Having found out that Alain liked Mark Jaures stories, Patrick gave him as a Christmas present the latest work of that writer, the novel entitled "My Boy". Alain was really happy to discover it when he opened the parcel. He only regretted that Patrick didn't write a dedication sentence in it. Back home, he shut the book in his drawer, thinking to begin to read it that same evening, then he started to study for his Sports Medicine exam.
Just at that moment Jacques looked through the telescope from behind the closed glass windows of his room, and saw him. He liked to look at him while he was studying, biting at his pencil absorbed in his readings, and from time to time taking notes. Even now in winter, when he entered his room, he pulled off his jacket and shirt, or his sweater and remained with a T shirt. He always wore tight T shirts that wrapped around his beautiful trunk, riding just so on the two provocative little peaks of his chest. For trousers he wore soft track suits, slacks, or tight jeans. No matter how he was dressed, Jacques found him terribly sexy. Of course, Jacques mostly liked to see him when completely naked, especially in the evenings and in the mornings. But he did enjoy him also when, like now, he was more or less dressed. A few times he had even seen him dressing in an elegant way, for social occasions; he wore those suits, evidently tailored expressly for him, with the careless elegance of a model. His athletic and elastic body was beautiful when wrapped by those clothes, even if they hid his perfect figure.
Jacques was more and more in love with him. Little by little he learnt to recognize all his expressions, his movements and the small unconscious gestures in the smallest details. His way to wear or pull off his shoes or socks, the way he combed himself with his fingers from time to time in an unaware gesture, how he laughed while watching the TV show of the comic Mirabeau.
He liked when he just got up in the morning, naked, and stood right in front of the glass wall of his room, looking at the sky or at the foliage of the park, voluptuously stretching. He knew how he would enter his room coming back from school: he threw his schoolbag on his chair with an elegant and fluent gesture and turned back to close the door. Then pulled off his jacket or pullover and threw it on his bed, walking towards his desk.
He liked when his young brother entered his room and sat on his bed, cross legged, and chatted with his Paul. It was evident that the two brothers got on well together and that the elder had a great affection for the younger. And the young brother became particularly likable to Jacques when he saw that he drew, with a felt pen, a beard and moustaches on the poster hanged on the toilet door. After a few days that poster ended up in small pieces in the waste paper basket.
In February his Paul fell ill and was in bed around ten days. Jacques noticed that he masturbated under the sheet. The second day of his illness he saw him rising up and going to his desk, to the drawer normally shut by a key. He saw him pulling out a book and going back to his bed, starting to read... and Jacques had a shudder: he recognized the cover of his novel "My Boy".
Alain had reached page 21. He liked that novel more than all he had read until then. The eroticism that played on the blade of thoughts fascinated him. He couldn't decide whether that Paul was a real boy or was created by the author's imagination. The novel was written in the first person. The narrating "I", page after page, fell in love with Paul and the evolution of the sentiment was described in a splendid way. It was clear that when the narrating "I" described Paul alone in his room, of course unable to see him, he did imagine him vividly. But the descriptions had an accent of remarkable realism.
Alain, for a moment, thought that the physical description of that Paul could almost apply to him: he would have loved if somebody did love him in that way.
Alain read the novel slowly, tasting sentence after sentence, imagining what was described in it, and slowly he reached more and more the conviction that he was... that Paul. Especially when he read, quite at the end of the book, the discovery that Paul was gay and that he had brought a boy in his room. He read and read again the description of the love scene between the two boys and felt that it could be the description of that time he made love with Patrick, that first time, in his room. Even if the book described the two boys as lovers forever, which was not right, the way they made love reminded him, with surprising similarities, of that time with Patrick! It could be nothing but a coincidence. But he was struck. Then he read about the jealousy of that narrating "I" and was moved. That secret love, without hope, filled him with sympathy. Or rather of a stronger sentiment. He felt that he would love to meet such a person, able of so strong and yet delicate sentiments, able of such love. Even if Paul mightn't be real, Marc Jaures existed. And he felt in love with him. On impulse, abandoning for a while the book, he put on a gown and went downstairs to look for the telephone book. There were two Jaures, but neither one was a Marc. He wrote down the two numbers, went back to his room and tried to call.
"I'm sorry, my name is Dumarne. I'm looking for a certain Marc Jaures, by chance he... No? No Marc Jaures? You don't know any Marc Jaures? I see. Sorry to have disturbed you, then. Bye bye."
The second call was practically the same to the first. No, that Marc Jaures didn't have a telephone or didn't live in Paris or possibly that name was just a pseudonym.
So he wrote to the publishing company, even if he thought that he would receive a negative answer. But to try doesn't hurt and you never know, he thought. He started to read the book all over again.
Jacques didn't write, in the second novel, about the fact that Paul was reading his book. Especially now that he knew that the boy was reading his writings, Jacques was careful not to give any hint that could prove who that "Paul" was; or that somebody was watching him. But he described Paul's illness, Paul looking for relief under his bed sheets, his pain in knowing that the boy was ill. His desire to be near him, to treat him, to be his company, to take care of him. He also described his brother's visits; but, to confuse the cards, he made him two years older than Paul and, contrary to reality, taller than his boy. He wrote how much he envied that brother who could be near him, touch him, talk with him and live under the same roof.
Alain received a form letter from the publisher: "We are sorry, but we are not authorized..." and so on. After all, he expected such an answer.
But Alain, who was now reading again all Marc Jaures stories, felt more and more fascinated by the writer's personality as shown through his works. He thought that possibly it was a middle aged man, probably not even handsome, perhaps... and yet he was more and more fascinated, attracted, or better, in love.
A man of such interior richness was a rare pearl. He wanted at all costs to be able to know who he was, to find him, to meet him. But how could he do so? "Marc Jaures". Even if it was just a pseudonym, the name was beautiful and had a good sound. Even if that name was a pseudonym, born from the writer's subconscious it revealed his internal harmony.
"Mark, whoever you are, I want you!" Alain said at half voice, caressing the book's pages.
When he recovered, as soon as he met Patrick, he told him of the novel and of his thoughts, the feelings he had reading it and of his strong desire to meet the writer.
His companion smiled and said: "You might have a way..."
"How?" Alain asked, attentive.
"That Marc Jaures also writes in Gay Pied, right?"
"Yes, but they won't send me his address."
"In their last issue they asked for reader's submissions. Why not propose to become their sports editor? Giving good reports about sport and homosexuality. If they hire you, you can probably have access to their files and find Marc's address, if you really want to."
"Ah, not a bad idea that! I could really try. Besides I know some gay sportsmen. I can go to Gay Pied with an interview ready and submit it to them and ask them if they are interested... It will take away some time from my studies and training, but it is a price I'd willingly pay. Thank you for the suggestion, Patrick!"
Alain wasn't one for waiting. He made a telephone call to a friend who was the lover of a member of the French National soccer team and asked him to arrange a meeting with his man for an interview. The player accepted the invitation to meet Alain and, after the youth assured him that from the article it would be absolutely impossible to deduce who he was, and that anyway he would have shown him the definitive text of the interview before proposing it for publication, agreed to be interviewed.
Q. - You are one of the best known and most appreciated sportsmen in France. What does it mean to you to be so famous?
A. - Well, it's my pleasure, of course. But it's also a sense of responsibility. I can't disappoint my fans. But, I have to say, what is more important to me, is being a complete sportsman, especially for myself. You can't please to others if you're not happy with yourself.
Q. - Are you always happy with yourself?
A. -Usually, yes. Of course there is always something to improve on, to correct. I always loved sports, from my childhood, and to be able to make a living practicing sport, is a great satisfaction.
Q. - You said you want to be a complete sportsman: what do you mean with those words?
A. - Before all, it must be said that a sportsman is not just a physical machine kept well tuned. The physical performance is for sure essential, but so is his personality, his character. An athlete has to be, I mean, a complete being, he has to care about his growth and efficiency both physical and... how can I say... spiritual. Especially when you compete in a team sport it is essential to try to harmonize your own personality to those of your team companions, and that means that you have to take care of your character...
Q. - Mens sana in corpore sano?
A. - Or rather, corpus sanus per mentem sanam... if my Latin is correct.
Q. - Your fans know everything about you: where and when you were born, in what teams you played, what food you like, where do you spend your holidays, the car you have... what does it mean to you to be in the public eye?
A. - It is part of becoming famous. But with luck a part remains private; a life that nobody knows, besides a few intimate friends. Even if, at times, it is difficult to protect that privacy.
Q. - I presume you are referring also to the fact of being gay...
A, - Yes, that also.
Q. - Is it difficult to be gay in the sporting world?
A. - No, absolutely not. We are a strong minority, I presume about the twenty or thirty percent. The problem is not being gay in the sport world, but rather not being known outside. You'll be excluded. People have too many prejudices about homosexuality, especially in the sports field. I cannot understand why, but if a women's team has a male trainer, by instance, nobody thinks that automatically that man will bring to his bed all the girls of the team. But if it is known that in a male team there is a gay member, everybody thinks that he has to spend all his time to lay traps for the other males of the team... You see what I mean?
Q. - Yes, I see.
A. - I have my boyfriend, so I don't run after all the trousers walking nearby, even if the content could be more than appetizing. And so with the majority of my gay friends. We are no less and no more serious than all the other sportsmen, the hetero, I mean. Yes, some of us are more... libertine, but it is just the same with the straight men, exactly.
Q. - When did you discover your sexuality, and how?
A. - Quite late, I was eighteen. Until then I was so projected into sports that I didn't have other thoughts. All my energies were absorbed by training, championships and so on. But when I was eighteen, something happened that changed all my life, not only on a sexual level, but also in sports. There was a great athlete that had always been my idol. That year his team came to have a retreat in my village: they had booked all the hotels we had. Anticipating that, I managed to be hired in the hotel as bar man. So I met him, and asked him his autograph and told him that I was practicing his same sport. He liked me; because he not only talked with me but, in his breaks, he often came to look for me. One day the shift leader tells me: the 312 wants an ice coffee, hurry up! I went. When I knocked at the door a voice yelled: 'Come in!' and I entered. 'I am in the bathroom, put it there on the table, thank you.' the voice said; and I recognized at once that he was my idol. I was about to go away when he came out from the bathroom, a towel around his hips. He recognized me and smiled: 'Ah, that's you! Can you stay a moment?' Just five minutes, I happily answered. It was the first time I could see him almost naked and felt a confused feeling of pleasure. Well, he drank the coffee, tipped me, and, I don't know if by chance or on purpose, the towel slipped away and fell down. He saw that I was looking straight there, so he leaned to pick up the towel and, instead of putting it on again, put it on a chair: 'Well, I'm certainly not the first naked man you've seen, right? You aren't impressed, I guess.' he said with a smile. On the contrary, I was greatly impressed. He noticed the effect he had on me. A little while later he was unbuttoning my uniform and I let him do it, excited and ready to be picked. To make short a long story, I become his lover. He let me enter in the youth team of his team, so I moved and went to live with him. And so I started my real and true sport career.
Q. - How long did your relationship last?
A. - Three years. Then he signed on abroad and we separated. I wanted to follow him, but he said that my future was here. So, even if a little reluctantly, I followed his advice.
Q. - Do the couples form always or mainly between sportsmen?
A. - No, on the contrary, quite seldom. At times we have sex with a companion, but it is rather rare. You know everything about the others, you are friends, and that's all. The majority of us have a lover unrelated to the sports milieu.
Q. - Do your straight companions know about you? How do they react?
A. - Of course, you know more or less everything about the others, living such a part of our time together. There isn't a particular reaction. If I know that a fellow is married and has a mistress, or that another lives together with his girlfriend, and I know who she is, that's all. There is reciprocal respect. At times somebody asks me how is my boyfriend, or they invite us together to lunch at their home, the same as I and my boyfriend at times invite a companion home, with his wife or girl, without problems. What they care, rightly, is just that I am a good athlete, a real part of the team and a likable guy. All the rest is just my business. On the other hand, all that embracing and holding tight when we mark a point, has a clear homoerotic connotation. In fact I feel at times, even in straight fellows, a clear erection and nobody is ashamed for that.
Q. - Is it true that there are athletes who are married and fathers and who in reality are gay?
A. - Yes, it is true, as it is for the common people. In another team, not in mine, there are two athletes who are married but that, every time they sleep in another city with their team, have a two-beds room together but use just one bed... It seems that they have been lovers for more than ten years, when they just entered the youth team of their company...
Q. - How old is your boyfriend? How did you meet him?
A. - Twenty three. He wrote me, when he was nineteen, that he was in love with me and sent me his picture. I was free, he seemed a likeable guy, so I answered. We met, we became acquainted. About two months later of more and more frequent meetings, we finally made love. And we still are together, after four years, and happy. We feel very good, together.
Q. - A love letter? But, did he know about you, or just guessed it?
A. - Not at all. In fact he was absolutely surprised by my answer. He really didn't think I would have answered, and less that I'd propose to meet him.
Q. - Can I ask you if there are roles between you two?
A. - (laughs) You want to know who... who of us is the bottom? No, no roles at all. But I would like to make the most of your question to break a spear in favour of the so called passives. I could give you names of athletes, among the most masculine and virile in the sports world, that prefer, in bed, to be bottoms. And for that they lose nothing of their manliness and virility. There is no relation. Virility and sexuality are two completely different matters.
Q. - What do you like most in your lover?
A. - (smiles) The fact that he exists, and that he loves me. And the fact that we are reciprocally, and spontaneously, faithful.
Q. - How is life with a famous sportsman for his partner? Always busy in trainings, matches...
A. - This is a question you'll have to ask him... Anyway I always find time for him. It seems that he is happy with me...
Q. - You said you are a faithful man. But did you have many men between your first lover and the actual one?
A. - I cannot deny that. Even if that period lasted just two years. In those two years I frequented gay clubs and I started to become quite famous, so they were many trying to flirt with me, possibly to be able to say they had sex with a celebrity... And I believe that somebody boasted of having been in bed with me also; it was not true (laughs). Anyway I chose those that appealed me more and... Yes, I have had many.
Q. - Some nostalgia of that period?
A. - Absolutely not: I am too happy with my boyfriend.
Q. - Do you have some advice to give to our young gay readers wanting to start the sports career?
A. - Not particularly. The sportsman is a sportsman, be he gay or not. As the gay is gay, be he sportsman or not.
When the interview, fruit of a longer dialog, was over, Alain thought that it had been really pleasurable having met that soccer player: he seemed to him a very well balanced person, likeable, intelligent and with a good sense of humour.
Happy with this first result, his interview in his pocket, he went to the Gay Pied editorial office. They said him that they would send him an answer after the meeting of the editorial staff.
The answer was yes. He was hired part-time: he would be paid two afternoons per week in the office and one more for the interviews. They gave him a desk and showed him the archives where to find useful material to complete his articles. And his first interview was published. Alain asked to use the pseudonym Paul Allen: Paul like the name of the main character of the Marc novel, and Allen derived from his real name.
Alain was happy: he was approaching his goal. He couldn't ask where Marc Jaures' address was, but he was confident he could, sooner or later, find it. He was getting used to his surroundings and seeing who was in charge of the fiction and where was his archive.
Finally, with the excuse to search in the fiction archives all that was related to the sports world, he started to browse through that archive. Until he found what he was looking for. Marc Jaures was a pseudonym, the real name was Jacques Moiret. And there was also the address, but no telephone number, that Alain rapidly transcribed and hid in his pocket.
He was excited, he could now, at last, meet the man he had dreamed about all those long months. He just hoped, but he almost didn't have doubts, not to be dashed in his expectation.
He saw that the street was incredibly near his home, just the opposite side of the public park. With his bike it was just a five minute ride.
But what to do now? Write him? To go to ring at his door? No, he thought, that could bother him. He had to find an excuse to meet him... and then he had an idea. He told the sub-editor taking care of the fiction that he wanted to interview Marc Jaures. One of his many stories, in fact, was about a trainer falling in love with one of his athletes. He wanted to know if the story had been suggested by a real fact or if it was just fiction.
"I don't think it possible. We have had contacts with him just by mail, we don't know who he is, and when we invited him to come to visit us, in several occasions, he answered that he doesn't like to meet people: he must be some kind of bear, a misanthrope!"
"From his writings it doesn't seem so at all. Why don't you try to write him asking if I can go? Possibly he could accept..."
"I can try, it costs me nothing. But if I were you, I would not have too many illusions." the man answered but took a note on his agenda.
Jacques received the letter from Gay Pied: "... besides, our sports reporter, Paul Allen, would like to come to see you to do an interview about your novel 'Olympiads'. Let us know if you can meet and eventually when, without disturbing you..."
Jacques smiled, not suspecting that that Paul was exactly his Paul. To give himself some importance, he answered that he was in that period very busy, but that he could receive the reporter in the following month: Sunday 18th of May, at 4 o'clock. He really couldn't fit in other times, he didn't have other openings. Take it or leave it.
When Alain got that answer, he was exultant. On May 18th he had the regional championships of Judo, but he decided he would miss it to meet with Marc-Jacques.
He tried to guess how he could be; young or old, fat or lean, tall or short? Anyway, however he was, he felt he was in love with him.
At home he read again for the umpteenth time all the stories and the two novels of the writer, enjoying them more and more and finding in them more and more the personality of the unknown writer. He loved him terribly. Even when he described scenes of sex, sweet or unbridled, for love or for sheer pleasure, hinted or described in the smallest detail it was beautiful. It was never pornography but lyrics. Some of the descriptions were exciting, and often while reading them he masturbated, feeling the described emotions, becoming a character in those stories.
Meanwhile, Jacques, completely unaware of Alain's manoeuvres to find him, had seen the boy sitting at his desk, engrossed in reading. He had also realized that at times the boy masturbated while reading so he guessed he wasn't reading study books. Then he saw him read again "My Boy" and masturbate, so he clearly understood what kind of stories excited him so much. He loved seeing him reach orgasm, to enjoy. He went to write a new page at the computer:
"I imagine you, in your little room, sitting at the desk, pretending to study while, under the school books, you have a gay story. Reading it, at times, you get aroused. So, you slip a hand under your T shirt, you caress your chest, brush your nipples. Then, when the excitation increases, your hand lowers between your out-spread legs, to caress the swelling you feel throbbing under your clothes. Your excitation grows. Your hand makes the belt buckle pop off; slowly lowering the zipper, it moves away the edges and starts to caress your bursting manhood, now hidden just by the light layers of soft thin cloth. But it's not enough. While continuing your eager, engrossed reading, you lower the elastic band of your underwear, freeing your beautiful rod, now fully erect and you start to pleasure yourself.
I imagine you and I like you, and I make the same journey, as I desire to caress you, to open your trousers, to give you that pleasure not only with my hand, but with my lips, my tongue and all my body that is in love with yours, as well as my soul; it is in love with yours. I would like to be there, under your desk, between your strong legs, to tell you in a concrete way how much I love you. Because I know that my body would be able to tell to your body what my voice would not be able to describe to your ears. Ah, if I could confess you my love..."
Jacques loved, most of all, the moment when his Paul came out from the shower, vigorously toweling his body, his hair in a mess, his expression relaxed and happy. He loved when he took the towel between his hands, stretching it by his extremities and bringing it around his back to dry it: he had elegant, sensuous moves, and his body slightly arched forward, his chest and arms' muscles darting, his soft member framed by the thick golden hairs and the sturdy legs slightly open, beautiful in sweet, complete nudity so unconsciously offered to his contemplation, to his veneration.
To tell the truth, he loved also to see him waking up in the morning, still slightly asleep, voluptuously stretching as soon as he was out of the bed. As he hesitated a little before starting to dress, almost if regretting to cover such a beauty. He loved to watch him move in the room, his half erect member moving at each pace, animated of its own life, and at last reluctantly to clothe himself, piece after piece, and then leave the room.
Alain loved to be naked. He felt free, at ease, well. And above all he loved to sleep in his nakedness. So he could feel the light caress of the sheets directly on his skin. Sure, he would have liked more to feel a lover's caresses, to fall asleep and to awake at contact with his skin. Of the various men with which he made love, only with his Physical Education Academy companion he could spend the whole night. That summer that now seemed so far away, under the dome tent.
Since he was living at home with his family he couldn't be different. But he strongly desired to be able to make love calmly, to fall asleep with his pleasure companion, to wake up with him...
While waiting to meet Marc Jaures, Alain did his second interview for Gay Pied, this time with famous swimmer of the national team.
Q. - I see that you have here some issues of Gay Pied. Do you read it often?
A. - It's now the fifth year I subscribed. It is an excellent magazine.
Q. - Thank you. Did you read the interview I did with that soccer player in the last issue?
A. - Of course, and with great interest. He says several things that also fit for the swimming world. Just we don't embrace, unhappily! (smiles)
Q. - Do you have something to add about the presence of gays in the sports world?
A. - For what I know, I would raise the percentage he gives, thirty five percent to forty percent, also including the married men that don't disdain to have sex with other men.
Q. - Bisexuals?
A. - You can call them that way. In the sports world there is the cult of the body, specially of the male body. Of the consorting between men. And in the world that rotates around the sport, this is felt even more.
Q. - The fans, you mean?
A. - No, not so much. I rather say trainers, masseurs, referees, match judges. People that, in some ways, live with us and for us. The fan is before all interested in the competition, those people are above all interested in us athletes, to generalize, of course.
Q. - And they often make advances?
A. - Well...they try, and not so seldom as one would think.
Q. - Here's the usual question: when and how did you understand that you were gay?
A. - I was fourteen, but it didn't happen in the sports world. It happened with a cousin, sixteen years old. My parents and I were guests in their home for his sister's marriage . The house wasn't so big so I was put to sleep with him, in his bed, I mean. And he, the first night, slipped his hand under his pyjama trousers. I masturbated, I thought he wanted to do it together, so I joined in. We enjoyed it for a while, but he had other ideas in his mind. When he felt I was excited enough, he lowered his trousers and turned asking me to fuck him... Why not, I thought, but at the beginning I couldn't manage to take him, although I was really excited. He taught me, guided me, and at last I succeeded. I loved it very much and thought that it was far, far better than with girls.
Q. - Did you have some experiences with girls?
A. - Yes, with three. But I found them boring, too soft, and not much fun. To hold the tough body of my cousin had been more beautiful, very pleasing.
Q. - How long did it last?
A. - Just three nights. Then my family went back to Paris...
Q. - And then?
A. - I started searching for somebody else to repeat that enjoyable experience. It seemed so difficult, at first... Until one day I read one of those graffiti you can find in the toilets. It said, more or less, something like: young man, nineteen, eighteen centimetres, looking a young friend to spend happy hours. Give an appointment. I wrote there under my answer, giving day and time. It worked. We met. At first he didn't want to because, he said, I was too young, still a minor. I insisted so at last he took me out to the countryside with his car. And so... well, I happily lost my cherry. He liked me very much and asked me to meet again...
Q. - And in the sports world?
A. - My first time? I was... nineteen. It was with our masseur, a handsome young man, twenty six years old.
Q. - He did give you a massage, right?
A. - (laughs) No, not him, I tried to give him one! The fact is that I could see the swelling in his shorts, right at the level of my eyes, while he was turning around me to massage me, and I got excited. And I also noticed that he too was aroused. So I touched him there, and I was lucky... he answered by going to lock the door... and we massaged each other, but in a completely different way (laughs again).
Q. - And your first great love?
A. - The only one. At the Olympics. A Brazilian swimmer, beautiful like the sun. I wanted him, he understood and one day he said he liked me. He brought me in his room and... I went out several hours later. Just to be back rather often. When the Olympic games were over, after a short separation, several letters and intercontinental calls, he moved to France. We lived together for one full year. One year of folly. But then he felt in love for another man, a photographer. Now he lives with that man... they managed to put together a good photographic agency. The have specialized in male nude pictures. Gay Pied has published some of their works. Very beautiful pictures.
Q. - Do you have a lover, now?
A. - No, no steady boyfriend
Q. - And why?
A. - I haven't found my great love... but in reality I'm not looking for one. I prefer to be still free, at least for the moment. To be able to do it with whomever attracts me.
Q. - Your physical type?
A. - Provided that he is nice and likeable and better if he is not too advanced in age, even if there are exceptions... But I don't have a precise physical type. No... Recalling my adventures, both physically and for the character, they all are so different. The only common characteristic? Without any doubt they all were males (chuckles).
Q. - Did you have more adventures in the sports world or outside it?
A. - Let's say in both of them. In the sports world in general, but specially in the swimming world, it is very easy to see each other naked, and to say a witticism, to tell a casual compliment and... from one thing comes another, you know how it is... in a basically masculine society... I think that only the dancers beat us in the ease of ending up in a bed together.
Q. - Your last conquest?
A. - A sports photographer. After having done several shots of me for a report on the swim during my training, he asked me if possibly I would also pose nude. 'To publish them?' I asked guessing where he was going with this. 'No, just to admire them, for my own pleasure... ' he said with a tempting smile. I accepted and so he invited me to his studio. After making several shots of me, he became daring and... he had a wide and conformable couch there in his studio and showed me that he wasn't skilled just as a photographer. Afterwards he told me that the method works eight times out of ten. And he showed me the pictures of all the athletes that posed in the nude for him, asking me to guess the few that didn't have sex with him... a very impressive collection...
Q. - To end, do you have some advice to give to our readers?
A. - Just one: if you like both sex and sports, you are lucky, because one can empower the other (laughs).
Q. - Can you be more precise?
A. - Training your body for a sport, will allow you always be at your highest level, so you can perform well in bed, right?
Q. - And vice versa?
A. - (laughing) I wonder, who knows? But if it is so, Casanova would've been a frightening competitor at the Olympic? Possibly at jumping and vaulting on a gym horse?
When the interview was over, the swimmer asked Alain to stay a little longer because, he said, he felt really attracted by him. Alain willingly accepted. At once they undressed each other, filled with reciprocal desire. Alain enjoyed the interview with the swimmer, even if he had found him a bit too narcissistic. Anyway he knew how have sex, without a doubt. They had spent a good part of the time on his bed in long foreplay and after play, both of them taking undisguised pleasure in erotic games. But Alain had the sharp feeling that the swimmer wasn't, to use the words of the soccer player of the first interview, a "complete athlete".
Alain was back home quite late that night. He justified himself saying that he swam with that famous athlete... and his parents accepted this excuse without any problem.
And finally, May came with the Sunday established for Marc's interview. Alain prepared himself with particular care, excited for the imminent meeting with the man he felt he loved. He continued to ask himself how he would be. Possibly Marc Jaures had a lover. Or rather, so exceptional a man and so skilful to describe love, without any doubt he must have a lover and also be extremely happy with him. But Alain didn't care: if he could become just his friend, that would be a very beautiful thing. As the time of their meeting approached, Alain felt more and more restless. He looked at himself in the mirror, and cleaned up a bit: he wanted to give a good impression.
He decided to bring with him his copy of "My Boy" so he could ask the author to autograph it. Now he was glad that Patrick didn't write a dedication on it.
Jacques, on the other hand, wasn't at all excited for the approaching meeting: to him, it was just a sports reporter of a gay magazine, wanting to ask him some banal questions. A sports reporter interviewing him, the physical antithesis of an athlete! It was comic, or rather pathetic. His body, half paralyzed, the other half made lazy for the forced immobility. Only his arms did have the appearance of muscularity, because he had to use them more than a normal person might. He wondered what disappointment Paul Allen would feel discovering that he was an handicapped person! Even if, if the reporter was a correct and skilled person, he would not show his disappointments.
However, he thought, it would be at least a distraction in his life which was, but for these nine months since "his Paul" had come to live at the opposite side of the park, really a rather boring life. About his Paul, what was he doing now? He looked in the telescope: the youth was dressing with elegance, with care, almost as if he was preparing to go on a date. Possibly with his lover.
Even from so far away, it seemed he could perceive in the boy's movements a certain nervousness: it had to be a date with somebody that could become his lover. It was evident that he wanted to give a good impression. In fact, he had never seen him groom himself so carefully.
He smiled with bitterness. And again felt a pang of jealousy: who ever would have prepared himself that way for him? Nobody, of course.
He saw him going out. He emitted a deep sigh and looked at the watch: the reporter would arrive in a few minutes, if he was punctual. He made no special preparation, it was absolutely not worth the trouble.