by Mark
« Back To Free Stories Archive
It was a pretty good party. Some of our fraternity brothers complained about the scarcity of females, so I was doing my duty to them by not using any up. Instead, I was having a good time hanging out in the hallway upstairs with my roommate Josh and three really cool guys from the dorms that we'd struck up a conversation with. A hand grabbed each of our collars from behind.
"We need you downstairs, guys," a cheerful voice boomed. I groaned.
Barry always came along at the worst times, to make me and Josh do some menial duty. "Can't it wait, Barry? It's the middle of a party."
"This will be fun. I promise." He spun us halfway around so we were facing each other and could look at him.
"We just got through midterms," Josh protested.
"We deserve a break."
"Don't make me embarrass you guys in front of your new buddies," he said with a grin. Without giving us a chance to heed his warning, he expertly grabbed each of our heads, banging them together and holding them locked against his chest. When would we learn not to stand so close together when he's around? It always takes him longer to get us both in a headlock when he has to drag the first guy around the room while chasing the other. But I've never been willing to just abandon Josh and run, and he's never abandoned me, so Barry always winds up getting us both.
Anyway, this time he'd managed to grab our shirts before we'd seen him coming. Under his usual musky natural odor, Barry smelled of beer, as if it were oozing out of his pores. Probably it was just coming from his breath, or maybe he'd actually spilled some on his shirt, though the flannel seemed dry enough against my ear and cheek.
"Sorry, dudes, we gotta go," Josh said to the guys from the dorms, his voice muffled by a mouthful of Barry's shirt. "Fraternity business."
Unless Barry just wants some menial personal service, I thought, like the time that he'd made us wash his car on a hot day while he sat in the shade sipping beer. (Though, admittedly, he had such an awesome car it was almost a privilege to get a chance to slather soap over it. And he hadn't tried to stop Josh and me from goofing around a little. How could I resist, with a hose in my hand and Josh already stripped to the waist? He really hated being squirted with cold water, and had paid me back later.) But usually it really was fraternity business. Since he'd made Mitch and John scrub the bathroom floors before the party, I guessed it was our turn to deal with whatever else had come up.
I just hoped it wasn't something disgusting, like cleaning up someone's puke. It wasn't. He'd told the truth. It actually *was* a fun task, at least by Barry's definition of fun. He was even going to help us with it. A lone member of Tau Beta Delta, our traditional rival fraternity, had crashed our party. Barry pointed him out to us from a vantage point at the top of the stairs, where the three of us were crouched like conspirators. Barry had marched us there with our heads still crushed against his chest. Josh and I were pretty good, by this time, at walking sideways and bent over. He loosened his grip, or we wouldn't have been able to see anything except a close-up view of thick black chest hair sticking out of plaid flannel. He left his hands loosely around our necks in what probably looked like a friendly gesture from a distance.
The interloper was a good-looking guy with light brown hair, a few inches shorter than the guys he was drinking beer with, who I knew were about my height. He looked fairly slim. I couldn't see any obvious muscles bulging under his button-down shirt -- the way I could under Barry's, even if Barry had bothered to button his all the way up. Probably not as strong as Josh or me, I judged. The two of us together would have no trouble throwing him out, and with Barry helping us the guy wouldn't stand a chance.
"So why do you need three of us for that wimp?" I asked. "Can't you take him yourself?"
"Sure. Even one of you shrimps could do it alone, probably."
"He probably just wants him thrown out quietly without a big struggle," Josh told me. We both ignored Barry's typical and inaccurate jibe about our sizes; I was taller and stronger than most of the guys in our fraternity, which tended to pick big pledges, and Josh was almost my height and worked out regularly. But it's all relative.
"No, I don't just want him thrown out. I want him taught a lesson."
"You want us to beat him up?" Josh said in alarm.
"No, c'mon, you know me better than that. A more creative lesson."
I already felt sorry for the poor guy. Josh and I looked at each other. We knew we'd have to go along with whatever Barry wanted. One time when Stuart had tried to resist him, he'd dangled him by his feet from a second-story window until he promised to do anything Barry wanted. The last time Josh and I had disobeyed, he'd left us tied back to back on the balcony for an hour, shirtless in the chilly autumn weather. Not one of our fraternity brothers had dared to come out and let us go until Barry said it was okay. Whatever Barry had in mind for this poor schmuck, he'd do it to us instead, if we refused. I would rather have it happen to a stranger than to Josh. Or me.
"What do you want us to do?" I asked wearily.
"Nothing too complicated. I figured we'd strip the guy to his shorts in front of the crowd, then drag him out to the patio and squirt half the keg over him. If he wants our beer so much, he can drink as much as he can swallow."
"But--!"
"Don't worry," Barry assured Josh. "We can spare it. We have another keg we haven't even tapped yet. Then all we have to do is decide whether to make him walk home wearing nothing but his sopping wet shorts, or send his clothes back to Tau Beta Delta with a ransom demand."
I had to admit, it did sound like fun. I wouldn't want to take responsibility for a prank like that, but since Barry was forcing me into it, I might as well enjoy it. I think Josh saw the gleam in my eyes, because he looked at me reproachfully. But neither of us objected. Barry gave us some more detailed instructions and hauled us to our feet, and the three of us walked casually down the stairs and approached our victim. The poor guy must have had no idea what we planned for him.
As we approached him, he glanced at us and smiled, maybe thinking he was going to meet some new friends. Barry gave us a slight push as a signal, and we leapt forward and grabbed him. Barry and Josh each grabbed an arm while I caught his beer before too much of it sloshed on the carpet, and set it aside.
"What the fuck are you doing?" asked one of the guys the interloper had been talking to.
"Just stand aside," Barry told him. "This guy knew he wasn't invited."
I started unbuttoning the guy's shirt, stepping on his feet to keep him from kicking, as he struggled helplessly in Barry and Josh's grasp. This was exciting, and kind of fun. I had time to get two buttons undone -- exposing a chest that was as smooth as Josh's, but not so well tanned -- before I felt myself grabbed from behind. Josh and Barry were also being pulled off our victim by some of the guys he'd been talking to, even though they were from fraternities supposedly friendly with ours.
"You idiots! Let us go!" Barry yelled.
Our victim ducked through some people and made a dash for the door. Barry elbowed the guy who had grabbed him, causing him to grunt and double over. Barry grabbed a fistful of shirt and hauled him up, pulling his shirt half off in the process. Our fraternity brothers pulled the other guys off of me and Josh. Barry glared at the terrified guy he was holding, glanced at the door, which the Tau Beta Delta guy was running out of, looked back at the guy he was holding, and threw him to the floor with a growl.
"Let's go after him," he told me and Josh. Over his shoulder, he told our fraternity brothers, "Take care of these bastards. You know what we do with guests who interfere with our business."
I didn't know myself, and wanted very much to stay and find out, but I followed Barry out the door, with Josh at my side.
***
He was still in sight, running like hell, when we got outside. As we took off after him, I saw him glance back and put on a burst of speed to get to the corner and out of sight. But he didn't manage to lose us; he was still in sight when we reached the corner. He repeated this a few times, and I was beginning to get lost. I hoped Barry knew the back ways of the campus better than I did, having been here a couple of years longer. Finally the guy cut through the woods and we followed. It took us a minute to find our way through, and I thought he'd lost us by hiding in there somewhere. But luckily we spotted him, panting to catch his breath, leaning against a lamppost, buttoning his shirt up over his heaving chest. Stupid of him to rest right under a street lamp.
I would have tried to hide in the shadowy trees. But maybe he wanted a vantage point where he could see us coming. Before we could sneak up on him, he was running down the street again. By now I had no idea where we were. Josh and I were panting ourselves now, but had no trouble going after him. Barry, jock that he was, wasn't even breathing hard yet. Our prey was definitely getting winded; we were closing the distance. Barry caught up to him as he was cutting through a sandbox with a volleyball net between two dark looming houses. He tackled him and pinned him down on the sand. I caught up a few seconds later.
"Okay, Mike," Barry ordered me as he stretched the guys arms over his head, "finish what you botched the first time."
Josh caught up and got the guy's flailing feet under control. I sat down on his hips and reached for his shirt buttons. The little twit had buttoned it all the way back up, even further than he'd worn it before I started on him, as if exposing even that much skin now made him feel vulnerable. Well, that hadn't lasted long. In a few seconds I had his shirt completely open and spread out on the sand before me. His smooth chest looked pale in the moonlight, but he was actually in better shape than I'd guessed. He wasn't wearing a belt, so I my next step was to unbutton his pants.
"Wait," Barry said as I was fumbling with the fly. "Let's make him pay for running away, before we finish stripping him. See if he's ticklish."
"What if someone hears him laughing?" I asked. I was worried about passers-by, even though I hadn't seen any on this side of the woods. I also figured he'd been running in the direction of his house and wasn't sure how close he'd gotten before Barry tackled him. I only knew vaguely where the Tau Beta Delta house was, and I didn't have a clue where we were now. Then again, he hadn't tried calling for help, so he probably hadn't made it into earshot.
"Here, dude, stuff a sock in his mouth first," Josh said, holding a sock over my shoulder. I took it and glanced back.
Good old Josh had managed to get one shoe and sock off him already. Once the sock was firmly in his mouth, I began experimenting. Running my fingers lightly under his ribcage made him squirm. Digging into his armpit produced an even bigger reaction. He was going to bite right through his own sock at this rate. I let him catch his breath for a few seconds and was just reaching for his other armpit when he started thrashing wildly. I thought at first he was desperately trying to avoid my touch, but it turned out that Josh was tickling his feet.
After a few minutes, Barry told me to switch places with him. Our captive struggled wildly as we made the changeover, but we had no trouble getting him back under control. Now I stretched his arms out for Barry while Barry attacked his armpits. He loves to tickle other guys, and will keep at it forever without mercy. I should know. And Josh is almost as bad, although he always stops when I beg him humbly enough, and I've never seen him pick on anyone but me. Until now. He was taking a savage joy at working on our captive's bare feet, which he had tied with the guy's own shoelaces and was holding imprisoned between his own legs. Normally by now he'd be complaining about the cold and suggesting we head back. It wasn't a very cool evening by my standards, even without jackets, but it was cold enough to pucker our captive's nipples, and usually my roommate is very sensitive to cold. He must be really into this not to notice. I was so intent on watching what they were doing that I myself didn't notice what was happening around us. I don't know if I could have warned them in time, or gotten away myself. But suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed motion where there shouldn't be any. I looked up and saw that sand was spilling off of something all around us in a grid pattern.
I had just enough time to say "What the hell--" when there was suddenly sand flying everywhere, and I felt something stir directly beneath me. "Guys--" I began, and then I saw what was happening. I could just make out a net silhouetted against the dark. I whirled around to look behind me, forgetting all about holding onto our captive's wrists. The net was all around us. I leapt to my feet, but was knocked off-balance and fell to my knees. The huge net was buried beneath the sand right beneath our feet and was beginning to lift up. We were all tossed around, knocking against each other. In seconds we were suspended high above the ground. I wound up with my cheek pressed against our former captive's ribs. He grinned triumphantly at me, and I began to suspect we'd been set up. There were figures running out of the house and doing stuff below us. I think they were cutting some lines that strung the net between the trees, because the net jerked a few times and drew closed above us.
The last cut slammed us against the wood-shingled side of the house, and the net tightened around us. The back of my head was now resting on our former captive's stomach, I think. My face was pressed into someone's leg. Some other guy's chin was pressing against my balls. One of my arms was trapped above my head by some other limbs, and the hand was tangled in the netting. Josh's face was mashed against my exposed armpit, his breath tickling me even through my shirt. My other hand was touching flannel and hairy skin. Obviously Barry, who owned most of the chest hair in this net, all of it, in fact, that wasn't on my own chest.
"Which of you faggots has his hand down my shirt?" said a loud voice that I could feel against my balls.
"That would be me," I said, annoyed. "What are you gonna do about it, tough guy?" I dug my hand deeper into his shirt and ran my fingers through his chest hair, searching for a nipple.
I normally wouldn't dare taunt Barry that way, but there was something empowering about us all being equally helpless together. What he did about it was to curse loudly and call me more names. That was about all he could do. His hands were probably pinned, like mine. His loud mouth alone couldn't hurt me. Then I thought about where his mouth actually was, and stopped moving my hand, wondering if I should pull it out or leave it where it was.
Meanwhile, the net was swinging wildly. I was glad I couldn't see the ground below us. I thought I caught a glimpse of a brightly lit room above. It seemed pretty close. Maybe we were being hauled up into it. A while later, we tumbled painfully over a window ledge and through an open window. The hands that had hauled us in grabbed us as the net was opened up. Someone rolled me off of our former captive and helped him to his feet.
"What took you jerk-offs so long?" he demanded. "Didn't you see what they were doing to me down there?"
"Sorry, Dan," one of the guys said. "Tom and I got to playing cards, and we didn't know what time you'd be leading them here. Um, my back was to the window..."
Dan, the little jerk who'd crashed our party and led us here, walked up to a grinning blond guy who had to have thirty pounds of muscle on him, and looked up at him. "You enjoyed watching that, didn't you, Tommy?"
"I figured I owed you that, after what you did to me last week," Tom said, laughing.
"Lucky for you I've got someone else to take it out on," Dan said. "I never knew you were that ticklish," Tom said, undaunted.
He reached out to Dan's exposed ribs. Dan jumped back.
"Get 'em on their feet," he ordered, buttoning up his shirt before anyone else got any ideas. The guys who were holding us -- two each on me and Josh, three on Barry -- hauled us to our feet and held our arms. "Welcome to Tau Beta Delta, gentlemen," Dan said.
"What do you want us to do to 'em, Dan?" one of the guys holding Josh asked.
***
"Hold onto them for a minute. Where the fuck are my shoes?" One of our erstwhile captive's fraternity brothers dug through the net and found one of the shoes we'd removed.
"Here's one, Dan. I guess the other must still be down there."
"Go and find it," Dan ordered. "And my socks. In fact, get me a fresh pair of socks. They probably have sand in them."
The other guy hurried to obey. It looked like the little twit who'd crashed our party and led us into the trap was in charge here. I wondered if he had some official role or if he was just good at bossing people around, like Barry. We waited nervously, wondering what they were going to do with us. The guys holding us seemed to be waiting for Dan's orders. He let us sweat, looking us up and down speculatively, while he waited for his shoe and socks to be fetched. When they arrived, there being no chair in the room, he leaned on one of his fraternity brothers while he put them back on. Then he looked back at us and the guys holding us.
"Take their shirts off," he ordered. "Let's see how ticklish *they* are."
They got Josh's off right away, maybe because he didn't put up much of a fight. He was proud of his well-muscled and nicely tanned torso, and I knew he had nothing to fear from tickling. I resisted, but I realized it was hopeless, with two strong guys holding my arms, another stripping off my shirt, and more standing all around me watching. They had me bare-chested in less than a minute. I watched them still trying take off Barry's shirt. It was half unbuttoned now, which meant that they'd only managed to undo one or two buttons from the way Barry always wore it. He struggled fiercely, but the guys holding him were as big as he was.
They now had two guys holding each arm, straight out to his sides, plus one pressed behind him with his hands around his waist and his legs immobilizing Barry's legs. A fourth man, ignoring Barry's curses, stood in front of him and slowly unbuttoned it, revealing first his bulging pectoral muscles, and then his well-developed abs. No wonder Josh and I had never been able to break free of his grip by punching him in the gut. He lived on a different floor and usually showered before I got up, and I'd actually never seen his bare torso -- beyond the amount of chest he liked to show off, which I regularly saw close up.
What surprised me was that I'd always pictured his thick black chest hair going all the way down, the way own my sparser hair does. Barry's covered most of his broad chest, but stopped well above the bottom of his rib cage, except for a thin wispy-looking trail that crossed his navel and went straight down into his pants. On either side of that trail was perfectly smooth, pale skin that somehow looked very naked and vulnerable by contrast with his hairy chest above.
The guy who was stripping him seemed to think it looked vulnerable too, because he didn't even wait to get the shirt all the way off. As soon as it was completely open, he immediately began running his fingers along that skin. Amazingly, Barry instantly stopped cursing and doubled up in laughter. The big guy was more ticklish than I was! I exchanged a look with Josh. All we had to do from now on, if Barry grabbed us, was to get our hands inside his shirt and tickle him where he was most sensitive, and he'd be at our mercy. But for now we were all at a rival fraternity's mercy, and there was nothing we could do for our fraternity brother as we watched him being ruthlessly tickled. To his credit, he never begged for mercy, just cursed them whenever he had breath to spare.
Finally Barry hung limply from his captor's hands, panting, and they began pulling his shirt off his shoulders. He resisted, but there were too many of them, and he must have been too exhausted from the tickling. They removed his shirt entirely, revealing impressively bulging biceps, and the hairy forearms that had been covered tonight because he hadn't rolled up his sleeves. He sagged in their arms again, his bare chest rapidly expanding and contracting as he caught his breath. Then, just when I thought they'd leave the poor guy alone, they started tickling him again. I actually felt sorry for him, even though if any of my fraternity brothers deserved to be treated this way it would be Barry.
Finally they got tired of playing with him and moved on to Josh. Right. Good luck, I thought. They were very thorough, trying his ribs, every inch of his belly and chest, forcing him to his knees while they dangled him by the arms and dug into his armpits. They even got out a feather and started all over again. Nothing worked. I could have told them that. Frustrated, they removed his shoes and socks and tried tickling the soles of his feet, but that didn't work either. Then it was my turn. I gulped, knowing that I was going to make up for their disappointment with Josh.
"Leave him alone, you fuck-heads," Barry called. "I'm the one who told these guys to grab your sissy little fraternity brother in the first place. Whatever you're gonna do to us, take it out on me."
I was flabbergasted. If anything, I'd have expected Barry to give them pointers on where my most sensitive spots were. Then again, I guess I'd never been in a situation with him where someone outside the fraternity was trying to torment me. I'd never have guessed he'd stand up for me like that, or take responsibility for his own actions. But they barely glanced at him, though, and started tickling me anyway. There's something uniquely humiliating about being tickled by total strangers while both of the guys who have tickled you the most in the past are looking on helplessly.
They rediscovered all my most ticklish spots, then discovered some I didn't even know about. Fingers digging into my armpits had their usual effect, but no one had ever tried a feather on my nipples before. As I caught my breath, I noticed that Dan had brought in a bucket of ice. He carried it over to Barry, took out a piece and showed it to him, saying "This is for calling me a sissy."
He ran it down the center of Barry's chest. I could tell by the way Barry's eyes squeezed shut that he was trying hard not to react. Then he stuck it in each of his armpits, and touched lightly it to a nipple. Barry was clenching his fists and his chest and stomach muscles now. Then Dan walked around and ran the ice down the length of his spine. Barry gasped, and his entire body arched in response.
"I wasn't going to do that. It's a special punishment for the name calling. Your buddies are getting it too." He headed for me.
"What for? They didn't call you anything."
"But *you* did. You're going to watch them suffer."
"Leave them alone, you little shit!" Dan had one of the other guys do me so he could watch Barry's face.
I couldn't help jumping as the ice touched my chest. I tried to follow Barry's example and react as little as possible. Biting my lip helped, but I'm pretty sure I whimpered, just a little. Josh was the only one of us to actually cry out when the ice touched him. My buddy is no wimp, so he must be especially sensitive to ice. When they started on Josh, Barry struggled even harder against the guys holding him, the muscles in his chest and arms rippling. Amazingly, he actually yanked one arm free of the two guys holding it and started wrestling with the other three guys, trying to get loose. A whole bunch of guys who had been standing around now piled on top of him and overpowered him. Dan ordered him taken away.
It took five big men to control him, but they picked him up bodily and carried him out of the room, still screaming in rage and struggling uselessly. The guy who had been tormenting Josh followed them out of the room, ice bucket in hand. I didn't have any time to worry about what they were going to do to Barry, or whether he deserved it. I was fixated on the sight of my best friend being stretched out spread eagle, shirtless and barefoot, on a ping-pong table they'd dragged in from somewhere. They knew by now that tickling him was useless, so I didn't think they had anything quite that harmless in mind.
***
They dragged me over to the table, as if to give me a front row seat for whatever they were going do to Josh. They all gathered around their captive and looked him up and down, but nobody touched him, except for the guys at the corners of the table who were pinning his wrists and his bare ankles. Maybe they were pausing to savor my friend's helplessness, but I had a feeling they were waiting for something. I didn't see Dan in the room anymore. He must have slipped out while I was watching them stretch Josh out on the table. Come to think of it, Tom, the big blond lookout who'd let us have our fun with Dan for a good five minutes, seemed to be missing too.
My imagination worked overtime as I sweated out the wait. Maybe they were getting a big wooden paddle. Or whatever they used on captured members of rival fraternities. How crazy were these guys? The worst we'd ever planned for Dan was to make him walk home in only his beer-soaked undershorts. And the worst we'd actually *done* to him was a little tickling. They'd already paid us back for that, and then some. How much more were they planning to do to us? Dan walked in, carrying a serious-looking whip coiled in his hand. I instinctively tried to step between him and my buddy, but I was still held fast by two guys pinning my arms behind my bare back.
"Are you out of your mind?" I yelled at Dan.
Dan approached the table, but he only tossed the coiled whip onto Josh's chest. Josh stared at the braided leather as if it were a snake.
"We won't use it if you cooperate," Dan told me.
Three more guys entered the room -- Tom, a second guy who I'd noticed around watching us get tickled, and a third guy even bigger than Tom who I'd last seen holding Barry's legs as he was carried kicking and screaming out of the room. Tom was carrying a container of French vanilla ice cream, and the others were carrying towels and a scoop. Maybe they were used to enjoying a late night snack together, and they were going to go on with their routine, prisoners or no prisoners. I doubted they were going to offer us any. My mouth watered. French Vanilla was my favorite flavor, and this was a good quality brand.
"Danny," Tom said, "are you sure we're not taking this a little too far, man? These guys were just having a little fun."
"That's not the point. We've got to teach them a lesson. Remember what they did to our pledges this year?"
Oh, come on, I thought. That wasn't so bad. And that was months ago.
"Well, okay, but I'm not gonna stay and watch."
"What, you didn't mind watching while they tickled me to within an inch of my life, but you can't stand to watch something like this?"
"It's just that--"
"You're gonna stay, Tommy." He picked up the whip that he'd tossed onto Josh's chest. "In fact, you're gonna be the one to put it on him."
I was confused, wondering whether they were going to dress Josh up in something humiliating. Then it occurred to me that they hadn't brought in any plates or spoons for the ice cream. Tom walked up to the table and took the lid off the ice cream, looking really unhappy. He accepted the scoop the other guy traded him for the lid, but then he stood there holding it, looking down at Josh's chest, which was rising and falling quickly with his panicked breathing. I remembered how sensitive he'd been to the ice cubes a few minutes ago, and tried to work up the courage to volunteer to take his place. I doubted they'd listen to me anyway.
"I don't know if I can do this, Danny."
"John, Rob," Dan said quietly, and the guys on either side of Tom looked up. A look of relief crossed Tom's face, and he started to hand the ice cream over.
But Dan continued quietly, "take off Tom's shirt."
They complied, grinning. Tom put the ice cream down beside Josh, its frosty exterior not quite touching his bare skin, and let them pull his shirt over his head, not exactly cooperating but not really resisting either. His well-developed chest muscles were accentuated by a barely visible dusting of reddish chest hair. Dan came up and stood close behind him. He draped part of the whip over one bare shoulder, and reached over the other one to pick up the ice cream container from the table and hold it against Tom's chest. Tom cringed, as if it were touching one of his small nipples, and took the container. Dan silently backed away, pulling the whip with him so that it slid lightly across Tom's chest and then down his back. He didn't make any verbal threats. He didn't have to. Tom dug out a scoopful of ice cream. He hesitated, leaning over Josh, who could only stare wide-eyed at the scoop, with all the guys holding him down.
"Start with the center of his chest," Dan ordered. Tom licked his lips nervously. The delay was only making it worse for Josh, I could tell. Finally Tom planted the big scoop of ice cream on Josh's upper chest. Josh managed not to make a sound, but his entire body arched up in reaction, then thumped back down onto the table. "Smear it all over him."
Tom slowly drew the scoop up and down the center of Josh's chest. The off-white ice cream made a nice visual contrast with the tanned skin. Josh whimpered softly. Tom let some of the ice cream pool at the hollow at the base of his throat, then trailed the scoop down to his stomach, and finally stopped at the navel. Tom then backed off, and some of the tension went out of his muscles.
"Now, you," Dan said, pointing at me. I thought his next words would be something like "get on the table, it's your turn," but he surprised me. What he said was, "Lick it off."
"Excuse me?" I said. "You have two choices," Dan said. "The ice cream, or the whip. And I don't mean Cool Whip. Lick your buddy clean, or both of you get the lash." I figured I had no choice, but I at least had to make a point of resisting. If I jumped to obey, Josh might think I wanted it or something. So I said "Like hell I will!" and struggled against the guys holding me.
"For God's sake, Mike, do what he says!" Josh pleaded. "One lash from that kind of whip can break the skin."
"Oh, man," I said, making a show of holding out for a few more seconds.
"All right," I said, and the guys holding my arms loosened their grip enough to let me lean over my buddy's helpless form. I saw Dan come over and stand behind me with the whip.
"Let him go," Dan told them. "He won't try anything."
And he was right. Even without the whip, I wasn't stupid enough to try to make a break for it with all these guys around me. Did they select their pledges for size? Except for Dan and a couple of others, they were all at least as big as me. And even if I thought I could escape, there was no way I was going to leave Josh at their mercy. I climbed halfway onto him, half hoping the ping pong table would collapse under us. Unfortunately, it was sturdier than it looked. Not unlike Dan. I put my hands on Josh's shoulders for balance.
"Sorry, man," I whispered, then touched my tongue to my best friend's smooth chest and began licking off the ice cream, working my way up to the base of his throat. Damn, but it tasted good! As a starving student who could barely afford tuition even with the help financial aid, I always bought the artificially flavored store brand when I treated myself at all. This was the real stuff. I felt guilty for even noticing. Here I was, helping to humiliate my best friend, and myself. I should be disgusted by every aspect of it. I shouldn't be enjoying the forbidden pleasures of French Vanilla. It shouldn't taste this good in the first place; it had a guy's sweat mixed into it!
I felt, more than heard, his low moaning as I lapped up the pool of melted ice cream from the hollow at his collar bone. Whenever I glanced up at him, Josh's soft brown eyes were watching my progress. There was no anger in them. He obviously understood, and didn't blame me. I began licking my way back down. Finally I reached the ice cream pooled in his navel, and dipped my tongue in that, lapping at this last bit of creamy sweetness. At least I didn't get any noticeable amount of belly button lint on my tongue. Josh had showered right before the party, maybe hoping to get lucky. Which would have been a first. Instead, he'd spent the evening talking to those guys from the dorms, and now this. Not exactly what he'd had in mind, I would bet. Finally I had every trace of ice cream licked off him. I realized I'd been grinding my nose against his belly, with my hands laced behind the small of his back, as I'd probed his navel with my tongue. I let go and stood up, feeling utterly embarrassed at what I'd been forced to do. I saw the shiny path of saliva I'd left all down my roommate's torso. Would I ever be able to look him in the eye again? He must feel the same way. Right now he had his head thrown back and his eyes closed, unwilling to look at me.
"Horizontally across his chest, next," Dan said.
What? When he'd told Tom to "start with his chest," I hadn't realized that meant it was only Round 1. Tom reluctantly approached the table again and touched the scoop to Josh's far side, just below the armpit, eliciting a gasp. He then drew it toward him, and Josh cried out as the ice cream touched his sensitive nipple. It continued across the wet line I'd left between his pecs, up the other side, and this time Josh managed to hold his tongue, but tears squeezed out of his closed eyes.
The second the scoop left his skin, Josh groaned, "Get it off me, Mike, quick!" I went straight for the nipple, and my buddy moaned in relief I gave the hard nipple a few quick licks, leaving it still as shriveled and puckered as if he'd just stepped out of a cold shower, and moved to the other one. This one I lingered over longer, as Josh whispered, "Ohhh! Warm! Nice and warm!"
When it began to soften under my tongue, I started removing the line of cold between the two nipples. For the next round, Dan ordered scoops of ice cream stuck directly into my friend's exposed armpits. I could see the muscles work in Josh's arms as he tried to bring his arms to his sides to protect himself, but he was being spread out by too many strong men. This time, without being prompted, I grabbed his biceps and stuck my mouth in his near armpit. This scoop tasted more of Josh than of vanilla, and also very salty from the mineral rock he uses for deodorant, and from his own sweat. The contrast made a tasty combination: sweet and salty, creamy and musky. His armpit took more work to get clean than his completely smooth chest had. Rolling him a partway onto his side to get a better angle, I swirled my tongue around in the silky hairs, trying not to leave any trace of stickiness behind. Some of the ice cream had dripped onto the table even before I started, but to my relief, when I stood up to move to the other side, they cleaned up the melted puddle on the table with towels instead of telling me to lick it up.
I guess they figured that making me lick out my best friend's armpits while they held him down was humiliating enough. I reached his other side, grabbed him and adjusted his position, dug my shoulder into his side and my tongue into his armpit, and got back to work. Josh moaned softly in despair throughout it all. I wondered if we'd ever fully regain our self-respect, and how badly this would mess up our friendship.
"Flip him over," Dan ordered when I'd finished. They picked up my friend's limp and unresisting body and quickly flipped him and slapped him chest-down onto the table. I think he'd have lain there with his arms dangling over the sides if they hadn't grabbed them to restrain him again. He looked utterly defeated. "Right down his spine, Tommy, in case you can't guess."
Josh's eyes flew open at that. "No!" he said, and he would have levered himself up if he weren't being held down. He screamed as the ice cream was applied to his spine. I felt him shivering as I placed my hands on his back and lowered myself down. I licked it off him as fast as I could, then went back and did a more thorough second pass. He was still shivering, even though the skin above his spine no longer felt cold as I ran my tongue over it. I was lying on him, with my chest pressed again his back skin-to-skin, because it was the easiest position and because I hoped it would keep him warm. I kneaded his back muscles in a friendly way as I worked, trying to communicate to him how bad I felt about being forced to do this to him. I was afraid he'd never talk to me again after this shared humiliation, and I couldn't stand that.
Finally I climbed off him. I thought they must be done with this little game, since they'd attacked just about every exposed skin surface. But I'd forgotten about his feet. They bent his knees, placing his feet at face level, and oozed ice cream between his toes. I had to suck my buddy's toes and run my tongue between them. This seemed to drive him nuts, and he kept trying to get away. Our captors left it to me to restrain the foot I was working on. A little ice cream dripped onto my chest in the process and clung to the hairs. I didn't dare look at it and call attention to it for fear they'd make Josh lick it off me. Of course, they might very well make us switch positions now that I was done with him. And I assumed that I must surely be done with him now.
They'd made me lick just about every square inch of exposed skin, from his throat down. Duh. Their plan was to expose more. Dan had Tom pull off Josh's pants and then put ice cream in the backs of his knees and all along his legs. After I'd licked that clean, they flipped him onto his back again and did the fronts of his legs, and I obediently got to work slicking down all the hairs that grow sparsely on his legs. His knees were bent, and while working on his upper legs I noticed the ice cream running downhill just in time to keep his soft cotton boxer shorts from getting soiled. I pushed the material out of the way, bunched almost up to his balls, while I dealt with the dripping ice cream. Our captors thought that was hilarious to watch, so they made Tom apply some more ice cream to Josh's belly below the navel, and propped him up enough for it to run down his flat belly toward his shorts. I got it licked up before I had to push the waistband down too far, managing to leave him a shred of dignity. It was pushed well below his tan line, but his pubic hair was still covered. Not to mention his erection. That was a strange effect for the cold to be having on him. I don't know why I bothered, because of course the shorts came off next. Bastards. We'd never done more than unbutton Dan's shirt and take his shoes and socks off, and even in our original plan we were going to let him keep his shorts. Worst of all, I knew they weren't just going to expose Josh, they were going to smear ice cream all over his crotch.
This was going too far. I tried to stop them, grabbing Tom from behind when we went for the shorts, but I felt Dan's whip flick against my back, and it hurt like hell, even though I realized it had barely touched me. I let go of Tom and watched as my buddy was stripped of his last scrap of clothing. Once his legs were spread wide again, Tom went straight for the balls.
"Please, no. No there," Josh whispered. Tom paused before he actually dumped the ice cream on them, turning to day and starting to say "Look, Danny, I--" but Dan brandished his whip and Tom shut up fast and applied the ice cream.
Josh cried out almost like he was in pain.
"Hold it there for a few seconds, then smear some on his shaft," Dan said.
Josh sobbed as the cold seeped through his rapidly shriveling ball sack. A few seconds later Tom moved the scoop up the underside of his still-hard shaft, and his hips bucked. Then Tom backed off, and it was over. All except my part. I stared down at my naked buddy, spread-eagled on the table, knowing that I would have to lick his balls or get us both whipped until we were bloody. If I'd realized at the beginning that it would go this far, I might have decided there were worse things than losing a little skin off my back. But there was no turning back now. I hadn't cooperated this far only to get us both whipped anyway. Besides, I didn't dare let Dan use that whip on Josh now; there was no telling where he'd aim it.
I moved to the foot of the table and bent forward with my head between my friend's legs. Feeling my tongue contact his balls, he let out a moan, voicing all the despair and humiliation he must be feeling at having another guy manipulating his most vulnerable parts. And not just any other guy, but his best friend, someone who he'd trusted... Demeaning as this situation was, a weird thought crossed my mind: What it would be like if we'd been alone in our room and Josh had voluntarily let me this close to him? Letting another guy touch your balls, let alone practically put them in his mouth, would take a lot of trust. You'd only do it with someone you were sure would never hurt you. There was something appealing about that idea, exciting in almost a physical way. It would be like saying you trusted him with your life, your very manhood. I'd like to think Josh and I trusted each other that much, but we'd never been in a situation that gave us a chance to prove it.
His balls were as hairless as his chest, something I'd never noticed before, only having gotten a few glimpses of them, and never this close of course. It was easy to get them clean of ice cream. Some had dripped down on one side into the fold between his legs, and that part definitely tasted like Josh-flavored ice cream and not vanilla. Finally all that was left was his cock, which was fully hard and twitching. The ice cream on it had been completely melted by the heat, but I couldn't pretend not to notice that it was there. I sure wasn't going to take his cock in my mouth. I would limit myself to carefully licking the underside. I was on my third lick, and almost had it clean, when the inevitable happened. Josh's cock responded to all that physical stimulation, unaware that it was his owner's best friend doing the licking and not a more appropriate partner, like someone he might have met at the party if Barry hadn't dragged us away. The milky white jism mixed with the white ice cream. I decided that Dan could flay me alive before I licked any of that up.
I remembered one time when Josh had suggested we jack off in front of each other. I'd been totally embarrassed by the idea, and he'd never mentioned it again. Now it seemed like such a trivial thing, compared to the intimacy that had been forced on us by the enemy fraternity. Dan seemed to know just how far he could push me, and didn't tell me to lick up the cum. They gave me a warm wash cloth and made me clean my buddy up while they continued to hold him down. His softening cock stiffened again at my touch, and I think the wash cloth alone would have gotten him off, if he hadn't just come already.
I finished up and patted him apologetically on the belly. Before I gave the wash cloth back, I took a quick swipe at my chest, trying to get the ice cream drops off of my chest hair, without smearing my buddy's cum on it in the process, before someone got the idea they should make Josh lick my chest. I was afraid they were going to make him to that next anyway, with fresh ice cream. But I was wrong. They had something different in mind for us.
***
They let us take a bathroom break, one at a time. Someone stood at the door making sure I didn't try to escape, but it really wasn't necessary while they had Josh as a hostage. Who knew what they would do to him in the time it took me to get help. I also had a long drink from the sink. I was very thirsty from the salt on my buddy's skin. After our break, they had me take Josh's place on the table. It looked like it was my turn to get ice cream smeared over every part of my body and Josh's turn to lick it off. The idea didn't disgust me nearly as much as I would have expected. I was just scared that forever afterward he'd be ashamed to be seen anywhere near me. But it turned out they had something else in mind. They wanted to watch Josh exploit my own personal weakness. Dan ordered him to tickle me. That was nothing new for the two of us, but of course Josh normally did it because he wanted to, and always in private... well, occasionally in front of our own fraternity brothers. But that was different. Being forced to do it with half of a rival fraternity watching must have been almost as humiliating for him as it was for me -- even if he'd been fully clothed. Being naked couldn't have helped.
Those weren't the only things that made this different from just the two of us kidding around. Usually, if he took me by surprise, he'd only have a chance to get in a few seconds of tickling before I'd break away. Of course, we also used to playfully wrestle a lot, and if he managed to pin me he'd often take advantage of his victory by tickling me as long as he wanted, or until I begged for mercy. But in that case he usually wasn't in a position to get to my most sensitive spots; his arms would be busy pinning me and he'd have to dig his fingers into whatever he could reach, usually at an awkward angle. Never before had he had my whole body spread out before him, with four guys holding me down spread-eagle for him. None of the usual struggle to force my arm away from my body far enough for him to get his fingers in; my arm pits were completely exposed. No need for sneaking up on me to yank up a T-shirt or slip his fingers between shirt buttons; I'd already been stripped to the waist. Only my feet were safe for the moment, and I was sure that wouldn't last long.
"Sorry about this, dude," he whispered as he loomed over me, placing his hand on my bare chest but not yet tickling.
"Yeah, right," I whispered back.
"You've been waiting for a chance like this as long as I've known you, haven't you?"
"How was the ice cream?" he retorted. I felt myself blushing.
"I had no choice, man! You know that. I'm sorry, but what can I say?"
Josh jumped as Dan cracked the whip in the air, not far from his naked back. "Here goes, dude." He started with the ribs. I started laughing almost instantly. He moved slowly up my sides. He took his time, knowing I wasn't going anywhere. When he reached my armpits, I managed to gasp out, "Not there! Anywhere but there!"
He paused and looked back at Dan, who said, "There." He started lightly tickling my armpits. It went on and on, long past the point where Josh would have relented if he'd had any choice. My lungs were burning, and my sides ached, by the time they let him stop. To my shame, I had laughed so hard my face was covered in snot. They gave Josh a tissue and made him wipe it off.
He did so tenderly, whispering, "It's okay, dude. It's over now."
"While he's catching his breath," Dan said, "take off his shoes." So Josh untied my shoes and gently tugged them off, then peeled off my socks. My sides were still hurting when Dan ordered him to start tickling my feet. They gave him a feather, a hairbrush, and a few other things I didn't see, but all of them were pure torture. Then they made him use the feather on my nipples, remembering how well that had worked earlier. Next they made my buddy pull off my pants, leaving me clad only in my white briefs. They had him try his fingers and the feather on the backs of my knees and the insides of my thighs, and that forced a couple of laughs out of me, but my legs aren't nearly as ticklish as my torso or armpits or feet. Inevitably, Dan finally ordered him to strip me of my shorts. Josh hesitated, then grabbed the waistband and started tugging them down.
"Not with your hands," Dan said. "With your teeth."
Josh struggled to get my briefs off using only his teeth. First he tried tugging from the bottom. I felt his hot breath through the cotton and his lips on my skin, and a few times his nose poked me in the balls through the underwear. He didn't get it very far down that way, possibly because it kept hanging up on my erection. Finally he gave up and grabbed the elastic in his teeth, peeling the briefs down from the top. This meant practically dragging his nose through my pubic hair all the way down, which I guess was why he'd tried the other way first. A few times his teeth lost his grip and the waistband snapped down on my cock, and he had to nose around trying to get a hold of it again, his lips touching my exposed cock, his hands resting on my belly. They made him drag it all the way down my legs, with their guys holding my ankles together. That part went faster.
Once he had my briefs around my ankles, our captors took it from there, expertly slipping it over each foot without letting me go. Now we were both completely naked, both with raging hard-ons for some reason, surrounded by Tau Beta Delta guys who were all fully clothed. Except of course for Tom. Dan had never let him have his shirt back, even after he'd finished his job. He was the one holding my left arm; I had a foreshortened view looking up his muscular form whenever I glanced up. I noticed that he had a bulge in his pants, and now that I thought to look around at all the crotches at my eye level, so did many of his fraternity brothers.
The bastards were really getting off on this. They made Josh use the feather to tickle me in places I normally would have socked him if he'd tried to touch. I found myself instinctively bucking my hips, but that didn't keep him from tracking my balls with the feather There was no escape. My cock was oozing pre-cum from all the stimulation. Josh was really getting into this, wielding the feather delicately to just lightly brush it along the length of the underside of my cock. He had a half smile on his face. My best friend was about to make me come, and there was nothing I could do about it! Somehow the thought made the sensations feel even more intense, and I felt an orgasm building. Josh grabbed my cock at the last second to tilt it a few degrees so I spurted over myself instead of in his eye. Judging by the intensity of the orgasm, it should have blasted the guys behind my head, so I was a little surprised to see an ordinary-size puddle that had only reached my lower belly Josh still had his hand on my cock, stroking it a little in an absent-minded kind of way. My best friend's hand was on my cock, and he had just made me come! This was too much. I groaned, but Josh left his hand there for a few more seconds. They made him clean me up -- with a wash cloth, fortunately, not with his tongue, but his gentle touch on my sensitized cock head was almost too much to take -- and then they finally let me up. I couldn't meet my friend's eyes. I swung my legs off the table and stood up shakily. Then my knees buckled, and Josh grabbed my arm and steadied me with a hand on my back. I finally looked at him, and nodded my thanks. He smiled and looked away.
"Should we give them their clothes back now?" asked the guy who'd been collecting our clothes in a pile as each piece was removed.
"I guess we can let 'em have their shorts, anyway," Dan said.
The guy tossed me Josh's boxers and tossed Josh my briefs. We were about to exchange them when Dan said, "No, take what you were given, or you get nothing at all."
So I put on Josh's boxers. They were made of soft knitted gray cotton, and as I slipped them on I almost understood why he felt they were more comfortable than briefs, but it felt weird having my balls hanging there with nothing to support them. I watched Josh pull on my briefs. They were a little tight on him, but they looked great, with the brilliant white cotton really setting off his tan.
"Thanks for the show, guys," Dan said. Then he turned to someone who must have come in the room while I was, um, distracted. "Okay, what did you come up here to tell me?"
"They've got him ready for you."
"About time. I hope they left a little fight in him. I liked his spirit."
"Um, I wouldn't count on that."
"Too bad. Well, I can't be everywhere, and I wouldn't have wanted to miss watching these two guys. Hey, is that a bruise on your chin?" He reached out to touch the guy's chin, which did seem to be darker on one side.
"Yeah, well, we got a little careless and he got an arm loose and took a swing at me. But we got him under control again," he said with relish. "Totally, utterly under control, like I said."
I couldn't imagine Barry ever being totally under someone else's control. But then, I'd never seen him throw a punch before, either; he usually relied on intimidation. He must have been feeling really trapped. Dan turned to instruct the men holding us. "Okay, put these two to bed. I want them fresh for tomorrow."
Bed? I guess I had expected them to let us go when they'd had their fun for the night. Were they going to keep us here the whole weekend? Surely they couldn't enslave us forever. We'd be missed, and our fraternity brothers would come looking for us, if the administration didn't send the police first. They couldn't just make three students disappear, could they? They led us to an unfurnished carpeted room and gave us one blanket and one pillow, then left us without a word. I tried the door in the dark. The knob turned, but they'd somehow locked it from the outside. From the shadows in the light leaking under the door, I got the feeling that someone was even standing guard. I was alone with my best friend. I faced him, unable to see the expression on his face in the dark, not knowing what to say, and half expecting him to punch me out for helping to humiliate him. I figured we were even, but he might not agree.
***
"I'm exhausted," Josh finally said.
"You ready to sleep?" I decided to follow his lead and pretend nothing was wrong -- that we hadn't just been forced to completely humiliate each other, and that more torment wasn't in store for us tomorrow.
"Yeah," I said. "I wonder what time it is."
Neither of us wore watches, nor did Barry. If we had, they probably would have been taken away at some point during the stripping. "I don't know. Late. It's been a hell of a night."
"Yeah. Look, man, I'm really-- um..."
"Let's talk about it in the morning, okay?" I heard him yawn.
"Sure. You can have the blanket if I can take the pillow." This room wasn't very well heated, and the air felt cool on my bare skin. It was all right for now, but I knew we'd be chilly once we were inactive. And Josh always felt cold before I did.
"I assumed we'd share them," he said, sounding surprised.
"The blanket didn't look all that big." And we were both fairly big guys.
"I think it'll cover us."
I wished I could see his face, but all I could see in the dim lighting was his white briefs. My white briefs, I mean. I wondered if it was safe to trade now.
"Well?"
"We'd have to get pretty friendly," I said doubtfully.
"We're best friends, aren't we? How much more friendly can you get?"
"Well, sure, but you know what I mean. 'Friendly' was just an expression. I guess the word I'm looking for is 'intimate.'"
"Dude! You just had my balls in your mouth an hour ago, and now you're afraid of sleeping next to me? C'm'ere."
He got me in a headlock and pulled us both to the ground, with me on top of him. Laughing softly, we wrestled, just like old times, though we'd rarely done it wearing only our shorts. Let alone each other's shorts. Finally Josh got his legs wrapped around mine, immobilizing them. Once I stopped struggling, his free hand pulled the blanket over us. It covered both of us easily. It could have covered three guys, if they were willing to sleep this close. I sighed in resignation and relaxed a little.
"See? It's no so bad," he said. Maybe he mistook the sigh for a sigh of contentment. Maybe it was. This did feel like a kind of cozy way to spend the night. And no one could blame it on me. His skin was smooth and warm against mine. I snuggled a little closer. "What do you s'pose they're doing to Barry?" he asked sleepily.
I could feel his warm breath against my forehead, we were that close. "Dunno. But it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."
"Yeah, he deserves it, the bastard," he chuckled.
"Although he did try to stand up for you," I pointed out.
Josh made no response. Maybe he was thinking it over, or maybe he was already half asleep. I relaxed completely, pillowing my head against my roommate's chest. His strong heartbeat became slow and regular, as did his breathing. Predictably, he started snoring softly. At home, his snoring from across the room had never bothered me. I'd gotten so used to it that I actually had trouble getting to sleep when he was away. Now, even at close range, the familiar sound was comforting, reminding me that my buddy was there beside me. As if I needed a reminder, with his bare flesh pressed warmly against mine.
I felt myself starting to drift off . . . .
The sound of the door opening must have woken me up, because a widening shaft of bright light was spilling into the room. Josh was still sound asleep. He always was a heavy sleeper. Barry stumbled into the room, pushed by two pairs of hands I saw disappearing back through the door. The door closed, and I heard them locking it. Barry fell to his hands and knees on the carpet, looking a little dazed. He sat down on the floor and drew his knees up to his chest. After a minute, he slumped forward, crossing his hairy forearms across his knees and burying his face in them. He'd been stripped, just like us, and was wearing only boxer shorts. His own, I assumed.
"Barry?" I called softly. He raised his head and looked in my general direction. I realized the room was very dark, and his eyes weren't adjusted like mine. He probably had thought he was alone in the room.
"Mike?" he said. The mixture of surprise and hope in his voice, like he'd been afraid he'd never see me again, really startled me. I was not used to hearing him say my name in that tone. I finished disentangling myself from Josh, who mumbled sleepily in protest but didn't wake up. I covered him with the blanket, then scooted over to Barry and put my hand on his bare shoulder.
"You okay, buddy?" I asked gently.
"I guess," he said, with a nervous laugh that sounded like it was on the edge of breaking into a sob. To my surprise, he threw his meaty arm around my back and drew me into a hug, resting his forehead on my shoulder. I hesitantly slid my arm around his back. He was shaking, even though his skin felt warm. I could swear I felt tears leaking onto my shoulder. I stro
