The Academy In My Head

The Get Along Shirt

"A what'zit?"

"A get along shirt. I'll send you the link to what I found online. I've been keeping it in my back pocket in case I need it for Dakota and Jessica but so far so good, nothing ever happens between them that makes me have to use it."

"Probably the distance in ages." Ben mumbled. "Six months is just a tad bit too close. And North's used to being on his own or with his friend Silas and not at all ready to be a younger brother." Ben rubbed his forehead.

"And Luke's been ready to be a big brother since Jessica was born." Erica said sympathetically.

"Can we trade?" Ben asked hopefully. "I'll swap you Dakota for Luke. Luke would love to be Jessica's older brother instead."

She laughed. "Sorry, I'm not in the habit of letting go of my cubs so quickly. And that does include yours so don't hesitate to bring them here if you need me to figure anything out." She offered.

"I'll keep it in mind but you're right. I probably need that whatchamacallit you mentioned."

"The get along shirt." She said patiently. "it'll work." She said reassuringly before ringing off. His phone pinged with an incoming message soon after and he was soon immersed in the joys and glory of successful uses of the get along shirt.

This had to work.

It wasn't punishment to say that they were grounded... to keep them away from their friends.

He'd long learned that lesson. If Luke was grounded, next thing he knew, strange things were hanging from the upper windows and highest peaks on the roof. Luke was a master of twisting the ground rules into something that was barely recognizable as being grounded.

Because he didn't touch the ground if he was on the roof. And if he was on the roof, he didn't leave the house.

Ben had ceased to ground the boy on the grounds that he didn't want to come home to find that Luke was a victim of a misstep and that step had caused him to fall entirely off the roof.

Despite what Luke thought, he wasn't a monkey.

His eyes narrowed as the volume went up again on the argument in the other room. "large shirt ..." He muttered before making his way to the storage closet. There just might be something that worked in it. He recalled a large box of shirts from a previous restaurant promotion. One of the line chefs had been an extremely large Samoan fellow and he'd gotten in a significant amount of shirts that would fit the chef only for him to quit before making it through the bulk of shirts Ben had purchased.

He rifled through the box before grinning. "Even better." He said, chuckling as he unfurled the hot pink shirt. He headed into his room, finding a large sharpie pen. He marked the shirt well on the front and back of it... GET ALONG SHIRT and capped the pen again before heading downstairs and entering the kitchen again. "Enough!" He roared to be heard over his nephew's raised voices. "I told you to get along."

North's eyes darkened and he scowled.

Luke tilted his head curiously for a moment before hanging his head. "Sorry Uncle." He mumbled running the back of his hand under his nose.

"I said you wouldn't like it." He raised an eyebrow at both of them. Luke's head raised up again. "So, this is time out time and punishment time." He raised the shirt. "This is the get along shirt. Any time we have to deal with these arguments, you'll be spending at least 5 minutes in the shirt." He set the shirt down and positioned them. "Raise your arms."

"It's pink." North grumbled.

"Neon pink." Luke nodded. "It's a little bright."

"You're not supposed to like it." Ben said before dropping the 5XL shirt over them and hiding his grin at the fact that they were both in the shirt, sharing arm holes and the neck. "But you are supposed to dance." He stated before turning on the radio. "Ah. Perfect." He nodded before going over to take a seat on one of the kitchen chairs.

They looked at him, mouths dropped open in surprise. "Dance?" Luke squeaked.

"That's right. Dance." Ben nodded again. "Come on now, you won't be finishing with the song if you don't start dancing." He said, relishing the irony that Poison's Every Rose Has Its Thorn had come on the radio. He motioned again for them to dance and hid a smile that they'd reluctantly started to sway to the music.

North huffed a sigh and scowled, shuffling his feet. "Stop squirming."

"I'm dancing."

"Silent dancing." Ben said before fiddling with his cell and turning on the camera to video today's dance session. Something was telling him that it would be valuable material to have. The threat of releasing the evidence might keep them in line.

It was pretty humorous.

North grumbled about Luke stepping on his toes and Luke grumbled about North not dancing with proper spirit.

They didn't seem to realize the song had changed from Poison to Debbie Gibson's Lost In Your Eyes so Ben just let them dance.

If you could call barely swaying to the beat... dancing. He supposed it would be out of line to ask them to be a bit more spirited with their dancing. He let them out of the shirt when they finally realized that this wasn't the same song anymore.

Peace finally reigned at the Taylor house and Ben breathed a silent prayer that he wouldn't have to use the shirt often.

On the other hand, it was rather funny and he was amused.

Four and a half years later...

"Change the radio." North demanded, reaching for the dial.

"No. My car, I'm driving and I like 80's music." Silas scowled at him. North grunted and his scowl deepened.

"No, please." Luke's eyes widened and he peered over the back of the seat. "Silas, please."

Silas' eyes narrowed at the brothers. "No." He said before turning it up and starting to sing along. "Every Rose has Its thorn." He raised an eyebrow at the way the Taylors were curled into their seats, eyes scrunched closed as though warding off some nightmare. "Catchy tune. Might be nice for dancing."

"NO!" North growled.

"NO..." Luke shook his head. "NO dancing." He shuddered. "Please, no dancing."

Silas looked worried. "You're ... not..."

"Just leave it alone, Si." North said. "Long story. And not one we are going to tell. Just get us to the diner before we're late for our shifts."

Silas fell silent and gave in to the strange behavior of his brothers and turned off the radio, starting a conversation about Sang instead as he drove the rest of the way to the diner.

His curiosity was ramped back up to high levels when they walked into the kitchen and Uncle looked up from his prep work. "Boys!" He greeted them. "You'll never guess what songs are on the radio today. It's an 80's and 90's revival." He turned up the volume on the same Poison song that had played in the car.

North and Luke both paled and shuddered. "Noo!" Luke clapped his hands over his ears. "Not this one." He dashed off into the office, trying to not listen to the music.

North scowled and he stomped off in the opposite direction, muttering something about dancing.

Silas looked back at Uncle. "I'm surprised at their reaction. I think they would have jumped out of my car when this song came on the radio."

Uncle laughed. "I'm not surprised at all." He said. "I'd like to think they wouldn't kill me if I showed you one of their previous experiences with the song. But I can't risk losing the leverage."

Silas tilted his head. "I see."

Uncle patted him on the shoulder. "Just tell your Mr. Blackbourne to come see me if they aren't getting along. Or the little bird." He nodded. "I can make sure they fall back into line for you."

"If you say so." Silas said, going over and putting on his apron so he could get the dishwasher started.

"Oh, I say so." Uncle laughed again before turning the radio down and going back to chopping the peppers for the dinner special.

~Fade~