Title: Between the covers   Fox hissed as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His bottom was on fire, his eyes itched from dried tears he couldn’t wipe away and he huffed as loud as he dared as he thought of the tiny bit of mess he and Alex had made in the bedroom when the pillows they had been fighting with over…something…had burst.   He and Alex had collapsed on the bed, giggling hysterically as a few feathers drifted about. The tickling of the tiny white downy soft feathers as they landed on both men added to their adrenaline-fueled laughter.   What in the Hell is going on in here??!!   Both men froze instantly as Walter’s angry voice cut into their play wrestling.   Fox was the first to look up, timidly trying to assess Walter’s mood. It didn’t take a great deal of skill. Walter’s face was set in an angry scowl and he stood in the doorway, hands on hips, the light coming through the door outlining his well-muscled torso through his white t-shirt.   Alex didn’t bother making eye contact. He sighed, got up, unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, stepping out of them.   Fox scowled. ‘Alex!’   Alex shrugged. ‘Walter’s gonna spank us.’   Fox nodded, still cross with Alex for his easy capitulation. ‘So?’   ‘So I’m not gonna add to my punishment by making him wait.’   Walter listened with slight amusement tempering his earlier anger. ‘Fox?’   Muttering, Fox climbed off the bed. ‘I’m coming!’   As he passed Walter in the doorway Fox yelped as a firm swat landed on his bare buttocks. ‘Ow!!’   ‘Commando Fox?’   Fox blushed. ‘It’s…um…quicker.’   Walter managed not to laugh, instead shaking his head as Fox followed Alex down the stairs. Neither of the two younger men ever realized that Walter stood behind them wherever possible whenever they were less than fully dressed.   **************************   So it was that Fox and Alex came to be standing in their respective corners of the study, Walter sitting in the armchair beside his desk. An armchair first Alex and then Fox had leant over only a few minutes earlier as Walter spanked them both firmly.   ‘Any louder Fox and I’ll put you over my knee to remind you of the definition of silence.’ Walter didn’t look up from his newspaper but he could picture the scene in front of him quite clearly. It was not as if it had not happened before. Or that this would be the last time.   ***********************   Fox shifted uncomfortably in the seat as he ordered the latest volume of CSI on DVD from an online bookshop. A feature caught his eye and he clicked on one of the titles which was offered with free postage. He added it to his basket hurriedly, clicking on the item he wanted as he heard Walter call out that lunch was ready. There wasn’t exactly a rule, but he doubted Walter would be happy he was buying himself a present so soon after being punished.   *******************   By the time the parcel arrived, a few days later, Fox had completely forgotten he had ordered the book. With Alex beside him, sorting the junk from the real mail, he tore eagerly at the parcel. He pulled out the DVD and Walter passed them both, his arms full of the recycling box. Fox dumped the packaging in the box Walter carried. ‘Good timing.’   ‘When did you order that Fox?’ Walter asked smoothly as he continued towards the front door.   ‘Um…a few…days…’ Fox began, suddenly realizing he was talking to himself and Alex.   Walter emptied the plastic box into the bigger recycling bin and leaned in as something fell out of the box Fox had dumped in at the last minute. Holding up the book, he wondered how on earth it had been packed with Fox’s DVD. Shaking his head, he picked the book up and was about to carry it back into the house when he read the title. Frowning, he walked back into the house, heard Fox and Alex in the living room, already settling down to watch the TV and he walked into his study, dropped the book into his desk drawer and came out to join them, stopping off briefly in the kitchen to bring them all sodas.   ********************   Walter wondered where Fox and Alex were, and walked into the kitchen. He paused as he heard their two voices, Fox’s low and urgent, Alex’s teasing and equally low.   ‘The book Alex…it hasn’t come. What if it comes when we’re out.’   Walter pictured Alex shrugging. ‘The parcel will have your name on. Walter won’t open it.’   ‘I ordered the DVD the afternoon after our pillow fight. If Walter thinks I ordered something else that day…’   Alex sighed. ‘Just tell him.’   ‘I can’t Alex!’ Fox hissed crossly.   ‘Can’t ‘what’?’ Walter asked, coming up behind Fox.   ‘Um…I can’t find my keys.’ Fox fibbed quickly.   Walter looked down at Fox’s hip, reached into his pocket and pulled out the key ring. ‘Maybe you weren’t looking in the right place Fox.’ Walter said smoothly.   Fox willed his face not to color, knowing it would, as he took the keys. ‘Um…no.’   Walter turned and left them to it. He walked into the study and opened his desk drawer as he sat in the armchair. Leaning across he reached inside and pulled out the book. Flicking through the contents, he found a paragraph caught his attention and he stopped to read it in detail.   *******************   Walter listened until he worked out Fox and Alex were in the kitchen and, feeling a little uncomfortable, he listened from just outside the door.   ‘I’ll have to call them Alex. What if the book turns up while I’m visiting Scully?’   Alex nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll distract Walter.’   Fox grinned, imagining exactly *how* Alex would distract Walter.   ********************   Walter ignored Alex’s best attempts at ‘distraction’, knowing the boys were hiding something from him. And what that ‘something’ was. Gently but firmly, he pushed Alex off his lap where the younger man had been lying, outwardly reading the TV guide, but all the time pausing every few seconds to breathe gently on Walter’s denim-clad crotch. ‘Alex, I know you’re trying, but I’m not in the mood. I’m worried about Fox.’   Alex looked up. ‘About what?’   ‘He seems distracted. And he’s hiding something from us, I’m sure of it.’   Alex tried not to look as if he was panicking. While panicking. ‘Um…you’re imagining things Walter.’   Walter shook his head and lifted Alex into a sitting position. ‘I’m gonna go talk to him.’   Alex thought quickly. ‘Perhaps he just needs some time alone.’   Walter shook his head. ‘No. You know the rules Alex. We share our problems.’ He got up and walked into the study, intending to retrieve his book and come clean to the boys about his deceit.   Alex was powerless to stop him and Fox looked up from where he was perched on the edge of the desk, the telephone in his hand. ‘Um…could you hang on please?’   Walter pressed the ‘speaker’ button on the phone and smiled. ‘It’s okay Fox. I just came for my diary.’   The woman’s voice filled the silence. ‘Hello Sir? Are you still there? According to our records, the…um, adult…book you ordered was packed with the DVD. Was it not received?’   Walter looked up from where he was rummaging in his desk drawer. ‘You ordered a book Fox?’   Fox nodded, his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. ‘Yeah. It didn’t turn up.’   ‘This book Fox?’ Walter asked calmly, holding the book up.   Recognizing part of the title and not paying close attention to the parts covered by Walter’s fingers, Fox swallowed hard and removed his hand. ‘I’m sorry, the book has been found. Thank you.’   Replacing the receiver, Fox waited for the inevitable shouting. He frowned when all Walter did was to replace the book in the drawer, closing it gently. Alex didn’t understand Walter’s reaction either, and looked from Fox to Walter and back to Fox.   ‘Um…I can…um, explain.’   Smiling slightly, Walter sat in the armchair. ‘Go ahead Fox. Explain.’   Although every book on non-verbal behavior suggests that for dominance in a conversation, you should remain above your opponent, Walter had no need of such a height advantage. He could have been laying flat on the floor and Fox would still have felt six inches high.   ‘Well…I ordered a DVD…’   Walter nodded. ‘Yes. On the day I spanked you both for bursting two of our new down pillows.’   Fox nodded. ‘So…um, there was a feature on…’   ‘Alternative lifestyle books.’   Fox nodded. ‘And I thought a book on erotic spanking…’ He stopped, looking down at the book which lay on Walter’s desk.   ‘That isn’t it!!’   Walter permitted himself a small smile. ‘Are you sure Fox? It makes…interesting reading.’   ‘You read it?!’ Neither Fox nor Alex could believe there was *anything* of interest to Walter in a book aimed at parents of toddlers.   ‘I did. I also read the book you meant to order.’ Walter opened the other desk drawer and pulled out the book Fox thought was lost somewhere in the US postal system. ‘It suggests spanking can be made more…interesting by varying the implement used.’   Fox and Alex began to squirm.   ‘However in my dictionary, a spanking is defined as a slap on the butt with an open hand. So what *your* book suggests aren’t strictly spankings. For example…’ Walter picked up the childcare book and smacked it down on his palm ‘…this isn’t a spank. So, I haven’t shouted, and I’m not going to spank either of you for trying to prevent me from finding out you’re ordering adult books.’   Fox and Alex relaxed. For a moment.   ‘Who wants to go first?’   Alex looked up. ‘What?’   ‘I’m gonna put this book to a use the author probably never imagined. Well?’   Fox gulped. ‘Me, I guess.’ He walked across to Walter, dropped his jeans and leaned over.   Walter looked across at Alex. ‘Alex, go upstairs, take a shower and wait for me in the bathroom.’ Alex fled quickly, pulling the door behind him.   *******************   Walter settled Fox over his lap, one hand in the small of his back, pushing his grey t-shirt out of the way. ‘You bought yourself a present on the same day I punished you for behaving like a hooligan. You then ordered something which we should all have agreed on.’   One of their most important rules was that anything all three of them would share, with the exception of food, they discussed in advance.   Fox still didn’t feel like his contribution was required and lay still and quiet.   ‘You involved Alex in your dilemma, didn’t tell me or ask my advice. Am I that unapproachable?’   Fox lifted himself up, turning onto his side. ‘No! I didn’t mean it!’   Walter turned Fox face down again. ‘Oh, and if you *had* asked me, I would have saved you some cash. I don’t need a book on erotic spanking.’   ‘You’re gonna do it on Alex, aren’t you?’   Walter’s hand began to stroke Fox’s pale bottom. ‘Yeah.’ He lifted the book he held and landed a firm swat across both Fox’s butt cheeks, coloring them pinkly.   Eleven further *very* firm swats later, Fox moved slowly to his corner, almost turning round as Walter reached into his desk.   ‘Nose on the wall Fox!’ Walter warned.   Fox huffed as he stared at the pale wall, wondering what was going on behind him. He heard Alex turn the shower off, and pictured him stepping out of the huge shower and pulling a towel from the rack, deftly handling the task of drying himself without his prosthesis, starting with his shoulders, his chest…’   ‘Mind in this room Fox!’ Walter called across, guessing from the change in Fox’s stance what was going through his mind. And other parts of his body.   Fox slumped slightly at the rebuke and resumed his close inspection of the wall in front of his eyes. He didn’t notice Walter move out of the room, leaving the door ajar.   ****************   Alex looked up as the bathroom door opened. ‘All clean Alex?’ Walter smiled.   ‘Yeah. Are you gonna punish me too?’   Walter smiled reassuringly. ‘No Alex. I know this was nothing to do with you.’   Alex relaxed a little and adjusted the towel which had begun to slip from his waist. Walter reached down and opened the towel. ‘The book Fox bought suggested that distraction was the key to good behavior.’ His hand stroked Alex’s still-damp stomach, and he smiled as Alex instinctively sucked his stomach muscles in. ‘What do you think Alex?’ As he asked the question Walter dropped to his haunches and crouched  in front of Alex, his fingers softly stroking Alex to semi-hardness, Alex’s ragged breathing and soft moans loud in the small damp room.   ‘Er…I…um think…ooooohhhh.’   In a swift motion Walter lifted Alex to his feet, sat on the closed toilet seat and pulled Alex face down over his knee. Alex was unaware of Walter leaning over to reach for something on the shelf beside them. The towel was almost all the way off Alex’s damp body and Walter helped it fall to the tiled floor. Walter’s large hand stroked Alex’s bare skin from neck to thigh, and he let Alex squirm as his hand rubbed Alex’s flesh from water-heated glow to touch-heated pale pink.   Walter slid his other arm gently across Alex’s waist, then paused. ‘Fox! Get up here!’   He waited until Fox was watching from the doorway, eyes wide as he saw what Walter held. Alex decided not to try and look round. He found it much more arousing to know Fox was watching him without actually being able to see Fox. He wriggled, bringing Walter’s attention back to him.   ‘Ready Alex?’   Alex moaned softly. ‘Mmmm.’   Walter smiled and landed the first gentle swat. He was gratified at Alex’s reaction.   ‘What…oooohhh.’   The loofah’s prickly sting was not unlike a gentle version of the birch and Walter covered Alex’s butt and the tops of his thighs with a single even pattern of swats, pausing a moment between each, occasionally looking up at Fox whose eyes were fixed on Alex. Before he was half way, Alex was whimpering and moaning, his legs kicking in the air, his hands gripping Walter’s leg. Walter spread his legs to allow Alex’s hardness room to twitch for the first few blows, gradually closing them with every third or forth swat, eventually giving Alex some friction. Timing it perfectly, Walter dropped the loofah a moment before Alex bucked on his lap, both arms encircling Alex, holding him safe as Alex climaxed.   He smiled as Alex lay, limp and spent on his lap, hearing Fox’s soft groan from the doorway as he came a moment later.   Stretching over a second time, Walter reached for a dry towel, covering Alex for a few minutes until he recovered sufficiently to look up, eyes unfocussed. ‘Ohhhh.’   Walter lifted him up gently, wrapping the towel around his shoulders. ‘Okay?’   Alex nodded slowly, looking across at Fox. ‘You gotta try that Fox.’   Fox looked at Walter. ‘It wasn’t my fault I bought the wrong book.’   Walter’s stare silenced him until Alex’s gentle snores interrupted the quiet a moment later. Walter picked Alex up, holding him with Alex’s head resting on his chest and when he reached the bedroom Fox was already turning down the bed and closing the curtains.   Walter laid Alex on the bed and covered him with the bedclothes. He stepped back and watched the younger of his two lovers sleeping, a slight smile on his relaxed face.   He walked to the bedroom doorway and looked at Fox’s jeans. ‘Was that erotic enough for you Fox?’   Fox blushed, smiled and looked down. Walter’s finger under his chin lifted his head until their eyes were level. ‘I don’t mind you buying things Fox. I *do* mind that you broke two of our rules.’   Fox sighed. ‘I’m sorry.’   Walter hugged Fox. ‘I know. Now, you’re gonna pack the books up and send them back.’   Fox frowned. ‘Only the kids one, right?’   Walter shook his head. ‘Both of them Fox.’   Fox pouted and left the room.   Walter hoped Fox remembered to change his clothes before opening the door to the postman. He was expecting a parcel. From an online adult bookshop. He knew it wouldn’t hurt to have some new ideas to keep their lives…interesting. This may spawn a sequel when Walter's books arrive :)