Adam and Yedidyah

As he skidded down the wet and slippery walkway just outside the old city walls, he was grateful that it was pre-dawn, and the throngs of tourists and locals had not yet come out. How he was going to stop in a hurry, should he ever need to, was beyond him. Jerusalem stone might look pretty as it glimmered in the sun, but it was treacherous when wet, as he discovered every morning as he made his way into the Old City. Adam locked his bike up just inside the Jaffa Gate and started to walk quickly down the stairs towards the Western Wall. It always struck him how peaceful this city could be when sleeping. It was almost like a toddler, a wonder to behold when sleeping, a delight to be with in the quaintest of moments, and a terror when one least expected it.

The alleyways were deserted and dimly lit. Some of the early morning routine had begun. There were city workers cleaning the grime of the previous day off the stone stairwell. Again, this meant that he needed to walk carefully so as not to slip on the smooth stone. The garbage tractor, which he always thought had be specially modified to work in the narrow, but hilly ancient city, rumbled past, the workers calling to each other in Arabic. As he got closer to the turnoff, the muezzin in front of him started calling the Muslim faithful to prayer. At some level, Adam loved that he lived in such a diverse city, but he was also torn knowing the violence that this diversity could bring in its wake. The call to prayer was still ringing out as he approached the security in front of the Western Wall Plaza. He quickly placed his bag with his prayer books, tallit (prayer shawl) and tefillin (phylacteries) on the table and went through the metal detector. The guard just looked at him in his black pants and white shirt and did not even move to inspect the contents of the bag. As he approached the wall, he stopped briefly to wash his hands and then quickly found the group that he had found to pray with. Adam’s lack of Hebrew, and natural shyness, meant that he did not speak to anyone, even though he had been joining this group for a month.

About two hours later, Adam left the plaza, ensuring to bow and walk backwards. He climbed the stairs out of the plaza, and then he retraced his steps through the Old City. It was obvious to see that the city was waking up. Stores were starting to open up, and wares were being displayed on the narrow alleyways. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hung heavy in the air, interspersed with smells of freshly baked bread (pita really) and the incense that was burnt in a bit to attract customers. Adam had come to the city in order to “find himself” or discover his roots or whatever. So far, he felt conflicted between his desire to live a more religious life, and his deeply held secret. Once again, he was lost in thought as he marched up the stairs, not paying attention to his surroundings, when he knocked into an Arab youth, who also had not been paying attention as he was on his phone. Adam quickly apologised, using the limited Hebrew he knew, “Slicha, sorry, I didn’t mean…” the youth started shouting at him in rapid Arabic, probably due to the fact that his phone had gone flying and had landed on the floor. Adam, who was ever nervous around Arabs due to the perceived threat that they continuously seemed to pose to religious Jews in this city, fled the scene. He was shaking after that encounter, but with more people around, he quickly lost sight, and sound, of the youth.

He unlocked his bike and pedalled back to the seminary where he spent the day learning sacred texts. Jerusalem is not built for bikes, so his presence on the road, in traffic, usually earned him a number of angry toots from drivers that did not want him on the road. He had tried riding on the tram tracks until a Policeman leaned out of his car and said,

“Al tirchov shama, zeh meod mesukan!”.

Not knowing what the policeman had said, but having been brought up to be mindful of authority, Adam apologised,

“Slicha, what?”
“Do you speak English?”
“Yes”
“I said, don’t ride there. It is dangerous. Ride on the pavement.”

“OK”

With that the traffic light had changed colour, so Adam had proceeded to follow the tram track, but he avoided it in future just in case the next time he got fined.

After locking up his bike, he walked up to his room. Everyone had to share, but he was relatively lucky. He only had to share with one other guy, an American jock named David, but upon becoming more religious had decided to take the name “Yedidyah”. Adam did not get why people would want to change from one Jewish name to another, but to each their own. Yedidyah was relatively clean and quiet, something that Adam appreciated. Also, given that Adam wanted to go and pray at the Western Wall early in the morning, Yedidyah made sure to be considerate in the night when he went to bed. Adam returned the favour in the morning when he got up. Adam cracked the door to the room open as quietly as he could. Yedidyah had thrown off his blankets and was sleeping in his boxers. He was a sight to behold. He had jet-black hair framing his tanned skin. Thankfully he had decided to keep up with sports, even as he learned, so he had kept the tan. It was a beautiful olive tan that accentuated his ruddy cheeks and full lips. He had the cutest ears that Adam knew where something that Yedidyah was self-conscious about, but which Adam secretly adored. He had not yet taken the plunge to start growing a beard, so he was still clean shaven. Yedidyah’s neckline was graceful, sweeping into his even shoulders and strong arms. Adam was staring at his roommate, trying to sear the picture of this handsome man into his memory. The veins in his lower arm popped out, showing the lack of fat that this youth was carrying, whilst his hands were large and strong. Adam had almost gone week in the knees when he had met David the first time and felt his hands get swallowed in David’s large strong hands. He had often fantasised where he wanted those hands to go. Adam was quite frankly impressed that he had managed to speak, as David’s beauty was so striking that he was unsure he would be able to speak his mouth was so dry. Yedidyah’s pecs were hard, his surreptitious trips to the gym three times a week had meant that Yedidyah’s muscle was being maintained by more than the weekly basketball session. His nipples were small, and surrounded by just the smallest amount of black hair. His abdomen showed his sixpack, even as he rested. There was a small treasure trail from his navel to his boxers, but otherwise he was hairless on his upper body. Adam had yet to see what Yedidyah was really packing, but the bulge had told him that he was not going to be disappointed, should anything ever happen between them. Below his boxers were two strong hairy legs. Yedidyah’s thighs were well defined, and his calves were beautiful bulges tapering into thin ankles which were attached to large, veiny feet. Adam started daydreaming about what he would like to do to his roommate, when his reverie was broken by Yedidyah’s alarm going off.

Adam quickly started undressing, hoping that he had turned away quick enough that Yedidyah had not seen him staring at him. His bag was dumped on the table whilst he unbuttoned his shirt, shucked his shoes and socks, and tried to get his shirt, tzitzit (small stringed garment) and trousers off almost simultaneously.

“Good morning.” he heard behind him, “You seem like you are in a race to see how quick you can get back to bed.”
“Well, to be fair, unlike you, sleepy head, I needed to be up to get to prayers nearly three hours ago.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you do not want to pray here with your friends. Like we aren’t good enough or something.”
“It’s not like that! We have been praying to return to Jerusalem for millennia, why would I not take the chance to go and pray at the Western Wall.”

“Yeah, whatever man. We just aren’t good enough for you.” Yedidyah said in a sarcastic tone.

“Listen, you’re going to be late, so why don’t you get a move on…”
“Don’t worry, I’m going. I don’t want to impinge on your alone time whilst you think of the body you were just perving over.” He said with a smirk as he shut the door.

Adam went red and could feel his heart racing as his cock deflated. He had been busted. Would he be thrown out of the seminary? Would Yedidyah tell anyone? He had hoped to jack-off and go to sleep until breakfast in about 45 minutes, but he was suddenly no longer tired. He lay on the bed defeated. It seemed that no matter how far he tried to run, he could not outrun the fact that he was attracted to men. After 20 minutes of incoherent thought, he put his clothes back on, grabbed his towel and headed out for one of the lesser used mikvah’s (ritual baths) in the area. He found the process of immersion and spiritual cleansing cathartic, even if he knew deep down that no amount of cleansing will cleanse the stain of homosexuality from his soul. For a while he had even attended a church which promised that he could, “Pray away the gay.” All that happened was that he felt worse for not having enough faith so that his prayers would be answered.

Adam got to the nondescript building that housed the mikvah and paid the 13 shekels to enter the turnstile. Once inside, he was relieved to see that there was no-one else there. He took his clothes back off and quickly wrapped the towel around his waist. He moved from the changing room into the pool area and gingerly entered the pool. He then took off his towel and placed his kippa (skullcap) on top of the towel and descended the last few steps into the water. Spreading his arms outwards and looking up to the ceiling in an act of supplication, as though this time he might finally be cleansed of his sins, especially that of lusting after his roommate. A few moments later his knees buckled and his body went into the water. He tried to make sure that the water was able to reach all parts of his body and that he was neither touching the walls nor was any part of his body above the water line. His ritual was like that of Naaman who had come to Elisha the prophet to be healed of leprosy. He had been told to bathe 7 times, and this is what Adam did to try and cure himself.

Feeling a little bit better, if still scared about what might await him back at the seminary, he started climbing out of the pool. Once again today, he was lost in thought. He was trying to decide what he might say to Yedidyah. Or maybe he should just go to the administrator and ask to switch rooms, so Yedidyah would not need to feel uncomfortable in his own room. Adam castigated himself. He had always tried to be so careful and not gawk at men, even whilst he secretly lusted after them. He turned the corner into the changing room and once again he snapped out of his thoughts by the presence of another person. They must have entered whilst he was underwater. His blood drained from his face when he realised that it was Yedidyah. His mouth went dry and he just felt any fight leave him as he was rooted to the spot.

Yedidyah looked at him, with a cocky smile and just a towel around his waist.

“Don’t look so shocked, I know that you come here from time to time, and when I saw that you weren’t in the room, I’d guessed you had come here.”
“What do you want?” Adam said a little more harshly then he had intended.

“I wanted to talk to you,” said Yedidyah a little defensively, before he exhaled and patted the bench next to him. “Come sit down and stop being an areshole.”
“Language Yedidyah!” Adam snapped.

“Yeah, well, fuck that and fuck you for being a dick. Now come here and let’s talk. It’s not like we don’t have stuff to talk about.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Adam said, starting to get defensive again and feeling like he was ready to start moving again.

“Dude, seriously, you’re going to play dumb. I’ve seen you trying to check me out without getting caught. (Adam shakes his head) Just stop trying to deny it, ok! Now listen, we both have a past from before this seminary. I used to hook up and lay any girl that I came across. I am trying to get better, but a guy has got needs. I’ve been doing some research and according to some Rabbis, the prohibition of sleeping with another man refers to anal sex. We can help each other out. You can get your needs taken care of by sucking my cock, and I will get my needs taken care of without being such a male-slut.”
“Who’s to say I wasn’t thinking of screwing your arse.”

“Well look who’s doing a 180 degree turn. From denying even looking at me to admitting that he’s an arse jockey.”

“Fuck you.”
“I now know that you want to.” He said with a wink.

Adam was now torn. On the one hand he was going to be able to fulfil his fantasy with his roommate, and on the other hand, he was so desperate to be rid of these feelings. He took a deep breath and sighed. Yedidyah was definitely handsome as all fuck, and pushed all of Adam’s buttons. He could feel his stomach knot up and his knees turn to jelly the more he looked into those deep brown eyes. Adam knew that he was not going to resist much longer, so in a final push, he asked,

“How do I know that you aren’t going to go and tell everyone what we are doing? I’ll get kicked out.”
“You can be such an idiot sometimes!! Seriously, why would I do that when it will both end the head that I’m getting, and also might cause me to get kicked out too.”

“I guess that you’re right.” Said Adam, finally succumbing to the desire that he had been feeling towards his roommate since he had met him. He started to move towards Yedidyah and dropped to his knees in front of the man that he was about to start worshipping.

“What the fucking hell are you doing?” hissed Yedidyah urgently, whilst getting up and yanking Adam’s arm in a bid to get him up as fast as possible. “I said that I was horny, not suicidal. Even though this mikvah isn’t used so much, someone could still walk in and find us. Get your clothes on, I’m going to go dunk, and this afternoon, after lunch, you can get a lollipop for dessert. But only if you are a good boy.” Yedidyah said the last part with a smirk on his face. They both knew that whether Adam was a good boy or a naughty boy, he was going to be sucking a lollipop that afternoon.

Adam had to try and get dressed again for the third time that morning. Only this time, he had a raging boner to try and stuff into his pants and hope that it would go down before he saw anyone. This was easier said than done, as his mind kept going back to the fact that he would be giving someone head in a few hours. He finished dressing and started making his way outside. The last thing he needed was to see Yedidyah naked. He knew that if he did, there was no way he would make it through the morning.

Yedidyah met him outside and they walked back together.

“What do you think we’ll be having for breakfast?” Yedidyah asked.

Adam smiled as he said, “Same thing that we have every morning, Pinky, try to take over the world.”

“You really screwed that up.” Said Yedidyah shaking his head and smiling.

******************

He’d been trying to figure out his roommate for a while. On the one hand a serious and conscientious student in the seminary. On the other hand a bit odd, and a bit of a goofball sometimes. He’d slowly been getting the feeling that Adam had been checking him out, but he was far too scared to do anything. This was a new experience for Yedidyah. Not that people were checking him out, he had been checked out by people his whole life. He knew he had been blessed by the gene-pool, and he had not been afraid to show it off. He’d lost his virginity quite young, as his liberal parents had been quite trusting of him as they let him take his friends into his spacious bedroom. Given that they did usually study, on top of the other things that they would get up to, on the rare occasion that his parents would check up on him, he and the friend he was with would usually be sitting at the table, or on the floor, surrounded by the work that they were doing. As such, he wouldn’t be surprised if his parents still thought of him as a virgin.

He also hadn’t told Adam the whole truth. He’d been with guys before. At the end of the day, what did he care that the person slobbering over his cock and balls was a guy or a girl. But most of the gays had been more forthright about wanting to worship his cock. Adam had been very surreptitious about it. He thus knew that it would be up to him to make a move, but also that he would need to wait until he had Adam in a place where he couldn’t deny that he had been looking.

Unbeknownst to Adam, Yedidyah had set a trap. He’d woken up ten minutes before he expected Adam to show up and had deliberated thrown his blankets off and lay there with just his boxers on, pretending to be asleep. As he’d expected, Adam had come in quietly and agonisingly slowly looked over his body. It felt as though he was being x-rayed from head to toe. It took all his effort not to spring a boner over the fact that here was his roommate gawping at him. Just as he was about to ask if Adam liked what he saw, his bloody alarm went off and spoiled the mood. He knew that he now needed to go for prayers, but he was barely able to concentrate. He finished up quickly and was making his way back to the room when he saw Adam start to descend. He raced to the room, dumped the bag with his prayer book and tefillin, grabbed a towel and sprinted after Adam. He knew roughly where the mikvah was, but he wanted to make sure. Luckily, although there were many twists and turns, he was able to keep Adam within sight and eventually, once he had entered the mikvah, Yedidyah waited outside until he heard the splash indicating that Adam was submerged in the water. He paid and entered. He quickly shed his clothes and waited for Adam to finish up. He was relieved to see that there was no-one else in the mikveh, as he wanted to talk Adam into relieving his heavy balls before Adam could do anything rash like go to the dorms office and ask to switch rooms. It would be easier to unload his spunk into Adam if he was his roommate, instead of trying to sneak around in different rooms with other roommates.

*****************

Despite Adam’s muck-up of a 90’s cartoon phrase, he wasn’t wrong that breakfast was the same as it was every morning in this establishment. “Israeli salad” which always seemed to have been prepared two days before, cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs. It was usually a wonder to the newer boys how the older boys had managed to stomach this drek for so long. Of course, in this place, a holier than thou atmosphere pervaded and the story of the Rabbi who was so engrossed in his learning that he ate a piece of plaster that fell from the roof instead of his sandwich was one that was told whenever someone complained about the food. The sub-text was always that one should strive for a holier lifestyle.

Of course, neither of the boys could concentrate on their lessons. Time ticked slowly as white-bearded rabbis swayed over their gemaras (holy books), waving their thumbs in and out of the air as they tried to make their point. The problem was that missing the morning lessons was the ultimate no-no in this seminary. The mashgiach (spiritual mentor for the boys) would be sure to pay a visit to anyone not in lessons in the morning; and getting discovered in a compromising position would not have done either of them any good. With the morning lessons done, it was time for afternoon prayers and then lunch. Lunch, much like breakfast, was a dreary affair. Today’s offering was schnitzel, which was bought frozen in a bag and then thrown into the oven in bulk. Boys would often scramble to get one of the better-done pieces, as most were either burnt, or sometimes still slightly frozen. Like most places, if the head honcho ever lowered himself to eat with the plebs, the food would have improved. Of course, he did not, and the food sent to his office was usually done to perfection.

Finally, free time had arrived and Adam and Yedidyah moved as quickly as they could back to their rooms, without running and drawing attention to themselves. Adam unlocked the door, and Yedidyah all but shoved him inside in his haste to have his cock and balls attended to after so long. Adam locked the door as Yedidyah started stripping to make himself more comfortable. He had a raging boner showing clearly through his pants and was looking forward to letting it loose when there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other in horror. Adam, given that he was dressed, went to the door, unlocked it and cracked it open whilst Yedidyah collapsed on his belly so that his boner would be hidden by the bed.

“Yes?” Adam said to the guy on the other side of the door.

“Yoh, whazzup? So, my man, everyone says dat you be da dude dat gets what these old timers be sayin, you know what I mean? I been here a week and all dis Hebrew be doing my head in. What you say you do a brother a tight one and help me understand what be going on?”

“Listen man, I really would like to, but see, I got up early to go pray at the Western Wall this morning, and I am really tired right now. Can I come find you in about an hour or so, and we can take it from there?”
“I can’t man, I got lessons all afternoon, man. I was free now an’ was really hopin you’d help.”

Adam was torn, he had been lusting after Yedidyah’s cock all morning, and now that it was within reach, he was being torn away. On the other hand, how could he not help someone who was struggling. He looked over at Yedidyah who had obviously heard the whole conversation and was keeping a deliberately neutral expression. “Fuck” Adam thought to himself. At least if Yedidyah had shown a longing to be with him, it would have made the decision a little bit easier.

He heaved a sigh and looked up saying, “I’m sorry man.”

To be continued...maybe