Keenan's Forever Love

Chapter 2

Fifteen years earlier

Keenan Hunter had been raised on a large dairy farm in the Midwest. From his earliest recollections, his deep love for animals had motivated him to become a veterinarian. He embarked on accomplishing that goal immediately after graduating from high school where the good-looking, young man had excelled in both academics and athletics. He applied to The University of Wisconsin where he was accepted into the pre-veterinary program.

Filled with excitement and anticipation, Keenan had arrived on campus, and with the help of his older brothers and parents, had moved into his dorm. After bidding his family goodbye on the steps of the dormitory, he returned to his room to unpack and await the arrival of his roommate, Tucker Reynolds.

Keenan and Tucker had corresponded over the previous summer once they’d been informed by the housing commission that they’d be rooming together. Tucker was from Milwaukee, a graduate of a large city high school. From the photos he’d sent Keenan, Tucker looked to be a studious type with an engaging smile on his handsome, bespectacled face. Unlike Keenan, Tucker hadn’t decided on his course of study. He was going to wait a year or so and take general courses before making up his mind about a major. Tucker, it seemed, wasn’t much interested in—nor had he participated in—sports, whereas Keenan had played baseball, basketball, and football in high school and was an avid fan of all sports. Although the two, the farm boy and the city slicker, seemed to have been cut from two entirely different pieces of cloth, even before meeting him, Keenan had a feeling they were destined to become good friends.

Tucker arrived in the late afternoon. Keenan got up from his desk where he’d been sitting, studying a campus map, as the man entered the room. Tucker was struggling, carrying a large box. Keenan rushed to help him, and after setting the box down, the two smiling men shook hands. Keenan couldn’t have explained it at the time, but the feel of Tucker’s hand in his made Keenan wish it’d been a hug instead of a handshake.

That night, after their first dinner in the dorm cafeteria, the two men set off to explore the campus and the surrounding town. The main goal of the excursion was to find places to eat, as both agreed they would need alternatives to dorm food if they were to survive.

It seemed other arriving freshmen as well as returning upperclassmen had similar ideas. Both the campus and the town were crawling with young men and women displaying their new Wisconsin sportswear. The atmosphere was exciting and soon Keenan and Tucker were part of a large group that wound up at a local burger joint to satisfy their hunger, get acquainted, laugh, and enjoy their first evening as members of the Badger Nation.

It was evident from the beginning both Keenan and Tucker were being regarded as prime meat by many of the coeds. Even Keenan, raised in a small rural community, couldn’t miss the fact he and his handsome hunk of a roommate were targets of much of the flirting and coy behavior. Keenan was rather embarrassed by it, while Tucker seemed to enjoy the attention.

They returned to their room and stayed up late into the night, putting the final touches on their room and talking. The subject matter ranged from lighthearted fare of favorite musical groups and movies, to deeper discussions of religion and politics. Much to Keenan’s delight, he’d finally found someone whose thought processes involved more than the weather’s effect on the crops, the price of milk on the market, and s*x. He and Tucker were in agreement on almost every issue, with just enough difference of opinion that the conversation was kept interesting and lively. By the time they’d wished each other good night, turned out the lights, and rolled over in their beds, Keenan’s earlier suspicions about Tucker had been confirmed. Keenan felt he’d not only found a friend, but a soulmate.

* * * *

The next morning, Keenan awoke to the sound of the shower. He stretched, turned over, and looked at Tucker’s empty bed. Keenan smiled sleepily, remembering the night before and his happiness that this man had come into his life. He looked at the clock on the table between the two beds. It was only seven-thirty, but to this farm boy, whose day for years had started much earlier with the milking of fifty or so Holsteins, it was like sleeping-in until noon.

The sound of the shower stopped. Keenan sat up on the edge of his bed, careful to tuck his ample morning wood into his boxers. He looked up as the bathroom door opened. A naked Tucker emerged, head lowered, and covered with a towel as he dried his hair.

Keenan’s breath caught in his throat. He averted his eyes and did his best to suppress what he couldn’t deny was an unexpected s****l response to seeing his new friend’s slender, muscular body with its covering of thick, dark hair. Tucker’s semi-hard c**k was nestled in a dense pubic bush that extended to shroud his large, round balls.

What the hell was this? Keenan had seen plenty of naked men before: guys in the locker room at school, his brothers, men in his family’s basement shower, rinsing off following a hot day in the fields after helping with the harvest. He’d never had this kind of reaction—appreciation for a well-built man, sure—but not this! Keenan forced his reaction down—trying to make it go away, denying it was happening.

Tucker removed the towel from his head, wrapped it nonchalantly around his waist, and smiled at Keenan. He told Keenan he was starving and wondered if Keenan was up for heading for the dorm cafeteria for some breakfast.

Keenan forced a return smile. He agreed that breakfast was a great idea, hopped out of bed, and headed for the bathroom. He did his utmost to hide the testimony his hard d**k was offering which countered Keenan’s denial of what had just happened.

Over the weeks that followed, it was only Keenan’s excitement at being on campus, his enjoyment of his classes, and having a new best friend that allowed him to sublimate the response which had been generated by Tucker’s nakedness that first morning into something he could accept. It had been an aberration, an anomaly brought on by the newness of his relationship with Tucker, nothing more.

Those attempts at rationalization were compromised, however, by living in such close proximity as roommates. Frequently seeing Tuck, as Keenan now called him, in various stages of undress was unavoidable. Therefore, so was Keenan’s reaction. But it was in those private times, when Keenan was seeking relief from s****l tension, the truth was told. At the precise moment of intense release, when Keenan’s defenses were down, the full force of the reality that he was responding sexually to another man was undeniable. It was images of his roommate’s handsome face, beautiful body, and ample manhood that got Keenan off. Keenan did his best to deal with this troubling turn of events.