T-Party Anyone?

Written By: LJ


“Who was at the door, Sport?” Dennis asked, licking the butter off his thumb. He momentarily stopped his sandwich making to smile at his youngest Brat who was climbing up on a stool on the other side of the counter.

“Mrs. Blakeney’s granddaughter is delivering invitations around the neighbourhood,” Skyy answered excitedly, waving the white envelope in his hand. “It says ‘To The Lady of The House’ and the little girl asked me to give it to my mother. Hmm, and just which one of you is that, again?” He gave them a cheeky grin.

“Very funny!” Dusty responded from where he was sitting at the kitchen table. He picked up a celery stick and threw it at his youngest partner who caught it in mid-air and threw it back.

“Enough of that, guys! You know better than to throw food,” Dennis scolded. “What is everyone being invited to, Skyy?’’

Skyy quickly read over the colourful card. “To a Tupperware Party.”

“Thank God, we weren’t really included!” Dusty breathed a sigh of relief.

“But I’d like to go,” Skyy informed them.

“Why?” Dusty asked in surprise. “There’ll only be a bunch of older women attending, Buddy.”

“So! I can still go, can’t I, Den?”

“I don’t think Mrs. Blakeney expected for her granddaughter to deliver one of those to us, Sport. I’m pretty sure they were meant for the ladies living in the vicinity,” Dennis explained as he placed the platter of sandwiches on the table next to the raw veggies, chips and dip. “Lunch is ready!” he announced and sat down.

“Well this says RSVP and gives a telephone number, so I’m just gonna call and find out,” Skyy stated. He grabbed up the phone and started dialling.

“Stop him, Den!” Dusty demanded as he listened to Skyy’s side of the conversation. He groaned when the older man merely shook his head. “This is so embarrassing!”

“Hello, Mrs. Blakeney? Skyy Mackay here. I’m replying to the invitation we received a few minutes ago.” Skyy paused. “Huh-huh. Okay, see you then. Thanks.”

“What did she say, Sport?”

“She looks forward to seeing me there and I’m not to bring anything.” Skyy leaned over with a mischievous gleam in his violet-blue eyes and teasingly added. “I don’t even have to go drag, D.”

“Shit! I hope Slade and Jayden don’t hear about this,” Dusty moaned, wishing Dennis had done something to avoid this awkward situation.

“Think they’ll be jealous, huh?” Skyy burst out laughing at the pained expression on his fellow-Brat’s face.

************

Skyy slid down the banister, jumped off at the bottom and skipped over to stand at the entrance of the living room. “I’m off, you guys!” he announced to his two partners.

“I’ll say!” Dusty muttered and hid behind the book in his hand.

“Have fun, Sport!” Dennis called out to the younger man and cringed at the slamming of the front door.

“How come you let him go, Den? He’s gonna be teased something awful.”

“Dusty love, it’s only a Tupperware Party. I think there would be more cause for concern had he been going to one of those ‘Phantasia’ get-togethers.” Dennis chuckled at his partner’s rolling eyes.

“I can only hope he never gets invited to one of those!” Dusty moaned. “This was embarrassing enough! I almost hit him when he told Dominic about it last Saturday night. It sure gave Slade and Jayden plenty to laugh at.”

“I hope your backside appreciated your ability to overcome the temptation,” Dennis commented as he sternly eyed the other man.

“Humph!” Dusty grunted and went back to his reading.

Dennis hid behind the newspaper to conceal the smile spreading across his handsome face.

Despite Dusty’s misgivings, Skyy was having a good time. He and the demonstrator were the only two present who were under the age of fifty, with him also being the only male. The ladies were enthralled to have him there and he enjoyed being the centre of attention.

Half an hour into the party, Skyy’s enthusiasm came to a painfully halt. A knock on the door heralded the arrival of several unexpected and definitely unwanted guests.

“Is our ‘lady of the house’ here,” Aaron simpered while Warren, Calvin and Marty snickered behind him. “We were planning a night out on the town but can’t find a thing to wear without ‘her’ help.” The four young men were standing on the doorstep wearing only underwear and socks.

By the time the resulting pandemonium wound down, Skyy was feeling completely miserable. He tried to participate in the remaining activities but even the numerous reassurances by his hostess that his friends’ behaviour in no way reflect badly on him did nothing to erase the mortification and hurt he felt at what he saw as Aaron’s uncharacteristic mean-spiritedness and duplicity. His unhappiness increased as the ladies innocently continued to find humour in the event.

An hour later, Skyy excused himself under the pretence of needing to use the facilities and quietly slipped out the back door. Arriving home, he attempted to tiptoe unseen past his partners, wanting nothing more than to escape to his room and nurse his wounded pride. Unfortunately, his arrival coincided with Dennis coming into the kitchen to make a snack for himself and Dusty.

The older man took one look at Skyy’s face, immediately picked up the young man’s distress and opened his arms. Skyy rushed into the comforting embrace.

“What happened, baby?” Dennis asked; concern evident in his voice.

“I-I don’t want to talk about it,” Skyy murmured as he clutched to the bigger man’s shirt.

Dennis felt the shudders running through the smaller man’s body. He bent, lifted and carried him into the living room. Making his way over to the double recliner and sitting down with Skyy on his lap, Dennis patiently waited for his youngest Brat to speak up. When he saw Dusty opening his mouth to say something, he shook his head and was pleased when Dusty got the hint.

Several minutes passed before a low voice was heard from the vicinity of Dennis’ chest. “It was really mean of him to do what he did, Den. He had no call to pull such a dirty trick.”

“Who, Sport, did what?” Dennis glanced down but couldn’t see the face hidden under a mass of blond curls.

“I can’t tell you.” Skyy’s statement answered the ‘who’ part of the puzzle, but Dennis and Dusty both knew learning the ‘what’ wouldn’t be as easy.

“I’ll get that!” Dusty offered when the doorbell rang. He jumped up and headed for the front porch.

“Skyy, I would like to know what happened to upset you so much,” Dennis tenderly prodded. He sighed in loving exasperation at the vigorously shaking head.

“Den? Ah, Mrs. Blakeney is here,” Dusty announced as he politely showed their guest into the room.

Skyy quickly scrambled off Dennis and both men got to their feet.

“Good evening, Charlotte. What enticed you away from your gathering?” Dennis pleasantly greeted his small white-haired neighbour.

“I’ve come to drag that young partner of yours back to my party,” she replied, smiling at the young man in question.

“Can you enlighten us as to what made Skyy leave in the first place?”

“Yes. It was those foolish friends of his. Imagine showing up at my front door in only their skivvies to ask after Skyy; and me with a house full of guests. Pure cheekiness it was!”

“Tell me, Charlotte, would you recognize the voice of any of those young men if you were to hear it again?”

“Only one did the talking; the others were too busy giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls. But, yes, I think I would be able to.”

“Then let’s see if between us we can get to the bottom of this as Skyy is reluctant to share any of the particulars.”

Dusty and Skyy stood to one side with their heads moving back and forth between Dennis and Mrs. Blakeney. Both were quite contented to be excluded from the conversation. They wondered what Dennis had in mind when he picked up the cordless phone and started dialling.

“Hello, Stephen. It’s Dennis here. Would Aaron be home?” Dennis arched his eyebrow at Skyy’s sign of objection. “Yes, I’d like to speak to him.” He handed the receiver over to their guest.

“Hello, Aaron is it? This is the lady whose house you visited earlier.” She smiled and handed the telephone back to Dennis, who listened for a moment to the dial tone before putting the receiver down.

“The phone distorted his voice so I’m not one hundred percent sure if he was one of the boys or not, but I do believe his hanging up is an indication of his guilt, don’t you?” Mrs. Blakeney chuckled.

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” Dennis concurred.

“Now, Skyy, won’t you please come back to my party?” Mrs. Blakeney pleaded. “The ladies were so enjoying your company. And think of all the food they prepared with you in mind.”

Skyy reluctantly let himself get talked into returning to his neighbour’s home and went to get his jacket.

“I must say, at least three of those miscreants might think twice about pulling a stunt like that again,” Mrs. Blakeney laughed. “Margaret managed to swipe one of them across the backside with her cane.”

“Warren!” Skyy informed his partners with a grin, his happier frame of mind returning.

“Janet smacked one over the head a couple of times with an umbrella.”

“Colin!” Skyy spoke up again as his violet-blue eyes began to sparkle.

“I don’t think my husband is going to be too pleased when he sees his favourite flower pot in pieces. Dorothy threw it and hit one of them on the back of the leg. It’s fortunate she has such a lousy aim as she was actually trying to bean him with it.” The older woman couldn’t suppress her own giggles at the expressions on Dennis and Dusty’s faces.

“That was Marty!” Skyy laughed, remembering the sight of his tormentors fleeing into the night, running off in fear of a bunch of senior citizens.

“Seem rather unfair that one got away unscathed,” Charlotte commented.

“Not indefinitely!” Dennis intoned.

The older lady raised a questioning eyebrow, but never voiced her curiosity. She waited for Skyy to hug his partners goodbye, then they walked out the front door and down the street arm in arm.

Dennis shut the door just as the telephone rang. He and Dusty looked at each other and said simultaneously, “Stephen!”

************

“Did you just hang up on Dennis, Aaron?” Steven inquired.

“Ah…no?” Aaron tried to look anywhere but at the older man.

“You were on for all of ten seconds. What could you have talked about in that short period of time?”

“Ah…I forget?” Aaron was still in shock over having heard a woman speaking to him from Dennis’ house. ‘What the hell is going on? Shit, Dennis knows! So that means Stephen is soon going to.’

Seeing the blank expression on his partner’s face and knowing from past experience how much work would be involved to get any coherent information out of him, Stephen opted for the easier route. “Corner!” he ordered and helped Aaron on his way with half a dozen sound swats on the seat of his jeans.

Stephen picked up the telephone and dialled. “Hello, Dennis.”

Aaron stood dejectedly with his head against the wall, listening to the one-sided conversation. That is if the huh-huhs, hmms and groans could be considered any kind of dialog. He rubbed tentatively at the stinging on his rear-end and grimaced with the thought of how much worse it was going to get.

‘How did I get myself in this mess?’ he thought and immediately chose not to go there. ‘There’ll be time to wade through it all when Stephen gets off the phone.’ He lost track of time as he let his mind wander, only to be pulled from his musing by his partner’s stern voice.

Several minutes later, they were sitting on the sofa and Stephen, having repeated Dennis’ side of the conversation, asked, “So do I now have a fairly accurate account of your activities this evening?”

“Pretty much,” Aaron softly admitted as he played with the hem of his sweatshirt.

“Whatever possessed you to do something like that, and to a friend?” Stephen was still having trouble comprehending the nasty trick his partner had participated in.

“It wasn’t like it was premeditated, Stephen. We were sitting around talking about the silly party Skyy was going to and one of the guys came up with the idea. I guess we all just thought it would be kinda funny…” Aaron voiced trailed off when he saw the look of disgust on his Top’s face.

“But Skyy didn’t find it funny, did he?” Stephen asked quietly, his gently spoken words hitting deeper than shouted ones would have.

“Nooo,” Aaron shamefully murmured as his eyes filled. “It was only supposed to be a joke. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“You are Skyy’s best friend, Aaron; the only friend he has near his own age. He trusts you!” Stephen reminded the young man.

“But probably not any more,” Aaron whispered tearfully, finally realizing the damage he had unintentionally done to a very special relationship. “Guess I should have thought things out better.”

“Acting without thought is an issue we’ve visited in the past, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.” Aaron was fully prepared when Stephen helped him to his feet, divested him of his jeans and boxers, and pulled him down across his thighs. He grabbed the pillow from the corner of the sofa, hugged it to him and waited for the first painful smack to land.

Stephen glanced at the white globes in front of him and sadly shook his head. His Brat’s bottom was all too soon going to be a bright red and burning, but hopefully a lesson will have been learned. He raised his arm, brought his hand down with a resounding spank on Aaron’s left cheek and quickly followed by a matching spank on the right one.

Aaron gasped and clutched the pillow tighter as he bit his lip to hold back the yelps threatening to escape. He knew he deserved the punishment and trusted Stephen to provide him with absolution. He broke his vow to remain stoic long before the spanking ended.

“Sssh, it’s all right, baby. It’s over,” Stephen cooed as he rocked his sobbing partner. He had turned Aaron face up to sit on his lap, taking care not to cause further pain to an already very sore bottom.

The repentant young man clung to his lover for comfort and reassurance as his cries gradually subsided. “Do-do you think Skyy will forgive me too?” he hitched and submitted to the older man wiping his tear-stained cheeks and snotty nose.

“Yes, love, I’m reasonably sure he will. Although don’t be too surprised if he tries to get even?” Stephen laughed at his Brat’s exaggerated groan of foreboding.

************

Dennis and Dusty were asleep, entwined in each other’s arms on the big recliner when the front door flew opened and slammed shut. They sat up and blinked the sleep from their eyes just as Skyy merrily bounced into the room.

“You guys missed a great party!” he announced, insinuating himself between the two men. “Yep, it sure was a lot of fun!”

“What all did you do, Buddy?” Dusty grinned; his fellow-Brat’s excitement was always contagious.

“Ooh, played games, ate, watched a demo, ate, filled out our order forms, ate,” Skyy laughed when Dusty puffed up his cheeks and crossed his eyes. “Yeah, I’m stuffed!” he admitted.

“Did you win anything, Sport?”

“Huh-huh, this!” Skyy held up a plastic container with a blue cover. “It’s for making gravy. You put cold water, flour and seasonings in here, put the cover on really good and shake it as hard as you can. Then you pour it into your drippings, stir and voila…smooth gravy!”

“And everyone got one of these,” he added when the chuckling ended, and held up a miniature Tupperware bowl and cover. “It’s a key-chain. I’m giving it to your mother, D.”

“What’s my mother gonna do with it?”

“It can also be used to keep pills in. Your mom can just throw it in her purse; that’s what all the ladies at the party are doing with theirs.”

“Well, it certainly sounds as if a good time was had by all, Skyy,” Dennis commented. He was enjoying his youngest Brat’s happiness.

“Almost make me wish I’d gone too,” Dusty teased. “Not!”

Skyy got off his partners and headed for the kitchen. “Well, you going to get a chance to see what it’s all about, D, ‘cause I gave Mrs. B. a booking. It upped her points so she can get more free products.”

“What did he just say?” Dusty demanded; his eyes wide with shock. They could hear Skyy’s cheerful laughter vibrating through their home and got up to follow him.

“Skyy, did I understand you correctly. You have committed to holding a T-party in our home?” Dennis inquired. “It’s all right, I’m just checking.”

“Yep, one week from tonight. I’m going to invite Dominic and Stephen because Dom deserves to have lump-free gravy and Stephen will make Aaron come.” Skyy’s mischievous grin spread across face and his violet-blue sparkled with glee. “And that should just about even things up!”

The End.