"Paul!" the younger man called to me, voice raised so it could be heard over the small din of the shower. "You can't be here! Didn't you see the sign? The floors are wet. You could slip!" His voice was accented heavily. He was from some eastern-european country or other. But it was nothing in comparison to Pater's.
"Paul, we are cleaning now, yes? It is not shower time. You...you are in the ways, yes?"
Their words were serious enough, but both men's eyes were alight with laughter. I immediately turned back away from them. What the actual fuck! I breathed a sigh of relief; thank god I was facing the wall. All they had seen was my bare arse; a bit pale, perhaps, but my trips to the gym and my squats in particular meant I had nothing to be ashamed of there. Doubtless better than whatever flab they were hiding in their overalls.
I turned the shower off at the wall, and without turning around, tried to put a tough spin on my voice. "What are you doing? I'm naked lads, I need to finish my shower!"
Pater's voice answered, and I turned my head over my shoulder again to look at him while he spoke. "Paul, no, it is cleaning time. We need to mop, yes? You can finish while we clean."
My expression went dark. Who the fuck were these fucking cleaners, telling me what to do? They were here to make my life easier. I made the damn computer parts in this factory. I practically paid their salaries. And here they were, ordering me around?
I cupped my dick and balls in my hand and turned around.
"I said, I need to finish my shower. Get out!"
Or at least, that's what I would have said. But as soon as I turned around, bent over slightly at the shoulders, hands clapped over my little fella and my ghoulies, Pater and Ionis burst into laughter. Proper, full-stomached, uproarious laughter. They even shared a little look, like "Can you believe this guy?"
I felt instantly transported back to that fateful day in the changing rooms in Wexford. I felt the embarrassment as a physical thing, like someone had cracked an egg of pure mortification on my head and I could feel it sliding down my neck and back. Or was that just the water dripping?
"I-I, I'll j-just-" I was stumbling over my words now, the humiliation was so intense. This just had the cleaners laughing even more. I reached out with one hand for the towel, and they laughed even more; Pater began to literally cry, and Ionis bent double, a low, halloring laugh. I started and looked down, afraid I had let my secret spill, but my dick and balls were easily contained by my left hand. Nothing had slipped out; what on earth were they laughing at?
I took a step closer to the towel, and Ionis picked it up for me and took a step towards me, about to hand me the key to my dignity. Just as I was about to grasp the garment and retain my modesty, he snatched it back. I was so surprised I almost slipped on the wet bathroom floor, and at first I thought it was a nasty joke, but I saw only confusion in Ionis's eyes.
"*This* is your towel?" he asked, puzzled, and I saw instantly why he was perplexed; in my haste to get to this shower, I had opened the wrong bag. These weren't the shower towels at all; he was holding a one-foot by one-foot hand-towel in his hand.
"I....I must have-"
But I couldn't even finish. The laughter reached a level that I had never seen in a real person before. Real tears were in Pater's eyes, and Ionis overbalanced backwards, almost slipping himself, gripping the fabric cubicle for support. The whole thing shook dangerously, and I thought for a terrible moment it might come tumbling down, but it held.
After a few long moments of laughing, pointing, and slapping each other on the shoulder, they collected themselves. "You were in hurry today, yes?" Pater smiled, panting heavily, and his eyes more alive with humour than I had ever seen them.
All I could do was nod meekly. The embarrassment, the sheer humiliation, hit me like a physical thing. What could I do to get out of this situation before it got any worse?
At this point, the two men looked at me a little more soberly, and began to look a little concerned. "I'll get you a real towel," Ionis said, and off he went, walking across the room to the bathroom door, headed for the locker room.
I breathed a sigh of relief that was short lived. As he headed for the open door into the locker room, I could see past it into a row of lockers that lined the wall. If I could see the lockers, then anyone who came in and needed to use those lockers could look towards the bathroom and see me. With my hands still clasped firmly over my willy, I took a few awkward, waddling steps to the right, trying to get Paters massive body between me and the door.