Chapter 1

Nate woke up to the eerie blue light of the TV, which was making a staticky, hissing noise. What the hell? He was sure the TV had been off when he went to bed. What time was it anyway? He checked the bedside alarm clock. 2:00 am. Shit. He just hoped he’d be able to get back to sleep. Nate briefly glanced at the fuzzy patches of static and swirling bands of color filling the screen, then reached for the remote and turned the TV off. Quickly he drifted back to sleep.

Again, Nate woke up to the eerie blue light of the TV, which was making a staticky, hissing noise. What the fuck was wrong with this thing? He looked over at the clock again: 3:00 am. God! Maybe it was programmed to come on every hour. Nate climbed out of bed and unplugged the TV with an angry yank.

He should have known this cheap hotel room deal was too good to be true. Maybe that’s why it was so cheap. Everything in the room was so fucked up, you couldn’t get any sleep. As he climbed into bed, he wondered if the other guys were having the same problem. He was the only one with a single room—no worries, he could afford it. Bryant and Trey were sharing a room with two twin beds, and so were JT and Ron.

Nate shut his eyes and willed himself back to sleep. Tomorrow would be his first full day here, in this beautiful beach resort in the Virgin Islands. He needed his sleep if he was going to enjoy it. By 3:09, Nate was slumbering deeply once again, and he slept like a baby until his alarm went off at 8:00.

Meanwhile, further down the hall, things were going differently for Nate’s friends. At 3:47 am, after nearly two hours of the TV’s hissing penetrating their subconscious minds, JT and Ron each sat up in bed, opened their eyes, and stared at the patterns on the TV screen. At 3:49 am, Trey followed suit, and three minutes later, so did Bryant.

At 5:03 am, JT’s right hand slipped into his white briefs, and he began mindlessly stroking himself as he blankly stared at the screen. Within 10 minutes, Ron, Trey, and Bryant were doing the same.

At precisely 6:00 am, the TV screens automatically switched off. JT, Ron, Trey, and Bryant each shut their eyes and drifted back into normal sleep, unaware that anything had happened.

**

When Nate headed down for breakfast, Bryant was already there.

“Hey,” Bryant nodded, “Trey should be coming down soon, once he’s done with his shower and his ‘grooming routine’.”

“So you’re saying we should expect him down around Noon,” Nate joked. Even among the well-dressed, appearance-conscious guys in their fraternity, Trey’s fastidious ‘grooming routine’ was infamous.

“So, rich boy, did you get a good night’s sleep alone in your private room?” Bryant teased. Nate didn’t mind. Yeah, his dad was in finance, so his family was a bit wealthier than the other guys’, but it’s not like Bryant was poor or anything; his parents were both doctors.

“Not exactly. The TV kept coming on automatically every hour. It woke me up twice, so finally I just unplugged it. That happen to you guys?”

“The TV? I can’t remember…”

“Hey guys, what took you so long?” Nate called out as he saw JT and Ron approaching, “No, wait, let me guess. JT, you were trying to pick out the right belt buckle, and Ron, you were helping him.”

“Ha ha. Very funny, rich boy,” JT smirked, “I’ll have you know that I only packed two belt buckles: this one,” he pointed just above the crotch of his tight blue jeans, to a gold buckle etched with the outline of Texas, “and another for special occasions.”

“You can take the boy out of Texas, but…” Bryant joked.

“And aren’t you going to be hot in those jeans when we’re out on the beach? At least Ron had the good sense to wear his golf pants,” Nate pointed to the preppy Alabaman, who looked every bit the collegiate golfer he was in his chinos and pink polo shirt.

“We brought board shorts,” Ron drawled, “We’ll just change when we get to the beach.”

“Well, aren’t we hitting the beach first?” Nate asked, “Hey, Trey, what are your plans for this morning?” he shouted as his friend approached the breakfast table.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I need to hit the gym.”

“Right with you, pardner,” said JT. “Me too,” said Ron. “I’m in,” said Bryant.

Nate looked at his four frat brothers with incredulity. “You’re telling me you want to spend the morning in the gym? Our first day in this tropical paradise, with these crystal blue waters and white sandy beaches, and you want to spend half of it at the gym?”

“But it’s important to work out every day,” Bryant said placidly, as though he were explaining something obvious.

“We need to keep our bodies in perfect condition,” Ron added, as the other three nodded along.

“What’s gotten into you guys? I thought I was the gym junkie in this group,” Nate laughed, “But okay, okay, fine, we’ll go to the gym—as long as we spend the afternoon at the beach.”

All in all, it had been a pretty fun first day. They’d had a vigorous workout that morning—Nate was surprised by how hard his friends pushed themselves at the gym—then hung out on the beach that afternoon and visited some clubs that evening, chatting and dancing with some pretty girls, not that anything came of it.

A little after 1:00 am, they headed back to their hotel, and Bryant came up to Nate’s room for a nightcap. Nate could tell that Bryant was upset about something, and this would give them a chance to talk.

“Man, fuck those guys!” Bryant said.

“Which guys?”

“JT and Ron. Why did they have to act like that about the gay resort down the beach? They wouldn’t even walk down that direction when we were exploring the island. ‘We’re not setting foot on no fag beach!’ Just…fuck them!”

“Well, it’s not like they know you’re gay, Bry. I mean, if you told them, they wouldn’t say things like that.”

“They wouldn’t say it to my face. They’re polite southern boys, so they wouldn’t say it to my face. But they’d sure as fuck say it behind my back.”

“Yeah, I see your point. Well, your secret’s safe with me, man. It’s just…Oh shit, not again!”

The TV had automatically turned on again. Nate got down on his knees and unplugged it once more. “Fucking housekeeping must have plugged it back in this afternoon. It’s like on some kind of automatic timer. There’s probably some way to turn it off, but I’m not going to bother. I’m not here to watch TV, anyway.”

“What time is it?” Bryant asked.

“2:00 am”

“I’d better head back to my room, then. Thanks for listening, Nate. You’re a good friend, you know that?”

“Yeah, I know. G’night.”

After Bryant left, Nate stripped down to his boxer-briefs, brushed his teeth, and was about to climb into bed when he heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, Bry,” he yawned, “What’s wrong?”

“Oh man! So I got back to my room and Trey was there in bed, jerking off as he watched TV. He must have bought a porno on pay-per-view or something.”

“What was he watching?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t get that close. I tried to make some noise, like clearing my throat or whatever, but I guess he didn’t hear me. He just kept staring at the screen and jerking off. It was weird. So…big favor, but can I sleep here for the night?”

“Um…”

“I know, I know you paid for a private room. But it’s just for one night. I just can’t go back there while he’s doing that.”

“Okay. I guess you can share my bed. It’s big enough for two.”

“Cool. I can sleep on top of the covers, and you can sleep below, if it would make you more comfortable with…”

“Cool. That’s cool,” said Nate, determined not to show how nervous he was about sharing a bed with a gay guy for the first time.

Soon, Nate and Bryant turned off the lights, shut their eyes and slept soundly. Inside the other two rooms, things were very different.

“So fellas, what’s on the agenda for today?” Nate asked once they were all seated around the breakfast table. “I read that there’s some great snorkeling around here—crystal clear waters, colorful fish—anyone want to check it out?”

“Well, we’ve got to hit the gym first,” Trey explained.

“Okay, okay, we’ve got to look good for the ladies on the beach. So fine, we’ll hit the gym.”

“And then we need to shop for our speedos,” added Ron, matter-of-factly.

“Speedos? When did you start wearing speedos?” Bryant scoffed.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with your board shorts?” Nate chimed in.

“Hot guys like us should always wear speedos,” JT said emphatically, “And wear ‘em tight, to show off all your best assets. I can’t wait to have everyone staring at my Texas longhorn,” he leered, groping his crotch.

“We work so hard on these bodies,” Trey added, adjusting himself in his cargo shorts, “Why cover them up with those long-ass board shorts?”

Over the table, Bryant and Nate exchanged puzzled looks. This definitely wasn’t the kind of breakfast conversation they’d been expecting. What had gotten into their friends?

It got even weirder at the gym. After their workouts, Ron and JT practically begged Trey to help them do a little “manscaping,” to clean things up down there so they’d look good in their speedos. After they hit the showers, the three of them pranced around the locker room naked, kneeling to shave each other’s glistening bodies, delicately lingering on each other’s sudsy ball-sacs, carefully removing each stray hair. And they didn’t seem at all bothered by the erections this gave them.

Of course, they offered to shave Bryant and Nate as well. “Come on, Nate, let me tame some of that wild forest you’ve got growing down there,” JT joked. But Bryant and Nate tersely refused, quickly dressed, and said they’d wait for their friends outside.

After lunch, they split up again; Bryant and Nate went paddleboarding, while the other three excitedly went off to shop for their new speedos. A couple of hours later, they showed up on the beach, wearing their new finds. Trey was wearing a patterned speedo with blue and white stripes that showed off the outline of his bulge. JT was wearing an orange speedo—Texas Longhorns colors. And preppy Ron was wearing a neon pink speedo.

“Hey Bry, do you think I look sexy in my new speedo?” Ron asked, shaking his ass and practically grinding his crotch into the seated man’s face.

“Hey, cut it out, Ron. That’s not funny. Just…cut it out,” said an increasingly agitated Bryant.

Ron looked genuinely confused and hurt. “What? You don’t think I look sexy in this?”

“Pardner, I think you look sexy as fuck in that pink speedo,” JT said in a husky Texas twang, “Pretty in pink.” He slapped Ron’s ass, making the other boy giggle.

They spent the afternoon laying on the beach. Bryant and Nate swam and played some volleyball, but the other three were content just lying there on the beach towels, getting ogled by passersby, men and women alike. That evening, Nate had wanted to go to a club he’d heard about, to see if they could pick up some hot girls, but the others didn’t seem interested, so they just called it an early night. Bryant and Trey headed back to their room, and JT and Ron headed back to theirs. In his room, Nate took care to unplug the TV before he went to sleep. The others did not.

Nate sat at the breakfast table with Ron and JT. It was torture. All the other two wanted to talk about was how good they looked in their speedos and all the people they’d noticed ogling them on the beach yesterday. For some reason, they seemed to have paid the most attention to the other guys who were checking them out. He couldn’t wait for Bryant to get here so that he could have a normal human conversation again.

He noticed Bryant and Trey walking into the breakfast room. Finally!

“Sorry we’re late, guys!” Bryant said sunnily, “Trey was just shaving me down there so I’d look good in my speedo.”

Ron and JT high-fived him, while Nate got a nauseated look on his face.

“Awesome! So what kind of speedo are you getting?” Ron asked.

“I don’t know. What do you guys think would look sexiest on me?”

“Blue,” JT said firmly, “On a blond, blue-eyed guy like you, a tight blue speedo would look sexy as fuck,” he grabbed his crotch for emphasis.

“What do you think, Nate? What do you think would look sexy on me?”

“I…I don’t know, man…Just do what you want…I…I just don’t know.”

“That’s okay, Nate. Oh, by the way, I stopped by the front desk this morning and told them about the problems you were having with your TV. They said they’d send someone up to fix it this afternoon.”

Somehow, Nate made it through the morning with these four guys who used to be his friends. Now, now he wasn’t even sure who they were anymore. They seemed like completely different people. The final straw was in the locker room when they started making plans for the afternoon, to walk down to the gay resort and lay out on the beach there.

“Wait until all the gay guys on the beach get a look at this,” said a naked JT, swiveling his hips and making his big dick bounce side to side.

“Yeah, we’ll show those fags what real men look like!” said Bryant, getting hard as he flexed naked. JT laughed and slapped him on the back.

As they got dressed, Nate pulled Bryant aside and whispered, “Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“Like what?”

“What’s with all the ‘fag’ stuff? And why are you suddenly so buddy-buddy with JT and Ron? I thought you hated those guys!”

“Why would I hate JT and Ron? They’ve got great sexy bodies. And they know how to have fun. You just need to loosen up a little bit, Nate. Come out and have fun with us.”

“Man, it’s…it’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”

Feeling dejected and alone, Nate split from the group and headed back to his hotel room. Briefly, he contemplated switching to another hotel, maybe even seeing if he could book an earlier flight home. But what good would that do? He’d just have to find ways to entertain himself alone. Maybe he could go on that snorkeling trip later; that might be fun.

When he got back to the room, Nate found a note on the table: “Our apologies for your broken TV. We have fixed the problem. With our apologies, please accept the free drink we have left for you in the mini-fridge.”

Nate opened the fridge and pulled out a chilled pineapple daquiri. Alright! Maybe things were looking up.

He’d barely finished the drink before he started feeling woozy. Wow. This was some strong stuff. Maybe he’d gotten too much sun yesterday. He needed to….just…lie down…

Nate barely made it to the bedroom before he collapsed on the bed. Five minutes later, the TV turned on, filling the room with eerie blue light and making a staticky hissing noise. Two hours after that, Nate sat up in bed and opened his eyes, staring directly at the screen. His mind was still asleep. About an hour after that, Nate unzipped his shorts, stuck his hand down the front of his boxer-briefs, and began playing with himself as he stared at the screen. By the time 2:00 am rolled around, Nate was all caught up and ready for the night’s regularly-scheduled programming.

A little before 8:00 am, Nate knocked on Bryant and Trey’s door, holding a razor and a can of shaving cream. Bryant opened the door. He was naked and still half-hard. Nate didn’t seem to mind.

“Hey, Bry. I was hoping you guys could help me shave my pubes and trim my body hair. I want to look just as good as you do when I put on my speedo today.”

“No problem, Nate. Come on in and take off your clothes. Trey and I were just jerking each other off. Just give us a few minutes to finish up, then we can clean up those pubes for you. Free free to watch,” Bryant winked lasciviously, “Or even join in if you want.”

“You know, I think I will join you guys,” Nate said thoughtfully, pulling down his boxer-briefs and tugging on his hardening dick, “It’s important to practice our manual masturbation techniques.”

The rest of the day passed by in a pleasurable blur for the five frat brothers: the gym, a visit to the swimwear store to pick out a perfect speedo for Nate, then an afternoon of parading down the gay section of the beach in their speedos, flirting with the men they encountered there.

When they got back to the hotel, they weren’t too upset to learn that their bags had automatically been transferred to a room in the gay resort down the beach. Staying in the gay resort would be much more convenient anyway. And they didn’t even mind that the five of them were now sharing a single room, with a single extra-large bed. The important thing was the widescreen TV set hanging in front of the bed. It was already on when they entered the room, and the five frat boys wasted no time in stripping down, facing the TV, and absorbing their programming for the night.

By the end of the week, they would make such perfect employees for the resort. The paying customers would be so very pleased with their all-American good looks and perfect bodies. For the boys, it was paradise. A tropical paradise they could never leave, even if they wanted to.