part of him had darker thoughts

Littlegirlcop and his friend Ted sat on the porch at the party invisible to the men around them. Murphy wasn't quite sure what he was still doing at the grand house, well he was there because his pal Ted didn't want to stay alone, and he was curious about the fancy party on leather weekend, but Murphy and Ted were clearly out of place. Neither was a circuit bear. Neither was an A-lister. Neither had a shaved head or a flat top, or took special nutritional supplements to get bigger muscles, both men were ok in the muscle department but neither was trying to look like a body builder. While they recognized a few people none of the men attending were friends or even really acquaintances. Murphy recognized one man who he had briefly chatted with online. Ted recognized the same man as the guy, who a month ago, tried to lure away his date with the offer of a blowjob. The city was very small at times, thought Murphy.

"These are the Heather Bears," explained Ted, "if they were high school girls they'd all be pretty, rich, cheer leaders named Heather."

Ted didn't know why he received the invitation to the party, and while he was flattered by the evite he didn't want to go alone. This was mostly because Ted was shy, but there was a small part of him that had darker thoughts. It was an invitation from a stranger, it was a pre-party for a kick-off party for the leather street fair. And while the phrase "ass in a sling" wasn't entirely unappealing for either man, the thought of drinks full of Ruffies and a lost weekend chained up in someone's playroom did make them cautious.

The potential for intrigue made the party much more interesting than it was. While the evite promised a piss tough in the alley, what they found was a new metal wash tub with a yellow bandana tied around the handle, nestled in the garden behind some rose bushes. The tub was still dry by the time they found it, with no pissers or pissees in sight. The tub was of the same variety that Murphy's father filled with beer and ice for barbecues and that his mother used for bobbing for apples on Halloween. Their expectations did not match the reality of the party. They were sitting on the poarch of a very nice house with a bunch of upper middleclass gay men. Some of the guys were in there leather gear, but they weren't dyed in the wool leathermen and wore their chaps and harnesses the same way they wore a tux to the symphony. They were eating chips out of bowls and picking at supermarket deli platters. Deli platers, thought Murphy, what kind of self-respecting fag serves a deli platter.

his eyes weren't at all unsure

Well it wasn't as good as a sailor, a fireman or UPS driver, thought Murphy, but the homeland security guy at TF Green International was in a uniform. And he was definitely flirting.

"He wants to know how old I am and if I'm single," the man said half to Littlegirlcop and half to the woman he was working with. "You like Tony Bennett? I'll sing you a Tony Bennett song."

Littlegirlcop nodded, a bit baffled by the unexpected attention. "Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum, You came along and everything started to hum," sang the man as he wiped down Murphy's bag with the swab for the explosives detection machine.

"Time passes quick, working with him," said his younger pretty partner while the man continued singing. Her lack of surpise told Murphy that he might not have been the first man to be serenaded at this security check point; still, Murphy was flattered.

"It's a real good bet the best is yet to come, The best is yet to come and, babe, won't it be fine?" While the words asked a question, the man's eyes weren't at all unsure, they weren't asking.

The machine spit out the white swab, beeped an all clear and the singing security guy pointed Littlegircop towards his gate. He was still singing as an amused Murphy walked on; smiling, stepping a bit lighter.