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The results from Luca’s blood test weren’t exactly good, according to their follow-up with Dr Zhaun two weeks later to discuss. Luca had been squished between Ilya and Shane in the exam room, big but embarrassed while Dr Zhaun told them in no uncertain terms that if Luca had kept going to way he had been, he would have headed straight for a very severe case of drop-sickness.
“You’ll need to organise a consistent dropping schedule for the forseeable future.” Dr Zhaun said seriously. “To get his levels back in check I’d say he needs to be dropping at least once a week, if not more.”
“Once a week?” Luca had asked, head popping up from where it had been bowed to stare in open-mouthed, mortified shock. Probably because his only other frame of reference for a little with a dropping schedule was Young, who could go months between drops. Ilya resisted the urge to point out the reason Nicky could get away with such few and far between drops was because he never put it off when he did need it.
It would not do being upset with Luca when he was already upset with himself. He did not need a scolding on top of the fact his weekends for the foreseeable future would likely consist of nap times and feedings rather than going out with his teammates and having fun. Even if Ilya would very much like to give him one.
“Or more, if you can manage.” Dr Zhuan emphasised. “For the next six months at least. We’ll check back in then and see how you’re levels are managing.”
“But-”
“Do not argue with doctor Haasy.” Ilya cut in, levelling Luca with a stern look that had the rookie sinking back in his seat, his indignation melting into squirmy embarrassment at the scolding. Luca did not seem to pay much attention to the rest of his appointment, caught up in his own thoughts. That was okay though, because for the most part the rest of the appointment was directed at Ilya and Shane, telling them about all the things Luca would likely need in headspace.
Haasy did not say another word, outside of polite thank-yous and goodbyes to Dr Zhaun, until they were back in the car. Of course the first words he spoke were very irritating. “I can find a centre, you guys don’t need to-”
“Not happening.” Shane cut off sternly before Luca could even finish his little song and dance. Luca blinked, his mouth clicking shut. Shane had been silent for most of the appointment, taking in everything Dr Zhaun was saying and only asking the occasional question. It was clear to Ilya that he had been formulating.
“Once a week is a lot.” Luca said, sounding embarrassed and annoyed in equal measure. “I don’t want to do that to you guys.”
“It’ll be more than once a week.” Shane said firmly, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel. Not annoyed exactly, but worried. Ilya was too. Luca was much worse off than either of them had expected and frustratingly, Luca did not even seem to realise it himself. “And you aren’t going to a centre.”
“No.” Luca argued, Ilya looking at him through the rearview mirror with an arched eyebrow. Either not seeing it or maybe suffering temporary insanity, Luca continued. “More than once a week is crazy Hollzy, we don’t have time for that. It’s the middle of the season.”
“You will drop as often as doctor tells you too.” Ilya said firmly, making sure to catch Luca’s eyes in the mirror. “Doctor said as often as possible.”
“Well yeah but it’s not-”
“Haasy, do you want to spend rest of drive with a sore ass?” Ilya cut off simply. Luca’s argument died on his throat, his ears growing pink. He shook his head minutely. “Then stop arguing. Health is not something you bargain. Doctor says you drop as often as possible, you do it. Is not discussion.”
“I just don’t want to bother you guys with this.” Haasy mumbled, lip caught between his teeth as he dappled his finger across his arm, probably trying to stop himself from biting at them. “I can handle it myself.”
“Clearly you can’t.” Shane said. It was not meant to be mean, only a blunt observation of fact. It made Luca shrink back in his seat anyway. Ilya shot Shane a look, though he was clearly unrepentant. He was a believer in tough love.
“Shane is right zaychik.” Ilya sighed. Luca looked at him with betrayal, eyes a bit shiny. Always quick to tears, their malyshka. “If you had asked for help earlier, this would not be a problem.”
Luca seemed to lose the fight with keeping his fingers from his mouth at the chastisement. Maybe that should have been a clue just how much Luca was not handling his drops, how easily it was that he slipped. Ilya had just assumed he was a sensitive thing, but in hindsight it should take far more than a few gentle admonishments to pull him under. Shane made a small noise of dissatisfaction, looking at Ilya expectantly.
Luckily, Ilya was a very talented mind-reader, so he knew what Shane wanted without words. It did not take long to locate what he was looking for, where it was kept neatly in a sanitary case in the glovebox. Luca seemed weary when Ilya turned around to hold the soother out for him. His fingers quickly leaving his mouth as though they burnt him.
“I’m not slipping.” He denied vehemently. There was drool around his mouth from his fingers and his eyes were glassy, which made it fairly obvious what a load of shit that was.
“Lying is naughty.” Ilya replied, mostly to tease though with an edge of seriousness. He did not want Luca thinking it was okay to lie to them when he was feeling small. “You do not have to take soska, but no fingers.”
Luca made a frustrated little noise, annoyed that he was not being allowed to self-soothe by mauling his own fingers. “I’m not lying.”
Given that he punctuated it with an annoyed little kick of his legs, Ilya was not particularly inclined to agree with him. However, Ilya was not in the business of chirping at babies, so instead he hummed neutrally. It must have come across disbelieving though, because Luca pouted furiously at him.
“I’m not!” He insisted stubbornly. As if forgetting what had set off his little spat in the first place, he promptly shoved his finger back into his mouth to chew on it in agitation. With that, Ilya figured perhaps he was a bit too fussy for choices. The doctor had said as often as possible anyway, and they had a free night. Now was as good a time for Luca to drop as any.
“No biting malyshka.” Ilya said, gently prying Luca’s thumb from his mouth and swapping it with the soother. Luca’s hissed angrily at Ilya for the gaul, but did not spit it out, instead sucking on it furiously. He reminded Ilya of Shane when he was cranky, little face all scrunched up. “Is okay to be small now. Is what we’re here for.”
“I don’t need too.” Luca whined, the complaint coming out lisped behind the silicone nub of the soother. “Can wait for the weekend. We have practice tomorrow.”
“You very much do.” Shane replied, glancing back at Luca briefly before returning his eyes to the road. Knowing a losing fight when he saw one, Luca huffed crankily but settled down into his seat, soska bobbing in his mouth and arms still crossed all the way home. He stubbornly refused to talk to Ilya or Shane for the rest of the drive, but Ilya thought that was fine. He was tired probably. It was past nap time for tiny boys.
Ilya half expected Luca to fall asleep before they arrived home. From what he had seen of little Luca so far, he was certainly not opposed to napping. No such thing happened this time though, Luca still stubbornly awake in the backseat as Shane parked the car. It was lucky that Shane had thought to flick on the child-lock, because Luca was flinging off his seatbelt and grabbing for the door before the engine was even off.
“No Luca.” Ilya said firmly “Is dangerous, taking seatbelt off when car is still on. You must wait for Shane or for me to get you out.”
“I’m not a baby.” Luca fumed, tugging insistingly on the door handle even as it didn’t budge. Considering he was still sucking on his soska, Ilya did not think that was very true. Shane didn’t either, if the amused look he sent Ilya was anything to go by.
“Do you want to get him inside while I make lunch?” Shane asked rhetorically, already getting himself out of the car and heading for the front door, leaving Ilya behind to deal with their cranky baby like a horrible traitor. Ilya rolled his eyes, climbing out of the car himself and rounding on the passenger door that Luca was still losing his fight with.
Gently, Ilya opened the door, ready to catch Luca when he promptly tumbled forward with a little help. He glared up at Ilya. “Why’d you lock it?”
“Shane locked it so that little boys could not hurt themselves being naughty.” Ilya corrected, gently tapping Luca on the nose which earned him a very disgruntled little mewl.
“I’m don’t wanna be little now” Luca insisted. “Will be on the weekend, ‘kay?”
“Ah zaychik, is not up to you right now.” Ilya said, running a hand through Luca’s hair in the way he knew the boy liked. Maybe if Luca had not already tripped right into headspace, Ilya would pay his protests more mind. It would do Luca no good to pull him back up now though. “Is good for you to be small. You remember what the doctor said, da?”
Luca pouted more, shaking his head. “No. That’s too much little time.”
“It is time you need.” Ilya said. “You will get sick, if you do not spend more time little. You do not want that.”
“Nicky doesn’t have to be little that much.”
“Nicky is not at risk of drop-sickness malyshka. You are.” Ilya replied. “You will be good boy and listen to doctor. It will not be so bad, you’ll see.”
“But we have practice tomorrow.” Luca frowned. “It’s our day off.”
“Da, which is why it is the perfect time for you to be small.” Ilya said, not seeing the problem that Luca clearly was. He tugged the boy out from the backseat, helping him find his footing and holding his hand. “Come, is time for lunch.”
Reluctantly, Luca followed.
Luca felt bad. He didn’t want to be little on their only day off this week. He didn’t want to make Shane and Ilya take care of him instead of spending time with each other. It made him feel yucky, knowing that he was probably getting in their way as Ilya led him inside by the hand. He sucked harder on the soother in his mouth, worrying it between his teeth. Ilya had called it a soska. Luca liked that word. He just had to show them that he was a big boy and that he could look after himself. That way, they wouldn’t feel like they had to look after Luca.
He hadn’t even really wanted them to come with him to the follow-up appointment. Well no, he had wanted them to come, but he hadn’t wanted to ask them to come. He wasn’t even getting a needle that time, he could be a big boy and go to his appointment by himself even if it made him a little nervous. But Shane had known when his appointment was because he was the one who scheduled it, so they had both arrived bright and early to pick Luca up. Probably because Luca had been such a baby about it last time.
When Ilya paused at the door to take of his shoes, Luca quickly sat down on his bottom to do the same. Last time he was little, Ilya had helped him with his shoes, because Luca wasn’t very good with laces when he was small. This time, Luca was determined to show Ilya how good he was at taking care of himself and that started with getting his own shoes off. He poked his tongue out a bit in concentration as he focused on untying his laces.
“Do you want some help Haasy?” Ilya asked, peering down at him with an amused smile. Luca shook his head.
“No, I’m gonna do it.” He said seriously. Ilya needed to know that Luca was a big boy. “Don’t need any help.”
His laces were proving to be a bit harder than Luca thought they’d be. They weren’t unraveling easy like they were supposed too and Luca didn’t know why, pulling on the ends with a frustrated little noise. He stomped his foot on the floor a bit, annoyed.
“Is okay Haasy.” Ilya said softly, kneeling down in front of Luca and gently moving his hands out of the way. Luca frowned when Ilya was quick to unravel the knot that Luca had been struggling with like it was magic. That wasn’t fair. “We will get you easier shoes for when you are small da? So you can do it all by yourself.”
“No!” Luca snapped, jerking his foot out of Ilya’s reach. That wasn’t the point. Luca didn’t want shoes for when he was small. He was supposed to be showing Ilya that he was big. “I’m doing it!”
“You are doing it.” Ilya agreed soothingly. “You can take shoes off all by yourself, I am just doing mean laces, da?”
Luca pursed his lips, thinking about it. The laces were really hard. Did it still count as doing it himself if Ilya helped him though? Maybe if it was just the laces. Luca could still take his shoe off all by himself and put them on the rack nice and neat like Shane did. He nodded after a moment, shifting a bit closer so that Ilya could reach his other shoe. While he did that, Luca tugged the loose sneaker off his foot, wiggling his socked toes a bit at the newfound freedom. Once both of his shoes were off, he lined them up neatly beside Shane’s, smiling to himself.
“Very good solnyshko.” Ilya praised. “Lets go find Shane and see what he has made us for lunch, hmm?”
Luca nodded, standing up and following close behind Ilya as they made their way through the house to where Shane was pottering around the kitchen, different ingredients spread out around him. On a dinosaur shaped plate with little divides, there was a cut up spinach wrap in the biggest part, with cut grapes and carrot slices in the small parts. It looked yummy, but Luca didn’t want a baby plate. He could have a normal plate like Shane and Ilya did. He wouldn’t spill this time, he was determined not too.
“I want that one.” Luca said, pointing to the regular white plate that Shane was putting a different, not cut up wrap onto. It had lots of yucky looking salad on it instead of grapes, so it wouldn’t be as nice, but Luca was a big boy. Eating yucky salad was for big boys. Shane did it all the time.
“This plate is for you buddy.” Shane replied, pushing the dinosaur plate closer to where Luca was sitting at the kitchen island, deposited there by Ilya. Luca frowned down at his plate.
“Please?” He tried again. Maybe he just needed to use his manners. Shane shook his head again, much to Luca’s displeasure. What was the point of manners if they didn’t even work?
“That’s your lunch Luca.” He said simply, reaching over to take Luca’s soska out of his mouth. “Do you want some juice with it?”
Luca heaved a heavy sigh, but he nodded. Juice sounded nice. At least it did until Luca watched Ilya go to the fridge and pull out a can of coke for himself and a ginger ale for Shane before he deposited a juice box in front of Luca. He wanted coke too. That was what big boys drank.
“Can I have one?” He asked, pointing to Ilya’s coke. Once again, annoyingly, he was met with a head shake.
“You have nap time after lunch, you will not sleep if you have sugary drink now.” Ilya said. Luca blinked. He didn’t need a nap. He was being a big boy.
“I’m not napping.” He declared. Ilya raised a brow at Luca. It was the warning look he usually gave the other rookies when they were being silly and heading for a spanking. Luca didn’t get that look very often, since he was a good boy. It made his tummy squirmy. Still, Luca was trying to be a big boy. He had to show Shane and Ilya how good he was at taking care of himself. If he took a nap, then they would think he was a baby.
“Is not optional.” Ilya said sternly. “You need nap.”
“No.” Luca said, trying to sound just as stern. He pushed his plate away too, just for good measure. Shane was quick to push it back in front of him.
“Eat your lunch please Luca.” He said, passing one of the grown up plates to Ilya before he sat down with his own. That wasn’t fair either. How was Luca supposed to show that he was a big boy if they won’t even let him try? Frustrated, Luca shoved his plate away again. Shane frowned, looking at Luca. “Aren’t you hungry buddy? It’s been a long time since breakfast.”
“No!”
“You need food malyshka.” Ilya tried, tugging the plate back in front of Luca once more even though he didn’t want a stupid baby plate. “Do you want me to feed you again?”
“NO!” Luca shrieked. “I’m not a baby!”
“Do not yell Luca.” Ilya chastised. “is not okay to shout just because you are tired and cranky.”
“I’m not tired!” Luca shouted. He was frustrated. He was trying to be a big boy so that Shane and Ilya didn’t have to waste their time looking after him but how was he supposed to do that when they kept treating him like a baby? “I’m not little! Don’t need to be!”
“That is enough Haasy.” Ilya said. “You do need to be small. The doctor said so.”
“No!” Luca argued. In a final fit, because he wasn’t sure just how else he was supposed to show them just how frustrated he was, he shoved his plate right off the kitchen counter. It landed on the floor with a clatter, Luca’s lunch spilling everywhere. It got very, very quiet after that. Luca suddenly felt very, very sick.
“Okay.” Ilya said, voice alarmingly calm as he looked between the mess on the floor and Luca. “The baby needs red bottom. I can do that.”
Before Luca could protest, he found himself being hauled up off the island stool he had been sitting at and perched onto Ilya’s hip as he marched into the living room. Luca whined, kicking his legs and struggling away to no avail. Soon enough he found himself face down over Ilya’s lap, his belly pressing into his thighs. Luca made a strangled noise of protest when his joggers were tugged down to his knees, his boxers pulled down with them so expose his bottom.
“Nononono.” He mumbled, trying to crawl away. He was stilled rather abruptly by the first swat landing on his right cheek. It was not overly hard, but the contact made Luca jolt in surprise, a soft little yelp escaping him. With one hand, Ilya began to pepper smacks all over Luca’s backside in a steady rhythm while the other kept Luca pinned over his lap, even through his squirming. It stung. Ilya’s hand was heavy, the heat in Luca’s bottom building quickly and steadily with each swat to his rear.
“Is naughty, throwing food.” Ilya scolded, Luca’s breath hitching when he tilted Luca’s bottom up a bit for better access to the crease where his butt met his thigh, landing a very firm, stinging swat there that made Luca want to wail. As it was he was sniffling, whining with each smack. He wished he had his soska still. “And is very naughty arguing with doctors rules.”
“Ow!” Luca cried as another smack landed on the same spot, mirrored on his other thigh. That hurt the most. His bottom was hot and Luca’s eyes stung. “No more ‘lya!”
“It is important you be small Luca.” Ilya said firmly, not heading Luca’s plea or letting up on his smacks. He went up and down Luca’s backside, from left to right and ending each lap on the crease of Luca’s thigh. Before long, Luca wasn’t doing a very good job of being a big boy about his spanking at all, whimpering and crying with his faced pressed into the couch cushion. “You will get sick if you do not listen to doctor. We do not want that, malyshka.”
“M’sorry!” Luca gasped through his tears, trying to squirm away. Ilya landed another firm swat to the seat of his bottom, stilling him again. Luca sobbed. “J-just wanna be a big boy!”
Ilya sighed, his hand pausing in its onslaught for a moment. It rested on Luca’s bottom, rubbing a small circle over the hot-to-touch flesh. “You do not need to be big boy with us Haasy.”
“D-don’t wanna be in the way.” Luca sobbed. His face was snotty and he was getting the couch cushions all yucky with his tears. That only made him cry harder. “Can take care of myself.”
“Oh malyshka.” Ilya hummed. Luca suddenly found himself upright, face tucked into Ilya’s chest. His bottom throbbed as he cried, Ilya’s hands now being used to rub soothing patterns up and down Luca’s back. “You are not in the way Haasy. Shane and I like taking care of you. You are very sweet boy.”
Luca shook his head. He had been naughty. He had shouted and thrown his food. Ilya had to spank him. That was not what sweet boys did. Ilya shushed him. “Is true zaychik, I promise. We want to look after you.”
“We wouldn’t have offered too if we didn’t want too buddy.” Shane said, appearing suddenly at Luca’s side, reaching out to add his own scratching to the mix. He did that a lot, just appearing. Luca wondered if he had special powers. He had Blossom in his hand, held out inviting to Luca who quickly snatched her up, pressing her fur to his cheek and rubbing her ear between his thumb and forefinger. For a while, they just stayed like that. Luca cuddled up to Ilya’s chest getting back rubs and head scratches while he finished crying about his sore bottom.
“Sorry I was naughty.” Luca mumbled eventually. He felt bad about it now. But not the same kind of bad when they had first arrived, when his tummy felt yucky with guilt for ruining Shane and Ilya’s day off.
“All forgiven malyshka.” Ilya assured him, pressing a kiss to his temple.
“Should we try having lunch now?” Shane suggested.
“Then nap?” Luca asked hopefully. He was extra tired now that he had cried so much and maybe they could have a big cuddle like they had after Luca’s needles again. He wanted one of those todays. He needed it, he thinks. It made Ilya chuckle lightly.
“Oh? We want to have nap now?”
Luca nodded, huddling into Ilya’s chest. “I don’t want to be a big boy anymore. I’m too tired.”
“Okay zaychik.” Ilya murmured. Soon, Luca was bundled up in Ilya’s lap at the dining table, because sitting on his own chair with his stinging bottom had not sounded very nice at all. He fed himself for a little bit before he had given up, letting his head drop onto Ilya’s shoulder listlessly and simply opening his mouth when he was fed his next bite of food.
“’lya?” He whispered, when he was tucked into bed again after lunch. He had been given his soska back, which was nice. Ilya hummed questioningly. “I’m never gonna be naughty ‘gain, kay?”
“We will see Haasy.” He whispered. “Is okay if you are naughty again though. You are only little.”
Luca shook his head resolutely. Maybe he wasn’t gonna be a big boy, but he could definitely be a good boy. Ilya and Shane told him he was a good boy all the time. He had only ever been naughty once, and look where that had gotten him.
“Nuh-uh.” He said seriously. “I’m never getting a spanking ever again.”
“If you say so.” Ilya said with a shrug. Luca nodded happily, letting himself drift off to sleep satisfied that Ilya knew he was going to be a good boy forever now.