Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:33:21 -0400
From: pertinax carrus <perti@live.com>
Subject: Bryce, Chapter 17

This story is fiction.  The city of Clifton, and the University of Clifton,
exist only in my imagination.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or
dead, is purely coincidental.  These stories have as their main character a
sexually active gay college student.  If this is offensive to you, or if it
is illegal in your area, or if you are under age, please leave now.

This story involves a search for personal acceptance, worth, and meaning.
There is a religious element in these stories.  If you don't like that,
maybe now is a good time to leave.

My stories develop slowly.  If you're in a hurry, this is probably not for you.

Thanks to Colin for editing.

Constructive comments are welcome on my e-mail at perti@live.com.

____________________________________________________________________

Bryce, Chapter 17 - A Few Ups and Downs

     When Bryce got back to his room, he felt the need for a shower.  After
all, having beer poured over one might sound great, but it was pretty
sticky.  Besides, he was embarrassed.  Every single person in that bar had
to make some kind of comment, it seemed to him in his distracted frame of
mind, and more than one said something about a lovers' quarrel.  They may
have been joking, but Bryce felt totally exposed.  He did not know whether
Damon was in his room or not, and decided he did not care.  He stripped,
putting his beery shirt and jeans into the laundry, and headed to the
shower.
     When he stepped out, there was Damon, standing quietly -
unaccustomedly quietly - in the corner of the bathroom, fully clothed, with
his history book in his hand.  With a look like a bad puppy who wanted
forgiveness and acceptance, Damon said, "You going to help me prep for my
exam tomorrow?"
     The very balls-y-ness of the request immediately wiped away any
resentment Bryce felt towards his boyfriend.  He broke out in loud
laughter.  After regaining control of himself, Bryce approached a now
grinning Damon.  He kissed him lightly on the lips.
     "Let me put on some clothes, or you won't be able to concentrate on
history," he boasted.
     Damon followed Bryce into his room.  In only minutes, they were deep
into prepping Damon for his test.  They spent two hours at it, by which
time Damon was shooting answers back at his tutor like a pro.  About 1:30
they broke up.
     As Damon rose to return to his own room, Bryce said, "About earlier.
Maybe you have a point."
     "Yeah.  I do," the cheeky lad responded, then slipped away with all
his old insouciance.
     Over lunch in the basement food court on Friday, Damon reported that
he felt good about his exam.  "I aced that fucker.  Or at least nothing
less than a B," he predicted.  Then he leaned over towards Bryce and
sniffed.  "You still smell like beer."
     Bryce nearly killed him.  Well, he wanted to.  Sort of.  The thing
was, his involuntary shout when Damon said that attracted lots of
attention, just like last night, so Damon pranced off in triumph, while
Bryce slunk away.  Outside, however, Bryce caught up to his boyfriend, and
pounded him unmercifully all the way to Audubon Hall for their Biology
class.  Damon was laughing his head off at Bryce's red face and embarrassed
air.  Bryce caught him right at the entrance to the building, and nailed
him against the wall.  He looked at his boyfriend, and could not help it.
He broke into a wide grin.
     "You're impossible," he told Damon.
     "I'm irresistible," Damon responded.
     That evening was a party at the fraternity, so the pledges had to turn
out to do the dirty work, making sure the brothers, their dates, and any
paying guests had a good time.  There was not much difference between this
party and the one on Labor Day, so there were no real surprises.  The best
thing about it, as far as Bryce was concerned, was that no one vomited
where he had to clean it up.  He and Damon managed to get enough to eat and
drink between looking out for the brothers and guests.  The worst aspect of
the party was Mack Campbell, who seemed to delight in having Bryce fetch
him another beer, or something to eat, or something else.  He was not
certain, but he suspected that Mack was high on something, but that did not
make his attitude any more pleasant.  Just as on Labor Day, when they were
finally released to go home, Bryce and Damon were disgustingly sober.
     On Saturday morning, Bryce was again up early and working out at the
gym.  Not as early as during the week, but still earlier than most other
users of the facility.  Bryce did not call Curtis, not wishing to catch him
in an awkward situation once again.  He confined his work-out to sets which
posed no danger, and was doing very well, when Curtis appeared on his own.
Only then did Bryce undertake his bench presses.  As they helped each
other, or worked-out side by side, they talked.
     "How you doing with pledging?" Curtis asked.  "Not giving up on us
after only two parties, are you?"
     "Naw.  Last night wasn't too bad.  No one puked," Bryce replied.
     Curtis chuckled.  "I remember having to do that my pledge semester.
You'll get over it."
     "Man, I hope so.  I can still smell it."
     "That's your imagination.  Memory.  Not actual smells," Curtis
asserted.
     "Maybe, but that doesn't help," Bryce complained.
     "You and Mack getting along okay?" Curtis continued.
     "Okay," Bryce replied tersely.
     Curtis looked at him questioningly, but Bryce declined to follow up.
Instead, he went off in a different direction.  "Damon says I think too
much."
     "What's that mean?  We're at a university.  We're supposed to be
thinking," Curtis responded.
     "I think he means I try to analyze everything too much, instead of
going ahead and acting," Bryce supplied.
     Curtis paused before responding.  "Have you and Damon decided whether
you're actually boyfriends?" he asked.
     "Yeah.  We are," Bryce said with a grin.
     "Then, I think Damon probably knows you a good deal better than I do."
     "That's a cop out," Bryce complained.
     "Not entirely.  Thinking things through is important, but sooner or
later you have to act, even if you don't have absolutely certain answers to
every question.  I'm a Civil Engineering major.  I need to know all the
specifications available before I set out to build a bridge.  But if I wait
until absolutely every question is answered, including all the peripheral
ones, that bridge will never get built," Curtis informed his friend.
     Leaving the gym, Bryce thanked Curtis for his advice.  Despite other
distractions, over that day, and many others, he struggled to fit his newly
admitted sexual reality into the other realities of his life.  Despite the
progress in his relationship with Damon, Bryce still was uncertain just how
his recognition of his sexual orientation would play out in his future.
There remained many unresolved issues.  Sometimes by his conscious effort,
sometimes by what seemed to be the merest chance, Bryce was coming to
answer some of those vital questions he had fled home to pursue.
Undoubtedly, the greatest answer thus far was the admission made by Bryce
in the small park the day after he and Damon were invited to pledge Sigma
Alpha Tau.  Bryce was gay.  He was not pleased with this realization.  For
him, it posed as many questions as it answered.  Not pleased, perhaps, but
relieved.  Having one answer, one thing which was definite and settled, was
a positive relief.  Bryce wanted certainty.  He wanted, he needed, answers,
answers which promised solidity, truth.  His whole soul yearned for truth,
and in admitting that he was gay, he believed he had discovered a truth
about himself which was rock bottom, undeniable.
     Unfortunately, that realization, that truth, brought with it another
set of questions.  How does this one truth relate to other truths about
Bryce?  Family had always been important in his life.  How does being gay
fit into the context of the Winslow family?  Bryce was not concerned so
much about family as dynasty, as genealogy.  He was not really concerned
about those colonial ancestors, the way his grandfather was.  But he was
concerned about the family he knew and, yes, loved.  Bryce loved his
family.  He loved his mother above all, and would not willingly disappoint
or distress her.  Could he ever tell her about this latest realization
about himself?  If he did, how would she react?  Then there was his sister,
Nan.  Mary Anne Victoria Winslow, now away at another college, studying,
partying, enjoying her college experiences, presumably, just as Bryce was
presumably enjoying his, as far as anyone in his family knew.  Nan was very
bright.  She would be the one to keep the family fortune intact.  God knew,
it would not be Chip.  Chip would do as a figurehead.  He could look
imposing when he tried, but there was precious little behind the fa‡ade.
There were times when Bryce felt that their father knew this, times when he
looked at Chip and wondered how he could have sired this vacuous playboy.
Bryce had seen it in his father's eyes.  But then, his father had more or
less counted on having two sons to carry on, and Bryce had let him down as
much as Chip.  Chip could not help what he was, or was not.  He was window
dressing, a nicely turned out surface.  He did not choose to be that way,
he just was.  Bryce, on the other hand, had seemingly deliberately
disappointed his father.  He had refused to become involved in the business
world.  He had no interest in corporate law.  He was, in his father's
opinion, a dreamer, interested in tales of the past.  Like, yet unlike, his
grandfather.  Grandfather was obsessed with the Winslow family genealogy,
but he never allowed that obsession to interfere with good business.  He
was a businessman to his fingertips.
     But Bryce, Bryce had no head for business.  Even as a child, he had
given away his allowance when a boy at school needed lunch money.  He had
been a scout, and had taken the obligation to be "helpful, friendly,
courteous, and kind" seriously.  He had also listened enrapt to the stories
of Jesus as told by his grade school teachers.  "Blessed are the poor?"
His father, and society, saw that as nonsense, but Bryce found it a guide
to life.  Bryce was hopeless in the business world, and so Sterling had
allowed him to go away, to pursue his foolish idea of being a teacher, of
attempting to impart to the young an appreciation of the past.  Even so,
even though Bryce knew he was a great disappointment to his father, he
still loved him, and did not wish to cause him additional pain.  How would
his father respond to the news that his second son was not only a dreamer,
but also a homosexual?  Could he reconcile his newly admitted sexual
orientation with his love for his family?  Was there any chance of
acceptance?  Would he have to go through life hiding his true nature from
his family?  Was the only alternative rejection and alienation?  Those were
real possibilities, as illustrated by Maddy Moore's family, but
possibilities he never wanted to see become realities.
     As a result of this ambivalence towards his family, Bryce kept his
weekly telephone talks with his mother to safe topics.  He discussed his
classes, his professors, his love of the liturgy at St. Boniface, his
activities as a pledge (some of them, anyway), but never the things which
were most on his mind.  He felt as though he were cheating.  He was not
being honest, and that disturbed him.  But he did not know what else to do.
Above all, he feared rejection.  If his family turned on him, the way Bobby
Moore's had, what would he do?  Bryce was fairly certain he would not
commit suicide, but he did not know what he would do.  He knew any such
outcome would leave him devastated.  So, he equivocated.  He avoided
speaking about the really important things, either in his phone calls to
his mother, or his e-mails to her and other members of the family.
     Right up there with family was Church.  Bryce's admission that he was
gay brought with it some definite tensions with his Church.  Even as he was
still working towards admitting his own sexual identity, he concluded that
the position of the Catholic Church on homosexuality was irrational.  There
seemed to be a serious tension, even a contradiction, within the position
taken by the hierarchy in their public statements.  If, like some of the
fundamentalists sects, the Church had continued to insist that
homosexuality was a choice, and hence something which could be accepted or
rejected by the individual, the position of the hierarchy would at least
have the virtue of consistency.  But, as dense as the bishops seemed to be
at times, in the end they could not continue to ignore the clear evidence
of science.  Scientists might disagree about exactly what caused
homosexuality, and how it fit into their paradigms of natural selection,
but there was virtually no real disagreement that sexual orientation was a
given, something over which the individual had no choice.  The bishops
accepted this, but refused to take the next logical step.  They refused to
accept the validity of same-sex unions.  They seemed to insist on
homosexuals leading emotionally empty lives by stating that there was no
legitimate way to bless the intimate union of one male (or female) with
another.  More and more, it seemed to Bryce that this was a position which
was not only irrational, but also a violation of the demands of charity, or
the love of one's fellow humans, which was such a central part of the
message of Jesus.
     Which led him to a consideration of the obvious matter of sex.  Bryce
had engaged in sex quite a few times while in high school, always with a
female.  Most of the time, he now realized, he was trying to avoid facing
the truth about himself.  Those sexual encounters were not expressions of
love.  They often involved no real feeling for the other person.  They
were, in most instances anyway, not even expressions of a natural lust.  He
was denying his natural inclinations, trying to blot out his natural
feelings.  He had been told by his teachers and by the priests that the
sort of things he was doing was sinful.  He was now willing to admit that,
but not for the same reasons as those preached by Father Flannigan.  Like
most young people, and many older ones as well, he had never really been
convinced that all sex outside marriage was sinful.  But he was now willing
to concede that what he had been doing was sinful, not because it was
lustful and extra- marital, but because it was unnatural for him, hence
untruthful and dishonest, and, even more, because he was using others as
things, not respecting them as humans with the same essential dignity as he
possessed.  Bryce remembered that, in his crucial encyclical Rerum novarum
of 1891, Pope Leo XIII had severely criticized the capitalist society of
the day precisely because it treated human beings as commodities to be
bought and sold, thus violating their human dignity.  This was an aspect of
Catholicism which his father had never accepted, perhaps never really
considered, but one which Bryce had absorbed from his high school religion
classes.  This was part of that "dreaminess," that "lack of good business
sense," which so distressed his father.  But it seemed reasonable to Bryce
that, if it was wrong to treat humans as things in an economic context,
then it must also be wrong to treat them that way in a sexual context as
well.
     Agreeing with the Church on the dignity of the individual, Bryce still
found himself in conflict with the pronouncements of the hierarchy on
homosexuality.  How far could he go in his disagreement and still remain a
Catholic?  That was a new question which demanded an answer.  Was accepting
these pronouncements necessary to remain a good Catholic?  So, as Bryce was
rational and judgmental, as indicated by his psychological testing, he now
had to face the consequences of his acceptance of his homosexuality.
Either he would find in another male a partner with whom he could live a
life based on love, and on respect for the human dignity of the other, or
else he would have to remain celibate.  He could not see himself living an
aimless, promiscuous life.  If he formed an intimate relationship with
another male, including a sexual relationship, could he remain in the
Church?  Neither could he see himself leaving what had been such an
intimate part of his life, especially as he believed in almost everything
else the Church stood for.  If he remained in the Church, could he remain
celibate, as the Church seemed to insist?  How far could he apply the
teachings of the hierarchy in his personal life?  Already, Bryce had gone
longer without sexual release, except at his own hand, than at any
comparable time since he first had sex at age fifteen.  But it was not
easy, and was becoming less acceptable day by day.  If he found, as he
expected, that he could not live a celibate life, what did this mean as far
as his relation with his Church was concerned?  Bryce had never considered
himself devout, much less fanatical, but he had also never considered
leaving the Catholic Church.  Being Catholic was ingrained into him, and on
most topics he believed that the Church had the right answers.
     If Bryce were to accept a sexual relationship with another guy, the
obvious choice was right next door.  He now accepted Damon as his
boyfriend.  And that was in itself very strange.  It did not seem strange
to Bryce that Damon was gay.  By now, Bryce and Damon accepted each other
as gay, and had no difficulty talking to each other about that.  Ever since
that memorable day in the park, Bryce had acknowledged to Damon his sexual
orientation, and even discussed it with him freely.  He had gone further,
and included Damon in his psychological experiments, facing up to his
orientation and his other personality traits in a more personal and
intimate manner than he had ever done with anyone else.  Not since
childhood had Bryce felt so comfortable talking about himself to another
person.  He knew that Damon wanted to have sex with him.  He wanted that,
too.  But he just could not let go of his inhibitions telling him this was
wrong.
     Of all the people Bryce had come to know at all well since arriving in
Clifton, Damon was in many ways the least likely choice for an intimate
friend, much less a life partner.  Although Bryce had never really known
another black person, there was still an atmosphere in his social circles
back home that blacks were in some way socially unacceptable.  Yet, from
the first time he laid eyes on Damon, he was attracted to him.  His race
simply did not seem to matter.  But, even if that were set aside, Damon
came from a totally different social and economic background than did
Bryce.  His speech was sometimes rough and often vulgar.  His manners were
far from polished.  His prior experiences could not have been more
different if he had been raised on another planet.  Damon was spontaneous,
whereas Bryce was cautious.  Damon did not mind being noticed, even being
outrageous, whereas Bryce preferred to remain on the sidelines.  Damon
professed no religion and rather flexible morals, whereas Bryce was quite
serious and regular in his observances.
     But, despite all this, the two were attracted to each other, they
enjoyed each other's company, they played off each other, and they
respected each other's intelligence.  So, Bryce was willing to accept
Damon's embarrassing behavior, and Damon was usually willing to be patient
with Bryce's obsessive need to reason out his position.  His frustration
with Bryce's hesitations had resulted in a beer wasted over Bryce's head,
but that incident had blown over within an hour.
     Bryce was aware that Damon had previous homosexual experiences.  Damon
said as much in casual conversation.  He also became aware that Damon was
having sexual encounters there on campus.  He knew nothing specific, and
would never ask.  Damon never spoke about it.  Bryce was not sure just what
made him certain of this, but there it was.  This, too, would eventually
need to be worked out.  For the time being, Bryce considered that Damon had
the same, or even stronger, sexual needs as did he, but had none of the
internal restraints on those desires which made it impossible for Bryce to
seek satisfaction.  Consequently, while it bothered him, especially as he
did not know how safe Damon was being, he accepted that this was a side of
his friend he would simply have to live with for now.
     An additional complication was introduced, on the Sunday after the
pledges worked that first regular Sigma Alpha Tau party of the semester.
On that day, 20 September, Damon attended Mass at St. Boniface for the
second time with Bryce.  They again encountered the Sandovals and enjoyed a
brief exchange with them before the service.  Unfortunately, it was again a
Sunday when Father Payne preached, and even more unfortunately he chose to
condemn a series of offenses including contraception, extra-marital sex,
and homosexuality.  Bryce again had his reading materials with him, as his
mother had suggested, but even so he could not miss the completely rigid
position taken by the pastor.  He was embarrassed by this sermon, but hoped
it was sufficiently garbled that Damon would miss the references to
homosexuality.  Bryce noticed that, less than half way though the sermon,
the entire Sandoval family got up and left the church.  He was tempted to
follow, but did not want to embarrass Damon.  They must have returned at
some point, as he saw Mike again at communion time, but at that time, too,
Damon remained in the pew.  Afterwards, no one said anything.  There was an
uneasy silence on the whole subject over dinner and throughout the
afternoon.  Bryce and Damon, along with several other SATs, helped out at
the soup kitchen, then adjourned to the fraternity house for a few beers.
Later in the evening the two friends headed back to their dormitory.  The
angry storm cloud which had been hovering all day at last burst.
     "That preacher of yours doesn't like us much," Damon commented as they
entered Bryce's dorm room.
     "No," Bryce admitted.  "There are a lot of things Father Payne doesn't
like, and we're on the list," he sighed.
     "He's kind of hung up on sex, isn't he?" Damon persisted.
     "I think so.  To tell the truth, I usually do what my mother
recommended, and take something to read during his sermons.  I find him
annoying," Bryce conceded.
     "If he annoys you, why do you go?" Damon wanted to know.
     "Well, Father Payne doesn't preach every week.  Besides, I like
everything else about the liturgy at St. Boniface," Bryce defended himself.
     "Yeah, well, that was pretty in-your-face this morning.  In fact, if I
were not there with you, I would have walked out," Damon said forcefully.
     "I know.  I'm sorry.  I would never have subjected you to that if I
had known beforehand what his subject was to be.  I felt like walking out,
too, but I thought it might embarrass you."
     "What embarrassed me was sitting there and having that man tell me I
was something less than fully human.  I don't see any difference between
the kinds of things he said about gays, and the kinds of things racists say
about us blacks.  I'm not going back to your church, Bryce, no matter
what!" Damon angrily responded.
     "I understand.  I'm sorry," Bryce hung his head and replied sadly.
     "But you are, right?"
     "Well, yeah."
     "I don't get you.  Your Church insults you, but you keep going back.
What is this, some kind of masochism?" Damon demanded.
     "I'm working on all that, Damon.  I still believe in the Church.
Father Payne is not the Church.  I believe in almost everything she
teaches.  I believe she does a great deal of good in the world, and I
believe she is the true Church founded by Christ, who is the Savior of
mankind.  At the same time, I believe she is totally wrong when it comes to
what she says about homosexuality, and in fact is off base on most of her
sexual teachings.  It's all very complicated.  I'm trying to work out in my
own mind how the true Church could be so wrong on something as basic as
sex," Bryce agonized.
     Damon sat at Bryce's desk, pondering what his friend said.  He looked
as though he did not understand Bryce at all, but felt sorry for him
nonetheless.  Then he rose and moved towards Bryce, who was seated on his
bed.
     "On Thursday when we were in Pat's you went on and on about trying to
figure everything out.  Sometimes you just can't figure everything out,
Bryce.  Do you remember what I said at that time?"
     "You mean before you wasted a perfectly good beer by pouring it over
my head?" Bryce asked with a grin.
     "That's the time," Damon responded.
     "Something about action being more important than theory, wasn't it?"
Bryce asked, wondering what Damon had in mind as he continued to move
closer.  "Fortunately, we don't have any beer here," he added.
     "No, but the principle is the same.  Damn it, Bryce, you think too
much.  Sometimes you just have to go with your gut feelings."  By this time
Damon was standing right next to Bryce.
     Bryce leaned back on his elbows.  "What kind of atrocity do you have
in mind now?" he asked.
     "Stand up," Damon ordered.
     "What?"
     "Just stand up."
     Slowly, Bryce stood.  He was inches away from Damon, closer than
comfort for a normal conversation.  But Damon did not have conversation in
mind.
     No sooner had Bryce risen to his feet than Damon threw his arms around
him, pulling him close, and then kissed him on the lips.
     Bryce was surprised, taken totally unawares.  At first, he made feeble
efforts to escape.  That ended quickly.  Then there was the passive phase,
when Bryce did not resist, but did not respond either, represented by his
hands dangling at his side.  That, too, quickly passed.  Bryce began to
react, first to the kisses, then by placing his arms around Damon and
returning his embraces.  His lips opened, and he allowed Damon's tongue to
enter the cavity of his mouth.  A lingual duel ensued, in which Bryce was
as much aggressor as defender.  Damon began to run his hands up and down
Bryce's back, then grasped his buttocks and pulled his boyfriend into
himself.  Bryce responded, feeling the muscles rippling beneath Damon's
shirt.  Damon exerted a little pressure, and both men fell onto the bed
without breaking their embrace.  They continued to kiss and caress each
other, as Bryce moved his hand up to Damon's face, allowing his fingers to
lightly flick across his cheek, then settle on the nape of his neck as he
held his partner close.  As they scooted themselves up on the bed, this
closeness extended the entire length of their two bodies, with Damon's
right leg pressed between Bryce's thighs.  Each became aware that the other
was now experiencing a hard-on, which was pressing against the fabric of
his jeans and poking the other, letting the other know he was enjoying
this.
     The kissing and cuddling lasted at least twenty minutes.  By then,
Bryce seemed to have lost even a shadow of resistance.  When they finally
came up for air, Bryce giggled like a ten year old.  "Yeah, I guess
sometime those gut feelings just have to win out," he conceded.
     "We're not finished yet," Damon proclaimed.  He sat up, and stripped
away his shirt, revealing a smooth, well-muscled torso.  Briefly, Bryce
wondered how his friend kept himself in such good shape when he did not
work out nearly as often as he.  That thought was swamped in other
sensations, as Damon grabbed Bryce's shirt and proceeded to remove it as
well.  Then Damon leaned in, kissed Bryce lightly on the lips, but
immediately moved down, kissing his throat, then settling on his right
nipple, where he began to kiss and suck and nibble.  Bryce drew in his
breath sharply, never having experienced this sensation before.  In theory,
he knew that the nipples were erotic zones, as he had seen enough on the
gay sites to which Damon exposed him to have noticed that, but, as he found
again, theory and practice were two very different things.
     Bryce became aware that someone was moaning, and being quite loud
about it.  Then he realized that the someone was he.  His hands were on
Damon's head.  He moved rhythmically as pleasurable sensations washed over
his body.  Damon moved a hand down, caressing Bryce's stomach, then,
leaping over the belt of his jeans, settled on his crotch.  Bryce
automatically jerked, but did not try to disengage.  He felt his package
being kneaded, which built up a force which he could not control.  The
combined sensations of Damon's lips and tongue on his breast and Damon's
fingers on his genitals created a volcanic pressure which demanded release.
     "Damon," Bryce panted, "if you don't let up, I'm going to shoot in my
jeans."
     The only response from Damon was what felt like an increase of
stimulation in both areas.
     "Damon!  I can't hold back!  I ...  Dame ...  You ...  Oh!  Oh, fuck!"
     Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, Damon kissed Bryce on the lips again,
then rose to his feet.  "That's just a taste.  We'll take it to the next
level next time, but I don't want to overload your circuits all at once."
Snatching up his shirt, he departed.
     Bryce lay on his bed, panting, wondering at the sensations which had
coursed through his body.  This, he decided, was definitely a good thing.
It really was nothing like his fumbling and groping with girls in high
school.  This was natural for him, and Damon was special.
     Over the next weeks, the two found opportunity to continue what Damon
called Bryce's lessons in applied dissipation.  Bryce was continually
surprised at the wonders Damon showed him.  The word 'oral' took on all
kinds of new meanings.  Damon refused to discuss theory, or implications,
or morality.  He did assure Bryce that he was clean, having been checked
thoroughly before coming to campus, and having been quite careful since.
Fortunately, Bryce could say the same about his preparations for arrival,
and confirmed that he had no sexual encounters, male or female, since
arrival.  Thus was answered another of Bryce's vital questions.  Not only
was he gay, but he would be a sexually active gay man.