The Backwards Bunch (M/m/mm?)

[Windrunner]

(A mostly completely true story of discovering new interests and opening up to trusted friends. Bondage, blindfolds, hoods, down jackets, nylon, M/m - nothing explicit in this, though if I continue this story, it does take on intimate aspects)

The Backwards Bunch – Beginnings.

A group of friends going to the same school had dubbed themselves The Backwards Bunch. To others, it was simply having a little fun with the fact that all of them had some reputation for getting instructions wrong, or simple absent-mindedness – true enough. But to the boys, it had a different and more literal meaning.

Mark and Chris were probably the founding members, though Kevin and Andy might argue they were. All that is certain is that the four of them often spent time together, sometimes at each other’s houses, sometimes exploring in the woods, but almost always playing games of some sort which others had dismissed as too immature. Cops and Robbers. Kidnapper. Basically, any game where someone ended up being tied up in some way.

Mark and Chris both liked to blindfold whoever the “captive” was, while Kevin and Andy rarely couldn’t find an excuse that whoever was being tied up would end up gagged. None of them had any actual bondage items, but they managed to make do with rope – usually cotton clothesline, bandannas, a scarf, or anything else that was handy.

This takes place in a time when puffy down jackets were almost the only type of outerwear popular, and in the warmer months, nylon track suits, pants, and shorts were worn, even if there was nothing even vaguely athletic planned.

To hear Chris tell it, a game a “blind man’s buff” was where the Backwards thing got started. He and Mark were playing a game of blind man’s buff to decide who had to rake the leaves which were covering the lawn in the cool fall air.

Chris took out a bandanna and folded up with a smile on his face; the accepted rule was, if someone else took out a blindfold, you had to wear it (or wear it first, anyway). He folded it neatly on the diagonal, until it was about two inches wide in the middle, the part that would go over the eyes. Mark rolled his eyes dramatically. “You always have one in your pocket, I’m going to start calling you quick-draw Chris,” Mark chuckled, but he didn’t protest and allowed Chris to stand behind him, placing the blindfold over his eyes, and tying it behind his head. Chris turned him around, checking to make sure that Mark’s eyes were covered – the two of them both spent enough time blindfolded to know how to make peeking as difficult as possible.

“Count to five!” Chris said, as he backed away from Mark. The unwritten rule was you couldn’t go more than 10 feet from the person who was blindfolded, and you had to stay on a small grassy area, which meant that the blindfolded person had a good chance of tagging you in the two minutes that were allowed.

“… five!” Mark said, as he tried to guess which direction Chris was in. Much to Mark’s surprise, Chris not only almost immediately turned to face in his direction, but took three fast steps forward, outstretched hands finding Mark’s jacket and eliciting a “Ha! Got you!” from Chris.

“What? How?” Mark stammered, as Chris victoriously pulled the blindfold off, before looking around for the rake and pointing to it with a look of satisfaction.

“I could hear you, lawn-boy,” Chris teased, pointing to the shiny down jacket that Mark was wearing, a thick one made of crisp nylon that it quickly dawned on Mark, would be a dead giveaway with each step he took, either the sleeves rubbing against the jacket, or the hood flapping in the autumn breeze.

Mark was not thrilled at the sight of the still-growing pile of leaves. “Double or nothing”, he said, “I’ll let you blindfold me, and loser has to do the leaves AND bag them and haul them away”. He eyed Chris’ own down jacket, and figured he could pull the same trick.

“Sure thing”, Chris said, surprisingly willing to risk twice the work it seemed.

Mark smugly turned his back to Chris and waited to be blindfolded. “Oh, gee, I left my bandanna in the house. We’ll have to improvise.” He got a devious smile. “Take your jacket off, Mark”. Mark unzipped it and slid it off, feeling chilled but not cold in the air. Chris took the jacket and held it in front of Mark. “Go ahead, just put your arms into the sleeves,” chris said, adding “don’t want you to catch a cold!”

Mark shrugged and slid his arms into the slippery nylon lining of the sleeves, as his friend started to zip the jacket up behind him. Mark looked over his shoulder “okaaaaay, but what about the blindfold?” Chris smiled. “It’s right in front of you, bud!” Mark expected to see a bandanna – usually Chris had a red one that he’d been blindfolded or tied up with many times, but instead, his friend held the sides of his jacket’s hood and pulled it up over his face, covering it completely. Well, amost completely. The stitching of the hood allowed a tiny bit of light (and some air) through, and Mark hoped that at least he’d be able to see some hint of movement through the hood, as Chris pulled the drawstrings and started to tie them. He paused. “Can you breathe okay?” Mark took a few deep breaths and found that the nylon of the hood would make it difficult to do anything strenuous, enough air got through the fabric and the opening in back that he could breathe comfortably. He nodded, and instantly realized he’d been tricked. The mere movement of his head inside the hood made a loud, rustling sound, and muffled sounds from outside.

“Chris,” he said, “you tricked me, I’ll get you back for this”.

Chris finished tying the hood’s drawstring, making sure it was snug enough not to fall off, but still would allow Mark plenty of air – and torment him by allowing plenty of light in, except he couldn’t turn his head far enough to have any chance of peeking out of the hood, with the opening now at the back of his head.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Chris said, “yes, I tricked you by being able to find you, and by blindfolding you like this, BUT, I did play by the rules. So, I’ll still rake the leaves, but you have to bag them. Oh, and you get tied up until I’m finished raking”
Mark knew that he’d never have a chance at winning, with the hood blindfolding him, and, he felt a certain kind of thrill being unable to see and kind of exposed, but in a private setting, so he nodded. “Let me guess,” he said through the hood, his own voice sounding odd with the down-filled covering, “you ‘found’ your bandanna after all?”

Chris gently guided Mark to a tree, and had him stand with his back to it. He didn’t even have to ask, Mark automatically knew to put his hands behind him, crossing them behind the tree. It was only a few seconds before he felt the familiar soft cotton of Chris’ bandanna loop around his wrists, cinch them, and the knot – as always – tied at the top, where he would have zero chance of reaching it.

Mark heard – with some difficulty – Chris keeping his word, picking up the rake, and piling up leaves. He tested his bonds – inescapable, as expected – the two of them had tied each others hands enough times to know how to do it right. The improvised – and more confining blindfold, how it allowed in more light, while preventing sight even more, and the fact that he couldn’t shake it off, started to bring up some interesting feelings as he stood there, helpless, hooded, and blind…

(This is, aside from a detail or two, a completely true story, which led to an exciting and new intimacy to an already close friendship. I’m not normally good at keeping a story going, but there is more to this – some of it fact, some of it a little mix of fact and fantasy, that I may be able to put together. Mostly I just realized that there’s not a lot of writing involving down jackets, nylon, hoods, and friendly TUG’s – so at least I can see if there’s anyone else out there with the same interests!)

[Windrunner]

Mark couldn’t resist struggling a little, even though he knew he was stuck. Chris and he had tied each other up often enough that they both knew how to explore the knots that held them, try to find some loose end that would loosen something, and keep doing so until they could get loose. Chris had tied Mark’s wrists behind a tree, and had done so properly: He had Mark cross his wrists around the tree. He had a folded-up bandanna already prepared. He looped it around Chris’ wrists, crossed it, and then used the remaining length to cinch it between the wrists, placing the knot (which was pretty small and would take some picking to loosen) far out of reach of Mark’s fingers. He might as well have been wearing handcuffs.

Mark stood helpless, the hood of his jacket preventing him from seeing anything more than maybe what direction the sun was in. His hearing was muffled too. He could hear Chris moving around, occasionally raking leaves, just as often running a hand over the smooth shiny nylon covering Mark’s chest and arms.

Mark had been blindfolded lots of times but found the hood entirely new. It was frustrating and a tease being able to move his head around, but not enough to escape from the hood. Between that and occasionally being groped unexpectedly by his friend, he was glad that his jacket was just long enough that it hid a pretty unmistakable bulge in his pants - or at least he hoped it did.

At the same time, he caught himself almost wishing that Chris would find out the inevitable truth that their frequent tie-up games were often turning him on.

“You can’t tell me there are still more leaves out there,” he said, hoping Chris was close enough to hear.

A chuckle and the sensation of Chris checking the bonds on his wrists. “There’s always another leaf somewhere. I could just keep you tied up here all day as long as they keep falling,” Chris laughed again as he saw Mark turning his head uselessly trying to shake the hood off. “Want me to tie that a little tighter, hmm?”

[TightropesEU]

Good beginning, hope you continue

[zipperhood]

This reminded me what we were doing at that age. Having seen a straitjacket on TV, we tried to "recreate" one with our jackets. Sometimes worked. Do you have more ?

[BDBrit]

These kinds of stories always make me jealous. I'd have loved to have friends like that.

[Canuck100]

My friend and I used parkas instead of down jackets, but the idea was the same. Loved using those, just like you guys. Looks like you had lots of fun, looking forward to the next parts!

[Axeljohansson]

I love this. Using hooded sweaters or jackets, parkas, is such good way to be blindfolded. I hope there’s more coming:)

[harveygasson]

Good start I hope you continue

[backwardshood]

Mark couldn’t resist struggling a little, even though he knew he was stuck. Chris and he had tied each other up often enough that they both knew how to explore the knots that held them, try to find some loose end that would loosen something, and keep doing so until they could get loose. Chris had tied Mark’s wrists behind a tree, and had done so properly: He had Mark cross his wrists around the tree. He had a folded-up bandanna already prepared. He looped it around Chris’ wrists, crossed it, and then used the remaining length to cinch it between the wrists, placing the knot (which was pretty small and would take some picking to loosen) far out of reach of Mark’s fingers. He might as well have been wearing handcuffs.

Mark stood helpless, the hood of his jacket preventing him from seeing anything more than maybe what direction the sun was in. His hearing was muffled too. He could hear Chris moving around, occasionally raking leaves, just as often running a hand over the smooth shiny nylon covering Mark’s chest and arms.

Mark had been blindfolded lots of times but found the hood entirely new. It was frustrating and a tease being able to move his head around, but not enough to escape from the hood. Between that and occasionally being groped unexpectedly by his friend, he was glad that his jacket was just long enough that it hid a pretty unmistakable bulge in his pants - or at least he hoped it did.

At the same time, he caught himself almost wishing that Chris would find out the inevitable truth that their frequent tie-up games were often turning him on.

“You can’t tell me there are still more leaves out there,” he said, hoping Chris was close enough to hear.

A chuckle and the sensation of Chris checking the bonds on his wrists. “There’s always another leaf somewhere. I could just keep you tied up here all day as long as they keep falling,” Chris laughed again as he saw Mark turning his head uselessly trying to shake the hood off. “Want me to tie that a little tighter, hmm?”

do you have any more stories? We used to use jackets on backwards as blindfolds and makeshift straitjackets.

[Windrunner]

I wish I did, I just ran out of gas on this one and couldn't come up with a good plot to continue it.

Absolutely have lots of memories of using backwards down jackets, windbreakers, and even the detached hood of a down jacket as a blindfold, hood, or an improvised straitjacket. Was always exciting!

[backwardshood]

Any memories would be great.