Chapter Text
Dear Eddie Kaspbrak,
Having you work for us at our Portland location for the past five years has been an enriching experience. As sad as we would be to see you go, we must ask if you would be interested in working over the summer at our Barbados location, as it appears we will be short staffed. Your entire trip would be covered, as well as your stay in one of our suites for the duration of your work period. If you’re interested, please let us know as soon as possible.
Included is a PDF file with the additional information about our Barbados location.
- Wise Resort and Spa
Eddie reread the e-mail three times as he rubbed sleep out of his bleary eyes. Checking his e-mail first thing in the morning was a habit that didn’t result in the best retention. His brain struggled to put together what he’d just read in layman’s terms, AKA, early morning terms. His company wanted him to work in Barbados… and they were going to pay for it? There had to be a catch, but in his current state it seemed like the universe had finally taken pity on him. A vacation in Barbados was exactly what he needed to cut through the boring routine that had become his life. Granted, he’d be working the whole time, but he’d be doing the same thing if he stayed in Portland so why not do it wrapped in the warmth of the Caribbean sun instead? Without over thinking it, as Eddie is prone to doing, he shot off a confirmation e-mail and chucked his phone back on to the pillow next to him, burying himself deeper in his comforters to daydream of new desires.
The flight was god awful. Eddie ended up squished between a woman with a screaming baby, and an older man who needed to squeeze by Eddie to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Eddie was just starting to question if taking this job had even been worth it when he chanced a glance out the window. Past the thin haze of clouds was an expanse of the bluest water he’d ever seen, glittering as the sun cast down on it. It was like a completely different world from Portland, and a completely different planet from the small town he’d grown up in. It felt like a physical disconnect from the life he’d lived up until now.
The flight attendant’s voice crackled out of the speakers announcing their beginning decline to the ground. As if everyone around him had synced up to his newfound feeling of freedom, the baby beside him finally settled down, and the man on his other side controlled his bladder for the remainder of the flight. Twenty minutes later and they were touching down.
The entrance to the resort was eerily similar to what Eddie had ingrained in his brain alongside a feeling of dread, only the backdrop was entirely different. Bright green palm leaves shook in the wind, rustling the trunks they sat upon with dangerous vigor. The sun was already beating down against Eddie’s skin relentlessly, but it also shone out from behind the giant sign announcing the resort’s name. It was oddly beautiful, something so familiar yet so new. It was an invigorating feeling.
Eddie walked into the main building with a bit of a pep in his step, confident enough as he strode up to the front counter and greeted the friendly face behind it.
“Hi, uh, I’m supposed to start working here this week? I’m the transfer from Portland.”
The man behind the counter smiled wide, a friendly grin that revealed rows of perfect white teeth nestled between full lips and dimpled cheeks. All that combined with smooth dark skin and defined muscles nearly had Eddie swooning before he could respond to the guy’s next comment.
“Eddie! We’ve been excited for you to arrive. I’m Mike Hanlon, I’m your supervisor.” he extended a hand towards Eddie. Mike’s hand completely engulfed Eddie’s own and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t send a little jolt down his spine.
“I’m a bit busy right now,” Mike continued, clearly not having noticed Eddie’s flush. “But Bill over here can show you around.”
Mike clapped a hand on the shoulder of another form, a body that Eddie had somehow completely missed during the greeting. He had his back turned and was busying himself with something behind the counter, but at the mention of his name, he gave Mike his full attention.
The man was cute. Like, next door neighbor crush cute. Was Eddie going to fall for every semi good looking employee at this resort? So far it was two for two, so the odds weren’t in his favor (or were, depending how you look at it).
Cute neighbor boy, Bill, Eddie corrects himself, stepped out from behind the desk and slung his arm around Eddie, completely bypassing the courteous approach Mike had taken.
“Alright fresh meat, let’s get you acquainted.”
Bill was tall, and Eddie struggled a bit to keep up with his pace and pull his suitcases behind him at the same time. When Bill noticed, he removed his arm from around Eddie’s shoulders in favor of picking up both suitcases and carrying them along as if they weighed nothing. Eddie wanted to be embarrassed about the difference in strength, but Bill gave him no time, already back to rambling on about the do’s and don'ts of the job. Eddie realizes he should be listening, knows he’s probably missing out on important information, but watching the way the muscles in Bill’s back tensed up as he walked was much more favorable.
When he’d finally finished ogling his new co-worker, they’d arrived in front of a small wooden door.
“37B.” Eddie reads aloud.
Bill nods, putting down one of Eddie’s suitcases so he can fish a card out of his pocket. He swipes it through the lock on the door and a little green light announces their permission to enter. Pushing open the door with his shoulder as he grabs Eddie’s suitcase once again, Bill welcomes Eddie to his room.
“So, this is where you’ll be staying for the next three months.”
Eddie takes in the room around him. It’s tinier than he’d expected, definitely not the ‘suite’ he’d been promised, but it was cozy. There was a small bed pressed up against the nearest wall and sliding glass doors that opened up into the courtyard. A small dresser and closet decorated the room, with not much else to show for. The adjoining bathroom held a shower bath and a toilet close enough to the sink that you could shit and wash your hands at the same time. Quaint, Eddie thought.
“This is the employee floor, so you won’t run into any guests while you’re down here. My room is just down the hall.” Bill supplied.
“Oh, are you also a transfer from out of town?” Eddie asked curiously.
“Nah, I just like staying here. I work such early shifts it’s easier than making the commute every morning, so boss man lets me stay here when there’s empty rooms, which there almost always are.”
The words from the e-mail ring back in Eddie’s mind. Short staffed, they’d said. The resort seemed pretty busy when he got here, so why would they have a problem with employing people? Unless the management was terrible. Oh no, what if the management was terrible? What if Eddie was stuck working with horrible people for the duration of the summer? He should have taken more time before responding to the e-mail, should have done more research, should have read reviews and called around and-
“Wanna head down to the pool deck?” Bill interrupted Eddie’s snowballing thoughts.
“Sure.” Eddie managed, giving Bill a tight-lipped smile as he tried to swallow down his anxiety.
They left Eddie’s suitcases in his room and made their way down to the deck. Bill finally mentioned what his job was, he was the lifeguard, meaning him and Eddie would be working the same area. Eddie was relieved to hear that he’d at least know someone on his first day.
That relief left his body the second they stepped out on to the deck.
Penis. That’s a penis. That’s definitely, undoubtedly, a penis.
“Dude,” Bill nudges Eddie’s shoulder. “Rule number one, don’t stare.”
Eddie tries to avert his attention but lands on a pair of breasts. He averts it again, this time it’s lean tan muscles leading down to, yep, another penis. Another penis by the bar, a pair of breasts climbing up the pool later, an ass bending over to- Nope. Nope nope nope. Eddie squeezed his eyes shut as panic began taking over his body. What was going on?
A warm hand circled around Eddie’s bicep and turned him around, guiding him for a few steps until the temperature changed around him and noise became distant.
“Uh, you can open your eyes now.” Bill’s voice says, confusion evident but no judgement present.
Eddie only dares to peek one eye open, keeps it squinted in case he needs to shut the world out again. But all he sees is the ugly upholstery he’s used to seeing every day, green and brown leaf print that covers the majority of the furniture in the lobbies of The Wise. So, he eases his other eye open, glances around him in an attempt to re-orient himself, and then settles his gaze back on Bill.
Bill is sporting a subtle smirk he’s clearly trying to fight down, but there’s also distinct worry in his eyes.
“Well that’s the most dramatic reaction I’ve witnessed so far, sure you have the stomach for this job?”
Eddie’s brain short circuits.
“What job!?” Eddie squeaks.
All the humor is gone from Bill’s face now.
“Um, are you serious dude? This is a nudist resort. You knew that… right?” The hope laced in Bill’s question leaves Eddie’s heart hurting.
No. He didn’t know that. How was he supposed to know that! Isn’t that the kind of information you tell someone before offering them a-
Eddie can almost feel the ground disappear beneath him when he realizes it.
The PDF file.
He never read it.
The “additional information” Eddie decided to forgo reading. Because how different could one resort be from the next? Apparently, very.
Eddie had been silent long enough that Bill flagged down Mike from across the room. A soothing voice was coaxing Eddie back into this plane of existence, and once he was finally able to clue into some of the words being said he also felt a hand settled low on his back.
“-ecause if you need us to call someone or-”
“What?” Eddie interrupted Mike a bit too bluntly, watching Mike reel in relation to his tone.
“Sorry, I… What were you asking?” He recovered.
“You seemed a little zoned out there, I was just checking if you needed anything, or wanted us to call someone for you?”
Eddie blinked dumbly. He wanted to… help? Eddie’s old supervisor would have been yelling by this point. Eddie’s had enough panic attacks on the job to expect the worst once he pulls himself out of them. But Mike seemed to be genuine, and Bill was still wearing that worried expression he’d held previously.
“No, no, I’m fine.” Eddie nodded a bit too eagerly.
“Okay, if you’re sure… Well, hey, while I have you here, I have a bit of a favor to ask you.”
Bill’s ears seemed to also perk up at this, all attention on Mike.
“You wouldn’t happen to know any other employees from the Portland area who would be willing to transfer, would you? We just got word that one of our transfers quit last minute. We’d still be able to scrape by without her, but it would be a lot easier on all of us if we were a little less short handed around here.”
The answer was easy, Eddie really only had one co-worker in mind.
“Stanley Uris.” He blurted out, before thinking through his answer. Stan would never work at a nudist resort. But then again… If he didn’t know…
“Amazing! I’ll send in the request right away. Do you know him well? If you could talk to him for us, maybe put in a good word, that would be great. The last thing we need is another employee dropping out right under our noses.”
You could say that Eddie knew Stan well, if being best friends for the last 15 years counted. They’d stumbled into working for the same company purely by accident, going in for the same interview as a friendly competition and both coming out with a uniform and a name tag. It had been so exciting, finding out they were going to get to work together. It stayed exciting for approximately one week, until they discovered how terrible the job was. Well, the job itself wasn’t bad, but the environment was depressing, and the clientele was awful. Their boss wasn’t the worst man in the world, but he was stuffy and old and a bit too loud. It made Eddie skittish. He also had the sense of humor of rock, making any kind of playful banter completely null. Stan hated working there just as much as Eddie did, but they stayed there together out of solidarity.
So, yeah Eddie knew Stan well. And if there was anyone he needed in a time like this, it was Stan. But he’s not entirely sure how he would pull off convincing him to work at a place with naked people walking around.
“Is your co-worker going to be okay working here, what with…” To finish off his point, Bill gestured vaguely in the direction of the pool deck.
“Yeah, oh yeah, he’ll be fine.” Eddie tried to sound convincing. It didn’t work.
“Will you be fine?” Bill asked, that little smirk creeping its way back into his features, still not unkind.
Eddie sighed but nodded along. “Yes. I’ll be fine. As long as, oh dear god, wait, don’t tell me employees need to be nude too!?” Eddie’s eyes widened comically as he felt dread pool in his stomach at the thought.
Bill’s laugh was warm. “No, we have uniforms.”
“Oh thank god.” Eddie breathed out, earning another laugh from Bill. He joined in this time, feeling himself lightening up just slightly under the presence of someone with a calmer mind.
Later that night, as Eddie was getting ready for bed, he played over conversation scenarios in his head. He could tell Stan the truth, but then there’s no way he’d come. He could lie, but then there’s no way he could live with himself, knowing he’d conned his best friend into something he’d never otherwise do. But if he were to just… omit the truth… That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Besides, how many times had Stan tricked him into an uncomfortable situation? This could be payback for all the years of dragging Eddie to “a concert” (the Opera), “a casual hangout with friends” (a blind double date), or who could forget the “small family gathering” (IT WAS HIS AUNT’S WEDDING).
Before he could talk himself out of it, Eddie was pulling up his text conversation with Stan and shooting off a message, then slamming the phone face down on the counter as if it might be able to read through Eddie’s thoughts and judge him.
Eddie Kaspbrak:
I may have put your name in for a transfer today.
The response came in surprisingly fast.
Stanley Uris:
You did what now?
Eddie Kaspbrak:
Come on, we could work together all summer like usual. You know you miss me.
Stanley Uris:
I’m sorry who is this
Eddie Kaspbrak:
Ha Ha very funny. Seriously, Stan, this place is beautiful.
Technically, not a lie. It was beautiful if you just held your thumb over the nude bodies standing in front of the sunset.
Stanley Uris:
It’s Barbados, of course it is.
Eddie Kaspbrak:
Soooo come enjoy it with me. It won’t be the same without you.
Stanley Uris:
Are there lizards?
Eddie Kaspbrak:
What
Stanley Uris:
Lizards.
Are there lizards there?
Eddie Kaspbrak:
I haven’t seen a single lizard since I’ve been here.
Stanley Uris:
Okay. As long as there aren’t any lizards.
And as long as you admit that you can’t go a single day without me.
Eddie Kaspbrak:
Seriously
Stanley Uris:
I mean, unless I’m reading this whole thing wrong and you actually don’t need me…
Eddie Kaspbrak:
Fine.
I can’t go a single day without you.
You’re the light of my life, the yin to my yang, the sun shines out of your asshole.
So, are you in or what?
Stanley Uris:
I’ve been in this whole time. They called me a few minutes before you texted. I’ve got a flight on Wednesday.
Eddie Kaspbrak:
Fuck you very much Stanley