An Italian boy in Camford Pt. 07

Love Sandro

(2) E-mail from j.singleborough@zzzz.camford.ac.uk to a.mascagnoli@bzzzz.camford.ac.uk

Dear Sandro

Don't rush into a relationship heedlessly. Take it gently. Learn as much about your new man as possible, both in and outside bed! He might not be ready to commit to something long-term, so you must take things steadily. Get to know one another and do not come out of the closet until Dom is ready. Just enjoy him, and don't bother about other people until you know him well.

By the way, if you want to go into dinner together on Sundays, start going to Sunday Evensong in chapel. First year students attending chapel are allowed to go into formal dinner.

Love Jon XXX

(3) E-mail from a.mascagnoli@zzzz.camford.ac.uk to dorotea.mascagnoli@ssss.it

Ciao Mamma

May I invite my new friend Dominic Overton to come home with me at the end of term, to stay for one week? I would like him to stay longer, but he says that he needs time at home to revise for his important first year exams. Although he's a freshman student, he is actually two years older than me, so he is not a tiresome teenager!

I am busy, busy, BUSY in both lab and lecture theatre, so although I have no exams this academic year, I have a whole heap of work to get through. I was involved in a robbery a few weeks ago, in which I was knocked down and slightly concussed. I am now totally OK again. I didn't tell you before, because I didn't want you to worry. I lost my iPhone in the robbery, which was a pity, but the theft has been notified and the account cancelled. Dominic was extremely helpful to me during this incident, and I want to give him a week's holiday in a warm place, and Italy fits the bill. You will like him.

Please give my love to Pappa and mia cara sorellina Bianca.

Love from Sandro XXXX

(4) E-mail from dorotea.mascagnoli@ssss.it to a.mascagnoli@zzzz.camford.ac.uk

Carissimo Sandro mio

Are you SURE that you are fully OK again? My precious boy, you are so dear to me. Both your father and I need reassurance that you are well. Reading between the lines, I guess that you were with your friend at the time of the assault and that he rescued you. If this is indeed the case, we would love to welcome him. Let me know when you are coming, and I will meet you at Valerio-Catullo with the car. Please ring me with more details, I need to hear your voice.

Tua madre amorevola. XXXXXX

(5) E-mail from a.mascagnoli@zzzz.camford.ac.uk to t.appleton@yyyy.it

Dear Tom

As a result of an incident a couple of weeks ago, my darling Dom has realized that he loves me. I'm not going into sexual details, it would be a betrayal of our relationship,but we are both very happy together, and inexperience doesn't matter when you both love one another. Thank you for all your help and advice. Give my love to Luca.

Love from Sandro

Chapter Forty-eight: Dom comes to stay

The rest of that term passed busily and swiftly. It was not one mad sexual orgy. We both had too much to do for much more than an occasional quick blow-job. We did not neglect our time at the pool on Saturdays for sex, and we quickly found out that the college beds were much too narrow to sleep two, so we even slept separately. Even when one or both us us needed it urgently, we could not always spare the time for a prolonged love session. However, we were slowly learning to understand each other's physiology, and to judge how long each of us could last without shooting his load. We followed Jon's advice and started going to Sunday evensong in Chapel. This enabled us to go into formal dinner, always the best meal of the week, together. I began to develop a liking for Anglican church music, so different from Palestrina or Gregorian chant. It must be my English blood.

The last week of term came, and after our successful progress tests we packed up our possessions in the locked cupboards and took what we needed by cab to the station and caught a train to London, another to Heathrow, and early in the evening got off our plane in Valerio Catullo-Villafranca airport. My mother was waiting for us at the arrivals gate. We kissed one another in greeting, and she looked me over with approval before shaking hands with Dom. 'Typical mother,' I thought, 'eyes for no-one but her offspring! I bet Pappa looks harder at Dom than that!' "I hope that you and Sandro don't mind sharing a room," she said to Dom.

He grinned. "Not at all," he replied.

I was right about Massimo. After he had welcomed us both, he gave Dom a very hard, scrutinizing look. As Dom's Italian was non-existent, the two men would have to converse in Massimo's rather halting English. I in the meantime kissed Bianca and asked how she was getting on at school. Mamma had left a lasagna in the oven, and in no time, Massimo was pouring out glasses of Sangiovese di Romagna and Mamma was serving the food. It was good to be home again.

"My brother has been in Trabizona for several weeks, singing at Luca's opera house" she told us. "He has been staying with Luca and Tom, but I suspect that they are glad now that he has gone home. Their working hours were different, and he always wanted to relax when they were working, and vice versa. Luca got fed up, but you know how Tom worships my brother, and he insisted that David should not go to an hotel."

"Dom heard David sing for the first time just before Christmas," I told her.

"Sandro's uncle's family are all talented!" she told Dom, "I just hope my children turn out so well!"

"You don't need to worry about Sandro," Dom told her. "He works incredibly hard, and I keep a close eye on him. You'll have a railway engineer in the family within a few years!"

We went to bed quite early. The beds were bigger than college beds, and I was able to snuggle down in Dom's bed quite comfortably. We didn't make love the first night, except for some kissing and cuddling, but it was wonderful to sleep in the same bed. It was the first time we had shared a bed, but we both knew that there would be lots more opportunities. Just to feel the warmth of Dom's body and be able to kiss his shoulders at any time was bliss. Also it was the first time that I farted in his presence. I cuddled up to him and whispered, "Dom, I'm sorry, but I need to fart."

"That's OK," he replied with a smile, "better out than in!" I turned on to my side, arse away from him, and released an enormous blast of intestinal gas. Fortunately there was not much of a stink. I could feel his cock starting to stiffen. "That was a good one!" he said. "I won't need to worry now when I need to let one off! You forget that I was at a boarding school. I learnt long ago not to be embarrassed about farting. There's always a lot of farting when teenage boys get together. You'll hear from my arsehole tomorrow morning. I always let off a big fart when I get out of bed." On the second night we had a marvellous 69 session in my bed and both fell asleep with the taste of each other's manhood in our mouths.

We had the use of my mother's car, so we were able to visit Verona and other places in the neighbourhood. We spent Wednesday in Trabizona with Luke and Tom. Both had arranged a day off work. We explored the town together and spent a day speaking only English. They showed us the cathedral, we had an extended lunch together at one of Trabizona's two gay-friendly restaurants, and wandered through the Parco Emilio Guzzone. On the drive back, Dom said, "You and Luke are very much alike."

"Yes," I replied, "I had better tell you the full story. We are not half-brothers, but full brothers. We both have the same father, whom neither of us have ever met. My mother was seduced by this man twice, but he denied paternity. Luca was adopted by my Uncle David and his partner Jon, so that my mother could do a Ph.D., and a few years later I was legitimized by my mother meeting, falling in love with, and while she was still pregnant with me, marrying Massimo, who in every way has thought of me as his son, and I regard him as my father, which in law he is. So we have a Figaro-type story in our family. Luke never knew his mother until five years ago when at the age of eighteen, he exercised his right to find her. But Luke's whole attitude to life has been affected by the lack of a mother. He is shy of women and not very attracted to them. Tom, in contrast gets on well with women, and it sometimes makes Luke jealous. Now you know our family secret, and I rely on you not to talk about it."

"Actually, I have a family secret too," said Dom, "which I'm not going to tell you now. It will have to wait until after you know my family. It will take a lot of effort on my part to smooth the way for a long-term relationship, if that's what you want."

"Oh, yes, I don't want a fuck, suck and zip up, I want you for life!"

"That's going to be difficult if we both work in different jobs," said Dom.

"I know. Uncle Jon had to give up work for several years to look after Luke and his sister after they adopted Luke. Even after that, he only had half a career, as a part-time tutor. They could of course have paid a nanny to look after the children, but they wanted to bring up their children themselves. That's the sacrifice you have to make to bring up children properly. Uncle David had to work to earn an income to keep the family, because they thought it immoral to live on Jon's inherited income. But Jon really only needs a part-time job. Managing his income and giving a lot of it away take up the rest of his time."

"That's my problem too. I've got family money that means that I have no economic need to work. But all my family, as well as myself, feel that all human beings have the obligation to work for a living."

"You ought to work for a college scholarship then. They are awarded for academic excellence, irrespective of income. If I can do it, I'm sure that you can."

"I don't know. Some of the CS undergraduates in Boni's are very bright."

"I don't mind if you're not a genius. As long as you don't get sent down, I don't mind if you get a third in your finals! It's you I want, not your skills! Although I have some marvellous relatives, none of them are like you. I can't really say why I love you, but you have something unique that makes you the man I want. Many people would say that I am too young to make a mature judgement, and I don't want you to tie yourself to an engagement until we have at least graduated. For all I know, you might meet a beautiful girl tomorrow and leave me!"

"How many beautiful girls are there in Boni's? If it comes to that, how many beautiful boys? In any case, I bet that most of them are spoken for!"

By now we had got home, and Dom was due to go back to England a few days later. He seemed to enjoy himself in Italy. We visited several other places than those I have mentioned. I drove him to the airport on the day of his departure and saw him into the departure area.

When I got home, my father was home from work. He offered me a drink and we went out on to the balcony. "Is that guy fucking you or you him?" he asked, shrewdly but crudely.

"Pappa, I could say that it's none of your business. Did you like him?"

"Well, yes I did. He's intelligent, polite and bought your mother some flowers yesterday. I don't disapprove of him, I just think that you are a bit young to be entering into a commitment."

"Pappa, he and I have agreed not to make any formal commitment for another two years. I think that I want him as a life-partner, but it's much too soon to consider anything like that until we have our degrees. We might get tired of one another. OK, so we sometimes have sex together. That's as much as you need to know, but life in Camford is much too busy for it to be one long sexual orgy. Uncle Jon is keeping an eye on me, and has given me a lot of wise advice. Don't worry about me catching AIDS! You know that I would never let you down. I owe you too much. You have done more for me than many fathers would do for their own biological children."

Next day, I had another cross-examination, this time by my sweet Bianca. I told her that Dom and I were more than friends, but told her that I was not going to tell her more than that. She replied that she liked him, but not as much as Tom. "Tom comes from a poor background, but Dom's family are rich!" I told her with a grin.

"It's nothing to do with money," my sister replied, "and in any case, Tom is not available. Do you really like Dom because he has money?"

"Of course not!" I said, "I'm just teasing you! He has only just told me about it. We take it in turns to pay for things when we go out. But what about you? You're sixteen now. Are there any boys after you? Or do you prefer girls? In any case, what do you want to do? Do you want to go to university like Mamma?"

"Yes, but unlike her, I'm not going to get pregnant!"

"Where do you want to go, Bologna or Trabizona, or somewhere further away from home like Camford?"

"Actually, I would like to go to Paris. I'm doing French at school and there are lots of universities in Paris."

"Well, by the time you go to university, I will just have finished and hopefully got a job. If I can, I want to get a job in England. That's nearer to Paris than Trabizona! I'll be able to visit you living a Bohemian student life in Montmartre!"

Chapter forty-nine: Winter and spring in Trabizona

Tom and Luke got more meals in fancy restaurants during David's stay than they had ever had before in such a short space of time. Tom only cooked for the three of them three nights a week, and even then it was usually pasta or pizza, because they had their main meal at lunchtime. It made David very happy to see how content his son was with his partner. As for Tom, he was brimming with cheerfulness and self-confidence. His work was going well, he was getting increasingly comfortable with his boss, who seemed to have developed a fatherly attitude to him, and he saw quite a lot of his two best friends, Ben and Leonora.

Ben told Tom about the visit they had made to Leonora's parents to tell them about their engagement and to seek formal parental consent. In spite of his assertions to the contrary, Ben's Italian was now quite good. Before the visit, Ben had spent a couple of evenings with the boys when no English was allowed, and it was clear that he would have no problems talking to Leonora's parents. Indeed, in spite of stories that Americans find foreign languages difficult, Ben's Italian was better than Leonora's English. Leonora's father and mother were delighted at the prospect of her marriage and were quite happy with an American as prospective son-in-law.

David treated Luke and Tom to a meal at Agostino's on Luke's birthday in February. At the end of that month David returned to England for a short season at the Royal Bristol Opera, with the prospect of more engagements in Italy in the following couple of years. David's previous acquaintanceship with Pauline had meant that the new productions went smoothly and professionally. Pauline's choice of director, Immanuele Stoz had been a good one, and Stoz, the chorus and other principals also found David easy to work with. His season in Trabizona had been met with great public enthusiasm, with increased attendances and seat occupancy, and Cornelio was very happy that his investment in an expensive English artist and a Dutch répétiteuse had been so successful.

Cornelio and Pauline proposed to Luke that he should try his hand at the job of producer, which would give him with Pauline a freer choice in appointing a director, and would give him more hands-on experience of production than the task of being a glorified deputy and errand-boy. This would be accompanied by a pay rise. David accepted with alacrity, because the job was much more interesting and would bring him more into contact with the artists. Clearly until he got experience, he would be very dependent on Pauline's knowledge and expertise.

The boys dined with Arturo and Bastian about once a month: occasions which were alcoholic as well as gastronomic. During David's stay with the boys, he was invited to accompany them to dinner, where he sang for his supper with a couple of arias by Verdi and Mozart's Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen. Tom often wondered what the rest of the lab thought about these gay parties, so one day he asked Ben. Did they think they were gay orgies? Ben said no, that on the whole most people welcomed the fact that since Arturo had found a regular partner and a gay social life, he was much nicer to work with and for, so they did not resent the departmental gay get-together. However one or two of the other postdocs did resent the fact that a mere Ph.D. student seemed to be on such good terms with the boss. But the department was very active and successful, and Arturo was good at getting research grants that brought jobs and new equipment, so they could not really grumble. Tom had begun work for a piano exam, which he hoped to take after Easter. Signora Bruschetti was very encouraging. "You have all the makings of a good pianist," she told him.

The weekend after Sandro had returned to Camford after Easter, Tom and Luke made their usual visit to Luke's mother and Massimo. After lunch in a restaurant, they returned to the house and Bianca went off to visit a friend. Over coffee, the boys were interrogated about Dominic Overton. They had to confess that they knew little more about him than the Mascagnolis did. Tom admitted that Sandro had approached him for advice when he found himself falling in love with Dom, and he had advised the boy to wait until Dom approached him, rather than risk scaring Dom off with a declaration of love. He said that he guessed that Dom had realized how much Sandro wanted him after the robbery and Sandro's injury. He did not breach Sandro's confidentiality by telling them that Sandro had E-mailed him to announce that he and Dom were an item. After all, he told himself, the boy was old enough to live his own life.

TO BE CONTINUED