Chapter 4:
Aaron didn't want to think of what type of abuse he could be facing. He'd known lashing out wouldn't get him anywhere yet he'd done it, because subconsciously, his reflex against touching weighed out the orders in his head. He promised himself never to fall for that mistake again if he survived whatever was yet to come.
"I'm sorry, please don't do anything."
Daddy's heart ached at the raw pain that came with his baby's trembling voice. He hated scaring him so much, but punishment was the only way to enforce discipline. It had to happen-Aaron needed to learn his place well. "I have to, love. You broke so many rules in like five minutes. You said a bad word and hit me. You deserve a punishment."
Daddy tried picking Aaron off the table, but a hand came in his way. "Give him a chance," Lou reasoned, but Daddy didn't even let the words sink. He just shook his head as he removed the restraints, then held his baby bridal style and walked over to the armchair. When he sat, he flipped Aaron so that his stomach was laying over his lap. By then, Aaron had connected the dots.
Spanking. On the thighs? Was he supposed to be happy it wasn't anything too horrid, or scared about how far the baby treatment was going?
Aaron fidgeted in the awkward and painfully uncomfortable position, but he was startled to stillness when he felt the immense pain that followed a sudden, powerful swat against the back of his thighs. He yelped, half in shock because it was unexpectedly painful and half because of the humiliation.
He wiggled and tried to move away from his lap, but Daddy was quick to rest his arm on his back to keep him stable.
Lou saw how shocked his baby nephew was, like the poor boy hadn't expected it to be that painful. Kneeling down by the couch, he held his hands in a way he hoped was comforting or assuring. Anything to make him feel better.
But it didn't work for Aaron. He quickly pulled his hands away, face scrunched in disgust. He was being spanked and it was awful enough; he sure as hell didn't need a psychopath holding his hands on top.
Lou was disappointed at the rejection; it killed him that his baby hated him so much that he couldn't even stand him holding his hand. When was Aaron going to grow used to him?
Aaron tried to keep himself gathered but the humiliation was getting to him. The pain was tolerable. He'd been through worse and some swats weren't about to make him weak. But the physical pain was replaced by the mental one: the helplessness of staying still whilst strangers callously held his dignity rather than his flesh, butchering it like they knew his pride was both his strength and weakness.
He could be tripping but if he stared long enough, he could see his dignity shattered across the carpet for everyone to step over.
"You're being such a good boy. Only eight more and it'll be all done," Daddy coaxed, but that wasn't making it better for Aaron. All he wanted was for it to end at the instant.
By the end of it, Aaron's dignity had nearly become non-existent. He'd never want to explain it to anyone, but the pain resonated along his thighs, making him flinch and wince as Daddy sat him upright again. Strong fingers suddenly latched around his underarms and pulled him off Daddy's lap to settle on Lou's.
Aaron tried to squirm away, but each movement had his thighs aching hysterically. Had Daddy even used his hand to spank him? Judging by the pain and the aftermath, Aaron doubted it.
Lou watched his baby worriedly: the way his chest was heaving and his cheeks were flushed with a pink tint, his jaw clenched with the strain of repressing tears. "Baby, you can cry," he said, voice soft, "I know it was painful, let it out."
The idiot really just assumed the pain was the worst thing about this situation. It's the humiliation, you idiot! Aaron wanted to shout.
Aaron been through some unfortunate shit in his life. A series of continuous pain that lodged like a thorn in his heart and refused to fade. He'd tolerated everything, convinced himself his pain wasn't worth expression, sought solace in the stars just so he'd live through.
But this-this was far too weird for his heart to handle. He'd never been humiliated that far, he'd never felt as vulnerable as he felt right then. His breath was slowly getting more ragged like the pain accumulated in his lungs rather than his heart this time. His pride and dignity had been sacred, the only things in his life that he kept untouched.
When Aaron's eyes fogged up with newly brewed tears, an alarm in his head blew like he was programmed against it. Don't cry, idiot, he wanted to scream at himself. He could hear his father's voice in his ear, telling him crying wasn't for men. Aaron refused to let the tears out, kept them swarming in his eyes. He couldn't let the situation break the dams he'd built. Be a man.
Aaron wanted to thrash, but he couldn't even do that with the bone-deep weariness that suddenly caught up with him. It felt like he had been using the very last pints of his energy and now it drained completely, leaving him placed docilely and wordlessly in Lou's lap, even though he mentally disapproved.
Lou couldn't help but smile admiringly. He found it endearing that Aaron was sitting on his lap quietly and calmly, but he knew it was only because his poor baby had worn himself with all the fighting and thrashing. His fingers reached over to Aaron's tousled, pitch black hair and combed his fringe away from his forehead. Those beautiful black locks felt like silk as they slipped between the gaps of his fingers, soft and velvety. His baby's hair was naturally silky-it just needed a little care.
Mommy walked in, smiling when she realized that Aaron was currently in the calmest state since he'd woken up. She held the bottle in her hand to Lou, as if gesturing him to reposition Aaron accordingly.
Lou knew how risky that was. He was sure his baby would tense again when he'd see the bottle, and he really didn't want to ruin the serenity of the moment. But even with the reluctance, he repositioned Aaron in his lap so that his head laid in the crook of his elbow.
Aaron whimpered. His head was pounding, temples throbbing with all the sudden shock and hassle, and as Lou moved him he felt like the pain magnified by a thousand. He wanted to move, to thrash and try to get away, but he couldn't do that anymore-not with the exhaustion that settled deep in his bones.
The captors weren't surprised that their baby was suddenly too exhausted to even move. They had drugged him heavily to kidnap him-or adopt him, as they preferred to call it-and it was only natural for him to be tired after all the effort.
Lou grabbed the bottle and neared the teat hesitantly to Aaron's lips, watching worriedly as his steely grey eyes widened in disbelief. He'd just gotten spanked and now he was about to be fed with a bottle. How far was this going? Were they seriously convinced he was their baby? "I'm not a baby," Aaron slurred as he turned away from the bottle. If they were so fond of babies, why couldn't they just adopt a real one? "Please, let me go, I- I beg you."
This made Lou's brows furrow. His baby obviously didn't even understand that all they wanted was his welfare. Why didn't he like to be happy? Was he not sick of the way he'd been living? All the captors were convinced there was morality in what they had done, and they hoped Aaron would notice it soon.
Daddy grew impatient. He desperately wanted his baby to adapt. He snatched the bottle from Lou's hand then forced it into Aaron's mouth. The milk seeped from the teat down his throat, and it didn't exactly taste bad; there was a lingering hint of vanilla, but Aaron was not about to surrender. He tilted his head back until the teat was no longer inside his mouth, refusing to cooperate with the captors' attempts to put it back in.
Daddy sighed. His baby was being annoyingly disobedient.
After several tries and fails, Daddy ran out of patience. Aaron suddenly felt a hand on the back of his head force him slightly forward. Someone pushed the teat past his lips again, and this time he couldn't avoid it, at least not with Daddy's hand forcefully keeping his head and neck in the same position.
Aaron refused to drink properly, so most of the milk dribbled down his chin. As Daddy wiped them with a napkin he'd fetched off the table nearby, he glared at Aaron. "You're going to choke that way, love. Drink well."
Aaron shuddered with the effect of the sharp edge in the captor's voice. He began sucking docilely, every beat of his pulse crashing through his ear, heart thrumming in his chest.
The captors cooed at the noises he emitted in the process. Their baby and his reactions were too cute, just like Leo (or at least when he'd adapted).
Aaron almost choked when he felt Lou's hand stroke his bare stomach lightly, goosebumps flaring along his thin arms like an explosion at the captor's loving smile. It was like they were making fun of his touch-aversion.
A single, rebellious tear pushed past the pool Aaron had trapped in his eyes and trickled down his pale cheek. Aaron didn't even bother stopping it anymore. He'd never thought he'd be crying because someone was stroking his stomach. The irony in this was almost mocking. After everything he'd been through, every punch and belt and burn, this was what he'd break the rule for. This was what'd make him go against everything he'd been brought to and cry.
Aaron didn't miss his father, but he wanted to go home, desperately.
Little by little, Aaron's eyelids grew heavy, and suddenly he felt as though he needed just a prod to sleep. He tried to force himself to stay awake, but surely, the effect of the sleeping drug the captors had put in his milk was much stronger than his attempts. Only minutes later, he lost the battle and laid limply in Lou's arms.
Lou had removed the bottle by then. He stared admiringly at Aaron's soft face in his sleep; he looked as innocent and pure as his beautiful soul. He slid the back of his hand delicately across his baby's cheek, smiling at the fair, fragile skin. Remembering the way he had been treated back at his home made Lou want to tear his hair out. It seemed like good hearted people always lived the most traumatic lives, like they were the ones mistreated the most.
But now his baby was safe. Safe from the cruelty of the world.
He carefully stood up, cradling him protectively in his arms as if he were holding the most precious, delicate thing ever-because Aaron indeed was so, he thought as he stared at his innocent face.
Lou walked to the crib and laid him down, mentally noting how cute he looked in nothing but a pull-up. Skinny and on the shorter side of average, Aaron could nearly be mistaken for a real toddler in the giant crib. Lou smiled, but then his face dropped when he caught proper sight of the horrible bruises on his baby's stomach and waist.
Heart clenched, Lou turned Aaron slightly and probed the grotesque scares scrawled across the length of his back, his stomach churning queasily when he thought of how he'd gotten them. How dare anyone whip his baby?
How could anyone even do such a thing to him? He figured that maybe the problem with the world wasn't that people didn't have good hearts; it was just that they didn't have ones at all. He snickered to himself at the thought, because he'd actually figured that out a long time ago.
"I'm guessing he's gonna be an uncle's boy," Daddy teased, smiling at how enraptured Lou seemed. Chuckling, Lou draped a thick blanket over Aaron's body. He turned on the baby monitor, switched off the lights, and left along with the other two.
In the living room, Leo was sprawled on the couch. He shifted sleepily as the men approached and settled at both sides of him. He snuggled into Daddy's side, pressing his face against him in an attempt to hide a small yawn he couldn't hold back.
Daddy absentmindedly petted his baby's hair, his lips pressed together. "I thought that Aaron was gonna have a breakdown. I thought he was gonna scream and try to hurt us, or himself even."
"Yeah," Lou said, glancing discreetly at Leo, who had fallen asleep. "I don't think he's gonna be harder to deal with than Leo. Remember his first days? Chaos."
"No, Lou. I don't think Aaron's gonna be easier."
Lou frowned thoughtfully, but before he had a chance to inquire, Daddy had finally decided it was time to put Leo in bed. He chose not to put him in the same room with Aaron, because he was sure he'd wake up, throw a tantrum, and scare Leo along. So Daddy carried him upstairs to the master's bedroom and lay with him on the king sized bed. Daddy didn't plan it, but he fell asleep with his baby beside him at one point.
Lou fell asleep on the couch, but he was woken to the sound of rustling through the monitor some hours later. The low rustling gradually turned to whimpers and muffled words, and he jumped off the couch when he realized it was Aaron letting out all the noises then headed straight to the nursery.
When he crossed the threshold, he hastened to the crib and glanced down, his heart aching as he watched Aaron toss and flip from side to side, his cheeks flushed and his pale face scrunched.
Lou quickly removed the blanket, and he gasped when he saw the amount of sweat that had accumulated on the boy's body. What was he dreaming of?
Lou lifted him so that they were chest to chest, his baby's weak legs straddling his waist. Aaron wasn't awake, but something about the way he was held so protectively calmed him down, and his hand subconsciously clutched the captor's sweater, his sobs slowly petering down to occasional sniffles. Lou's eyes almost watered when he realized that Aaron, deep in his core, did want someone to keep him safe. But he was sure that if he were fully awake and aware, he'd be fighting him off and pulling away.
He craved the time his baby would seek comfort from him, when he'd happily call him Uncle Lou. Thinking about how long it would take for Aaron to adapt made his throat constrict, but for now, he savored the way his baby pushed his face into the crook of his neck, dampening it with warm tears. Lou didn't even mind the moist feeling. As soon as Aaron was completely calm and fully back into sleep, he pulled him away from his chest, then brought a towel and wiped the sweat off his front and back.
He carried him towards the crib again, but before setting him down, he stared at his angelic face. He wanted to hold his little nephew like that forever. He promised himself that if he ever let go, it would only be so that he can murder anyone who had ever hurt him.
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hello hello hello. Sorry for taking 2 weeks to update, I was tryna figure out if spanking is prohibited too or not lmfao bc I'm traumatized.
ALSO, the fanart in the media above was drawn by Lostin_Lalin and gosh IM IN LOVE. That's related to the scene from the prequel when David wanted to hug Aaron and Aaron was like "no I'll hug the pillow." Thanks for the fanart Kyle!❤️