Ben staggered across the campus, sore and exhausted. It was almost 5AM and there weren’t many people up at this hour. Joseph was still sleeping when Ben entered his dorm room. Ben could have used a long, hot shower but he just collapsed in bed with his clothes on. It seemed like his eyes had barely closed when someone pounded on his door. Joseph was still in bed and just rolled over. Ben took that to mean he was supposed to answer the door. He got up and wasn’t surprised at all to see Tyler standing there.
“Morning Benji,” he said with a grin.
“Wha… what are you doing here Tyler?” Ben asked.
Tyler shrugged. “I know you said I didn’t have to but I woke up early anyways so I decided to hit the gym.”
Ben was still foggy. “Okay well fine. Have fun.”
Tyler laughed, “I’ve already been to the gym dumbass. It’s like 9 o’clock. I’m here for you to do your thing.” Ben bristled at the suggestion that licking Tyler’s feet was his *thing*.
“That’s okay Tyler,” Ben said brusquely, “like I said earlier I’m just gonna skip today.”
Tyler shook his head. “It’s doesn’t work that way Benji. I did my part now you’re going to do yours.” “Aw come on Tyler,” Ben whined. “I couldn’t do it now if I wanted to. Joseph is still here.”
“Want me to get rid of him?” Tyler offered.
“No,” Ben said quickly.
“I suppose we can go back to the house,” Tyler said.
“Do we have to do this now?” Ben asked insistently. “I really need to sleep.”
“Well,” Tyler mused, “I am pretty hungry. We could do breakfast first.”
“Fine,” Ben said. “You go grab breakfast. I’ll see you later.”
“I thought maybe you could buy me breakfast,” Tyler hinted. He could have just gone to the cafeteria to eat but he wanted to see how far he could push Ben.
“Oh uh…” Ben fished for his wallet and pulled out a twenty and handed it to Tyler. “Just take this. I’ll catch up with you later okay?”
“You sure?” Tyler asked. “I don’t want you bitching later saying I didn’t give you a chance to work off your debt.”
“I won’t complain Tyler,” Ben promised.
“Okay, see you later then,” Tyler said with a shrug. Ben breathed a sigh of relief as Tyler turned and headed down the hall. Ben went back in his room, stripped down to his boxers, got into bed and fell fast asleep.
Tyler actually did end up going to the cafeteria after pocketing the $20 from Ben. He usually didn’t eat in the cafeteria near the freshman dorms and saw no one he knew. He sat by himself and thought deeply while he munched his breakfast. He’d actually been relieved when Ben answered the door. When Tyler woke up that morning the alcohol induced haze from last night had lifted and when he thought back to what he’d actually done to Ben he realized he could easily have been arrested on assault charges. Sure, cracking Ben’s rib while wrestling around had been an accident but he couldn’t believe he’d kicked Ben like that. Of course, he’d been in fights before. Not many. People generally didn’t mess with him. And even the fights he’d had back in high school hadn’t lasted long. Tyler had always been able to take out his opponent quickly. But this was different. He hadn’t fought Ben. He’d just hurt him. On purpose. Tyler didn’t consider himself a “mean drunk” or anything but last night when Ben had pissed him off Tyler had wanted to make him pay and he had.
The thing was, Tyler hadn’t lied to Ben when he told him he didn’t hate him. It wasn’t that they were friends. Had had lied to Ben about that. At least, they weren’t like any of Tyler’s any other friends. But he realized that on some level he was enjoying having Ben around. Tyler had no brothers or sisters and his mom was an only child so he had no cousins. At least none he knew about. Tyler had no dad in the picture. Tyler’s mom had gotten pregnant in college. She’d dropped out and raised Tyler on her own. He had a lot of his mom’s fiercely independent spirit. So in some ways, having Ben around was like having a little brother. Only Ben wasn’t any kind of brother Tyler ever imagined. Tyler had always imagined having an older brother: someone to do stuff with and play football with. If Tyler had thought about it he’d have realized he was really looking for a father figure in this imaginary older brother. But Tyler never really thought about it that much because wishing didn’t make it true. His mother had never married anyone else and Tyler Kyle Davidson didn’t even have step-siblings.
No, Ben wasn’t quite a friend and he wasn’t quite a brother. At first he’d just been trying to humiliate Ben to get him to give up on the idea of joining the fraternity but he realized now that he was enjoying it. He liked seeing Ben on his knees. He took pleasure in making him grovel at his feet. Tyler had never been sexually aggressive towards any of the girls he’d dated and in fact, they were often surprised that he was very tender and gentle because they had a different expectation from a fraternity jock. So Tyler wasn’t quite sure were this new found desire came from. It didn’t excite him sexually in any way. Tyler himself wasn’t gay but some of his friends in high school were and Tyler never been bothered by it. One of the guys on the chess team told him that he was the hottest guy he’d ever seen. Tyler knew some of the athletic jerks at the school would have just called the kid a faggot and publically mocked him but Tyler was just really flattered. He was still friends with Brent though he’d never even been tempted to mess around with him or anything.
So while his dick might not have gotten hard by making Ben lick his feet, Tyler got an incredible rush from it. He just enjoyed… dominating him and Tyler was torn between his desire to keep Ben out of the fraternity and the idea of keeping him around as sort of a plaything. The fact that Ben was rich didn’t hurt either. Since Tyler’s mom had had to drop out of college when she had him she’d never really had a successful career. She sold real estate and they got by but Tyler didn’t have a lot of money growing up. He’d worked hard though and earned a full academic scholarship to go to school here. That covered books and tuition and his mom had helped with the incidentals but Tyler never had much cash in his pocket. Most of the other guys in the fraternity came from wealthier families though not outright rich like Ben’s dad. Those guys didn’t mind keeping the fraternity fridge stocked with beer and food. Tyler
was extremely popular and no one ever hassled him about money but it was nice that Ben didn’t seem to think twice about paying for things.
For the time being, Ben was desperate to get into the fraternity and he’d put up with all of Tyler’s abuse though frankly Tyler couldn’t see why. But once Ben knew he wasn’t going to get in then Tyler’s hold over him would vanish and he didn’t see much point in hanging out with Ben if he wasn’t going to be able to manipulate him into groveling at his feet and spending his money. Tyler didn’t have an answer to puzzle by the time he finished breakfast but he’d come to some definite conclusions. First, he enjoyed being the alpha male and dominating Ben. Second, Ben would apparently put up with an insane amount of abuse. Third, he envied the money Ben had at his disposal and wanted to find a way to turn that to his advantage. He was whistling as he sauntered back to the frat house.
Ben finally woke up around 2PM. He felt 100 times better for having slept but he was still sore and achy. He went off and took a very hot shower that helped soothe him. Having showered, shaved and changed into clean clothes, Ben felt extremely better. His cracked rib still hurt but not as much. He looked at the bruised knuckles of his right hand and winced at the memory. His jaw didn’t ache today but he had been a little shocked to see his face in the mirror. The black eye and cut lip he’d gotten when Tyler had accidently kicked him in the face a few nights ago had just started to heal but after another kick in the face last night the eye was tinged blue and purple. What really surprised him though was the massive bruise on his left cheekbone. That was from where Tyler had kicked him. It looked awful and it hurt when he poked at it but Ben was rather astonished that getting kicked in the face hadn’t done more damage. Of course, he remembered Tyler said he was going to go easy on him. He shuddered at what would have happened if he hadn’t. Ben had never been in a fight before and though this technically wasn’t a fight Ben was kind of felt like it was. He couldn’t believe how angry Tyler had gotten.
Ben sighed and went off to get a late lunch and then came back to his room, grabbed some books and his laptop and headed to the library. Several people stared at his appearance but no one said anything. He’d been studying for a couple of hours and it was getting close to dinner time. He had a paper to write but he decided to just write the outline while he was still at the library and then finish the paper after he ate. As his laptop started up, it connected to the campus network and automatically checked his mail in the background. He was surprised there were 6 e-mails. He opened up his inbox and saw they were all from Tyler. Ben knew this couldn’t be good. He began reading through the messages starting with the oldest one which was from around noon today.
Ben,
Dude where you at? I thought you were coming over here after you woke up? I was hoping we could go to lunch.
Tyler
From 1:10PM
Dude? Lunch? Tyler
From 2:03PM
Ben, not sure where you at or why you’re not answering. You need to give me your cell number dude. Anyway it’s two and I’m starved so I’m leaving. There’s not time for you to lick anyway. Gotta hit the gym again.
Ty
From 4:36PM
Hey Ben,
I stopped by your dorm room but you aren’t here. Been trying to reach you all day. Your roomie Joseph is standing right here and he’s letting me use his computer to get into my webmail. I guess you forgot we were supposed to study today. Oh well, your loss. You will be begging for my notes later. Haha.
I will be at the frat house. Stop by if you can and we’ll do dinner. But don’t come too late or I’ll have to kick you out.
Tyler
From 5:17PM
I’m home. Where the fuck are you? You better get your fucking ass over here and start licking my fucking feet.
Ty
From 5:48PM
Get. Here. Now.
Ben was sweating as he finished the e-mails. He’d managed to piss Tyler off again. It would take him 15 minutes to get over to the frat house. Maybe 10 if he ran. He’d run. He figured he better let Tyler know though. He quickly typed up a response and hit send.
Tyler,
Very, very sorry. Slept late. Been at library. Don’t be mad. I’m on my way. Ben (phone 555-3338)
He closed his laptop and quickly gathered his stuff. He wasn’t even out the door when his phone rang. He knew it would be Tyler.
“Hello,” he answered.
“About fucking time!” Tyler exploded. “Yeah I’m sorry Tyler. I slept…”
“Shutup,” Tyler snapped. “Are you at the main library?”
“Um yeah, it should only take me 10 minutes to get over there,” Ben said.
“Just wait out front,” Tyler ordered. “I’ll pick you up.” With that he hung up.
Ben knew Tyler was going to give him a hard time over this. He sat down on a bench in front of the library and waited. About 5 minutes later, Tyler pulled up and motioned Ben to get in.
“Hey Tyler,” Ben said hopefully as he sat down in the passenger seat. Tyler just glared at him before putting the car in drive and pulling out. Ben wasn’t sure where they were going because it was opposite the frat house and then he realized it was his dorm room. He sighed inwardly; it looked like Tyler was going to stretch out on his bed again while he made Ben lick his feet.
“Go grab your tablet,” Tyler ordered.
“Huh?” Ben said in puzzlement.
“Go grab your tablet,” Tyler repeated. “And the charger,” he added.
“Why?” Ben asked.
Tyler leaned in about 2 inches from Ben’s face. “Because I fucking said so,” he growled.
“Okay okay,” Ben said as he quickly got out of the car and ran upstairs. He didn’t know why Tyler wanted his tablet but he was really mad and Ben was not about to argue with him. He hoped Tyler wasn’t going to punish him by breaking his tablet or something. It was only a year or so old and he liked it. He grabbed it and the charger and jogged back downstairs where Tyler sat in the running car. Tyler nodded and they drove off. Again, Ben thought they might be headed to the frat house but Tyler took the road headed out of town. Ben had no idea what was going on but Tyler wasn’t in a talking mood so he just sat silently. Finally after about 10 minutes Tyler spoke.
“You really pissed me off today Benji,” Tyler said. But he didn’t yell like before so Ben took that as a good sign.
“I know Tyler,” Ben said earnestly, “I’m really, really sorry. I totally lost track of time. I apologize.”
“Sorry for yelling,” Tyler said with a grin, “but I get cranky when I’m hungry.” Ben breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Where are we going?” Ben asked.
“Sports bar out by the highway,” Tyler explained. “Food’s really good.” “Oh,” Ben said. “I was wondering.”
“Did you think I was going to take you off in the woods and murder you?” Tyler joked.
“Well no,” Ben smiled ruefully. “Not exactly. But I thought you might be taking me out somewhere to beat me up.”
“Maybe I am,” Tyler said mysteriously. “Wait what?!” Ben exclaimed.
“Oh relax you fucking pussy,” Tyler said with a smirk, “I’m kidding. Do you really think I’d beat you up?”
“You did a pretty good job last night,” Ben retorted.
“Oh, well yeah. Kind of sorry about that dude,” Tyler half apologized. “I had a little too much to drink. I hope I didn’t hurt you too bad.” Ben had been so focused on appeasing Tyler’s anger last night he hadn’t really thought about it from that point of view. Tyler had kind of been out of control and he had really hurt Ben. He’d definitely crossed the line.
“You cracked my rib Tyler,” Ben complained. “And then you kicked me in the face like 3 times and then like once in the groin.”
“I kinda remember that,” Tyler lied. He remembered everything. “But like weren’t you arguing with me or something?”
“I was trying to get you to stop,” Ben said evasively. “You went a little crazy.” “I remember being really mad,” Tyler said. “Why was I so mad at you?” Ben squirmed in the seat and didn’t say anything.
“Oh yeah,” Tyler said pretending to remember, “You made some crack and told me to kiss your feet didn’t you?” He fixed Ben with a stare.
“That was after you cracked my rib,” Ben said defensively.
“Well no wonder I kicked your ass,” Tyler said. “Seriously, why would you try and start shit with me?”
“I wasn’t trying to start something,” Ben protested. “I was just in pain and I just snapped. I didn’t know you were going to flip out.”
“Ben you can’t just say crap like that to me and not expect to get your ass kicked,” Tyler said calmly.
“Why not?” Ben pouted. “You say it to me all the time and I don’t go all psycho on you. You just sent me an e-mail saying, and I quote,’You better get your fucking ass over here and start licking my fucking feet‘” Ben folded his arms and looked defiantly over at Tyler.
Tyler nodded. “You’re right. I’m always telling you to kiss my feet or lick my feet or something and I can see how that might seem unfair for me to beat on your for saying the same thing to me.”
Ben smiled.
“But there’s a difference between you and me,” Tyler continued. “Why?” Ben demanded.
“Let me explain it like this,” Tyler slowed the car down and pulled over. They hadn’t quite reached the highway and they were on a dark country road outside the little college town they’d left behind. “Why have you been kissing my feet?”
Ben looked uncomfortable. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why have you been doing it?” Tyler asked in all seriousness. “Why have you been kissing my feet and licking my feet?”
“Well… because I agreed to,” Ben said a little sadly. It seemed Tyler was going to remind him how all this was Ben’s fault because he’d gambled and lost.
“Right,” Tyler said. “You’ve been kissing my feet and licking my dirty, sweaty feet because you made a bet and you’re honoring that. But let’s forget all that.”
“What do you mean?” Ben asked.
“Let’s say there were no bets. No challenges. No points. No fraternity. There’s just you and me okay?” “Okay,” Ben nodded slowly not sure where Tyler was going with all of this.
“See that field over there,” Tyler said pointing. Ben nodded. “Let’s imagine it’s just you and me standing in that field. Can you picture that?”
“Yes,” Ben said slowly.
“And we’re just standing there. And there’s no outside world and there’s never been any challenges. It’s like the beginning of time. Like the Garden of Eden. And you and I are just standing there. Two men. Primal. Naked. Raw power. Can you picture that?”
Ben was wondering if Tyler had lost his mind. Why was he talking about the two of them being naked in the Garden of Eden? He wondered if Tyler was gay and if this was his way of coming on to him. But of course, once Tyler had described the scene Ben couldn’t help but picture it. And he’d seen Tyler naked and raw power was a pretty good phrase to describe him. Ben felt self consciousness.
“Yeah, I can picture it but what…?”
“And imagine the two of us have never even met. Okay?” “Okay,” Ben said in complete confusion.
“Now in that set of pristine circumstances would there be a difference between me telling you to kiss my feet and you telling me to kiss your feet?”
It was a ridiculous example but Ben finally saw where Tyler had come around to. All things being equal, he knew it would be wrong for either person to say that to the other. But outside of those perfect circumstances, like the challenges that Ben had accepted, things weren’t fair and Ben saw that what went for Tyler didn’t necessarily hold true for Ben.
“I see what you mean,” Ben nodded.
“No, no,” Tyler prompted. “Answer the question. Would there be a difference between me saying ‘kiss my feet’ or you saying it?
“No there’s no difference,” Ben admitted, “it would be wrong for either of us to say it.” “Wrong.” Tyler said with a smirk. “There’s a huge difference.”
Ben was lost and admitted it, “I don’t get it Tyler. What’s the difference?” “The difference,” Tyler said with a huge grin, “is that I can actually make you do it!”
“Ha ha,” Ben said dryly, “Very funny.” He couldn’t believe Tyler had dragged the joke out that long.
Tyler hopped out of the car. “Oh I’m not joking Ben,” Tyler said gleefully. “Get out of the car and I’ll show you.”
