Chris immediately piped up with the suggestion Jack knew he'd make. "So let me castrate you," he answered.

"Dude, I don't want you to cut my shit off," Jack shot back, annoyed. Chris had been pestering him to let him cut his balls off for at least a month now, and it was getting annoying. "Does anybody actually take you up on that?"

"Then stop bitching about it, man. You don't want him to fix your problem, then shut up about it," Ryan broke in.

"Fuck, Ryan, if you're so hot on 'fixing the problem,' then why don't you let him cut your balls off?" Jack sighed, trying not to get mad. They did have a point; he did kinda bitch about not getting laid much lately.

"I did." Ryan grabbed his crotch. "Cock, too."

"What?" Jack looked back over at Ryan. "No way."

"Yes way," Chris countered. "He finally saw the light last week."

"Yeah. He's good, Jack, you ought to let him do it. It's nice, all nice n' smooth down there." Ryan pressed his hand into his own groin, rubbing it gently, and Jack could see that indeed there must not have been anything left in his roommate's pants.

"No thanks, guys...I'll deal with the frustration." Jack just sat back to watch the TV.

Chris had gotten way into the self-help section at their local bookstore, always thinking this next new system would instantly solve all his problems. When he'd first told them he'd castrated himself they all laughed.

"No, check it out," he'd said, then dropped his pants. Jack had been pretty familiar with his boy's dick; he'd seen it enough times, but now the landscape had totally changed. Chris' crotch was flat like a woman's, but without even a twat to break it up. They'd asked why he'd done it, and he gave them all kinds of reasons in the gobbledygook pseudopsychological babble of his self-help books. None of it made much sense to Jack.

Apparently he'd learned how to do it, if his own body was any indication. Since he'd castrated himself, he'd been insufferable about it, trying to get the two of them to "let" him remove their manhood, and going on and on and on about how much better his life had gotten, blah blah blah. Apparently Ryan had finally gotten sick of the nagging.

A week later the three of them were hanging out with their buddies Dan, Ollie, and Matt, watching a football game on TV. One of the announcers commented on how this game was one of the quarterbacks' first since having his genitals removed.

"It's becoming more and more common for athletes, Jim," the other announcer explained for the benefit of the TV audience. "Some franchises are even starting to require it in their linemen, now - in fact, San Diego, Denver, and New York just announced Tuesday that they'll having their entire teams cut in the next few weeks."

"So, Ryan, what's it like havin' yer shit cut off?" Ollie smiled, a little buzzed from the cheap beer they were drinking. He reached up his shirt and scratched his hairy belly. Jack groaned inwardly, not wanting this conversation to happen.

"Pretty good," Ryan smiled. "You know...streamlined. Glad I did it. Why, you thinkin' about it?"

"I dunno," Ollie answered. "I like havin' my dick."

"Yeah, man. Don't you guys like fucking?" Dan asked.

"It was cool and all but it's not like I miss it that much..." he answered.

Chris mumbled agreement. "You should let me do you," he suggested.

"I'm gonna hit the can," Jack stood up and stretched. He didn't really want to have to listen to Chris and Ryan talk any more about how great it was not to have cocks or balls anymore. Jack strode out of the room, his guts gurgling a bit from the beer.

Twenty minutes later, he came back out of the bathroom and found his seat in front of the TV. Only Ryan and Matt were in the room watching. "Where'd they all go?" Jack asked.

As if to answer his question, Ollie walked into the room, taking baby steps. He was completely naked, and Jack was annoyed to see that Ollie's crotch was missing its payload. All that remained where his dick and balls had been was a row of little stitches and some band aids. "Man, this is weird," he mumbled, and made his way over to the couch, where he flopped down.

"Aw, man, not you, too," Jack said.

"What?" Ollie answered defensively. "I kinda like it," he said, staring at his own groin and gingerly rubbing it with his hand.

Answering his earlier question, Ryan told Jack that the other two were in the kitchen. Jack wanted another beer, so headed in to get one. Dan was lying naked on the kitchen table, Chris stitching his groin up. Jack's cock and balls lay next to Ollie's severed genitals on a plate. "All done, man," Chris told Dan as Jack pulled another beer out of the fridge. "Hey, Matt!" Chris called.

Jack stood and watched Dan get up, his buddy getting used to the feeling of not having any weight in his groin.

"My turn, huh?" Matt smiled as he walked into the room, pulling his shirt off. Dan got out of the way and Matt lay down on the table, spreading his legs a bit for Chris to get at his doomed manhood. Jack went back into the living room to watch the game.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, Chris had helped Matt hobble into the room and sit on the couch. Jack kept stealing looks at his three newly-castrated buddies sitting on the couch...they did look kinda hot.

"So Jack. I got all my stuff out. I could just do ya right now, get it over with," Chris suggested again.

"Eeehhh..." Jack sighed again, but then caught another glance at Ollie and Dan and Matt...man, it was hot...maybe...

"Come on, let me castrate you. Take that big thick ol' dick off ya."

"Yeah, Jack, let him do it. You'll like it," the others agreed, all trying to talk him into it. Jack looked around him, at all his hot buddies, all those hot bodies...

"Uhhh..." Jack sighed. "Okay, fine."

The next week Jack went into Chris' room looking for some ointment. Fresh out of the shower, his skin was damp, and his stitches itched. He reached down to scratch it a little bit, being careful not to hit them.

A book by Chris' bedside caught his eye. Jack reached down to pick it up, and flipped it over. "Huh." Jack smirked, noting the title: "The Power of Persuasion."