Tau Kappa Delta

CHAPTER 3

Tyler was frankly amazed at the kid’s resolve. Still he didn’t want him as a fraternity brother so he was going to put him through the ringer until the he gave in.

“Okay, well I’m getting tired of standing out here in the driveway so let’s go inside.” Tyler said as he turned and marched towards the house.

Ben paled. It was one thing to do this out back in the dark where no one could see but if Tyler was going to make him do this in front of other people then he’d just have to fail and slink home in shame. If Tyler had known that he would have been tempted to wake some of the other guys just to get rid of Ben once and for all but as it was Tyler didn’t actually want an audience. He’d only come up with the foot kissing challenge off the cuff because he was pissed. It was pretty extreme and he knew if Jake or some of the others found out they’d freak out about getting busted for hazing and just let the geek in. He didn’t want that. He was determined to take care of Ben on his own. When Tyler entered the house he headed towards the kitchen and Ben thought for sure there was going to be a public spectacle but instead Tyler just grabbed a beer and then headed up to his room. Ben followed silently. The house was pretty quiet though you could hear some folks playing music or games in their rooms. The frat house really was a well built old home and the thick walls and oak paneling did a good job of muffling the sound. Rooms were pretty private. At least in terms of noise. Of course most rooms had 3 or 4 occupants but since Tyler as vice president he got a room to himself and it was nice and big too. Only Jake’s room was better since he was the president.

Ben followed Tyler inside and the tall jock went over and sat down in the chair at his desk, spinning it around so it faced Ben. He cracked open the beer took a slug and kicked off his flip flops.

“Put those away,” he ordered. Ben dutifully returned them to the closet where he’d found them earlier and then went to stand in front of Tyler who grinned up at him.

“Ok Ben,” Tyler said. “You accepted the challenge. You were at -14 points and since accepting costs you 5 that puts you at -19. What are you going for?”

“Five,” Ben answered. That would put him even with everyone else. He knew what it meant but he was determined to get as high a score as he could.

Tyler gave him a funny look. “Five? Why’d you even do it then?”

“What do you mean,” Ben asked. “You said I couldn’t go higher than five.”

Tyler shook his head, “No. I said your final max score could be at most +5.”

“Right,” Ben agreed, “and that’s what I just said I’d go for.”

“No you didn’t,” Tyler argued. “You said you were going for 5 but you’re at negative -19 so that only would put you back at -14 which is where you started before accepting the challenge. At best you’ll come out even.”

“But that’s not what I meant,” Ben said. “I meant I was going for +5 points total.”

Tyler took a swig of beer and then said, “Sorry dude but that wasn’t the deal. I said you had to tell me in advance how many times you’re going to do it not the score you were shooting for.”

Ben’s heart sank. “But there’s no point in me doing it now because it doesn’t get me anywhere.”

“That’s not true,” Tyler explained. “You already accepted the challenge so you’re down to -19. If you do nothing you’ll stay there. Or you can kiss my feet the five times and get back to -14.” He took another swig of beer and then grinned. “Or you can fail.”

Ben understood what he meant. If he just took a wipe on this challenge then he could try again and say the right number.

“Fine,” Ben grumbled. “I’ll take the fail.”

Tyler smirked. “Okay then. Do you want to accept the challenge again?”

“Yes,” Ben said sullenly.

“Okay, that puts you at -24 to start,” Tyler said, “so how many times to you want to do it?”

This time Ben thought very carefully before answering. “74,” he said slowly. The first 24 times he kissed Tyler’s feet would get him back to 0 but from 1-5 he had to kiss his feet 10 times for each point for a total of 50 times. He couldn’t believe he’d just agreed to kiss another guy’s feet 74 times. And since Tyler only counted it when he kissed both feet he’d have to kiss each foot 74 times which meant he was about to put his lips on Tyler’s feet 148 times.

Tyler pointed at his feet and said, “Get started.”

Ben knelt down and very methodically began kissing Tyler’s feet. First the left then the right and then he’d count in his head so make sure he didn’t lost track. Tyler didn’t say a word during the entire process but Ben could periodically here him take another swig of beer.

The first 24 sets went quickly and he experienced a thrill when he realized he was no longer negative but the last 50 seemed to take forever. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Over and over.

Finally he finished and with a sigh of relief straightened up. He had been kneeling the whole time be had to bend over to the floor to kiss Tyler’s feet and after being in that position so long his back was aching.

Tyler nodded, “Not bad Ben. You almost made it.” “What?!” Ben said loudly.

“Dude keep it down. People are trying to sleep.” Tyler growled.

“What was wrong?” Ben asked insistently though in a much lower tone.

“You messed one up right near the end,” Tyler said.

“What do mean messed up?” Ben asked in an angry whisper.

“I mean it didn’t count. It wasn’t a proper kiss. Just kind of bumped my foot,” Tyler explained. Ben was certain he’d been careful about each one but maybe near the end his concentration had lapsed.

“So you mean…” Ben started to ask.

“I mean you get nothing,” Tyler interrupted. “Well no that’s not true. You get the penalty which was 20 points so that means you’re at like -44.”

Ben groaned. He just kept failing.

Tyler grinned. “Wanna go again?” Ben felt trapped. He’d come this far. If he didn’t dig himself out of the hole he’d made there was no point in continuing.

“Yes,” he nodded to Tyler. “I’ll go again.”

“Okay, that puts you back to -49,” Tyler said. “You know what fuck that it just makes the math hard. Let’s call it -50.”

“But that’s not fair,” Ben complained.

Tyler gave him an angry glare, “Look fuckwad scum, I can assign points whenever I fucking want or did you forget that??”

“Well no,” Ben replied.

“And that’s another fuckup since you failed to refer to me by my title,” Tyler snapped. “So I’m penalizing you -25 points for bitching about me assigning points and another -10 for forgetting how to address a brother. So now your dumb ass is at -85 so how does that grab you?”

“Thank you Awesome Brother Tyler,” Ben replied meekly.

“That’s better,” Tyler growled as he finished off the beer and held out the bottle for Ben. “Now go get me another fucking beer.”

“Yes Awesome Brother Tyler,” Ben said as he hurried to comply. He was back a moment later with another cold beer for Tyler who just pointed at the floor in front of his feet.

“So what’s it going to be Ben?” he asked.

Ben thought for a moment. “Yes, I accept Awesome Brother Tyler”

“Man that gets old fast,” Tyler commented. “From now on you will just say sir okay?”

Ben thought it grossly unfair that he’d just been penalized for failing to address Tyler by his title only for Tyler to tell him not to do it a few minutes later but he realized he’d really gotten that penalty because he’d pissed Tyler off by challenging his right to assign demerits. So, he wisely didn’t say anything other than, “Yes sir.”

That seemed to mollify Tyler somewhat and he seemed to settle into his previous mellow mood. “Okay that puts you down to -90 so what are you going for?”

Ben thought carefully and said, “140 sir.”

Tyler smirked, “Man that’s a lot. Are you sure you wanna do that?””

“Yes sir,” Ben nodded.

Tyler relaxed and smiled, “Okay get busy then.”

Ben has just kissed Tyler’s feet nearly 80 times and now he was going to kiss them again another 140 times. Would it never end? Once again he bent down and methodically began kissing Tyler’s feet and counting them repetitions off in his head. He was very careful not to rush and to properly kiss each foot this team. He didn’t want another failure. Somewhere near the end his back began to ache again but he just plowed on. He wasn’t sure how but he managed to finish. After what had seemed like an eternity he painfully straightened up. He looked up at Tyler expectantly. He had tried so hard to do everything right but Tyler was the ultimate judge and if he thought Ben screwed one up then that was it.

“Did I kiss your feet properly each time sir?” Ben asked hopefully.

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, I didn’t feel any problems. Good job.”

Ben couldn’t believe it. After jumping through all these hoops and having to endure the humiliation of kissing someone’s feet he’d finally made it. He would be even with the other guys and no one would ever have to know what he’d gone through to get there.

“You just came up a little short or otherwise you’d have had it,” Tyler said with a smirk.

Ben closed his eyes. Not again. He’d been so careful.

“I… I… don’t understand sir,” he said sadly. “I counted very, very carefully. I’m sure I kissed your feet 140 times.”

“I only counted 139,” Tyler said. “That’s one short.”

“Maybe you missed one sir?” Ben suggested tentatively. Tyler actually seemed to mull that over for a bit.

“It’s possible,” he shrugged.

“So does mean I made it?” Ben asked.

Tyler shook his head. “No. I mean, yeah, I *might* have missed one but I’m pretty sure I didn’t and the deal was that my count is all that matters so no, it’s a scratch. You failed.”

Ben was crushed. He couldn’t do it again. He couldn’t. He was so tired and he back ached and he was sick and tired and the smell of Tyler’s feet which seemed to be getting stronger.

“So I can just do it all perfectly and still not get credit?” he asked angrily. Taking that tone kind of pissed Tyler off.

“Well you might *think* you did it perfectly but I don’t and that’s what you agreed to.” Tyler lectured. “Look, you’re the one who wanted this challenge so you could actually have a chance at getting in. Nothing is keeping you here. You can walk out that door any time. In fact, why don’t you? Why would you keep humiliating yourself by kissing my feet? Pretty fucking pathetic don’t you think?”

Tyler was sure Ben would be so embarrassed he’d flee TKD and never darken their door again. But Ben saw it differently. He thought Tyler was trying to get him riled and angry so he’s step up to the challenge. Ben found he didn’t want to disappoint Tyler any more than he wanted to disappoint his father. Tyler was right. Ben had asked for this challenge. Ben had agreed to abide by the rules. It wasn’t like Tyler had a gun to his head. Tyler was right he could leave whenever he wanted. He just wasn’t going to. He was going to prove to Tyler and his father that their faith in him was justified.

“You’re right sir,” Ben said humbly. “I should have realized there was a chance of miscounting and added enough extra in to compensate for error. I’d like to go again sir.”

Tyler could not fucking believe it. Did this punk have no shame? Not an ounce of self-respect? The fact that he wasn’t just giving in made Tyler even madder. Fuck him. He’d never get out of the hole.

“Well, okay then” he said awkwardly. “Glad you see it my way. But um… I’m going to have to assign you demerits for arguing against my initial ruling. So that’s another -50 points.”

Ben nodded, “Yes sir, that seems fair.”

Tyler was exasperated. “Fine then, you were at -90 so that puts you at -140 and since you failed this round you lose another 20 so that’s -160. Oh, and I was thinking about it earlier and I realized I forgot to penalize you for the first round you fucked up and so it’s really -180.”

Ben didn’t argue so Tyler just continued to pour it on.

“In addition, the fact that you repeatedly fucked this up is going to earn you another 20 points off and because it’s like 1AM and I’m fucking tired and you’re keeping me up having to try and help your sorry ass I’m going to change the value of point above 0 to 1/20. Now do you have anything to say about that?”

“No sir,” Ben said meekly. “May I go again?”

Tyler gave up. “Oh for fuck’s sake, sure why not? That drops you to -185. How many this time?” Ben did the math, “285 sir.”

Tyler just shook his head. “Yeah, go for it.”

Once again Ben bent down and began kissing Tyler’s feet. Over and over in an endless cycle. Tyler slowly sipped his beer and watched in amazement as this kid debased himself just for the privilege of joining his frat.

Ben was almost in a trance. He kissed feet and counted. He kissed feet and counted. His lips were sore and he was tired but most of all his back ached. Still he continued. He had just gotten to 262 and was nearing the end when the base of his spine started throbbing. He tried to ignore it but it got worse. He felt a tingling sensation and part of lower left side felt numb. He was at 269 when it finally became too much and he to take a moment to straighten up before he resume kissing Tyler’s feet.

“Fail,” said Tyler.

Ben painfully sat up to see Tyler staring at him with a puzzled expression. “Why’d you stop dumbass you were so fucking close?”

“I didn’t stop,” Ben replied. “My back hurt and I just had to move.”

Tyler shrugged. “You broke the rhythm. You can’t stop and start again. There are no breaks. You failed.” “I wasn’t taking a break,” Ben protested.

Tyler sighed, “Enough. If there’s an interruption it’s a fail. You got that?” Ben nodded and Tyler continued, “So that’s -20 for the fail and -50 for arguing again you dumbass. The punts you all the way back to -355. And now it’s even later and I’m clearly not going to get any sleep so fuck you points above 0 are now 1/50.”

“Yes sir,” Ben sighed.

Tyler wanted to kick his ass. “Dude you are never gonna get this? You’re fucking on the floor kissing my feet and you just fuck it up over and over and you should just fucking quit. In fact, just say the words; you don’t even have to mean it. Just say, ‘I quit’ and I will set all your points back to zero and you can continue to pledge.”

Ben knew it was a trick. He knew Tyler was just trying to get him to admit failure was a possibility. He wasn’t going to do that.

“Do you fucking quit?” Tyler demanded? “No sir,” Ben replied. “I’d like to go again sir.”

Stubborn stupid bastard. Tyler would humiliate and break this fucker if it’s the last thing he ever did. He ordered Ben to get him another beer and once resupplied asked Ben the same old question.

“How many this time dumbass?”

“605 sir,” Ben said after a moment. Tyler shook his head and wondered how this had gotten so out of control.

“Start kissing,” he ordered.

Tyler counted each repetition as Ben kissed his feet. Little fucker kissed each one perfectly. No interruptions. If his back was hurting he didn’t say anything. Tyler sipped his beer and fell into the rhythm of Ben’s lips pressed against the tops of his feet. Ben had just gotten over 400 when Tyler realized he needed to take a piss. Too much beer. At first he tried to hold it but then he thought about it and just stood up.

“I gotta piss,” he said as he stepped over Ben and headed to the bathroom. After relieving himself he came back and sat in the chair again but before he could say anything Ben resumed kissing his feet picking up where he left off.

“Stop,” Tyler ordered.

Hesitantly Ben stopped and looked at Tyler. “Dude that’s a fail,” Tyler said.

“But why?” Ben asked genuinely puzzled. “No interruptions remember,” Tyler explained.

Ben nodded, “I Know. I kept the rhythm as soon as you came back. I made sure.”

“Yeah but I had to get up and go piss,” Tyler said. When Ben still didn’t seem to understand he elaborated. “That’s still an interruption.”

“But that was you,” Ben replied.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tyler shrugged. “If there’s any interruption you fail whether it’s because you stop, I piss or there’s an earthquake.”

“Right,” Ben agreed in defeat.

“Yeah, you failed. Again.” Tyler said pointedly. “And now I make it more impossible. -20 for the fail. -50 for arguing. Points above 0 are work 1/100 and an extra -100 just because I’m in a bad mood.”

Ben took that all in.

“Still want to continue fucktard?” Tyler goaded. “Yes sir.”

“Fuck me. Fine. How many?”

“1025 sir,” Ben said in almost a robotic monotone.

“Jesus Christ you done this over and over and now you want to kiss my feet another 1000 times? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Ben didn’t have an answer for that so Tyler just ordered him to start.

The clock ticked and still he kept on. Tyler watched but he had long ago stopped counting. He wasn’t even really paying attention to whether each foot kiss was correct. He was just waiting for it to end. Finally Ben sat up.

“Finished,” Tyler asked in surprise. “Yes sir,” Ben answered in a very tired voice. “That took forever,” Tyler complained.

“I added an extra 100 at the end just to be safe,” Ben explained. “Oh,” Tyler said. “That’s a pretty good strategy. Better safe than sorry.” “So there were enough?” Ben asked hopefully.

Tyler shrugged, “I guess so. I stopped counting right from the start.”

“But… but why?” Ben asked.

Tyler shook his head. “You fucked up on like the 3rd one.”

Ben didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “The third one?”

Tyler nodded, “Yes, on the third set the left foot kiss was kind of off.”

Ben had been almost trancelike for hours but now there seemed to be real anger in his voice. “But you didn’t say anything. Why didn’t you just say ‘Fail’?”

“You weren’t done,” Tyler said simply.

“But I’d already failed!” Ben complained. “I could have stopped right then and started over! Instead I kissed your feet over a thousand times for no fucking reason!”

“First, keep your voice down,” Tyler warned. “Second, I never agreed to stop you if you fuck up. You try and then I tell you is you failed or not.”

“But you stopped me before when you went to the bathroom,” Ben hissed.

“Yeah, well I guess I did that time. Would you rather I would have let you continue that time as well?” Tyler asked.

“No, I mean…” Ben trailed off. “It just doesn’t seem fair.”

“Fair? Do you think it’s fair that I keep giving you chance after chance to redeem yourself,” Tyler shot back.

“Ready to quit?” Tyler asked.

Ben paused and then said, “No sir. I’d like to continue.”

Tyler glared at him. “You will quit. I will make you quit. You are so fucking incompetent that you will never succeed. You will starve to death while you’re down there kissing my feet.”

This time Ben glared back at Tyler. “No sir, I will not quit. May I take the challenge again?”

Tyler doled out his punishment. “-20 points for the fail. -100 points for arguing. -200 points for being a dumbass. -300 points because you’re wearing a green fucking shirt. How does that sound?”

“Perfect sir,” Ben said through gritted teeth.

“How many are you going for you stupid loser?” Tyler snarled.

“1645 sir,” Ben said in a calm detached voice.

“Just do it already,” Tyler said with a wave of his hand.

This time Ben’s changed his tactics. Instead of bending over to reach Tyler’s feet he stretched out and laid flat on the floor. His face hovered just over Tyler’s feet and then he started. He went much faster.

Probably twice as fast as before but he wasn’t just doing a quick peck. If anything he kissed each foot more forcefully. Tyler imagined his lips would have to be bruised after doing that over 3000 times. Tyler kept count though just because he was curious. The numbers rolled by: 500, 1000, 1500. Ben hit 1645 and kept on going he stopped just past 2000. That was 2000 kisses per foot. 4000 in all and that was just this latest round.

When he was done Ben looked up defiantly. “How was that sir?”

“Very impressive,” Tyler admitted. “Did I miscount?” Ben asked. “No,” Tyler said.

“Did I mess any of them up?” Ben asked. “No,” Tyler said.

“Were there any interruptions?” Ben asked. “No,” Tyler said.

Ben slowly started to smile.

“You failed though,” Tyler said with a smug tone. “What? When?” Ben demanded.

Tyler leaned back. “You failed before you even started.” “How… how… is that possible?” Ben asked incredulously.

“You didn’t follow the rules,” Tyler said simply. “All you had to do was get on your knees and kiss my feet.”

“That’s all I’ve *BEEN* doing!” Ben sputtered.

“Correction,” Tyler replied. “You were on your knees kissing my feet but then you switched to lying down. If you’d have been kneeling the whole thing would have been perfect.”

He sat back and gave Ben a condescending smile.

Ben slowly put his head down. He couldn’t win. He would never win. He couldn’t beat Tyler. He would never be TKD. His father would finally give up on him. From above he heard Tyler’s soft mocking tones.

“Told you fuckwad. You should have just quit. Instead you’ve spent have the night groveling at my feet just for a chance at something you’ll never get. I’ll bet you give up now don’tcha?”

Tyler stood up and stretched. “Now just get the fuck out of here so I can get some sleep.” “No sir, I’d like to try the challenge again.”

Ben wasn’t even sure why he said it. He was sick of it all. Every part of him ached. All he could smell were Tyler’s feet. He had sacrificed every shred of dignity he’d had. And yet somehow he still held onto the hope that he could somehow make it all work.

Tyler sat down heavily in the chair. He was ready to cry uncle. No matter this kid would not quit. But Tyler was stubborn too. And he had pride. Too much. He was VP of TKD. He could not just give in. He had to win. But as he thought about it he realized he didn’t have to win the battle just the war. Ben would never be a member of TKD while Tyler was around but he could solve that problem later. Still, he didn’t want to lose this battle. But if he couldn’t win perhaps a stalemate. He couldn’t let Ben think he’d won but perhaps he could let him think he’d survived.

He stood up and crossed his arms. He was a big guy. He was also mostly solid muscle. He knew he was an intimidating physical specimen. He was going to leverage that psychological advantage.

“On your knees scum,” he snapped.

Ben quickly complied. He had to crane his neck to look up at Tyler. Ben felt small next to him even standing up. On his knees like this he wondered if he was about to get the shit kicked out of him.

Tyler could tell by Ben’s fearful expression that this tactic was having the desired effect. Time to take it to the next level. In one smooth move he raised a well muscled leg, planted his large bare foot squarely on Ben’s face and pushed him over backward. He wasn’t actually trying to hurt him but he pinned him underfoot and glared down at him.

“Okay dumb shit, I’ve wasted enough fucking time on you. You think you deserve to be in the fraternity? He peeled off his t-shirt and flexed his muscles. The men in this fraternity would eat you for breakfast. Any one of them could break you in half. You can’t even finish a simple pledge challenge. I’m tired and I’m pissed off. I’ve given you chance after chance and you keep fucking failing. So I’m changing the rules. You’ve got one chance at this. You still don’t want to quit? Fine! You are now at -2000 points. No one in the history of TKD has ever been below -20. Does that give you a clue of how inferior you are? You want to wipe the slate clean, here’s your one and only chance. I am going to lay in bed. Since I’m so fucking nice I’m going to let my feet dangle off the edge. You can kneel at the foot of the bed and kiss my feet while I relax. Each time you kiss my feet you work off one point just like before. That means you kiss my left foot then my right foot. Sounds simple doesn’t it? That’s only what 4000 times? Piece of cake for you right? Except here’s the new fun part. You’re not just going to kiss my foot you’re going to kiss each one of my fucking toes. That’s right. You kiss the foot first just like you did before and then you kiss each fucking toe on that foot because that’s all you’re fucking good for. Then you get to move on to the next foot and do the same thing. So that means you’re going to kiss me feet 12 times just to work off one demerit. If you want to work off all 2000 then that means you’re going to be kissing my feet 24,000 fucking times. I don’t even know how long that would take but if you want to finish before I get up then you better get started. Yeah, that’s right I’m going to drift off to sleep while you grovel at my feet because I don’t need to count them do I? I mean, if you have to lie to be the frat then there’s really no hope for you is there loser?”

Ben hadn’t said a word during Tyler’s outburst but when he finished speaking Tyler made a point of wiping his bare foot down Ben’s face before looking down on him and asking, “So are you gonna quit?”

There was a slight pause and then in a very small voice Ben said, “No sir.” Tyler grinned as he sprawled in bed. “Then start kissing my fucking feet.”

The last thing he remembered before drifting off was Ben kneeling at the foot of his bed dutifully kissing each of his feet and toes. He didn’t really care if he made it to 24,000 or not. He’d let him off the hook tomorrow. But for now he’d fought the battle to a standstill. Or maybe he won. After all, there was a guy kneeling before him and kissing his feet. That didn’t suck.

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