn’t tell me you had a Red Clan member with you!”
“I mean…” Ron looked at Micha, then at Jed. “You should get better at not-spying, because he did literally get on the boat with us.”
“Whatever,” Jed growled. “I’ll sleep outside.”
“Damn right he will!” Micha said, standing now. “I didn’t agree to share space with a shady Green kid!”
“You can sleep wherever you want, but this is our cabin and if you want to sleep without people having sex nearby, this room is your best bet,” Ron said, gesturing into the room. Jed had a bag over his shoulder, which he put down defiantly, glaring at Micha.
“I’m telling my father about this,” Micha muttered.
“Go ahead, we don’t like him very much anyway.” Ron stepped back. He looked at them and how miserable they both looked, and couldn’t help but want to throw them a bone even if it would get him punished later. “You guys can take the bed if you want, James and I are going to be late coming in anyway.”
“This is an abusive situation and I refuse to tolerate it,” Jed said, calmly.
Ron nodded, just as calmly. “Okay. Goodnight.” He shut the door, left them both in the cabin, and went back to James.
“How’d Micha like that?” James asked.
“I think they’re going to become best friends,” Ron said. “They’ll probably bond over their mutual desire to kill us.”
“Oh, good, the Coven meeting never ended. Horsey asked if we could move over there,” James said, pointing to some crates on the deck. “So more people can see you. I’m done hitting you for tonight but I was thinking you could beg me to touch you.”
Ron cleared his throat. Over a year of doing this with James alone in the woods hadn’t prepared him for just how embarrassing it was to have even a small audience. “Okay,” he said, nodding. “Well. Thank you for the opportunity, sir.”
James nodded, took Ron’s hand, and led him over to the crate, which he sat on. It was very late indeed before the two of them made it back to the room, where Micha and Jed were sleeping in opposite corners.
Ron was looking forward to being home. They’d all have more space there.
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How Best to Use a Sword 