© Justin Cumberland 2007

Chapter Twelve

The next round wasn’t really a round so much as the set-up for a round. It was the set-up for Blast-Off. It wasn’t really a round and there wasn’t really any danger of getting badly hurt in it. It was there for Blast-Off which Jason had only seen once before; and that was in the days when he didn’t really like the show – when he had thought it was just too much and the things that happened on it had worried him, stupidly, because he could imagine them happening to him. It was in the days when he thought that going on the show would be risky because he might somehow lose his own gear. He understood now, particularly as he had survived the saddle round, that this simply wasn’t going to happen. They were trying to make things easy for him; and, if it hadn’t been for Eric, he wouldn’t have had to suffer that fourth hit, which anyway, as it turned out, was causing him no pain and had done him no damage whatsoever.

There were five boxes. One of them held an explosive charge. The other four were duds.

Because he had won the first round, Todd had first choice, and he made the mistake of asking Andy to help him. Andy had already made a show of affection towards Jason; but, because he had still been backstage, Todd hadn’t seen this. If he had seen the way Andy had reached forward and touched Jason’s dick while keeping a hand on his other thigh then Todd wouldn’t have asked Andy, Jason supposed, because the action had made it pretty clear that Andy liked what Jason had, and was, perhaps, prepared to give it some special treatment.

Andy steered Todd to box number five, which was at one end; and then, when Todd asked him who to give it to, Andy pointed at Jason and motioned with his head, signaling to Todd that he thought the box should be given to Jason. Todd walked over and handed it to Jason who turned around and put it on the stand behind his head.

Thankfully, for this round, they had given them each a jock-strap to wear and, even though Jason wasn’t able to get his boner to go down, and wasn’t able to get it inside the pouch (half of it was sticking out at one side); he still felt better as he stepped forward for his turn, than he would have done if he had been standing with the tank-top and the sandals, as he had in the first round. Unfortunately though, they had taken the tank-top off him, which to Jason, didn’t make any sense at all.

Because he had received the first box, Jason had second choice. He chose Andy to help him because that made sense. He took the kid’s hand while Andy led him over to the four remaining boxes before he hesitated, looking first at number one, then at number two, and finally, as though he had just seen it (he pulled his head back), at number three.

‘Ah…one or two…or three?’ he said to Jason.

‘You make the choice.’

Andy put a hand on one hip and touched his groin with the fingers of his other hand, displacing the little rectangle of cloth. He frowned, and stared up at Jason. ‘Do you trust me?’ he said.

‘Of course I trust you.’

‘Well, I don’t think it really matters, but I’d like to see you take three.’

Jason smiled. The kid made it so obvious. Of course it didn’t matter. He had already steered Todd to box five – a dud charge – and he had directed him to hand it to Jason, making sure that he was safe right from the word go. And now, also obviously, he had directed Jason to the explosive itself, saying, ‘I’d like to see you take three.’ What else could that mean?

Jason bent forward and picked up the box. He was surprised at the way his sack caught between his legs; and, as he looked down, he realized that his balls had swollen as a result of the hit they had received from the mallets. It didn’t hurt, of course. It just looked a bit silly because they were straining out of the pouch at the sides and displacing his dick which, as he straightened up again slipped and poked out of the pouch completely, brushing along the side of Andy’s hand and leaving a trail of lubricant. Jason put the box in one hand and tried to rearrange things, distracting the audience’s attention at the same time by asking Andy who he thought he should give the box to. He was interested to hear the kid’s answer, because obviously, box three held an explosive device; and he was handing Andy the power to waste one of these other guy’s gear.

Andy turned and seemed to hesitate; and then he pointed at Todd. ‘Give it to Todd,’ he said.

Todd lifted his chin up. He smiled; and that decided Jason. The kid was too arrogant. He couldn’t be more than thirteen which was a pity because his balls were gonna get blown. It wasn’t the end of the world, though. It had happened to plenty of guys, even in the ordinary course of life, as Garth had explained; and Jason thought that, even though Todd was a kid, Andy had made the choice and he should just stick with it. Jason and Andy had a sort of partnership going and Jason didn’t want to spoil that by thwarting Andy’s wish.

Jason handed the box to Todd; and then, as he took his place again, he started feeling bad about it. Todd didn’t look worried. He had no idea what was coming; and, Jason realized, it wasn’t really Todd so much who had pissed him off, as it was Todd’s friend Eric, who had been such a smart-arse during the question round.

When Jason had taken the fourth hit, the guy had made an idiot of himself. Jason had seen all of it happen but he had been preoccupied with the physical sensations associated with the blow he had suffered; and Eric’s actions were like something only half-seen, on a television with the sound down.

When Jason’s eyelids had started to flutter, Eric had fallen off his chair and had starting rolling around on the floor, laughing hysterically, stamping his feet and holding his stomach with his arms. He rolled from side to side but managed to stop himself and looked toward Jason from his position on the floor just as Jason blew his load, the outer barrage of which almost made it to the buddy desk, landing on the floor a foot or so from where Eric lay. This started him again. He turned from side to side and writhed like he was in some sort of pain himself. His mouth was open and, as Garth reached down and tried to help him up, Jason saw the kid’s face was streaming with tears. He managed to get to his feet because Garth had helped him. He had stopped; but then, looking over at Jason, he had pointed with one hand, and fallen down again while they went to an ad break.

This kid, Eric, was now sitting in the front row of the audience, next to Garth, who he was still annoying with constant asides, a too active mouth, and a flashing smile. Jason watched as Eric looked toward Todd, his friend, who had just been given a box from Jason’s own hands. Eric smiled at Todd who smiled back at him as though they were sharing some secret joke. Well, Jason thought to himself, you’re both gonna have something to laugh about in a minute.