As a college student, anything Tim wore to class was acceptable. But in the few short months that he'd lived with Johnny, Tim had learned a lot about dressing to fit in. He quickly learned if he wanted to be accepted by others when going out to dinner or to a play he needed better - more appropriate - clothes. Because of his muscular build, Johnny had taken him to the tailor shop his dad and granddad had always used. Through their guidance, Tim soon had a wardrobe fit for any occasion. He was still Tim though, and still a student. His dress style didn't change there. Johnny had found that admirable in him, as he admired most things that Tim did.
When Timothy and Edie arrived a week before their son's commitment ceremony, they had both made comments about having bought new clothes for the occasion. Tim knew that to keep them from standing out like country bumpkins, he was going to need help getting them to dress in more stylish - Tim still thought of it as citified - clothes. He turned to Dave for help.
Dave was not a snooty person, but having been shown what Edie was planning on wearing, he could hear the snickering snide comments that others would make. Dave really wanted to help them fit in and not feel out of place. But until Tim asked him, Dave felt he should just keep his nose out of it, but once Tim asked, he set a major plan into motion. That plan was to get his mother and sister to dress Edie.
Since the Paolini women were making this a formal occasion, Dave had figured out how to manage getting Timothy into a tux, but he had no idea, himself, what to do for Edie. So he left that to the two women. Jean's response had been, "Oh, that's easy, Dear, women love to shop. We'll just take her to the right places and help her pick something suitable. You can pay for it and we'll just say it's your gift to the mother of the ah-h----."
"Groom, Mother, they are both grooms," Mary said.
"Thank you, Dear, I was at a complete loss there. I guess I've never really thought about this before."
* * *
Dave enticed Timothy off to see the Way mansion with him so Mary and Jean could descend on Edie. Edie was so proud of her new dress that they almost felt guilty about what they had planned. If it hadn't been for the flowers and ruffles all over the dress, they might have let it go, but once they saw that, they knew the woman needed help... for certain. They agreed that her rufflely thing was nice. And then over coffee, discreetly talked her into going shopping with them, telling her they each needed a new outfit for this special occasion.
They drove Jean's new little black Lexus downtown and parked in front of the most exclusive women's dress shop in the city. Edie gasped when she entered the store. "My, I've seen things like this in movies and on TV, but never in real life. I really can't afford to shop here. I'll just look while you girls find what you like."
Jean and Mary had dressed down to keep Edie from standing out, however, when she heard one of the sales women snicker and whisper something to another one, she strode over to the woman and handed her the credit card Dave had given her. "Check the line of credit. And then if you want to keep your job, you will mind your manners and help us to dress that woman. I want her to be the best dressed woman at this party. And that's going to take some doing on your part. Because, not only will she be contending with the Mayor's wife, the Governor's wife will be there, also, along with a state senator or two."
The woman, not to be cowed, primly took the card and with a stiff back walked into the office. Not five minutes later she came out with a totally different attitude. The other two sales clerks seeing the change in attitude decided they had better pitch in and help, too.
Three hours later, the three women left the shop with enough bags and boxes to fill the trunk, much of the backseat of the car and the laps of the two passengers. The sales clerks stood on the sidewalk smiling as they waved them off.
"Exactly who were those women?" one of them asked, as they observed another car with two men who looked like undercover cops following them.
"The older one is the mother of one of the wealthiest men in the world. The younger one that looked like her is his sister. And the country one is ... well I'm not sure. She kept talking about her son being the groom. She asked me if I knew the Paolini's. When I said 'yes,' she asked if I knew Johnny. I told her I once dated him in high school. She told me that he wouldn't be dating anyone anymore because he's getting married. And when I asked who he was marrying, she just smiled, shook her head and wouldn't say anymore."
"So, it's going to be a double wedding," one of the other two surmised. "Johnny Paolini and that woman's son are going to be the grooms. They surely must be best friends to share their wedding day."
"You don't think he's marrying Didi Wilson, do you? Johnny's a policeman. And she's the police chief's daughter."
"God hates him, if he is," said the one that had dated Johnny.
* * *
Timothy about had a heart attack when the three women whirled in with all of Edie's boxes and bags. Dave and Joe were called down for the show as Edie modeled all the clothes she had acquired that day. Timothy drew in his breath when his wife walked out of the bedroom wearing a peach colored, slim sheath dress with a simple shawl of a darker shade of the same color around her shoulders.
She wore one simple piece of jewelry, her mother's watch broach. It was gold with a circle of small diamonds. The simple pumps on her feet matched the dress as well as her hosiery. Mary had piled her shoulder length hair on top of her head and made up her face with just a touch of mascara and lipstick to match the outfit. A wide brimmed woven hat set off the whole ensemble.
"You look just like that movie star, Holly Go Lightly. You're beautiful, Edie."
She glowed with her husband's praise. It had been years since he'd told her she was beautiful. She knew it was her own fault. She'd tried to be a good Christian like the minister of her church required. And that meant no makeup. She knew now that he was wrong on that, too, not just on gays.
When she went back into the bedroom, Joe commented to Timothy that if he was going to be escorting his beautiful wife, he was going to have to have an afternoon tuxedo. Dave jumped right in and volunteered to take him to be fitted tomorrow. Later, Dave called Tim and told him not to worry; his parents would be the best dressed couple at the ceremony.
Tim sat in his history class Friday morning. He was doing his best to concentrate on the lecture, but failed miserably as his mind kept going back to the upcoming ceremony. Angie, his mother-in-law to be, had insisted on 'a walk through' last night. Other than the bower that had been erected back in April, the back yard was still in its normal state. Even though he wouldn't see it again until Saturday morning, he was imagining the transformation that Angie and her two daughters were planning.
The silly women had insisted that he and Johnny have separate fittings for their tuxedos. Tim dreamed about what Johnny would look like dressed in the cream colored tux just like the one he'd been fitted for. The image aroused him, and he squirmed in his seat wishing he could get home and back into Johnny's arms.
He knew Johnny wouldn't be home until around six or later. Joe was putting in extra hours making certain that every aspect of the two restaurants on top of his new office tower would be completed by the opening date. Johnny insisted on staying with him until he was safely ensconced in the Eyrie. The opening date was on Dave's birthday and he and Johnny still hadn't come up with a birthday present. Time enough for that after the commitment ceremony.
He wondered if he could succeed in pulling off his plans for tomorrow night. Johnny was in for a big surprise. Tim wondered how Johnny would take it in front of all his police buddies. He just hoped he wouldn't be angry.
He got a giddy feeling every time he thought about the coming Saturday. In two days he was going to stand before all their friends, Johnny's family and his own mother and father to declare his undying love for Johnny.
The TA caught his attention and raised an eyebrow as if to say, "What's with you? You are one of my best students and you're daydreaming." Tim sat up straight and tried to pay attention and make notes that were pertinent to the subject, instead of hearts and Johnny's name. 'How girly is that?' he thought when he realized what he'd been doing.
Jason was bouncing with excitement. He and Pete had picked up their new suits that they were going to wear Saturday. Jason hadn't ever had clothes like these. Sure, he'd had a suit right off the rack at the local Sears when he graduated from high school. His mother had hemmed the pants for him. But to go into an exclusive men's store and pick out the material, be measured and have the suit made from scratch was so cool. And to be invited to a bachelor party for Johnny was beyond Jason's imagination. It was like being accepted into the adult world of men. Jason was thrilled to be included as one of Johnny's close friends.
As he and Pete left the store, Jason had a sudden thought. "Pete, don't you think that it's rather strange that Tim didn't invite us to his party? I mean we're closer to his age."
Pete gave Jason a dubious look. "I don't know. Maybe he's not having one. I haven't heard any talk about one anyway. I would think Dave would know about it if he was having one, and he hasn't said anything about it."
"That makes me feel bad. Let's go home and invite him over. We could give an impromptu party."
Pete grinned at his little mate. "That's one of the things I love about you, Jason. You always care for the other person."
When Jason got Tim on the phone, Tim at first tried to put him off, but finally gave in and conspiratorially told him that he was crashing Johnny's party. Jason was delighted, and promised they would keep the secret.
Friday dawned bright and clear. No one had dreamed of Indian Summer this late in the season. The air was warm and was expected to be that way for the next few days. When Dave and Joe left on their morning run, they decided to leave their sweats with the guard behind the front desk. Johnny and Charley were both waiting for them.
The three friends razzed Johnny about only having 24 hours to back out of getting hitched. Johnny took it in good nature, giving as much as he got. When they arrived back at the Tower and were cooling down and doing stretches, Johnny said, "I want you guys to know, despite all the joking, I am the happiest man on earth, and one of the luckiest. A year ago I would never have dreamed that it would be a man that I would choose to marry, especially not such a masculine young man like Tim."
"So what is Tim doing this evening while you're at your bachelor party?" Charley asked.
Johnny shrugged. "I don't know, he's been rather vague about it. I think some of his school buddies are giving him one, too."
Dave had to turn his back to hide his smile. He placed his hand on a pillar and stretched his hamstrings before he turned back around. He had spent his day, Thursday, making sure that everything was in order for the secret move on Saturday. He'd hired an interior designer to oversee the transition and to make sure that everything was in place just as it had been previously discussed.
Joyce, the designer, was a jewel - with flaming red hair that she insisted was her natural color. But Dave thought it had to have come from a bottle to get that particular shade. She stood five foot seven in three inch heels and had an hour glass figure. When Dave first met her, he imagined her hanging onto the bedpost while her handmaid, with a foot on her butt, pulled the drawstrings on a corset that Scarlett O'Hara would have lusted after. He chuckled to himself as he observed her ample bosom and recalled the joke about Dolly Parton. Why was her waist so small? Nothing grows well in the shade. But Joyce came with the highest recommendations.
She had to reassure him over and over that she'd take care of everything, from placing the furniture, to making sure that the clothes were hung properly in the closets and the socks were placed in the drawers.
"And don't forget the bathroom. Make sure it looks like they had just stepped out of it. Even down to the razor laying on the edge of the sink."
"Please don't worry, Dave. I've got my Polaroid. I will take pictures of everything and place everything just as it was."
"You're a godsend, Joyce. Now, remember, you have to be out of here by eight. I'm not sure just how long those two can hold off getting their hands on each other."
"Well, having seen them both, how could I blame them. I'd damned sure have difficulties keeping my hands to myself if either of them was mine."
Dave blushed.
"Now Mr. Gates, I want you to get out of here and let me start working my magic. And I won't forget the magnum of Champagne and the note. Stop worrying, you've got Joyce to take care of everything."
Dave smiled and agreed as he backed out of the door.
If one thought that Tim was nervous the morning of their commitment ceremony, Johnny was twice that. He hadn't stopped squirming since he had risen at four that morning. He had slept in one of Joe and Dave's guest rooms, while Joe had spent the night in their apartment with Tim.
He had no idea why he'd gotten into his tux so early. 'What foolishness, Mom making us sleep apart last night,' he thought as he ran his finger around the collar of the tuxedo shirt for the umpteenth time since he had gotten dressed. 'That lap dance was something' else. Damn, better quit thinking about that; I could shoot just reliving last night. I need Tim here with me to give me confidence. God, I must have been mad to agree to this. In a while I'm going to be standing in front of all my family and friends, all my ol' cop buddies, and the Chief himself, declaring my love and commitment to Tim. Most of the men now know, without a doubt, who I'm in love with. God, my little monkey is so hot, besides being sweet, kind and loving.'
Dave leaned against the door with a cup of coffee in his hand and grinned at him. "I don't suppose it would do any good to tell you to relax, would it?" he said.
"Don't know why I'm so damned nervous about this," Johnny muttered.
"Well, we will be leaving in about twenty-five minutes. And it will all be over in a couple of hours."
"How's Tim holding up?"
"Joe said that he is as jittery as a bug in a hot skillet."
"Well, after the show he put on last night he should be. The brazen little ......" Johnny stopped in mid-sentence as he considered last nights events. "Do you think he would have taken his jock strap off, too, if I hadn't put a stop to it?"
Dave couldn't help but chuckle. "We'll never know, I guess. Did you ask him?"
"Yeah. I did."
"So what did he say?"
"He said that it's just something we're always going to have to wonder about."
Dave laughed. "That's Tim. I think he's a worse tease than Joe. What would you have done if he'd gotten it off before you could stop him?" he said.
"Hell, as hot as he had me, I'd have probably just gone down on him right there in front of all of you."
"Guess it was a good thing you had enough control to put a stop to it then," Dave said with a hardy guffaw.
"Yeah, it would have been a bit too much with Lloyd and Paul and all the other straight guys there." Johnny laughed again with Dave joining in. "I don't even want to think about it," he said, still chuckling.
Joe had whisked Tim out of the Eyrie while the other guys had held Johnny back after the surprise striptease that Tim had put on for Johnny's entertainment at his bachelor party
Johnny hadn't recognized him until he'd dropped his jeans.
Joe had been in charge of the bachelor party and had asked Tim if he wanted to do something special to surprise Johnny; a striptease was what he suggested. Tim had entered dressed like a construction worker. He wore a wig to hide his own hair, with a shear stocking pulled over his head to distort his features.
He had lap danced Johnny as he stripped off his shirt and rubbed his nipples against Johnny's lips, and ground his own hardness against Johnny's, getting him all hot and excited. Tim couldn't help but be stimulated. It really turned him on to know that Johnny was excited, too.
Johnny held out against responding to the hot, muscular, young body, even with his friends egging him on. He kissed Tim's nipples, then pushed him away. And then Tim had started a bump and grind, lowering his Levi's. That was when Johnny saw the brown birthmark on Tim's hip just below the wide elastic band of the jockey strap and realized that it was his young lover putting on this lascivious spectacle.
At that point, Johnny turned the tables on Tim and started playing with him, getting him even more excited. Tim'd had no intention of going further than undoing the buttons on his jeans and titillating Johnny by showing a little more skin. But Johnny kept urging him on, calling him a chicken and a coward, urging him 'to take it all off'. And then Johnny had jumped up and danced against him, rubbed his hard cock against Tim's, saying, "Oh it feels so huge, come on, Big Boy, show us what you've got." He licked Tim's ears and neck and whispered, "Come on, Cute Thing, show me what you've got. I'll bet everyone here wants to see that big banana you've got stuffed in your jock strap." He grabbed Tim's butt and pulled him in tight, saying, "Damn, I'd like to fuck you right here in front of everybody."
Unaware that Johnny was on to him, it infuriated Tim that Johnny was reacting so blatantly with a stranger. Tim pulled away from him and continued to dance, caught in a delirium of sexual heat, simultaneously seething, he decided to see just how far he could take this. No longer unaware of the men watching and cheering them on, Tim started a slow gyrating dance, oblivious to anyone except Johnny as he toed off his boots. He pushed his jeans below his knees, stepped on the cuff and pulled a leg free, and then grabbing the other pant leg, he pulled the jeans off and tossed them to Johnny, who held them to his face and made a big act of sniffing them. Dizzy with the emotions warring in his head, naked except for his straining jockey strap and white socks, Tim started to bump and grind.
He turned his butt to Johnny. Amid hoots and hollers, he bent forward, backed into Johnny's crotch and rubbed against his hardon. Johnny tried to hold him, but Tim broke away, pushed down one side of the jockey strap waistband - then pulled it back up, and then pushed down the other side and then pulled it back up. Then using both hands, he slid the waist band over his butt as he stared glassy-eyed over his shoulder at Johnny.
Johnny realizing that Tim was in a trance, pulled him against his chest, reached down and pulled the waistband back up as he whispered in his ear. "That's enough, Timmy." He removed the hard hat and pulled the stocking, along with the wig, off Tim's head and kissed his forehead.
Tim buried his head in Johnny's chest and clung to him as he shuddered hard. Johnny grabbed one of the ever present big white pool towels and wrapped it around his lover. "Alright, enough of a show everybody. The rest is totally mine," Johnny informed his guests, hugging Tim tight to his chest. Tim shuddered again and again, while all the guys continued to clap, hoot and whistle.
Holding him close to his body, Johnny led him into the house. Tim lay against Johnny, gasping for breath and convulsing occasionally. He was shaking like an aspen leaf in a stiff breeze. "Oh God, oh God," he kept muttering.
"Are you okay, Babe?" Johnny's voice was filled with concern. He had no idea what was wrong with Tim. He thought he was just over wrought from his erotic dance.
Outside, as Dave gathered up Tim's clothes, he overheard a couple of the men, who had been introduced as Johnny's police detective buddies, commenting to each another.
"Damn, that guy's hot enough to make any straight guy gay."
"You said it, I'm hot enough to fuck anything that moves."
"So what are you waiting for? I'm moving."
"Don't slow down, I'm right behind you."
Dave watched them seek out Joe before they headed to the door. He grinned to himself and took Tim's clothes into the bedroom to Johnny. He went back out to help Joe entertain their guests.