Seeking Attention

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the book series Broken Sky and I'm not making any money from this fic

Summary: Hochi's preoccupation with the amulet Tochaa gave him caused him to withdraw from everyone, including Gerdi, who is more like his adopted son. Gerdi was taking more and more chances with his life - and now Hochi finally steps in

Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for most of the nine books in the Broken Sky series; some mentions of violence

Author's Note: I'm not going to summarise Broken Sky here, but for people who haven't read or heard of the series, there's a fairly detailed summary of it on Wikipedia, as well as character profiles

The members of Parakka were milling around Gar Jenna, preparing in the best way they could for the final battle. Gerdi was in his hut, looking around a bit wearily. He didn't feel all that easygoing anymore. Since he, Hochi, Elani and Peliqua had been rescued from their imprisonment, he felt... lost. It wasn't the constant fighting that bothered him, but more that he couldn't stand what his relationship with Hochi had become.

Gerdi still had a deep respect for Hochi - one that he could admit to himself, even if not to anyone else. But he didn't know what to do now. Even teasing and joking around with the bigger man had failed to break into Hochi's black despair - and now that he knew Gerdi knew he had no spirit stones, how much worse would things be between them?

Becoming aware of the fact that he wasn't alone in the hut anymore, Gerdi turned round, a bit surprised to see Hochi standing there. "Hey, boss-man. You need me to do something for you?"

"I want to talk to you," Hochi replied.

"Can it wait until later? I've got to go with Kia and Ryushi to talk to some of the desert people." There was a part of Gerdi that wanted Hochi to talk to him, but it was only a small part. He'd been trying to talk to the big guy for so long, he doubted that Hochi wanted to do anything more than tell him to do something. Maybe yell at him for something he'd done.

Gerdi didn't want to have another argument, or another period of trying to talk to Hochi with only frustration as his reward. As much as he hated how things had become between them, he was sick of constantly trying and failing to make a difference.

"You don't need to leave yet." Hochi stepped closer to Gerdi.

Gerdi knew that Hochi was moving closer to him so that he could grab him. He eyed the bigger man warily as he backed away, wondering if Hochi planned to cuff him. Or maybe shake him.

Hochi was blocking the doorway, so Gerdi couldn't escape that way. He still had other options, though, and cast a glance towards the nearest window, considering briefly whether he could run and jump through it. It wasn't like there was a great drop outside it, or any other way for him to hurt himself.

As Gerdi looked away from the window, he felt his wrist grasped in a firm grip. Startled, he tried to pull away from Hochi's grip - but, of course, the big man was too strong for Gerdi to free himself once Hochi had hold of him. Giving up, he frowned. "So what are we talking about?"

"You've been taking too many chances," Hochi said. "That isn't happening anymore."

Gerdi rolled his eyes and tugged lightly at his trapped hand. "We're all taking chances. I don't see you being like this with Ryushi. Or Calica."

"It's different with you."

Gerdi snorted quietly, trying not to show how much Hochi's treatment of him had hurt. "Not different enough for you to pay any attention to me."

A look passed briefly across Hochi's face. Guilt, maybe? It was gone too quickly for Gerdi to be sure. But instead of saying anything, Hochi started moving towards the bed set against the far wall.

Having no choice but to traipse after the big man, Gerdi tugged uselessly at his trapped hand. Set on trying to free himself as he was, he didn't immediately realise what was going on - at least until Hochi had seated himself on the bed and drew Gerdi in front of him, free hand going to the waistband of his trousers.

Gerdi tried to bat Hochi's hand away, flushing a bit. It had been a long time since he'd been in this position, but he remembered enough - and that was enough to convince him he didn't want to do this again. "You can't do this!"

"This isn't the first time I've had to do this. I've told you before what endangering yourself will earn you," Hochi replied evenly, moving Gerdi's hand out of the way. "It might have taken me a while to notice what you were doing, but I have no intention of letting you get away with this."

Gerdi normally knew better than to try and stop Hochi from baring him, but as soon as Hochi let go of his hand, he grabbed at his trousers. "It's not like you've even cared about it. I don't think you have any right to do this anymore." Despite the angry note to his voice, there was a part - bigger than Gerdi would have liked - that hoped Hochi would ignore his protests and prove that he did at least still care.

Hochi made no response with words, but Gerdi felt a heavy hand brace against his back, nudging him forward and tipping his upper body over slightly. The next moment, Gerdi felt Hochi's hand collide painfully with his backside.

Gerdi jumped, hissing out a slight gasp. Hochi's hand was large enough to cover a lot of surface area in just one swat and the tops of both buttocks were smarting. He squirmed, unable to help it, as Hochi repeated the swat slightly lower, overlapping with the pain of the first swat, and then landed the third one across his thighs.

When Hochi stood him back up again, Gerdi managed to keep his hands by his sides as Hochi tugged his trousers down, baring his bottom before lifting him up and placing him face down across his lap, wrapping an arm around Gerdi's waist and drawing him tight against his stomach.

Gerdi glanced back over his shoulder, renewing his struggles as he realised the door was still open. "At least shut the door!"

"And have you running away? I don't think so. Besides, I told Calica that I needed to talk to you - and to make sure we weren't disturbed for a little while."

Gerdi opened his mouth to reply, but the words dissolved into a pain-filled cry as Hochi brought his hand down in a sharp swat at the top of his bared backside, the sound echoing through the hut.

Not giving Gerdi a chance to catch his breath, Hochi proceeded to quite thoroughly demonstrate that he didn't need spirit stones to light a fire in his young charge's hindquarters. Gerdi writhed and squirmed as much as Hochi's hold would allow, kicking his legs when Hochi swatted his sensitive thighs and sit spots. Each hard swat landed unerringly on target, despite Gerdi's attempts to get away.

Tears sprang to Gerdi's eyes, despite his best efforts to hold them back. It didn't matter how much he struggled and fought, Hochi simply kept him exactly where he wanted.

When the first sob finally caught in Gerdi's throat, it wasn't only from the pain of the spanking. For months now, he'd had to deal with the fact that Hochi no longer cared about him. But this seemed to indicate that he was wrong. And, besides, he was too tired and worn out to fight for much longer.

The moment Gerdi felt himself stop fighting, he felt Hochi lift him up and into his arms, hugging him tightly.

Unable to do anything else, Gerdi just clutched Hochi's shirt in both hands and sobbed heavily. He was still worried that he'd be pushed away, but as he felt the big man's arms tighten around him, he felt that fear begin to lessen.

It took a little while for Gerdi's tears to fully stop, but finally, he simply rested quietly against Hochi, taking advantage of the contact - and still needing the comfort, on some level at least. "Does this mean I can't do anything dangerous?"

"What do you think?"

"I think I need to look for another job," Gerdi grumbled.

"When this is over, if we're still alive, we'll rebuild the wyvern business," Hochi promised.

Gerdi snorted softly. "Yeah - because I'm so sure it was that easy the first time round." Almost convulsively, his grip on Hochi tightened as he seriously considered the possibility that they might not get out of this alive.

And as if responding to Gerdi's unvoiced fear, Hochi simply tightened his embrace and pulled him closer, finally fully bridging the gap that had opened between them.

The End