SCENE ONE (exterior, the house on paper street. it is raining.) (interior, jack’s room. the sound of water dripping into coffee tins, washbasins, etc., but we can see that they are all full and the water is simply running off onto the floor. jack—wearing a dirty grey t-shirt, boxer shorts, and army boots—is hunched beneath a blanket reading a magazine. suddenly, he jumps up, excited.) jack: (shouting) tyler! (he throws the blanket aside and runs down the hall to tyler’s room. still looking down at the magazine, he bursts through the door.) jack: listen! it says in this article here that they did this experiment. what they did was they got these twelve monkeys . . . (he looks up at this point and sees tyler lying on his bed. tyler is lying on his back, completely naked, and slowly massaging his erection.) jack: oh, jesus! fuck, man, i’m sorry. i . . . i . . . i’ll come back later. (he turns to go.) tyler: (completely undisturbed) what is it, jack? jack: (flustered) nothing. i’ll . . . show you later. i’ll come back . . . (he can barely get the words out.) . . . when you’re done. tyler: (calmly, and continuing to stroke his cock) what if i’m not done when you come back, jack? what if i’m still here doing the same thing i’m doing now? jack: (determinedly averting his gaze) tyler, i’m really not in the mood for this right now. i really do not want to have another talk. tyler: hey, you’re the one always wanting to talk. you’re the one who has to have everything all lined out and neat and on the shelves. jack: o.k., we are not having this conversation. (he glances back, almost inadvertently) and could you at least please stop that while we are talking? tyler: (looking down at his cock, which he is still slowly stroking) what’s the matter, jack? haven’t you ever grabbed hold of the old log yourself every now and then? jack: yes. no. i mean, yes. but jesus, tyler, men don’t jerk off in front of other men. tyler: yeah, they do, jack. they do it all the time. you just don’t like to admit that they do. jack: i don’t mean . . . those kind of men. tyler: oh, really. what kind of men do you mean? jack: i mean . . . men like us. don’t. tyler: (sighs, slightly disgusted. he takes his hands away from his cock and rubs his eyes. his cock sticks up into the air.) sure they do. they just do it and lie about it later. they lie about it because they’re worried that some other guy is going to thing badly of them. they’re worried about some other guy’s fuckin’ opinion instead of just doing what comes naturally. they’re so fuckin’ scared of some other guy’s fuckin’ opinion that they can’t even jerk on their own dick without feeling guilty. jack: (he’s been listening, but still nervous) whatever. i’ve got to go. (he turns and starts to leave. tyler leaps out of the bed, jumps in front of jack, and slams the door. he leans against it and crosses his arms, barring jack from leaving.) jack: (stuttering) t-t-tyler, what are you doing? tyler: (firmly) helping you out. now get over there and sit on the bed. jack: (beyond nervous) i-i-i-i-i-i-really don’t want to be doing this. please let me go. tyler: no. jack: please. tyler: (quietly) no. (jack reaches for the doorknob. he gets his hand on it, but as he starts to turn it, tyler’s hand quickly comes down and covers his. close-up: the doorknob, black and rusty. jack’s hand—white and scarred—tries to turn it. tyler’s hand—darker, rougher, with the shine of vaseline on it—over his. they struggle for control. tyler is stronger. he wins. he pulls jack’s hand off the doorknob and holds it fiercely in his own.) tyler: go. sit. down. (jack backs up and sits on the edge of the bed. his hands clutch at the magazine, which he holds in front of his chest like a security blanket. he’s looking at the floor.) tyler: now look at me. (jack can barely raise his eyes. when he does, he sees tyler still standing in front of the door. tyler is still hard.) tyler: your problem, my little friend, is that you still believe every goddamn thing you’re told. you think the sun’s going to shine every fuckin’ day. no matter what you’ve been telling me, you think you’re going to be a nice guy and everybody’s going to like you. you think if you don’t look at it, if you don’t look at those nasty things that you don’t want to see, the things that don’t fit into your fuckin’ picture of your fuckin’ perfect world, then they’ll go away and you won’t have to deal with them. well, it’s not like that. i’m going to make you deal with them. (tyler looks down at his cock. he touches it. he wraps his fingers around it, and begins to stroke. jack drops his eyes again.) tyler: LOOK! AT! ME! (jack flinches slightly, but then does as he’s told. he will not look away again.) tyler: good. now i am going to stand here. and jerk on my cock. and you are going to watch me. it is not going to hurt you. your little world will not come to an end. you will able to wake up tomorrow morning, and go to the international house of pancake, and eat your fuckin’ double stack with extra blueberry syrup and nobody will know what you have seen. they are not going to point at you and say “do you know what he did last night? he watched another man jerk off.” and what the fuck if they do, anyway? are you going to let them run your life? (no response from jack. he has been watching, hypnotized, as tyler’s hands moved up and down his hard shaft. he has seen the dark red head of tyler’s dick appear and disappear. he has seen the slickness of the pale cock. he has seen tyler’s balls, swaying gently beneath the motion.) tyler: (almost sadly) are you, jack? jack: (looking up into tyler’s face. quietly.) no, tyler. (tyler grins a little. then he looks back down at his cock. tilting his head forward, he lets a load of spit fall onto his cock and his hands. he spreads it about. jack gives a little gasp. he watches as tyler concentrates. tyler’s hands begin to move steadily. jack watches tyler. tyler strokes his hard cock, sometimes with one hand, sometimes with both. sometimes he wraps his hand tightly around the base to hold the blood in, and presents it to the air. jack has never seen anything like this before. he watches tyler. he watches tyler’s lean body. the way tyler’s pecs tighten as he squeezes his cock, the way his stomach muscles contract when he gets in a really tight stroke. tyler is putting on a good show. he leans his shoulders back against the door, moves his legs a little forward and spreads them apart. he lifts his head, closes his eyes, and fucks his hands. jack watches tyler’s hips move back and forth as he slides his cock in and out of the tube formed by his two hands. he watches tyler’s cock, hard and shiny, appear and disappear. he feels his own cock getting hard. he watches tyler move faster, working himself harder. the cock slides. tyler shoves it as hard and as far into his hands as he can. faster and faster. jack watches tyler’s face. there is an intensity there that jack wishes he could have. a passion and a surrender. he notices—for one second—the last stages of a bruise on tyler’s left cheekbone. jack thinks “i did that.” he watches tyler come. streams of hot juice shoot through the air. tyler growls as he keeps fucking his hands until five, six, or seven loads have been given up. only then does he release his meat from his fists. he leans back, panting and exhausted. jack sits on the edge of the bed, waiting. a half-minute later, tyler opens his eyes. he looks at jack.) tyler: did you keep watching? jack: yes. tyler: did you see me come? jack: (looking him in the eyes) yes. tyler: did the world end? jack: no, tyler. (tyler smiles. he moves to one side, gives a mock bow, and with a small sweep of his hand indicates the door.) tyler: then you can go. (jack stands up. his hardon pops out the opening in the front of his boxers. tyler cracks up. jack hurriedly stuffs it back into his shorts and scurries from the room. all the way down the hall, he can still hear tyler laughing. once inside his own room, he pushes his boxers down and jerks himself off. it doesn’t take a minute. he watches the liquid fall down, white and hot, into the black rain beneath his feet.) SCENE TWO (the house on paper street. tyler and jack are in the kitchen. tyler is placidly sitting at the table, chin in hand. jack is banging with a hammer on the faucet at the sink.) jack: goddamn! tyler: jack, chill out. (the faucet suddenly pours forth a stream of dirty brown water. jack soaks a rag in the flow, then starts to wipe off his face. they have just gotten home from fight club. jack is hyper.) jack: wow, man! did you see me tonight? did you see me? i was so fuckin’ hot! tyler: yes, jack, i saw you. jack: i mean, he had like twenty pounds on me, man. but i was everywhere. bam, bam, left, right, right. he never had a chance. (he dances around the kitchen shadowboxing. when he’s in front of tyler he throw a few feints into the air around tyler’s head. tyler doesn’t blink or move. jack stops.) jack: you know, sometimes you can really bring a party down. tyler: (unconcerned) is that what this is, jack? a party? jack: (lightly shadowboxing again) well, yeah. i’m having fun. aren’t you? tyler: it’s not about having fun, jack. it’s not about you running around like some little puppydog chasing his tail. it’s about becoming stronger. jack: (hurt) i’m just doing what you wanted, tyler. can’t i have some fun on my own without you bringing friedrich goddamn nietzsche into it? tyler: (leaning back in his chair and considering jack) i don’t bring friedrich goddamn nietzsche into everything. but i do think you have to understand what you’re doing or you’ll just turn into old goddamn jack again, the only difference being you’ll know where every hospital is within a fifteen mile radius instead of every motherfuckin’ ikea outlet. jack: (fed up. he pulls up a chair and sits across the table from tyler.) o.k., fine. here i am. explain to me what i don’t fuckin’ know this time. tyler: (deadpan) I thought you’d never ask. you just have to ask, you know. (jack snorts. tyler leans forward and draws in the dust of the table top. first he draws a large plus sign. at the top and at the bottom of the axis he draws a letter ‘d’. at the end of the left and of the right crossarm he draws a letter ‘p’.) tyler: what we have here is . . . well, let’s call it a formula. jack: (in a highpitched schoolboy voice) yes, teacher. tyler: (ignoring him) these two d’s stand for the doer and the done-to. and these two p’s stand for pain and pleasure. jack: oh, god. here we go again. tyler: now you can look at this like a fight. the two of you are the doer and the done-to. only the roles keep changing. sometimes one of you is one and then the next second you’re the other. jack: (unwillingly beginning to see) . . . y-e-e-s-s-s . . . tyler: and then there’s the pain and the pleasure. bam! you hit him and you feel good. but your knuckles hurt just a little from hitting him. and then bam! he hits you and it hurts. but you feel good because you’ve got this wild adrenaline rush going. jack: . . . yes . . . tyler: you might be able to say that here, in the center, is where it all meets. (he touches the crossing point.) but life’s not like that. it isn’t only in one place. and it moves. (he slowly starts to draw with his finger in a spiral outward from the center.) it all moves and everything changes place. doer. pain. done-to. pleasure. doer. pleasure. done-to. pain. pain. doer. done-to. pleasure. done-to. done-to. pain. doer. pleasure. (he speaks faster and faster and his finger moves more rapidly around and around the cross. he continues in this fashion until he is breathless and the ‘formula’ is completely obliterated. jack has watched in fascination and has—interestingly enough—got it.) jack: (after a pause) and then what, tyler? what have you got then? tyler: (not smiling, he holds up his fingertip for jack to see. there is an oval of grey dust on it.) a dirty finger. (he grins. he puts his fingertip in his mouth to clean it.) jack: (laughing) you are so full of shit. tyler: (taking his finger out of his mouth, he inspects it. then, seriously . . .) no i’m not. fight club is like that. our relationship is like that. the world is like that. do you want me to show you? (he suddenly gets up and leaves the kitchen.) jack: (surprised, he sits for a second after tyler has left the room. then he stands and follows him.) what do you mean ‘our relationship is like that’? tyler! tyler! (tyler is going onto the front porch. jack follows him out.) jack: what do you mean ‘our relationship is like that’? (tyler is totally ignoring him. as he opens the door, we see the recruit on the front porch. when tyler and jack come out he pulls himself together and stands at attention.) tyler: (going up to the recruit, he stands in front of him like a drill sargeant.) how are you doing tonight, son? recruit: (very correctly) yes, sir! fine, sir! tyler: good, good. now how long have you been out here? recruit: sir! three days, sir! tyler: three days? well, that might be impressive to someone else. but it don’t mean shit to me. we’re still trying to figure out if you’ve got what it takes to get through that door there, so we’re going to try a little experiment on you. is that alright with you? recruit: (even more enthusiastically) sir! yes, sir! tyler: good. (he quickly reaches over, unzips the recruit’s beaten brown leather bomber jacket, and opens it up. even more quickly he shoves up the layers of sweatshirt and tshirts to reveal the recruit’s bare smooth muscular chest. the recruit staggers slightly under the assault, but remains upright.) tyler: (looking back at jack.) now, jack. what were we saying about pleasure and pain? oh, yes. (he turns back to the recruit.) put your hands behind your back. (the recruit does so. tyler bends down and barely touches the recruit’s right nipple with the tip of his tongue. the recruit is startled and glances down quickly at tyler. but then he braces himself and fixes his gaze off on a point in the distance. tyler begins to work the nipple with his tongue. he teases it. he runs his tongue in circles around it. he licks it. we see it hardening into a dark button of flesh. jack is watching. he sees the the recruit close his eyes. in pleasure. tyler stands back up. the recruit opens his eyes.) tyler: so. i think we can all see that our friend here got some little tinglies out of that. people respond to pleasure. and then again . . . (he leans down. the recruit closes his eyes in anticipation. tyler takes the left nipple into his mouth. and bites into it. the recruit yells. he almost pulls his hands from behind his back, but he doesn’t. tyler continues to hold onto the nipple with his teeth. once the recruit has regained his composure, tyler begins to pull on it with his teeth. he stretches the nipple out. the recruit begins to groan. tyler releases it from his mouth only to get back on it again and chew it. the recruit groans harder. tyler continues to bite and chew on it. jack watches as the recruit begins to enjoy it. tyler stands up again.) tyler: what have we learned here? jack? jack: that we can enjoy anything. that we can turn pain into pleasure. tyler: (impatiently) no, no, no. jack, you’ve been listening to someone else again. now, when i was working all nice and easy on this boy’s right tit, that was pleasure. it was all smooth and sweet and he liked it. but when i did this . . . (he bends over and bites into the recruit’s left nipple again. the recruit almost yelps again.) you see, jack, that is nothing but pain. not pleasure, pain. what they tell you is that you’re not supposed to enjoy pain. or that if you hang in with the pain long enough that it will turn into pleasure. but that’s bullshit, jack. it’s pain. it hurts. nothing more or less. and he liked it. that’s what they don’t want you to admit. that sometimes we just like pain. we like someone to hurt us. we like someone to do things to our body. things that make us squirm and cry and beg for them to stop. at least for a few seconds, until we ask them to do it to us again. we like being done. we like being helpless and having someone hurt us. jack: that’s not always true. tyler: it’s true enough most of the time. most people are so unhappy with their lives that they think they need to be punished. or they don’t feel anything anymore and need to be hurt to feel anything at all. that would be people like you, jack. (jack’s face twitches. he knows it’s true.) tyler: that’s how the world works, jack. pleasure and pain. the doers and the done. you can call it a cross or you can call it a circle. but you’ve got to know where you are on it. you’ve got to pick your place on it. (jack stares off.) tyler: (quietly) you really do, jack. (jack looks back at him. tyler is serious.) tyler: (his attention back to the recruit.) you’ve been very helpful in making this point to my friend jack here. i think maybe you deserve a reward. recruit: (confused. and barely audible) yes, sir. thank you, sir. (tyler eases the leather jacket off. he pulls the recruit’s shirts off over his head. the recruit shivers as the cold night air covers his upper body.) tyler: put your hands behind your back. (the recruit does this. tyler unbuckles the recruit’s belt, unzips the recruit’s pants, and pushes them down to his knees. the recruit’s cock is half erect. tyler gets down on his knees and takes the cock into his mouth. he is using the same easy touch as he did on the right nipple. we see the recruit’s cock harden. tyler works it in and out of his mouth. the shaft gleams with tyler’s spit. the recruit begins to breathe heavily. jack is watching. tyler continues to suck the cock. he holds it around the base with his hand guiding it in and out of his mouth, and rubbing it across his lips. sometimes he shifts slightly and licks the side of the dick, rubbing his mouth back and forth across the length of the shaft. the recruit is standing, head tilted back in ecstasy, his crotch pushed forward for tyler. this goes on for a few minutes. then tyler takes his right hand and wraps it around the recruit’s balls. he starts to tug and pull on them. this is the pain part. he twists them one way and then the other. he pulls them down as far as he can and then releases them. the recruit is now caught in two sensations: the sweet slickness of tyler sucking his cock and the rough manipulation of his nuts. he groans. tyler keeps up the work, becoming a little more intense all the time. his head bobs up and down on the cock. his hand flips the balls around. after the recruit gives forth one particularly loud groan, tyler stops for a second.) tyler: (a little breathlessly) let me know when you’re ready. recruit: (also breathless) yes, sir. (tyler goes back to work. the recruit has been on the porch in the cold and the rain. he has been tense. he is young and unsure of himself. he has been wondering if he really has what it takes. he has been wondering who he is, and what he is looking for. he has seen tyler go past him without a word. tyler is using his left hand and his mouth on the cock, working the recruit ever harder. his right hand is squeezing the guy’s nuts tighter and tighter. and tighter. the recruit looks down.) recruit: now, sir. (tyler takes his mouth and left hand off the recruit’s cock and moves a little to the side. he lets go of the balls with his right hand and uses that hand to jerk the living hell out of the recruit’s cock. when he sees the sudden swelling of the cock and hears the first intake of breath from the recruit that signifies that he is going to come, tyler takes his hand off the cock. he uses it instead to push the cock lengthwise between his teeth. he bites down as hard as he can on the meat. the recruit screams and shoots cum everywhere. it is watery and explodes like fireworks. streams of it fly off four and five feet into the air. it goes on and on. tyler keeps the cock firmly gripped between his teeth until the coming stops. when it does, tyler gets up and walks into the house. jack stands there for a minute, stunned. he can clearly see the half circle of teeth marks on the recruit’s cock. tyler must have bitten through the skin. jack watches the recruit pull himself together. he is whimpering slightly as he pulls his pants up and tucks his cock back into them. he begins to put his shirts back on. jack goes inside and stands behind the door, thinking. he can hear tyler in the kitchen, looking for food. when jack looks back outside, the recruit is standing at attention again, just as he was half-an-hour ago. jack goes to the kitchen. tyler is leaning against the counter, eating a bowl of dry cereal.) jack: (tiredly) was that really necessary? tyler: (thinking) yes, it was. (he starts to leave the kitchen. he puts the bowl of cereal down, then turns and plows a right punch into jack’s jaw. jack, caught totally unaware, hits the floor.) tyler: (looking down at him) but that wasn’t. (jack, stunned, looks up at him from the floor. tyler picks up his bowl and walks out the door. jack sits on the floor, rubbing his jaw.) SCENE THREE (exterior, the house on paper street. jack, walking up to the door. interior, the hall. jack is slightly weaving as he goes down the hall. he turns the corner, and comes to a halt, surprised. we see two men, both naked. one is on his knees in front of the other one, sucking his cock.) jack: jesus! (the man getting blown raises his head, looks at jack briefly, then returns his attention to the man doing him. jack has to edge past them. as he does so, we hear the man speaking low, encouraging the man on his knees. jack turns another corner. it is the kitchen. two guys are leaning across the kitchen table. they are getting butt-fucked by two other men. four others stand around, stroking their hardons, waiting their turns. nobody is saying anything. there is only the sound of flesh slapping against flesh as they slam away. jack is now slack-jawed. he turns away and staggers outside.) (exterior, night. jack sits down on the porch, at a loss to explain what he has seen. he runs his hands through his hair and sits there, trying to compose himself. he hears noises, voices from a little distance away. standing up, he goes around the corner. there he sees one of the men. his hands have been bound together and then tied to a stake in the ground. he is on his knees. around him, a circle of men. they are talking quietly and drinking beer. some are totally naked and some are half-dressed. as jack watches, one of them goes up to the guy staked to the ground, pulls out his cock, and urinates on him. he aims for the guy’s face, but it goes all over his body in a loud gushing stream. the guy on his knees opens his mouth to drink as much as he can. the man giving it to him goes on for a long time. finally, he shakes off his cock and walks away. the man on his knees gasps for a second, then speaks.) man: thank you, sir. (jack is now totally bewildered. as he goes back into the house, in the background we see another man go stand before the man at the stake. jack wanders about. in one room he sees two men lying on their backs on a large table beneath a bright lamp. they are blowing the twenty or so men who circle the table slowly. the two on the table suck one guy’s cock for a minute or two, then everybody moves one step to the side and the next cocks are put into the mouths. everything is very quiet, except for the sounds of the men sucking as hard as they can. jack sees loads of cum on their chests and faces. they will be totally covered before they are done. in the next room he sees a man getting fucked. he is being held up in the air by four other men. he has wrapped his arms around the shoulders of two and they are supporting his back. two others form a cradle beneath his waist. and then another man, standing on a low box, is fucking him. the man being fucked groans as the four holding him rock him onto the cock going up his ass. their hardons stick out towards each other underneath his body. another room: all jack can do is watch as one of the younger trainees is held naked, arms outstretched and pinned back against the wall by two of the stronger men. they hold him there, tightly, while another man sucks his cock. and while another man, every now and then, slaps him hard across the face. each time—after he is hit—the trainee shoves his cock forward into the face of the man sucking him. jack watches for a while. then he turns and leaves.) (it is the t.v. room. no program is playing, but the t.v. is still on and the blue light plays over the bodies of the men there. they are all over the floor. thirty or forty guys, lying on the floor, some lying on top of others, humping their asses, but most just sucking and stroking on their cocks. the scene is weirdly slow. jack—blank-faced— looks at them. he sees tyler—fully-dressed—sitting in a chair in a dark corner of the room. jack walks over.) tyler: (softly) jack, my man. have a beer. (he wrenches a can from a six-pack and tosses it to jack, who pops the top as he collapses in a nearby chair. he takes a drink and makes a face.) jack: christ, tyler. this beer’s as warm as piss. tyler: (unconcerned) well, maybe you should have been here earlier, when it was cold. (he looks over.) where you been, jack? jack: (muttering) out. tyler: you missed a great party. jack: (looking at the pile of naked men writhing in front of them) it doesn’t look like i missed a fuckin’ thing. tyler: (sighing) well, some of the boys are still going at it. they got a lot of steam to blow off. jack: (a little snottily) is that what you call this, tyler? letting off a little steam? tyler: (calmly) no, jack. i call this training. jack: (sarcastically) training? tyler: yeah, jack. training. jack: (still sarcastic) training in what? how to give good head? tyler: (after taking a drink) you know, you really need to take a more positive attitude toward life. you could really bring a party down. jack: fuck you. tyler: (after a pause) you see that guy over there? the one with the eagle? (medium shot. a long-haired biker with an eagle tattooed across his shoulders is slowly and carefully giving head to another guy.) jack: yeah. so? tyler: three hours ago those two were beating the crap out of each other. then they washed each other off, stitched up their wounds, and now they’re taking care of each other like they’re the best friends they ever had. those two are going to be bonded now. that’s how you build an army, jack. you don’t get a bunch of guys who hate each other and then expect them to go fight someone else. you get guys who respect each other, who know what it’s like to be in pain and who know how to get over that pain and love the guy who gave it to them. they’ll do anything for each other now. oldest secret of the military, jack. you should read more history. lot of good stuff there. jack: (sardonically) i don’t think i’m going to find this in any history book. tyler: (musing) no. you’re probably right. it’s the secret history of the world, the stuff they don’t want you to know. jack: ‘they’? and just who are ‘they’, tyler? tyler: (softly) the ones we’re fighting. the ones who think they run the show. the ones who think they know what is better for me than what i know myself. the ones who tell me how i’m supposed to act and how i’m supposed to think and how i’m supposed to live every fuckin’ day of my life. (a pause, then . . .) the ones who lied to me all my fuckin’ life and are still trying to lie to me every day. that’s who we’re fighting, jack. the liars. jack: (quite soberly) and you think you can do this? you—tyler durden? tyler: (seriously) not just me. me and them. me and my army of lovers. (jack has nothing to say to this. he drinks his beer. the camera slowly pans over the men, over their naked bodies, their muscles and their mouths, their butts and their chests and their cocks and their balls. slowly and patiently they are having sex. they are sucking each other’s cocks. they are burying their tongues deep up assholes. they are lying side by side masturbating each other. they are kissing, above and below and on their scars.) jack: tyler, i think you have finally and completely gone totally bugshit crazy. tyler: (considers this) maybe, maybe. and—you know what, jack?—thank god. (a pause.) maybe you have too. (jack looks at tyler. tyler looks at jack. jack and tyler drink their beers and watch the men fuck.)
