Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:27:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Balthazaro <balthazaro@yahoo.com>
Subject: Welcome to the Dorms 2

This work is copyrighted by its author.  It may not be
used without his express permission.  Private
individuals are given permission to have one (1)
electronic and/or one (1) printed copy of this story.
Nifty is given permission to archive this work.

If stories about homosexual acts offend you, please
don't read it... I hate to cause conniptions.  *grin*
If you like it (or don't like it) please let me know
at balthazaro@yahoo.com.

---------------

After the morning shower fiasco, I wasn't in the mood
to go anywhere with Scott, but in the interests of
being nice I decided it was something I ought to do.
Breakfast took forever -- the food was mediocre at
best, like all school food, and Scott kept up a
nonstop stream of commentary on every aspect of life
at W&M throughout the meal.  By the time I made it
back to my room, my head was spinning again.
Hopefully someone else would come in soon so he'd have
other people to talk to... I wasn't sure how many more
of his nonstop talkathons I could endure.  Taking my
map of the campus, I muttered some excuses about
wanting to figure out where everything was and fled
the dorm for the peace and quiet of the great
outdoors.

One thing I have to give William & Mary... the campus
was beautiful.  I wandered around for hours, locating
the buildings where my classes were, the library, an
ATM, all the things I would need to know to live here.
 Indiana was pretty green in parts, but Gary was a
city -- mostly built up, and the land there was flat as
a board.  Here, the rolling hills and trees
complemented by the general Colonial theme made
everything look like a postcard.  Williamsburg itself
was tiny; I wondered what there was to do for fun in
town.  After grabbing some food for a very late lunch
at a sandwich shop, I headed back to the dorm.

All the dorms in the area, including mine, were
bustling with activity.  I had definitely gotten my
morning wish fulfilled; the world had showed up while
I was out wandering the campus.  Several of the doors
on my hall were wide open, with people hauling stuff
up the narrow stairs.  Someone actually brought a
couch -- I watched them fighting it up the steps and
shook my head.  If all the rooms were as small as
mine, I couldn't imagine where they were going to put
it.  Scott was in heaven, talking to five people at
once and carrying on three separate conversations
simultaneously.

When I got to my room, a Chinese fire drill had
descended on it.  Three young guys and an older man
were running in circles, carrying boxes, moving stuff,
and bumping into each other.  A woman with a huge mane
of bleached blonde hair was standing in the middle of
the room giving instructions to everyone all at once.
I'm sure some of my amazement must have shown on my
face, because the woman saw me standing in the doorway
and said what sounded like
"OhmygodyoumustbeSteveheyVinnieyaroomiesherenicetomeetyaVINNIE!"
  She sounded like an extra from the Sopranos.

Laughing a little at my glazed expression, one of the
young guys came over and said "Hey... Vincent
Giordano, nice to meet you."  He smiled at me and
extended his hand.

Vincent was shorter than I was, and very muscular and
compact.  He was very clearly Italian; despite his
olive complexion and dark hair, his eyes were a clear
sky blue.  Even standing there in dirty jeans and a
t-shirt, he looked like a model.  Suddenly I felt
incredibly uncomfortable and out of place.  I shook
the proffered hand, and said "Steve Sorenssen, a
pleasure to meet you too.  Guess we're going to be
rooming together."

"Yeah, this is my brother Peter," the younger boy
waved from where he was setting up a computer in the
corner, "my other brother Mark," another wave, this
one from the twenty-something guy who had just put
down a box of clothes in the middle of the floor, "my
dad," the older guy stopped moving stuff around for a
second and shook my hand, "and my mom, who I think you
met already.  Sorry about my mom, she gets a little
excited."

Vincent's mother slapped him lightly in the back of
the head without even looking around, making him duck
and wince.  "Hi, Steve, I'm Stella Giordano, nice to
meet you, like I said.  You look like a nice boy.  I
hope my kid doesn't drive you nuts like he does me!
Peter!  What are you doing over there, don't..." and
she was off on another tirade which sounded all too
familiar, New York accent notwithstanding.  Vincent
grinned at me again and shrugged, as if to say `what
can I do?'  I grinned back, suddenly on familiar
ground again.

A couple of hours later, once the storm of Giordanos
had blown back out the door, we were both exhausted.
Glancing over at my new roomie, who was sitting on his
bed staring off into space, I said  "So... do you
prefer Vinnie, or Vincent?"

He laughed.  "I don't care, man, I answer to anything.
 Vinnie, Vincent, `V' - I've spent my whole life
sharing a room with first Mark and then Pete, so
anything from `hey you' to `dickhead' is pretty much
standard.  You been here long?"

"No, I just got here yesterday... when you guys showed
up I was out walking around the campus trying to
figure out where stuff is."

"Cool!  I'm glad someone here knows where stuff is...
maybe you can show me around later, if that's cool
with you.  I'll be totally lost trying to find my
classes otherwise."  I couldn't help but notice how
Vincent's blue eyes gleamed in the late afternoon
sunlight coming through the window.  Just as I was
about to answer, Scott showed up at the door.  It was
funny watching someone else get the treatment that I
had; Vincent's face showed the same shock that mine
must have when first confronted with Scott's
conversational Gatling gun.

More people on our hall showed up steadily throughout
the day, and there was a bunch of hall-wide "getting
to know you" stuff in the evening.  It was kind of
fun, and kind of cheesy, like that stuff always is...
it reminded me a lot of Scouting events.  As usual,
everyone had to volunteer some personal detail that
`people don't generally know', as though we were going
to spill our life secrets to a group of people we had
just met.  Some Greek kid also named Steve (short for
Stavros, not Steven like me) volunteered that he had
the longest tongue in the room, which led to all sorts
of comments; he stuck it out and he was right, it was
really long.  I said that I was interested in being a
Computer Science major, and that I was in Boy Scouts
until last year.  Vincent talked about volunteering
with his dad's Knights of Columbus soup kitchen in
Crown Heights, which was apparently a subsection of
Brooklyn.  As was to be expected, Scott talked five
words to everyone else's one -- when his turn came
around, he said that he was a Communications major,
and one of the other guys yelled out "We've noticed!"
That got a good laugh all around.

When we finally got back to the room, it was almost
ten and I was exhausted.  Vincent looked pretty well
done in too.  He logged into Yahoo and checked his
mail, then stretched and said "Well, guess I better
grab a shower before bed; I feel gross.  You can use
the computer if you want."

"Sweet!  Thanks, man.  My parents ordered me a laptop,
but it's not here yet."  I logged into AOL through the
web, and checked my email.  When I glanced up a minute
later, Vincent was stripped down to his boxers and
rummaging through his stuff.  He had more hair on his
chest than I did, but it fanned across his pecs and
made a little trail down onto his stomach.  I envied
his olive complexion - I was pale, like all Swedes, so
even though I had less body hair than him, my dark
hair showed up more and looked weird, not like his.
His clearly defined 6-pack showed that he obviously
spent time in the gym... he was in great shape.
Throwing a towel over his shoulder he said "Don't lock
me out, man" and with a smile he headed out the door.

I didn't want to spend too long on his PC, so I logged
out and started getting ready for bed.  Ten minutes
later he was back, wrapped in a towel, carrying his
shampoo bottle and boxers.  Before I could say
anything, he whipped the towel from around his waist.
As I watched with my mouth hanging open, he stood in
the middle of the room stark naked for a second drying
his hair, completely unselfconscious as his long,
uncircumcised dick swung back and forth.  Running his
hands through his hair to smooth it down, he crawled
in the bed.  My speechlessness must have showed,
because he looked over and said "Oh... sorry, man; did
I shock ya?"

"No, no, that's OK..."  I was stuttering, and I could
feel myself blushing.

"Damn, I'm sorry, dude.  Like I said, I'm just used to
sharing a room with my brothers.  It didn't even occur
to me that you might not be used to... well, sorry.
I'll try to be more modest from now on."  Now he was
clearly embarrassed too.

"NO, it's OK, really; I don't care.  I mean, I'm used
to locker rooms and stuff, I'm just an only child so
I'm used to some privacy.  Don't sweat it, really,
it's fine.  We're going to be living together for a
year, so we might as well get used to seeing each
other in whatever, right?"  I felt very odd... sort of
excited, sort of embarrassed; my mouth was dry, I was
so nervous.  For the life of me I couldn't figure out
why.  I had seen plenty of other guys naked in high
school and in Scouts, and it hadn't affected me like
this.  I hoped my confusion didn't show on my face.

"Well, I just don't want to make you uncomfortable,
man," he replied.  "I guess Mark got me used to guys
wandering around naked and sleeping bare; he hates
clothes.  I think he'd be a fuckin' nudist if he could
get away with it.  Once he moved out, Pete moved in
with me so I guess I just never thought about it -- it
was just what guys did, right?"  Vincent grinned over
at me.  I guess he was relieved that I was being a
sport about it.

"Yeah, if I'd had brothers I'd be used to it too I
guess" I agreed, though I couldn't imagine anyone in
my straitlaced family running around naked.  Thinking
about it made me laugh; if it wasn't for the internet,
I don't think I'd even know sex existed.  "If you want
to run around naked, that's cool with me... uh, I
mean..."  Vincent burst out laughing.

"I'm not gonna be sitting around with no clothes on
all day, that's for sure -- I'm not Mark!  I just don't
see what the big deal is."  Since we were having a
conversation, Vincent sat up in his bed.  His sheet
bunched up and hid his crotch, but it was still
obvious that he wasn't wearing anything.  "We're gonna
be staying in this room together for a long time; I'm
gonna see you naked, you're gonna see me naked, so
what?  If one of us gets a girlfriend that starts
spending time over here, then we can change the rules,
but for now, who cares?  You cool with that?"
Absentmindedly, he scratched at the short dark hair
covering his left nipple.

"Sure, makes perfect sense to me."  What else could I
say?  I still felt uncomfortable, but what he was
saying was completely logical.  I couldn't even put
into words what bothered me about it.  Seeing other
guys naked had never bothered me or even made much of
an impression one way or another; seeing Vincent naked
made me feel uncomfortable, though, sort of tight and
nervous in the pit of my stomach.  Despite this weird
sensation, I prided myself on acting according to
logic, not emotion, so I was sort of caught by my own
hook at this point.

"Cool."  With a sigh, he flopped back into his bed,
making the springs squeak.  He snickered, then bounced
a little bit, making the springs squeak again.  "Hm,
this could get interesting if I bring someone home,
huh?"    I laughed, though this was something else I
hadn't thought of, how two guys could share a room
when one (or both) of them were dating.  I was
beginning to realize just how sheltered I really was,
and it wasn't a very comfortable feeling.  He bounced
more and more wildly, springs squeaking away madly,
and the harder he flopped around the more I laughed --
it was like something a little kid would do.  Finally
he stopped, out of breath, and I shook my head.

"You're a crazy man." I told him, noticing how the
sheet molded itself to his body.  I could see the bump
in the sheet where his cock was.  I found myself
wondering if he jerked off too.  Suddenly I was
uncomfortable again, so I said "You ready to turn the
lights out?"

"Yeah, if you are -- I can sleep through just about
anything.  If the building catches on fire, throw me
out the window."  He giggled softly.  "Night, man."

"Good night."  When I turned the light off, I realized
that the room was still fairly well lit by the lights
in the courtyard area outside our window.  Vincent's
bed was better lit than mine, but the head of his bed
was in shadow since it was tucked in the corner next
to the window.  I undressed in the semi-darkness, and
crawled into bed in my boxers, still feeling vaguely
troubled.  Hopefully tomorrow would be more normal
than the first two days at college had been.