Mike stood in front of the bed and swallowed. He was full of horrific anticipation, and at the same time, unbearable arousal. He was excited to see Harvey, but also terrified to see Harvey. And this last stage, lying down on the bed, was the hardest part.

That was why Harvey had sent that specific instruction, Mike knew. Being naked was fine; he could handle that just fine. When he was naked, he was aware of how much Harvey was attracted to him. Regardless of the situation, even if it was a punishment, he found no shame in being naked. Instead, he felt sexy. But to have his boxers on but pulled down…that wasn't sexy. That was childish. Harvey had figured that out early on in their relationship, and when he particularly wanted to humble Mike, he would make him keep his boxers on for the punishment.

Mike eyed the pillow on the edge of the bed, and considered just leaving his boxers on, or taking them off altogether. He didn't have the bottle, though. If they were playing, he might do it to prompt more roughness from Harvey. But this wasn't play, it was punishment. And, Mike mused with a shiver; it was probably going to be bad enough as it was. Harvey's policy on drugs had always been crystal clear.

He heard a key jangle outside and, all thoughts gone, pushed his boxers down to just below his ass and lay face down on the bed. His ass was on the pillow, raised and ready for Harvey. He buried his face in the mattress, screwed his eyes shut and brought his arms behind him, crossing them at the small of his back in a sign of submission.

He heard the door shut quietly, and could imagine Harvey's smile at the realisation that Mike had obeyed him (they'd had some issues in the past with obedience, which Harvey naturally took as a personal insult). He heard the sound of shoes being slipped off, and some rustling of bags, and Harvey's briefcase clicking down on the coffee table. He heard the rustling of Harvey taking off his jacket, and what sounded like his shirt too, but tried not to get too hopeful. Then there was silence.

Harvey had managed to pad down the hallway and enter the bedroom silently, but when he caught sight of Mike he couldn't help an almost silent "Oh, fuck," escape his mouth. Going away was never easy. Him and Mike had a very active sex life. Very active as in, usually, at least twice a day. And sometimes three, if the mood caught them when there was nobody in the disabled toilets. Not having had sex for days was hard. Not seeing Mike for days was harder.

And there he was, the perfect image of submission. His tight, beautiful legs stretched to the floor. His ass, fat and soft, rising above his pulled down boxers. His arms, folded at the base of his spine. And, even though Harvey knew it would be killing him, his face buried in the mattress and his eyes shut. There he was. Silent, full of repentance, compliant. Waiting. For Harvey.

Harvey could have stood there, in the doorway, for ever. Just looking at his boy.
The tension was killing Mike. He could feel Harvey's eyes on him, scanning him up and down. He wanted to turn his head, look at Harvey, see him again. But he didn't. He couldn't.

When he thought he was going to burst, Harvey spoke.

He had moved, without Mike's awareness, and was stood right next to him.

"Don't speak," he breathed gruffly. "I don't want to hear a word, until this is over. Nod if you understand."

Mike nods, quickly. Eagerly. He notes that Harvey said word, not sound. Harvey kneels, dropping down onto one knee. His hand brushes gently along Mike's naked ass, and the contact causes goosebumps to spring up on Mike's skin instantly. He resists the strong urge to rut his aching cock against the pillow. Harvey marvels at how beautiful Mike is when he's this pliant and submissive. It's a rare moment. Usually, it takes time to guide Mike into this frame of mind.

Harvey sighs, and steels himself. He can tell that the reason Mike is already there is because he knows that he screwed up bad.

"Nod for yes, shake for no," Harvey instructs firmly, sitting down next to Mike on the bed. Mike feels Harvey's trouser fabric brush against his skin, and yearns to reach out and twist it between his fingers in comfort. But he doesn't do that. "Did you go out with Trevor last night, as your text suggested?"

Mike nodded. He was struggling. It was hard not to speak. It felt strange, being forbidden a voice. But it also made him feel more reliant on Harvey than he ever had before. The man was taking complete control over him. It was exhilarating. And terrifying.

"Did you get drunk?" Harvey quizzes, his hand back on Mike's ass, but not stroking this time. He just rests it there, a heavy, warning weight. Mike nods.

"Did you smoke weed?" Although he already knows the answer, Harvey's anger is barely concealed in the sudden curtness of his tone. He watches Mike's shoulder muscles tighten, and swears his hands shake a little. Harvey runs his hand between Mike's shoulder blades, forcing him to relax. He waits.

Mike is fighting with himself. He wants to get this over with. But part of him feels like, if he just holds off, his doom may never come. Harvey's hand, rubbing comforting circles between his shoulders, isn't helping. He can't tell how mad Harvey is, and that's not reassuring. He'd rather know.

"If I were you, Michael," Harvey breathed, suddenly right by his ear, making him jump. "I would answer the question." Harvey's breath, warm on Mike's ear, sends thrilling chills down his spine. And now Mike knows. Harvey is mad. Because he called him Michael.

Mike bites his lip, and nods.

Harvey lets the silence hang, knowing that anticipation drives Mike crazy. He wondered how many different possibilities the fantastic mind was whirring up of ways in which Harvey was going to make him suffer.

"I'm…disappointed," Harvey said, sighing heavily. "I really am."

Mike felt warm tears spring to his eyes the second he heard that, and he opened his mouth to speak, to apologise, to plead, to beg…but he remembered his gag order and clamped his mouth shut again with an audible click of his teeth.

"Good boy," Harvey murmured in praise, trailing his fingers lightly along the ridges of Mike's spine. He knew, angry as he was, that Mike would crumble without reassurances. "Good boy. You're being perfect."

He stood, and walked over to the wardrobe where they kept their supplies. He opened it slowly, allowing the door to creak loudly, and fiddled around loudly. He could hear the hitches in Mike's breathing, and knew that this was the harshest he'd been in terms of anticipation. He removed a silk tie, and the cane, before shutting the door again. He moved back towards Mike, setting the cane down on the bench they had at the end of the bed, out of Mike's eyesight.

"I'm tying your hands," he told the younger man, twining the fabric around Mike's wrists. Mike knew, at the soft brush of silk rather than the cold metal of their usual cuffs, that Harvey was going to go big. Mike was going to be struggling, and Harvey didn't want him to hurt his wrists. It would have been sweet if…yeah. "Safe word is marijuana," he said, his tone twisting slightly. "Nod if you understand."

Mike nodded begrudgingly, feeling his cheeks pinken slightly as Harvey finished tying the ribbon. All this, and he still hadn't caught sight of his gorgeous dom. Harvey sat down next to Mike again and placed a hand on his head, pushing it down lightly into the mattress so he couldn't turn and look up. With his other hand, he manhandled Mike's body so that instead of being over the pillow, he was now draped over Harvey's left leg.

"Someone is a little…excited," Harvey mused, his tone amused. Mike risked a slight rut against Harvey's thigh in response, and Harvey chuckled lightly. "All in good time. All in good time."

He raised his hand and brought it down hard against Mike's left cheek. Not quite anticipating such a sudden start, Mike squeaked. Harvey kept his other hand in Mike's hair, gently rubbing. Without holding back, Harvey set to task of warming Mike's ass up, dealing harsh swats across his butt, watching as it quickly turned pink. Determined to make an impression, Harvey was more thorough than usual, and fought to remain impassive to Mike's whimpering.

He removed his hand from Mike's hair to pull the skin taut where buttock met thigh, so that when he smacked his hand down, it delivered an intense sting. Mike was struggling already, and when Harvey started smacking him like that, he was sure he couldn't stay silent. This was, by far, the sternest hand spanking he had received. And the worst of it was, he was sure that there would be more than a hand for such an infraction.

"Stop biting your lip," Harvey suddenly said in a very authoritarian voice. "I am not going to be happy if your mouth is too sore for what I have planned later."

Mike, unable to say the yes, sir that sprang to his lips, nodded frantically. The skin at the tops of Mike's thighs now blotchy and red, Harvey turned to smacking his upper thighs. Mike rocked back and forth in some kind of attempt to shield himself, but a particular harshly aimed swat to his inner thigh (too close for comfort) was warning enough to still him.

When Mike's thighs and butt were a deep shade of pink, Harvey stopped. He rested his hand on Mike's warm skin, rubbing gently. He could hear Mike's breathing, sharp and stuttery as he fought for oxygen around the burn in his ass.

"Catch your breath," Harvey instructed quietly. "We aren't done."

Mike had suspected as much, but it suddenly became too much for him. The combination of Harvey saying he was disappointed, and the hardest hand spanking he'd ever had, became a little too much for his frazzled brain. It didn't help that he knew the cane was coming. He'd only been caned once. And it had been because of Trevor, and drugs. And it had been the worst. He burst into tears, sobbing somewhat frantically into the mattress. His hands tugged subconsciously against the tie, wanting to come up and cover his face. Harvey paused, taken aback momentarily. But only momentarily.

"Right," he said, using his gentle but authoritative tone. "Let's take a beat."

He reached down, and pulled the end of the tie, causing it to unravel. Wanting to give Mike space, and room from the punishment, he quickly tugged his boxers back up and over his red ass. Mike mewled. Harvey gently scooped Mike up off his lap, and moved to the head of the bed, sitting down with his back to the headboard and Mike's back against his chest.

"Ssh," he said softly as Mike whimpered at the contact of his ass with the bed. "Shut your eyes."

Mike shut his eyes and Harvey ran his warm hands gently down his chest, rubbing circles on his warm skin. Mike could feel Harvey's breathing steady and slow against his back, and began to breathe more evenly calming down.

"Speak to me," Harvey whispered in his ear, hands still moving. "Why did you get yourself so worked up?"

Mike's barriers were already down. Sometimes, it took heaven and earth to drag things out of him. But he'd already submitted long ago, he'd lost the battle.
"I…I hate that I've disappointed you," Mike admitted quietly. His voice sounded strange after so much silence. Harvey's hands still didn't stop.

"We shouldn't have to have this conversation every time you need a punishment, Mike," Harvey said gently. "You know full well that we do this because you need to accept responsibility for actions. There's no use then berating yourself, even as you serve out the justice. You know that with every action, there will always be forgiveness. I know you, Mike. You make mistakes, we all do. And yes, I was disappointed," he said quietly. He leant in and pressed a gentle kiss to the side of Mike's neck. "But… you have shown me a lot more responsibility than in times gone past, and I very proud of that."

He pressed another kiss to Mike's neck, slightly lower down.

"You didn't lie to me, or hide it from me," he said gently, kissing again. "I would never have known. But your trust in me, in us, in this… I was so proud."

Mike shut his eyes, and breathed. He was entering subspace, and he didn't know if Harvey wanted that or not. Usually, he just wanted Mike in a submissive but tethered state. Subspace was for play.

"Harvey, I-"

"Drifting, I know," Harvey said, rubbing his hands along Mike's shoulders, easing out the tension. "Don't worry. I'll be bringing you back in a minute. But for now, this is important. You need to know that I'm proud of you. You need to know that even when we have to do this – and I see we, because it's both of us – when we have to do this, it doesn't stop me being proud of you." He bent, kissing along the ridges of Mike's right shoulder.

"When I came into the flat, and found you submitting to me, so obedient, so beautiful, so… fucking sexy… I was proud," Harvey continued, running lines along Mike's shoulder blades. "There's always a way out, Mike. There's always a way to make me proud."

Mike nodded dreamily. Slowly, he wriggled so Harvey's grip loosened. He crawled forwards, and laid himself back over the pillow.

"I'm ready for the cane now," he said quietly. "Please, sir."

Harvey doesn't know what to say. He remembers the last time he used the cane on Mike. It certainly hadn't been quite so easy.

"There you go again," Harvey said gently, standing up. "Making me proud."

Harvey moved to the end of the bed and picked the cane up, testing its bend slightly. He steeled himself. He hated the cane. It was the one implement that brought neither of them any pleasure in the moment. He didn't use it, unless Mike left no option. And they had been over and over and over the reasons why Mike had to leave the bad habit behind.

Harvey looked at the discarded tie, and decided against it. He straightened up and slipped into the mindset he needed to do this.

"Pull your boxers down," he instructed sternly. "Naughty boys get caned on their bare bottoms."

"Can you not say boys?" Mike asked suddenly, a wave of his usual cheekiness coming through after Harvey's gentle reassurances. He no longer felt like nothing. "Makes me think you're caning other people and I- OW!"

Mike yelped as Harvey's hand came down hard against his right thigh. Harvey grabbed Mike's boxers and yanked them down, making him feel even more like a child than if he'd just done it himself.

"It does not make you think that, don't be absurd," Harvey reprimanded. "Gag order recommences now. I may have shown lenience just now, but for the final part of this, there is none. You speak; I cane you on your thighs. Do you understand? Nod."

Mike nodded.

"I am caning you because this is a lesson I have tried to teach you before, but you have failed to listen. You do not do drugs. We have been through all the reasons why," Harvey said sternly. "I will show no mercy with this. You are not to see Trevor for at least a month. Nod if you understand."

Mike nodded.

"I woke at 8am my time. You did not text me to let me know you were okay until eleven hours later. For eleven hours I didn't know where you were. I didn't know what you were doing. I didn't know who you were with," Harvey said, his tone dark as he lay the cane across Mike's burning cheeks. He saw Mike tense slightly, but he didn't move out of position.

"You may speak only to answer my next questions," Harvey said, lightly tapping the cane but not hitting. "To whom do you belong, Mike?"

"To you, Harvey," Mike murmured, twisting his head to meet Harvey's eyes. "I belong to you."

And that was almost too much for Harvey. His beautiful boy, red assed on the bed, a cane against his ass, pledging himself. Had Harvey possessed the self-control of the average man, he would have abandoned his mission and already be fucking Mike. But, he reminded himself as he felt the primal urges stirring, he was more in control than that. That's what Mike loved about him. He was a dom to the end.

"Interesting," Harvey mused, still tapping with the cane. "Because I would expect, that if someone were to belong to me, they would not break my rules. They would also not leave me not knowing where they were for eleven hours."

Harvey moved suddenly so his fist was in Mike's hair, deliciously tight, and he pulled Mike's head up slightly so he could speak in his ear.

"You. Are. Mine," he growled. "You need to remember who you are, and whose you are, each and every time you step away from me."

Mike was looking at him so needily, and hungrily, that Harvey was the closest he had ever come to breaking. He released his hair and pushed him lightly into the bed.

"I hope you've been paying attention," he said lithely. "I have a number in my head. If you get it wrong, I double it. How many are you getting, Mike?" He knew he would know. Of course he knew. He was Mike. He knew everything.

"Eleven," Mike said, his voice every bit as husky and aroused as he was. "Please, sir."

"You stop playing me," Harvey growled. "Shut your mouth now."

He stood quickly, placed the cane back against Mike's ass and lifted it. Without warning, he snapped it down against Mike's red skin. A deep red line formed instantly and Mike moaned. If Harvey didn't know better, he would have thought Mike almost enjoyed it.

"One," Harvey said. "You belong to me."

Mike's cock was oddly unaware that he was being caned. Harvey's hand in his hair had sent chills down his spine, springing his body into hyper aware arousal. And the words coming out of Harvey's mouth were too hot to handle.

"Two," Harvey said as he brought the cane down half a centimetre lower. Mike moaned again, pain sinking deep into his skin. "You do not disobey me."

"Three," Harvey continued, bringing the cane down again. Mike's ass rippled in response as Harvey flicked his arm down again, sooner than Mike was expecting. This time, Mike cried out. "And four. If you ever do drugs again, and I mean ever, you – five – are going to be – six – too sore to sit down for a week."

Mike now had six deep red lines in perfect order down his ass, like lines on writing paper. Harvey could see he was struggling with the pain now, and hoped that the message would sink in. He raised his hand higher, and brough the cane down four times in quick succession, pushing Mike over the edge into gentle sobs.

"And I don't – seven – mean that theoretically," Harvey said. "Eight. I mean that I will – nine – quite literally – ten – make sure that you ass is so sore, you cannot sit."

Mike nodded frantically, sobbing into the mattress, unable to beg and plead and promise to be a good boy like he usually did.

"One more," Harvey said quietly. "Look at me."

Mike twisted his head around and brought his big, watery puppy eyes up to look at Harvey. He stuck his bottom lip out, smiling slightly despite himself. Harvey fought his own smile at the spectacle.

"What do you need to remember, when you are away from me?" Harvey asked, tapping the cane against Mike's ass. He rested the thin wood against his sit spot, where bottom met thigh, where it was going to hurt the most. He saw the anticipation in Mike's eyes. Mike knew this one was going to be the worst.

"I need to remember who I am," Mike said quietly, sobbing, his gaze unwavering. "And whose I am. I am yours, Harvey. Yours."

Harvey grinned devilishly, brought the cane up and, without breaking eye contact, brought it down hard against Mike's sit spot. Mike, obedient and submissive, flinched but didn't shut his eyes.

"I mean it, Mike," Harvey said quietly. "This ends now. This is the last time."

Mike nodded, and dropped his head, crying quietly into the mattress. Harvey wanted nothing more to gather him up in a big hug, but he was a responsible dominant who prided himself on never leaving lasting damage. He set the cane down and moved quickly to the chest of drawers, withdrawing the bottle of arnica gel they kept for sterner sessions.

"Flat on the bed," Harvey told Mike gently. He didn't need his stern voice after punishments, Mike was always pliable. Soft. Mike gently hauled himself up and lay on the bed fully, still sobbing quietly.

Gently Harvey rubbed the cool gel over Mike's cane marks, as soft as a feather. As he did so, he told Mike, again, how proud he was of him. Then, he went to the kitchen and got a bottle of water which he forced (gently coaxed) Mike to drink. Hands on Mike's back, he waited for the tears to subside, which they did eventually.

"Can I…?" Mike whispered, inches away from Harvey's face.

"When have I ever said no?" Harvey smirked, placing his hands on Mike's face and drawing it to him, kissing him warmly.

After a moment they broke apart, Mike with that same needy look on his face that had almost broken Harvey earlier. At least now, he could break.

"You know," Mike said. "That was almost hot."

"I thought as much," Harvey mused, running his fingers through Mike's fluffy, tangled hair. "The noises you made at the start were practically pornographic."

"Maybe we could play one time," Mike said gently, a delightful pink blush spreading across his cheeks. "Not hard, though."

"Oh, Mike is getting over his fear of the cane?" Harvey teased. "Might have to find something else."

"Nope," Mike said, shaking his head enthusiastically. "I'm never going to be bad again."

Harvey laughed enough for both of them.