by Steven
It was a pretty nice day, even if it was a bit humid. Benjamin was already in a pretty bad mood since his father, William, woke him up much earlier than he had initially been promised. No doubt it was yet another attempt by his father to keep Ben on his toes. He’s been doing that a lot more lately. William and Benjamin have spent the last year and a half on their own since Ben’s mother died. William, who had always struggled a bit with his wife being the dominant force in the household seemed to finally become a lot more strict as time had gone by since her passing, something that has most certainly not gone unnoticed and unappreciated by his son.
William worked a full-time job in town. He didn’t make a ton of money, but he did make a pretty decent living being able to afford a nice home further in the country. The nearest neighbors being a good mile or so away. His son, Benjamin, an 18 year old who just graduated high school and was going to be attending the local community college in the fall was a little restless more often than not from living so far from the main town and his friends. Even worse when he felt as though his father were “acting up.”
“Benjamin, you done with that laundry yet?” his father yelled from upstairs in the kitchen. Ben was in the basement doing yet another load of laundry. His father insisted on him constantly keeping up with it and it had admittedly been a little longer between loads than his father would have liked. He always seemed as if he could not handle the smell of body odor or dirty clothes so he kept on top of Ben constantly to do a load of laundry every couple of days so he and his clothes would smell fresh. Ben would even admit it could be a struggle since he had played basketball in high school. His socks, underwear and shirts were often quite pungent, especially more than most of the other boys for some reason. Though, it is normal for some guys to have a naturally stronger smell than others he learned.
“Yeah yeah, you pain in the ass…” Ben said quietly to himself.
“Benjamin!” His father yelled again waiting for a response.
“YES! GOD!” Ben yelled back seemingly annoyed his father didn’t hear him quietly whispering to himself from downstairs. He knew it was ridiculous sounding in his own mind, but still being a teen fresh out of high school, he was rarely able to reason with himself. Especially, when he was already aggravated. Of course, Ben hadn’t actually finished his laundry. He was too lazy to actually do all of it so he kept some of his dirty clothes hidden in his room under his bed. It was not that hard to notice, however, considering the smell and how many days in a row he had worn some of those socks.
“Hey!” William responded loudly down the stairs, “I’m not tolerating your attitude for the next couple weeks. Especially, while your uncles here.”
William was also a bit nervous in all reality. He had a very strained relationship with his little brother, though if you were to ask Donny that, he would deny it completely. Though William was the elder brother, his younger brother Donovan was extremely dominant and since he played sports and worked out regularly when they were kids he was naturally able to assert that dominance over him. A ritual that continued even after William moved away for college and started a life with his now late wife. Donovan was a big guy, tall and muscular, he made star quarterback, captain of his school's football team and the admiration of everyone in their hometown. Regardless of never leaving town after high school and working as a mechanic at their parents old auto shop, Donny has always been very content with the path he chose even though William was considered more traditionally successful. Whenever William would visit home Donny would always wrestle, tease and torment him into submission. Even though William would take it in stride as best he could, he always resented being the weaker older brother. William even grew to fear him a bit when they were kids since Donny had a habit of taking things a little too far. For half of William’s high school career and even a few years after graduating when he would come back for his winter and summer breaks, Donny would torment him as much as he had the chance. Unconsciously, this happened to implant certain psychological and physical triggers that have stayed with his older brother throughout his life. While it wasn’t something Donny meant to do, it was certainly something he was aware he had done and loved to exploit. It gave him a power trip which always gave him a major rush.
Memories of their childhood had been flooding William’s mind since he had last spoken to his brother on the phone a month ago and seemingly invited him to stay with them for a few days the week after Benjamin graduated high school. Although, it did feel more like Donny may have been the one to initiate the suggestion and running with it before his older brother could form an actual opinion on the subject. William would have most likely given in considering Donovan’s penchant to manipulate him anyway, though Benjamin always took to his uncle so he figured it would be nice for the three of them to spend some time together. He thought maybe it would even mellow out his son since he felt he had grown a little angry seeming since his mother passed away. In a way, regardless of the torment he knew his brother was capable of putting him through he looked forward to seeing him and found himself, while very nervous, also a bit excited even if he didn’t realize it.
The next couple of hours end up going by fairly quickly as the boys barely have a moment or two to relax and shower before Donny showed up. The boys came outside to greet him as Donny got out of his pickup with a big cocky smile on his face. Even though it had been quite a few years since his high school glory days, he still looked pretty good even with the extra padding he put on over the years. He wore his weight very well and was even more imposing now than back in the day, William thought.
“Little Willy!” yelled Donovan very loudly and excitedly while embracing his older brother in a big hug even lifting him off the ground in a show of affection and a much more veiled attempt at making William uncomfortable and submissive right off the bat.
“Hey Donny.. Unh,” William grunted while being enveloped in such a tight hug. “You know I hate that nickname. At least not in front of the kid, ok?” he continued after being put down.
“Oh, I don’t mean nothin’ by it, brother,” Donny said in an almost exaggerated attempt to pacify and invalidate his brothers feelings. The tone which, while not going completely unnoticed by William, also went unanswered as all he could do was lower his head a little as his younger brother moved right past him to his son. “Big Ben!” he said excitedly as he ruffled his nephew's hair. “It’s only been a year and I swear you just keep growing.”
“Haha Hey Uncle Donny, how was the drive?” Ben asked his uncle.
“Oh ya know, a bit hot since my AC broke in the car so I’m a bit ripe haha,” he laughed as he smelled himself under the arms and seemingly catching a whiff of something else. “Whoo! Looks like I’m not the only one though, huh? You take after your uncle haha”
“Alright alright, let’s get you inside and you can take a shower if you like--” William tried to say as he escorted his brother in after taking out Donny’s bag from the back of the truck.
“A shower sounds great! I’d rather catch up with you boys first though! It’s been over a year since I’ve seen ya’s,” Donny said entering the house and making William wince a little at the thought of having to smell his brother for any longer than he had to.
So they sat in the kitchen and talked for a bit while William made everyone some sandwiches. After a couple hours of just talking and catching up, William thought now would be a good time to politely suggest his brother go up to the guest room and get settled in and maybe take a shower. He had already been smelling the sweat coming off of him and was starting to get inexplicably nervous and a little sweatier himself. As Donny got up to leave he surprised William after he turned his back to finish cleaning up the counter and got him in a headlock with his face partially in his armpit.
“Hey Willy, remember this?” he shouted surprising his brother as he struggled against his strength and weight. “Breathe deep, come on!”
“NO! Donovan get… off!” William said to say as he struggled to hold his breath at the same time.
“Aw, come on! Just for a second and I’ll let you go! Like we used to,” Donny said playfully.
“Please stop… this is ridiculous and in front of my son?” William said frustrated and sucking in air from his mouth as best he could. He kept his eyes shut so he didn’t have to look at his son watching him very amused.
“Oh the kid thinks it’s funny. Come on, if you don’t then I’m just gonna have to resort to drastic measures,” his brother said repeating his playful tone from before, but adding a little bit more mischievousness.
“NO NO! Fine geez!” but before William could submit to his brother, Donny surprised him with a sneak attack under his arm before William could protect himself.
“Too late!” Donny said as he wiggled his fingers under his older brothers arm.
“Nngh.. Nah aha pleas--” Willy said trying to hold in his laughter out of pure embarrassment. All Benjamin could do was watch in awe of his uncle as he teased and tickled his father.
“Well, now you gotta say ‘I’m a ticklish little boy and I’ll let you go,’” Donny said very smugly while holding his brother with seemingly very little effort.
“Plehehease Dohahaneeeeee not thihihis,” Willy finally let out in giggles and finally breathing in his brothers underarm stench.
“Yep! Come on you can say it or I’ll tickle you till you pee in front of Big Ben here,” Donny said.
“Ok ok hahahaha okahahahay! I’maha I’m a ticklisssshahaha little boyahahaha getoutgetoutgetouthaha!” Willy laughed trying to wiggle away from his brothers invading fingers.
“Good! Now say you forgive me and you are super excited to spend some quality time with your brother again,” Donny said as he moved his hand out of his brothers armpit and onto his sides and stomach.
“I forgifffffffflahahaha pleasepleasepleasssssahahahahaha I forgahahahaha--” Willy struggled to form the words as his brother tickled him.
“Haha alright alright that’s good enough I guess. For now! Man, that was funny as hell, huh Big Ben?” Donny said as he let his brother go after he realized Willy wouldn't be able to get the words out. “Hey at least it wasn’t my sweaty socks or feet in your face this time, huh Little Willy?” he continued as he walked out of the room with the slightest hint of a playful threat which William full on got the message from. He was just coming down from giggling and trying to catch his breath as he hung on to the counter barely facing either of them. Part of his embarrassment, which thankfully escaped his son's attention, was that he had started developing a slight hard on from the mix of sensations his brother had just put him through. This also happened to be one of those lasting triggers mentioned earlier. And while his son may not have noticed, Donovan certainly knew the effect it would have had on him and counted on it.
“Wow, dad. Wow,” Benjamin laughed and shook his head as he got up to follow his uncle out and plopped down on the couch next to him. William just stood there, seething a little, but too mortified to really say anything at that moment. He just tried his hardest to regain what little composure he had to finish cleaning the kitchen from lunch.
The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. William tried his hardest to just put his agitation and embarrassment aside even when his brother and his own son would actively tease him by mimicking him when he was being tickled. William just sat there laughing fakely along trying to swallow his pride and be the bigger man. The men sat in the living room for hours watching tv, talking, and laughing while Donovan consumed a few too many beers. It wasn’t until late when Donny unlaced his boots and pulled them off that he started getting really nervous again.
“Argh, dude!” Benjamin cried out half laughing at the stench that filled the air once his uncle's feet were free of the boots. “That is nasty! Hahaha”
“Hahahaha here have a whiff,” Donny teased as he playfully moved his boot closer to his nephew as he shoved it away laughing.
“No way, dude, that reeks!” laughed Ben.
“Haha yeah yeah, well from what I can tell from you takin’ your sneaks off earlier this stink runs in the family,” Donny said joking around. Meanwhile, after seeing Donovan begin to unlace his boots, William completely froze from the fear of the looming comment his brother made earlier after the headlock. His memories of the torture his brother would put him through came rushing back and he hoped that maybe, just maybe enough time had gone by this time that what would happen after Donny’s feet left those boots would no longer have an effect. But wishful thinking is just that, because as the smell filled the air he realized he still had the weakness his brother had conditioned into him all those years ago; he started to get very hard.
“You ok over there, Little Willy,” Donny asked as he rested his big feet on the living room table close to his brother, knowing full well what that would do. All Willy could do was stare at the dirt and sweat covered socks in front of him as his brother flexed and wiggled his newly freed socked toes, in effect releasing another wave of stink that almost seemed like it was aimed at him.
“Uuuuuuh I uh, I’m not feeling very well and I think I’m just gonna head to bed a little early tonight,” He mumbled out getting up carefully and walking a little oddly as he headed upstairs. Donny watched him walk up stairs with a raised eyebrow and cocky smile.
“Hah, your gross feet scared the old man away. He can’t stand body odor. Completely grosses him out. Even freaks out at me when I haven’t washed my clothes or showered right after my games or practices,” Ben tried to explain laughing it off and shaking his head as he turned to face the television.
“Oh, I’m well aware of his reaction to my foot stink, Big Ben, but it’s not exactly an aversion to it like you think,” Donny said still looking towards the stairs.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Ben asked turning towards his uncle. “He seems pretty grossed out to me.”
“Well, ya see, I used to tease your dad a lot when we were younger,” Donny began as he turned to watch the tv while his nephew stared at him confused, but intrigued. “It was all just horsin’ around of course, like brothers and kids do.”
“Oooooookay… but I don’t understand how that means he doesn’t have an aversion to your sten--” Ben responded.
“Hey, I’m gettin’ to that, hold your horses,” Donny said cutting off his nephew. “Ya see, a lot of the times when your dad was mouthin’ off to me or just needed some brotherly attention, I would play around with him. Tyin’ him up, tickling the ever lovin’ crap outta him, and most times, and this was my favorite, I would choke him on my sweat by makin’em smell my pits and feet all the time. We maaaaay have taken it a little too far sometimes, but hey what good are brothers if we don’t put each other through the ringer sometimes haha! Anyways, after a while it apparently had a bit of the opposite effect I thought it would on your dad and instead of hatin’ the stink, he ended up being drawn to it. Kinda developed a weakness to it.”
Donny just couldn’t help himself but to tell all this and more to Ben since he had such a strong buzz going from the sheer number of beers he had consumed, but he also found himself enjoying the attention this had bought from his nephew. The two had come to realize that they developed an unspoken bond at that moment and Ben was soaking up everything his uncle told him about how his dad was tormented and how much weaker and submissive he had grown to his uncle over time. Donny himself, had initially felt a little bad about telling such intimate secrets about Willy to his own son, but that guilt slowly drifted away as he kept going on and on and eventually found himself curious about the potential for chaos this could have on his brother. He loved the idea of how much fun that seemed. Of course, Ben being similar enough to his uncle, started to develop some ideas for exploiting his dad’s long hidden weakness and couldn’t wait to initiate them.
Meanwhile, William closed and locked the door behind him. He just stood there standing in the middle of his room staring off into space thinking about what had just happened. How could Donovan still have that effect on him? Of all things, his feet? Whoever heard of such a bizarre reaction to being tortured with their own siblings foot stench for so long that they developed a liking to it? Not just a liking, but a weakness for it? This is crazy. What if his son saw the reaction he had had? Benjamin would be so ashamed. All these thoughts just kept racing through his mind as he stood in the middle of the room sweating from how mortified he was. And the more embarrassed he got from his own thoughts, the harder he was getting. Eventually, he snapped himself out of it, stripped off his clothes, and jumped in the shower making sure the water was ice cold. He needed to calm himself and his body down. He needed to get the thought of his brothers feet and smell out of his mind and try to get some sleep to deal with his family again tomorrow as well as the next few days.
That’s all it was after all, just a few days. He could handle it, he thought.
