Don't Read in the Closet volume one (61 page)

I can’t even begin to
say how embarrassed I am for sitting here with a stomach full of butterflies.
I’ve never done anything like this before. Hell, I’m NAKED! I’ve never even
kissed and I’m sitting here nekkid?
That damn
Phil!
It’s his fault. He said that I would have the best time. Yeah, right.

Phil and I had been best
friends since kindergarten. We did everything together. He always had my back
and looked out for me. Phil was a joker, the cool jock, and straight. I was
(still am) the shy one. My head was always in a book. Yeah, that’s me in the
glasses with a bowl of cereal for a loin cloth. Thank the gods for cool glasses
these days, yeah? Even when I got up the courage to tell Phil that I was gay,
he didn’t hate me for that. He wanted me to be happy. He told me that he always
knew and said, “What took you so long to tell me?” He accepted me. All the
fretting I’d done over telling him, geez. Phil got sick last January. I was
with him till his last day at the hospice. Damn, I miss him so much.

We (he) planned this
trip two years ago on a whim…on a dare really. Phil had dared me to venture out
in life. What? Like I didn’t already have one? He laughed at that and said that
work and books were not the only things in life for a cool teddy bear. Coulda
fooled me. Teddy bear? He wanted to help me come out of my shell.

He got some travel
brochures for Gay resorts. Yup, that’s how Phil rolled, coz he thought I’d
never do it. We looked them over, and guess which one he picked? You got it…the
nekkid, clothing NOT optional resort. Coming out of your shell, my ass! I was
terrified! I didn’t show it then and laughed it off. But oh god, when I got
home….

So here I sit. My first
morning here…in my birthday suit for chrissake…along with every guy here. Shit,
what am I doing? I met the guy sitting across from me this morning standing in
the food line. Guess where my bowl was? He introduced himself and asked if we
could sit together for breakfast. Courage, courage, I said yes. Ahhhhhh! What
am I supposed to do now? Everything is all new! How am I going to get through
the rest of this trip?! Help!!!

Sincerely,

D

Genre:
contemporary

Tags:
bears, nudists, first time,
fluff, holiday romance, coming out, humor

Words:
2,997

BEAR NAKED

by
JL Merrow

Reaching the
dining room, Hal put a hand on the door jamb to steady himself. This was either
a dream come true—or something more like a nightmare.

There were
naked men
everywhere
. Chatting. Laughing. Standing in line for
breakfast, and sitting at tables. In every direction Hal cast his stunned gaze,
there was naked male flesh. Ivory flesh. Pink flesh. Brown flesh, in every hue.
Hairy flesh, like his own, and flesh waxed so meticulously it made him wince to
look at it. Tall guys. Short guys. Skinny
guys,
and
guys with a decent bit of meat on them. Guys so young they looked barely (hah!)
legal, and guys like him with grizzled hair on their heads and chests. Guys
with no hair at all. All laid out before him like the banquet of the gods. If,
that was, the gods happened to be into guys—and from what Hal had heard, some
of those old Greek and Norse dudes had been into
everything
.

Phil, Hal
thought, wherever you are—and if I know you, you've got a beer in one hand and
a barmaid in the other—I hope you're looking down on this feeling just a little
bit guilty for what you've gotten me into. How the hell was he going to make it
to the breakfast line without springing a boner?

The pile of
cereal bowls on the end of the counter was an answer to Hal's prayer. He
grabbed one and held it in front of his groin, wishing the dainty little bowls
didn't all come in Baby Bear size. Feeling a little more secure, he shuffled
along the line—then nearly dropped his last line of defense when the guy in
front spoke.

"Hi! I'm
Miki—mind if I eat with you?" The confident voice belonged to an
Asian-looking guy who was just a little shorter than Hal's five foot eleven and
a half. He was also well-built, broad-shouldered and
way
too hot to be
talking to a guy like Hal.

"Uh,
sure—I mean, no. I mean, I don't mind. You joining me, I mean," Hal
stuttered. Way to impress the cute guy, he thought, cringing inside. Five
minutes ago he'd been wishing his cereal bowl was just a little larger. Maybe
twice the size, that'd do. Now, though, he could have done with it growing to
swimming-pool dimensions and swallowing him up whole.

"That's
great!" Miki's smile was brighter than the gleam of the sun on the pool
outside. "Looks like there's a table free over by the window—how about it?
I just need to grab a coffee first."

Hal followed
Miki's example, and they padded over on bare feet to what, Hal decided, had to
be the smallest table he'd ever seen outside a dollhouse. Did the hotel do this
on purpose? No chance of any camouflage there. He sat on the (thankfully
full-size) chair and tried to place his coffee mug strategically on the table.

"So, do I
get to find out your name? Or is it a big secret?" Miki grinned.

"It's
Hal." Desperately trying to work out where to look, Hal let his eyes roam
over Miki's broad shoulders, firm pecs, solid middle and—uh, oh.
Big
mistake looking down further. At the sight of Miki's manhood, which was
definitely along Daddy Bear lines, Hal felt stirrings in his own groin, and
they were nothing to do with the spoon in his cereal bowl—which he was
currently attempting to use as an improvised loincloth. And failing.

"Have you,
uh, been to a lot of these places before?" Hal asked his cornflakes,
having figured they, at least, were safe to look at.

"One or
two," Miki answered. Hal could hear the smile in his voice but didn't dare
look up to see it. "I'm guessing it's your first time, right? Don't worry,
you'll soon get used to it. It's pretty much like any other gay resort—after a
day or two, you'll be having so much fun you'll forget you're naked."

Okay,
that
,
Hal doubted. And damn—Miki sounded like he was an old hand at this kind of
thing. No way could Hal admit to just how inexperienced he was. Miki would just
laugh at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, forcing himself
to look up and pasting on what had to be the world's most unnatural smile.

Miki looked
like he was about to snort his cereal. "You sound like you could do with
some convincing of that! I'd be happy to oblige—unless you already have plans
for later?"

An honest
answer—
hide in my room
—probably wouldn't go down too well, Hal figured.
"Uh, no, not really."

"Great!
Why don't I show you around a little?"

Hal blinked.
"Don't you have, you know, people you want to be with?" he asked
awkwardly.

"Sure I
do! And I'm staring right at him." Miki smiled.

Hal's toes
curled up under the chair and his stomach did a flip-flop. "That's—that's
great, then," he managed.

Miki looked
serious for a moment. "I hope you don't feel I'm forcing my company on
you, though. I wouldn't want to do that."

"No! No,
definitely no forcing involved," Hal assured him. The only thing that
scared him more than the thought of spending time with this über-confident,
totally hot guy was, well, the thought of
not
spending time with him.

The walk around
the resort took longer than Hal had expected—it was all self-contained, but
that didn't mean it was small. There was even a private stretch of beach. And
everywhere, naked men—but for some reason Hal found himself comparing each guy
he saw to the man walking by his side. And finding them lacking. Miki was
just... hell, he was just perfect.

Didn't mean he
didn't have to look away quickly when they passed the couple making out on the
beach, though. Because oh, dear Lord, he could just imagine them as him and
Miki, and didn't that thought make certain parts of him want to sit up and beg?

They ended up
back at the pool where they laid their towels on a couple of sun loungers
before stretching out to catch some rays.

"You know,
you have to be careful when you come to a place like this," Miki said,
leaning up on one elbow and looking straight at Hal. The way he was lying
emphasized his bulky shoulders and well-developed chest, and Hal took a moment
to work out what the guy had said.

He coughed to
cover his distraction. "You do?"

"Oh, yeah.
You have to remember there's some bits of you that don't usually get to see the
sun—and trust me, you do
not
want sunburn on those bits."

Hal grimaced at
the thought. "Ouch. Damn, I'd better go get my sunblock."

"No
need—I've got some right here." Miki drew out a bottle from his string bag
and held it out to Hal with a teasing smile. "If you need any help
applying it, you only have to ask."

And oh, God,
that was the last straw. Just the thought of Miki's lotion-covered hand moving
over his dick... "I, uh, I have to go," Hal stammered. "Just
remembered something. I'll, uh, I'll see you later." Grabbing his towel
and holding it bunched in front of him, his last line of defense from total
embarrassment, Hal half ran back to his room, slamming the door behind himself
and leaning on it heavily. His dick was so damn hard he barely had to touch it
before he was coming so hard he could see stars.

As he leaned
there, panting, a knock on the door made him jump half out of his skin.
"Hey, Hal, are you okay?" Miki's voice called.

Hal looked down
at himself. He was flushed and sweaty and holding a towel full of spunk—no way
was he opening that door right now. He swallowed. "I'm fine," he
called back, his voice sounding kind of strangled even to him. "I'll, uh,
catch you later, okay?"

There was a
pause, and then Miki's voice sounded again. "Sure. Maybe I'll see you at
lunch." He sounded kind of sad. Hal listened to his soft footsteps
receding into the distance. Damn it all to hell—he'd blown it, big time. Oh,
Phil, he thought sadly, padding into the bathroom for a cool shower, I guess I
wasn't quite as ready for this as you thought. I'm sorry I let you down, big
guy.

****

Hal did a whole
lot of thinking as he soaped himself in the shower. When he went down for lunch
and saw Miki sitting alone, looking kind of sad, Hal didn't think twice before
going over. "Mind if I join you?"

Miki's face
cracked into a grin. "Hey, Hal!
Sure thing—pull
up a chair."

"I,
uh..." Hal sat, and steeled himself. "I figure I owe you an apology
for running out on you like that."

"No—man,
that was
all my
fault. I guess I was coming on a
little strong, huh?" Miki's expression turned rueful. "Bad habit of
mine when I see a guy I really like."

Hal's heart
skipped,
and it gave him the courage to carry on.
"Miki, I'm going to make a confession here, and I'll totally understand if
you run for the hills once you've heard it—but I've never been to a gay resort
of any kind before. I only came to this one because I promised my best friend I
would, just before he died. I've never even been in a gay bar. The only gay guy
I've ever gotten naked with is, well, you." He stopped, breathing heavily,
and waited for Miki to—well, he didn't think Miki would actually
laugh,
he was way too nice of a guy for that. He'd just give
Hal a pitying smile and say he was sorry it wouldn't work out between them, or
that he'd had fun talking with him, and then he'd beat it to someone who wasn't
a total loser.

Miki was
smiling, okay, but it didn't look like pity. It looked a lot like the way Phil
had used to look at that big, slobbery dog of his, back before he'd gotten sick
and had to give the beast to his sister. "Man," Miki said, shaking
his head a little. "You amaze me, you know that? It takes a lot of balls
to admit something like that." He reached across the table and took Hal's
hand. "Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing, you understand. In fact, I'm
kind of tickled to find out I'm your first."

"You
are?" Hal's breath caught.

"Sure!
Although I have to wonder what all the other guys have been thinking of,
letting a man like you get away." His gaze trailed appreciatively over
Hal's chest, but then he shook his head. "
Damn,
and here I am, coming on too strong again."

Miki's hand
slipped out of Hal's, but Hal reached to grab it back. "No way.
Nuh-uh." He smiled. "You're coming on just strong enough."

****

A fortnight
later, Hal sat in the diner across from his office and stared morosely at his
lunch. He'd brought a book to hide behind just like he always did, but somehow
he didn't feel much like reading today. It didn't help that the book was one
he'd taken on vacation and hadn't gotten around to opening. His ham, lettuce
and rye bread blurred together and recombined, in his mind's eye, to paint a
picture of the cutest guy he'd ever met. Man, that'd been the holiday of a
lifetime. Miki had shown him stuff he'd only dreamed of—and not just in bed,
either. Hal had never known how much more stunning a sunset could look, walking
on the beach hand-in-hand with his lover.