Sam twitched nervously; breathing through his mouth because it wasn't quite as loud as breathing through his nose when his breathe became subtly laboured with nerves. He was looking anywhere but the corner, where the incessant sound of Bobby's stationary pedal bike repeatedly attracted his attention and reminded him what he was trying not to look at. He was bad at hiding his discomfort. Bobby wasn't looking anywhere except at him, he knew he was getting something out of it, but he was still nursing a very recent slap to the face from Mickey and didn't fancy sparking up another unsuccessful confrontation.

Mickey was ranting, Josh was taking the bate and responding angrily, things were becoming more and more intense down here and, although he knew he hadn't really helped it with his own outburst, he knew eventually things were going to go from bad to shit storm. Everyone was rubbing everyone else the wrong way now, even Sam had lost his cool.

Bobby's smoking didn't help, you know? The air was already thick, Miriam had pointed this out over and over and made quips at Mickey about his cigar but didn't seem to make any comments towards Bobby. Perhaps Bobby scared her more, and if he did he didn't blame her. He wasn't the only one to notice he was a total creep show, right? If Bobby stared at other people, Sam hadn't noticed. Only when he was the one under that stare did it come to attention and, despite the short period they'd been down here, he had been noticing it a lot.

He'd just ignore it, go back to nursing the split lip that had already dripped blood onto his not so clean light grey sweater, and try to recover his fragile pride.

-

Things had gotten worse, much worse. After those men in white sits busted into the place, everyone started to slowly lose their shit. Everyone except Eva, it seemed, and Adrien. Adrien was shot and demobilized and Eva, well, she'd just distanced herself. Half the time Sam couldn't believe what was happening down here, between cutting Mickey's finger off and listening to Bobby screamingly cut up a body, none of it really felt real anymore. Days were slipping into weeks now, and weeks probably into months, with no concept of night or day down here it was hard to tell how long you'd been asleep. Miriam had really lost it, Sam didn't even want to touch that mess, there was no going back when you sank that deep and he knew full well that Bobby and Josh had accommodated that fall. However, it seemed now there was a new pecking order down here, and Sam would rather be in with the two heads of table than starving.

-

This game of truth or dare wasn't the first they'd played together, probably wouldn't be the last either, but he found the dares and truths becoming increasingly personal when coming from Josh, and disturbingly intimate when coming from Bobby. Sam wasn't gay, to his knowledge, but Bobby flaunted bisexuality like a red cape and Josh seemed to encourage it. Those two felt each other up like it was a casual handshake and they were starting to pull Sam into the same behaviour. If it meant he'd stay in good favour then sure, he'd allow the touching and when Josh did it then it wasn't so terrible. When Bobby did it, Sam got tense.

They had barely touched him all evening, as they sat in little 'throne room' that Josh had established and drank Mickey's whiskey. Josh was down to his underwear again, but had his black leather jacket slung over his shoulders. Bobby had kept his trousers on tonight, shirt discarded, his silver pendant hanging around his neck as he twiddled his various titanium rings around on his long, thin fingers, and stared idly at his half full glass on the table. Sam was the considerably more dressed of the three, donning his tank top and jeans, neither of which had blood on them for once. He'd also allowed his facial hair to grow for a few days now, as the amount of men down here was blunting the razors they had.

Sam had his eyes on his own glass, the least full of the three because he was drinking the fastest. He shifted between studying the amber glow in the glass to watching the other two do whatever they were doing. It wasn't his turn, Bobby had dared Josh to eat Mickey's finger or something and Josh was declining to do so with sick amusement. Sam jittered in with a nervous laugh once or twice, and then picked up his glass and took another deep sip, calming the rising nerves again because after this he knew it was Josh's turn and Josh almost ALWAYS threw his turn in Sam's direction.

"So, Sammy…"

Josh's almost sultry tone pierced a silence Sam didn't even know had fallen, and he looked up from his glass, uttering a soft 'yes?' that he didn't intend to sound so feeble. Dark brown, slightly blood shot eyes were locked on him with a thoughtful intention, one that Sam didn't like and he considered for a moment trying to announce that 'you know guys, I'm quite tired now i – I think I'll just go to bed' but he didn't think that would fly, not with how Josh's gaze was holding his own so demandingly.

"Truth, or dare…?"

Now, for the last two turns, Sam had chosen truth and neither of them had denied him that choice, but he didn't think he'd get away with a third, especially with how he was being looked at. He was also starting to wonder if holding off on the dares hadn't made Josh even more intent of picking something horrible for him, and offered him the time to achieve that. Sam trembled ever so slightly but it either went unnoticed or the other two simply didn't care. He nodded gently to himself like he was encouraging his own bravery to speak up and get this over with. He could politely leave the game after he'd satisfied their amusement with no backlash, right?

"….Dare."

He offered an entirely false smile, glancing from Josh up to Bobby, who was perched on a slightly higher chair just to the other side of his friend. Bobby was staring, as usual, chewing agonizingly slowly on a pinch of peanuts. It made Sam's skin crawl how Bobby looked at people, not just him, but everyone, like everyone else was meat. Everyone except Josh, Josh was the only one for whom Bobby's gaze softened. Looking back to Josh when silence continued a little bit longer than was comfortable, he noticed he was being stared down, considered maybe, something was ticking around in Josh's head like he was trying to decide on one of many things he'd concocted in the time Sam had used to play truths.

That was exactly what Josh was doing. Things were swirling around his radiation addled mind and it was hard decide what exactly he wanted Sam to do. Whatever it was, it was only to assert further dominance over the already beaten puppy like man, something to hold over his head like a blundering brick and get him to do more or less anything they said. Well, the discomfort Bobby caused Sam hadn't gone unnoticed to Josh, Sam seemed most bothered by that than anything else so…

"Alright…"

Josh leaned back in his seat, nodding, playing a finger along his own lower lip as he stared at Sam and continued to consider, inching Sam's tension higher and higher with every passing second.

"…Suck Bobby's dick."

Sam's eyes went from averted straight to Josh's, a bit wider and focused than normal, ice blue meeting hazel in a search for confirmation that he was serious, and he got it. Still, he refused to believe that this was really his dare, these guys had been fucking with him for some time now, surely this was just more of the same. His hesitation showed his alarm, but he followed it with a very unsure laugh, looking between them and waiting for joined laughter that wasn't coming, a sign that it was just a joke. Instead, what he got was a slow etched smirk from Josh, and Bobby shifted his hips forward on his seat and folded his arms behind his head, expectantly.

Sam didn't move. He swallowed, continuing to look between them for the non-existent punch line of this rather too serious joke. Dear god, they were serious. His lower lip trembled slightly as he opened his mouth to protest but for the first few seconds no sound occurred. Josh tilted his head a little, frowning as if he were trying to understand the problem here.

"What's wrong Sammy? thought you were one of us now."

"I am Josh, but…"

Sam didn't even form a finished sentence to defend the reason why he wasn't going to do it. He just wasn't. No way. He was pretty sure announcing that he 'wasn't gay' wasn't going to fly, and Josh would come up with some alpha bullshit about it not being about being 'gay' anymore and that it was 'just them' now. All this said, he also knew his position in the ranks and it wasn't all that high.

"…Just, give me another dare."

"No, Sam, those aren't the rules. You said dare, that's your dare, take it."

Sam shook his head, about to talk again and decline when Josh interjected.

"…What you going pussy on me now, Sam?"

Sam didn't like it when Josh said things like that, hated to be considered a coward even when the truth was that he was. Sam was not only disinclined to confrontation but when he did get angry he handled it badly, it ruled him, scared him maybe. He asserted no power even when he lost his temper, and around guys like Bobby and Josh that just resulted in him getting laughed at. The word pussy grated on him, sunk into every nerve and every self-doubting corner of his mind and pushed open an urge to prove that he wasn't, but by doing this?

Sam didn't think he could this time; he hesitated but ultimately shook his head.

"What about the others walking in…what about that?"

Josh seemed un-phased by the idea.

"You shy, Sammy?"

The mockery on his tone was agonizing but then so was his dare. He shook his head again, this time with more assertion in his mannerism and stared stubbornly at his drink, jaw clenched. He wasn't doing it, no sir he was not.