Disclaimer: Geez, are any of you tired of reading that I don't own 'em yet?
The Lines Have Been Drawn
"Everything is going as planned."
"Good, you know I don't do well with worrying."
"You do realize the three of us are going to hell for this, don't you?
"Of course but just think of the fun we're having at their expense until then."
"I think that you're all crazy."
"Thanks."
"Scott, would you please help Virgil with kitchen clean-up?" Grandma asked. "Gordon wanted to take Nick to the lagoon and has offered to cover for each of you next week." Scott looked worriedly at Virgil before answering. It was clear that he and Virgil were aware that they were probably being set up for another of their brother's practical jokes.
"Um, sure, Grandma," he answered. "Has Gordon been in the kitchen or near the sink today?"
"No but why would you ask that?" Grandma replied, poker face firmly in place. "Or better yet, why don't you just ask your brother?" Gordon smiled innocently at his older brothers and winked.
"No reason, Grandma," Virgil answered, glaring at his next youngest brother before shifting his gaze to his two older brothers. John had remained quiet during the exchange and shrugged his shoulders. Scott continued to glare at Gordon, wondering just what the prankster was up to.
"I'll clear the table, Grandma," John offered. Nick and Alan kept their eyes on their plates and quickly devoured their dessert much to Virgil's growing irritation. His irritation quickly inflamed to a degree that even Kyrano backed away when Gordon decided to add insult to injury with a seemingly nonchalant comment.
"Hey, Nick, didn't I tell you that Grandma's German chocolate cake was the best?" Closing his eyes in mock rapture, Gordon suppressed the laughter that threatened to escape when he heard Virgil's muttered curse. Unfortunately for him, Jeff heard and with a speed that belied his age, cuffed his middle son in the back of his head just at Grandma's handy flyswatter found its mark as well.
"OUCH!" While glaring angrily at his brother, he rubbed his newest injuries. "May I be excused?" After garnering approval from both Grandma and Jeff, he carried his dirty dishes into the kitchen. Thoroughly ticked off, he forgot who he was doing dishes for until… "GORDON, YOU'RE SO DEAD!" The scraping of a chair being violently shoved away from the table could barely be heard over the sound of the laughter that erupted from the dining room. Virgil grasped the counter of the kitchen island to maintain his balance as well as hasten his pace to reach the brother who had ran off. His sudden appearance in the dining room surprised no one but everyone at the table struggled to keep from laughing until Alan's loud snort of laughter triggered a domino affect and everyone else joined in. Virgil stood, water dripping from his hair, rivulets cascading down his angry face, his shirt was melded to his well-defined torso, he was indeed a thoroughly soaked and extremely pissed off young man. Kyrano discreetly handed him several towels to dry off the excess water from his body and the puddle on the floor at his feet.
"WHERE IS HE?" Virgil's tone left no room for wonderment as to what he was feeling at that moment. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Weeks of pranks, guessing what was going to happen next, and the surprise showers had worn through the laid back nature of the artistic Tracy and now all were about to see a full-blown meltdown that had one target…Gordon.
"Calm down, Son," Jeff said, calmly. "You're getting yourself worked up over something that your brother has been doing to you for years."
"Great, Dad, just let him continue to get by with this sh…crap," he snapped, quickly catching his slip before Grandma could reprimand him. "Haven't you noticed that only Scott and I are getting showers in the kitchen?"
"Excuse me?" John asked, a blonde eyebrow raised questioningly.
"Whatever, John, you got it once," Virgil groused. "But if you want to take over my nights of kitchen duty, have at it and let's see if you remain calm and good-natured." Gathering the wet towels, he stormed up to his rooms but not before he threw one last comment over his shoulder. "Someone else can clean up the kitchen, I'm going to bed."
"You're lucky you got out of there when you did, Gordy." Gordon looked at his brother, questioningly. "He was ready to kick your collective ass and all but said as much to Dad."
"It's not like he shouldn't have expected it," Gordon said, shrugging. "Just wait until the next prank that you thought up is displayed. They're going to be so pissed but oh-so-colorful." Chuckling at the image of his older brothers and the prank that had been planned carefully before being put in place, he continued going through his list of practical jokes.
Early the next morning, Scott jogged up to his suite after his morning run on the beach with no other thoughts than the hot shower that he so desperately needed. He had just reached the second floor where the suites were situated for each of the brothers when Virgil stormed out of his suite. Scott stopped dead in his tracks and stared in open-mouthed shock at his younger brother. A towel was wrapped around his narrow waist but that in itself wasn't cause for alarm. It was the fact that his brother's skin had a bluish tinge to it from his face down to his legs and it wouldn't be surprising if the area covered by the towel was also bluish.
"Gordon?"
"The little shit carved out a piece of my bar soap, filled it with blue food coloring, and then placed a sliver of soap over the carved out area which sealed in the food coloring," Virgil answered. "Best check your soap before you take a shower. And your shampoo."
"What are you going to do?" Scott asked.
"There's nothing I can do except try and come up with a practical joke that he'll never think of," he answered, glowering at Gordon's closed bedroom door. "For now, I'm going to get a new bar of soap and try to get rid of this blue crap." The two brothers each went back into his own suite but it was only a few minutes before a shriek of surprise reverberated along the hallway followed by the sound of a door being slammed against the wall, waking the sleeping brothers and Nick. Moments later, several heads peered, sleepily, from individual suites. Virgil had stepped out into the hallway but suddenly stopped when he saw what his oldest brother was holding. Scott stood in the doorway of his bedroom, holding a toy snake that for all intents and purposes appeared real. Upon seeing the 'snake', Virgil backed away with fear etched on his face. He backed into Alan, who'd come out of his bedroom and felt his older brother trembling.
"What's wrong, Virg?" Alan asked. Pointing a shaking finger towards Scott, Virgil continued to tremble.
"S-s-sn-snake," he stuttered.
"SHIT!" Scott exclaimed, instantly contrite. "Sorry, Virg, I forgot."
"'S okay," Virgil replied, never taking his eyes off his oldest brother or the fake snake in his hand. Not much frightened him but snakes had been responsible for his horse, Anlon, spooking which in turn upset his balance and caused him to fall from his saddle when he was younger and living on the family farm in Kansas. Ever since then, he'd been afraid of snakes especially when you took into account that he'd been bitten a couple of times by the non-poisonous creatures that day. Only Scott knew what had happened or that Virgil had a deep seated fear of snakes. If anyone else had known, this particular prank would never had been played.
"Where are you getting these ideas from?"
"Do you honestly believe that I'm going to tell you that?"
"Not really but it was worth a shot, ya know?"
"Are you all ready for the next series of pranks?"
"Hell yeah!"
"I swear, Virg, their jokes are so simple that you'd think that we'd be able to cotton onto what the hell they're planning next," Scott complained. "I mean, seriously, the kitchen sink sprayer only gets us but we've yet to figure out just how he's doing it. The food coloring in your soap was damn ingenious and not something that Gordon has tried before. The computer malfunctioned for me but worked perfectly for Dad. How are they doing it? Who's really masterminding all of these pranks or are they all so damn sneaky and creative that we're in way over our heads?" Virgil remained silent with his eyes glued to the magazine he was reading. "Virg? Virgil? VIRGIL?" Scott smacked the magazine to get his attention. Jerking the ear buds from his ears, Virgil glared at his brother.
"WHAT?" he demanded. "I was trying to relax and listen to my favorite group."
"You didn't hear a thing I said?" Scott asked, annoyed.
"Duh, I just told you that I was listening to music and you watched me pull the ear buds out of my ears," Virgil retorted. John heard his brothers and joined them in the lounge.
"What's going on?" he asked, curious. Scott shifted his gaze from Virg to John while Virgil shrugged his shoulders and replaced his ear buds.
"Nothing except that I'm trying to figure out just how Gordon and crew are coming up with all of these practical jokes," he admitted. "I just don't see how something so simple turns out so well for them at our expense. I'll admit that I'm relieved that the snake in the toilet prank was done in my bathroom and not Virgil's. Just as I'm glad that he was colored blue and not me." John couldn't help the grin that stole across his mouth.
"Why are you relieved that the snake was in your toilet?" he asked. His curiosity was piqued and knew that Scott knew something that none of the other brothers knew about Virgil.
"Not at liberty to discuss that with you, Johnny," he answered. John stared at his brother for a moment before speaking.
"Whatever," he groused. Without another word, John left the lounge and headed for the kitchen.
"Do you have those Snap Pops?"
"Yeah, but what the heck are we going to do with them?"
"Lift the toilet seat and tape the Pop onto bottom of the seat?"
"And then what happens?"
"Damn, are you always this dense? After you lower the seat, leave their bathroom. When they go to take care of business, the weight on the seat will cause the Pop to snap. That in turn will startle the hell out of them."
"Simple yet so devious. I love it."
"Did you have any doubts that our ideas would be successful?"
"Never."
In the quiet of the night, he stumbled towards his bathroom to take care of some basic needs. The quietness was shattered when a loud popping noise followed by a loud cry of surprise that rent the stillness of the night. The inhabitants of the home were all startled from their slumber and charged towards the room where the young man had managed to jerk up his clothing before all saw him in his birthday suit.
"Scott, what the hell is wrong with you?" Virgil demanded. Embarrassed, Scott held up his hands in surrender.
"Gordon, Alan, and Nick, I surrender," he said. "There is no way that I'll ever have a moment's peace with the three of you around. I'm throwing myself at your mercy." Virgil was stunned to see and hear his older brother admit that he was defeated. Neither he nor Scott was prepared for the loud guffaws of laughter and the high-fives that included John.
"We accept your declarations of defeat," John snorted. "It appears that the Triple Threat was in all actuality the Fearsome Foursome." Scott realized that he'd been had and took a step towards his next youngest brother.
"You helped them? I thought you were on our side," he asked, perplexed.
"Their side was winning and even though I'm not a betting man, I knew which side would win," John answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need some more sleep." Gordon, Alan, and Nick watched Virgil and Scott come to terms with John's words. Before they could utter a warning, Scott and Virgil grabbed John and dragged him towards the stairs and out to the pool.
"Traitorous heathen," Virgil snarled. "We don't have a plank for you to walk but we'll enjoy this none the less." With a nod, the two brothers threw John into the pool.
"Thanks for having me here for the past week and a half," Nick said. "It's been great."
"You're always welcome here, Nick," Jeff said. "I believe that my sons have gotten rather fond of you." Unbeknownst to Nick, the Tracys had talked amongst themselves and had decided to welcome him into their family.
"I appreciate it and I look forward to my next vacation so that I may visit," he said. Gordon stepped up and looked at his friend who was in more ways than one very much like himself.
"Nick, what Dad's saying is that you have a home here if you want," he said. "Even if you don't, you're always welcome to stay here and most importantly, you'll always have a family right here." Nick's gaze swiftly shifted from each of the Tracy men before finally resting on Grandma.
"Young man, even if you weren't born a Tracy, you certainly blend in well with my family," she said. "But just you remember, I expect my boys to behave or they get--"
"THE FLYSWATTER!" Six male voices cried out at once before laughter rang out over the Island home of the Tracy family.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed Nick and Gordon's story. And as I have promised, the sink sprayer joke is quite simple. Gordon used a thin rubber band that was clear in color and for purposes of this story, I decided to allow the band to snap in two when the water soaked the target. Pretty sure that wouldn't happen in the real world but hey it did create a few laughs and some pleasant images of a soaked Tracy brother. I found the practical jokes on and if you're interested and all credit for the pranks goes to those who submitted the ideas to those websites.-sam1