Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 12:02:19 +1000
From: The Haydster <thehaydster@yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Love On Campus - Chapters 1 & 2

Disclaimer: This story contains love between two teenage males. If it is
illegal to read this in your community, or if you are below the legal age,
leave now. No responsibility is accepted by the author for any effects of
this story , directly or indirectly. By continuing to read this, you accept
that you are accessing this of your own free will, and indemnify the author
against all cases.


Love On Campus
by theHaydster
Copyright 2006, theHaydster. All rights reserved


Chapter 1


G'day all. My name's David Andrews, and I'm a fresher at uni (1st
year). I'm doing a degree in science, and not finding it too bad. I live on
campus at St. Mark's College, an all guys college, and it's pretty
cool. I'm knows around college as Davo (said dave-oh), but I don't think
the name fits me. I'm about 1.7m tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. I
like to read, debate and do other things like that. Oh, I also like
photography, I should have mentioned that, you'll see why later.

So, I guess it sounds like life's going pretty well, hey? Well, you're only
sort of right there. You see, I'm gay. It's a big secret, and therefore I
don't have a boyfriend (and I obviously don't have a girlfriend). Apart
from that, life is going well. The problem is that I have no one to belong
to, no one to kiss, no one to love. I feel really empty without someone to
love. The big problem is, I'm not ready to come out. Even if I was, my
college is really sport-oriented (you know the type), and they'd make my
life hell. So, here I am, a closeted gay looking for a boyfriend. I'm in a
bit of a catch 22 here. Anyway, enough about me, on with the story.

Well, life was going along pretty well, and I was hanging out with a few
people. Luckily I'm accepted by most people, as I take photos at all the
events and parties (help them remember what they forget while they're
drunk). I also spent some time with my best friend at uni. Her name's Kate
Cartwright, and I've known her since we were in preschool together. Kate is
fairly tall, with long brown hair. Your typical airhead look, but that is
where the similarity ends. She is sharper than a tack, and is able to read
situations like a book. She is also the only one that I have trusted to
tell that I am gay. She is fine with it (obviously, as we're still best
friends) and seems to make it her life's mission to get me hooked up with
another boy. Her only problem is that she seems unable to grasp a few
facts, such as the fact that I'm not actually out, the fact that you can't
just hit on a guy without risking a punch, and the fact that they only need
rumours, not proof for you to be labelled as gay. She is also not exactly
subtle. Kate's motto is "Nothing ventured, nothing gained", which annoys me
no end when she starts pointing out cute guys to me.

Tension was heightening at college, because the inter-college swimming
championships were coming up. The swimming carnival, for me, involved
running round between the colleges, getting a few snaps, and not being
obviously a St. Mark's boy. The last bit is because quite a few guys have
usually had a few drinks, and we usually win the swimming, so they're
looking for a fight. Luckily, the colleges have photographers to cover the
races, so I don't have to be anywhere at any time, unless something major
happens that I have to get on camera.

As the sun started to set, all of St. Mark's got together and started to
walk over to the uni's pool. I went ahead on my bike so I could get photos
of the group. Nearly everyone was decked out in our colleges blue &
gold. Eventually we reached the pool, where I tied my bike up, and raced in
to get photos before everyone else arrived. I was happily getting photos,
until someone grabbed my arm and shrieked "Dave!" in my ear. "Kate! I
nearly died! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" I told
her in an exasperated voice. We've been over this a hundred times. Kate
immediately apologised, but she will no doubt do it again sometime soon.

I got some good snaps as the evening wore on. My best photo was far and
away the one of someone falling into the pool while yelling at one of the
officials. It was priceless. It was getting pretty late & my camera's
memory card was nearly full, so I put it with my bag up the back of the
enclosure (it won't get stood on there), and went down to watch a major
race. I was in the Burke college section, and I was watching the race start
when I saw this hot guy further along. I leaned out for a closer look, and
someone stumbled into me, with the net result of me going directly into the
pool.

As soon as I got my head back above the water, my ankle registered major
pain. "OW!" came out of my mouth before I could stop it. A pair of arms
grasped me from behind and lifted my by my armpits gently out of the pool
and started to put me on my feet. "Yeow! Ouch! Ow!" as my left foot made
contact with the ground. I closed my eyes and bit my lip with the pain. As
soon as a cried out these strong arms picked me up and cradled me, as I was
taken to the back of the pool enclosure. A boy's voice said "Ok guys, I'll
take care of this, I'm responsible" and I heard some feet leave. The arms
lay me down gently on the grass, and a voice said "Are you all right?" I
opened my eyes into one of the most beautiful faces I have seen in all my
19 years.

This face was incredible, but all I could notice was the eyes, I was caught
by his gaze from his blue eyes. "Davo, are you all right man?" hs face
showed strong concern. "Uhh, sorta, my ankle's really sore"

"I'm soo sorry, I tripped and pushed you in."

"It's ok, you didn't do it on purpose"

"Can you get up? You'll catch something in your wet stuff." He was right
too, a breeze was getting up.

"I can get OW!" Ok, trying to stand on my bad foot was a majorly bad idea.

"Why didn't you say that you couldn't get up" Before I could respond he
lifted me by the armpits and placed me on my good leg, and got one of my
arms around his shoulder. "Let's get you back to college Davo"

"Thanks" I wasn't going to argue, as I couldn't even stand by myself. "Hey!
Stan!" he yelled out, and this guy turned up. "Can you get Davo's bag, I'll
take him back to college." "Ok Alex" was the prompt reply and he dashed
off. Ok, his name is Alex. Stan soon came back with my bag and Alex threw
it over his shoulder with his bag (the one that wasn't supporting me). We
hobbled out of the pool and started off to college.

On the way Alex and I chatted, it helped take my mind off the pain. His
name was Alex Scott. It turned out he was your typical sporto in the way he
played sports, but that was where the similarity ended. He was truly
concerned about hurting me, and was interested in me. Then it occurred to
me, how had he known my name before I told him? "Alex, how did you know my
name?"

"Davo, everyone knows your name, and everyone knows your photos"

"What?"

"How did you think you were travelling around all the colleges without
anyone ever objecting?"

"I thought no one noticed"

"Only the blind people didn't. Your photos are one of the most downloaded
items on DC (we've got a file sharing network using DC++)"

"Oh, come on"

"Don't believe me, we'll check the logs when we get you back"

It didn't take as long as I expected to get back when we chatted. I
directed us to my room, and Alex lay me down on the bed. He asked how my
ankle was, and it was still sore, but it was recovering. He was pleased
that he hadn't hurt me badly. "We'd still better strap it up. Whats the
duty res' number?" "7010"

I'd better explain something, at all the colleges we have one person on
call who is there in case someone gets hurt. At St. Mark's it's a student,
and the job rotates. 7010 is the extension that calls their mobile. All the
colleges are on their own system, but are linked to the other colleges and
the uni (i.e. we get free calls to the other colleges and to the uni). Ok,
back to the story.

So Alex called the duty res, a guy called Mark, and he gave Alex a bandage
& stuff from the first aid kit. He wanted to stay and keep an eye on the
bandaging, but Alex told him he had also done a first aid course, and he
can take care of it. With that the duty res left.

Alex strapped up my foot really tightly, and it didn't hurt as much any
more. Then, at his insistence, we did look at the DC logs, and my photos
were indeed one of the most downloaded items. That came as a big surprise
to me.

"Alex, you're right"

"Of course I am" he replied, grinning. My heart melted with that smile. I
wanted to kiss him so badly, but I also didn't want a punch in the
face. Sportos are not gay, they bash up gays. I want to be friends with
him, so he can never know that I'm gay. We chatted for a while, and found
out that we were taking quite a few subjects together; well actually we
took all of the same subjects. We were both freshers doing a BSc (Bachelor
of Science). He suggested that we study together sometimes, as some topics
he just couldn't get I found easy, and he understood some stuff I couldn't
get (English was never my strong point, but maths was not his).

We lost track of time, and heard the rest of the St. Mark's guys arriving,
so Alex decided he'd better go. After swapping phone numbers he
left. College guys seem to harass guys from any other college after they
win an event. I have no idea why, I see it as adding insult to injury
personally. After he had left, I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling,
grinning from ear to ear. I had a goofy grin plastered on my face for the
entire evening, while hearing about the swimming.

It was also proven how popular my photos were that evening. 2 hours after
the swimming had ended; I had about 50 messages on DC asking for the
photos. I uploaded the photos, and went to bed. That night I dreamed of
Alex's beautiful face, his tender care, his caring heart, and imagined what
it would be like to have him as a boyfriend, what his tender lips would be
like to kiss. In my dreams, anything is possible, even though in the real
world I knew we could never be together. In my dreams, we were together. I
knew I was in love, in love with Alex Scott, a sporto, and likely a
homophobe. What am I going to do?



Chapter 2



The next morning I woke up feeling really weird. I was happy that I would
see Alex again, and sad for the same reason. Happy because I would be with
him, but sad because we could never be together. I was really confused, so
I did what I normally do when I am confused. I go and see Kate.

I arrived at her college (St. Andrew's College), and was stopped at the
front door by the security guard. Guys aren't allowed inside the college
unaccompanied. What do they think we're going to do, rape the girls or
something? Anyway, that's just the way it is, so they called Kate and she
came out the front and collected me. We went through the maze of corridors
to her room, and I swear that the place is a labyrinth in every meaning of
the word. Once we were in her room, she sat down next to me on her bed, and
started with "Ok, now tell me what happened yesterday at the pool. I
couldn't get through the crowd, and by the time I got there you were gone."
I told her the whole tale (omitting the fact about how beautiful Alex was,
and that stuff). When I mentioned Alex she shrieked "Alex, as in Alex
Scott, the sporto hunk?", looking really excited. Trying not to blush, I
replied in the affirmative, and told her about how he got me home and
everything. I finished with "So we agreed to get together and help each
other with our subjects".

"I can't believe it. Alex! You are so lucky, half the girls here would kill
to spend time like that with him. He is such a hottie!"

"Kate, there are more pleasant ways to meet people than by falling into a
pool and hurting your ankle"

"I know, but Alex! He is so hot, all the girls are too afraid to ask him
for a date, because he's so busy with everything else that they're afraid
of rejection. They all want him so badly." I blushed bright red with this
comment. She immediately picked up on it and screeched "So do you!" "Kate,
shut up!" I yelled, and then added in a quieter tone, "I don't really want
to be outed to the entire world yet". She apologised, and then made me
blush even more by telling me that I have great taste in guys and to go for
it. She is so dense about relationships between guys sometimes.

"Kate, what do you mean, go for it? In case you haven't noticed, he is a
sporto"

"So, your point is?"

"You're telling me to admit to Alex that I'm gay and like him, so he can
out me and beat me to a pulp."

"I didn't say that, I said go for it"

"What did you mean then?"

"Ok, I did mean that, but test the waters first"

"What? There's no chance that he'd be interested, and a high chance that
he's a homophobe."

"He's turns down a lot of dates because he's too busy, and he doesn't try
for action on the dates he does go on!"

"Maybe he doesn't, but he's a sporto, no chance of him being gay."

"Ever heard of Brokeback Mountain?" (A movie about 2 gay cowboys)

"Kate, that is a movie"

"But it could happen, anyway, we'll talk about this later, I've got a
lecture in half an hour"

I sat through all my lectures today taking absolutely nothing in. I was too
busy staring at Alex. He looked so hot when he was concentrating. I just
sat there watching his beautiful chestnut hair, mesmerised by his body, and
knowing that the inside matched the outside. I don't remember a thing from
my lectures that day, except how beautiful Alex is.

Just as I got back from dinner (I swear they feed us what we haven't eaten
other nights), the phone in my room rang. When I answered the phone, it was
Alex. He wanted to get together, as he didn't understand something in the
lectures today. I stammered out an invitation to come over to my room, and
he said he'd come right over. After he hung up I remembered that I hadn't
listened at all today!

Alex turned up at my door, looking as gorgeous as I remembered him last
night. We sat down at my desk, and I asked him where he was having
trouble. It turned out that he just couldn't seem to work out the
differentiation and integration that they had covered today (or at least he
said they did, I had no idea). I was able to talk him through it, thanking
my lucky stars that I did advanced maths in year 12.

After that we sat down on my bed and chatted. I zoned out while looking at
him, and was brought back to earth by him saying "Well, do you?". Having no
idea at all what he had said before I replied "Yeah, of course" which made
him laugh so hard he fell off my bed and was rolling around on the floor
laughing his head off. "I-I asked you if you like to have sex with goats"
he managed to choke out between laughs. My entire face went bright red,
which made him laugh even harder. Eventually he calmed down and sat next to
me again. "You were so zoned out Davo. What were you thinking about?" Ok,
I'm not going to tell him that one. "Err, nothing in particular". He
mentioned that he'd better go, and thanked me for the help. I saw him out
the door. "Bye Davo" he said as we parted. "Bye Alex. I l.. I'll see you
later." I couldn't believe it. I nearly told him that I loved him. I've got
to be more careful, or I will blurt it out with the net result of him
killing me. Over the next few weeks we helped each other with our studies
every few days. I had fallen so badly for him, and kept falling more in
love with him the more that I knew him.

Kate called me up, and asked if I wanted to catch a movie with her. We both
find this amusing, because it sounds like she's asking me out. It's just
one of the weird things that we laugh about. She picked me up, and guess
who was sitting in the back seat? She had picked up Alex as well! As if
that wasn't bad enough, she had a massive pile of junk on the passenger
seat, forcing me to sit in the back next to Alex. Alex caught the stunned
look on my face and grinned. "Can I assume that Kate forgot to mention that
she invited me too?" "I didn't forget, just I can't afford the calls" Kate
told him. That's a total lie, calls between colleges are free. She's trying
to matchmake, does she have any idea how embarrassing this is?

We turn up at the movies, and Kate gets tickets for Strange Bedfellows. I
swear I am going to kill her for this. Strange Bedfellows is a movie about
two guys who share a flat but submit their tax as a couple. Then they
discover they are going to be audited, so they have to pretend to be a gay
couple. As if this wasn't bad enough, she picks a space where there are
only three seats, and takes an end one, forcing me to sit next to Alex for
the entire movie. I am going to kill her for this.

Eventually the movie ended, and Kate dropped Alex off at his college, then
rounded on me "Davo, you idiot! This was a perfect time for you to at least
find out how he felt about gays."

"Kate, I can't believe that you did this, I have no hope at all with him,
none at all" I shot back.

"Dave, just listen to me. You will never find happiness if you are too
scared to try for it. I know that you're terrified about being outed, but
if you stay like this, you will never find a boyfriend. Next time you two
meet, ask him about the movie. Gather some information"

The next day Alex came over to chat. We had a talk about the movie, and he
found it funny and not disgusting about the gay part. This brought us onto
the topic of Brokeback Mountain. He disagreed with the censorship of it,
but I was too scared to push the issue about the gay part of it. We had a
good time and watched the second Shrek movie on my computer.

I told Kate about it, and she told me that he would definitely be fine with
it. He is a sporto, he can't be fine with someone being gay, much less
being in love with him. That's what it is, I am madly in love with
him. This friendship is going to kill me someday, I need to break it now.

I started avoiding Alex, hanging out alone, being too busy. It hurt, but I
had to do it, it was the only way. Eventually Alex cornered me one day
after lectures.

"Davo, why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you."

"Yeah, right. For the last fortnight you have been "too busy" for us to
meet, but I know that you've been doing nothing. What's going on?"

"I can't explain now, bye" with that I ran off.

The next morning Kate came over to my room, and we chatted, I told her what
happened and she told me that it was tearing Alex apart too. "David, you
are hurting Alex too, do you really want to do this?" "Kate, I have to, if
I don't it will kill me" "Tell him, and it will be out in the open" "He
will kill me if I do" I had to leave for a minute, and came back to find
not Kate, but Alex in my room.

"Alex,.what are you doing here?" He turned around and his face broke my
heart. "Dave, what did I do? You've been my only true friend and you seem
to hate me now."

"Alex I don't hate you, but I have to keep a distance from you. It's
nothing to do with you. It's me"

"Please, let me help, I need you as a friend"

I ran.

I ran down to the pontoon on the river, what was I going to do? Alex said
he needs my friendship, but he'll hate me if I tell him I'm gay. I'll just
swear him to secrecy and tell him the story. I've got no choice. I walked
slowly back to my room, and found Alex, looking like he had cried.

"Alex" "What?" he said in the most hurt voice I've heard. "I'm going to
explain this to you, but you must swear never to tell anyone, and not hurt
me." "I promise". I took a deep breath and said "Alex. I'm gay and I love
you, that's why we can't be friends" He looked at me with an unreadable
expression on his face. I started to run, but he caught me. I tried to pull
away. He kicked my door shut, and pulled my lips to his. I remember feeling
shock, and then everything went black as I fainted.


Please tell me what you think. Flames will be ignored.

thehaydster@yahoo.com.au