New Boundaries For Jason

 

The Discipline Project

 

 

 

Philip and Jason entered his Anchorage home after dropping the guys off at the airport, Philip pulled Jason into a hug, "This is nice to have some time with you without worrying if anyone is going to hear us."                                                                         

 

They were making out quite enthusiastically and didn’t hear the door open behind them.

 

"You dump me for him? I can’t believe my own brother would dump me for a…"

 

Philip turned around quickly, "Lindsey what are you doing here now? Can’t you call?"

 

"I never had to call before! What’s changed now?  Besides, I told you that I’d be free this next couple days. I told you 3 months ago and you said it was ok and we’d go out and do stuff.  Oh, it’s him isn’t it?" Lindsey was working himself up into a tizzy.

 

Jason listened for awhile, remembering when he was the left out one in John and Dale’s relationship.  He decided that he’d not let that happen again with Philip’s brother.    

 

"Hi Lindsey, Philip said we were going to see you. Where’s your SO?"  Jason lied quickly, glancing at Philip.  Well, it wasn’t a complete lie, he did say that we needed to spend some time with them sometime.    

 

"He had to go out of town for a meeting, and stop being so nice! I’m still mad that Philip hasn’t called me in weeks and it’s all your fault!" Lindsey screamed and ran out the door, "I’m going home."    

 

Philip shut the door, "That did not go well. I completely forgot he wanted to spend the weekend with me. " He said sadly. "I’ll need to talk with him later.  You handled that very well."    

 

Jason sat down on the couch, "It reminds me of my relationship with Dale, I didn’t like him much because he took my brother away. I imagine that Lindsey feels that way too. Is he really that upset?"    

 

Philip sat down next to Jason and placed his arm around him, "No, he tends to over dramatize every little slight.  He’s in a relationship that is good for him. It’s when he has a little too much time to himself that he gets out of hand again. Speaking of which, we do need to talk about our relationship and how we will deal with…."  Philip tapered off.    

 

Jason responded "I know, the discipline thing again? So my behavior doesn’t get out of hand too. Yeah, I guess we really do need to deal with the specifics. I’ve been reading stuff on the net. So I have a general idea. Can we start slow maybe?"   

 

 

Philip looked at Jason and smiled, "Slow is the only way I'll do this."  Tugging Jason closer to him, Philip wrapped his arms around him and said, "Jason, love, both of us are in this relationship. We'll discuss certain types of behaviors you'll adhere to and we'll have to agree on certain rules in our relationship and the consequences for breaking those rules. For the record I

don't…no…make that I won't use spanking as a first resort."

 

The tense body next to him relaxed fractionally and Philip continued. "I know you did research on the web and you spoke with Dale and Michael, but we are the ones who'll define our relationship. We'll see where you need most help to keep on track and I'll be there looking out for you and keeping you on track. Got it?"

 

Jason rubbed his cheek against Philip's chest. "I tend to get upset when I am stressed and everything falls apart really easily. But that's my nature. I don't think it's fair to punish me for me being how I am," he complained.

 

"Oh Jason, we're both in this relationship. I'm going to be next to you looking out for instances where you'll be overwhelmed. I won't be doing my part in the relationship if I don't try to keep you on track." Falling silent for a moment, Philip pulled his thoughts together before he continued, "Let's say you have a lecture to prepare for which you'll be presenting in about two weeks. You'll start working on it immediately right and devote a little time to it every day.

But let's say you have other things going on at the University and you can't devote as much time to it as you'd like. So you start getting stressed and you decide you'll stay up late nights in a row to work on it, so adding to your problem you won't be getting enough sleep and you'll be stressing your self out even more. See that's where I'd step in."

 

"You'd beat me for that?" Outraged, Jason tried to push away from Philip.

 

"Calm down, Jason." Philip ordered sternly. "The first thing I'd do would be to look for ways to lighten your load. If you persisted then I'd probably give you lines or give you a time out period. See no spanking. "

 

Thinking quickly Jason asked, "So what would make you beat me?"

 

"Spank, Jason, not beat."

 

"Same thing," he muttered.

 

"It's not," Philip corrected sternly, "and you know it."

 

"But to answer your question, I don't know. But first I want to promise you that I will NEVER spank you in anger. However, if you did some bone-headed thing like sneak out of our bed and go to your office in the middle of the night and then worked there for a few hours without telling me in order to catch up - well - once I calm down, your butt would be in jeopardy. Something like that." Philip answered promptly.

 

"Oh!"

 

"Yeah, oh." Philip pulled Jason around until the young man was in his lap facing him. "Jason, we'll make a list. We'll match infractions to punishments. It will probably be modified over the years as our relationship changes and grows but you have to accept that I'm the Top in this relationship. My word is final and I take ultimate responsibility for you."

 

Philip's possessive words curled through Jason and warmed him. Leaning forward, Jason sealed his lips to Philip's and kissed him thoroughly. Lists. He loved lists.

 

Pleasantly sore from their enthusiastic lovemaking, Jason stretched full length under the covers the next morning enjoying the tug of his muscles. Philip's side of the bed was cool. He vaguely remembered his lover muttering something about a day flight to Kodiak. Jason had several things he wanted to do today so he pushed his body out of the comfortable bed and murmured to himself, "Lists. I'll show him lists."

 

It was around four in the afternoon when Jason moved onto his final project for the day. His lecture was ready. He'd added several slides and he had the timing down to exactly what he needed with a five-minute margin for questions. Sitting on the dining table were 10 pages of rules ranging from the simple to the more abstruse. Jason decided that he and Philip could discuss the punishments together. Now Jason was ready to move onto his next task which was

dealing with Lindsey. Without a thought to the state of the condo he'd left behind him, from the unmade bed to the unwashed breakfast and lunch dishes, Jason bounded out the door ready to befriend Lindsey. He did not want his relationship with Lindsey to be as acrimonious as what he'd had with Dale for so many years.

 

Going from memory, he knew he'd find Lindsey working at the small airport Philip used as his base. It wasn't too far away from the condo and he knew he wouldn't have a problem walking the distance. It was a crisp clear afternoon and Jason enjoyed the walk. Entering the brick building that also served as the base of the control tower, Jason checked to see if there might be a directory somewhere. Looking from left to right a row of closed doors greeted him. Not to be

deterred, Jason decided to go right. If that didn't work, he'd go left next.

 

He hit pay dirt on the third door. Looking thought the glass panel set in the door next to the handle, he saw Lindsey, dark blond head bent poring over some papers. Without giving himself time for second thoughts Jason knocked twice on the door and walked into the room.

 

"Hi," Jason offered a cheery greeting.

 

"What the hell are you doing here?"

 

"I want to skip to the end," Jason offered.

 

"Huh?" Lindsey looked confused.

 

Smirking Jason said again, "I want to skip to the end."

 

Taking pity on Lindsey, Jason looked around for a comfortable chair. Seeing a beat-up sofa against the far wall, he threw himself on it. "My brother is gay. When he met his life partner, I hated Dale on sight. I became a royal pain in both their asses. It's only within the last couple of months that Dale and I have become friends."

 

"So?" Lindsey was still hostile.

 

"Listen, let's get a few beers, kick back, and skip the whole you hating me bit. When Philip and I were in town a few weeks ago, you seemed to be fine with me being with your brother."

 

Being faced with Jason's disarming friendliness, Lindsey was finding it difficult to maintain his scowl.

 

"How about it?" Jason coaxed. "I don't know anyone here. Philip is off somewhere with a bear. I mean you would think that I would win out over a bear, wouldn't you? Plus he abandoned both of us."

 

A reluctant grin tugged Lindsey's lips. "He's doing a run to Kodiak, not hanging out with a bear. He'll be back late tonight."

 

"See, I need help," Jason begged with exaggerated earnestness. "I'm clueless. I'm a rube." At Lindsey's soft chuckle, Jason continued. "Well, I am a newbie, pretty much about everything here but, Math. I can solve all sorts of mathematics problems. I'm assuming that Math is the same here as it is in the lower forty-eight, but I really want to pick your brains about something you know well. I figure you can give me the dirt on Philip."

 

Willing to take the olive branch being extended to him and certainly not ready to go back to an empty home since his partner was still gone, Lindsey said, "Let's go to Old Pete's. It's a dive but the liquor is strong and cheap and Happy Hour lasts all night."

 

Smiling at the success of his plan, Jason waited for Lindsey to put away his day's work and the two men left the building and walked the short distance to Lindsey's pick-up.

 

 

Philip parked his truck in the lot and felt a huge smile breakout on his face. He'd made great time today. The turnaround in Kodiak had been surprisingly fast and he'd caught a tailwind on the way home. Even in his rush to get back to Jason, he'd managed to meet and sign a new regular client. All in all it had been a good day. He had something to celebrate but better yet, he had someone to share his good news.

 

He ran up the stairs two at a time debating if he dared call out "hi honey, I'm home" when he opened the door. Smirking at the "city boy" locking the door even when he was home, he dug the keys back out of his jacket pocket, opened the door, and called, "Jase ..." then stopped in his tracks as he took in the notebook papers strewn across the coffee table and couch. Many

more were crumpled on the floor around the couch and under the dining room table where the remains of Jason's lunch still sat.

 

Philip walked into the kitchen hoping to find an explanation for his missing lover but the only note on the message board was, "It was hard to leave our nice warm bed but business and Kodiak call. We'll just have to heat it up again tonight. Love you, Philip. PS: Remember to finish working on your lecture."

 

Unfortunately the message board was the only thing neat about the kitchen. A dirty egg pan sat on the thankfully off burner and a used butter knife lay directly on the counter surrounded by toast crumbs. Philip was reaching for the faucet so the breakfast dishes could start soaking when he decided Jason should cope with the egg dried plate and orange pulp cemented glass. He did

screw the red jar lid back onto the peanut butter before it completely dried out and carefully returned it to its position by another knife lying directly on, and probably stuck to, the Formica.

 

He turned his back on the kitchen and firmly reminded himself that he had arrived home early. Jason probably went to workout and was planning on returning home and cleaning. A workout before their more private one sounded good and would give Jase a chance to do his cleaning. Philip changed into shorts and sweats then threw his dirty clothes into the hamper.

 

He jogged over to the complex's gym and opened the door to an empty room. The locker room and Jacuzzi were also Jasonless. He must have missed him on the way back to their flat.  Remembering that he hadn't left a note and not wanting his mathematician to see his truck and start worrying, Philip ran back home and found it still empty.

 

He'd promised to be home by nine at the latest. It was now half past eight so he knew his missing lover would be home any minute. After all, he didn't have any wheels so he had to be close by.

 

Philip grabbed the remote, turned on the tube, and sat down on the sofa to wait. The coffee table was scattered with notebook paper filled with lists.

 

The column labeled behavior was full of all sorts of bizarre things while the one labeled consequence was blank. Jason couldn't possibly think they needed rules about "filling the salt shaker with sugar" or "adding red food coloring to the washer" but they sure made entertaining reading. It also meant his lover had been understandably bored. That would need to be addressed before his next all day outing.

 

Philip's growling stomach reminded him that he'd skipped dinner to get home a little faster. He wanted to leave the kitchen as is for the mess maker so he'd fast food it after all. He stopped at the head before leaving, noted the damp towel in a wad on the floor, and smirked to himself that it was an example of an appropriate and obviously needed rule.

 

As he powered off the TV, it was playing the ten o'clock show. He wrote a note telling Jason that he was looking for him, and to stay put and call his cell phone. He grabbed his keys and headed off. He decided to drive around the neighborhood hoping to spy his missing lover. He was relieved he had made Jason update the in-case-of-emergency card in his wallet with his name

and cell phone number or he'd be frantic by now.

 

As he pulled into the Macs by the airport, Wally waived him over. "That's a mighty nice young man you found."

 

"You met Jason?"

 

"Lindsey introduced us when I relieved him."

 

"They were together?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Do you know where they were going?"

 

"I think I heard Lindsey say something about Old Pete's. Why?"

 

"Thanks, Wally." Philip waived and practically peeled out of the lot. Sure enough, Lindsey's truck was in Old Pete's lot but that meant they'd been here for hours.

 

Pete greeted him as he entered the bar and he ordered a hamburger and fries to go, then headed over to Jason and Lindsey's table.

 

Jason smiled up at him, "You got home early."

 

"Yes, I did, but what makes you say that?"

 

Jason motioned toward the window, "Well you're here and it's still daylight."

 

Lindsey laughed, "You really are a rube. It's summer."

 

Philip shook his head and said, "It's after eleven."

 

Jason's mouth fell open as he looked out the window and back to Philip.

 

"What are you doing Here?"

 

"Looking for you."

 

"Oh."

 

Lindsey picked up the almost empty pitcher, "Want some beer?"

 

Philip answered, "No thanks, apparently I'm the designated driver."

 

The younger men were saved from having to answer by a waitress delivering the takeout order. Knowing their evening was over; they left some bills on the table, followed Philip out of the bar, and piled into his truck.

 

After they had dropped off Lindsey, Jason quietly asked, "Am I in trouble?"

 

"Do you think you should be?"

 

"I wouldn't have let Lindsey drive."

 

"I know that and he wouldn't have tried to drive anyway but you know you should have had a plan to get home before you started drinking pitchers. I'm not worried about that tonight though. I don't think it's one of your problems."

 

"No, it's not. I can't believe it's after eleven. You must have been worried."

 

"You're right. I was," Philip reached over and placed his hand on Jason's thigh, "but not anymore."

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"I know you are." Philip parked the truck and was stopped from getting out by Jason's hand on his arm.

 

"The apartment's a bit of a mess."

 

"I know that too."

 

"Oh...," and asked very quietly, "Are you going to beat me?"

 

Philip turned in his seat, took both Jason's hands in his, looked him in the eyes, and said, "You know I'll never beat you. We'll decide together when it's appropriate for me to spank you but it won't be for this. We can come up with something much more appropriate for the mess."

 

"What about worrying you?" He quickly added, "I really didn't know it was this late."

 

"I realize that but a note that you'd walked over to the airport to try to catch-up with Lindsey would have helped greatly so we'll come up with something to address that as well but not tonight. Tonight, we're going to ignore the apartment. I'm going to eat my dinner and then we're going to crash. We'll worry about the rest tomorrow."

 

"But we had plans for tomorrow."

 

"We still do. Maybe not as fun but we have plans. Next time maybe you'll remember that."

 

"But they were as much for you as for me."

 

"They were for us and they still are. Now don't worry about that. You're tired and a little bit buzzed. And I'm hungry. Let's get inside before my food gets any colder."

 

The next morning Philip returned to the bedroom carrying two cups of coffee. "Come on sleepyhead. I know you're awake and the day isn't going to get any easier by hiding from it. Get on the other side of the mug and join me for breakfast, just cold cereal today."

 

After clearing the breakfast dishes, they sat at the dining room table and looked at each other until Jason broke eye contact and looked down at his folded hands.

 

Philip said, "We need to discuss today's plans."

 

"You're going to punish me. Isn't that enough?"

 

"We need to decide what corrective actions you can take that will help you from repeating the same mistakes. Do you agree?"

 

When Jason didn't respond, Philip picked up a few pieces of notebook paper that were still lying on the table, "These make me think you do."

 

"Yes. All right already, I agree."

 

"What do you think should happen today?"

 

Jason said in a broken voice, "I don't know," and started to stand.

 

Philip reached for his hands, "Let's start by listing what needs to be addressed. What's first?"

 

"I worried you."

 

"That was the result not the cause. Try again."

 

"I left without leaving a note."

 

"I'll agree with that one. Why don't you start a list with it?"

 

Jason gave a small smile, "Lists I can do," and he wrote it down.

 

"What else?"

 

"I drank without a designated driver or a plan to get home but Lindsey and I were hitting it off. We're jumping to the end and I didn't want to mess that up."

 

"I'm not quite sure what that means but I'm glad the two of you are getting along. If I hadn't shown up when I did then you could have called a cab."  Jason nodded his head. "I don't think that's a problem. Let's not make ones we don't have."

 

Jason looked relieved and said, "Okay."

 

"What else?"

 

"I left the flat a mess but I was working on our lists." He picked up some of the notebook pages, "Look."

 

"I assume the lists started out serious before they became entertaining." Philip glanced over at the couch. "I read some of the ones on the coffee table last night."

 

"Oh those, I guess I got carried away."

 

"If you ever add food coloring to our wash I may need to be carried away."

 

They both started laughing. "The crumpled lists needed to hit the trash bin versus the floors but they aren't the worst of the mess."

 

"You mean the dishes. There weren't many of them. We still have plenty of clean ones."

 

"Having clean dishes isn't the main issue. Not keeping things clean is a health concern. I'm sure we've got things growing in the kitchen and on the wet towel on the bathroom floor. Okay, we have our list. What will help keep you from repeating the same mistakes?"

 

"You said you weren't going to be...uh, spank me."

 

"And I won't. Not for this. What do you think we should do?" When Jason didn't answer Philip asked, "Would you like my suggestions?"

 

"Yes please."

 

"You could thoroughly clean the kitchen and bathroom by hand, including polishing the chrome and washing the floors on your hands and knees. I'm talking military spic-and-span, including the floors that appear to have grown the ability to breed paper wads. Does that seem fair for making and leaving the mess?"

 

"I guess but why wash the floors on my hands and knees when we have a perfectly good mop?"

 

"Because you'll remember it. Be glad it's not with your toothbrush. As far as not leaving a note, how about you write some lines? I'm sure we can come up with something appropriate."

 

"Sounds boring but fair. I guess I better start cleaning."

 

"Do you need to finish preparing for your lecture?"

 

"You told me in yesterday's note to do that."

 

"But yesterday didn't quite go as planned and the lecture has to be ready."

 

"You told me that yesterday. It's done. In fact, it's really good. The timing is nearly perfect."

 

"Of course it's good. You're good. Let's start our cleaning."

 

"Our cleaning?"

 

"Yes, I'll clean our bedroom and then work on the company books. Oh and keep the lists you made yesterday. We can read them together later."

 

 

Jason gazed around the kitchen with a feeling of proud satisfaction. Even though he thought Philip was a little anal about his degree of cleanliness, the praise almost made up for the misery of doing the floor on his hands and knees. Almost.

 

"Can we take a break before I do the lines?" he asked the older man.

 

"Sure," Philip replied easily. " It's after 1:00 and I'm starving." He reached for a cupboard door, only to be halted by Jason's cry of outrage.

 

"NO! You're not cooking anything in this kitchen! I just finished *cleaning* it!"

 

"So we're never going to eat in it again?" Philip asked teasingly. "Or should I get the camera and take pictures for posterity?"

 

"I don't know about never again, but it's going to last more than 30 seconds," Jason said positively. "Do you think--" he hesitated.

 

"Do I think what?"

 

"Do you think we could go out for lunch and do the lines when we get back?" he asked somewhat wistfully. "Or do I have to get all the punishment out of the way first?"

 

Philip considered it. "Normally, I think we should do all the punishment at one time if that's possible; I don't think dragging it out is a good idea. But you've worked hard all morning and I want to get a journal or notebook for you to do your lines in. I guess we could get lunch and go by the office supply store on the way home."

 

"All right," Jason agreed. "But why do you want a journal? Dale said he just writes his lines on a piece of paper and then he and John tear it up afterwards. It's kind of symbolic for them, like they're throwing away the issue with the paper and starting over with a clean slate."

 

"I guess this is something else we need to talk about," Philip replied. "Carl said they use a journal so they have a record to look back on. They sit down periodically and talk about the lines Michael has done and how often or seldom the same issues come up. He said it gives

Michael a sense of accomplishment to see how far he has come and a better feel for the things he still needs work on."

 

"A discipline relationship is a lot more complicated than it sounded at first." Jason frowned. "Do you really think we can make it work?"

 

"All relationships are complicated, love. As long as we take it slow, and as long as we're always willing to be open and honest with each other, I think we'll be fine."