Tommy's First Year at College Pt. 02

"Just the words I wanted to hear! You will soon get so obsessed with everything below the waist that we will be the best bed partners ever."

Next day, Martin took Tommy into the city centre and showed him the Winter Gardens, a fantastic conservatory-like building, full of exotic plants. They had lunch in a rather nice pub and then visited the Botanic Gardens before returning home. In the evening, they ate with Mr Robinson at a fashionable and expensive restaurant before the opera performance and Tommy insisted on paying the bill.

The opera performance, by the Royal Bristol Opera Company on a tour of Britain, was pretty good. Early in the first act, Tommy felt Martin's hand reaching for his, and they continued to hold each other's hand furtively until the end of the performance. The tenor singing the role of Ferrando was not particularly good, but the rest of the cast were excellent. When the tenor sang the words, Al cor che nudrito: A heart that's nourished by the hope of love/needs no better food, Tommy nudged Martin and tightened his grip on his hand. Tommy remarked that though he had not seen the opera before, he had heard his father sing Un' aura amorosa several times, as it was one of his signature arias, and he agreed with Mr Robinson that that evening's rendition had not been very good. But the opera is one of the most enjoyable in the repertoire, and it was a magnificent evening out. Afterwards they went for drinks at a city centre pub and took a cab home. Tommy thanked Mr Robinson for the evening. Mr Robinson felt happy that the boy that his son had taken up with was civilized, polite and a music-lover.

When the two boys got to bed, Tommy kissed Martin and whispered, "Would you like to blow me? I'm not yet ready to be fucked. Our relationship has got physical so quickly, that I can scarcely realize that three weeks ago, I was fucking Carol and going to concerts with her. I'm not going to tell her about you, I just want us to agree to wind down our relationship. In any case, it won't take her long to realize that I am seeing someone else without me mentioning it." He lay back on the pillow, his prick slowly stiffening. Martin watched it steadily swelling and the foreskin gradually rolling back to show increasing amounts of the head. His own tool began to swell as if in sympathy. He started by nibbling Tommy's nipples and gently taking the hair in his teeth and pulling. Then he slowly moved his lips down Tommy's belly, following his treasure trail until he reached that beautiful black forest out of which his target stood up, proud and moist. He started at its base and began to move his lips along its length. He nibbled the rolled-back foreskin and began to lick the head of Tommy's cock. He took it gently into his mouth. The feel of a hard slippery cylinder in his mouth was intoxicating. Tommy was the first man he had sucked off whom he really loved, and he was making a special effort to make it as enjoyable as possible for him. He removed his mouth for a moment and began to lick Tommy's balls, and take them one at a time into his mouth. He then moved his mouth though Tommy's bush and again took his prick into his mouth. Tommy started to get excited and began to push his prick deep into Martin's mouth and generally to try and fuck it. Tommy wrapped his arms round Martin and could feel the warmth of his breath. Suddenly he said. "I'm gonna come!" and squirted his spunk into Martin's mouth so that Martin almost began to choke. He pulled away from Tommy's prick and with an effort swallowed Tommy's ejaculate without coughing. Tommy reached up and pulled him down on top of him. "Do you want me to relieve you?" he whispered, "I owe it to you!"

Martin muttered his assent, and began to rub his dick against Tommy's belly. Tommy rubbed his hands over the curves of Martin's arse, and clasped his friend as tightly as he could against himself. Martin's friction continued until after a few minutes he shot his load over Tommy's belly. Tommy continued to clutch him, while kissing his face. Martin was in heaven. Sex with a man had never felt like this before. He realized that he was totally in love with Tommy in spite of the latter's sexual inexperience. 'I only hope that he's enjoying it as much as I am,' he thought.

They carefully climbed out of bed and cleaned themselves up, before falling asleep in one another's arms.

Next day was Tommy's last full day before leaving. They spent the morning at the spectacular swimming pool at Ponds Forge and then went on to an attractive pub in the city centre where they had a pizza and several pints of beer. In the afternoon, they idled hand-in-hand along another of the strips of riverside park that characterize the city. They got a few askance looks from passers-by, but were too happy to care. They had dinner with Martin's father and watched a film on DVD before going to bed. They sat up side-by-side in bed and talked about their future together. "I know that you're itching to give it to me up the arsehole," said Tommy crudely, "but I'm not ready for that yet. Festina lente, as the Emperor Augustus said. Let's get more comfortable and better acquainted with each other's bodies, before either of us enters the chocolate boulevard!"

"That's OK by me!" said Martin. "There's lots of outdoor things to do in Camford in the summer. Can you propel a punt?"

"OF COURSE!" said Tommy. "I've been doing it since I was ten years old! I'll soon teach you how to do it. I think that we may have to go on the river during the week, as at the weekends there are so many tourists on the river. Maybe we should keep the weekends for work! Can we have a little snog and then lie down? I don't feel very energetic tonight, and in any case we're nearly dry, spunkwise!"

So they cuddled up close and kissed each other until they fell asleep.

Next day, Tommy left Sheffield mid-morning, driving south down the M1 motorway, and arrived at home in Camford about 4 pm.

Chapter 21 Home at Easter

While Tommy was in Sheffield, the household in Camford was discussing him. One day, when Jon was cooking and Caterina had joined the men as a guest, she remarked, "It was nice to see Tommy again after eight weeks. He's changed again. Although he is now much more self-assured, I get the impression that things are cooling off between him and the girl who visited us in January."

"He told me that this term has been a real struggle for him to keep up with his work," said David. "It looks as though he is having love troubles. What did you think of that girl Carol, Caterina?"

"I warned him that she is a predator, or predatrix if such a word exists, who collects men without any long-term intentions. I hope that she does not make him unhappy. He was certainly cheerful enough in January."

"They're probably fucking like rabbits!" said Jon. "That makes any man cheerful!"

"If that's the case," said Caterina, "why has he gone off for a week to stay with a male friend? I wonder if he's doubtful about his sexuality!"

"Oh, no, he's straight all right. Throughout his teens he has never shown any interest in boys!" said David confidently.

"I'm not so sure about that!" said Caterina. "I have an instinct for these things. I knew that you were gay the first time that you came to this house for a singing lesson with Marcello all those years ago."

"Although we we all love him," said Jon, "we have to let him sort out his own life himself. We can't presume to offer advice, unless he asks us for it. He'll be back at the end of the week and he's got a clear week to do some reading before we leave for Ixton, unless he decides to go there early and do his reading there. Your parents would be glad to see him and he could always use the pool without needing to take his bike to the Fitness Centre."

Tommy did decide to go to Ixton for the following week and he drove there two days after he got home from Sheffield. His grandparents had arrived some days before and they were being looked after by a lady from the village who cleaned the house and cooked when anyone was in residence.

One day Tommy got talking to his grandmother, whom he found very easy to talk to. She asked him how he was getting on in Boni's. He replied, "Grandma, I'm telling you this in confidence. I don't want my fathers to know until I've sorted myself out. The only person I've talked to about it is my cousin, or I suppose, brother, Sandro. My work is going pretty well. My tutor at the last college Progress Test gave me an alpha. But the problem is that I have too many distractions, all to do with love. Basically I have both a man and a woman chasing me. Last term was a term of confusion, in which I have been sitting on the fence about my sexuality. After a wonderful week staying with my boyfriend in Sheffield, I have decided to break things off with my girlfriend and become gay. But I don't want to hurt her feelings, so I am going to have to be very careful, because we are both in the chapel choir like Dad was, and neither of us will want to leave to avoid seeing one another, so the parting has to be amicable."

"Tommy, you worry too much! People of your age are much more resilient to break-up than older people. I'm prepared to bet that this girl, who has obviously been coming on to you hard, has probably already lost interest in you. If you decide that you are gay, you know that none of your family will love you any less, as long as the boy that you fancy is personable, loving and faithful. We already have a whole bunch of wonderful gay couples in our extended family. Just relax, be quick but gentle in breaking up with the girl, and get on with your work and your new relationship! Also you might like to find a spiritual director. Such a person can not only help in your spiritual development, they can also be a shoulder to cry on and a source of strength for everyday life AND love."

Tommy kissed his grandmother gratefully. The wisdom of age is often a great source of comfort and encouragement to the young. He then went off, put on his swimming cozzie and did fifty lengths of the pool, before resuming his reading of Catullus.

Chapter 22 Tommy's first Pentecost term

When they returned to Camford from Ixton after Easter, there was a week before the Pentecost term began and Tommy diligently applied himself to his books during the day, and in the evening often went out with his fathers for a drink. They had seized the opportunity of being at home with a student son, to relive student life in moderation and on a small scale. They visited as a threesome some of the pubs that during term were crowded with students, but in the vac, at least midweek, were very quiet. He told them nothing about his sexual dilemma.

On the Sunday afternoon before term began the next day, David ran Tommy with his baggage to the gate of Boni's and dropped him off. Having unpacked, Tommy took his courage in both hands and knocked on Carol's door. "Please wait a moment!" she called out. There was a sound of scuffling before she opened the door. "Oh, it's you!" she said in an unwelcoming tone. "This is Ken," she said gesturing to the man sitting on the sofa. "This is Tommy, my next-door neighbour."

"It's OK, Carol," said Tommy, "I'll come back later, there's something I want to discuss with you."

"I'll pop round briefly before dinner," said Carol. Tommy smiled and left.

About 6-30 (there was no chapel, because term had not officially begun) Carol knocked on Tommy's door. He opened it and invited her in. "I just wanted to tell you" he said "that I've got a great deal of work to get through this term, and I can't really spend much time with you, especially on Saturdays."

"That's funny!" said Carol, "I was going to tell you exactly the same."

"No more fucking then?" he asked.

"Sorry, no!" she replied. "I hope you're not too upset."

"Not really, I've really got a lot of work!"

"That's OK, then," said Carol, sounding somewhat relieved. "We can still go into dinner together sometimes, even if not every night." And she kissed him.

They sat separately at dinner that night. Tommy joined two of the girls who were also reading classics. They asked him why he was not sitting with Carol. He said that things were cooling off between him and her. He was relieved that the split had been mutual. While he did feel a slight sense of disappointment that there would be no more fucking, he was glad that there was no ill-feeling.

His first meeting with Martin was at a lecture the next morning. They were unable to sit together, because Martin arrived late, just as the lecturer was coming in. There was an hour's break after the lecture before their next one, so they went for coffee, delighted to see one another again. Tommy had been longing to see Martin for a week or more, a sign that he was well-and-truly smitten. He could hardly wait to tell Martin that he and Carol were no longer fucking. A café in Camford's Fleamarket Street seems an unusual place for a declaration of love, but Tommy said to his friend, "Martin, I think that I'm in love with you! Carol and I have agreed to split up without any hard feelings, so I have nothing to prevent me becoming an item with you!"

Martin gave a gasp of surprise. "Does that mean that you want to have sex with me?"

"Of course it does eventually. You offer me reassurance and love with your friendship. Carol never did. I always got the impression that I was doing what she wanted. I had a feeling of being manipulated. For a parson's daughter, she was rather devious. I never met her parents, but I'm sure that they know nothing about her sex life. Anyway, I think she has already got a new boyfriend, because she agreed very readily when I suggested that we should stop going out together. I think that we can coexist in the choir without any problems, though I shall miss going to concerts with her."

"Tommy, I like chamber and orchestral music as well as opera, even though I can't sing. We can go to concerts together as well as the cinema. We can only eat together at lunchtime, unless we sign out of dinner and go to a pub or restaurant. And we can't sleep together on a regular basis, so our sex will have to be a Saturday afternoon activity. But we mustn't overdo it. I want to do a Ph.D., so I've got to get a double first. And let's face it, we've got the rest of our lives for sex, but only a couple of years to get good degrees."

"We could always move out of college next year for a year on our own in a flat. I'm sure my fathers could find me a furnished apartment in Camford. It would be expensive, but neither of us is strapped for cash. I wouldn't expect my parents to pay the rent, I've got money of my own."

"And so have I, so we could go halves, and for our exams we wouldn't have the hassle of moving out of college during the vacs. Lets do it! We could shag ourselves silly every night and still get on with our academic work. My only problem is my father. He looks forward to seeing me at home in the vacs, I must try and fix him up with a girlfriend. It must be years since he last had a fuck!"

"You don't know what he gets up to when you're away. He may be courting a nice woman and is scared to tell you about it! Why not tell him now that you and I have become an item? I'm pretty sure that he will not be surprised. He will have then have the whole summer to find someone or to decide that he's happy on his own. I would envisage us moving into an apartment in August or thereabouts."

The boys were altogether more relaxed since they had found one another, and this was reflected in their work, which improved steadily with their comfortable routine. The fact that they could not dine together in the evening on a daily basis meant that on evenings when they were not going out, they could get on with written work and reading. Their routine was one night at the cinema, one night at a concert and for Tommy, one night at choir practice, followed by the choir's trip to the pub. However, they always spent the whole of Saturday together, a lecture first thing, then swimming or a trip on the river in a punt, then lunch, then sex, then the cinema or an open-air play, unless there happened to be a concert. If there was nothing they fancied at the cinema,or if the weather was wet, they would stay in Martin's room and watch a gay porn DVD, of which he had a large collection. They then went for a late dinner at the Sparrowhawk, the Venezia or the Hang Zhou. Their sex was usually giving head, rimming or cock-play. Tommy said that he was not yet ready for fucking, either as top or bottom, and Martin respected this.

Chapter 23 Tommy comes out to Carol

Midway through the term, one night after visiting the cinema, Martin and Tommy returned to Tommy's room for coffee. Tommy found that he had no sugar and Martin refused to drink unsweetened coffee. So Tommy knocked on Carol's door about 11 pm and asked if he could borrow a little sugar. Carol, guessing that he must have a guest, said that she would put some sugar in an empty cup and bring it round, as she hoped to see who was visiting him.

Tommy left the door of his room open and when Carol came in, she found them sitting side-by-side on the sofa. Martin had his arm round Tommy. Tommy stood up and said "Carol, may I introduce my new boyfriend, Martin?"

Martin stood up politely and said, "Hello, Carol! Tommy has told me about you."

Carol's initial surprise had rapidly worn off, and she grinned mischievously. "Well, Tommy, it seems that I was wrong about you! You really are gay!"

"I'm bi, actually!" said Tommy, grinning back at her.

"Well, I guess that you won't be going out with me any more!" she replied.

"No, and there'll be no more fucking, either, I'm afraid!" said Tommy. He was relieved that Carol had taken the revelation so well. He had dreaded an outbreak of scorn or bitterness, and was almost ready to kiss her. "But you can come to a concert with us any time that you feel like it. We have to be discreet in public, so we wouldn't do anything to embarrass you."

"I might do that occasionally, but I don't want to find myself in the role of a fag-hag!" she replied.

Chapter 24 Tommy comes out to his parents

As a result of their decision to have a year living out of college, Tommy needed to consult his parents about renting an apartment. He E-mailed Jon and arranged to see him one evening when Jon was dining in college. Half an hour before dinner, he knocked on the door of his cofather's teaching room, was invited in and took his place in the easy chair where students sat for tutorials. On being invited to make himself comfortable, he obeyed by farting noisily. It was a tradition in their all-male family that all members were uninhibited about letting out gas. On this occasion however, he blushed as he realized that he had filled the room with a foul stink. He hastened to apologize to his Pop, who just grinned and opened the window. "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do! You take after your old Pop!" he replied. "What's your problem?"

"I'm gay!" said Tommy abruptly, "and I'm falling in love with a guy whom you've not yet met. We want to spend a year in an apartment out of college so that we can sleep together regularly! He's from another college, so we can't share a room. You know how seriously I take our faith, this is no idle dalliance. Martin loves me, and I'm steadily developing an affection for him. I've finished amicably with Carol, who already has another boyfriend lined up."

"Have you told anyone else about this?"

"Only Dad's mother. I talked to her at Easter. The reason that I'm telling you now is that we need help to find an apartment. Money is no object, we want a nice modern easy-to-maintain furnished flat, and Martin and I both have money to pay the rent. We're not expecting subsidy from you and Dad. But we don't have the time to go looking around."