"You could wear pants again." Five says before Grace leaves, voice barely above a whisper. It's probably pushing it a bit too much but he's made it this far, so what else there is to lose? Maybe it will give his mom a clue about why he was ruining her hard work. Five doesn't want Grace to think he was doing it for the sake of being difficult.

The honest anger was something he was trying to get. The spanking not so much and it has come as a bit of a surprise. Not like he blames her, it's nowhere as bad as Reginald would have been back when Five was an actual kid. But maybe that's part of why she seemed so upset with herself.

After a sigh, he rubs furiously at his eyes with the sleeve of the blazer, annoyed at his own reaction. Time to clean.