Part IV
"Yep. Absolutely." Fox agreed with equal sincerity.
Turning to each other, they shared a mischievous smile and
shook hands.
"Do it," they chorused, and got to work.
Walter stretched as he got out of the car. It had been a
good day, all things considered. Work had only been mildly
stressful, the drive home had been almost pleasant, and
from the driveway he'd seen the kitchen lights on, had
seen Fox and Alex each occupied with a different part of
dinner, Fox setting the table, Alex pouring tea.
He simply stood in the driveway for a moment, looking in
at the innocent scene of homelife. It was reassuring on a
deep level to see Fox put a plate of vegetables on a
table, to watch Alex pass him the silverware. Chuckling at
himself, Walter started inside, enjoying the warm glow.
A moment later, he had the strong desire to share the
heat, preferably on his husbands' backsides. Staring in
mute disbelief at the back of the van, Walter didn't even
notice that he'd let his briefcase drop to the ground,
along with his suitcoat. He didn't flicker an eyelash when
Fox and Alex, each assuming an innocent expression,
silently joined him.
"Walter? You okay?" Alex, ever the housefrau and damn
proud of it, picked up Walter's coat, but left the
briefcase. He could care less what happened to bureau
papers.
"Yeah, Walt, something wrong?" Fox, who would have
cheerfully backed over the coat on his way out in the
morning, picked up the briefcase.
"Alex, Fox, would one of you please explain to me what
that is doing on the van?" Walter's voice was carefully
controlled, a sure sign that blood pressure and temper
were both on the rise.
"What? Oh, the new bumper sticker?"
"Yes, Fox. The new bumper sticker." Counting silently to
thirty and still never taking his eyes off it, Walter
forced himself to continue to wait until he had an
explanation before making himself a double-widower.
"Well, Fox and I were at the store today and we saw it,
and...well, it made us think of you." Alex offered this
with a bald honesty that let Skinner know it was the
truth.
"Yeah, we just knew it was perfect as soon as we saw it.
We couldn't resist."
Sighing, struggling to phrase things just right and not
hurt his lovers, but still longing to release his anger,
Walter spoke slowly.
"I'm glad that you thought of me. Honestly, I am. And
I'm...flattered that you feel this way. But guys, it's...
The others belong there, we each had our say, and I love
them, wouldn't take them off for anything. This one..." He
trailed off, still trying to think of a gentle way of
phrasing his urgent need to rip the sticker off the van.
"You don't like it?" There was just a hint of struggle in
Alex's voice, and Walter felt himself threatening to cave.
He looked away from Alex's downcast lids, and back at the
sticker, imagined parking it in the employee lot at the
Hoover, everyone knowing it was his. Resolve came flooding
back into place.
"I like that you thought about me, Alex, and that you
wanted to do something nice for me. But the message is a
little... It's not quite..." Trailing off, Walter bit at
his lip. Alex and Fox had both turned slightly away from
him, shoulders together, and he could see those same
shoulders shaking slightly. Damning himself for being a
tower of jello, Walter rubbed a hand across his face,
ready to cave.
Approaching his lovers, he turned them to face him, ready
with soft comfort sounds, and a promise that if it really
meant that much to them, it could stay.
When they turned, Walter got his second shock of the
night. They weren't upset. Hazel and green eyes sparkled
with mirth and, as he watched, they lost the struggle and
began to laugh out loud, tears in their eyes.
"It's not really on, Walter. We just used some tape to
hold it there." Alex reassured him, even as he gasped for
air.
"C'mon, Walter, we wouldn't cheapen the others with
something like that. Give us a little credit." Fox wiped
at his eyes, still chortling.
Torn between giving in and laughing with them, and giving
in to the annoyance of having been played, Walter's
eyebrows drew together, and his mouth settled into a stern
line.
Alex, seeing the change, sobered slightly. Reaching up, he
put his arms around Walter's neck, cuddling close.
"We weren't trying to be mean, Walter, honest. We were
looking at the stickers and making fun of them when we saw
this one. It was our way of letting you know we won't put
any more stickers on the van, not for real, unless we all
choose one together."
Fox followed Alex's example, embracing Walter around the
waist, but still resting his head on a broad shoulder.
"Don't be mad, Walt, please? We did do it to show you we
know the difference between what's there and just any old
bumper sticker. Besides, it was Alex's first practical
joke on you, and my idea anyway. C'mon, Walter, please?"
Walter relaxed, shaking his head and sighing.
"I'm not mad. I wouldn't be much of a person if I couldn't
take a joke. But, I want that monstrosity off the van, on
the double, boys!"
Fox and Alex immediately moved to obey, pulling the few
pieces of cellophane tape off easily, and the sticker with
it.
"Thank you. That was the first thing. The second thing is
the spanking I owe each of you."
Alex looked up, a touch of unease in his lovely eyes.
Walter winked and his mouth quirked, though his voice was
still stern. Alex grinned, knowing Walter was only playing
back, and was not seriously angry. Fox had already known
it, and was backing up slowly, hands up in a pacifying
gesture.
"Now, Walter..."
"Don't you 'Now, Walter' me! Brats!" With a lunge that
made Alex and Fox both jump, Walter grabbed for them,
missing by a mile, of course. His husbands ran into the
house, with Walter in close pursuit. Walter's coat was
thrown over a chair, his briefcase carefully put on the
hall table, despite the pretense at panic, and Walter
chuckled as he followed them into the bedroom.
They were sitting back on the side of the bed, wearing
matching poses and promising grins, and Walter felt his
heart skip a beat as his love for them surged. Still, this
was no time for flowery words. Approaching sternly, he
motioned them to roll over.
Giving in gracefully, they obeyed, and Walter seated
himself between them. He bared their bottoms, and then
settled them each across a thigh. Their legs were a tangle
on the floor, but Alex's rear was on his left, Fox's on
his right. Walter's hands stroked lovingly over the bare
flesh, feeling the silky skin, the firm muscle, the faint
tensing.
"Walter? T-this is play, right?" Alex knew, in his heart,
but still needed the extra reassurance.
"Of course, love. Just like the one that made you buy the
'Brat' bumper sticker."
"Cool." It sounded odd coming from Alex, he normally had
such an almost quaint speech. Fox blamed it on a certain
British gentleman, Alex on never having attended a regular
high school. Walter reached back, ruffling the dark hair,
and Alex threw him a soft, grateful look over one ivory
shoulder.
"Would you get on with it? My ass is getting cold." Fox
sounded bored, but Walter knew it was just his way of
further reassuring their Rat.
"With pleasure."
Walter spanked Fox's bottom with a great deal of noise and
show, but only a touch of sting. A similar spank landed on
Alex's pale rump, and then Walter settled in to spanking
them both thoroughly. He played with it, slapping with one
hand or the other, sometimes with both at the same time,
but never doing more than warming the beloved flesh.
Finally, when both men had achieved a matching shade of
rose-petal pink, Walter stopped. He rolled them both over,
now each sitting on a broad thigh. They cuddled to him,
content, until Alex suddenly stiffened.
"Oh shit, the rolls!" Alex rushed downstairs, pulling up
his pants as he went.
"It's okay. I turned off the oven before we left the
kitchen." Fox mumbled it against Walter's neck, making no
move to leave.
"Fox? Something up?" There was a note in Fox's voice, a
certain quality that made Walter ask.
"You'd have let it stay. It was personally humiliating for
you, but you would have let it stay."
Walter said nothing, only nodded, stroking the hair back
from the darkened eyes.
"Cool." He said it with a hint of a smile, face too soft
with love for any more. But then, instead of getting up,
Fox rolled back over. "Walter, could I have a couple of
harder spanks? Please?"
"Sure, babe, but I'd like to know why first."
"Because I never had anybody love me like this my whole
life, and I don't ever want to take it for granted. I
can't explain it, Walter, but I need it, please?"
"Good enough." Walter drew back, landing a real spank, if
a light one. Two more, and Fox sighed. "Enough, babe?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
Walter eased them up, kissing Fox tenderly.
"Hey, I didn't get my kiss!" Alex pouted from the doorway,
and Walter quickly remedied that. Then they were heading
downstairs, for another quiet, normal evening at home. And
never happier.
In the kitchen, Walter looked at the forgotten sticker,
lying on the counter where Alex had thrown it. He
snickered, then began to laugh.
" It's not a bald head; it's a solar panel for a sex
machine. "
THE END.
Bumper Sticker – Tailgate
by Raven
"He'll kill us." Alex made the pronouncement soberly, no
trace of doubt in his husky voice at all.
