Pamela and Noelani were beginning to grow concerned. It was 10:30 and none of their children had come downstairs. It wasn't odd for Aaron to stay in bed quite late; he was a heavy sleeper. And Markie often played alone in their room for a while. But this was pushing the bounds of normal. And Lizzie was usually up significantly earlier than that.

Gently, they cracked open the door to the brothers' room. Thankfully, Lizzie and Markie were present and accounted for— and it could be assumed that Aaron was still asleep even though they didn't have a clear view of his bed; the other two wouldn't be so quiet otherwise.

They could hardly avoid cooing at the scene in front of them. Markie was wearing one of Lizzie's dresses, a little too big for him but still lovely, and Lizzie was practicing braiding by doing his hair. He was humming very softly to himself, and had Aaron's quilt spread out in front of him. Mom peeked her head in. "I sure hope you didn't steal that from your brother," she teased.

"No, Mom. He kicked it off in the middle of the night, like always," Lizzie reported with a snicker.

Markie felt absolutely panicked. "Mom? Is it okay?"

"What do you mean, dear?" Mommy asked. Pamela scooched aside to give her room.

"I-I'm wearing a dress. Usually, boys don't—"

"Right. Usually they don't. That doesn't mean they can't, or that it's bad for them to. If you like to wear dresses and skirts, that's more than alright, sweetie."

"In fact, you're looking pretty sharp," Mom added encouragingly, sticking up a thumb.

The boy giggled bashfully and drummed his hands on his lap. "I feel pretty."

"Do you want to go shopping for some of your own today? It is the second-to-last day before school, and all. It's probably best for all three of you to get a new outfit or two."

Markie nodded cheerfully.

"But Mom, Mommy, we have to wait. We're going to have a tea party today," Lizzie insisted with a glare.

Mommy clapped her hands. "Oh, how wonderful! Are we invited, too?"

Markie rose up and seized a few pieces of construction paper, presenting them to his mothers. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be invitations (which were very detailed for someone his age, full of golden curlicues and with a white teacup cut out of a different sheet of paper). "Here you go, Mom and Mommy! You're VIPs!"

"We invited Cove, too. Yesterday," Lizzie remarked.

Mom raised a tired eyebrow. "Did you now?"

"Oh no! Oh no, oh no, I invited him before asking you! I'm really sorry, I just really wanted to have a tea party!"

Mom sighed, but Mommy rubbed her shoulder soothingly. "Okay. That's fine. This says it starts at one-thirty?" Brother and sister nodded their heads. "And what, if anything, do we need to do to prepare for this classy event?"

"Dress really nicely! And Aaron agreed to make finger sandwiches, but maybe you could help him if he needs it?"

"Oh! Markie, we need tea! Ugh, so dumb, we didn't even think about the most important part."

"Well, I was planning to go to the market today anyway. We may as well grab you more sandwich ingredients and a few types of tea."

"Nooooo," Aaron mumbled, "The peacock needs to win or else it won't count." He was roused by the sudden hysterical laughter that filled the room. The dream vanished from his memory within seconds, and he was incredibly perplexed that his first waking moments involved everyone cracking up at him. "G-Good morning?"

"Morning, Aaron! What were you dreaming about?" Markie asked.

"I have no idea at all!" He looked at Markie wearing Lizzie's dress. Huh. That was new. "I don't have anything fancy to wear for the tea party..." he murmured.

"You can wear one of my dresses, too. You'll look dashing, because I have really good style!" Aaron held his tongue, but the thought occurred to him that she'd only been choosing which clothes to buy for about a year.

"Um. Okay. I want breakfast."

Mom sat on the bed and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Sure, kiddos. We have oatmeal, bacon, and lots of fruit ready. As for your clothes, if we hurry, we can probably go shopping before the tea party. That way, you'll actually have nice clothes that fit properly."

After a somewhat frantic breakfast, the family piled into the car. First, they headed to the supermarket, grabbing things like cream cheese, cucumbers, turkey, and even some fancy prosciutto for the sandwiches, along with soft white bread. Of course, they also grabbed normal groceries. The three children stuck their hands and faces into the veggie mist, as any kid ought to, and Lizzie proudly carried some of the bags back out to the car once they'd gotten everything. But then, Mom had to rush back and buy two discount teapots, having realized that they had none.

As for clothes, well, there was one particular outlet store on the shopping street that would suit their needs just fine. It was called "Luxious," a name that Aaron and Markie hated because it couldn't decide whether it was supposed to be "Luscious," or "Luxurious." Lizzie just told them to stop being buzzkills. Mom and Mommy told them to behave.

In spite of not really needing anything new, Lizzie chose a rich red dress for herself with small blue flowers. Markie needed a bit of prodding in order to let himself look at more feminine clothes, even though that was part of why they'd come in the first place.

"Come ON, Markie, you have to! You looked so good in my dress! It was special! I won't let you leave unless you get at least one skirt or dress," Lizzie affirmed.

"What?!"

Mom clicked her tongue softly. "Lizzie, you can't force him to stay if he doesn't want to. But still, Markie, this is a great opportunity! Developing your sense of style is an important part of growing up!"

"So is trying new things! It'll be fun. Like an adventure," Mommy added.

Markie shuffled his foot on the ground, 95% convinced. "Hey. If anyone bullies you, I'll beat them up," Aaron murmured on the down-low. Markie knew this was probably a lie, but laughed and told him no anyway.

Even so, this was enough to sway him the rest of the way. He was a little too intimidated to go for dresses even despite all of it, but he did swoop up a few skirts– a long, flowy one in pastel blue, a layered pink tulle one, and an accordion-pleated lavender one– and a black button-up shirt. He was going to wear the lavender one to the tea party.

Aaron looked through all the skirts. He grabbed a few and dragged them into the fitting room. He tried them all on, and smiled every time he stepped out to show them one. The last one was a black-and-white houndstooth one. At this point, he could tell that Mom and Mommy had seen right through him; even though his siblings were encouraging him, his parents had their brows furrowed in concern. "I'll keep looking," he said. "Come with me, Mommy."

She listened, and the two gathered distance from their family. "Sweetie. What's the matter?"

"I just... I just haven't found the right one. That's all. I will look very dapper once I find it."

She crouched down to match him in height and gripped his shoulder. "Honey. We made sure to tell your brother that it was completely okay for boys to wear skirts or dresses. But I want to make sure you know that it's perfectly okay not to want to. If you feel bad in the skirts, we can get you some dress-pants."

He tapped his fingers together nervously. His voice was small and weak. "But Markie and I are twins."

"Twins don't need to dress the same. They can have their own styles! It's wonderful to be our own individuals!"

"But we don't look alike at all. If Markie starts wearing skirts and I don't, that just makes us even more different. I don't want to be his opposite in every single way."

Mommy planted a gentle kiss on his head, which sent a wave of calm through him. "It's okay for you to look different. I know it bothers you when people doubt that you're related. But Markie will always be your brother, and he'll always tell people that. Besides, you may look like opposites, but you both love books, you're both responsible, and you're both incredibly curious. You're our little gentlemen, and you're more similar than you think!"

Aaron let this sink in for a while. Then nodded. If he really felt the need to, he could always start growing his hair out like Markie's. "Pants."

"Pants it is." Aaron found himself two pairs of slacks and two dress shirts, and the trip was over. Back at the Romwell residence, Markie brewed the tea under the careful supervision of Mommy, and Aaron painstakingly crafted sandwiches under the careful supervision of Mom. He had to convince her to let him use the knives himself, but he managed not to hurt anyone with them. Lizzie bounced back and forth between watching either group and decorating the living room for the tea party. A couple of minutes after the water finished boiling, all three of them watched Mommy pour the water into the teapots and added the bags hastily.

Running low on time— fifteen minutes until Cove would come— they then got into their outfits. Markie was pleased and kept twirling in his skirt, unable to stop from laughing. It wasn't his fault. Accordion pleats were just way too much fun. Lizzie sat down like a "proper lady" and didn't make as big of a fuss out of it as Markie did, but the smug smirk on her face made it obvious how she felt. Mom braided Lizzie's hair while Mommy put Markie's in a small bun. Aaron's hair was too short for anything like that, but he did feel quiet pride in his navy button-up and grey slack. Markie couldn't help but smile at this; Aaron usually never gave the mirror a second glance, but now he kept peeking at himself.

The doorbell rang. Markie scrambled partway to the door but then realized he was supposed to be polite and fancy. So he strode the rest of the way there and opened the door. Cove and his dad were there, as expected. He curtsied deeply, and Cove made an awkward bow in response. "Hi, Markie."

"Welcome to our party. Invitation, please?" Cove grinned and handed it over. "Excellent. Come on in."

"Hey, Romwell family! Thanks again for having my boy over. This looks like a swanky establishment," Cliff winked.

"We needed to make sure the decor fit to a t," Mom joked. Aaron and Cliff laughed at her pun. Lizzie groaned dramatically.

"Cliff, we know you didn't technically get an invitation, but feel free to join in. We'd love to have you," Mommy invited. Cove raised his eyebrows, unimpressed, but didn't object.

"Ah, are you sure? I don't mean to intrude."

"Absolutely. You did have the boys over for breakfast very short-notice, after all."

Cove's slight pout got the message across though. "Actually, that's okay. I'm not fancy enough for a shindig of this caliber." Aaron made a mental note to look up that last word. That and "establishment," though he thought he could figure it out from context clues. "Bye, son. Love you. Call if you need anything."

"Bye." Now, Cove was not the type to dress up fancy. All three Romwell siblings knew that, and none of them expected him to. But he did put in a little bit of effort, probably because his dad made him. Instead of his usual shorts and tank tops, he had a white polo and black jeans. Lizzie wanted to make fun of him for only doing that much, but knew she'd get scolded with moms right there.

They huddled around the dining room table. By the way Cove was staring at it, he was either impressed or intimidated— it was hard to tell with him. Lizzie had somehow managed to find the tablecloth and, with permission, set up the special ceramic plates. Mom and Mommy had set up the teapots, mugs (they had no teacups, but that was okay), sandwiches, milk, sugar, and honey. Markie welcomingly pat the chair next to him and felt his heart warm when Cove took it.

"Lizzie! It looks so good!" Markie cheered.

His sister winked. "It's me. Expect the best."

Cove narrowly held back a scoff. "What kinds of tea are these?"

"We have Jasmine tea in that one, and English Breakfast tea in the other one! It should probably be cool enough to drink by now!"

"Jasmine? Teas can be made with flowers?" From his cringe, it seemed obvious that the idea unsettled him.

"Lots of them can, yeah. Chamomile is a daisy. And hibiscus. And rosehip. And..." Aaron tepidly faded out, worried that he'd been talking too much.

But Markie was there to ease his worries. "And lavender! Don't worry, Jasmine tea tastes really good! And if you don't wind up liking anything, we can just pour some water into your mug and you can pretend!"

"Do you want to try either of them, Cove? I can pour a cup for each of you," Mom offered.

"Come on, chicken! They're good! Are you scared of a little leaf juice?" Lizzie goaded. Cove scowled.

"What happened to being a proper lady, Lizzie?" Mommy retorted. She crossed her arms but stopped teasing him.

"I'll take the breakfast tea," he said after a long pause. Mom poured tea for everyone– jasmine for the twins and Lizzie, English breakfast for Cove, Mommy, and herself. Each person added things to their liking.

"A toast!" Markie proposed. "To summer, family, and friendship! May all my loved ones be happy!"

"Cheers!" they all responded. Markie was absolutely giddy; he'd been wanting to try toasting for a long time. As the Romwells took hearty gulps of their tea, Cove took a timid sip. The fear in his face melted away, but he didn't necessarily brighten. Maybe it was just okay.

The sandwiches, on the other hand, were unanimously deemed yummy. Aaron didn't say much in response to the praise, but he smiled a lot and ate quite a few.

"Markie. Those invitations were really cool," Cove commented with a sunny smile. Markie took his hand and squeezed it gratefully.

School would be starting back up soon– only a few more days of summer– but this tea party proved that there would always be time to celebrate, and that everyone would gladly work together to make it happen. To the Romwell siblings, this was a good omen. They'd carry this memory with them into the new school year.