Notes:

Characters: Mr. B. and The Grey (someone like him has been seen in the show, too)

Edited by lucel



<i>Mr. B. is back at The Challenge. This time a nondescript challenger measures his abilities to transform into the opposite of himself.</i>



<b>Challenges 6: Granny and the shot</b>



If somebody had told me a year ago that I would voluntarily put my freedom at stake in a game of chance, I would have thought that person was nuts. But there I was again, for the third time, sitting in the choosing lounge at The Challenge. When I first went, I had no idea what I was in for. Afterwards, I was sure I would never let myself be coerced into that kind of a situation again. But here I was for my third time, nobody was twisting my arm anymore. I was hooked, no sense in denying that. 

The doors opened, and the challenges entered the choosing lounge. I felt the excitement flooding my body with alertness. I had not felt so enthusiastic since I was in my teens. In these challenges, I found a way to release the child in me for a while, to get back the feelings of my care-free youth. 

I knew I could get burnt: I was playing with fire after all, but I wasn’t really concerned. Yes, there was a chance of losing the game. I might earn a punishment that night, but I was ready to accept that possibility. I didn’t want to be punished, but I thought that I could bear the punishment if necessary. But I really didn’t want it!

I sat at a table with two other men. I had been greeted by many of the patrons as I came into the lounge that evening. There were several guests that had seen my performance in the pink challenge. I knew most of them because Em, The Pink, had introduced them to me. Em wasn’t there, I was disappointed to see. He wasn’t among the patrons or the challenges. But I had a good chat with my new buddies, Seal and Stump.

“Do you see him, Seal? Seal?!” Stump was sitting with his back to the doors and couldn’t see the challenges well. Seal wasn’t paying attention. He had his eyes glued to the stage.

“ Who are you looking for?” I asked.

“The Gold. Is he there?”

“I don’t see him.”

“Good!” The man seemed very relieved. “I haven’t been chosen by the gold or blue challenge yet. I admit that those particular challenges make me nervous. They are said to be impossible to win. Have you been chosen by either of those?”

“No, I haven’t. And I understand your feelings; those challenges make me nervous, too.”

“You haven’t been member of the club for long, have you?”

“You’re right. This is only my third visit here. And you? You two have been members longer than I have, right?”

“Yes, both of us. I’ve been a member for almost three years, but I don’t visit here very often. This is my seventh time so far. Seal has been a member a few months longer than I. He has visited The Challenge much more often than I.”

The challenges had started their rounds among the patrons. Our table was heavily cruised. Those looks promised a good possibility of being picked up among the first group... at least for some of us.

“Are your earlier challenges here tonight, Beam?”

“No, I don’t see either of them.”

“Wait, I need to see better.” Stump adjusted his chair. “There are three challenges here that I have done. The Lime, there. That tall blond guy. And The Azure, he’s quite small, there almost behind The Orange. The Sky-blue is just walking towards us.”

“They are all brights. Were you lucky? Did you win in those challenges?”

“Stump has phenomenal luck! I have lost about as many times as I have won, but Stump here hasn’t lost yet!” Seal turned his attention back to us and looked at his friend, envy and wonder showing on his face. 

“I hope that some of your luck rubs off on me then, Stump! I haven’t lost yet and hope to win tonight, too. What were the challenges about with those three you pointed out?”

“Oh, no, Beam! I won’t tell! You should know better than to ask us that.” They both looked at me with mocking disapproval on their faces.

“OK, I’ll be good! But you can’t blame a guy for trying…”

The boys started to pelt me with raisins so I had to defend myself with my peanuts. As I said, I grabbed the chance to be a boy again with both hands. I guess I wasn’t the only one.

The challenges were ready for choosing. Stump was the first of us to be picked up, he left with a man in deep red outfit. Seal and I had to wait for our turn. The brights were not interested in us that night.

“Hey, how ‘bout coming with us?” The two grays that stood before us could have been identical twins; maybe they were. They were of average height, and they were in good shape. Their faces were pleasant, but there was nothing unusual about them. The nondescript gray of their clothing was very appropriate to them. The guy that had uttered the words smiled at Seal. The other was grinning at me. I raised my eyebrow as I glanced at Seal getting up from his chair to follow his man. 

“I’ve seen these two before. I can’t tell them apart from each other! One of them offers a private challenge, the other public one. I have no idea which one he is!” Seal said nodding toward the man that had challenged him.

“I guess we’ll find out very soon!” 

I felt giddy as I followed my challenge out of the lounge. My first two times at The Challenge I had been apprehensive to hear the challenge. Now, facing the same predicament, I couldn’t wait to get started. I expected that I would have a good time. I would be pushed to my limits, yes, but I would also find the experience exhilarating, I believed.

My challenge and I were walking behind Seal and his man… such nice asses. My eyes wandered to forbidden delights, forbidden that night, anyway. I became aware of the fact that when I had walked through the place led by my challenges the first two times, I had paid no attention to the assets of the men I had seen there. I hadn’t really checked out the two guys that had challenged me either. If that wasn’t an indicator of my apprehension, what would be?

As before, the challenge took me to his room. The room was nothing like the other two rooms I had seen. I think that a room in The Challenge reflects the challenge using it. This room was ordinary, that’s all I can say about it. A pleasant place that was adequate for the occasion. It did not stick to my mind at all. 

“Please, sit down! I’m Ted, how’s it going?” The challenge was playing a polite if not very imaginative host.

“Pleased to meet you, Ted. I’m called Beam.” Why not play by his rules?

“Would you care to have a drink with me as I brief you on the challenge?”

“You got Beam?”

“Yes, of course. That’s pretty obvious choice, considering the name you use.”

“I guess.” 

“I’ve never developed a taste for it myself, too bitter.”

“I like the bitterness.”

“It’s better just to drink the bitter than to think and yourself embitter!”

There was an awkward silence in the room after that somewhat patronizing comment of his.

“Grpmph… eh…” Ted tried to find something to say. “How ‘bout I tell you what the challenge is about?”

“Please do.” What a charming and articulate man I was that night.

“Well. We will go to a bar nearby. There we’ll try to pick up a trick for a quick fuck in the backroom. The challenge is to fail in that as many times in 30 minutes as possible. The winner is the one that has been turned down by the most men.”

There I was again, completely taken by surprise. Nothing like this had ever even skimmed the surface of my mind. 

This would be one hard challenge for me. I’m a good looking guy. I don’t need to behave like a peacock in rut, my assets are on display when I’m behaving in perfectly normal manner, and my assets are of the best quality. If I want to pick up a trick I make my choice and pick him up. Why wouldn’t he be willing, there is no better fuck available when I’m present. It’s the plain truth.

What on earth was I to do to make myself undesirable?

I looked at Ted. He was looking back with a catlike glint in his slightly screwed up eyes. I didn’t find that glint one little bit reassuring. As I looked on the glint was paired with a little smile, a self-confident little smile.

Of course Ted had chosen me. I was just the kind of a man that would more than likely lose in his challenge. This man wanted to win as much as I did. And, damn it, he had every advantage in his corner! 

What would he do if he won?

I kept looking at him. 

Even our eyelids didn’t quiver as we tried to stare each other into submission. It was a draw. I would never have guessed that this mediocre man was a top. I could not feel the presence I associate with tops in his behavior until that moment. But top he was, deep inside, behind his tentative facade. It was understood: if I didn’t win the challenge, there was no chance for me to escape bottoming that night. Until that moment I had kept alive the hope of cajoling him into letting me top him anyway. I watched that cherished hope disappear without leaving as much as a coil of smoke.

“You are the master of refusal, Ted?” It was a snarky reply.

“Not your expertise I assume, Beam?” 

What was I supposed to say after that? Admit it? Deny it? I made the wise decision to change the subject.

“You are the twin that offers the public challenge. There will be somebody to act as a judge, I presume?”

“Two judges, one for you, one for me. They are waiting for us at reception.”

“I guess you have your performance refined, if you even need an act that is.” I just had to stick that little thorn into his smugness. Petty, I know. “I, on the other hand, am not as lucky. May I have some time to come up with a plan?” 

“Sure. Not that it will help you much. This is a skill one is born with, and you, my dear, were not that lucky!”

That was the first time ever I had to admit that my looks were not an asset for the job at hand!

Ted told me I had a half an hour to think up a plan and then join him in the reception area. He left, and I refilled my glass. Before the half an hour had gone, I had refilled my glass for the third time. 

But I had a plan.

I met Ted and the judges at the reception hall at the appointed time, and we left for the bar at once. The judge that would referee my case was Jack, the guide that had introduced me to The Challenge a couple of months earlier. I hadn’t met him since. We exchanged greetings and exchanged some small talk during the short flight.

The bar we visited was called Old Woods. The place was an interesting mix of styles from different times. There were a couple of pool tables, at least I thought that’s what they were. Isn’t a pool table smaller than a snooker or billiard table? I never seem to remember, not being interested in the game myself. Anyway, those tables looked like they could have been real antiques.

“We are about to begin. One thing is not clear to me, Ted. What happens if a man doesn’t turn down the offer?” Jack asked a question I should have thought to ask myself.

“The fuck must happen. It wouldn’t be fair to treat the unsuspecting bystanders any other way.” 

Fair’s fair. I couldn’t disagree with Ted on that.

“Let’s have drinks and get this shit over with before this night is all gone.” I wasn’t being too reasonable, I won’t deny that.

We didn’t waste any more time. As soon as we all had a drink we split, and the game began. Jack followed me to my first attempt at getting rebuffed. The situation was absurd. Never had I thought it possible that I would one day try to seduce a man to say “no” when I offered to fuck him.

There were several guys cruising me. I went after the one who was sporting the most self-confident smile. He knew he was hot. I took in his assets with a long and slow movement of my eyes. I made it as good an imitation of being enthralled with what I saw as I was capable of giving. I took a couple of steps in his direction as if I didn’t know what I was doing and stopped then with a question in my eyes. His answering look was a blatant invitation.

I stood in front of this wet dream wiping my supposedly wet palms on my cloth covered thighs. My voice was husky and I was out of breath as I said: “How far does your granny put the shot?”

It was fascinating to see his interest change to confusion, then very quickly to exasperation, and at last to rebuff. Jack had the most peculiar expression on his face.

“Fuck off.”

One down. 

From victim to victim I went. My hopeless trek around the bar was soon noted. In just ten minutes, I got my first rebuff from afar, without even having a chance to approach the guy. I had gotten myself a reputation that was preceding me. My pick up line was working like a charm.

It was working… until I tried to pick up one certain red-head. As I was about to deliver my line, a broad smile broke out on his face.

“My granny doesn’t have a record in the shot put, but she is the European Champion in the hammer. Her winning fling was 35,14. Not bad for a 67 year old lady, huh?”

Every plan has its weaknesses. I had to fuck the guy.

“Don’t know about your <i>granny</i>, but <i>your</i> shot isn’t half bad,” the happy customer grinned as we parted.

The others were sitting by the counter when I got back to them considerably later than I had thought I would be.

“I noticed that you started well, Beam, but I see your luck didn’t hold ‘till the end. How many visits to the backroom did you have to make?” Ted was smug.

“Oh, this was the only one. I was in the middle of the negotiations to get a rebuff from him when the time came to an end. I just changed the aim of the negotiation. He gave decent head by the way.” I was happy to rid Ted of his delusions. I was happy also to see his smug grin lose some of its smugness. Point for me.

“Negotiating your way out of fucking a guy you first had offered to fuck? I bet that was a difficult task for you. I hope you weren’t still in your first negotiation when the 30 minutes were gone?”

“No, not my first.” Why not let the smug bastard think he had scored a point? “Lets hear the results.”

“Ted has the unbelievable result of 21 rebuffs in just 30 minutes.” The judge was in awe. 

“I’ve had better nights, but this was not bad.” Ted’s grin didn’t leave any doubt about what he thought my chances were.

I had to admit to myself – grudgingly – that there was something worth my respect about the man. Ted didn’t show a hint of embarrassment. A guy has to have balls of brass to change a “talent” such as this into an advantage! He glanced in my direction. His eyes gleamed as he turned expectantly to Jack.

“Beam here has an unexpectedly high score for a man as appealing as he is. It was fascinating to see the effect of his tactics.” Jack hadn’t had a chance to let me know my score, so I was almost ready to shake the number out of him as he stopped to let his eyes take us all in. His stalling tactics got on my nerves, not that there was much left of them at that point. “Beam, you were rebuffed for the unbelievably ridiculous number of 23 times!”

“Shit!” Ted’s immediate reaction was strong.

I felt a sudden pang of pity. Ted had been so sure of his victory, but now he had to watch that bird fly from his hand to nest in mine. If I had been standing in his shoes I’d have been disappointed, too. But my sympathetic pity didn’t last very long. I won!

Ted was quiet as we flew back to The Challenge and walked the corridors to his room. 

“Well, we are here.” Ted wasn’t too happy, but he was adjusting to the situation.

“Do you have anything to eat here? All those refusals made me feel empty.” I thought he needed a little more time before he was ready to fuck.

“Oh, we can’t have that. Let’s raid the fridge.” 

We went through the icebox like a swarm of locusts. When we finished, there was hardly anything left but the light. I took everything I had found to the bed, and Ted had no other option but to follow me. I opened our bottles of beer and started to eat without so much as a word to him. He accepted the beer and followed suit. I furtively kept my eye on him. As soon as I noticed him finding an interest in something, I snapped it practically out of his teeth.

“Hey, that looks good. I want a bite.”

I did that a couple of times, but then Ted figured out what my game was and started to protect his tastier tidbits from me. Very soon we were having a friendly tussle around the bed, he trying to hold to his delicacies while I tried to relieve him of them. We were both laughing. Then I made him the prey of my game.

I fucked Ted, and he enjoyed my ministrations, but something about that night felt wrong. He never relaxed completely. His satisfaction was barely skin-deep. I felt anger in him, not boiling rage, but quiet resentment.

“This hasn’t been a good night for you, Ted.” The night was quickly coming to an end, and I was thinking to sleep a couple of hours before leaving for home. But it galled me that he found a night with me so unsatisfactory. I wanted to know why.

“It was a good night, and it wasn’t.”

“What do you mean? What was good, and what wasn’t?”

“You are good with your tricks. You give pleasure, and you made sure that I felt good. I’ve no complaints, if that’s your worry.”

“Well, I sort of want to satisfy a customer, so to speak.”

“It’s not you or your skills that that made this night not so good. I’m a top, but with tricks I hardly ever top. I haven’t got what it takes to behave like a top with tricks, except for here, when I win. That gives me, whatever it is that I otherwise am lacking. To me to get to fuck a sought after fellow like you is a rare treat; to get to top one is even more so, but here, occasionally, that happens. I thought that tonight I would have my needs met, but the night didn’t end as I had hoped it would.”

We talked a while more, and then called it a night. 

Earlier that night, I had thought that I understood Ted’s reaction to the results of the challenge he had made. I didn’t. His stake in the game was much higher than I had imagined. What I had labeled as a disappointment was actually a much deeper feeling, the frustration of a man that seldom has a chance to get his needs met. What do I know about the problems a man like Ted confronts daily in his sex life?