7. Arlo

Chapter 7

Arlo

Arlo had been busy getting everything just the way he liked it both inside and outside the tent. With Axel now back at his place and probably not even thinking about him, Arlo wanted to make sure that his evening was occupied with fun, frolics, and good times – and he wasn't alone in that thought either…

‘Hey, you guys found it!' Arlo giggled, excitedly welcoming both Dale and Marshall to his campsite. ‘Not that I doubted you would for a second. Well, not really anyway.'

‘We're actually from Eagle Ridge, you know,' Dale laughed, embracing Arlo and giving him a great feeling inside. ‘We know Sunset Forest better than anyone.'

‘Yeah, we're just glad that you didn't give us the wrong directions,' Marshall added, standing with Dale and Arlo and holding his phone up above him to take a perfect Little selfie.

The three Littles then set about getting their hastily arranged camping sleepover up and running. It didn't take long for Dale and Marshall to get their cute, compact tents set up, and Arlo was very much impressed with how skillfully they went about their business.

Arlo meanwhile worked on getting the campfire roaring.

The prospect of toasting marshmallows and making smores was always going to be way more appealing with friends, and Arlo already knew it was the right decision to have plucked up the courage and invited his new friends to come over back at the diner.

‘Let's get changed into our thermal pajamas,' Marshall said, squealing with excitement as he dived into his tent and began rustling around.

‘Last one to get changed is a stinky diaper,' Dale squealed before vanishing inside his tent.

‘ Argh ! No! Wait for me! I'm never last!' Arlo added, his competitive streak kicking in.

As it turned out, the three Littles emerged from their respective tents at pretty much the same time as one another. In the end, they all agreed that it was a tie, and no one would have to take the unwanted title of Stinky Diaper for the evening.

Arlo looked on in awe at Marshall and Dale as they brought out their stuffies and a selection of candies, cupcakes, and potato chips too. Dale had his own Daddy and Arlo was pretty sure that the extra-large bag of chips was his…

‘Does your Daddy know you took them?' Arlo said .

‘Well… he kinda… doesn't !' Dale laughed. ‘But what he doesn't know won't hurt him.'

‘But it might hurt your butt when he finds out!' Marshall giggled, playfully spanking Dale's red romper-covered butt cheeks.

Arlo smiled. It was great to be around two fellow Littles who loved the outdoors and seemed to have a similarly sassy and outgoing nature as him. It might have been a shame that their friendship was only going to be a passing thing, but Arlo was determined to make sure that he made some seriously fun memories on this outdoor sleepover.

‘I'm going to do a triple-mallow stack,' Arlo declared, loading his pink, fluffy mallows up on the stick, ready to be toasted.

‘Samesies!' Marshall and Dale added in unison.

Before long, the three boys were sitting around the blazing fire and munching away on countless marshmallows, smores, and a whole array of other fizzy, sweet, and colorful candies.

‘Let's play space astronauts,' Marshall said, taking Dale and Arlo by the hand and lying down on their big, furry camping mat. ‘We've got the whole universe above us. Where shall we go?'

Arlo giggled. He could feel himself slipping into Little Space as he stared up at the stars above him. The night was perfectly clear, and the forest was quiet too. All that could be heard was the sound of three new friends giggling and squealing in delight as they made believe and travelled across the galaxy in search of candy-covered planets, handsome alien-Daddies, and best of all… The Stuffie System .

‘Every planet is full of stuffies,' Arlo said, holding Sass tight as he pretended to land the rocket. ‘And this one is Sass's home planet!'

‘ Ooooh , cool,' Dale replied, gleefully cuddling Rebel, his otter stuffie.

‘I think we're going to like it here,' Marshall added, proudly holding Beachie, his starfish stuffie above his head.

Arlo felt a surge of happiness come over him. After his terrible experience of being bullied in the military for his Little side, Arlo had kind of given up on ever living his best Little life, certainly when it came to the prospect of having playdates and things like that.

‘I haven't had a Little playdate before,' Arlo said, blurting his words out before he felt too self-conscious to speak.

Before Arlo knew it, his two new friends had rolled over and were giving him the coziest, most wholesome double-hug he'd ever experienced.

‘Well let's make this the best playdate ever-ever-ever-ever,' Marshall said. ‘And I think seeing as we're on Sass's home planet, we need to dive back into the candy and make this a night to remember!'

What followed was a super-late-night blur of fun, singing, and way too many sweet treats. But Arlo wasn't thinking about tomorrow. All he cared about in that moment was living in the moment and letting his true self come to the fore alongside his new buddies.

But while Arlo wasn't thinking about the next day, a certain Daddy very much was…

The sound of birdsong was mixed with the tired yawns and laughter coming from outside of Arlo's tent. Having gone to sleep way past his usual bedtime, Arlo sat up and groggily unzipped his tent.

‘You guys are leaving?' Arlo asked, crawling out from his warm cocoon and standing on the dewy grass underfoot.

‘Yeah, we kinda slept in,' Marshall laughed. ‘I think I'm going to be late for work. Not think, I know I am. I think Max might be pretty, pretty annoyed with me. But who cares? Life is for living. I wouldn't swap our sleepover for anything.'

‘Same,' Dale added, stuffing his collapsed tent back into its bag. ‘This place is kinda messy. I'd offer to stay and help tidy, but I think my Daddy is going to be angry enough about the potato chips already.'

‘No, that's totally cool,' Arlo giggled. ‘The tidying won't take me too long. I've got all morning. It's not like I have to be anywherrrr…. Oh .'

Suddenly, Arlo remembered.

A quick look at his watch confirmed it.

He was late. In fact, he was way beyond late.

‘No! You were meeting Axel for an early breakfast, weren't you?' Marshall gasped.

‘ Uh-huh, ' Arlo answered, his heart skipping a beat as he felt a mixture of guilt and irritation at having slept in so late .

However before Arlo could even begin to formulate an excuse and type out a message to Axel, he heard a rustling sound approaching through the undergrowth.

‘I've got a bad feeling about this,' Marshall gasped, nervously looking back and forth with Dale and Arlo.

And Marshall wasn't wrong either.

The three guilt-ridden Littles stood in frozen silence as Axel emerged from the thick bushes with a stern, unimpressed look on his face.

‘I think it's time we left,' Dale mumbled. ‘Come on, Marshall. We need to go.'

With that, Arlo watched helplessly as his two friends gathered their things and made a swift exit.

‘I… I… I guess I slept late…' Arlo said, unable to make eye contact with Axel. ‘I don't know what happened. I guess I got carried away…'

Arlo watched as Axel inspected the chaos around him. Torn candy wrappers, sticky marshmallow residue all over the ground and on Arlo's tent too, plus crushed potato chips strewn everywhere. It didn't look good. And judging by the look on Axel's face, he was very much of that opinion too.

‘So not only were you a total no-show, but you also decided it was a good idea to trash Sunset Forest,' Axel said, his voice gruff and his eyes brimming with anger. ‘I thought better of you, Arlo.'

Arlo bristled at Axel's superior tone .

Despite knowing full-well that he shouldn't have made such a mess in such beautiful surroundings, Arlo didn't appreciate being spoken to like he was a naughty boy.

‘It's a free country,' Arlo said, rolling his eyes and folding his arms across his chest. ‘And anyway, ants and bugs can eat all the left over snacks. So… deal with it.'

Arlo felt his heartrate increasing by the second. He knew that he was pushing his luck with Axel, but something inside him simply wouldn't let things lie.

‘If you're so bothered, why don't you clean it up yourself?' Arlo asked, a cocky-as-all-hell grin on his face hiding his increased sense of nervousness around Axel.

In that moment, Axel walked up close to Arlo and towered over him.

‘Young man, I'm warning you,' Axel said, his eyes full of intent. ‘One more hint of sass from you and there will be trouble. Now get to work, show some respect for your surroundings, and clean this mess up right this instant.'

Arlo could tell that Axel was far from joking.

Every inch of Arlo's body and mind was telling him that he should follow Axel's commands without hesitation.

And yet… Arlo chose another option.

‘ Bleurgh !' Arlo said, blowing a long, loud raspberry. ‘You do it!'

But before Arlo could even think about backtracking from his outburst, Axel took Arlo by his arm and marched him over toward the wooden picnic table on the opposite side of the clearing .

‘Wait… what's… what are you…' Arlo stammered.

‘You're getting a good, old fashioned spanking on your bare bottom, boy,' Axel said. ‘If you can't show respect, you'll have to learn it the hard way. Now give me your safeword.'

‘ Strudel ,' Arlo said, not even hesitating as he felt Axel's dominant authority totally overpower his bratty attitude. ‘I promise I won't do it again!'

‘That's all well and good,' Axel barked, unbuttoning Arlo's romper and allowing it to fall around his ankles. ‘But this spanking is happening now, and I won't hear another word about it.'

Arlo felt his cheeks flush crimson with embarrassment as his naked upper body caught the chill of the morning air and his pink nipples stiffened immediately. And with nothing but his skimpy black briefs keeping him from being completely naked, Arlo felt as exposed and vulnerable as was possible.

‘Now turn around and bend over the table,' Axel demanded. ‘Briefs off. Pull them down to your knees. Right this second.'

Arlo felt a surge of excitement come over him as he followed Axel's instruction and slowly pulled his briefs down over his cheeks and then over the backs of his legs and onto his knees.

‘Grip the sides of the table and count along with me,' Axel said, sounding like the kind of Daddy who Arlo had craved for as long as he could remember. ‘An open-air butt warming is what you need, boy. And that is precisely what you will get.'

Arlo nodded and gasped silently as the reality of the situation dawned on him. He was almost entirely naked, his bottom was exposed, and he was about to be spanked by one of the most handsome, gruff men he had ever met.

‘Remember, I expect you to count along with me,' Axel said. ‘Brace yourself, young man.'

And before Arlo knew it, he felt the first crack of Axel's large open palm land on his soon-to-be pink left cheek.

‘One! Awwwwww !' Arlo cried out, gripping the table tightly and determined to not give Axel an excuse to restart the count.

‘Good,' Axel said, a note of wicked enjoyment in his voice.

‘Two! Owwwwwwweeeee !' Arlo squealed, hoping that there weren't any hikers in the nearby vicinity.

‘Now let's keep this all the way up to six,' Axel commanded. ‘Littles need their buttocks tanned from time to time, and when they do it needs to be done right.'

The next four spanks were each as hard and accurate as one another. Arlo knew he had his safeword to fall back on if he needed it, but as far as he was concerned there was no way in hell he was going to use it.

Axel might have used his Daddy authority to administer a spanking, but Arlo was determined to retain at least some of the upper hand by not calling it quits and making Axel think any less of him.

‘Six!' Arlo whimpered, taking the final spank and immediately standing up from the picnic table and hopping from side to side with his hands on his red-hot ass cheeks. ‘Daddy… I think I might need some help. '

Suddenly, Arlo felt like he was about to become overcome with emotion. While he handled the spanking well, he was now feeling the emotion of the discipline come over him in spades.

‘Of course, let me handle it,' Axel said, taking Arlo and lifting him into his arms before turning him over onto his lap as he took a seat at the picnic table. ‘I've got just the thing for you.'

Arlo let out a gasp of relief as he felt Axel lather some much-needed cooling cream over his throbbing backside. Axel might have delivered a very firm spanking, but his hands were evidently capable of a gentle touch too as he expertly worked the cream into his delicate skin.

‘That's a good boy,' Axel said, his voice full of care and compassion. ‘You were a big boy during the spanking, but you can let it all out now if you want. I think you've learned your lesson.'

Arlo nodded.

The soothing effect of the cream and Axel's touch was enough to stave off his emotions spilling over, and he simply enjoyed the sensation of being utterly vulnerable and submissive to Axel as he worked his fingers all over his butt.

As Axel continued to show due diligence and make sure that Arlo's aftercare needs were taken care of, Arlo felt his special place tingle and even begin to harden as he remembered how he called Axel Daddy after the spanking. It might have been a slip of the tongue, but Arlo knew that it would have registered with Axel – how could it not have?

Arlo then cooed as Axel stood him on his feet and pulled his briefs and romper back up and carefully buttoned it up just like before. Arlo knew that Axel was a real Daddy in that moment. In fact, Arlo began to realize something else too.

Axel's the real thing.

Hot, tough, but caring too.

I think I might want him to be my Daddy…