Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:04:31 -0800 (PST) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Adventures in Nature 14 The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblances to real people, alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most state and countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by law. Check with your local laws regarding such. % Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction. In real life, use protection. % "Adventures In Nature" 14 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % "Anything yet, Jase?" "No. It's too rocky here to even dig. Besides... what am I? Your tour guide? Go and find your own worms," Jason tells Tony and his roommate. Matt Drijver and Tony Gagliardi, paired up, along with others from the swim team, paid the ultimate price for walking out on Coach Hollister, humiliating him, making him upset. Coach could have let the offense slide. Instead he concocted a plan which would save some money for him and his fishing buddies, his college swim team paying the price. One carrying a shovel, the other an ordinary can, empty of it's baked beans or soup, each duo from the WRCC swim team traisps through the darkened forest, hardly a sliver of moon available. Flashlights are trained on the moss and leaves. Jason, without a partner, is singled out. Matt and Tony are blessed with having the nineteen year old wander along, dubbed as the team brainiac. However finding worms doesn't seem to fit in the category of high intellectual expertise on Jason's part. "All I can say is it's a cheap shot coach is playing on us," Tony complains, his targeted flashlight beaming right next to Jason's light which has been steadily trained on Tony's beam for the last half hour. "Yeah," Matt helps promote the agitated atmosphere, "how convenient a punishment, having to go out and dig up worms just so coach and his buds can have free bait for the weekend, on us." "Over here guys!" Comes a shout from Troy Kostellic. "Yeah," Scott, his `worm-search-partner', alerts the others, "I think Troy found the mother-lode!" "Tony, you doofus!" Matt calls out, as Tony trips over a log, falling facedown in the wet, musty leaves. "Don't bother to ask if I'm okay or offer me a hand to get up," Tony says, lying there, an elbow planted on the ground, hand holding his head up as if a leisurely pose at the beach. Extending his hand, Matt reaches for Tony, as he demands, "You owe me one, bro." "For what? Helping the helpless?" "You've gotta mean `hopeless', eh Tony?" Tony could take a joke, but also had thoughts of getting even for the little spat of degradation on Matt's part. "Fuck you, Gagliardi!" He yelled out, as Matt's body crashlanded, faced down, across Tony's midsection, a product of Tony's muscled arm. With haste Tony gets to his feet offering his hand, extending it to help Matt to remove himself from the forest floor. "I wouldn't take your hand if you were the last jock on earth!" However, Tony knew how to push Matt's buttons, so threw in a bonus, as he groped his own crotch. "Oh really? Well, tell you what Matthew, there's a sweet treat in it for ya!" Matt hadn't picked up on it, but Tony sure felt the vibes when Matt's stomach lay on top of his pubes. Now Tony looked for relief, since `Matt' had been the `cause' of his boner. "You're missing out, Gagliardi!" Came the shout from over yonder. "C'mon," Tony took hold of Matt's wrist, dragging him up off the ground, the two then high-tailed it over to where many flashlights made a glowing circle of digging swimmers, turned worm-seekers. "Go find your own worm-hole, Gagliardi," Tim Hadani shouted to the nineteen year old, as Tony dug with his shovel about two inches away. "Yeah, Gagliardi," Adam Charbonneau tried imitating Tim, in a harsh matter, but only provided food for joking, back in his face, as Tony made fun of his French accent. "C'mon," Tony said to Matt, "let's go find our own worms." Already into it, Matt held the can for Jason, as he pulled worms out of their resting places and deposited them in the old bean can. "Fine!" Tony said to himself. With a smirk on his face he paraded off in a different direction, not far from the crowd of eight or nine swimmers, as he mumbled, "I'll find my own can-o-worms!" With the fading laughter and loud talk, Tony trudged through the leafy matter, dodging in between trees. At a distance of about a hundred feet, he spotted the nature center building, a few lights illuminating the windows. As he came around a fir tree he took in a deep breath, shouting out, "Oh shit!" % "Steve?" Barry called out from a crack in the door. Walking in, he walked up to his partner, shaking his shoulder, calling out again, "Steve.... Steve." "Oh!" He said with a sudden start, looking up at his partner. "You scared me there." "I've got some good news." It didn't register on Steve's face, still downcast from the early afternoon drama of Denis losing it again. Getting his wallet from his back pocket, Barry presented Bernice's check to him. After reading out loud, "Fifty thousand dollars...yeah great," Steve replies, in a tone of solemnity. He thought it would cheer Steve up a little, full well knowing it wasn't the money bothering his lover. Sitting down in the chair next to Steve, taking his hand in his, he softly utters, "Things are going to work out. You'll see, Steve." Saying not a thing, Steve sat there with his attention trained on his blond son, stretched out in the bed in a comatose position except for the rising and falling of the eighteen year olds chest. His comment not sinking in, Barry tries another route. "I think maybe it might be wise if you took a few days off from school." "No," Steve shook his head, "it would be better if I taught some classes... have the kids cheer me up." Barry didn't take his lover's comment in a wrong sense, as kids cheering an adult up, even though he failed to achieve it. Barry new the healing power of students' laughter, the interaction during class time and it's results. "At least you're taking tomorrow off and I won't hear anything more about it!" He boldly said. Now paying attention to Barry, Steve lost all control, hugging him, griping, even though he's been assured ten times over of Denis pulling through this tough time in `all' their lives. % As Ethan allowed the last employee to make their exit, he locked Barr's & Bridges up for the night, tossing the keys in the air, catching them, then proceeding to his car, as he tried his best at covering a Shakira tune. Before turning out of the parking lot onto Van Dusen Blvd., he took a quick glance in his rear view, seeing one lonely car still in the lot at the far side. Backing up, he headed in the opposite direction. Closing in on the vehicle, he noticed a guy looking inside the drivers side window as if in a constant stare. Still singing, "Whenever.... whatever..." he changed his tune, when he spotted the lone figure, peering through the driver's side window, "What-tha..." Unrolling his window, he yelled to the high school senior, "Problem Jake?" "I'll say. I went to unlock my car, only thing is... the keys are in the ignition." Getting out of his car, Ethan reaches in the back seat of his 1990's model Ford Taurus. "I know it's in here somewheres, if I ever decide to clean this thing out," he tells of his junk-laden vehicle. "Aha! Here it is!" In a cheery mood, he yanks his arm out, a coat hanger attached. Removing his tie, he tosses it on the seat, unfastening more than a couple of buttons of his white shirt. "Mind stepping aside?" Moving out of the way, the lanky high school senior allows Ethan to approach the window of his Honda Civic. "How convenient," Ethan remarks, glancing up at the overhead light, illuminating at least their two cars. At the comment made by Ethan, about the bright light shining down on them, he says to himself, `And how!' Ethan's attention on feeding the coat hanger in through the invisible gap between rubber molding and glass, Jake had his undivided attention on looking down Ethan's shirt. As Ethan moved about, trying to gain better access, Jake pivoted himself in different positions, making like having an interest in what Ethan was doing, checking out the twenty-eight year old beyond the facade of the cotton shirt. "Voila!" Ethan shouted out with joy, as he pulled open the car door, holding it open for Jake to step inside. "Thanks Mr. Keratis," Jake profusely offered his gratitude. "No sweat," Ethan replies, excited about more than solving the problem for the high schooler. A side trade, Ethan could also be a trickster. Jake might have thought he was being inconspicuous, but to Ethan, the teen was all too obvious. As Jake sat there in the car with his window rolled down, Ethan unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, pulling it from his beltline then bringing it back over his shoulders, saying in a joking manner, "So, you like hairy guys, Jake?" It made Ethan grin more, as he watched Jake's jaw drop open, eyes wide as saucers behind the glasses and even more of a gay response, peering inside the car, seeing Jake's hand move in his lap. "You.... you're beautiful, Mr. Keratis," Jake remarks, viewing the pec covering, the stripe down Ethan's stomach, the deep innie and thin trail stopping at his belt buckle. Show over, Ethan buttoned up most of the way, leaving his shirt tail out. "So, I take it this means you're gay. Huh, Jake?" "You're not going to tell anyone, are you Mr. Keratis?" Jake says, seemingly afraid for his life if anyone knew. "What would I gain from blasting the news all over the place?" Shrugging his shoulders, Jake replies, "I dunno. All I know is, I don't want my mom and dad to find out." "Why? Would it present a problem to you?" "Would it! My dad would go ballistic. First thing he'd do instead of me going off to college, he would arrange to have me enlisted in one of those religious boot camps where they brainwash a guy into believing a he's not gay." As an afterthought, Jake ads, "I... I like being gay." "It's good to like who you are, Jake." Ever since that first night Tom and Ethan slept together, the glow stuck. Ethan hated like heck to stand there gabbing, when he could be snuggled up in a bed with Tom. Yet, he wasn't without compassion, finding a need to stand there, while Jake sat there in his car and vented. % Pointing the flashlight straight ahead, Tony moved the beam up and down, saying, "Y'know, you guys almost gave me a heart attack!" "Who you talking to Tony?" "These guy.... I mean this thing. It's scary in the dark, you know?" Tony replied, as if seeing Frankenstein. "Could be, I guess," Matt says, his flashlight lighting the crude cutouts of what once was a trunk of a tall tree, now an intricately carved totem pole, seemingly reaching up to the heavens. "I thought you and Jason were collecting worms?" Tony asks. "Yeah, but when I saw you heading out from the team I felt something like letting you down," Matt offers, flashing his college roommate a smile. "Okay, so you missed me. Now how about helping me find some worms before I'm wandering around here until six o'clock in the morning?" Tony asks, gaily. "Sure," Matt replies, adding, "You know you're a mess, man?" Peering down the front of him, Tony does take notice of all soiled with grit and grime clinging to him. "Oh shit.... my favorite hoodie, too." "Those stains'll be there forever, sorry to say." Said, as if Matt was showing heartfelt emotion of a loving nature, Tony got caught up in the feelings, moving his bold chest up against Matts, cupping his hand behind his head, placing his lips on his roommates. "Sweet Gagliardi," One voice speaks. Another, "We're supposed to be finding worms, not snakes!" They all laughed as Troy fondled Tony's lower half. Knocking his hand away, Tony accidentally spills Troy's can of worms. "Tony, you doofus!" Bending over to pick them up, Tony takes the opportunity to stand behind the tall Greek, clutching him at the hips and dry humping him. After about five minutes of horsing around, Tim informs Tony and Matt of their departure, having found their quota of fishhook fodder. % Copyright 2008 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.