Pledge

Zach could feel sweat start to trickle down his brow as he stood at attention in the heat of high noon, Sean on his left and Jake on his right, alongside about two dozen other freshmen (and a couple transfer sophomores) on the sigma chi lawn. When they'd arrived at the frat they handed in their cell phones along with their bid acceptances before being directed to the backyard and into a lineup. Brothers were fucking around in the shade by the house, already drinking and smoking and occasionally pointing and laughing at the pledges standing quietly and waiting in the middle of the yard.

Finally the last freshman joined the lineup and Dion walked out shortly behind him. The brothers quickly went quiet as Dion started walking up and down the line.

"Congratulations, pledges," Dion said, affecting the loud, curt voice of a drill instructor, "on making the two best decisions of your life. First, for attending the finest college in the mid Atlantic. Second, for going greek." The brothers cheered at that, and the pledges couldn't help but smile too. But then Dion paused in front of the last freshman to join the lineup, a preppy boy Zach had seen at some of the parties but hadn't spoken to.

"Troy, you were ten minutes late to your first pledge event. You were the only pledge who was late. Do you have any excuse for your tardiness?" Dion's voice became barbed on a dime, Zach almost couldn't believe it. He'd never heard him speak like that before.

Troy's face went beet red as he stuttered some gibberish about losing track of the time.

"Alright," Dion said, now sounding perfectly calm, "go home."

Troy laughed, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. But Dion just stared implacably back at him.

"Are you serious?" Troy asked shocked.

"Yes. You're done, get out," Dion said immediately. Troy's face went even redder and his eyes watered as he quickly made his way through the crowd of stony faced brothers and left the house.

Dion stood in front of the pledges and said, "You didn't get bids so we can kick you out. You got bids because we think each of you has what it takes to be a brother in this fraternity. But if you prove us wrong, if you disrespect this brotherhood or think you're somehow entitled to join it, we won't hesitate to drop you. So if you think you can't take this process seriously, or treat it with the proper respect, please save us all some time and follow Mr. Legacy out the front door."

Dion looked coldly up and down the pledge line at the freshmen who were starting to sweat from more than the heat. As they stood quiet and nervous Dion's intense scowl broke into a toothy smile as his voice returned to its usual bright and playful tone, "Yeah I didn't think so. We picked a good class this year. I don't think you boys got anything to worry about.

"So pledges," Dion went on, "I'm your pledge educator. It's my job to teach you about the history and principles of sigma chi. And more than that, it's my job to help you through the pledge process, to answer any questions or concerns you may have. Whatever you need, just ask and I'll do whatever I can for you. I'm here to help you succeed, ok?"

The pledges were a little whiplashed after the swift turn from Dion kicking a guy out to promising to help them succeed, but then they had all met Dion before, and he really did sound earnest about his high expectations. Their spirits lifted.

"But I have a partner," Dion said with a dark grin, "and he's not here to help you succeed. He's here to test you. To find out if you're truly worthy of joining our brotherhood. And for the next 3 months he's not just your boss, he's your god. Come introduce yourself, pledge master."

A cheer went up from the surrounding frat brothers as Jack slowly walked through, his 6 and a half feet towering over the crowd. He stood next to Dion and crossed his arms as he stared at the pledges.

"10 push-ups, go!" Jack suddenly barked. The pledges haphazardly dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups. "No, no you fucking idiots, do them together," Jack yelled, "you, big boy, count them off," he added to Jake.

Jake held himself up by his arms as he looked up and down the line to check if the other pledges were in position. Then he started counting as they did pushups in unison.

"You pieces of shit aren't gonna make him do all the work, count with him!" Jack bellowed and the pledges started to count their push-ups in unison.

When they reached 10 they started to stand up but Jack bellowed, "Did I fucking tell you to get up? Back down, give me another 10."

By the end of the next 10 a few of the out of shape pledges were struggling, and as they held themselves up on 10 some fell to their knees.

"Alright get up you fucking losers," Jack finally said and the pledges got back to their feet, "that was pathetic. Till each and every one of you can give me 50 push-ups I want the whole pledge class on 6 am workouts Monday to Friday. Gotta whip you pussies into shape if you're gonna have any shot at some actual pussy."

Jake snorted at that. Bad move.

Jack got in Jake's face, "Oh you think this is fucking funny? Guess a slob like you settled for your hand long ago, is that it? We're not trying to make fucking virgins sigma chi brothers, are you a fucking virgin bitch?"

Jake's face went red as he looked down at his feet.

"I asked you a FUCKING question," Jack screamed in Jake's ear.

"Yeah," Jake said quietly. Jack walked over to the nearest brother and grabbed his solo cup, then he went back to Jake in the lineup and threw the beer in his face.

"I couldn't fucking hear you, pledge. And if you speak to me you damn well better call me Pledge Master."

"Yes, I'm a fucking virgin, Pledge Master!" Jake shouted still staring at his feet, beer dripping off his face and his ears so red they almost looked like they were glowing. The brothers laughing certainly didn't help, even Zach was starting to blush with secondhand embarrassment.

"Well that's what you join a fucking frat for then isn't it," Jack said, his voice suddenly light as he slapped Jake on the shoulder. He shouted down the line, "Alright, pledges, any other virgins take a step forward."

Slowly and awkwardly six other guys stepped forward, including Sean who was so red his freckles disappeared.

"Second assignment," Jack said, "Every pledge better work to get their virgin brothers fucking laid. Understood?"

"Yes, Pledge Master!" The pledges shouted in unison.

"It's important to have goals for pledges, isn't that what nationals says, D?" Jack said to Dion who was sipping some jungle juice among the brothers in the shade.

"Something like that," Dion laughed.

"Alright, pledges, I need to take a shit, do jumping jacks till I get back," Jack said as he walked back to the house. As he was about to enter he turned back around and yelled, "Fucking count them you cunts!"

So the pledges started counting jumping jacks in the hot afternoon sun while the frat brothers looked on from the shade, a few shouting encouragement others heckling. After 50 Zach started to lose track of the time and the pledge class had to slow down. The heat was intense and he could feel sweat sticking his bangs to his forehead and making the neckline of his shirt wet. Zach glanced over at Sean and could already see his pale skin starting to get a nasty sun burn. They did another hundred before Jack came back outside, and the pledges were soaked with sweat and breathing heavily.

"Alright, alright, that's enough," Jack said, cracking an ice cold beer in front of the gasping pledges. He chugged it then crushed it underfoot, "Y'all are a fucking mess, shirts off."

The pledges stripped off their shirts. Even winded Zach had to restrain himself from checking out his pledge brothers and resolutely looked straight ahead at Jack. Of course he could see a few of the brothers behind Jack checking him out though. Dion caught Zach's eye as he subtly bit his lip.

Jack called some frat brothers up and they brought out rolls of duct tape and cases of 40 oz miller high life. "Hands in front of you," Jack called out as brothers went to each pledge and duct taped a bottle to each of their hands.

"No time limit, but you're not allowed in the shade till you're finished. And obviously better finish one quick if you need to piss, gonna be difficult without hands. When you're all done we'll move onto the next activity. But get to know each other and shit. In the meantime we're getting in the a/c, fucking scorcher out here isn't it?" Jack and the brothers laughed as they slowly went inside, leaving the pledges in the sun with their 40's.

"Whelp," Zach said looking up and down the line of pledges standing there shirtless and awkward, "bottoms up bros!" The guys cheered and then started chugging.

The malt liquor was easy to drink but didn't taste particularly good. Slowly the pledges started getting over the awkwardness of the lineup and started mingling together as the alcohol worked quickly in the afternoon heat.

Zach had met most of the pledges already, especially the other theater kids that were a little over half the pledge class, but he was quick to introduce himself to some of the frisbee and other guys he hadn't met yet.

Edward 40-hands went quick. Within 5 minutes Jake had finished his first bottle and had Zach help him tear off the duct tape with his teeth. Once he had a hand free it was easy enough to help other pledges when they finished.

About 15 minutes in all the guys had finished their first bottle and were making progress on their second, and they all were starting to feel it. They started to get loud as they talked about the play and sports and girls and booze and weed and parties.

"Hey Zach," Austin, the twink Zach had in a different universe Eiffel towered with Jack on rush night, approached Zach. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry I laughed about you trying out for the Stage Manager the other night, you've been so freakin amazing at it." Zach could tell Austin was trying his damndest to keep eye contact and not openly ogle Zach's well muscled and slick with sweat torso.

Zach smiled at him, "Nothing to be sorry about, even D thought I was nuts. But thanks for the compliment."

"Seriously though," Colin, the freshman who'd won the poker tournament the weekend before, said, "especially considering this is like your first play you're really good. I love the little sleights of hand and tricks you do with that pocket watch too."

Zach laughed and took the watch from his pocket, and ran it up and down his knuckles, "I've had a lot of time to practice with it."

"Just don't try to touch it or he may bite your head off," Sean said grinning and gave Zach a small wink.

Zach flicked the watch into the air like a coin, caught it, and pressed it to the back of his duct taped hand. "What can I say," Zach said lifting his hand to show his now empty palm, "I like to keep it safe."

The guys who'd been watching gave Zach a little cheer while Jake said, "Boo you whore, I saw you pocket it real quick."

Zach laughed, "You're the kinda guy that goes up to little kids and tells them Santa isn't real, is that it?" He hadn't actually pocketed the watch. He'd discovered earlier that week another little feature, that if he imagined the watch back in its case it would be teleported back to its case, which he kept tucked away in his desk. But he was glad Jake imagined seeing him pocket it. The alcohol was making him too cocky.

Over another twenty minutes the guys finished up their 40s. The pledge class chanted chug for Austin, who was the last one to finish up and was swaying on his feet by the end and then they all rushed into the shade. Just about all the guys had a nice sheen of sunburn.

As Zach was about to go knock on the back door Dion came out holding a cooler. "Alright guys, time to recharge," he said as he passed out water bottles and then some granola bars. When Dion saw Austin walking like a drunken sailor Dion took a roll of happy face stickers from his pocket and stuck one to Austin's forehead. "You get a sticker no more drinking till I take it off," Dion said to the pledges as he gave Austin a friendly pat on the shoulder.

Once they finished up their water and snacks the pledges filed into the frat house behind Dion. They went into the common room where the brothers were drinking and hanging out.

"Jesus," Jack yelled as he walked over to the pledges, "you guys fucking reek. Follow me."

He led them upstairs to the showers, which had had the curtains removed between the shower heads so it was a giant open space.

"Strip!" Jack yelled once all the pledges had filed into the showers.

The pledges were a bit hesitant but then Dion came in behind them with a large laundry basket. He set it down and stripped off his shirt, "You guys are trying to be brothers right?" Then he unzipped his shorts, "And more importantly you're going to be living together." He took off his shorts and underwear in one motion, his impressive dick swinging between his legs, "And you do all actually fucking stink, so let's not be precious, alright gentlemen?" Dion threw his clothes into the hamper and walked to the nearest shower head to start up the water.

"Now stop staring at D's magnificent penis and get fucking naked pledges!" Jack barked behind them.

The pledges laughed and started to strip. Zach certainly wasn't worried about showing off and he was quick behind Dion in throwing his shorts and underwear into the hamper and taking the next shower head. As he put one hand to the valve Zach's other hand curled around his watch and he stopped time.

Zach first looked over at Dion. He'd seen Dion naked nearly half a dozen times by now but he still couldn't get over how hot he was, the way the muscles in his arms flexed as his hands ran through his hair, the way his dick hanged low over his balls, his perky bubble butt. Zach also appreciated that Dion was giving some side eye to where Zach had been standing, a slight grin on his lips.

Zach turned to look at the other guys and immediately started laughing. He'd been hoping to catch a couple guys checking him out, but he'd actually caught a dozen. The guys were in various stages of stripping but it looked like half were openly or sneakily staring at where Zach's ass was when he stopped time. Jack and Austin were openly staring, Austin's mouth hanging open and Jack biting his lip. The rest were at least trying to be subtle about it, their eyes turned to Zach but their faces pointed elsewhere. Zach didn't think too much of it, but he particularly noticed Sean staring out the corner of his eye.

*Well, he did say he was an ass man,* Zach thought as he got back in position and restarted time. As he turned the water on he may've jumped a little more than necessary at the first hit of cold water to give his ass a bit of bounce.

Drunk and sweaty as he was Zach quickly gave in to the now hot water while the other pledges filled up the rest of the shower room. Jack handed out some cheap all in one body wash amongst the guys and they passed them around while they showered. Despite the initial awkwardness most of the guys had been in sports locker rooms and they quickly got over their hesitations as they started drunkenly talking and bullshitting again as they showered. And of course they subtly checked each other out. Zach in particular could tell his dick was getting lots of attention.

As Zach finished shampooing his hair and rinsing it out he paused time again. He wanted a closer look at his pledge brothers.

Most of the guys had pretty average bodies, average asses, average dicks. Not that Zach minded giving them a good look, an average body is still pretty hot. But then it also did make the above average guys stand out. Chris, a black sophomore transfer had washboard abs and a thick dick; Mike looked as good as he did every morning coming out of the shower; Austin had a tight smooth body and nipple piercings; Rich surprised with a toned physique that was usually hidden under his baggy clothes. Jake looked really fucking good too, kinda hairy and easily the biggest guy there, but obviously a lot of it was muscle, and his dick had a good hang.

But it was Sean that made Zach go from half a chub to fully hard. Zach had seen Sean shirtless plenty of times, hell, he'd seen him wearing nothing but a towel more times than he could count. He'd seen Sean's junk hanging in his gym shorts, and he'd seen the way a wet towel outlined butt, but he'd avoided getting a better look. Maybe out of some sense of privacy towards his best friend, but maybe more some aversion to sexualizing a guy beyond his reach--after all, Sean certainly wasn't the first straight friend Zach had found attractive. But god damn did Sean have a great ass. Two perfect smooth globes above his long muscled legs. Around front his hint of a six pack went down to a tight v line, and this time Zach could follow where it was pointing and see a beautiful uncut dick, not as big as his or Dion's, but probably 4 or 5 inches soft and set beneath trimmed pubes that were the same bright red as his hair.

Zach was very tempted to touch Sean but he didn't want Sean to feel weird or like somebody had groped him when time started back up, so reluctantly Zach went back to his original position, waited for his dick to calm down, and restarted time.

After about 15 minutes Jack, who'd taken their dirty clothes to the laundry, came back and yelled, "Alright, it's not a fuckin sauna, shut em down and line up."

The pledges quickly turned off the showers and got into a line again. Dion approached Jack who threw him a towel and D wrapped it around his waist. "I'm getting changed, I'll catch up with you guys in a little bit," Dion said to the pledges as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Got any towels for us?" Zach asked Jack.

"First of all pledge, don't ever fucking speak unless spoken to in a lineup," Jack barked, "Second of all, of course not, what you think we just have 20-some towels lying around? That was D's towel, he asked me to grab it." Jack grinned as the pledges started to realize they were naked and wet without towels and their clothes missing.

"Don't worry though," Jack said, kicking a cardboard box at his feet, "we got something for you to wear." He opened the box and pulled out a plain white t-shirt. On the front was "sigma chi" in a plain black font, not the "ΣΧ" the brothers wore.

"This is your pledge shirt," Jack said, "You'll wear it every time you come to the house or pledge events unless told otherwise. You'll keep it clean. If you rip it you'll sew it back together. If you want our actual letters then show us you can respect these." Jack started handing out the shirts and the pledges put them on, immediately making them wet and stick to their bodies as they hadn't been able to actually towel off. And of course they were all still naked from the waist down.

"Follow me, pledges," Jack called out and the line filed out behind him, the guys cupping their hands over their junk. Jack led them downstairs past the common room, leading to a whole chorus of jeers and catcalls from the brothers. Jack finally brought them to something that looked like a classroom or conference room empty but for cases of beer along the back wall and a projector overhead. Jack told them all to sit down on the cheap carpeting--there was hardly room for the whole pledge class and they were all packed in pretty tight.

"Alright," Jack said, "You gotta watch this shitty tape from nationals first. It's about twenty minutes, I want at least one case done by the time it's done."

It was a shitty tape, like some infomercial from the 90s going on about sig chi values and how hazing was bad (that got a good laugh), but some of the outfits and haircuts were so ridiculous as to make it a little amusing, and the guys appreciated getting drunker as they demolished the first case and got started on the second. Drunk enough to quickly forget that they were crammed into a tiny room half naked.