Gigglefest 2

"Good morning!" Jack exclaimed as he pulled the covers off of Jimmy and Jonny's bed. He smiled as he gazed at the two drowsy boys, so alike despite the difference in their ages. "I still don't see how you two make sleep a contact sport!" he mused as JImmy rolled off of his makeshift pillow – Jonny’s tummy. Jack noticed Jimmy's shirt had risen to his armpits while Jonny's pajama shorts had sunk enough to show the smiling face of Olaf the snowman on his bottom. What was the point of even dressing them for bed sometimes? Jonny stood up and began to undress. He knew the routine and thought nothing of crossing the room in just his Frozen underwear.

"C'mon, sleepy Jimmy!" He called as he reached Jack, smiling up at him.

Jimmy rolled out of bed and walked over for the first of their obnoxious morning rituals. Despite him still thinking of himself as James, the entire family -- mom and dad included -- had accepted him in a heartbeat as Jimmy, the middle brother but Jonny's de facto twin. It did not matter that he was older even than Jack: he was treated the same as Jonny. Jack chuckled and hugged them both, giving them both a playful pat on the bottom. He made a point of tugging down Jimmy's shorts enough to pat his identical undies-clad butt. Jonny loved begging Jimmy to wear the same thing as him and that was how the twelve year old now wore yellow Olaf pajamas and Olaf briefs just like his kindergartener brother.

"Better hurry and get undressed, Jimmy." Jack said. "Jonny's already at your socks and undies bin!" A week ago, Jimmy had had his own bedroom and a dresser full of his own socks and boxers. Now, he shared a room and a big plastic bin with his five year old brother, chock full of socks and undies, not boxers. It was only after mom went out and bought numerous packs of colorful cartoon briefs that Jimmy learned she had seen the toothbrushing video and genuinely thought he wanted to wear the same undies as Jonny.

"Jonny's going with LEGO today." Jack announced. "What'll Jimmy pick?" Jimmy groaned as Jonny held out a matching pair.

"We matched yesterday."

"But it's fun!" Jonny said with a grin. "C'mon, middle brother!"

"I'm not" he knew it was pointless to protest. Jack had made him the middle brother and he was the only one who did not accept that. Being naked in front of his brothers had stopped being new, so he stripped and pulled on the LEGO briefs with their bright red waistband. All his boxers were gone. He wore briefs now.

There was still one pair of boxers, but Jonny had snatched those up a few days ago. That had been an awful day. As soon as they were all home from school, Jack had decreed it an underwear evening, which meant all three of them stripped. Jonny had strutted around in boxers while Jimmy stared at both his brothers covetously in Spongebob briefs. Worse, he was almost certain Jack had destroyed them that night to make sure it could never happen again.

Breakfast passed normally, but it was soon time for school. At least Jimmy got to wear the more mature school uniform while Jonny wore what Jimmy still thought of as the ‘baby’ uniform. When Jonny demanded to know why, Jack had even explained that Jimmy was his big brother. Riding that high as he shuffled over to the front door, Jimmy grabbed his shoes and pulled them on before Jack stopped him.

“Remember, Jimmy? Jonny’s practicing tying shoes, so you’re supposed to let him do yours.”

“Jonny,” Jimmy said with a sigh. “Would you please tie my shoes for me?” Jimmy nodded and did just that.

“He ties them tighter than you do anyway.” Jack mused.

“Why don’t you just diaper me?” Jimmy muttered.

“Diaper you?” Jack laughed. “Jonny, do you two wear diapers?”

“No!” Jonny giggled. “We’re big boys, Jimmy!”

“That’s right. This is a diaper-free household and I expect you to keep it that way.”

“It was just a” joke didn’t seem like the right word, so Jimmy simply retreated into sullen silence.

The school day passed without incident. Jimmy could almost feel normal at school, even if his friends had heard Jack and Jonny call him Jimmy enough that they had picked up the habit. He pushed them to call him James, but his insistence only encouraged them more. Some friends, he thought. Still, other than the name thing, at least he felt like his real age around them. He did not dare even hint that, at home, Jack had effectively taken charge. Thanks to Jack’s manipulation of the facts, their parents were convinced Jimmy had willingly submitted to Jonny’s bedtime routine and now he was trapped.

“Dude, you okay?”

“Yeah.” Jimmy muttered. Even imagining telling his friends about it made it seem silly. And they might even demand proof that he was wearing the underwear of a kindergartener. No, better to bear his burden in silence.

Even if I wanted to walk home alone, Jimmy thought, glaring at his brothers waiting for him, there’s no way I could. Jonny was bouncing up and down with some nondescript stain on his white polo. Jack stood by calmly scanning the crowd for Jimmy. Does he think I’ll sneak away? Jimmy thought. We all live together.

“There you are!” Jack said. “Brother chain activate!” Jonny grabbed one hand of each of his brothers so that he was in the middle. Jimmy rolled his eyes, but at least he was not in the middle.

“There’s a new boy in my class.” Jonny said almost as soon as the school was out of sight. “I think he’s like really, really little, cuz the teacher has to help him take off his shoes and he always naps and teacher says I’m going to help him learn the ropes or something. Does that mean I gotta help him tie his shoes?” Jonny always did this when he got excited, rambling on and on. “He has these Toy Story clogs, so he doesn’t even have laces. His name’s Lu”

“Shuddup, Jonny!” Jimmy said. Enough was enough!

“Jimmy, don’t tell your brother what to do.” Jack said, giving his hand a warning squeeze. “You’re the middle brother and you need to set a good example.”

“Sorry, Jonny.” Jimmy muttered. Jonny smiled and gave him a hug.

“I forgive you.”

The after school period passed without incident up until dinner. Jack busied himself in the kitchen, leaving his brothers to entertain themselves. They always did with such aplomb, after all. He hoped Jimmy had not been lying when he said he did not have any homework.

“Alright, dynamic duo. Time for dinner!” Jack announced. Jonny came running, but Jimmy glowered.

"Come on, Jack. You can't be serious. I'm not really his... his twin."

"Did I say you were? Jonny sure seems to think you're his big brother, doesn't he?" JImmy nodded, taking his place at the table.

"No, yeah, I mean... but the whole having to go to bed and all that."

"You two share a bed. It's easier this way."

"But"

"And that's not me saying that. That's mom."

"But"

"Didn't you notice when she had her day off? You still went to bed with Johnny, cuz you two share a bed."

“I’m not his twin.” Jimmy said sullenly.

"C'mon, man. I know that!"

"We're wearing matching underwear. We do everyday!"

"But do you wear the same uniform? Nope. He wears the kindergarten uniform, you wear the big boy uniform. Just like me!"

"You're younger than me too..."

"But so much bigger."

“I’m not a baby.” Jonny weighed in.

“There. You see? Jonny’s not a baby and you’re bigger than him, aren’t you?” He tossled Jimmy’s hair with a chuckle. “Now, aren’t you hungry?”

“Yeah…”

“Alright, go with your brother and get your faces washed for dinner.” Thanks to Jack’s ingenuity, the way they washed their faces for dinner was to have each boy wash his brother’s face. The way Jimmy saw it, he would have felt a lot bigger if he was just washing his little brother’s face. Having to sit there while Jonny scrubbed his face with the washcloth brought back horrible memories of that first night when he had shared a bath with him. Not that their current system was much better.

“Just let me do it.”

“But it’s fun.”Jonny said with a giggle.

“It’s washing your face.”

“Mommy says making things a game helps us remember to do them.”

“Well, mom”

“Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Call her mom.”

“That’s who she is.”

“Yeah, but” Jonny shrugged. “Just seems like you’re trying really really hard to be big.”

“I am big.”

“I guess, but” he shrugged again. “Like, Jack never has to prove he’s big, right? He just is.”

“I’m older than you.”

“Yeah.” Jonny nodded. “But we have the same bedtime. You and me wear the same undies.”

“Well” Jimmy glared. “I… I…”

“I just think it makes more sense for you to call mommy mommy and daddy daddy, that’s all.” Jonny smiled kindly. “C’mon. Race you back to the table!” How was he so fast? Jimmy wondered as he chased Jonny back to the dining room.

Dinner passed quickly and almost felt like the old days. All three of them laughed and chatted like brothers do and Jimmy did not even mind having to use a booster seat identical to Jonny’s. Was he getting used to it, Jack wondered. He clapped his hands as they finished eating.

“Alrighty doodles, who’s first for baths tonight?”

“He is!” His brothers said, pointing to each other. He smiled. Sure, they weren’t really twins, but they sure had the unison down pat.

“Come on. I know you two have a system. Who’s first?” He sat back and watched them deliberate.

“Well, I gave you my dessert last weekend.” Jonny said.

“But then I let you play that game.”

“And then”

“Who took a bath first last night?”

“Me!” Jonny said.

“Then doesn’t that mean it’s Jimmy’s turn?” Jimmy frowned, but there was no way out of it. Jack stood up. “Alrighty. You two know the drill.” They certainly did. He cleared the table while they headed off to their room to get ready for baths. He wondered just what their parents planned to do with Jimmy’s old room now that he and Jonny were sharing. He would have to remember to ask them.

By the time he had put the dishes in the dishwasher and had it running, he knew his brothers would be ready for toothbrushing. Sure enough, he arrived to the bathroom to see them playing some kind of hand slapping game, neither boy all that embarrassed about being in nothing but their Lego briefs. He smiled as he watched them. How could anyone suspect that one of them was (almost) six and the other was twelve? How could that tiny boy in his underwear be older than Jack? It made no sense.

“Get your toothbrushes ready. Here comes the song!” Jack said, pressing play. He grinned at the scene before him as they danced around, going far beyond the hip swaying of the first night to making the entire bathroom their dance floor.

Just as long as they brushed their teeth, Jack thought, slipping past them to get the tub filling. Having them taking separate baths meant it took longer to get them all clean, but probably saved water since there was less splashing with them separated.

“All minty fresh?” He asked as they spit a lot more than necessary into the sink. “Anyone need to pee?”

“We did that already.” Jonny announced.

“Alright then. Jimmy, undies off and into the tub you go! Jonny, can you go set out jammies for the both of you?”

“Already did.” Jonny announced proudly.

“Wow! Whose idea was that?”

“His.” Jimmy grunted, climbing into the tub.

“Use the steps next time.” Jack chided, giving his leg a light tap. “Well, since Jonny’s got everything set already, I guess you can hang out while I’m giving Jimmy his bath.”

“You don’t need to!” Jimmy insisted, but Jack refused to relinquish the washcloth. He never seemed to give Jimmy a chance to bathe himself.

“Nearly done.” Jack said. Jimmy glowered from the tub, but he knew it was no use fighting. In no time, he found himself with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, being shepherded to the bedroom.

“Put on your jammies.” Jimmy wanted to issue some snarky comment, but the warm water had done its work and he was starting to feel a yawn coming on. He fought to keep it down and knew a comment would not help. He dressed quickly, figuring the sea turtles on his pajamas were at least better than last night’s Olaf.

“Jimmy’s all ready for bed!”

“Inside voice, Jonny.” Jack whispered, pulling back the covers. “Climb in, Jimmy.” Jimmy complied. Even though they mostly alternated nights, it still felt so strange to have Jonny standing there, watching him getting tucked into bed. “Good night, Jimmy.”

“Nini, Jimmy.” Jonny echoed. Jimmy sighed and watched them walk away, leaving the door open just a smidge. He knew Jonny would come back to join him in bed in maybe twenty minutes at most. Jonny was always awake when he got second bath, so all he had to do was keep his eyes open for twenty minutes. Then again, he thought, this was his only chance to enjoy having a bed to himself. Maybe he should sleep while…

Barely fifteen minutes elapsed before his brothers returned, Jonny freshly bathed with a towel around his shoulders. It never took long with how quickly he bathed himself. Jack had even allowed him a moment to goofily flex in the mirror like he had seen once on TV.

“Oh, shh.” He whispered to Jack, who followed close behind him. “Jimmy’s asleep.”