Ganny and Me - A Gay Love Story

I've submitted this story for the 2017 Valentine's Day Story contest. Currently it's just a short story, but it could easily be extended to novella length. If you'd like to see a longer version, please vote for it in the contest and leave feedback for me as to your wishes. Thanks, Josh

===========================

I had finally graduated from high school!!! High school was great -- I had a lot of friends there and had had a great time. I live in a suburb outside of NYC and my high school was very large, almost 4,000 students. I had always had an interest in art and my school had a really wonderful art teacher. He was a young guy, about 30, and very fit. I really enjoyed his classes, especially the one on drawing the human body this last semester. In fact, after I was 18, he even gave me some private lessons which resulted in my losing my virginity to him - but that's another story for another time. This past year I applied to Columbia University to study art and was accepted, so my future looks fantastic!

Yes, I am gay -- and proud of it. I'm out to everyone who has reason to know -- even my family. Fortunately, my parents are very accepting of my sexuality.

After the graduation ceremony, my parents took me out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant and, after dinner, they gave me a thick envelope that contained my graduation present: an envelope containing plane tickets, a pre-paid hotel reservation, and $1000 in cash for a whole week in Paris!!! I was so excited that I jumped up and gave them huge hugs!

"Thanks so much, mom and dad!. Now I'll be able to go to all those famous art museums in Paris that I've wanted to see for so long!"

I wouldn't be leaving for several weeks, so I spent the time researching and planning what I would do and see in Paris while I was there, making detailed lists of what I would do each day. I didn't know what I would do in the evenings. I dismissed the idea of hooking up with someone because I was concerned about catching something from someone. But then if a cute French boy came on to me, that might be a different story altogether.

* * * * *

I arrived in Paris in the middle of June and after a very long ride in a taxi from the airport, I was finally at my hotel which was just across from the old Paris Opera House.

It was an older hotel, but very nice with a large and ornate lobby. I checked in and took the elevator up to my floor and found my room. It was old-fashioned but beautiful with a large bed, fantastic wall coverings and curtains, a dresser and a private bathroom. Plus, there was air-conditioning which I was grateful for since was it had been pretty hot on the ride into Paris today.

I didn't plan to do anything this day except to look around a little because I knew I would suffer from jet lag. After a nap and a shower, it was already time for dinner, so I went to a gay bistro nearby that had been recommended by the clerk in the hotel. Once there, I had a light dinner since my parents had warned me against having heavy meals while traveling.

While eating, I attracted many admiring looks and once an older guy came over to my table and said something like 'tu es très beau garçon'. I'd had a couple of years of French in school, but I didn't understand a word he said and I told him in English that I didn't speak French. He nodded that he understood. He grabbed his crotch and then made a fist and with his other hand took a finger and slid it in and out of his fist. This I understood. I might have been tempted but for three very major things, he was too old for me, he wasn't very good looking and I was still tired.

* * * * *

I didn't sleep well that night, it being a strange bed and a different time zone. When I woke up, I was still tired and I had a headache. I would have liked to just kiss the day off, but it was my first day in Paris and I was determined not to miss a day in this wondrous city. I showered, put on some shorts, a t-shirt and sneakers. I grabbed my bag which contained my art supplies and a long smock to protect my clothes if I needed it and went downstairs for breakfast which was provided by the hotel. After eating a couple of croissants with coffee and drinking some juice with a couple of aspirin, I began to feel a little bit better.

I left the hotel about 9 a.m. and headed towards The Louvre, but I had a hard time finding it. I had a map but found it hard to concentrate with all the busses and cars, many of them honking their horns, whizzing in an out of the traffic -- and the fact that my headache was getting worse didn't help either. Finally I found someone who spoke English and they pointed me in the right direction.

Suddenly I was on the plaza which had the small glass pyramid for the entrance to The Louvre. Relieved, I took the escalator down, bought my ticket, went through security and finally entered the museum.

I wandered through the corridors, awed by the immense collection - so many great works from so many centuries. In one of the many smaller rooms I came across a statue in the middle of the floor that mesmerized me. It was a statue of a beautiful boy on one knee holding up a cup for an eagle to drink from. I read the sign.

"Ganymede with Jupiter's Eagle" by Bertel Thorvaldsen (on loan from the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen) (to see this wonderful statue, go to: http://tinyurl.com/gwe2cqy)

Below the title, there was a plaque on which this was written: "Ganymede was abducted by Zeus from Mount Ida, near Troy in Phrygia. Ganymede had been tending sheep and Zeus turned himself into an eagle to transport the youth to Mount Olympus. In Olympus, Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality and the office of cupbearer to the gods."

I knew I shouldn't touch the statue, but there weren't any guards around; so for some strange reason, I reached out and ran my hand over the thigh of the statue of the boy.

After studying the statue for a few minutes, I sat on the floor and quickly began sketching the boy on the statue. I had my head down, concentrating, when I heard a voice behind me, asking me something in French, the voice was male, young with beautiful overtones.

I turned around and was shocked - it was the boy from the statue!!!

"I'm sorry, I don't speak French. What did you say?"

"Oh nice," was his reply in English, "you are American. I've never met an American boy before. I asked why did you touch me?"

Still in shock, I looked over at the statue and all that I saw was the eagle and the pitcher and the cup which the boy had been holding up for the eagle to drink from. Oh yes, and his funny little hat was lying there too.

"Wh..Wh..Wh...Whoa!," I stammered. "Th..Th...That's impossible! You're supposed to be over there! You can't move! You're made of marble or something!" I got up and backed away from him.

He just laughed. "No need to be afraid, I won't hurt you - quite the opposite really."

"Are you ....," I couldn't get it out. "Are you Ganymede???"

"That's me, in the flesh!" he gave a little twirl. "Ain't I gorgeous?" he gave a merry little laugh. He was totally nude and this was quite a sight for me to take in. He was possibly a little older than me, perhaps 19 - and he really was exceptionally beautiful. "But," he continued, "we don't have time for lengthy introductions right now, I'm afraid. Get your stuff and take my hand, we have to get out of here right away, before someone finds out I'm gone!"

I don't know about where he comes from, but he certainly couldn't walk around the streets of Paris in the nude! I dug around in my bag and found the long smock I sometimes used to paint in. It was made from an old bed sheet and fortunately was long and wide enough to cover all the essential parts of his body and stay closed in back with the clips I also had in my bag.

"Do I have to wear this? Nobody will be able to see how beautiful I am," he asked.

"Yeh, you do -- unless of course you want to spend the rest of the day in jail!" I told him in no uncertain terms.

Next, with some misgivings, I picked up my supplies and took his hand. His hand was warm and masculine -- and I felt a surge of pleasure as soon as we touched.

We went through a series of rooms until we came to a fire door exit which we weren't supposed to open, but he simply waved a hand, opened the door and we went out into a hall with stores, which I guess was part of the underground shopping center nearby. I was surprised no alarm sounded.

"Wasn't there supposed to be an alarm at that door?" I asked.

"I think there might have been, but if so, I suppressed it. Didn't you see the gesture I made? That gesture shut down all of their defenses for a few seconds."

"But now we need to get me some real clothes," he continued. "I don't really like this piece of cloth you gave me. Plus I need a bath. Being a statue is a dusty business! Thank Zeus, there aren't any pigeons in a museum!"

We both laughed at that.

"I agree, it's not great. But I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until we get back to my hotel for anything better. If we try to find a clothing store right now, there'll sure to be questions!"

I suddenly realized we had left The Louvre where I had planned to spend the day.

"Shit!," I grumbled, "I'd planned to spend the whole day in there. Why did you have to pull me out?"

"I promise you we'll come back later," he answered, "as often as you want, but right now we need to get away. It's not safe for me to be here right now! Someone just might connect me with the missing statue and they could just drag me back in there again!"

I took his hand and led him down the hall until we found an elevator that would take us up to the outside. I pressed a button and pretty soon the doors opened.

"What is this?" Ganymede wanted to know. "We have to get in this small room? Why?"

"It's an elevator -- come on," and I dragged him in. I punched the up button, the doors closed and the elevator began to rise. He looked up and down and around in wonderment until the doors opened out onto the outdoor plaza.

"That was marvelous!" he said with amazement and wide open eyes. "It's much better than being carried by an eagle!!"

I dragged him to a quiet corner, somewhat hidden on the plaza.

"OK, you're safe now. So what's going on here?," I asked angrily.

"This is my lucky day, thank Zeus! It's been 100 years since I've been free of that damn statue!"

"Well, that's a start," I told him. "Go on."

"Zeus needed to get rid of me -- his wife Hera didn't like me because I was his catamount."

"'Catamount'?, what's that?"

"It's a boy that an older man has sex with. Zeus bought me from my father, took me to Olympus and fucked me almost daily. That is, until Hera heard about it. She made him get rid of me. Some people thought he'd banished me to the stars, but really he imprisoned me in a Ganymede statue and then would move me from one statue to another over the years so Hera couldn't find me -- this was my first time in that one though. Every 100 years or so, he's let me be free for a few days -- provided some cute, young guy touches me -- like you," he grinned. "You really are cute, you know. Anyhow. I suspect he feels he's being kind since he lets me out once in awhile. In any case, you're cute, you're a young guy, and you touched me, so here I am!"

He did one of those ridiculous twirls again, grinning all the while, finally stopping. "Ta-Da!" (I'm afraid I giggled at his silliness.)

"That's quite a story, though I'm not quite sure I believe it. In any case," I held out my hand, "my name's Ethan."

"Hey Ethan, nice name. As you already know, I'm Ganymede, which is a mouthful, so you can just call me Ganny for short. OK?"

"You're homosexual, aren't you, Ethan," he said with certainty.

Perturbed, "Now how can you possibly tell that?"

"It's because I am the god of homosexual desire and love. Didn't you know that? I can just sense a guy's sexuality."

I just shook my head at that -- not really believing that either.

Now that we had those details sorted out, I again took him by the hand and led him through the streets of Paris towards my hotel. Fortunately, I found I knew the way to get back. Many people stopped and stared at this strange couple, especially at the guy wearing just a smock, but we ignored them.

When we just were just about half a block from my hotel, I found we had to cross over to the other side of the street. As we were crossing over, I must have stepped into a hole in the street and went down, twisting my ankle. "Fuck!" I cried, "This has to be the worst fucking day of my life!"

I tried to get up but couldn't -- my ankle wouldn't hold me, so Ganny had to help. I did manage to hobble the rest of way across the street with him holding onto me and then down to the hotel entrance. I was cursing all the way.

We must have been a strange sight, a beautiful boy in a long smock helping another boy limp across the lobby. The desk clerk was very concerned and offered to call a doctor, but I told him I'd be fine and not to bother.

We rode the elevator up to my floor where we finally made it into my room.

I had to sit down - my ankle was killing me.

He wandered around the room, looking and finally asked, "Where can I take a bath? Do I have to find a pond or river somewhere?"

I laughed at that and got up (though my ankle hurt like hell), showed him the bathroom and explained each thing in it. There wasn't a bathtub so I pointed out the shower, opened the door and turned it on, explaining how to change the water from cold to hot, then pointed out the soap.

"Marvelous! Your own indoor rain! This is so terrific! I may take many 'showers' as you say."

We went back to the bed where I sat down gratefully again. My ankle was throbbing more than it had been and hurt like hell.

He came over and sat on the bed next to me. "So, tell me why you're so cranky, Ethan -- besides the ankle of course."

I started to cry. "I've been looking forward to this trip for so long, Ganny. I got here yesterday morning, but by the time I finally managed to get into my room here, it was already too late to go to one of the museums. Plus, yesterday wasn't nice - it was really hot and I didn't want to be outside too much. I did ride the Metro which was fun and I killed a couple of hours just doing that. After the Metro, I went to dinner at a bistro, but the food wasn't that good, the glass of wine I had tasted sour and some weird guy tried to pick me up."

"Besides the museums, I want to see the sights - the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysée and so many other things."

"I didn't sleep well last night and I've had a headache all day -- probably from the wine last night. Then when I finally get to The Louvre this morning, you pop off of a damn statue and drag me out of it. And finally, now I've got a sprained ankle which hurts like hell and will make it hard for me to get around the rest of my week here!!!"

Ganny hugged me and held me tight. "I can understand it's been tough on you, Ethan, but believe me things will get better -- starting tonight. I will make sure of that -- and I am yours to ensure that you have a great time from now on for the rest of the week. However in order for this to happen -- for me to help you, you must promise me one thing."

"What?" I demanded.

"You must tell yourself this every day until it becomes a part of you: 'The world is a beautiful place and I will open myself up to all that it offers'. Repeat that right now and every morning when you wake up."

Drying my eyes, "You're kidding me, right?"

"I promise you, I'm not, by holy Zeus or any other deity you can name. Now repeat it."

Just to humor him, I said: "The world is a beautiful place and I will open myself up to all that it offers." My voice was flat and without conviction.

Ganny's green eyes somehow flashed after I repeated it as if they were recording this moment -- like he felt it was somehow important. He looked pleased and satisfied.

"Now face it, this day hasn't been a complete waste, after all, you've found me," he smiled softly.

He turned my head to him ,"Don't forget, Ethan, I am a Greek god, albeit a rather minor one - and I do have a few powers which may help. First I need you to look into my eyes."

I did look. He had the most beautiful deep green eyes I had ever seen on anyone. They were so deep that you could get lost in them and yet so clear. It seemed like I could see into his very soul and somehow I knew he was an extremely kind and gentle person. I felt better emotionally from just looking into those beautiful eyes.

At the same time, I felt those same eyes reaching into me, not prying but just gently probing, searching for whatever made me me.

Finally he looked down, thereby breaking eye contact.

"It's just what I thought -- well, a few other things too. I can help you with some important problems tonight, but the rest may take several days."

"What problems? I don't have any 'problems'?" I queried.

He laughed. "Didn't you just tell me about all the things you're having trouble with? You're funny, Ethan!"

"Now for starters, we need to do something about that headache of yours and the pain you're feeling from your sprained ankle. And I know just what you need," he told me with a mischievous grin. "Close your eyes, lean back and rest. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Ganny got up and went into the bathroom. I followed his instructions and almost fell asleep. Shortly, I felt him sit on the bed next to me again, so I sat up. In his hand was a glass tumbler which contained a milky white liquid that had a golden cast to it.

"Here, drink this," he ordered.

"Where'd you get this stuff?"

"It's just something I whipped up from ingredients I found in the bathroom. Don't worry, it's completely organic and totally gluten free."

"It's an old recipe that the gods' find beneficial when they're not feeling well. Actually it's called mead -- it's named after me, but it's not anything like the mead you might find today which is made from fermented honey. The ingredients of this are very different. I think you'll find it's quite delicious."

I took a sip. He was right -- it was warm and tasted of grape, apple and pear juices with a slight musky smell and flavor. It also had a strange consistency and seemed to adhere to my tongue and mouth.

"Go ahead, Ethan, drink it all. It won't do you much good just holding it. Just think of it as medicine."

I closed my eyes and savored the taste and texture as I drank every last drop and licked my lips, even running my finger inside the glass to get any that I had missed and then sucking on my finger. I felt warm sensations enveloping me, seemingly all the way to my toes -- and I felt my headache swiftly going away.

"My god, I feel better already! What is the world is in it? Is there any more?"

Ganny laughed. "Yes, there's plenty more where that came from. What you just drank was a mixture of half water and half of my semen!"

I almost choked, "You mean I just drank a glass of your cum!"

"Uh-huh, want some more?" he grinned and giggled as he grabbed his crotch.

I grabbed him by the shoulders and wrestled him down to the mattress, laughing, laying on top of him.

"You tricked me!!!"

"Sure did," he replied chuckling, "and you liked every last drop, didn't you? And you do feel better, don't you?"

I didn't reply. His face was so cute and beautiful, that I just lowered my face to his and kissed him. He responded in kind, pulling me closer to him, running his hands up and down my back, even to my butt.

"Take a nap now, dear Ethan. I promise you, you'll feel better when you wake up."

I lay back and almost instantly fell into a deep sleep.

I guess Ganny had taken a shower while I was sleeping because he was lying clean and naked next to me when he woke me up about an hour later.