"How goes it?" Rio asked, like a reflex.
"Okay," Sat answered the same way, handing over his membership card. "Looks dead in here."
Rio made a vague gesture toward the weight room. "No waiting." The club closed in forty-five minutes, but Rio knew that. He always came in late and got out before eleven. If only everybody was that considerate, Sat thought.
After Rio walked back to the locker room, Sat slipped outside for a smoke.
Ten minutes later Rio was doing curls, Sat was counting the cash-box in the office...
And the front door opened a few inches.
Two sets of keys floated out.
The door closed... and locked.
Overhead lights started clicking off.
"What?" Rio puffed. It wasn't anywhere near closing time.
Sat came out of the office, looking around.
More lights went out, and they were pretty much in darkness -
A flashlight beam got Rio in the eyes.
"Oh... fuck," Sat said.
"What is it?" Rio snapped, setting down the dumbbell and covering his eyes.
"You're not gonna believe this."
"Try me."
"There's nobody holding the flashlight."
Hands grabbed Rio's forearms.
"Hey!"
"Dude. Don't fight it. Uh..."
"What the fuck are you doing?" Rio yelled.
"It ain't me! I'm getting... Oh, shit. Tied up."
Rope slid around Rio's right wrist.
No matter what they did to fight it, invisible hands pushed 'em together... and tied 'em well. They'd pushed Rio down and spread him out, laying Sat right on top. More than enough rope -
They were really stuck. Face-to-face, and Sat reeked like cigarettes.
"Just tell me this wasn't your idea," Rio mumbled. The counter guy knew something.
"No way. I don't like this any more than you do."
After a second Rio said, "Feels like you, uh, like it."
Sat caught on. "Asshole. I, uh... About a month ago I got tied down by this chick. What a freak. It was incredible."
"Stop thinkin' about it."
"Too late."
Rio pulled, but the other guy's arms moved too. "You said, 'Don't fight it.' When you saw the flashlight. What do you know that I don't?"
Sat shrugged. "I've heard stories. The liquor store down the street... and the barbecue place on the other corner. Crazy talk."
"About?"
The counter guy hesitated. "Uh. Kidnappers. Invisible."
A long pause elapsed. "Invisible."
"You see any hands? Tying us up?"
"No. Son of a bitch." And they were strong, too... "What do they, uh -"
"You don't wanna know."
"Tell me -" Then Rio got distracted, because something was happening.
His shoes...
And Sat's.
Rio had a truly awful thought. He looked at Sat, who was squinting like he ate a bug. "What the fuck do they do?"
"Tickle."
That was it. Aw, hell, that was the absolute last straw. Rio pulled like he was fuckin' insane. Sat was pulled along, at first, but then he wised up and started trying to help.
Hands caught their wrists - and more rope was being pulled around and around.
"I am not gonna stay here and just... No. No way, no way, uh-uh," Rio growled, panting for breath.
"No. You're not gonna stay here," Sat said in a weird voice. It sounded like he was getting woozy. "Neither am I. They kidnap guys - ticklish fuckers - and hide 'em good. Long-term. That's the story, anyway."
Rio freaked out. Slamming back and forth -
Rope pulled tight. He couldn't rock nearly as much.
And oh shit, oh fuck, fingertips started easing across his soles.
Sat gasped - and exploded with a wail of laughter.
Spittle flew on Rio's face. He set his teeth...
The fingers scritched back and forth across his arches. Moving, moving, and he couldn't get his fuckin' feet away.
He snagged a big breath and howled, long and low, right in Sat's face.
Oh, they laughed like fuckin' fools. Totally out of control. The damn rope kept their feet stuck just like that...
Once in a while Rio caught himself worrying. It usually took a while to figure out what the problem was. Sat - obviously just as unhinged as Rio was - had a hard-on. And just discovering that, obscurely, made Rio sport wood himself. They couldn't have been in any worse position for that...
Every time, there was no bigger shock than the fingers landing back on his ribs. Skating up, up, up. Kinda digging into his pits.
Rio's arms wouldn't obey him, so he laid there - vulnerable as he could be - and roared with laughter.
The fingers were running wild under his fuckin' t-shirt.
Sat didn't have it any easier, to judge from all the panic and hysterical laughter coming from the guy trapped on top of him. Sat's tears were dripping all over Rio's face.
It was murder. Unbearable.
They were floating...
Outside. Sweet, cold air -
The darkness of a camper shell. The truck bed had a thick layer of foam rubber, or something. How considerate, Rio thought wildly.
Rope flew around - and leather slapped down, catching their limbs, then pulling tight... to reach big eye-bolts, probably installed just for that one fuckin' use.
Rio got a thick slab of leather shoved between his jaws. Sat had one just like it.
Right before the truck bed was closed, Rio caught a glimpse of headlights. His truck. And a car, next to it. Sat's, he guessed. Their vehicles were following them. No evidence could be allowed to suggest that two strong, buffed-out dudes had been kidnapped or anything. And certainly not for the most excruciating tickling that could be dished out...
For weeks. Months?
Two prisoners, successfully hidden away - and tickled out of their minds.
"Morning," Rio whispered groggily.
"Morning," Sat sighed.
They were still caught in the secret tickle-crib. No surprise there. Two months, now? More? No way to tell. Obviously they'd be doing the same thing today -
Brushes touched down on Rio's belly button. Another trailed down his cock.
Arching, he made the straps creak - and started to whoop silently.
The same sounds came from the next rack over...
12jul2006