Protecting David

First Meeting

                                  MARK
My name is Mark Chauvet. I was born in 1975 and was 26 when this story started. After 8 years in the Army I was back in civilian life, not where I wanted to be. I had always thought that the Army was going to be my life, but when I began to realize I was gay that screwed that up. I suppose that I could have stayed in, but I just didn't want to deal with hiding who I was or torturing myself by watching other Army studs, 24/7.
When I got out I came back home; well, almost to home. I love fishing and had, years before, come upon this gorgeous stream running through a fairly heavily wooded area of Central Wisconsin. When the chance to rent a small farm property that bordered on this stream came up I grabbed it. It was about 150 miles from where my parents live and from where I grew up, but that distance from my parents seemed about right. See, they don't know that I'm gay and I can't imagine telling them. My dad is retired Army and gay guys are not his favorite people, so I'm guessing a fag son wouldn't go over too well. My mom would go along with whatever the program was, but I just couldn't deal with the look that I knew would be in her eyes. Do I seem weak? Yeah, in a way I do to me, too. At the time I didn't really know much about being a gay person. I had no gay friends and all of my gay sex activity had been limited to jacking off to internet porn stuff and now I had moved to a really rural area and couldn't imagine finding many gay people out here. Yeah I know, it sounds like I was hiding, and I guess I was.
My first summer at the farm was glorious. I loved doing the physical stuff that is needed to maintain any kind of farm setting and that was part of the rental. They cut the monthly rental quite a bit if I would maintain the buildings and not nickel and dime them to death and I loved doing it. I had been used to a lot of physical activity in the Army and it felt great to me. Tramping through the woods and doing whatever the fuck I wanted to do was definitely my way of living.
My house and what was left of the original farm sat on a low hill. Walking down off the hill soon brought you to a woods loaded with oak trees, some maple, and lots of scrub. Someone long before me had worn a path through the woods down to the stream.
When as I was approaching the stream I saw that there was already someone fishing it. Now this stream is big enough for two guys to work it, so I went to the bank and called to him, "Sir! Would it be okay if I joined you?"
Well the guy turned and started to say something and then all of a sudden his feet went right out from under him, and then he's like ass over bucket into the stream! I start in wading toward him with the idea that I'll help him if he needs it and then he's like back on the surface sputtering for air. So he's gasping for air and trying to get his footing, and I'm reaching for him because the water is about three feet deep and I figure he could drown if he doesn't get up. Then he looks at my hand and up at damn if and me he doesn't go down again. Well, now I am really worried about the guy drowning, so I steady myself and reach down and grab him, and just lift the guy up and start carrying him to shore. I figure if I set him down on anything less than dry land the dudes a goner.
I swear that up until this point I didn't have gay thought number one in my head but I'm beginning to notice that this gasping, sputtering, squirming guy is kind of cute. That is, in a totally disorganized, clumsy befuddled sort of way. What I'm looking at is a guy about 5'8" tall, maybe 150 pounds, gorgeous black hair that is now all over the place and green eyes that are like emeralds. I know, emeralds; corny, but that's what went through my head. At this point I'm also thinking he's maybe thirty years old and since the gym shorts he's wearing are now all wet and clingy, he's showing a pretty nice dick. Anyway, he's been trying to form actual words since I picked him up and he's getting near to doing it, so I figure I better put him down, and I do.
He's looking up at me with those gorgeous eyes and says. "You scared the fucking shit out of me!
I hunker down in front of him. "Man you scared the shit out of me, too. I thought you were about to kill yourself in that stream. Sure you're okay?" I reach out and touch a spot of blood on his forehead. Now why the fuck did I do that, how gay is that?
Out of the corner of my eye I watch him follow my hand as it moves towards his forehead but he doesn't move away he just watches. "Must have banged your head a bit. Sure you're okay?" He then ducks his head a bit like maybe he's embarrassed and says. "I feel like an idiot. You know I'm not usually this klutzy." Then he looks up at me and he's smiling shyly and all of a sudden I'm feeling something that I've never felt before.
In these few seconds and for no damn reason at all, this guy has become the center of my world. It's like with a camera and you've focused in on one object and everything else is just kind of hazy and I'm staring into those eyes and someone please shoot me in the fucking head because those eyes are holding me and it's like I could fall into them and he's still smiling up at me and hell for all I know he could even be talking as for me I'm still falling into those eyes. Suddenly I just sit back on my butt in the sand and I'm still staring at this dude. He's beginning to look a little worried.
" I'm David." He's holding out his hand to me and I take it.
" I'm Mark." Well at least I can still talk. His hand is a lot smaller than mine but it feels warm and good and god could I please hold this forever?