Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2017 10:49:54 +0000
From: Jesse Gibson <revjpgibson@hotmail.com>
Subject: Dionysius chapter 8

				 DIONYSIUS
				    By
		   Rev Jesse Penfield Gibson, MDiv, DMin


Copyright 2016


DISCLAIMER: This story is fiction.  Any similarities to any persons, living
or dead, are purely coincidental.  This story involves consensual sexual
activity between college students, both male and female, including bareback
sex, group sex and bisexual activity.  This story also has drug and alcohol
use.  If this is not your cup of tea, don't read it.  If it is, enjoy.


Complaints and compliments to revjpgibson@hotmail.com

Remember to donate to Nifty to keep the stories coming.



			                   EIGHT

	Dylan heard about it the next day.  What happened in the shower was
a minor sensation on the hall.  A couple of guys asked to find the details
from Cass, wanting to know if both he and Dave had done the girl.  They
also wanted to know who she was, mostly so they could go out with her.
Apparently a girl that would have sex in a shower with two boys in the wee
hours of the morning could have a certain popularity, or at least
notoriety.  Dylan knew he wouldn't do that.  Instead, he asked Cass if
anything was going to come of it.  When Cass told him that it was going to
go to Judicial Council, Dylan asked if he could help in some way.  Dylan
tried to offer scenarios that he could testify to that would explain away
what happened but couldn't come up with a plausible one.  But because he
seemed more worried about it than Cass did, he let it drop.  By Friday
morning, the buzz about the incident had dropped considerably.  It was old
news all ready.  The FYS weekend was the more important topic of
conversation.

	The course title for the fall semester of First Year Seminar is
"Composing the Self".  They read a heavy load of works – philosophy,
literature, biography, poetry – designed to boost self-awareness and
challenge self-image.  They are encouraged to be self-analytical in their
major writing assignments.  The Weekend was part of that for those in the
so-called experiential sections.  They also had to do community service in
that.  Designed as a two night wilderness experience and ropes course, the
thought is that students ought to confront their notions about their own
limits.  Dylan wasn't sure if that was sound thinking educationally but it
sounded fun and was an extra credit hour.  About half of the guys on 2
Reade were in the experiential section and were going.  Adams wasn't.
	They travelled in vans out of Macon all the way to Thomaston,
leaving at 2 PM.  It took an hour to get there and Dylan rode in the same
van as Cass, Dave, Mark and a couple of other guys from his floor,
including a very attractive Latino boy named Carlos.  There was a little
good natured ribbing of Cass about the shower incident, which he seemed
embarrassed about.  Mark's kidding of his roommate, Dave, though, had a
much sharper edge to it.  He seemed shocked that Dave in a situation with a
girl and a boy would do anything with the girl.  He wasn't being openly
homophobic but it had that edge.  Most of the guys from the floor got after
Mark for it though, which made Dylan feel better.  Alex was in the van,
too, and he thought the whole thing was funny.

	They made a last stop in civilization call in Thomaston at a
grocery store.  People could get last minute supplies but Dylan didn't need
any and neither did Alex.  Dylan's view, after a lifetime tramping about in
the woods and camping, was that if you don't need it, don't carry it.
Ounces add up when you're carrying them on your back.  Alex kidded him
saying that he thought the Boy Scouts taught you to always be prepared.
Dylan said he had learned how little you need.  Once everybody was back in,
they headed out for the Flint River, stopping at a bridge on a two lane
road out of town.  The river below was at a shallow ford and was a perfect
shoving off point.  Dylan got out of the van and saw that an Army truck
from ROTC was parked there with trailers of canoes.  Dylan announced that
he wasn't getting in a canoe.  He'd hike the 10 miles but he wasn't getting
in a canoe.

	"You live on a lake in South Georgia in the woods practically.  You
won't get in a canoe?" Alex asked him, his arms flung out in disbelief.

	"Boats I don't mind" Dylan snapped back, angry.

	"Boat, canoe.  It's all the same thing, dude" Cass assured him.

	"No it's not"

	Alex took him by the elbow.  "Okay, what's the deal here?"

	"When I was little, I almost drowned in a canoe.  I was with my
Granny in a canoe on my uncle's fish pond.  The canoe rolled over and I
fell in and I couldn't swim. One of my cousins dove in and saved me from
drowning.  Being there in the water is like one of my earliest memories.  I
haven't been in a canoe since.  Been in plenty of boats but not a canoe.  I
am scared of canoes.  Canoes and snakes."

	"They don't have snakes in South Georgia?" Alex asked

	"Got lots of them. I just shoot them"

	Alex thought about it.  "You can swim now, right? Here's what we'll
do, I'll be in the back, steering.  Cass in the middle and you up front,
paddling.  That will give you something to do so you won't be scared.  You
trust me and Cass, right?"

	"Okay. I'll do that."  Dylan said, looking at the canoes and the
people, male and female, heedlessly pulling them out to use.  "But if you
mess with me, rocking the canoe or stuff like that, I'll beat your brains
in with the oar.  Got it?"

	They took it down to the water, loaded their stuff in and shoved
off.  Pretty quickly, Alex steered them into a rock, getting them
stuck. Dylan handed Cass the oar and climbed out to free them.  Getting
back in, he demanded Alex move up to passenger and he would steer.  He
found being in charge relieved his anxiety more than anything.  That and
the peaceful nature of the river.  They were at the Fall line, the geologic
line that separates the coastal plain of the south from the piedmont of the
north.  Natives think of it as the gnat line, because the south has the
pesky little insects flying around and the north doesn't.  On the other
hand, the south has Spanish Moss and the north doesn't.  The river wound it
was through pine forests and was a swampy plain at times and then with the
next turn cut through a crystalline rock formation.  The float down the
river, which had only a moderate current, was a peaceful decompression into
nature.  Cass, a life-long city boy, seemed out of his element but Alex
didn't. Dylan, of course, was perfectly at home.

	They eventually headed into a sandy area beneath small bluff.  They
grounded the canoes and then pulled them up out of the river.  After
unloading the canoes, they had to hump them up the bluff where they had
brought the trailers to reload them.  Then it was to gather up the rest of
their gear and set up camps.  Since they were issued Army shelter halves,
everybody had to pair up with another to make a tent.  Alex went with the
instructor, Professor MacMahon, and Dylan partnered up with Dave, who was
in his section.  Cass had a different section.

	Finally, after eating and a long bull session by the fire, they
settled down for the night.  He and Dave had a silly banter going for a
while about bugs and snakes but eventually they feel off asleep.  Dylan
woke soon after dawn, even earlier than usual.  Since getting a morning run
was out of the question, he went about gathering some deadwood to restart
the fire.  He liked getting up before everybody else.  It was peaceful and
it gave him time to think.  He got the fire going and started some coffee.
As the aroma of it began to fill the camp, he heard some people beginning
to stir.  Wanting a few more minutes of quiet, he poured himself a cup and
walked down to the river, finding a large rock to perch on to watch the
water go by.  It seemed as if there was smoke or steam rising off of the
black water, rising up into the golden air.  Otherwise it was a fine and
clear day.  He could hear the birds singing their morning songs as he
sipped the black coffee.

	Alex came up and sat down next to him.  Fortunately, he didn't
immediately speak but instead soaked up the beauty of the scene.  Then he
finally said, "You like it out here, don't you."

	"Yeah" Dylan nodded.  He could wax philosophical about it but
seemed pointless.

	Alex sipped his coffee and said nothing more.  But perhaps it was
morning calm that inspired him or the beauty of the scenery, he couldn't
tell.  But there was something that he wanted to say out loud for the first
time and Alex would be the first to hear it.  "Can I tell you something?"

	"Sure" Alex said as he sipped.

	"I'm gay."

	Alex nestled the cup in his hands between his knees. He continued
to stare out at the river.  "Yeah" he said.

	"You don't seem surprised. I thought I hid it pretty well."

	"Yeah, you did.  But maybe not as well as you thought."

	"It's been hard," Dylan said.  "I remember when I was in middle
school, the girls started growing breasts and the boys noticed it.  Made
jokes about it mostly but they noticed.  It didn't do anything for me.  I
could have cared less.  Of course, I was a late bloomer, I guess you could
say.  I was the shortest kid in the 9th grade, still had a high pitched
voice.  All my friends started going through puberty before I did, even
kids younger than me.  The fact that they were noticing girls, making
comments about them and I wasn't, I thought it was because, you know,
nothing was happening down there.  When I went through puberty I would feel
the same way.  Now I was noticing boys.  I noticed hairy legs and veins on
their arms and that little bit of hair that goes up the belly button.  I
noticed that but I thought it was jealousy, that they had grown into
manhood and I hadn't.  But then in the summer before the 10th grade, I shot
up.  It all suddenly happened.  But I still didn't feel the same way that
they did.  Except I started having these really nasty thoughts,
particularly at night.  At first, it was about other guys, specific guys,
having sex with a generic girl.  Then I saw some porn, straight porn but
with guys in it, and it was the guy I was interested in.  I convinced
myself, tried to, that I wasn't gay, I was bisexual.  I could still have a
normal, straight life and push those things over to the side.  Then I saw
some gay porn and my fantasies changed. So I told myself that I would be
asexual.  I'd be celibate.  I would just suppress all of it."

	Alex was looking at him with sympathy.  "How did that work out for
you?"

	"Not good."

	"Didn't think so."

	"I didn't like the person I had become.  There got to be more and
more things about myself that I didn't like.  The thing was that I was
never happy.  I kept on hearing in church about how following the Lord
leads to joy but I wasn't even happy, never mind joyful." Dylan said.

	"What changed?"

	"It took a while to sink in, but it was something you said.  About
how you can be happy when you don't care what other people think about you.
I just realized I had the same right to live my life the way I want as
anybody does.  I don't go around telling people who they can marry and who
they can date and nobody has the right to tell me that either."

	"So do you have a boyfriend yet" Alex grinned.

	"No, I haven't made it that far yet," Dylan smiled as he looked
down in shyness.  "But I will.  I would appreciate it if you didn't tell
Cass.  When the time is right, I want to tell him myself."

	"Sure.  It's your story and your life, you own it. Share it however
you want. But, I'm going to tell you that Cass isn't going to care, at
least he won't be upset.  I think you two are going to find out that you
have more in common than you think."

	"You're not saying he's gay, are you.  I'm pretty sure he's not."

	"I didn't say he was.  I said you two have more in common than
either of you think." Alex said, standing up.  The people in camp were
definitely stirring now.  "Let's head back and get some breakfast."

	Their one full day in camp was devoted to the ropes course.
Dylan's section was pitted against Cass's, so they got to compete against
each other.  There was some bantering back and to and Dylan promised to
smoke him but he wasn't so sure since Cass was an athlete and he wasn't.
They started on the low ropes course, or as Dave put it the boring course.
The first was the alligator walk which was a series of platforms that they
had to navigate as a group with a 6 foot board as a mobile bridge.  Cass's
team won that one barely.  The next was the swinging log, a log on chains
suspended between two trees.  Standing on it was really hard and Dylan fell
backwards after only a few seconds, busting his butt.  Cass had better
balance and lasted a second or two longer but nearly lost his ability to
conceive children as he fell hard onto the log between his legs.  Alex did
about as well as Cass and landed on his feet.  Dave lasted the full 10
seconds.  Then they did the so-called Commitment bridge: two foot ropes
between two trees and a guide rope up high.  They went in teams of two.
Dylan and Dave made it the whole length but neither Alex and his partner
nor Cass and his partner did.

	The high ropes course was more fun.  The best one of those was the
zip line, which ended in small pond.  Dylan was all ready wet, having
fallen the high Commitment bridge.  They had to climb 50 feet and got
hooked on and then flew down.  It was so much fun that the boys kept
wanting to do it again and again.  But the best was last: rappelling.  They
had set up two rappelling lines on a rocky bluff about 35 feet high.  They
gave careful instruction and a demonstration with everybody at the base.
Then they put on the safety harness, which Dylan noted did highlight all
the boy's junk.  He had done it before at 4H camp a few times and he went
to the front of the line.  He didn't go down like a pro but did pretty
well.  The next few behind him didn't really bounce out very far and mostly
just skipped backwards down the rock face.  On Cass's line, there was a
small crevice about 6 or 8 feet down from the top.  If you landed exactly
right, you wouldn't hit rock.  The thing to do was let out a little rope
and slide down farther.  But Cass hit it exactly right, his feet went into
the crevice and he panicked.  Putting both hands on the rope in front of
him, he tried to climb back up.  The instructor yelled "belay" but the guy
at the bottom was all ready on it.  What he was doing was dangerous.  He
could fell in an uncontrolled fashion that way.  But with the rope pulled
taunt, he was going anywhere.  The instructor calmly told him what to do
and Cass calmed down.  He came down without incident.  Dylan could tell he
was a little bit shaken but, once everybody had gone once, Cass gamely went
up for a second try.  So did Dave and Alex.  He did better the second time
and then they all went a third time.  Then they gave a demonstration in the
Australian method.  That is basically running down the rock face first.
Almost everybody backed away from that one.

	"I will if you will" Dylan said to Cass.

	"Okay" Cass said slowly, drawing out the word.  If he could have
backed out without an insult to his manhood, he probably would have.

	Dave and Alex joined them.  Alex went first, which Dylan thought
was smart. It gave him less time at the top thinking about it.  Then Dylan
went.  The real way is to run but he wasn't nearly that confident.  As he
was going down his brain was protesting that he was at a very unnatural
angle to the ground.  He was a dizzy and pretty scared, going down with the
ground coming up to meet him.  Once he got down, he felt enormous relief.
Then elation.  It was like the feeling after a really good roller coaster
ride.  Cass went next and he must have felt the same.  He was moving very
slowly down the rope.  In fact, he was walking like a zombie.  He had his
head up and all Dylan could see was his huge black eyes.  He almost choked
trying not to laugh.  But Cass was pretty proud of himself when he got
down.  Then, together, they snickered at Dave's attempt because he did
pretty much the same thing.

	They were tired but happy by the time dinner came around.  All of
the sections joined together for the meal and people were sitting around in
a big group, laughing and talking.  Dylan was finished eating and was just
leaning back on his hands, taking it in next to Cass, when Alex came along
and tapped him on his arm.  With a nod of the head, he signaled them to
follow him.  He saw Dave and Carlos get up and follow him.  Then he saw
Simon with the twins heading off deeper in the woods.  They went down a
trail for a few hundred feet and then climbed the bluff.  Along with Simon,
who came from a different direction, was Professor MacMahon and another
professor Dylan didn't know.  The whole group descended into the ravine
between two bluffs next to a little stream.  They stopped there.

	"Thought we could have our own fun," he said with a devilish grin,
pulling out a fat joint from his hoodie.

	"Light it up" Professor MacMahon said.

	Dylan was stunned.  They were going to be getting high with a
couple of professors.  That was something he wouldn't have predicted.

	MacMahon looked at Dylan closely.  "I didn't think you were the
smoking kind.  I am your freshman adviser, after all."

	Dylan knew that he meant that he was down as a ministerial student.
He remembered they had a long conversation about it during orientation
weekend.  MacMahon had suggested that he not test out of Spanish, which he
could have easily done, but go ahead and take Greek as his foreign
language.  He would need it anyway in seminary so he might as well get a
head start.

	Before he could say anything, Alex piped in while handing off a
joint, "Dylan is on a journey of personal discovery.  He is probably the
one kid here who has taken the course objectives to heart.  He is composing
his self."

	"Others might argue that he has fallen in with bad company"
MacMahon said and then took a toke.  Alex was all ready sending around
another joint.

	"Not true, Andy.  Nobody was to do anything they don't want to do,"
Alex said, laughing.  "But if you want to be bad, I'm good at it."

	"Like father, like son.  Danny DeRenne was my roommate, back in my
undergrad days.  A horrible influence he was.  I could never out party him
no matter how hard I tried and I tried hard.  Actually I was friend of your
father's too, Dave.  We had some wild times."

	"I've heard stories" Dave said, taking the joint as it was passed
around.

	"No doubt embellished."

	"I wonder if Johnny ever settled down.  I haven't talked to him in
years," the other professor said.

	Dave blew out the smoke and handed the joint to Dylan.  He was able
to smoke with a minimum of coughing.  "If it has a pussy and doesn't move
fast enough, he'll fuck it," he said.

	"Sounds like Johnny" MacMahon commented.

	"My mom split when I was 10 and I moved in with him.  I got up that
first morning to get some cereal and his girlfriend was in the kitchen
naked.  I was just standing there, like big-eyed, not knowing what to do.
My Dad comes up and says to me, `what? You don't titties?'"

	"Do you like titties?" Alex snickered.

	"Not as much as a hard dick" Dave shot back.

	"I like titties just fine" Carlos observed.  Everybody just kind of
looked at him bewildered.  Carlos shrugged.  "Just saying tits are nice,
that's all."

	"Did you know Cass's brother, Dex?" Alex asked.  Neither professor
did.  So, he persisted, "They called him the werewolf because he would howl
at the moon when he was drunk."

	"Well, that runs in the family" Dylan observed.  The pot was going
to his head and he felt fine.

	"Fuck me" Cass said in mock disgust.

	"Don't invite him to do unless you're going to follow through" Alex
said.

	"I'd fuck him" Carlos said.  They all giggled.  "He's pretty sexy"

	Simon chimed in. "You're sexuality is catholic, in the sense of
being universal."

	"We'd fuck him" Ryan, one of the muscle twins, said.

	"Everybody would fuck everybody.  We'll leave it at that.  Except
perhaps the young Pastor in question."

	"I don't know" Dylan muttered.

	Alex leaned over and whispered in his ear.  "This is a safe group
to say it out loud."

	Dylan stared at Cass and tried to form the words.  "I'm gay"

	Cass looked at him quizzically, then smiled and then began to
laugh.  "Thank God"

	"What?" Dylan said, looking from Cass to Dave to Alex.

	"Dude, I haven't been sleeping naked because I thought you would
explode if I did.  You have been the tensest guy I've ever known.  You've
been weighed down by that, like I give a shit. Thank God you got that out
of the way."

	"Just kind of felt shitty for you, dude, that you couldn't say"
Dave said.  The twins and Carlos nodded.

	"I thought I had been doing a good job hiding it." Dylan said.

	"It's hard denying such a fundamental part of yourself," MacMahon
said, "and remaining a sane, normal human being.  You live in close
quarters with sexually attractive young men. Young men that you are
attracted to."

	Alex leaned back and laughed.  "All the philosophy in the world ,
all the sciences and all the learning of the ages is useless when you have
a hard on.  You won't know the sublime until you have the base pleasures."