Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2021 10:23:25 +0000
From: writersblock404 <writersblock404@protonmail.com>
Subject: (G)rowing pains - 1

FOR THE ARCHIVIST: You placed this story of mine in the gay/young friends
section yesterday. Some very kind readers pointed out to me that I had
completely switched my main characters halfway into the story, making it a
bit confusing. I'm very sorry, but if possible, could you please replace
that text with the below corrected version? I'll make sure to double check
in the future, as I understand this is probably a lot of extra work on your
end. Oh, and per your request, I also included a request for donations to
the Nifty platform. Thank you very much!!!

_______________________________________

(G)ROWING PAINS - Part 1

Like what you read? Have any suggestions? Or want to motivate me to
continue writing? This is my first time posting on Nifty (after years of
reading), so I'd love to hear from you. Email me at
writersblock404@protonmail.com.

This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to any real people or places is
purely coincidental. Though, I must admit, some inspiration has been
gathered from my own experiences.

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_______________________________________

In... Out... In... Out...

Wait, get your mind out of the gutter, we are talking about rowing
here. Oars going in and out of the water.

Jeremy shook his head from left to right to try and get his soaking wet
hair out of his stinging eyes. He was practically soaring over the water in
his single scull. His rowing mate, Jasper, was almost a full length behind
him, and not gaining anything on him.  Putting his final reserves into
play, Jeremy could feel his oars bending as he gave them his all. Just
two... one... and a horn sounded off as he crossed a virtual finish line on
the water.

Completely spent he sagged down in the boat, hung over his oars and waited
for Jasper to finish his final strokes. This only took him a few seconds
though. It was cold outside and Jeremy could see steam rising from Jasper's
shoulders. The tight-fitting shirt was wicking away the heat and the sweat
from his back. It was like watching a human steam engine.

Jasper turned around in his boat and faced Jeremy. Not having any breath
left, all he managed was a careful thumbs up. It had only been a practice
match, so why be a sore loser.

"Great match!" Jeremy shouted out to Jasper, feeling he was able to sit
back up again.

"Thanks, you too, you were killing it today!" Jasper shouted back,
exhaustion in his voice.

Jeremy held his oars with one hand and carefully whisked the long blonde
strands of hair out of his face. His mom kept nagging him to get a haircut,
but he liked his hair long. At thirteen, it was about time that mom got
less of a say in what he did or did not do. Especially regarding his hair,
what he wanted to wear... or who he wanted to see.

With the finish line close to the rowing dock, Jeremy carefully aimed his
boat and with a few strokes landed it neatly at the dock. Someone
immediately rushed over to him to hold his boat while he released the
oarlock on the waterside and slipped his feet out of the footboard. For
those who don't know, a single scull is a very long, very narrow
boat. Imagine sitting on a long round tree trunk in the water. The
slightest mistake can make your boat topple over and land you in the
water. Having someone hold your boat when you are dead tired after a race
is a huge blessing.

Jasper was also just landing his boat, but he had the bad luck that there
was no one available to hold his boat as he tried to get out. Just as
Jeremy was stepping out of his boat, he saw one oar rising much higher that
it should, followed by Jasper going down much faster than he should. He had
toppled his boat after unlocking his waterside oar.

With a huge splash, and a lot of spluttering after, Jasper landed in the
water next to his boat. He had already been pretty wet with sweat and
splash water, but now he was absolutely soaking wet. Fortunately, the water
was shallow next to the dock, so he could stand up, push his oar on the
dock, and he walked around the boat to get out of the water himself.

It being November, the water was already quite cold and Jasper was already
beginning to shiver and his teeth had started chattering.

Jeremy quickly rushed to Jasper and held out his hand to help him on the
dock. He could feel how freezing cold Jasper's hand already was. Someone
else was already rushing out of the boathouse with a large towel. He
quickly draped it over Jasper's shoulders.

"You okay?" Jeremy asked, sounding deeply concerned. He knew full well what
a huge shock it was to your body to be plunged into ice-cold water after
just running so very hot for a match.

Through chattering teeth, Jeremy managed to reply. "I'm okay. It's... a bit
colder than I had expected." He said.

"Go inside and warm up. Get a hot shower." Jeremy told his friend, pushing
him towards the boathouse. "I'll take care of your boat for you."

Jasper grinned a thankful grin and quickly rushed up towards the boathouse
and the promise of a hot shower.

Jeremy saw Jasper running towards the boathouse. The tight-fitting Lycra
rowing suit now clung to Jasper like a second skin. Jasper was slightly
smaller than Jeremy, but the two years of rowing that they had done
together had given him a well-defined set of back muscles and well,
everything else was very nicely proportioned as well.

Jeremy had known for about a year now that he had a very strong attraction
towards his male peers. All his classmates had started chatting and making
fun of girls in the past two years. But, while girls were nice, they were
hardly very exciting. He had had a girlfriend, when he was much
younger. Well, at his age, three years ago was ancient history. But it had
not lasted.  There had been some kissing, some fondling, some groping. But
she had been more enthusiastic about it than he had been. After she had
moved away he had not been in any kind of relationship any more.

Jasper disappeared around the corner of the boathouse door, on his way to
the locker rooms. Jeremy took care of both their boats and this took him a
good ten minutes. He had made a bit of rush job of it, wanting to get back
in and see if Jasper was alright. Approaching the locker rooms he could
hear the showers running. There had not been that many people left on the
water, probably just a few in the clubhouse drinking coffee or soda. So it
must be Jeremy in the showers. Jasper entered the locker room and saw steam
coming around the division after which a row of four showers was hidden
from direct sight.

Walking over to where his own sports bag and clothes were, he peeled off
his own Lycra rowing kit until he was left with just his underwear. He
grabbed his towel, walked to the showers and hung it on a peg right outside
the showers on the wall. As he stepped in he could see Jasper sitting on
the ground under a running hot shower, arms wrapped around himself. He must
have been startled from Jeremy entering the showers as he seemed surprised,
and he jumped up from the floor. Like Jeremy, he was only clad in a pair of
underwear, soaking wet and clinging tight to his body. He looked to be
still shivering.

Jeremy stepped closer to see if Jasper was alright. The shower was warm,
but not exactly piping hot, he could feel some water splashing against his
feet and upper legs. He reached out and touched Jasper's arm. It was not as
cold as he had been when he had just come out of the water, but he wasn't
exactly warm either. "Man, you're still cold" He told Jasper, running his
hand up and down his right arm.

"I know," Jasper said, "I can't seem to shake it." He said
chattering. Jeremy's hand running up and down his arm felt good, warm,
comforting. He stepped a bit closer to Jeremy and saw him reaching out with
this other hand for his other arm, but to his dismay Jeremy let his hand
fall back again. Too bad, he wouldn't have minded. It was nice and warm and
right now, he welcomed all the warmth he could get. In a bold move he moved
just a bit closer, "That's actually really nice, could you do my other arm
too? I'm freezing", he asked Jeremy.

Jeremy had already almost started rubbing both of Jasper's arm, out of
reflex, but he had thought the better of it, not wanting to weird his
friend out. I mean, they were both there in the showers, hardly
clothed. Getting all touchy-feely might give off the wrong signals. Well,
wrong? It'd give off signals alright, and he wasn't sure how Jasper would
react. They had become pretty good friends since they had first joined up
at the same day a good year ago. They had even spent some afternoons at
each other's place after practice. And while at the rowing club, they were
always together. Jasper's question took him by surprise. He wanted him to
touch him? To help him warm up? He wanted to, but that was also the
problem. He wanted to, real bad. Could he? Really?

He stepped closer, actually standing with Jasper under the water pouring
down on them, and he grabbed his other arm as well, rubbing both of
them. His hands could feel the muscles in his arm, the tension and the
shivering. Automatically he started kneading into the tense muscles,
starting to massage his arms. He could hear Jasper making a faint and deep
moaning sound as he kneaded deeper into the hard muscles. He could feel a
warmth flooding through his own body, and it was definitely not just from
the shower.

>From Jasper's perspective things were getting equally confusing, but, in a
good way, he guessed. He could feel Jeremy digging his fingers into his
tensed up muscles of his arms. Blood started flowing again and feeling
someone else taking care of him like this, warming him, holding him, he
could not escape making a very contented noise. He tried suppressing it,
but he thought Jeremy might have heard anyway. Feeling himself relax, he
did not even notice his body going on autopilot and stepping even
closer. He could now feel the warmth radiating from his friends body. It
was like stepping close to a campfire after having spent a cold night
outside camping. The warmth of Jeremy's body was luring him in, like he was
a fish on a line. He felt their shoulders touch, how had he got this close?
He looked up at Jeremy, and it felt odd to see his friend this up
close. They were almost touching noses, if his nose had not been slightly
lower because he was just a bit smaller.

Jeremy felt how Jasper was slowly closing the distance between them. He was
not looking up, Jasper seemed lost in thought. He just inched closer and
closer. And with each tiny step, Jeremy felt as if the heat got turned up a
few degrees. If it hadn't been for the shower, he would not have been able
to hide how hard he had started blushing. And to his horror, that was not
the only thing his body tried to do or get real hard. He turned his hips
away a little from Jasper. He was not yet poking out, but he was definitely
getting quite chubbed up. It was that moment that Jasper looked up and
gazed right into his eyes, nose to nose. He had never really noticed the
bright specks in the brown of his eyes. It was like tiny crystals hidden in
there. The intense look passing between them was not helping his
self-control, he was quickly losing the battle in his underwear and he was
afraid Jasper might notice any moment.

With Jasper this close to his own body, he started moving his hands around
the lean body of his friend. His hands exploring the back, feeling even
more overworked muscles there. He traced a finger along some of them and
his hands got closer to each other and then clasped together, drawing
Jeremy in to a close bear hug. Their chests bumped together. He felt
Jasper's stomach make contact with his own and he could actually feel his
rapid breathing. Their legs touched, and they were now in a full
embrace. Where Jasper had been tense a moment before, he now seemed to give
in to some kind of internal struggle, relax and drop his head on Jeremy's
shoulder.

Jasper was enjoying the arms enclosing him, he was never very comfortable
touching people, or being touched. But right now, it was as if his
inhibitions were being washed away by the shower as he stood there. He felt
Jeremy's hands pulling him closer and, as he felt their bodies connect, he
started breathing more deeply and more rapidly. He wasn't even giving much
thought to what he was doing. Standing in a shower, near naked, and being
touched like he had actually never been touched before... by Jeremy, whom
he secretly considered to be his closest friend. Was it weird? He had not
been very pre-occupied with thoughts whether he was into girls or guys. He
had not yet felt any real connection with anyone before, so he did not
really know, did not really care. But this felt good. So very good. He felt
the shivers leave his body and he could finally relax. He dropped his head
on Jeremy's shoulder, giving himself over to the embrace.

Jeremy was feeling how he started thinking less with his thinking brain and
how his body was now being controlled by the more hormonal brain in his
little head. He could not help it, he was now pretty much at full mast in
his underwear and he didn't care. He pushed his whole body close to Jasper,
trying to envelop him. Feeling their bodies fully connect, he could have
sworn he felt something poking into his thigh too. It did not matter any
more. It was not like he could play this off as anything other than what it
was. He was hugging his nearly naked friend. It could not feel much better
than this. Well, they could both be not nearly-naked. But that felt a bit
too dangerous. They were not alone at the club this afternoon. They did
have the boathouse and the club all to themselves on some training
days. Just like today, they were not always coached.

As they stood there, in a tight embrace, time did not seem to exist any
more. Everything had gone quiet. There was just the sound of the shower and
their combined, heavy, breathing. Then, there was a sharp knocking on the
locker room door. A woman called out loudly, "Guys, we're heading out. You
are the last ones here, don't forget to lock everything on your way out."

That knocked them out of their bubble. They quickly split from each other,
how long had they been standing there like that? Jeremy felt he was not
even trying to poke a hole in Jasper any more. The last few minutes they
had just been standing there, hugging, caressing, feeling each other's
bodies. And now, the connection was broken and all they could do was smile
sheepishly at each other.

"Well, I'm quite sure I'm not cold any more." Jasper quipped, and they
started laughing.

Jeremy stepped over to the shower next to Jasper's and turned it on as
well. With all that had been happening, he had kind of forgotten that he
had come into the shower to actually shower. As was quite normal for them,
especially when it was just them, clothing was entirely optional in the
showers. Some of the younger boys were always very shy or reluctant to
shower naked, but in the past year both of the boys had seen each other's
bits plenty of times while getting changed. So showering with underwear on
had started feeling more odd. Both of them quickly undressed fully and
continued showering. Jeremy could not help but notice that Jasper's
excitement had not quite gone down as well.

"I thought I felt something poking my leg just now." He said, pointing at
Jasper's boner. Getting a hard on in the showers was also not that
uncommon. The adrenaline of a good training could often lead the body to
get excited about pretty much everything. And feeling hot water streaming
down your body was unfortunately a good way to lose control of one's nether
regions.

"You're one to say something. Just a moment ago I could feel something
pressing into me as well". Jasper shot back.

Jeremy looked a bit contrite now. "But, seriously. I'm... sorry. I only
wanted you to not feel so cold and somehow, things happened." The last bit
came out more like a whisper, but Jasper understood. "I hope you don't hate
me now." Jeremy's biggest fear was loosing his good friend. It's why he had
never said anything about having feelings for guys. It's sports and being
bi, or gay, it felt like something that did not mix.

Jasper looked down, "It seems like I was not really minding it.", he
grinned.

Jeremy felt a wave of relief washing over him. "Soooo, you're not weirding
out on me?" He had to double-check.

"No weirdness. But perhaps we should finish showering?" Jasper
suggested. He did not feel troubled over what had happened. But he was
somewhat confused. Never had he really felt any kind of physical attraction
to anyone before. To be very honest, and he would have to be very honest,
he thought he was perhaps the only one of the guys he knew who was
not... ehm... handling himself regularly. It's like something that had
never really seemed all that important. He enjoyed the feeling when he got
a boner. Might even touch it a little. But the only times he had
experienced something that might be described as a climax was right as he
woke up and finding a wet mess in his bed. He considered himself to be a
late bloomer. gain, not something he'd brag about to anyone. But what had
happened just now, it had somehow rocked his world.

They both finished showering, towelled themselves dry and started getting
dressed. They had started talking again, just about practice, just like it
was just any ordinary day. But both felt something had changed, their
friendship had been altered, there was now a kind of tension in the
air. And both were only hoping it would be a good change.

_______________________________________

That's it for part one. Thanks for reading. And I hope to continue this
story soon. I have some ideas in mind as to how this story can continue.

Email me at writersblock404@protonmail.com if you want to let me know what
you think of it so far. But please, be kind :-)