Training Camp

I checked again and Michael looked terrified. The next thing said though had both our expressions turning to stunned.

"You need to know it is not a problem. There are a few individuals who don't like it, as there are everywhere, but there is no bar on doing our work. If there was Steve and I wouldn't be here. We've been mates for nearly 10 years. And there are plenty of gay men and women out there working on teams and some leading them too. You're good and you have talent, you might make a team leader but you'll certainly be an asset to any field team. Don't let one guy stop you from achieving what you want."

Michael's reply was full of gratitude. I'm amazed he could talk right then, I was too surprised to say anything.

"Thanks. I don't intend to let Paul ruin anything. This has been my dream for a long time. And I might not be planning on coming out right now, but at least I don't have to pretend for the rest of my life."

"Glad to hear it. I suggest Peter takes you to have a look round the grounds of the main house for the day. Make the most of the time off, because it's back to the hard work tomorrow. Get yourselves sorted and out of here as soon as you can. Oh, and Peter, no-one has told your dad about this, so unless you want to enlighten him I'd steer clear of the house."

We agreed to go and had a very quick shower, me trying hard not to look at Michael while he soaped himself down. A glimpse of his naked body with the water flowing down it was more than enough for me to decide I needed to keep my eyes off him right now or I might not get as far as having a conversation with him, I'd just pounce. He said he didn't want to come out right now and being caught having sex in the showers wasn't going to be a good way of doing it in any event. Once we were dressed and I could look at him properly again, I grinned at him.

"Ready to see the gardens then? Like the guys said, we need to make the most of today." He had no idea how much I hoped we would get to today.

"Sure. Are you worried about your dad finding us? It sounded like even the guys didn't want him knowing what's been going on."

"Not going to be a problem. I was planning on staying away from the house so we won't meet anyone. And Dad is likely to be in meetings anyway, I doubt we'll see him. It's a full Council meeting today."

"Your Dad is on the Council?" Michael sounded impressed.

I grinned again. "My Dad heads the Council."

"Shit!"

I laughed. "Not quite the response I expected. You have to know it didn't make a difference, I got into training on my own merits."

"That's pretty obvious. You'd hardly be star pupil otherwise."

"I don't know about that. You certainly challenge me for that position."

While we were talking we made it out of camp and into the grounds. I showed Michael round some of the more formal gardens, heading towards the place I wanted to show him and I hoped we could talk in private. My nerves were rising but I knew I needed to do this. He also deserved to know that not only was I fine with what I had found out about him, but that I was glad and wanted us to be closer if that was a possibility. I had to keep hoping that Paul and Seb had not just been winding me up about Michael saying my name.

When I got to the entrance I was pleased to note that there were no recent scents, and as usual it was deserted. Michael looked a little concerned.

"What is this place?" he asked, staring into the slightly overgrown passage of bushes ahead of us.

"It's a maze. I used to love coming here when I was a cub, and even when I got older it was a great place to come and be alone to think. It's a bit overgrown in places but I keep it clipped when I can. I don't understand why more people don't come here, but then I'm not complaining."

"You're not intending to lose me in there are you?" he said with a smile which indicated he was not too serious. He had no idea, but losing him was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Of course not. I want to show you how gorgeous it is. Wait until you see what's at the centre."

I had to bring him here. My first dream about him, the one that made me realise how I felt, was set here. In my dream it had been in a clearing, but the pool I'd seen really existed, and it was right in the middle of this huge maze. I could still recall my wonder the first time I'd seen it, believing it to be some sort of miracle that the water was somehow in the centre but not through the trees. I knew now that there was an underground stream that had been opened up at that one point, but it didn't make it any less beautiful. I really wanted to see his face when he came across it, and to share my love of this place.

"Race you!" I said, throwing off my clothes and changing form before I dashed inside.

I knew he'd be able to follow me by my scent so there was no real danger of him getting lost. I heard him following me after a moment, revelling in the fact he was playing with me, even if it was entirely innocent. Well, probably on his part. It might have been a bit much leaving our clothes behind but I sorely hoped we wouldn't be needing them. Nudity wasn't that out of the ordinary at camp or in our homes because it was useful to be able to change at a moment's notice.

I followed the path through the maze, keeping an ear out behind me for Michael to make sure he didn't take a wrong turn. It wasn't very likely but I really didn't want him lost in here. I slowed now and again when I realised he had lost ground. I knew the way like the back of my hand, but he had to follow my scent and it took a bit longer for him to realise where I had turned. He was probably going past the path and then realising he had lost my trail and having to turn back to find the direction I had taken. I stopped just at the final turn and waited for him to join me, turning back into human form and leaning against a tree while I waited.

As I suspected, he was only about a minute behind me. He seemed to falter when he saw me waiting, and it seemed a strangely long time between him coming to a stop and changing form himself. I steeled myself to keep my eyes on his face and not think about the fact we were alone together without a stitch on. My nervousness was at least helping me not to harden too obviously.

"I wanted to see your reaction." I said.

He looked a little scared. "To what?"

"This," I replied, taking his hand and leading him around the corner. He gasped when he saw the pool and the fountain, his eyes darting around taking in everything. It was just like I had been when I first saw it.

"This is beautiful. How did you even find it?"

"Took a while. I wanted to find the right way through the maze and I had plenty of hours to play here. It was well worth it when I finally discovered this. Fancy a swim?"

He nodded, and I dashed to the water. It wasn't exactly as though we could swim far, the pool was fairly small, but you could get a few strokes in across it either way. It was really more for playing in than any useful exercise, but then we had a day off and didn't need to be working out. Michael's body showed the effects of all the physical training that we had been doing and I yearned to touch it, but I took the moment of quiet between us while we messed around in the water to work out what I wanted to say. It was too hard to come up with a plan, so I decided I'd just have to go with what I had to ask and see how he reacted.

When we both pulled ourselves out of the pool, laughing and giggling with the release of just being silly together, we lay on the bank and I turned onto my side to look at Michael. I was excited to see that his smile finally reached his eyes again and he looked relaxed and happy. I had the horrible feeling that I was going to destroy his ease any second, but looking at him then he was so beautiful it took my breath away. I had to do something about my desires because never knowing if anything could happen was not an option.

"Michael, I need to ask you something."

His eyes clouded over a little. I'd wiped the smile from his face far too easily.

"You don't need to worry about anything Peter. Being gay is not contagious."

"I know it isn't. And I don't believe any of the stupid things the bigots say. Believe me, it made me really angry when Paul started making cracks about me not being able to turn my back on you. I wanted to know about something else he said... about the name you said in the shower."

I hesitated while saying it, and my nervousness seemed deserved when Michael actually went white. I now had a lot of work to do, but on the other hand he shouldn't have reacted that badly if it wasn't mine.

"It doesn't matter whose name it was," he muttered.

"It does to me. I need to know."

That turned his fear into anger. He wanted to strike out rather than admit anything, and he rolled away from me, turning his back and hugging his knees to his body. Foetal position for protection. I was handling this so badly I couldn't quite believe it.

"You don't need to know anything. Can't we just pretend you haven't heard about it and go back to how things were?"

"That's not going to work for me."

He span round to face me again, and his body and face were tense.

"Well, I'm glad I know that I can't even trust you. I thought you were fine with me and you wanted to help." He practically spat this out.

"You can trust me, and I will help," I said, putting as much intensity into my words as I could to try and soothe him, but I still had to find out the truth. I put my hand out to touch his arm, and flinched myself when he moved away from my touch.

"Michael, was it my name?" I said softly.

He froze again. He wouldn't look at me and he wouldn't confirm it. "Why does this matter so much?" he asked, very quietly.

I took a deep breath. One look at Michael then was almost enough to break my heart, and a sudden moment of clarity made me kick myself. I was expecting him to admit everything but I wasn't prepared to make it easy for him and let him know what I was feeling. He'd just gone through weeks of fear and I was giving him more. He was fully expecting me to run away from him if he told me the truth. How could I let him suffer any more? It was time for me to put myself out there and let him take the lead on where it went. If it was nowhere, at least I had tried, and if I failed then I had only myself to blame.

I stroked his arm again, trying to get his attention so he would look at me. He stiffened a little but didn't move away, so I guess that was some sort of a start.

"Michael, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be pushing you after all that you've had to deal with lately. This whole thing has been hard on me, but in a different way, and I'm not handling it very well. You don't need to tell me anything. I need to tell you something, and I just hope afterwards you won't want to run away from me. But you need to know I'm not going to run from you unless you tell me to."

He glanced at me, his face showing his confusion. I felt like my heart was pounding harder than after I'd done a 20 mile run, and I was more scared than I had ever been.

"I'm not going to make you tell me if it was my name. I just need you to know when I heard that it was I hoped desperately that it was true. I hoped that you were thinking about me the way that I think about you. Because I can't get you out of my head."

He was looking right at me now, but he looked like he didn't believe me. I needed to convince him further. At least he wasn't pulling away from me. I moved a little closer to him, and noted with pleasure that he didn't move back at all. He was just watching me intently waiting for my next words or movement.

"I didn't know what to do Michael, it's not like I've been in this situation before. I spend every moment I can with you because I need to have you close. I even dream about us being together. You're amazing and gorgeous and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to resist the urge I have to kiss you every time we are alone together."

I stopped. I didn't know what else to say to him. I was actually shaking waiting for some kind of response from him. His voice when it came was some kind of hoarse purr I'd never heard before and it made me tremble with desire.

"Then don't resist."

My heart soared. I managed a smile, but I was still shaking with a combination of my nerves and my want. That was a blatant invitation to kiss him, but I still moved very slowly towards him making sure he wouldn't back off. He didn't; he started moving towards me too, uncrossing his arms and straightening out his limbs so I could reach him. My hands moved to cup his face a moment before our lips met.

It was electric. His lips were soft and their movement against mine made me purr. I heard the same sound coming from him and it spurred both of us on. Before long he was laid out on his side again and our bodies moved closer and closer together as we kissed. Our arms wrapped around each other and the feeling of being in his embrace while I held him made me moan. Soon the kiss was deepened and our tongues began to play, gently touching and tasting at first, but soon delving into the warmth and exploring fully.

I don't know how long we might have stayed like that if we hadn't kept working our bodies closer, both obviously wanting as much connection as we could achieve, because when our hard cocks met it made both of us break away with a groan and gasping for air. That was final confirmation we were equally into this, but also a reminder of things I had never done except in my dreams. This was the reality. I glanced down to look at him and was amazed that the sight of his hardness pressing against mine just turned me on even more. I wanted to touch and play with him and make him feel really good. I looked back into his eyes and saw his desire, knowing it was mirroring my own.

I rolled onto my back, taking him with me so I was pretty much pinned down with the weight of his sexy and naked body. There were twin moans from us again when our cocks were trapped between us. His lips pressed back to mine, wanting more kisses and I readily responded, only aware of our mutual wants and needs. We both were purring our pleasure constantly. Afterwards it occurred to me that I'd always been told that our animal sides came out more in moments of sexual desire, but I hadn't realised it would be like that. At the time all I knew was that sound of his pleasure drove on my own.

I felt him start to move on top of me, his hips thrusting so our cocks rubbed together and against our stomachs. I was so hot and hard and I joined him in his movements. Nothing then mattered except our tongues playing together and our need for release. The lack of opportunity to even play with ourselves didn't make for this lasting long. I felt myself start to twitch in anticipation of my orgasm at the same moment I heard Michael purr my name and stiffen in my arms. The sound of my name, the feel of his cock pulsing, and the warmth of the cum spreading between us combined to have me shooting only a second later. And I don't think I had ever come harder. My brain switched off and all I could do was try and keep breathing.

As I recovered slowly I heard Michael's voice. "It was your name I said. I do think about us and I've wanted you since the day we met. I just never thought you would want me too."

"Sorry for being an idiot and not realising it sooner then. I knew there was something about you, but I didn't put my finger on it until I dreamt about us being here and kissing. Suddenly it all became clear and then I spent weeks trying to figure out what to do about it."

"In a strange kind of way Paul has helped us. I didn't want to tell you how I felt because I was sure I would lose my best friend."

"That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Thank god we haven't lost each other, and hopefully we've found something more than best friends."

"Definitely," he said, firmly. "I think we should have another swim and clean up, and then perhaps we can get back to the kissing. I'm not sure I can get enough of that to last me because after today I can't see us having much chance to."

I was disappointed at that thought too. "Kiss while we clean off then. And I'm sure we will find a few moments to ourselves now and again. It is going to be difficult, but we can work on it. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm ready for a whole lot just yet. I mean, I want us to be together, but I'm not sure I'm ready for any full-on sex." I ended up embarrassed.

Michael just lifted my head and placed a soft kiss on my lips. "Absolutely fine by me. I'm in no rush to lose my virginity either."

I smiled at his understanding, pleased that he was in the same position as me. I had no doubt at that moment that he would be the one I did all those things with. We headed to the water with difficulty because neither of us wanted to let the other go after our admissions and moment of passion. I knew it would be hard having a relationship at training camp, but now that everything was out in the open I was going to savour every moment I could be with the man I had wanted for so long.