Author: Paul Plesko
Email address: pplesko@hotmail.com
Series/Sequel: Part 11 of "Rumors," part of Brian's backstory
Pairings: Brian/OMC/ Anonymous
Category: Angst, Drama
Rating: NC-17
Date: August 20, 2003
Summary: The Labyrinth opens, but the success, for Brian, is tempered by events that happen there. The darkness of the maze breeds other darkness, too.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Anonymous sex
Never promise more than you can perform. Publius Syrus (42 B.C.), Maxim 528
RUMORS, Part 11
The phone began ringing at 9:30 am...calls from as far away as Rochester, New York, asking for directions to get to Rumors.
"Hey, Bud...is this place as hot as I've heard?"
I'd given him the driving instructions twice. He didn't seem too bright. "Come and see," I said. "One more guy just raises the temperature a little."
"Hey, you sound pretty nice. Can I meet you there?"
"I'm the Minotaur in the center of the maze. If you can find me, you can have me," I said, knowing idle promises were probably safe."
"Hot Doggie!" he said. "I'll be on the road in ten minutes."
Other calls just asked for directions and hung up. A few tried to engage me in a little phone sex...or they wanted my home phone number. I gave them the number of the Altoona Police Departmentwhich was taped next to the phone in case of emergencies.
While I manned the phone, Troy finished taping the last light-cracks in the plywood-covered windows. It would be a moon-lit night, and we wanted the place absolutely pitch-dark except where dim blue or red bulbs illuminated some interior gathering-spots within the maze.
The sound system worked fine. Troy had selected a movie sound-track from a film I'd never heard of...mostly low rumbling sounds accentuated by piercing, slicing sounds and the sound of a heart-beat. It raised the tension level without being too distracting.
The parking lot started to fill early. Troy decided to open the bar at 8:30 instead of 9:00, because a lot of guys milling around outside with nothing to do was simply asking for trouble. And the last thing we wanted was trouble on this premiere night. Troy had even hired two off-duty policemen (who looked vaguely familiar, even in their uniforms) to quell any rowdiness, inside or out. Local residents, who happened to be driving-by on this usually quiet street, paused to gawk at the crowd. What could be going on in the old warehouse? I told Troy... all we needed were klieg lights and a laser light show and we'd have the whole city of Altoona there. He raised an eyebrow as if to say "The boy has let this advertising-thing go to his head."
We went through a keg of Iron City in the first half hour. Troy had me rolling kegs like a pro. I couldn't keep the bar stocked; hard liquor was flying off the shelves. Most of the guys were congregating in the bar and theater instead of the backroom and arcade. The anticipation and the arousal-level were high; the testosterone pheromones were about as thick in the air as cigarette smoke. I walked around with a distinct bulge in my jeans that let everyone know I was "ready-for-action."
By 9:30, the stairs to the third floor were already packed with guys waiting in-line. Well, actually some of them weren't waiting at all. One young guy had already been stripped by his buddies and was giving head on one knee on the staircase.
After making sure everything was taken-care-of at the bar, Troy and I used the freight elevator to ascend to the third floor. Troy sat at the ticket table with the cash box. My job was to direct guys when they entered... either to the left, to the coin-operated locker-room where clothing and valuable could be stored, or to the right, to the dark entrance into the Labyrinth. As ten o'clock approached, Troy stood at the top of the stairs and shouted for quiet.
"Now I'm not gonna make a big speech," he said. "But there are a few things I want to say. First, I want to thank Brian, here... because, without him, this project woulda never gotten off the ground. And I want you all to know that I've made him a full-partner here at Rumors... so now you can direct some of your shit to him, and leave me alone!" There was a loud laugh from the guys packed in the staircase. "And, Number Two...we don't want no violence...don't want anyone to get hurt. This is a place for pleasure...a fuckin' good-time...so behave yourselves, or I'll kick your sorry asses out the front door and never let you back in. Understood?" There was a murmur of agreement from the stair-well. "OK, then...five bucks gets you in. The Labyrinth is open-for-business!"
There was a roar and a surge of bodies on the stairs. Suddenly I wasn't sure I was standing in a safe place...like trying to direct traffic in Pamplona on the day they run the bulls. Some guys were naked already and headed directly into the Labyrinth; I wondered where they had left their clothing. The remaining guys stripped, fully or partially, in the dimly-lit locker-room, then joined the steady stream into the maze. Troy counted 105 guys before the first surge thinned to a few stragglers. The ones who had spent more time in the bar were having more trouble climbing the two flights of stairs.
"This should sober 'em up," Troy said with a wink. He folded a wad of bills and put them in his back pocket. "I'll take some of this cash downstairs. When I get back, you can go join the boys in the maze. You've earned it."
By the time he'd returned, I had stripped off my jeans and tee shirt. It was the first time I'd seen him with a drink in his hand during working hours.
"Seeing you like that," he said, nodding at the ring which made my cock sway slowly from side-to-side, "makes me want to join you in there a soon as possible."
"Last one in is a rotten, scum-sucking faggot," I said, waving as I turned the corner and ducked into the shrouded darkness of the entrance.
In total darkness, the walls fell-away giving the sensation of spaciousness. But the physical walls brushing your shoulder and the backs of your knuckles gave the sensation of claustrophobic closeness...like drowning at night. The mixed sensual messages of vastness closing down around you raised your heart-rate...and your arousal.
Just beyond the veil of darkness the first men waited...the ones who wanted first-crack at new-comers. Hands explored my body as I passed. Stiff cocks brushed my thighs...hard bodies blocked the path wanting a kiss as the toll to pass. The holes cut from one passage to another had been found; disembodied arms reached through to grasp anything that passed-by. There was surprisingly little talking....an occasional comment of "Nice" as a fist gripped my shaft...but spoken invitations were unnecessary. We were all there for the same ultimate purpose...the satisfaction of the same primitive urges... "running the gauntlet" of lust, anonymity, and sensual overload.
I made a wrong-turn, intentionally, to explore an area that ended in a circular dead-end; if one traced the outer wall, he would change direction without knowing it; if he traced the inner wall, he might travel in a circle all night. But no one was traveling there...just a clutch of bodies collected in a tight area, writhing like a snake-pit. I could barely move into the cluster...a mouth on my shoulder, fingers in my hair pulling me deeper, arms around my knees holding me back, a face buried in my ass-crack. I reached for support and found hot skin. A mouth closed over mine, sucking the air from my lungs. The sensation was overwhelming...feeling everything at-once...all the touching, kissing, and licking blending into one amorphous creature devouring me. I had anticipated the pleasures of the maze...but I had never imagined this. Hair brushed my belly. Hard pecs pressed against my back as a cock slipped between my thighs. I was lifted onto my toes by a muscular arm around my waist. I barely felt the penetration, overwhelmed by all the other sensations. Random cock in random ass...try it on for size...feel his heat...squeeze him until he tightens in reflex spasms...fill the hole...any hole...grasping to urge someone on...anyone...swirling in the sexual Maelstrom...moist lips...smooth skin...the smell of sweat and more sweat...the sounds of sex...arousal and loss-of-control...then down onto the floor...no room...ankles against my sides as people step over the writhing cluster...the plywood wall against the side of my face...the ramming tightness in my ass...
My "escape" from this cluster was more of an accident than it was intentional...expelled, like dropping from the birth-canal...like being run-down by a wandering band of mouths, then left in the saliva-covered path as they randomly search for other victims in the darkness. I got to my feet, dazed and disoriented. Which way to go? I, who had built the maze, was now lost in it. I retraced the path in my memory...two quick right-turns, then a left...then avoid any turns for ten steps... I felt the wall for familiar features...a pass-through hole or an angled corner. Nothing was familiar. Was I going back toward the main path, or away from it?
My hand, sliding along the wall, suddenly encountered bare skin...an arm...a hand reaching out to touch my chest. "Come here," he murmured, wrapping strong arms around me. The anonymity of the Maze worked both ways. He might have recognized me, if he could see me. Would I have chosen him if I could see him? Before I could think about it, our mouths met in a gentle kiss which grew in intensity as our bodies came together in the narrow passage. Ascertaining size and shape...feeling his smoothness and muscularity...my type. Longish hair...my fingers snared two hands-full as his forearms brushed up my lats and forced my elbows out, then crossed over my back and crushed me against his chest. I spun in his grasp, with one arm around his neck forcing his head down to lick my pec. He followed its margin to my pit, bathing its concavity with warm saliva. "You taste good," he said as he used his body to force me back against the wall. "Let me suck you." He dropped to his knees as I released my headlock, finding my cock with his chin before his lips surrounded it. I leaned back against the wall, palms flat for support, letting him do all the work. As he began to suck me, another guy encountered us as we blocked the passage. When he realized what was happening, he buried his face in the curve of my neck and offered his cock for sucking, too. Mouth, then, hand...then mouth again...sucking and stroking, as hands explored my torso. Fingers feeling my cock entering the seductive lips. Nipple pinches. A tongue along my jaw-line. An eager mouth on my face…a face trapped between our hips as our cock pressed tightly against our bellies. We kissed as I felt our cock slip side-by-side into wide-stretched lips. An arm locked around my thigh, pressing my knee against the kneeling man’s chest. I clutched at the wall for support.s.
“I’ve done him,” I said. “…back when he was tight enough to feel it.”
They laughed and resumed their punishment of his ass. I stepped into the shadow of the room’s exit. He would be there all night…taking on all comers…waving those lovely legs in the air as an enticement.
Blackness again after a few turns. The sounds became louder now as I approached the largest of the rooms… rhythmic murmurs like Buddhist monks chanting sutras…
"You are the light itself
Rely on yourself
Do not rely on others.
The Dharma is the light
Do not rely on anything other than the Dharma."
But these were hymns to the carnal power…the powers of lust, excess, exploitation, and domination. I stepped into the dim blue light of the room…dark-shaded lust…the redness of aroused skin lit only by blue light casting black blotches on shinny musculature.
The exit from the room followed the same path by which I had entered for a few feet, then a sharp double-turn to the left. I had entered the long, complex exit path of the Labyrinth. We had made it difficult to enter, but even more difficult to leave. A wrong turn could have sent me back to the beginning. I had never known this part of the maze very well.
I stumbled over someone lying in my path. He clutched at my leg as I stepped over him. "Fuck me," he said. "Fuck me…right here." I broke his grasp and moved on.
I twisted my head to the side sharply to free my mouth. "Troy!" I shouted. "Troy, it's me."
"I know…I've been looking for you." His speech was slurred and he spoke more slowly than usual. "The answer to my dreams," he said, pressing harder against me. "The whole time we were building this damned thing." His cock pumped against my belly. Then he spun me around against the unforgiving plywood. With my cheek against the wall, the memory of the black latex paint returned. I pressed back against his body. “Why are you acting so rough? I said. “We’ll have plenty of time after everyone leaves.”
“Just takin’ what’s mine,” he whispered quietly in my ear with whiskey-breath. I tried to move slowly. He held me. I tried more vigorously. He held me tighter. “You’re in here, looking for a hot fuck...probably looking for Hammer,” he continued. “Well, he’s not here.”
“I’m not looking for him...,” I began.
“Some guy said he’s gone to Pittsburgh. Another one said he was in New York. But, anyway...he’s gone now...and you’re mine.”
I was beginning to feel like the Grand Prize in some kind of Iron Man competition. And I didn’t like it. “I don’t belong to anyone.” I struggled, and he forced my arm upward behind my back. The pain in my shoulder gave me extra strength. I sidestepped his weight pressing against me and twisted. He pulled me hard against his chest.
“Not so fast,” he said. “You owe me.”
“I owe you nothing,” I said, raising my voice. “You don’t own me. You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Always trying to control everything...” he continued, not listening to me. “Smart-ass college boy...”
“Please,” I said. “Don’t do this. You’ll ruin it all.”
“I finally get rid of Hammer,” he growled, “...and you still don’t want me.” He shoved me away. I hit the wall and fell to one knee. Someone joined us then...encountering us in the dark passageway as he looked for the exit. In the confusion of bodies trying to pass in the narrowness, I slipped past Troy, preceding the guy toward the end of the maze...and the light.
“Brian.....Brian,” I heard him calling my name as his hands scuffled along the walls looking for me. But I didn’t turn back. He was drunk and unreasonable. He was ignoring everything I’d ever told him about our friendship. He was treating me like the latest pawn in the contest with Hammer. And I didn’t like it. I had never promised him anything...other than to finish the maze.
“Where ya goin’, Bud? Don’t ya wanta join us? They say this place is really hot.”
I ignored them.