Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:05:07 +0200
From: Vittorio Brandoni <vittorio.brandoni@fastwebnet.it>
Subject: The Most Difficult Contest 06/12 (athletics)

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THE MOST DIFFICULT CONTEST
by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2008
written on December 2, 1993
translated by the author
English text kindly revised by Acam

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USUAL DISCLAIMER

"THE MOST DIFFICULT CONTEST" is a gay story, with some parts containing
graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion,
family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better
not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't
care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my
welcomed guest.

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CHAPTER 6 - The scandal

That night Jean Paul went back to his room and wasn't seen by the
others. After a while Claude arrived too. At once he noticed his
friend's bright smile.

"Already in bed? I was looking for you downstairs. I didn't think you
had already come up... But... did something happen?"

"Yes."

"You and... he?"

"Yes."

"Really? I'm glad for you two. I won't even ask you what it was like, I
can read it in your eyes."

"We are a couple now."

"Good. But... and his family?"

"We will act so as to avoid any problem, so that everything will seem to
go on as before."

"You two won't have an easy life... and you will find it hardest."

"Nothing is easy in this world. But we love each other and that is the
important thing."

"How will you manage to meet without risking suspicion?"

"I'll find a studio for myself."

"Yes alright... but you should be very careful all the same."

"I know."

"Don't you mind the great difference in your ages? And the fact that he
has a family?"

"The age difference? I don't feel it at all. And the fact he has a
family - well that's just how it is. I don't want him to leave them as I
know that it's important to him. I know he will have to share his time
and I only hope it won't be too much of a burden. But I love him and
only want him to be happy."

"If I can help you two..."

"Thank you. If I need it I'll ask you."

"Count on me for anything I can do."

During the "camp" they managed to make love a few times - always without
risks or problems. Back to Paris Jean Paul with Claude's help succeeded
in finding a bed-sitting room in a lane in the 20th arrondissment. It
was not too expensive and had the bare minimum of furniture. It was
nothing special as a place but the fact that he could entertain Robert
there without problems made it seem wonderful in Jean Paul's eyes. Each
time the two lovers made love there their relationship grew stronger and
seemed to become even more beautiful.

During training, both were able to avoid letting anything show; they
both behaved as they always had. But when they were alone they could
show each other their love and passion for each other. Jean Paul was
improving his performance even more and all his mates were very proud of
having such a champion for a friend. All were more and more convinced
that Jean Paul would get the gold medal at the coming Olympic games.

The sports magazines too were more and more often seeking out Jean Paul.
They expected him to bring prestige to French sport. As a consequence of
that the decathlon was becoming more and more popular and many young
people were taking it up. Posters showing the handsome honest smiling
face of Jean Paul were published. But he was not interested in his
growing fame; he was totally intent on just two things - his love for
Robert and improving his performance which he thought of as an unending
gift to Robert.

When Jean Paul was alone in his bed-sitting room he sometimes gazed out
of the window - below him were the trees of a small triangular bit of
park with a busy street along each side. In front of him was a low two
storey building with a florist, a baker and a greengrocer's shops and,
behind it, the inner yard of a small hotel behind the windows of which
he could sometimes catch the shadows of people moving. As the hotel was
rather a long way away Paul didn't bother to close the curtains. That
way his room was brighter. As he could not see the people in the hotel
clearly he knew that they would not be able to see him either.

Claude was still driving him home every day; and twice each week, after
about half an hour Robert arrived and stayed until supper time. They
made love gently for a long time and enjoyed the intimacy savouring
every moment.

"Don't you find it hard on you my love that we can only meet like this
twice a week?" Robert asked him once.

"No it's not too hard. The time we have is so great it's beautiful! Of
course, if we could spend more time together it would be wonderful but
we must count our blessings."

"I'm sorry I can't offer you any more."

"What you give me already is wonderful anyway." Jean Paul protested.

"Easter holidays... I might be able to spend them alone. Francoise and
the children are going to stay at her mother's place. I told her that I
would take advantage of the break to go and visit Amsterdam... Would you
like to come?"

"Of course I will! We can stay at the same hotel..."

"Just so. I will book a single bedroom for me and a double bed one for
you and I will spend the night in yours. Just think - we can even make
love every day. And won't it be nice to fall asleep and wake up
together!"

"It will be wonderful. Can we book the rooms soon?"

"Yes of course. We will have a full week just for ourselves..."

They planned how to spend that holiday and happily looked forward to it.
When finally Easter came Jean Paul went to Amsterdam by train and
settled himself in his hotel room. Robert caught the next train as they
prudently had decided not to travel together. Jean Paul had told his
family and friends that he was going to spend the holiday on the Ccte
d'Azur so that nobody would connect their destinations. They felt they
had to adopt such subterfuges.

In Amsterdam they had a splendid time. They explored the city on foot or
by hiring bicycles or on boats but they also spent hours in tender
intimacy to exchange their growing love.

"It's so beautiful Jean Paul - spending time together without having to
check the clock all the time - or the calendar..."

"How right. But we have put up with what we can get my love."

"I miss you the whole time when we are apart."

"When you miss me just remember that I love you and that I will always
love you."

"If only we could get together more often..."

"Remember the rule you established - just twice per week. Moreover we
can't risk letting the others suspect what is between us. Don't look at
what we miss: enjoy what we have."

"You really are sweet Jean Paul!"

During the time in Amsterdam they got to know each other really well.
The talked at length about themselves, about their lives, their thoughts
and desires... Each of them wanted to be like an open book for the
other.

But their time together went by like a dream and the two lovers had to
go back to Paris - back to meetings regulated by the calendar and the
clock. Of the two, Jean Paul was best able to stand the rhythm of their
twice weekly meetings and it was the boy who gave the man the strength
to endure it.

The "spring camp" came and they were able to carry on their clandestine
encounters by taking careful precautions and thanks to the discreet
complicity of Claude to whom Jean Paul was still telling everything.
Claude for his part had found a new lover, Yan. He wasn't one of the
athletes but a younger boy he had met at the movies. Later he discovered
that Yan was in the same class as his brother.

Yan, on the pretext of studying with his brother often went to their
home while the brother was playing tennis which he did three times a
week. Yan arrived early and went upstairs into the little attic with
Claude to make love. Afterwards they went downstairs just before
Claude's brother came back and they said that Yan had just arrived...
and so everything proceeded smoothly.

Everything seemed to be going right. But what nobody knew was that
during the "spring camp" a popular Paris magazine that often published
scandal had decided to publish some issues devoted to the private lives
of the most famous French sportsmen. And among those sportsmen was the
rising star - Jean Paul.

The reporters went around chasing for news. They decided to begin by
doing some research and then eventually some interviews. Reporters with
suitable photographic equipment were put to work. Powerful telephoto
lenses took shots of Jean Paul during his training at Les Andelys.
Meanwhile another reporter found Jean Paul's address in Paris and went
to look at the neighbourhood. The position of the little hotel attracted
the reporter's attention at once. He took a room on the top floor for a
night asking for a view from the back. When he was in the room he
mounted the camera with telephoto lens on the tripod and explored the
closed window of Jean Paul's bed-sitting room. He realized that the
position was perfect - a floor higher and not exactly in front. From
that room and the room next door he would be able to take pictures of
the interior of Jean Paul's bed-sitting room from two different angles
whenever the boy left the shutters and curtains open. He thought of
booking the rooms for when Jean-Paul was expected to come back from the
spring camp. Who knows - maybe he could steal some interesting pictures
of the handsome sportsman's private life? With luck he might even get a
full frontal nude...

The research had established that the young athlete had been flirting
with Claire for some time and that they were seen around exchanging at
most a chaste little kiss or walking arms in arm. But everybody knows
that public behaviour is often a lot more reserved than what goes on in
private. The reporter was already wondering whether he could get good
shots of them from the hotel windows and imagining the caption or the
headline of the issue such as "The champion's secret training" or
"Another sort of championship performance from the handsome
Jean-Paul"...

The reporter took note of the room numbers and noticed that there was a
very useful intercommunicating door - rooms 514 and 515. He could mount
two cameras, one at each window... he just needed to know where was the
athlete's bathroom and which side his bed was on... He would get the
magazine to book these two rooms for the end of May or the beginning of
June. If the weather was warm the boy might leave his window open and
with those powerful telephoto lenses he could take shots of inside
almost as easily as from sitting on the windowsill...

Even just a shot of the nude athlete while he was changing his clothes
or coming out of the bathroom would be a good scoop. Then a few shots
taken from their van showing Jean Paul arm in arm with Claire or of the
boy doing his shopping, would complete the article.

Jean Paul went back to Paris with all the other members of his team and
resumed his habitual daily life of training and also his secret meetings
with Robert.

The end of May came and with it the hot weather so the young athlete
began to leave the window of his bed-sitting room wide open again. The
reporter who regularly walked past in front of Jean Paul house saw the
chance he had hoped for and warned the magazine which immediately booked
the two rooms at the little hotel. The reporter installed himself
straight away with all his photographic equipment loaded the cameras
with ultra-sensitive fine grain colour films. Then he set up the tripods
and mounted the barrels of the telephoto lenses and then started to keep
watch both early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

The first day he got a picture of Jean Paul getting up and changing
including a frontal nude. It wasn't perfect but he did have a half
erection. That evening he shot a very good picture of Jean Paul leaning
out of the window with his torso naked. The second day amongst the many
shots there was one rather good where the young athlete was stark naked
and answering the telephone.

And the third day... a complete sequence of pictures of Robert arriving,
of the two hugging and kissing, of the two undressing each other, of
their naked bodies on the bed and the subsequent coupling. The reporter
was excited and happy - he had in his hands a formidable scoop! He
didn't at once recognize who the man was but he already imagined the
captions "Championship pole vaulting!" or a more subtle, "Girls you
dream of him in vain ..." or "Poor Claire she's just a decoy and she
doesn't know it".

He shot one picture after another, until the two lovers got up and
dressed again. He rewound the films took them out of the cameras and
made a telephone call to the magazine just telling the editor in chief
to wait for him and went back to the office as fast as he could. He gave
the film rolls to the laboratory.

"Immediate development, the most perfect you can, and print proofs. Then
take them to Roussier at once; I'll be there."

"But I've other work to do. I'm really busy. I'll do it tomorrow."

"No, now immediately! It's red hot material - a scoop . I'll take
responsibility. Drop everything else you're doing and do what I said."
the reporter ran to the editor in chief's office.

"Roussier, the laboratory will bring the pictures here. They are a
bombshell!"

"You have been following Jean Paul Godefroy haven't you?"

"Yes the idol of all the teenage girls. This is stuff for the front
page! Just try to guess."

"He is doing drugs?"

"Not at all; a lot better than that!"

"I don't know. Front page stuff you say? What can it be? Is he married?"

"No, no, no, way better."

"Give me a clue..." the man said amused by the excited expression of his
collaborator.

"It all depends on the pictures."

"Well... I've the shots you did at the training camp here ... I didn't
notice anything odd..."

"Oh, of course not, not there. But when he's at home..." the reporter
hinted.

"Did you take shots of him in bed? While he's fucking with his
girlfriend?"

"In bed that's right but not with his girlfriend, no; he's with..."

"Is he cheating on her with another girl?" the man asked in amusement.

"Cheating, yes, but not with a girl..."

The man brightened and opened his eyes wide, "Do you mean that... that
he's a... fag?"

"Bingo!"

"Did you get shots of him kissing a man or a boy?"

"Lots better. Naked as their mothers made them and while they're fucking
like rabbits!" the reporter exclaimed triumphantly.

"Fucking hell. This really is a master scoop! We will be able to double
our print run. And, do you know who the other man is? Is he a hustler?"

"No, he's a mature man. I don't know who he is but we can tell from the
pictures so we must wait for them."

"Good. We have to discover who he is even if we have to delay the
article for one or two issues. We have to collect the evidence
thoroughly. Pictures of the man going in and coming out of the street
door. We have to put a team on the job for the handsome Jean Paul and
his paramour!"

"Hey you aren't going to rob me of the credit are you?"

"Of course not. You will direct them. You'll choose your collaborators
and if you do a good job you will deserve a rise, on my word! Aren't
those pictures coming yet?"

The pictures came and the editor recognized the man at once.

"Fucking shit. This is a double scoop! This is the national decathlon
team coach, Robert Chambret! We can do a big article on him, his life,
his career and his family... and also on Jean Paul's family! With this
material we can put half an issue together, sure thing! We need thorough
research! God look at this shot! Splendid almost good enough for a porno
magazine! And both faces clearly in view!"

The research organization was soon in motion. Without letting anything
leak out the reporters got into operation and interviewed Robert and
Jean Paul's family and friends. Without the two lovers suspecting
anything (after all it wasn't the first time that journalists had been
interested in them) the scandal monger's article was put together in
record time.

And at last the magazine appeared on the news-stands with a colour
picture on the cover with the two lovers deep kissing and a box caption
"Special friendships in sports". Inside there were fifteen pages of
article and pictures with those showing intercourse printed one on each
page. Then there were picture of Jean Paul's parents and of Robert's
wife and four children and of the national decathlon team...

The news was immediately repeated in the pages of other newspapers and
on the TV and radio news and the scandal exploded across the nation.

Jean Paul got to know about it through one of his team mates, Charles.

"Did you see this?" he asked him as soon as he saw Jean Paul entering in
the gym showing him the magazine with the picture of the kiss on its
cover.

Jean Paul went pale and while he was reaching for the magazine Charles
said, "Inside... it's even worse. You are both fucked; fucking hell."
and while Jean Paul was trembling and leafing through the magazine,
Charles said, "I'm sorry, Jean Paul... they are all bastards... you had
better find a lawyer immediately..."

Jean Paul looked at him stonily and then asked, "Has Robert arrived
yet?"

"He's in his office..."

"Does he already know?"

"I don't know. He didn't seem worried, when he came in a few minutes
ago."

"Didn't you say anything to him?"

"I didn't have the nerve."

"Is Claude here?"

"I don't think so, I haven't seen him."

"I'm going to see Robert. Tell Claude, when he gets here please."

"And... the others?"

"Whatever you think best. Anyway the cat is out of the bag now ..." the
young man answered.

With the magazine in his hand and walking as in trance, he went to knock
on Robert's office door. His head was buzzing and his heart was
palpitating. He knocked.

"Come in!" Robert said quietly.

Jean Paul entered and right in that moment the telephone on the coach
desk rang. The man made him a sign to sit down and answered the
telephone.

"Hello, Robert Chambret speaking... Yes, in person... Ah, mister
president good morning..."

Jean Paul put the magazine on the desk, in front of Robert who quietly
looked at it but at once opened his eyes wide and said to the telephone,
"I can guess what you are talking about ... No, I haven't looked at it
yet ... I don't know, I don't understand..." and so saying he started to
leaf through the magazine.

Then Jean-Paul opened it at the page showing them naked and in union on
the bed.

"Yes... of course... At you disposal... I understand... I understand,
yes... Alright... Yes, of course... yes, I understand." he said and put
down the receiver.

He looked the pictures horrified and then at the pale face of Jean Paul
and murmured, "We are finished Jean Paul. We are finished."

"We have to get a good lawyer Robert. We have to fight. They don't have
the right to..."

"By now it's too late, the damage is done. The president is coming here.
He wants my immediate resignation. He didn't say anything to me about
you but I think... I'm afraid... I already know how these matters go...
especially after such a scandal. We are going to go through days of hell
Jean Paul! My god what a downfall!"

"Robert, as it is now public knowledge, the best thing we can do is to
fight. We have nothing to lose now."

"To fight? What for?"

"To live! To assert our right to live, Robert. Our right to a private
life that has nothing to do with sport, as long as our performance is
not affected. The right to love each other without other people being
allowed to nose in our private life!" Jean Paul almost shouted.

Robert shook his head "We will have everybody against us, everybody. My
god! And now Francoise and my children too... We will all be dragged
through the mud..."

"Robert, happen what may, I love you!"

"I love you too, but... this doesn't help us at all... They will reduce
everything to a sordid stinking affair..."

"But it isn't sordid! That's why we have to fight!"

"But who will listen to us? Who will help us? Our friends will disappear
like snow in the sun, just you wait..."

"Charles is solidly behind us. And Claude too, I'm sure... and maybe
some others too..."

"Don't deceive yourself, Jean Paul," Robert said in a tired tone, "...
you should not deceive yourself. The best we can hope for is that they
won't be against us. But most of them will tear us to pieces like
vultures... I know very well how these things go. Yes I know very well."

"What should we do then? Just wait? Just let ourselves be trampled on?"

"We can just try to limit the damage, Jean Paul. You have to say I
forced you to have sexual intercourse with me against your will. If they
believe you, perhaps you might be all right. It could save you at
least."

"No, not that! Never! I will never say such a thing. The truth is
exactly the other way round, I drew you into this not you me..."

"They will never believe you started all this. And anyway it isn't
true."

"I will speak nothing but the truth, anyway. And I will surely fight
tooth and nail. Moreover Robert, they surely won't deliberately let
their best coach and their champion go, can they?"

"They can... and they will..."

"But French law doesn't punish..."

"I know. But the customs of sport ... and the pressure of public
opinion, which is always pitiless with people like us..."

"People like us? What is wrong with people like us? We love each other!"

"Exactly. We are both men and we love each other. This is wrong
according to them. The image they want their sportsmen to have - that
everybody wants - is that of the perfect man, the normal male - strictly
heterosexual."

"But what right do they have to..."

"The power of force. The right of the strong..."

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CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 7

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In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to
read them, the URL is

http://andrejkoymasky.com

If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English
translations, so that I can put on-line more of my  stories in English
please e-mail at

andrej@andrejkoymasky.com

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