Stressed Out (Ageplay)

Chapter 10

"I didn't give it out of anger, I gave it out of her deserving it," Dinah tried to reason. Ally shook her head to herself.

"Did you at least explain what a safe word is?" Ally pleaded.

"She knows what a safe word is, trust me," Dinah said and the look on her face said there was a story there. If she wasn't so annoyed Ally would ask about it.

"Did you two agree on one?" she chose to ask instead.

"Everyone knows red is like the default safe word," Dinah responded. Ally's eyes widened.

"No, baby. Not everyone does," Ally said. She rubbed at her eyes, already exhausted by the evening. When Lauren had called her to tell her she was crying, Normani was locked in the bathroom and Dinah was screaming, she'd thought that had been the worst to come of this day.

Oh, how it sucks to be wrong.

"I thought we agreed to take things slow with Mani. What happened to easing her into things?" Ally asked eventually.

Dinah didn't answer, instead choosing to give a sheepish, "I'm sorry."

Ally nodded and took a breath to steady herself. She held it until it hurt again and let it out slowly.

"I'm going to go check on Normani," Ally finally said. Dinah looked at her, listening carefully, "You are going to leave and not come back until you've thought about why you shouldn't have done what you did the way you did. When you come back bring dinner with you because I'm not in the mood to cook. We'll finish discussing this when the other two are asleep for the night."

"But-" Dinah started.

"That wasn't a suggestion Dinah Jane," Ally interrupted, her tone serious. Dinah sighed.

"Fine." Dinah turned to walk past Ally to leave but a hand against her stomach stopped her. She looked down at Ally whose face matched the seriousness of her tone.

"You're already in trouble, don't do something you'll regret," Ally said lowly. Ally watched as Dinah's eyes widened, searching her own for a bluff, before looking around the room for onlookers that weren't there.

There was a moment of silent standoff before Dinah looked down at the floor, her mouth a tight line.

"Yes, ma'am," she mumbled. Ally kept her hand against Dinah's stomach a moment longer, searching for lingering argument in the younger woman's face before nodding and letting her leave the room.

Ally sat down on the living room couch as she listened to the sounds of her girlfriend leaving. When she heard the front door shut and nothing else followed, she held her face in her hands and rested her elbows on her knees.

Ally sighed deeply.

She wasn't mad at Dinah anymore than she would be mad at Lauren or Normani for breaking a rule without thinking it through. Being a caregiver isn't like being a big sister, or babysitting, or being good with kids. Dinah's still learning, and she tries her best, and Ally knows that.

She just wishes Dinah had done the opposite of everything she'd done tonight.

The two of them weren't Normani's parents and they weren't her caregivers either. Normani hadn't given them permission to be anything more than her friends and they weren't allowed to do anything more than be that to her.

As much as having her ignore them hurt, Normani was an adult, and if that was what she chose to do, she had every right to do so. They could tell her off as people who cared about her, but spanking her was another line.

Ally groaned into her hands, thinking of the damage control she'd have to do.

"Anytime I leave you three alone for five minutes, someone ends up in the hospital, or in a cop car naked, or punished apparently. It makes no sense," she complained to the empty living room.