Men in Paradise - 17. Chapter 17 - The Gift

There is no consensus on the precise cause of sexual orientation formation, although genetic, hormonal, social and cultural factors have been studied. It is triggered by a dynamic interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors, scientists say. While no hypothesis has yet earned universal support for the cause of sexual orientation, scientists favor biologically based theory. The findings of a large-scale, longitudinal study by Savin-Williams, Joyner, and Rieger (2012) found that sexual orientation identity stability was more common than change over a six-year period, and that stability among men and those described as heterosexual was greater. According to a study by Steven E. Mock and Richard P. Eibach, "this pattern was consistent with the hypothesis that heterosexuality is a more stable sexual orientation identity, perhaps because of its normative status”. As per D.M.Buss from his Evolutionary Psychology, "obligate vs. facultative" adaptations are the subject of an alternative to opposing nature and nurture. In general, adaptations can be more obligatory (robust in the face of traditional environmental variations) or more optional (sensitive to typical environmental variation). For example, the rewarding sweet taste of sugar and the pain of bodily injury are obligate psychological adaptations. Richard Frankham discovered that adaptive differences occur due to changes in environmental conditions between plant and animal populations. In the case of captive breeding before reintroduction into the wild, it is possible for organisms to evolve, rather than their natural habitat or natural selection, in order to adapt to the captive environment. In some gull species, homosexual partnerships may be a response to a lack of males-some female pairs raise offspring together after mating with a male from a typical male-female pair instead of having no offspring at all. During some lab research, many species practiced same sex or sometimes even cross breeding when they were kept without an opposite sex or same breed and adapted to prefer captive selection instead of natural selection as a means for their survival. They take part in homosexual activity due to lack of “heterosexual outlets”. Heterosexual men in prison view their homosexual activities as "situation specific" and do not consider themselves gay, according to Prison Sexology by Hinsley. These men also explain how, when engaging in sexual activity with a male prisoner, they imagine being with a woman.

Afridi's PoV

"TikTok" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

My beloved rabbit was hiding from me since that morning. Like a crazy, it followed me wherever I went. I liked to hold its long ears and carry it with me like a baby. My favorite was to touch and fondle its white hairs all the time. And I loved the bunny with all my heart. Jai once said that TikTok and I were the same in most ways. I have no idea why Justin hated it.

TikTok had not eaten anything for two days. And that worried me. Justin asked me to give it time to digest whatever troubling its tummy. TikTok loved Howls, it ran around the cage trying to eat their food. Surprisingly, those birds were not bothered by TikTok much.

We were eating most of the eggs laid by the birds because there were dozens of them in the cage already and we did not have enough food or space for them to maintain. I knew that the harvest we provide us enough grains to feed the new ones. I was also planning to build a larger shed for them.

"Did you see TikTok?" I asked Sakthi who was busy helping Jai to make a palmyra beverage.

"I saw it running in the farm earlier," he replied.

I went to the farm to look for my pet. 'TikTok' I called out its name again. But it was nowhere in sight. I was fretted that something had happened to him. I returned to the hut and found out that the front gate of our fence was wide open.

"Who opened this gate and forgot to close it" I shouted at the guys.

They didn't even bother to respond to me. I went outside the gate and saw TikTok standing near a coconut tree staring at the wolf. That was one scary hell of a sight.

'If I don't act swiftly, I realized that the wild dog will eat my TikTok' My instinct warned me.

But that didn't happen, instead, the wolf barked at TikTok and chased it towards the fence again. I was astonished at what I saw. It was so unbelievable. I called out Sakthi and the boys. And explained to them what I witnessed then. I picked my TikTok from the ground and brought it inside the hut. Wolf was still standing at the gate waving its tail at Sakthi.

"I think we can train the wolf. It will help protect our poultry and farm, what do you think?" Sakthi was asking Justin for his approval.

"We can give it a try, if we find the dog is harmful to our livestock, then we will chase it away, but keep a close eye on him until we are certain" Justin warned him.

The dog always stayed by Sakthi's side. It followed him around. Sakthi trained the dog to protect the livestock and farm. We have been wanting to take the goats out for grazing. We called the dog 'Captain Paradise', named after 'The Avengers ‘, film.

Since then that wild dog had become a part of our new extended family. Justin, Sakthi, Jai, and I were the head of the family, we had TikTok and Captain. Along with them, we had 11 birds...big and small, and 6 goats...out of which one was pregnant at that time.

I was collecting sedimentary rocks with Justin for quite some time. And learned the type of rocks and its mineral contains from him. He is a genius. He patiently taught me about rocks even when I struggled to remember the terminologies.

One of the major disadvantages of not living in a civilized world was that we lacked many things on that island that are essential for a livelihood. We didn't have enough tools, vessels, and technologies that could help us overcome some of the basic challenges of life. We needed tools for farming and gardening. We needed weapons to protect our livestock from reptiles and animals, and we needed proper vessels for food storage and cooking.

"It took not more than six months for us to do farming, make fire, livestock, build a house and now we found iron and other minerals. Why did it take thousands of years for humankind to invent them?" I asked Justin innocently.

"Because we already gained the knowledge, practice and have written books. So, it took lesser time for us to find and apply it. Our ancestors did not have that sophistication or precedent to know or learn on those days. But thanks to them, they taught us everything, they passed all that knowledge to us" Justin told me. Whenever he talked about science or another geek stuff, he sounded so passionate.

"Why do you think nobody visited this island before us?" It was a nagging question on my mind for quite some time.

"People might have visited this island, we just don't know yet. But if nobody came here before us, then there must be some strong geographical reasons" He answered my question.

"Like what?" I asked him out of curiosity.

"Like glaciers or water currents in the ocean. There may be rocks around us or our island might be located remotely, or the volcanoes could be still active. It could be any one of those reasons. If we know the location of this island, we would be able to make some predictions" He told me.

"Can we at least try to go to our adjacent island and explore the volcanoes or mountains or whatever? Probably it will give us some clue" I asked him.

"It must be at least a mile from here. We need a boat to cross the sea to reach there. If there any water currents in between as I predict, then it would be too dangerous" He warned me.

"Are you saying we would never be able to get out of this place?" I asked him again.

"We are going to try sooner or later. It's not like we are going to be stuck here forever" Justin replied to me. I let out a sigh of relief.

I remembered our conversation on sex the other day. I was not kidding when I said I would butt-fuck Jai if I got no other option, but I hoped things would not go that far. Because I had jerk offs with Justin several times by then and I was bored already of another guy's firm hand on my dick, I needed something warm and soft to deal with. I needed a pussy. As a young man with raging hormones, I needed sexual relief by the warmth of a woman, tenderness of their heart and the pussy. As per sex, except for some momentary slips with Justin, I considered myself a virgin. The cold weather on that island also made things worse for me. I was horny all the time. Even though it was not grossing me out lately whenever he touches, I was not sure if that was what I wanted. I saw Justin watching me, staring at my face.

"Are you thinking about sex?" He asked me with a chuckle.

"Yep," I told him instantly…Man, the dude was even reading my mind very well.

"Please don't try Jai. You will scare the hell out of him" He laughed.

I joined his laughter. I imagined the panic on his face when being chased away by me...naked. I am not sure why, but oddly I thought about sex a lot on those days. On the other night while asleep, I dreamt of a nude girl standing on the beach, her boobs were enormous, her brown hair was waving in the wind and then suddenly her face changed into Justin's. He was developing six-packs due to the hard work at the farm and it was visible to me. He was standing there with his curly blonde hair, broad shoulders, his long dick, and enormous balls were hanging between his legs down below the thick pubic hair mushroom. That astounded me…I thought he was making me gay then. I am still not sure what I was going through those days. It was understood things were changing on that island and life was different than the way I lived in the real world. We had no social norms or rules to break on that island. If I could find ways to survive on that island that would suffice by then, nobody really cares. I knew I liked Justin in a lot of ways than I could contemplate, but I did not know how far I would be able to go further at that time.

"We could try things differently, you know what I mean right?" Justin asked me as if he read my mind.

I knew exactly what he was asking, but I did not know how to respond to that question. He was still staring at me.

And then he said, "I wanted to try with you".

That did put me in an awkward position.

"Are you gay or what? You very well know I am not" I blurted it out as quickly as I could. I wanted him to end that discussion.

"I guess I am gay for you" He replied to me without any hesitation. His voice was completely different than before.

"That's bullshit" I snapped back at him, he weirded me out totally.

That afternoon, Justin and I wanted to try extracting iron and copper ore to see if we could make tools and vessels out of it. I was relieved that he was not talking about sex anymore, but I knew he was a little upset and I wanted to do something to make him happy. I didn’t want him to be angry with me or stopped talking. I remembered how he saved me from the flies, carried me to the house like a superman. He taught me things about plants, rocks, minerals and many more. We jogged on the beach every day, we played and joked around. He was my rock, my life without him on that island would have been an absolute disaster.

Like every other challenge on that island, mineral making was not easy. Even though we had extracted the ore from the abundant rocks, we did not have enough fire substance to melt and mold it. We needed a furnace. We collected clay from the stream and limestones from the big rocks. Made a mix like Cement. We then used it to build the furnace cylindrical in shape. There was an opening at its bottom from the ground to put the wood and grips above to melt and mold the liquid ores. We also put two holes and inserted bamboos like an air pipe, and we strung it with two sticks to pump it to breathe air inside.

In the beginning, we failed in our melting process, melted ore mixed with wood ashes, and stuck inside the furnace. We tried several times and found a way to melt it without mixing it with other substances. And then shaping the liquid to get the desired mold was an even more complex task. We had to cut down large stems from the trees and create mold or use clays again as molds.

I made my first knife, hurray…

I became the official blacksmith at Paradise. Yep, that was how we called the island. I made a butcher knife, ax, chainsaw, nails, hammer, and a fish trap for Sakthi. A plow, and a spade for Justin from the iron ores. I made two different sized pans, plates, and spoons for Jai using copper ores. Also, a trowel and sledgehammer for my forging works. And it took several days of hard work though.

I made a small chain using nickel ore with a blue stone dollar. Found that metamorphic small stone at the edge of the big rocks. I polished it well to shine. It took two days, but I was proud of myself for doing that. I intended to give it to Justin when we were alone. I knew it would match his blue eyes. I hoped he would like it.

Justin was super busy that day. But I finally managed to find him. I took him for a jog at the beach. It was evening already, we sat there to watch the sunset. Birds were flying above to reach their nest. Blue waves hitting the rocks making water flashes in a distance. Early mornings and evenings were always beautiful in Paradise. Justin was looking at the big rock where our plane first crashed.

"It's been seven months, isn't it?" I interrupted his thoughts.

"Yep, are you still hoping they will come and rescue us?" Justin interrogated me.

"I don't know, they must be thinking we were dead," I told him quietly.

"Do you still hate Paradise?" He asked me

"Not anymore," I told him with certainty.

"What changed?" Justin curiously asked me.

"Its seasons, the birds, crops, the metals, the food, the boys, TikTok" I was listing it one by one.

I saw his blue eyes staring at me. His curly blond hair wavering in the sea breeze, his pink lips were waiting for me to finish my sentence.

"And You," I told him. I was damn sure he would be happy to hear that.

"Really?" he asked for my confirmation with his usual goofy grin.

"And I made this for you" I took the pendant and gave it to him.

He took it from me and looked at it. He liked it, I saw it in his deep blue eyes. He wore it around his neck without hesitation.

"Man, that’s so sweet," He said in his husky voice.

"I know, right," I said.

"I will give you a gift in return, tonight," Justin said to me with a wink. I groaned in response.

Yep, the event that night was unforeseen by me. It changed my perceptions about sex to a greater extent. Earlier when he mentioned 'a gift in return'…well, he was not at all kidding. It was not a regular jerk off that I got used to. He kept touching my dick that night and once he made sure that the other guys had slept, he removed my trouser completely. Simultaneously, he started kissing my neck and then down below. Initially, I thought he was super horny, and I was wondering how to slow him down. He was already on my navel and I anticipated something unexpected was going to happen. My heart was beating ecstatically when I felt his lips brushing my pubic hair. It made me too nervous and curious, both at the same time. I wanted to stop him before he completely grosses me out. But it was too late, his lips were already kissing my dick.

'Dude, what the fuck are you doing? Leave my damn dick alone!!!' My mind squealed, but words refused to come out of my mouth and my throat dried out a long time ago.

My dick was having a full erection, it was excited by the attention from the soft lips. When he took it in his mouth, I literally shuddered. The warmth of his saliva and the way his lips gripped mine took me to an elevation that I never felt before. He was sucking my dick back and forth, it was like getting fucked by a pussy. I did not think I could stop him, so I gave up trying. Instead, I pushed my dick into his mouth down to his throat for additional ecstasy. And I started fucking his mouth much faster. It felt so good and I knew it would spit sooner. Hesitantly, I touched his head and tried to remove my dick out of his mouth, but he did not let it go.

I couldn't control anymore, "Justin, I am going to cum" I whispered into his ear, I didn't want the other guys to hear me.

He raised his head above and looked at my eyes for a second and said, "It's OK".

Once again, he went back to his business sucking me. He even fondled my balls, and I could no longer wait after that. Within a minute, I came like never before. He kept my dick in his mouth until I spurted all my juices out and emptied my balls.

When he let it go, my dick was already flaccid. The pounding of my heart stopped, I was able to breathe normally. I looked at Justin, he was grinning at me mischievously. I was speechless, my thoughts were all over the place. I liked what he did to me, but I was not sure how to react to what I just experienced. Why did a straight guy like him do that to me? It was so selfless of him, and he gave me a pleasure that no one ever did to me. I was not sure if I could return the favor, so I did what we have done so many times before.

I removed his trousers on my own. And took his dick in my hand and started whipping it. He was having an erection already, his eyes were closed trying to enjoy what I was doing to him and he came within a minute or so. I wiped my hand on his trousers. He looked much more relaxed than I was.

A funny thought arose on my mind and I blurted it out to him "Do you like the taste by the way?" I was laughing mildly.

He smirked at me and said, "Not much, but I'll get used to it".

I knew that was not the last time we are going to do it. And I was afraid I would be expected to explore even deeper than that out of my comfort zone in the coming days.