Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:32:21 -0400
From: BWCTwriter <bwctadmin@cox.net>
Subject: Love Transcending Ch 5

Comments and/or constructive criticism to bwctadmin@cox.net .



Sunday morning signaled the end of our stay at the second camp, so we
once again packed our belongings up and continued canoeing on down the
lake.  It was the warmest day yet, and I even entertained the idea of
going for a swim that day, surprisingly enough.

Chris and I were very talkative that morning, joking and laughing, being
the goofballs that everyone knew us to be.  Ferd and Chuck "encouraged"
us to move a little faster, as we lagged behind the group most of the
way.  We were a little to into ourselves to get all motivated to kick
ass.

Mike and Jason attempted to race Nate and Travis for a while, but we knew
it was a lost cause.  Nate and Trav were far better at canoeing than they
were, but that certainly didn't stop them from trying.

Nick and his father spent time arguing about who should have been in the
bow, and who in the stern positions.  Chuck often used his parental
authority to make the decision, something that they could have worked out
without causing as much drama as they did.  Then again, it's not like my
opinion of Chuck was going to change anytime soon, so he might as well
play his role.

Tony and Gene toted Dr Cross as their passenger that day.  They seemed to
be having their own adult conversation which we really had no desire to
relate to.  What 16 year old wants to talk about the electrician
business?

When we stopped for lunch shortly after noon, Travis approached me
excited.  "Dude, can I please be your canoeing partner this afternoon?"

"Geez, man," I really didn't know how to answer, "I've already got
Chris.  Umm....Why don't you go ask him if he doesn't mind switching
with you?  It's really his choice, not mine."

"Ok, thanks!" he stumbled over to Chris, their conversation too far
away for me to hear.  Mumbled hysterics and excited body movements from
Travis seemed to be his way of convincing my boyfriend to hand me over
for the day.  When he started jumping up and down and screamed "Yes," I
pretty much knew that the deal had been sealed.  He gave Chris a big hug
and ran back over to me.  "He said yes!  He said yes!"

"Dude, calm down.  If you sink my canoe today I'm gonna kick your
ass!"  I playfully pushed his shoulder and he laughed and pushed me
back.  We started wrestling on the ground, and I became worried when I
noticed someone getting a little too excited over a supposedly platonic
act of goofery.  I stood up and gently pushed him away.  "Ok, Trav,
that's enough."

I sauntered back over to Chris to verify that he was cool with the
arrangement, and he surprised me with his answer.  "It'll make me even
more excited to see you tonight..."  A wink was all I needed to know
that he was cool with it and was even planning to "make up for lost
time" later that night.  I squeezed his shoulder and took my paddle and
life jacket over to Travis' canoe, giving Nate a high five as we passed
each other.

"Take care of my...." I almost faltered, "....Brother."  Yeah, that
would work.  That's not suggestive at all.

"No prob'," Nate answered in his hoarse but sweet prepubescent voice.
I hate to say that I never gave him much chance in my "people to screw"
list, because he probably deserved to be on it.  He had a deep natural
skin tone, being of Central American heritage, tight curly hair, well
developed muscles from the training of the many sports in which he was
involved.  Even his eyes were electrifying, his lips sensuous.  The damn
kid was beautiful, but, he was not for me.  I had my one and only and
wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize that.

After exchanging our personal gear, we took to water with our new
canoeing partners.  Chris got a chance to take the bow this time, as I
had occupied that position most of the week.  I was never good at the
"J-stroke" which was the foundation to properly navigating the stern of
a canoe.  I stayed in the bow and made Travis take stern, the bastard
that I was.  He didn't mind though.  As soon as there was far enough
space between us and neighboring canoes, Travis started asking me tons of
questions about Chris and I.

"So how long have you been in love?"  "Have you had sex yet?"  "How
big is his cock?"  "Is he a top or a bottom?"

"Dude," I told him, "those questions are WAY too personal...We didn't
really know about each other until the summer he left.  We..."  I paused to
let my emotions calm.  "We kissed the last night at camp.  I didn't know if
it was love or what, but I missed him so much these past few years.  I
can't believe he's moving back up to Mason."

"Cool," Travis responded.  "So you want to hear my story?"

I let Travis open up to me, telling of his first experimentations, to his
failed attempts to get Nate to give him a piece of ass, to his coming out
to his father and mother.  His cousin never treated him the same after
that.  I don't even remember his name anymore.  He rubbed me the wrong
way from day one, and my opinion never changed.

I learned that day that Travis wasn't as together as he appeared to be.
He may have been a chick magnet, but that was a side effect of his good
looks.  He wished he wasn't so popular with the ladies, because a couple
guys wouldn't approach him due to his apparent involvement in the
breeder scene.  I felt for him, and assured him that he would find the
right guy one day.  I don't know if he believed me, but that's all I
really could say to support him.

Upon arriving at our final campsite for the week, we set up camp and had
dinner, then goofed around for a while.  Travis, Chris, and I played
rummy at the picnic table, while Mike and Jason argued over what the
coolest movie of the summer was.  Nick and Nate were listening to their
CD players, which were supposed to be left behind.  No one cared though.
It's not like we were a big touchy feely troop that sat around talking
about our feelings.  Everyone had their own little cliques within the
troop, and that was fine with the leaders, as long Ferd got time to relax
and whittle, Tony and Gene talk about life, Chuck and Gary ramble about
the validity of the Bible.

Travis approached us when it grew closer to lights out with a request.
"Do you guys think I can bunk in with you two?"  He gave me his big
puppy dog eyes and desperate look to seal the deal, which I found
somewhat insulting.

He knew what we had planned to do that night, and he wanted in.  My first
instinct was to say `hell no', but I didn't want to send him away.  I
know he had Nate to hang with, but I knew that he had more in common with
us, and that talking about his sexuality would help himself as much as it
would help us.  I agreed, as long as he promised not to try and pull any
moves on us.

Travis giggled and responded, "I promise."

We took his word for it and told him to go grab his sleeping bag.  He
dashed off towards his tent, and came back within seconds, pronouncing
"I'm ready."

I just shook my head and pushed him inside the tent.  He fell on top of
his sleeping bag and pack then started laughing.  He goofily threw his
stuff in the corner and set up his sleeping bag.

We followed him in, sitting on our own sleeping bag.  I saw the
disappointment in his eyes to see that he was not a part of our
relationship.  I could understand, but I would not let this situation get
out of hand.  Three is a crowd for a relationship, and if he were to
manage his way into our lives, things would get heated.

"Look, Trav," I explained, "It's not that we don't like you, it's
just different.  Chris makes me feel awesome in every way I can imagine.
He lights up my spirits just by being near me.  I like you too and always
have, but you're more like a little brother to me.  Shit, were almost 3
years apart."  Travis was visibly saddened by the realization that there
would be no chance for him to be in a relationship with me or Chris.  I
hugged him close for a minute and continued.  "So, I've got a
boyfriend.  You know what I need though?  I need a loyal best friend.  I
need a brother.  Think you could pull that off?"

"Hell yes!" he answered back.  "Now....does being your brother includes
any occasional `messing around' perks?"

I rolled my eyes and shoved his head away with my hand.  "You wish...."
I slipped into the sleeping bag with my lover, and then we disappeared
under the covers for a couple minutes.  I put my finger to Chris' lips
and pulled down his underwear, then quickly tore off my own.  Lifting the
sleeping bag from atop our heads, I saw Travis staring, as I expected,
lust and jealousy in his eyes.  I knew he wouldn't do anything now that
the rules had been plainly spelled out, but that didn't mean he didn't
want to be part of our intimate pleasures.

I smiled slyly at Travis and teased him.  "You want `perks' do you?"
I tossed our undies in his face and said "here.  Have fun."

Chris and I started laughing hysterically at his perplexed expression,
which changed quickly to one of admiration at his own cunning devilry.
He put our briefs up to his nose and took a big whiff, then said
"ahhhhhhhh."

Chris and I both sat up in shock.  "Holy shit!"  We looked at each
other and laughed, then looked back at our voyeur of a tent mate.

"Dude," I said, "that's just wrong!"

"So," he retaliated, "you suck him off every night.  This is the same
shit that comes out of him."

"Yeah, but still," Chris added, "that's just weird."

"You're just pissed that you didn't think of it first," was Travis'
attempt to gain back a little respect.

"Psh...." Chris retorted, "I think not."

I laughed to myself about the whole situation once it was over.  We all
settled down again and Chris and I snuggled up together, warm and content
with our naked bodies pressed against each other.  I have to admit the
nights we slept naked did not rejuvenate us very well, as our erections
kept us up half the night.

At around 2:30 in the morning, I threw the covers back and sat up, Chris
following suit.  "I can't sleep with `this'," I pointed to my
erection.

"Neither can I," my boyfriend agreed.  Silently we decided that a quick
hand job would suffice.  Each of us grabbed each other's erection and
slowly stimulated our partner.  I bit my lip to keep from moaning, and
had to chastise Chris to keep it down, as well.

Travis kept quiet, all the while watching us helping each other get off
and silently masturbating under the covers of his own sleeping bag.  We
saw him the whole time, and I even tried to play up our show, rubbing my
other hand over Chris' body, kissing his neck and chest.  I knew that
Travis would blow his load in a second if I did what I wanted to do, so I
decided to hold off on any anal stimulation.  Besides, I didn't know if
Chris was ready for that yet.

Chris and I were humping each other's fist as we edged closer and closer
to orgasm.  Once again, I was producing ample precum that night, the
white goo trickling down my shaft, gliding over the skin of my testicles,
and dripping slowly on the bedding.  Chris didn't seem very productive
right then, at least not of precum.  I was really close to orgasm at this
point, and my hip gyrations began to lose pace.  I stopped stimulating
Chris, threw my head back and viciously fucked Chris' soft silky hand.
Within twenty seconds I gave birth to a most wonderful orgasm that shook
my entire body, blinding me to everything around me but that feeling.

As I came down from my high feelings, I realized that I was neglecting my
lover, who sat there patiently awaiting my assistance.  It looked like he
was about to take matters into his own hands when I shot up straight,
pushed his hand away and went back to work, feverishly working away at
his cock.  He came in a powerful orgasm which I imagine was as awesome as
my own.  We sank into the sticky sleeping bag and embraced each other,
falling asleep soon after.

Travis was so kind as to make sure we were covered up, so as to avoid any
shocking discoveries in the morning.  Well, at least he wasn't trying to
sabotage our relationship.  Maybe this whole "friend and brother" deal
would work out after all.

            Monday morning came all too soon.  Both Chris and I were
still pretty tired from our lack of sleep and vigorous sexual activity
from the night before.  Travis, by contrast, was awake and chipper as
ever, and was dressed and out the door before I even had my glasses on.

I groaned and stretched my arms.  "Last night was great."

Chris yawned, "yep...I wonder if Travis took any pictures for the scrap
book?"

We both laughed out loud, knowing full well that any pictures of us
together would certainly not end up in ANY scrapbook belonging to the
troop.  Although, as I thought about it, they would make a handy addition
to the inside of my pillow case at home, where I could take them out if I
was missing my love on a lonely night, of which I hoped there would be
none.

It was the second to last day of our trip, and we planned to cover ¾ of
the distance left back to the outfitter.  It was no long stretch by any
means, as we had worked our butts off the past few days to make our last
couple easier.  We quickly shoveled our food down our gullets, barely
coming up for air, then packed up our gear and got ready to go.

We left around 9 that morning and canoed until we stopped for a late
lunch at two in the afternoon.  Around 3:30, we reached our last portage
of the trip.  It was not the longest portage by far, but we would
certainly be glad when it was over.  We were excited that this would be
our last portage and we from one side to the other in no time flat.  We
even ran into another troop on the way, heading in the opposite direction
as we were.  Pleasantries were exchanged briefly while we kept lugging
the equipment across the land bridge.

We were packed up and canoeing again in no time flat, growing ever closer
to our home base.  We decided to grab the closest site to the outfitter,
and set up camp there for the night.  We only had about one mile to go
the next day to finish our journey, so this was a perfect place to stop.

All of us boys were energized that day, goofing around and playing games
before, during, and after setting up camp, and we even sat down together
after dinner and discussed the good points and bad points of the trip.

"Good friends," one scout said.

"Awesome food," Nick added.

"Portaging was fun," Chris commented.  I bonked him on the head and
cracked up laughing after hearing such a silly idea.  Who in this whole
group was crazy enough to LIKE portaging??

The truth was, we all loved it, and every other second of the trip.  I
knew that this was something I would hold sacred for the rest of my
life.  To this day even, I still view that week as the week that I
learned to live and to love again.  I looked around the fire ring, taking
mental pictures of all the people that I shared this awesome week with.

Chuck: the overly religious but kind-hearted preacher that brought
this     reunion together

Gary: the gigantic child

Tony: the proud father

Ferd: the old-fashioned war vet who constantly ragged on us all

Tim: the brainy doctor

Michael: the clown

            Jason: the techno-geek

            Nick: the soft-spoken romantic

            Nate: the kind-hearted and sexy stud.

            Travis: the affectionate extrovert, who could make anyone
feel good

            Chris: My boyfriend, my lover, my life

            I knew that once this week was over, the camaraderie we
shared in our tight knit group would fade, our friendships would weaken,
and we would ultimately move on some day, leaving our childhood friends
behind and looking to the future.   Knowing the predictable outcome of
such friendships, I promised myself that, despite the overwhelming odds,
I would keep in contact with this, my family, as long as I had a breath
in my body.



It was another cuddly night for Chris and I.  We thought that the amount
of time we had left would be spoiled by any sexual activities.  Instead
we held each other close in bed, savoring each other's presence, the
warmth of our bodies, smell of each others breath, and the infinite depth
of our eyes.

I looked briefly over to Travis, whom we knew needed some comfort.  I
looked back at Chris to seek his approval for what I was going to say,
Chris silently agreeing with my idea.

"Damn," I commented, "there's too much room in this sleeping bag.  We
could use an extra body to help fill it up."

Travis' eyes lit up like firecrackers, hope burning in his heart that
there was still room in our relationship with him.  I knew he would most
likely take this to mean more than it was, so I made it clear to him
before he sat down, that this was an entirely platonic gesture.

"Travis," I started, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way.
We like you as a friend and a brother ONLY.  I know it's tough for you
and we want to include you in our FRIENDSHIP.  But this is where the line
is drawn, ok?  Don't try and pull any funny business on us, or you're
out, got it?"

Travis looked down at his lap.  He knew he'd lost the war for inclusion
into our relationship.  I could see him wipe away stray tear before he
looked up and smiled, saying "I got it," then quickly scooting in
between us and cozying himself inside the sleeping bag.  He lay there on
his back, shifting his eyes back and forth to Chris and I as we sat on
our sides, heads propped up by our elbows, each of us giving him
thoughtful stares.

I was the first to speak.  "Trav, I know it's hard for you and all, but
at least you have a couple of good friends you can talk to.  You'll
always be my little brother, and whatever I can do to help you through
all this relationship stuff, just ask."

"And if you need some help finding a boyfriend," Chris suggested, "I
know a lot of girls connected to the gay network in Mason."  He winked
at Travis and smiled.

Travis was visibly less stressed after our short but meaningful
conversation, knowing now that he wasn't alone in the trials and
tribulations that lie ahead.  He had two advocates and a host of female
friends who could help him find a boy that was right for him, teach him
how to be careful, and give him support when he needed it most.

Chris and I beamed with pride at the idea that we had taken a young cub
under our wing; a boy that was reaching out for love and compassion.  I
hoped we could help him get what he needed from us and from whatever boy
he connected with in the future.

The three of us wound out of our deep conversation, then just started
reminiscing all the fun times of the past week.  There we were, on the
eve of our last day at Boundary Waters, sharing our perspectives on the
trip.  I don't know how long we talked that night, but it didn't
matter.  We were high with happiness and anticipation of our impending
arrival back into the civilized world, back with the families that missed
us so, back in our warm and comfortable beds, forever cherishing the
memories we created that week in august of 1997, the summer to remember.


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