Chapter 73
But now, it was clear. Who was this hurting? They weren’t married to women. Who cared if ancient religions didn’t understand? I turned to watch them fully. Martin had his eyes firmly locked on Shaun’s ass, admiring the way his smooth, round cheeks bounced with each jolt.
I turned away again. It’s one thing to be accepting of a gay roommate. It’s another thing to be fine with him having gay sex while you’re in the room and not “trying” to sleep.
I told myself I was interested from a scientific perspective. Hadn’t there been a study showing that homosexual men responded to pheromones that heterosexual men didn’t? My field of study may have been pharmacology, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t investigate the possibility of pheromone-triggered human behavior. There. I wasn’t being a voyeur watching Martin mercilessly sodomize my young roommate. I was doing research.
“Can we…can we do it on my back?” Shaun pleaded. Funny, I remembered he asked Lucas the same thing, and just like Lucas, Martin took no heed. He kept plowing away at an insane speed. Even compared to the straight porn I’d seen, this coupling was frenetic and animalistic. Shaun did his best to arch his back and offer up his rear, but I could see him wincing at the assault. I took note of Martin’s penis. While not massive, it was rather long and of considerable girth. I imagined at that furious pace, any woman would protest. Shaun’s willingness and ability were impressive.
Soon Martin came, making loud noises that made me think of giant apes pounding their chests in Tarzan movies. As his spasms began to subside, Martin hissed “yessss, oh yessss.” I quickly turned back to my computer. I was still curious about the way neither Martin nor Shaun seemed to have much choice in what transpired. It was as if Martin, and Lucas before him, absolutely had an inescapable need to “mate” with Shaun. Likewise, Shaun’s arousal became so strong, he could not say no, even if he didn’t want the shame of being fucked in front of someone, particularly an Arab roommate.
I opened a new file and typed a note to myself: Ask Professor Gutierrez about studying the possibility of a mutant aphrodisiacal pheromone.
Several other guys “mated” with Shaun over the next couple weeks, and each time he would apologize for his partners’ refusal to stop or go elsewhere. I always said something to the effect of, “Hey, you live here, too.” The men I witnessed consistently demanded to mount him in dog fashion despite his wishes and grabbed his penis to make him compliant. At least during the copulations I observed, Shaun never came. Once I had felt I had enough evidence that something about Shaun fomented uncontrollable urges, I approached my thesis advisor.
Fonseca College maintained a liberal political climate, notable even in Southern California. My advisor, Professor Gutierrez, was also openly gay.
“It’s an interesting theory,” Professor Gutierrez said as we talked outside in the quad, “although there’s little evidence of sex hormones in humans. Are you sure it’s not a young man who is so handsome that a bunch of other horny young men can’t keep their hands off him?”
I found myself uncomfortable with being honest. The fact I felt a compelling interest in the sex acts performed on Shaun was all the evidence I needed to know something in the air affected me in a way nothing else ever had. However, I couldn’t say that.
“It’s the language all his partners use with him,” I said. “It’s always something to the effect of ‘I don’t understand what’s come over me, but I can’t stop myself from fucking you.’”
Professor Gutierrez tilted his head in reflection. “Perhaps, but sometimes people, especially young people, feel ashamed of their urges and try to blame it on some…force that’s out of their control. Or they’re trying to persuade a reluctant partner by proclaiming overwhelming desire in the hopes of flattering and charming that partner to weaken his or her resistance.”
“So it’s not possible there’s some pheromone effect?”
“There was once a study that showed a certain man-made chemical in a particular perfume led to increased intimate contact. Is there a specific fragrance this boy wears?”
I shook my head. “He does have a natural scent that…seems to arouse many people, and he does work out a lot and swim. I’ve read there’s a component in male sweat that may induce sexual response. Perhaps Shaun emits more of the substance than most males?”
“He has a scent most people find arousing?” Professor Gutierrez repeated while stroking his chin. He looked off across the quad and then pulled a student directory out of his satchel. “I think I may know who you mean, but could you point out his picture?”
I did so, and I could almost see Professor Gutierrez salivate.