can we get any snippets of ch3 of welcome to my island? that fic is my roman empire aka im always thinking about it
yes ofc! it's definitely not abandoned but i think trying to finish this chapter before i move is futile, so i'm going to try my best to do some solid work on it once i settle into my new place
but for now here are some bits & pieces
***
“We should probably just shower together, right?” Max suggests once they walk in. George stops at the end of the bed, but she continues, only pausing once she’s reached the doorway to the bathroom. “I mean, we’re both wearing swimsuits, so. It just seems practical, don’t you think?”
George can only muster up a nod in response.
And it isn’t exactly sexy, standing back-to-back in an overly large shower still dressed in their swimsuits as they rinse all the saltwater from their bodies. But George feels Max’s presence like Jupiter’s gravity pressing down on him, nevertheless.
***
Carlos rolls a five next. “Give a random player a lap dance,” he announces with a somber frown, followed by even more overexaggerated complaints from some of the other boys.
Pretty much the same ones that had been vocally disappointed by the result of Isabel’s turn, but that doesn’t come as a surprise to George, who had seen the same group react similarly last year. It doesn’t bother him either, since they’re all friends and everything is done in good fun, but he finds himself glancing over at Max to see if it bothers her, only to be met with a perfectly blank poker face as she watches Carlos roll a twenty.
“Oh,” Charles announces with ruddy cheeks. “That’s me.”
Pierre, Esteban, and Lando all start laughing uproariously as Carlos gets up and Charles moves a chair into the middle.
“Make it real sexy, Carlos,” Esteban calls out to him.
“Oh, the Ferrari fangirls would love to see this,” Pierre adds, both of them clearly trying to get a rise out of the other two.
Charles flips them off as he takes a seat, legs spread enough to make his lap a comfortable width for Carlos to straddle him.
“Is the timer started yet?” Carlos asks Daniel as he scoots into place.
“No, one second, I’m getting the music.”
“What music?”
“Mmm, ready set go,” Daniel replies quickly. Smooth Operator immediately starts to play over the Bluetooth speakers, and Carlos immediately hops off of Charles’s lap.
“Oh, come on, man,” Carlos complains as everyone else tries to stifle giggles, the song still blaring overhead.
“Clock’s ticking,” Daniel tells him with a wave of his phone, the stopwatch on the screen showing the passing seconds. “You can always take a shot and pay up if you want to forfeit.”
Carlos tosses Daniel a death-glare before perching himself on Charles’s lap again and half-heartedly grinding down on him, the dulcet tones of Daniel and Lando joining in with the song as Charles tries valiantly not to laugh in Carlos’s face.
***
Esteban rolls a three. He’s far enough from them that George has to whisper the words ‘Assume the Position’ into Max’s ear since she can’t see the words scrawled on top of the green deck of cards from where she’s sitting. Just saying it aloud makes his skin prickle.
“What does that mean?” Max asks.
“Basically, just pretending to do whatever’s on the card,” George explains as Esteban rolls a fifteen; Daniel. “Well, if both players are already naked then it’s not pretend anymore, but—”
Esteban draws his card. “Froggy style,” he announces with an exaggerated pout.
“I get to top,” Daniel calls out.
“It is not like calling shotgun,” Esteban argues. “It’s my turn, I should get to be the top.”
“Well, I have seniority, so—”
“Daniel, man, you helped make the rules,” Lewis calmly interjects. “Roller gets to pick the positions.”
“Fine, fine,” Daniel says with a sigh. “I guess I’ll bottom, then.”
George watches as Max watches Daniel pretending to get fucked by Esteban, her mouth pulling into a slight half-smile as Daniel really hams it up, exaggeratedly moaning and shoving his hips back into Esteban’s crotch as Esteban crouches over him with his hands on Daniel’s waist. In the end, it’s Esteban who walks away the loser, hissing in pain as Daniel’s ass hits him square in the balls just before the thirty seconds are up.
“It’s a shame, that was one of my favorites,” Daniel says mournfully as he sets the card in the discard pile before returning to the circle.
“You say that about all of them,” Barbara points out.
Daniel shrugs. “Who says you can’t have more than one favorite?”
***
Unfortunately, Lando doesn’t manage to get a card that has anything to do with either stripping or drinking, instead rolling a five and pulling a card from the ‘Show Off’ deck. “Pick a body part you think is your best feature, then a random player is chosen who must kiss that body part.” Lando shrugs, his expression perfectly nonchalant. “I mean, obviously I’m gonna say cock,” he says as he tosses the discard into the pile with the others.
“Ooh, a gamble,” Daniel mocks in a low voice. “Will it pay off?”
Lando rolls a seven. Lewis gives a little wave of acknowledgment from the other side of the circle.
“Guess not,” Daniel says with a laugh. “Better luck next time, mate.”
Lewis just shakes his head and moves to kneel in front of Lando in the middle of the room. “How much effort am I meant to be putting into this ‘kiss’?” Lewis asks.
“Well, it better be more than just a peck,” Daniel chides. “The category is called ‘Show Off’, after all.”
Lewis doesn’t reply as he reaches up to pull the fabric of Lando’s swim trunks taut before opening his mouth to breathe hotly over Lando’s crotch, tracing the outline of Lando’s semi with his tongue through the waterproof material.
Lando hisses at the first actual contact. He reaches out instinctively to grab Lewis’s head but thinks better of it at the very last moment, instead bringing his hand up to his mouth and biting down between his thumb and forefinger instead.
After a few more seconds, Lewis pulls away and gets to his feet. “Satisfied?” he asks, directing the question at Daniel.
“Lando isn’t,” Daniel replies with a smirk. It earns him a nasty look from Lando as he rejoins the circle, his hand cupping his erection through his shorts self-soothingly, but Daniel doesn’t seem to notice.
***
Daniel saunters over to her with his phone out, still grinning. “Say, ‘oh fuck, oh fuck, I’m coming’,” he jokes.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck, I’m coming,” Max repeats tonelessly, her expression still blank. It gets a laugh out of everyone, even Daniel, who usually hates being one-upped during one of his bits. She waits a beat, then tells Daniel, “Give me a second to concentrate.”
George watches as Max closes her eyes. It doesn’t take long for her face to change. The minute shifts in her expression closely resemble George’s memory of her in the hot tub—so closely, in fact, that he can’t help but wonder if she’s actually making herself come right there in front of everyone, without any stimulation at all.
Even Daniel seems impressed when he snaps the picture of her face, proudly walking around the circle to show everyone the result as Max calmly levels out her breathing again.
George waits until Daniel is well out of earshot before leaning over to whisper in her ear. “Did you actually come just then?” It’s technically against the rules, but George certainly doesn’t have any intention of ratting her out.
“A lady never tells,” Max says simply before drawing back again with a slight smile playing at the corners of her lips.
