Welcome to Panda Group

Chapter 2
The First Sleepover

Chapter Description: Brett goes to Zach's for a sleepover and has more fun than he expected

On Thursday evening, Zach’s mother called the house. Brett’s mother picked up, but passed the phone to Zach. “Hello, Brett,” Zach’s mother said. “Zach wanted to know if you’d like to come over for a sleepover.”

Brett was more than a little surprised. “Um, I’m not sure…I’m…I mean…” Brett stumbled through trying to find the right way to say that no, that seemed like a weird and uncomfortable idea.

“It’s just that when Zach found out you were in Panda Group too, he got so excited," she explained, “I know you used to be friends, before Zach changed classes, and I just thought it would be nice for him to get to spend some time with some of his old friends, instead of just the same people he sees in his special class all day. I know you don’t exactly have the same interests, but you make Zach so happy if you were willing to spend some time with him."

Brett breathed a sigh of relief. Zach’s mother understood that he wasn’t a playmate for Zach, she just wanted him to have some contact with a regular teen. That was pretty reasonable, and the sleepover just seemed like the kind thing to do, especially for someone he’d known for a while, even if they’d grown apart.

So Brett packed his backpack for an overnight and after school on Friday, Zach’s mother picked both of them up and drove to Zach’s house. Brett had sort of expected that Zach’s eagerness to see him would mean that Brett was in charge, but it was Zach’s house, and he turned out to have a laundry list of things he wanted to do with Brett. First Zach had to show Brett his room, which was decorated like a small child’s, including a big alphabet poster on the wall and colorful firetruck bedsheets.

Then - since Brett was "also a Panda”, as Zach put it - Brett had to meet “Mr. Panda”, who turned out to be a large panda stuffie in the same style as the little one they both had on their backpack. Brett shook Mr. Panda’s paw gingerly, and then gave the stuffie a more proper hug. The panda was a useful reminder, really: he was here for Zach’s sake, and Zach had good parents who cared about him. He could just follow along and trust Zach’s parents to make the important decisions, and not worry about anything else.

Once he’d gotten in the right mindset, it was easier to play along. First they dumped out all of Zach’s toy cars - and there were a lot of them - and played with them. In any other situation, Brett would have been embarrassed to be kneeling on the rug pushing cars around, but Mr. Panda was sitting right there, a reminder that he didn’t need to worry about it.

After cars, Zach charged outside, with Brett trailing behind. Zach’s family had a big lawn with a lot of space to run around in, but Zach ran to his dad and shouted, “Dad, turn on the sprinkler, please, please, please,” and Zach’s father turned it on. Zach stripped to his underwear without hesitation, quickly pulling his socks off, then his shirt, and then pushing down the cotton pants he was wearing and letting them fall on the grass, leaving Zach wearing nothing but orange briefs with white dinosaur skeletons as he dashed into the sprinkler.

Brett hadn’t come prepared for this - it hadn’t even occurred to him to bring a bathing suit - and he hesitated. Zach called out, “C’mon Brett, play with me.” So Brett fell back on his plan - playing along with Zach’s favorite activities. Besides, there was no one here but Zach’s parents, who knew he was just playing along to entertain Zach. So Brett stripped to his tighty-whities and ran in with Zach.

There was still something refreshing in just embracing not caring. If there was something wrong with what they were doing, Zach’s parents would tell them. And so if they didn’t stop it, Brett didn’t need to think so much about whether it was okay. Instead he enjoyed the feeling of the cool water on his skin, contrasting to the heat from the bright sun. When Zach tackled him, knocking them both to the grass to wrestle, he just enjoyed feeling of pushing and pulling and trying to wrestle the other boy to the ground, and the cool, clammy mud that stuck to both their bodies.

Despite his behavior, Zach was only slightly smaller than Brett and had a more muscular build, so he quickly had the advantage, finally pinning Brett and shouting, “I win!” Brett just laughed with him.

Zach’s mother called from the patio, “Dinner’s ready, boys!” They both came back, and when he saw the look of surprise on her face, Brett felt a wave of embarrassment as he realized how he looked.

“I was just playing with Zach…” he tried to explain.

“Oh, of course, of course,” she said. “I’m sure Zach is having so much fun having someone here who’ll play with him,” she said. Zach nodded enthusiastically, and Brett felt relieved that she still understood that he wasn’t like Zach, but was just trying to entertain his friend. “But you’re both a little muddy for the dining room. Wait here for a minute while I get towels, and…honey,” she said, calling over her husband, “could you rinse them off?”

Zach’s mother went inside, and Zach’s father got the hose and turned it on. Zach immediately ran under it, squealing at the blast of cold water as it melted the mud off of him. “Your turn, Brett”, the man said, and before Brett could react, he’d turned the hose on Brett. Brett found himself hugging himself and almost dancing, moving around to try to generate some heat to make up for how cold the water was. “Turn around,” he said, and Brett turned around so he could hose off Brett’s back side, too.

By the time they were done, Zach’s mother had come out with towels, and Brett expected to dry off, but instead she put the towels down on two of the outside chairs. “I think it’ll be easiest to just eat out here,” she explained, ”rather than worry about getting you dry enough to eat inside.” Brett was going to argue, but she seemed so sure that this was the right thing to do, so he decided to just trust her and enjoy not having to be responsible for it at all.

He and Zach sat at the outdoor table in their wet underwear eating dinner - fish sticks, as it turned out. Brett felt pretty self-conscious, but Zach didn’t seem to mind at all, and was having a great time besides. When they finished, Zach’s mother brought each of them a bowl of ice cream for dessert.

When they were done with that, she said, “Brett, could I talk to you for a second?” She pulled Brett aside, just out of Zach’s earshot. “I realized that if this is a sleepover, we’re going to have to do Zach’s bedtime routine.”

Brett nodded. “Sure,” he said, not sure where this was going.

“It’s just that sometimes Zach is worried that he gets treated like a kid because he’s different, and puts up a fuss around his bedtime.” Brett refrained from pointing out that Zach certainly was being treated like a young kid. “And it would help him so much to see someone he looks up to so much there to reinforce it."

Brett still wasn’t entirely sure what he was being asked to do, but he could survive being read a bedtime story or whatever. He did want to help Zach, and if Zach’s mother was asking him to do it, it had to be a good idea. “Sure, I can do that,” he agreed.

“I’m so glad. Thank you, Brett,” she said. She walked back to the table with Zach. “Okay, Zach, you got a lot of mud on you out there. It’s bath time,” she said in a sing-song.

Zach groaned, loudly, and his mother looked over to Brett with a wink. “Yup, that sounds right to me,” he said.

“See,” said Zach’s mother. “You don’t want to make a fuss in front of your friend.”

“Fiiiiine,” said Zach, and he trudged into the house. Zach’s mother and Brett followed.

Zach and his mother went to the bathroom, and Brett had intended to split off to Zach’s room, where his backpack was, to put on clothes, but Zach’s mother stopped him. “The bathroom’s this way, Brett,” she said in the same sing-song voice. “You got muddy, too. Come on, Zach’s being good, don’t you make a fuss,” she said, but she was looking at Zach when she said it, and winked at Brett again.

Brett was very surprised, and very uncomfortable at the idea, but he had promised Zach’s mother he wouldn’t set a bad example for Zach. So he just reminded himself that he wasn’t the one responsible for this; he just had to do what he was told, and trust that Zach’s mother was telling him to do the right thing. “Okay…” he said, hesitantly, and followed Zach and his mother to the bathroom.

There, Zach pulled off his underwear and, after a moment, Brett did the same. It definitely felt strange being naked with his friend, especially since seeing him naked was a clear reminder that, despite his behavior, Zach was the same age Brett was: Zach’s penis hung there, limp but not small, surrounded by a smattering of hair. Neither Zach nor his mother, though, seemed to think anything of the boys being naked, and that helped Brett move past his embarrassment. Instead, Zach’s mother ignored them as she ran the water while Zach alternated between begging for bubbles and tossing toy boats into the bathtub for the two of them to play with once they were in.

Once the water was run, Zach’s mother helped Zach into the bath (Brett could get in himself, at least), and left them there to play for a bit. Zach splashed around eagerly, pushing the boats back and forth and dipping them in and out of the water, and Brett went along with it as best he could.

Eventually Zach’s mother came to get them out. She handed Brett a towel and he dried himself off while she dried Zach off. Then Zach raced Brett back to Zach’s room (Brett lost) and they got dressed for bed. Zach’s mother had put clothes out on his bed, and Brett got his own out of his backpack. As Brett pulled a fresh pair of white briefs on, Zach held out the underwear his mother had picked out for him, black briefs with stars, and shouted, “Mom, mom! I don’t wanna wear these! I want wear the ones like Brett’s.”

Zach’s mother stuck her head in the room. “What do you mean?” she asked as she stepped in.

Zach pointed at the underwear Brett had just pulled up. “I wanna wear my underwear like Brett's,” he said. Zach’s mother looked at what Brett was wearing, shrugged, and then took the black underwear from Zach, put it back in a drawer, and dug around for something else, then handed it to Zach.

Zach pulled the underwear up, and Brett saw that the new briefs weren’t quite like his: they were mostly white, but there was a little green dinosaur on the front. Then Zach pulled the other piece of clothing on, a tight blue t-shirt with various Pokemon on it, and nothing else. Brett hesitated with the pajamas pants in his hands he’d been about to put on. At home he - like Zach, really - usually slept in just underwear and a t-shirt; that had been true back when he’d worn boxers, and he’d seen no reason to change when he switched to wearing briefs. But he’d modestly brought the pajama pants for the sleepover, even though it was a bit warm for them. After bathing with Zach, though, that sort of modesty seemed a little silly. So he put the pajama pants back by his bag and pulled on the plain green t-shirt he’d brought to sleep in.

The rest of bedtime was easier. Zach’s mother shooed them back to the bathroom to brush their teeth together, then they both sat on Zach’s bed, Brett holding Mr. Panda, while Zach’s mother read them a story. Then Brett got in his sleeping bag and Zach’s mother tucked both of them in, and turned off the lights. Brett had expected to talk for a while after, but Zach fell asleep almost immediately. Brett had a little trouble falling asleep, if only because he wasn’t used to sleeping with a nightlight, but soon joined his friend.

The next morning, Zach woke Brett up early and the two of them watched cartoons in the living room for a while, then had pancakes for breakfast, and then Brett got dressed and his father picked him up.

As his father drove him back home, Brett reflected that he’d actually had a decent time, and wouldn’t mind doing it again some time. He kind of envied how much fun Zach seemed to be having, and how being treated like a kid meant Zach had almost no responsibilities.

Over the next couple weeks, he started to have even more trouble paying attention in school, often just sitting in the corner doodling, and also started to have more trouble remembering to do things at home. After he forgot to shower one morning, his parents suggested that it would be better for him to take a bath at night, and Brett instantly agreed. His mother started putting out clothes for him each morning, and Brett didn’t protest. Instead he was enjoying being responsible for less and less, just going along with what the grown-ups in his life told him to do.