750 — Naked on Stage

Everyone in this story is over 18 years old. This story was written for the 750 Word Project 2024. Below should be 750 words, because if you write 720 words, they reject your ass, as well they should.

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He just stood there. The laughter had started immediately, but he was rooted in place.

His costume had been pulled off, well ripped off actually. One minute he was fully clothed delivering his line and the next minute he was butt naked.

The tell tale sound of Velcro being separated from itself, explained the how. Not unusual with costumes as it facilitated quick changes backstage.

But he wasn't backstage.

No, he was standing center stage, a well lit stage as it were.

And he was standing there alone.

And what about his underwear?

It too had been stripped from his body in the same way. But his underwear had come from home. As a matter of fact, his girlfriend had offered this particular pair to him this morning as a "good luck" gift to wear tonight. It had never occurred to him to inspect them.

Obviously she was a willing participant in all this. Was that all or had she orchestrated this little event?

He turned to look at her. She was standing off stage, stage left with half of the other cast members. They were all laughing, laughing at him.

He turned to his right, and there stood the rest of the cast, laughing.

He sensed that any attempt to escape off stage would be thwarted, so he just stood there.

Naked.

He wondered if help was coming. Where was the principal? Shouldn't he be rushing the stage with a blanket or something? He was nowhere to be seen.

He could really feel his nakedness. There was just the slightest breeze and he felt it travel through his pubic hair. He had goosebumps.

Finally, he looked, really looked out at the audience. Everyone was laughing.

He could see friends, neighbors, like Lisa and Ellen, who often gave him a ride to school.

They were jumping up and down each giving him an enthusiastic thumbs up. There was his ex girlfriend, Nicole. He had broken up with Nicole to start dating his current girlfriend. Her hands were pressed together as if in prayer and her beaming smile that he could see from the stage seemed to communicate that her prayers had indeed been answered.

Some of his current teachers, like Ms. Reid and Ms. Williams were trying and failing to not laugh out loud. Everyone was looking at him and they all looked so happy.

And speaking of teachers, where was his drama teacher? Oh there she was, stage left behind the laughing students, with her hand up to her mouth, wide eyed, but obviously enjoying herself.

He looked back down at himself and saw that his penis was being shy. His balls looked like just one round ball, just a little larger than a ping pong ball. His penis looked like a turtle reluctant to poke it's head too far out of it's shell. Finally, it occurred to him that he could use his hands to cover himself just a little bit. Somehow, this made him feel even more vulnerable and engendered even more laughter.

He looked back over at his girlfriend, who was twirling her finger as if to tell him to turn around.

In a daze, he started to turn around, thinking perhaps there was a door at the back of the stage that he had forgotten about.

But no, he now realized that she just wanted him to show off his butt. She had always said that it was his best feature.

As he turned back around to once again face his audience, he could hear the laughter rise to a new level. His deep tan had only accentuated how round and white his butt was.

A small spotlight was suddenly trained on his groin area. The light jiggled a bit, no doubt Megan up in the control room was laughing too hard to hold it steady. The audience took this as their cue to laugh even harder.

He just stood there.

It was strange, they were no doubt laughing at him, not with him, but there was no malice in the air, only joy. He was embarrassed, but not humiliated.

There was no let up in the laughter. He looked to his left, his girlfriend smiling so lovingly at him. He looked to his right, cast mates doubled over with laughter.

He looked back out into the audience. Applause had broken out, tears running down many people's cheeks.

The turtle it seems had departed and in its place, a phoenix, was rising from the ashes.