De-Stress
Author's notes: I don't own anything that is recognizable as somebody else's. I wrote this because I liked the prompt. I was just writing merrily along, and then shenanigans happened. That is my justification for the entire third part. I hope the Anon enjoys it. Also, I'm kind of ignoring everything that's happened in the last two weeks or so, so please pretend whatever makes you happy so that this will make sense. I wrote the entirety of it before the drama, and will continue to operate in the drama-free world. I'm sorry for the ending.
There are many kinds of days during con season. There are days where everyone wants to kill each other out of sheer exhaustion and frustration. This day particular was the kind that came at the end of a con. A good portion of the TGWTG contributors had been at the con. It had ended that day, but not everyone was able to get tickets out of there. Some people had to wait until the next day, if only because then it would be cheaper. Somehow, NChick with Nella in tow had drifted into Spoony’s room, curling up there. The other TGWTG members who were still at the con had followed the unspoken call. None of them were sure why they came, but maybe the old adage was true.
There is strength in numbers.
However, nobody was sitting close enough to touch. Snob, who was rooming with Spoony, barely twitched, when there was a loud and enthusiastic knock on the door. Everyone glanced around at each other, not sure if they were up to dealing with such enthusiasm right now. Spoony, from his place sandwiched between Nella and NChick groaned.
There was a pause and then a calmer knock. Snob finally nudged Phelous, who was sitting nearby. Phelous heaved a sigh and dragged himself off the floor to open the hotel room. Critic burst into the room, beaming with the kind of manic energy that came from being on one’s last legs just before the wall of complete exhaustion. He ignored the wall of outright hostility that threatened to push him out of the room. The Other Guy followed with more decorum. Both had bags in their arms. Snob groaned.
“What do you want, Critic?” Snob snapped, glaring a little.
Critic affected a pouty look. “I bring you people presents and this is how you thank me?”
“And what kind of presents would you bring, man?” Spoony put in, settling a little more comfortably in his nest.
“Only the greatest thing ever. IT, the Stephen king drinking game, and a bottle of good whiskey.” Critic replied, still beaming under their glares.
The Other Guy stepped forward in a show of brotherly solidarity. “I picked the whiskey.”
The other producers glanced at each other. They didn’t have the energy to argue with Critic. Besides, he came bearing booze. That helped.
“Sure.” Chick put in her opinion. The others just reached for the bag in the Other Guy’s hands, grabbing the plastic shot glasses that were there. Critic’s grin stretched even farther, if that were possible, and he queued IT without any prompting. Critic had chosen a good movie for the occasion. Everyone had at least some grasp of the rules, and the whiskey, while good, was not doled out enough to push anyone past the point of barely buzzed. The alcohol had dissolved the mood from outright hostility to sullen ache. The producers had even loosened enough to provide some commentary.
An hour in and the sheer exhaustion had begun to creep in again. Critic, who had boggarted more than his fair share of whiskey, tipsily snatched up the empty bottle.
“I vote we play Spin the Bottle.” He announced to the room at large. A general groan went up and the mood dropped.
“Don’t you remember what happened the last time, Critic?” Phelous asked, his voice deadpan. “Sage threatened us all with three and a half gallons of vegetable oil.”
“No, no, no. Hear me out. We play spin the bottle for backrubs.” That got everyone’s attention.
“And just how exactly is that supposed to work?” Snob asked.
“Spin the bottle and time for five minutes or so.” Critic replied. “Then the one who gets pointed at gives a backrub. The others can watch or spin again.”
There was a collective blink around the room at the thought put into this.
“Well, it’s better than your usual ideas.” Chick finally remarked.
Critic pulled out the puppy dog eyes. “I can have good ideas.” He protested.
The Other Guy smacked him on the shoulder. “Just not about the big things. Gimme the bottle.” The two brothers proceeded to wrestle over it, while Chick leaned down from her place on the bed and liberated the bottle and gestured to the others to get in a circle. Snob stayed in his chair by the desk while the others got themselves situated. JewWario moved to a place by the two squabbling brothers, Linkara settled between the beds, OanCitizen grabbed a pillow from the other bed and leaned against it, and Phelous settled back down by Snob. Nella, Spoony, and Chick swung their legs over edge of the bed they were on.
Phelous, in a rare show of forwardeness, grabbed the bottle and spun. There was a surprising amount of traction on the floor, and the bottle neck eventually landed between the two arguing brothers. Chick poked them with the tip of her boot to get their attention.
“Didn’t you say backrubs?” She asked, waving her hand at an expectant Phelous.
Both brothers glanced at each other, then bottle and then Phelous before engaging in a quick set of hand movements that they clearly used to solve arguments. Critic made a noise of triumph.
Phelous shrugged and moved to sit in front of Critic, forcing the thinner man to move back so that they still had space to spin the bottle. “Shoulders please.” He murmured. Critic nodded and moved into position behind Phelous. “You can go as hard as you want.” The man added.
Placing his hands Phelous’ shoulders, Critic leaned in, digging his thumbs into the rock-hard mess of that made up the muscles. A very slightly indrawn breathe greeted his action. “You can go harder.” Phelous commented, slumping forward a little. Though the pressure was sending tingles up and down his back, the red-shirted man knew that it wasn’t enough to help his knots. Critic pulled a surprised face, and got on his knees to lean in harder. Another slight indrawing of breathe.
Snob leaned forward, watching his friend’s face intently. “Push harder.” He ordered “It’s not hard enough.”
“And how would you know?” Critic snapped, using his knuckles.
“Obviously, I’ve done this kind of thing before.” Snob’s voice dripped with condescension. The group watched for another minute, as their boss tried to find a way to be able to loosen the knots that came from dying too often. As much as some of the others wanted to rib Critic, that opened them to criticism when it was their turn. Nobody was in the mood to deal with that. Finally, the Other Guy got fed up. While he wouldn’t normally interrupt in watching his brother fail at something, right now the Other Guy was too tired from walking around the con to deal with this. Right now, the Other Guy would much rather do this himself. Besides, it would do the Critic good to have someone grab his work away from him. Moving closer, he pushed Critic’s shoulder. “My turn.”
“Hey, I was just getting a rhythm here.” Critic protested.
“No, you weren’t, let the Other Guy try.” Spoony put in. “Then we could spin again.”
“Fine.” Critic back off, moving into Phelous’ previous place, and sat there with his arms crossed, pouting slightly. This conveniently blocked OanCitizen from view, but the art house reviewer just took it in stride, shifting to lean against the Snob’s armchair.
The Other Guy tapped Phelous on the shoulder. “Would you mind lying down? I can get better leverage this way.”
Phelous shrugged. “If you think it will help, you could get on my back. Can I have a pillow?” Nella passed Phelous one, watching the proceedings with interest.
Within moments, Phelous was situated, and the Other Guy swung on leg over Phelous’ back, leaning on his back and using the other for balance. Reaching down, the Other Guy quickly ran his hands from the nape of Phelous’ neck to his mid-back, mapping the knots with his hands. Before anyone could comment, the Other Guy dug his knuckle into the muscles on either side of Phelous’ spine, right at the shoulders. The quiet moan that resulted sounded as if it was being forced out of him.
“Looks like someone knows what he’s doing.” Snob said.
“Thumbs up or thumbs down.” The Other Guy said, his voice taking on a professional lilt. “Do you mind if I throw in a neck rub?” A thumbs up greeted his question. Phelous tilted his head forward, exposing his neck. Another moan resulted as the Other Guy’s hand gripped Phelous’ neck and dug in with the ridge of his hand and thumb.
When it became clear that the Other Guy had things under control and Phelous was reduced to making barely audible noises into his pillow, Linkara leaned forward to grab the bottle and spin. His shoulders and arms had been killing him for the last two days, so this seemed like the best time to get that taken care of.
The bottle spun and landed on Spoony.
“Oh awesome man. I’m great at giving massages. Where does it hurt?” Spoony asked, slipping from his place on the bed.
Linkara blushed a little. “My shoulders. I’ve been hauling my stuff around for the last couple of days and-”
“Say no more, my man. But you’re gonna need to take your coat off. It’s too hard to work with some many layers.” Spoony answered.
Swallowing the last of the whiskey, Linkara’s blushed deepened a little, and he put his jacket on the floor next to him.
Snob smirked. “This is beginning to look like one of my reviews, only with less nudity and gore.”
Spoony immediately leaned in, rubbing enthusiastically. Within moments, Linkara’s face twisted in pain. Unfortunately, Linkara had never been all that good at telling people not to push so hard.
“Spoony, maybe you should be a little gentler?” JewWario, sitting across from Linkara asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Spoony answered, easing back a little. It still wasn’t light enough. The thing was, Spoony was used to people like Phelous, people who could take a lot of pressure and still come back for more. Snob leaned forward to look at Linkara’s face.
“Spoony. Ease up.”
“Okay.” Spoony lessened the pressure some more, moving his hands from Linkara’s shoulders to his mid-back. While it had been a while, Spoony thought he still had a pretty good grasp as to where Linkara’s trouble spots usually were.
Linkara jerked in surprise. JewWario couldn’t watch any longer, and neither could Nella. Both moved, but JewWario got there first.
“Spoony, could I try?” He asked.
“No thanks, man. I got this.”
Critic piped up. “Spoony, let him try. I think Linkara’s in pain.” Spoony let go as if scalded.
“Hey man, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m … okay. Maybe JewWario could try?” Linkara asked, trying not to sound too sheepish.
“Oh jeez, dude. I am so sorry.” Spoony said, moving back to his place on the bed in order to make room for JewWario.
Linkara laughed a little, embarrassed. “I just have kind of a touchy back.”
JewWario settled behind Linkara. “Maybe you could show me where it hurts?” He asked. Linkara nodded and raised a hand to gesture across his shoulders. “All across here, kinda in my arms too.”
“I’m going to start gently.” JewWario said, putting his hands on the exposed curve of bicep, so that his thumbs were resting on the muscle around the cartilage of the rotator cuff. “tell me when it gets to be too much.” Linkara nodded in response. JewWario applied pressure very gradually, rubbing the muscles under his thumbs, spreading across to the tops of the shoulder. Linkara melted a little, leaning back into JewWario’s hands. In fact, the comic book lover was making small noises in the back of his throat that could only qualify as whimpers, while JewWario had a small smile of a pleasure at a job well done on his face.
“How do you feel about me cracking your spine?” The Other Guy asked. Another thumbs up greeted his question.
Spoony leaned forward to kick the bottle, a little dejected at his failure to help his best friend.
Snob smirked at them all. “It’s like Princess and the Pleasers.” Snob observed. “You have to find the right one.”
Spoony’s spin landed on NChick. “Are you going to be a princess too, Spoony?”
The Spoony one grinned at NChick, rallying quickly. “Only if she thinks she can’t handle me.”
“I can dish out more than you can handle.” NChick sassed back, pushing Spoony flat on his back on the bed they were sharing.
Phelous waved a hand rather weakly from his place on the floor. “I’m not a princess.”
Any smart retort that Snob might have given was cut off by an almost whine from Linkara (JewWario had found a bad knot and loosened it) and a helpless cry from Phelous as the sound of a realigning back echoed through the room. The Canadian slumped uselessly into his pillow, back tingling as nerve endings reminded him that they existed and had been neglected for far too long. It was a not altogether unwelcome sensation.
“I rest my case.” Snob replied.
Meanwhile, Spoony had rearranged himself so that he was on his back facing the bottle instead of the headboard. NChick grabbed another pillow. “I have to be lying down for this to work? I was only looking for a shoulder rub.”
For an answer, NChick threw the pillow in his face. “Just because you got me into bed once, doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you. I’m doing you a favor. You better appreciate it.”
“Hey, I cuddled after.” Spoony’s answer was muffled by the pillow as he turned over and tucked it under his chin.
“So? It was your fault that I needed any cuddling in the first place.” NChick’s cheeks were just barely stained with a blush, more so at the admission of cuddling in present company than anything.
“Oh that sounds like a story that definitely needs to be shared.” Snob quipped, shifting his attention to the trio of brunettes on the right hand bed.
Spoony snickered in response. “Just don’t touch my neck.”
“Okay.” NChick acknowledged, a little confused. “Your back?” She asked instead, getting down to business.
“Yeah, around my shoulder blades.”
Nella watched for a few moments, as NChick straddled Spoony’s lower back, settling more on her knees than his back and leaned forward to dig in. it quickly became evident that there wasn’t enough space on the bed for all three of them, so Nella moved to the other bed, snagging pillow for herself in the process. Meanwhile, The Other Guy finished his backrub, letting Phelous sit up.
“Oh yeah, just like that, baby.” Spoony moaned as NChick found the painful spots and worked on getting them out. “Man, I forgot how good you were with your hands.”
“Shut it.” NChick growled smacking his shoulder, “or I’ll make you squeal like a castrato.”
The Canadian shook himself, trying to return to the real world. “Thank you. You’re really good at that.” Phelous commented, digging a little.
“No problem.” Critic reached down and spun the bottle. The Other Guy smirked. “I worked in a physical therapist’s office for a while. You pick things up.” The bottle’s spin landed on Phelous. The Other Guy patted a red clothed shoulder. “I guess it’s your turn.”
“And my turn to get a backrub.” Critic put in. Phelous shrugged, and patted the spot in front of himself. There was a general rearranging of bodies, which ended with Critic leaning his crossed forearms against the bed in front of Phelous, after shucking his coat. This put Critic forehead to forehead with Spoony. Thankfully, the gamer was too blissed out to offer any lecherous commentary.
“Middle back.” Critic commanded, “I’ve got a cramp on the right hand side, right here.” He twisted, pointing out the trouble spot. Phelous nodded, putting broad hands over the place in question, spanning a good portion of Critic’s back. The man in question shuddered a little as the heat soaked through his thin white shirt, face twisting in pleasure at the simple gesture.
“I’ll go gentle.” Phelous informed him, amusement tingeing his voice.
“Oh, you don’t have to.” The Other Guy quipped as OanCitizen shifted to lean more against Snob’s chair and Nella swung her legs over the side of the bed. JewWario looked up in surprise as his hands left Linkara’s back, leaving behind a relatively melted, pain-free comic lover. Critic himself nodded in agreement with his brother’s words.
“He can take some pressure.” The Other Guy added. Phelous shrugged again, and proceeded to lean in and rub. He planned to start at half strength and build it up until Critic said he wouldn’t be able to handle anymore.
“Does anyone mind if do next?” JewWario asked the room in general. Everybody shook their heads, too busy watching Critic and Phelous. The red shirted man was using his thumbs and knuckles, pressing so hard that Critic’s back was bowing. In fact, so much pressure was being applied that his chest was pressed against the frame of the bed. Soft whimpers and whines that grew steadily louder, combined with helpless panting from Spoony perfumed the air. NChick was rather busily watching the faces Critic was pulling, though she wasn’t the only one.
JewWario pursed his lips in place of a shrug, and spun the bottle. While Critic’s face was interesting, less pain was more so. It settled on Nella.
She smiled sweetly at him and patted the bed in front of her. “What’ll it be, Chief?” She asked, passing him a pillow.
“Shoulder rub, please.” JewWario answered cheerfully, hunching over the pillow. “Start gentle, though.”
“Okay.”
She nodded and got to work. Within a minute, JewWario let out a heartfelt sigh of appreciation.
“I like this.” He sounded drugged, as if the words were being dragged out of him.
Nella smiled. “I do this pretty often for Miss GrouchyPants over there.” Nella explained.
The Other Guy shook his hands out, grimacing a little and reaching for the bottle. He glanced around the room. Linkara was rolling his shoulders, almost as if to settle them into place, OanCitizen was leaning against the bed, having hidden behind the Critic at one point, and Snob was watching the proceedings with an avid gleam in his eyes.
“Aren’t you going to join in, Snob?” The Other Guy asked.
The exploitation film afficianado focused on the elder Walker sibling. “I refuse to get out of my chair. Besides, how can I top a man of your discerning masseuse tastes?” There was a joke buried beneath that shit-eating grin, the Other Guy knew it.
OanCitizen shrugged. “I’d move.” He offered, looking up into 80’s style glasses. Snob’s grin transformed into a dirty smirk. Reaching down, Snob grabbed the arthouse reviewer’s tie and dragged until the man ended up sprawled between his spread thighs.
“Very well.” Snob purred. “I’ll give you a rub.” Oan blushed a little helplessly, looking dazed. “But you’re going to have to strip. I can’t work with this.” Snob plucked at the suit jacket covering a shoulder.
“Do I have to take off my shirt?” Oan’s voice rose much like it had in the Eat the Schoolgirl review, when he asked Diamanda “why me?”, even as his blushed deepened. The Other Guy sat back, watching the show with interest.
“Only if you want to, sugar.” A sly grin stretched the corners of Snob’s mouth.
“Okay.” Oan squeaked, and dragged his suit jacket off his shoulders and onto his lap. Fidgeting with the shirt buttons, Oan surveyed the room. Critic was busy being bent with Phelous focused on his task. Spoony had his head buried, NChick working furiously. Nella was watching everybody, while JewWario had his chin almost buried in his chest. Linkara was politely looking away, trying to focus on the movie still playing in the background. Only the Other Guy was watching Oan, one eyebrow quirked over a surprisingly dirty grin.
Snob’s hand settled on the nape of Oan’s neck, warming the tense muscles there. The Arthouse reviewer dropped his hands in his lap.
“Where does it hurt?” Snob asked, his voice like the whiskey, low and smooth.
“My neck.”
The Other Guy’s grin lightened to a smile and he turned to Linkara. Before the Other Guy could ask Linkara anything, a loud moan tapering off into a whimper cut through the air. Several people looked up in surprise, but Oan was, thankfully, too far gone to care. Snob was definitely surprised at the reaction, but it quickly morphed to pleasure.
“Oh, this is good.” Snob murmured, pushing Oan’s forehead against his knee, letting it take the pressure of Oan’s neck. Oan shifted his body until he was sitting perpendicular to Snob, his crossed legs pressing against one of Snob’s bare ankles, and body angled more towards Snob then away.
The Other Guy finally managed to ask Linkara his question. “Do you know how to give a hand rub? It’s been a while since I’ve had to use this much pressure.” He shook his hands out with a wince.
Linkara nodded, his face a grimace of understanding. “I’m going to need some lotion, though.” He commented. “It’ll help with the massage.”
“I didn’t bring any.” The Other Guy said, looking around. “Did anyone?”
Nella switched hands and gestured to her bag by NChick’s thigh. “I have some hand cream. It’s scentless.” NChick released Spoony, patting him twice in the center of the back to signify she was done. Whole NChick rummaged through Nella’s purse, JewWario’s massage was finished. As Nella sat back, NChick handed Linkara the tube of lotion.
“And in fresh numbers number all your grace/ the age to come would say this poet lies/ such heavenly touches ne’er touched earthly faces.” Oan moaned against Snob’s knee, which caused Snob to giggle as he rubbed harder, starting from the base of Oan’s neck upwards. This slowly pushed Oan’s face deeper into Snob’s thigh.
“Geez, is he a Shakespeare nut or what?” Spoony asked, finally unearthing his face from the pillow.
“Hey, everybody has their thing.” The Other Guy shifted to sit in front of Linkara, both of them sitting cross-legged, knee to knee.
“You may want to roll your sleeves up or take your jacket off.” Linkara commented. “Otherwise, you might get lotion on them.”
“It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.” Critic quipped, words slowed slightly by the strength with which Phelous was conquering every knot of muscle. NChick rolled her eyes and leaned down to jerk Critic’s head up using his tie.
“Be quiet like a pretty boy and moan instead.” She told him. He smiled dopily at her in answer.
The Other Guy snickered, rolling up his sleeves. Linkara poured some of the lotion in the palm of his hand. “Up to the wrist?” He asked, taking a hand between two of his and spreading the lotion on first one hand, then the other.
“Yes please.” The Other Guy said, eyes half-lidding in pleasure.
Spoony looked from the way Linkara’s fingers were threading with the Other Guy’s to the other bed. “It looks like only the girls have to get their due rub.” He pointed out, smarminess rubbed out of him for the moment.
JewWario nodded in agreement. “Do we want to risk the bottle, or just trade?” He asked, looking at the girls.
NChick and Nella exchanged glances. “I call JewWario.” NChick said.
“I’ll take Spoony.” Nella replied.
“Hey, don’t do me any favors.” Spoony replied, gesturing for Nella to get in front of him.
“Do you know how to do arm rubs?” NChick asked JewWario, settling into Nella’s vacated place.
“Do I ever.” JewWario replied, making a grabby hand at the lotion by Linkara’s thigh. The comic book lover passed it up, and JewWario poured the lotion on NChick’s arms instead, using his hands to spread the lotion, even as he kneaded the tense muscles that resulted from too much time at the computer. He paid particular attention to the set of muscles right on top of the bones, near the elbow join. That was where muscles would get tight if a person spent too much time typing and working with a mouse.
Nella looked at Spoony. “You give neckrubs, don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course. I can even do this really cool thing with your lymph nodes that feels awesome.” He added.
“Where’d you learn it?”
Spoony shrugged. “Insano does actually have a medical degree. I picked some stuff up. How do you want to do this?”
“Face to face?” Nella asked, cocking a flirty eyebrow Spoony’s way.
“Why, Nella, I wouldn’t have taken you for that kind of chick.” Spoony answered, stretching his legs out, spread slightly. Nella settled with her legs slung over his, her knees by his hips.
“You’d be surprised.” She replied.
“Okay, I’ll do the neck/jaw thing, and then I’ll give you a neck rub. Sound good?”
“Mhmm.” Nella replied. NChick and The Other Guy turned to watch in interest. Phelous had finally backed off of Critic’s back, leaving the younger Walker slumped on the bed in front of him, though one of Phelous’ hands stayed splayed over Critic’s lower back, letting the heat of his palms loosen the rest of the tension.
Spoony gave a quick nod and lifted his hands to Nella’s neck, placing his index and middle fingers behind Nella’s jaw, just under her ears. “Remember to breathe.” He warned her and watched her take a deep breath. When she started to breathe out, he dug in, almost holding her head up with the force of his grasp. Nella’s breathe stuttered out into oblivion, but Spoony timed it carefully, and released after a five count. Nella’s eyes had rolled into the back of her head and she twitched.
“Keep breathing.” Spoony advised. “Some people react like that. Just keep breathing.” He reached up and did it again, holding it for a three count this time. Nella shuddered a little, but she was clearly not suffering. Spoony grinned, and guided Nella’s head against his shoulder, reaching around to start on the promised neck rub. She moaned a little into his neck, nuzzling closer, and Spoony used his other hand to tug at her, until Nella was pressed close to him, almost in the circle of his arms.
The Other Guy nodded with interest at what he had seen. “You’ll show me how to do that later.” He commented to Spoony, even as Linkara rubbed at the muscle covering the Other Guy’s wrists, being gentle with the sensitive area.
“Sure. Hey, what’s Snob doing?” Spoony asked, glancing at the two in the armchair. Critic and the Other Guy looked at them, though Critic’s face had a slightly dopey expression. Phelous turned to look as well. Oan was leaning into Snob’s thigh, still making those little whimpery noises. Snob had an expression of pleasure on his face, though it shifted to slightly uncomfortable when he realized that he was the center of at least half the room’s attention.
The Other Guy tilted his head, just to make sure that he was seeing things properly. “is it just me, or does it look like?”
Spoony and Phelous gave it a moment’s thought, even as Kyle’s face inched closer to Snob’s hip. The arthouse critic was too far gone to be able to control his body very effectively, and he was unconsciously rubbing his face back and forth, humming under his breath. Snob was momentarily reminded of a cat marking its territory.
Phelous gave a little smirk. “Well, I knew that there was something, but I didn’t think he’d be so forward.”
The Other Guy nodded. “I’d always pinned Oan pinned as you know, but Snob? Oh well, let’s see where this goes.”
The quiet speech must have reached Snob, or else vibrations too close to sensitive areas in a public place was not what Snob wanted. He tugged at Oan’s hair, pulling the arthouse lover away from his thigh.
“Okay, enough with the nuzzling. I think it’s my turn now.”
Oan smiled at him goofily, still floating on the release of tension Snob’s hands had caused. It took a moment for his eyes to clear, and take in what Snob had said.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. How rude of me. Is there anything I can do for you, in exchange?”
The Other Guy and Spoony cracked up, Spoony dropping his hands from Nella’s neck to just hug her. Nella had actually fallen asleep, leaning against him. JewWario also stilled in his ministrations, just letting the heat of his hands soak into NChick’s computer-abused wrists.
Snob blinked a few times quickly, not sure if he had misunderstood the question. Given that he had a rather fetching young man kneeling between his thighs, it was a fair assumption.
“Well, what can you do?” Snob asked, just to see where this would go.
“Well.” Oan shrugged. “You’re not wearing socks, and I’m right here. I give a pretty good foot rub.”
“Oh, okay. Yeah, let’s go with a foot rub. That sounds good.” Which wasn’t a lie. Snob’s feet were killing him from walking all over the con.
“Great, pass the lotion.” Oan said, turning to JewWario, who had had it last. The Other Guy cracked up so hard he fell against the bed. Critic turned to look at his brother, then Spoony in confusion.
“What did I miss?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll explain it to you later.” The Other Guy said.
Linkara smiled at him, and JewWario handed over the lotion.
Oan settled himself in front of Snob, back to the rest of the room, and began pouring the lotion on his hands. He must have made some gesture, because Snob placed his foot into waiting hands and focused very intensely on what was happening in Oan’s hands. Phelous tried not to grin as he caught all the classic signs of an uncomfortable Snob. Given how long they had been friends, they weren’t that hard to pick up. What made everything that much more interesting was that Snob was clearly enjoying the foot rub, and Oan was humming under his breathe.
“All right, I’ll be the one to say it. This is really awkward.” Phelous said to the room at large. “I mean, Snob is the only one getting any kind of action.”
“So what should we do?” Linkara asked, drawing some of the attention.
“We could shell out for room service.” The Other Guy offered, just to see what everyone would say.
“We could.” Phelous said. “But why would we want to? I mean, my plane ticket was bad enough.”
“Well if nobody wants to pay for room service, we could all go out to Denny’s…” Critic mumbled into the bed, because he didn’t feel like moving.
JewWario and NChick nodded in thought. “Pancakes sound good.” JewWario finally put in.
“You guys gonna join us?” The Other Guy asked, looking at Snob and Oan. Oan waved a hand at them.
“Maybe later.” Snob just shrugged and gestured to his feet.
“This is the best footrub I’ve gotten in a while. Pancakes can wait.”
“What should I do?” Spoony asked, motioning to the Nella who had buried her face in his shoulder to hide from the room lights.
NChick got up and pulled Nella back, so that she landed on her back and bounced.
“Huh, Wha-, what happened?” She gasped, floundering a little. NChick leaned into her field of vision.
“You were using Spoony as a pillow. He wants pancakes. Let’s go. I hear there’s a Bacon-Ella with your name on it.”
“That … actually sounds pretty good.”
Everyone drifted out of the room, chattering about what they planned to order.