When In Rome

Some of the ideas in that story worked for me when I was eleven. Boys enjoy being naked, and often just knowing that it's okay (it doesn't make them weird to want to be naked, and they won't get into trouble) is enough. Boys also like to cuddle - even when they're older. They're usually afraid to ask because they're afraid of being thought of as a baby, but if you let them know that it's okay for older boys to cuddle, they're anxious for it.

When I was eleven, I went camping with my best friend and his father. Before we left from his house, my friend's father suggested we change into our swimsuits. I hadn't brought one because I was thinking "camping" and not "swimming." My friend was slightly taller and heavier than I was, so he had an older suit that fit me. At the time, most boys wore either trunks or square-cut suits - and a few boys wore racers, which is what my friend had, so I didn't think it was a big deal, even though I usually wore trunks. (This was before the days when boys started wearing those nasty, below-the-knee whatever-they're-called things.)

I tried to put the suit on over my underwear, and (of course) that didn't work. That's when my friend told me that you're not supposed to wear underwear with swimsuits. No one had ever told me that. I only had a few swimsuits growing up, so I often just wore cutoffs--with underwear because I always wore underwear with shorts. So, I hadn't ever thought about doing anything other than wearing underwear with a swimsuit.

With this new knowledge in hand, I lost the underwear and donned the racer. I did this without thinking because we were both boys, and (like you indicated) it's no big deal for boys to change in front of each other. My friend put his swimsuit on, and I don't remember noticing him naked or even thinking about him seeing me naked.

The place where we were going was two or three hours away, so we stopped at some family-type diner in the middle of nowhere along the way. Up until that time, I had always worn a shirt and shoes any time I had gone into any kind of store or restaurant, so I was hesitant about going into the diner wearing only a swimsuit, but my friend said he did it all the time, so I didn't protest further. I discovered that I really enjoyed being in the restaurant in nothing but a swimsuit.

When we got to the campsite, my friend shucked his swimsuit as soon as he got out of the car and his father took off his clothes. Upon seeing my shocked look, my friend casually commented that he and his dad always got naked when they went camping: something about it being "natural." Noticing my continued hesitation, his father delivered the standard "we're all boys" comment and something about being savages cooking with fire and going naked. I was still hesitant, then his father added, "There's no one out here but us. No one will know."

With that reassurance, I removed my swimsuit but covered my crotch with my hands because I was embarrassed that my penis was stiff. (At that age, boys often get stiff when they're excited--even though it's not sexual excitement.) My friend nonchalantly said, "That happens to me, sometimes, too," and I was suddenly fine.

I had an enormous amount of fun setting up the camp and gathering firewood naked. After dark, we went exploring the woods - naked. There was a full moon, but it was still a little creepy. However, the combination of being slightly scared of the dark and worried about being "caught" naked made the evening really exciting.

We slept naked that night and cooked and ate breakfast naked the next morning, but we put on swimsuits to hike the half mile or so to a lake.

There weren't very many people at the lake, and most of them were on the opposite side from where we were. There were a few college-aged girls and an older couple near us. When we got in the water, my friend took his swimsuit off and handed it to his father, then suggested I do the same. I was nervous because of the other people there, but I didn't take much convincing.

It was really fun swimming naked, and I soon forgot about the girls (who were just sunning themselves on the shore) and the older couple, who were sitting in lounge chairs reading.

When it was time to get out of the water, my friend's father handed us our swimsuits, and we put them back on before getting out. I think the older couple had noticed what we had done because they gave my friend and I a curious smile when we walked past them. I don't remember anything about the girls.

Once we were out of view of the lake, my friend's father suggested we remove our swimsuits so that both they and us would dry better. We broke camp naked, and my friend and I rode naked in the car for the drive back. We only put on our swimsuits when we stopped at McDonald's on the way home (it was fun going into McDonald's in nothing but a swimsuit) and again shortly before we got back to my friend's house.

I had a great time camping - especially because I got to be naked. Over the next two or three years, I slept over at my friend's house several times and had other opportunities to be naked with him. I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed being naked because I had never really had a chance to be naked before except mostly just to take a bath.

Curiously, I don't have any strong memories of my friend's father during the camping trip. My friend showed me how to set up the tent, make a fire, etc. I remember his father was with us all the time, but I mostly remember my friend, what we did together, and the feelings I had about being naked.

At the time, my friend and I both had thick, tight scrotums - the kind that don't really show the individual testicles and sort of look like half a golf ball - and stubby little penises (perhaps two inches) that stuck, more or less, straight out from our bodies. I distinctly remember noticing that my friend's genitals looked pretty much the same as mine. I remember his father had a medium-sized penis that hung down with medium-sized testicles in a loose sack - and a lot of hair! At the time, I thought his genitals were really big, but in retrospect, I think they were average for an adult. I don't remember staring at him or anything like that. If he ever got erect, I don't remember it.

I found out later that my friend's family were very casual about nudity. I don't know that they were nudists - they were just vary casual about being naked (or nearly so).

I had known my friend from school for maybe a little under a year before we went on the camping trip. I had never slept over at his house and didn't until two or three months after the camping trip. I became friends with him in the middle of 5th grade, and I saw him only at school until 6th grade, when I started stopping by his house sometimes on the way home from school. He lived about a quarter mile away from our elementary school, and I lived almost two miles away. After the camping trip, I started spending more time at his house, and I slept over every few months, or so.

I didn't think about it at the time, but now, I wonder if the camping trip was to get me used to the idea of being naked. After that, when I'd stop by his house after school, he'd usually strip naked soon after we stepped in the house. When I went to his house on the weekends, he was almost always naked when I got there. His sister was two or three years younger than us, and she was usually wearing nothing more than panties or bikini bottoms (without the top).

His father worked a lot, so he wasn't around very much. When he was, he was often just in his underwear. That was no big deal, for me, because my father often sat around the house in his underwear. His mother often wore short sundresses. When I slept over, she was usually wearing this lightweight robe that only came down to about mid-thigh and was very open at the neck. My friend's parents were a lot younger than mine, and his mom was young enough that I found that robe very interesting.

Thinking about your question, it does seem to me, now, that he did make an effort to keep his son and me either naked or as close to naked as circumstances allowed. For example, one Friday night when I was sleeping over, he took my friend and me to the store so we could get some model glue and paint. My friend put on a pair of shorts, and I started to get dressed (we had both been naked), but his father said that I only needed shorts, so my friend and I both went barefoot and bare-chested.

Seeing my friend do it, and getting approval from an adult, is what I meant in my original message about boys wanting to be naked and just needing to be assured that it's okay. At least, that's the way it seems to have been with me.

On the camping trip, we had shared a sleeping bag because it got cold at night. (It's not unusual to have temperatures in the low 80s during the day and the low 60s at night.) There wasn't any fooling around, just a lot of bumping and rubbing. The night of that first sleep-over, he suggested we share a sleeping bag, again, even though it was warm. This time, there was a lot of grabbing a squeezing of genitals. Like with the shower, we weren't really masturbating each other, just fooling around.

When we were 12 and 13, I did play sexually with my friend, but his parents never did anything to me that I remember as being sexual. When he was around, his father was usually the one who encouraged me to get naked, or shower with my friend, or do other "weird" things. I had no thoughts at the time, but now, I wonder if maybe he liked boys but was okay with just looking.

The first sleep-over at my friend's house was a few months after the camping trip--after I had been visiting his house after school (maybe once or twice a week) and a few Saturdays. I was getting comfortable with his nudity. After dinner that first sleep-over, his mother told us we needed to take a bath. His father suggested my friend and I shower together. I balked, at first, but he talked about having to shower with the guys after PE when we started junior high school the next year - again using the "you're both boys" angle - and I hesitantly agreed.

Once in the shower, without asking, my friend just started washing me - head to toe. He spent rather longer than necessary with my genitals. He didn't really masturbate me, but there was a lot of rubbing and squeezing. Then he told me it was my turn to wash him. Having never showered with someone, before, I just did to him what he had done to me - including spending a lot of time on his genitals. I don't remember this as being sexual; it was just the two of us fooling around.

After showering, he told me we didn't need to get dressed. I was uncomfortable about being naked around his mother and sister, but he said it was no big deal, and there was nothing to be afraid of. I guess I didn't like being accused of being afraid, so I went for it. There was a lot of covering myself with my hands, rushing to sit at the table, etc., but I quickly got used to it - especially since my friend was so nonchalant about it, and his parents and sister treated me like they always did when I was visiting.

That's pretty much the way things went for the next year, or so. (I'm fuzzy on the time line.) I stayed dressed on my after-school visits - even though my friend almost always got naked. Sometimes, I'd get naked on a weekend visit. I always got naked at sleep-overs. We continued showering and sleeping together, which were the only two times we fooled around.

I don't remember exactly when, but we were either 13 or close to it when my friend brought up the subject of masturbating ('jacking off') one night when we were in his room just before bedtime. He admitted to jacking off and asked if I did. Since he had admitted it, first, I did, too. He then suggested that we try jacking off each other. After that, showering and sleeping became full-fledged mutual masturbation sessions.

Those were the only times we did anything sexual with each other. We never did anything sexual after school or on the weekends - just at sleep-overs. I'm not sure why. I don't really have any memories of considering it, or trying to instigate it at other times. I pretty much just went along with what my friend did.

I'm sure his parents knew about it because his mother walked in on us one night. She gave two quick knocks, then just opened the door, stuck her head in, and told us not to stay up too late. (It was close to midnight). Before I could fully react, she was gone. I was deathly embarrassed, which my friend found hilarious. I was also embarrassed at breakfast, in the morning, but his mom didn't say a word about it or act strange in any way.

The next time I slept over, I was okay in the shower, but I didn't want to do anything in my friend's room, that night. Of course, being 12 or 13 and horny, I didn't take much convincing.

Unfortunately, the summer after I turned 13, my family moved away.

At our new home, there were four boys who lived in the house behind us. At the time we moved in, they were 13, 11, 9, and 4 or 5. I really wanted to fool around with them like I had with my friend, but I was too worried about being embarrassed at suggesting it with the older two boys, and not really interested in the youngest. I did get to talking about sex, one time, with the 9-year-old, but it never went any further. Before too long, I started really getting interested in girls, so I never did anything else with another boy.

The place we moved to was a new development in a rural area, so there were lots of streets with only two or three houses on them and a few with no houses at all - and lots of woods. Sometimes, I'd sneak off by myself and get naked in the woods. I'd even masturbate in the woods, sometimes. I really didn't have any other opportunities to be naked, and I missed that.

In my late 20s, I started visiting a nude beach - which was awesome - but it was a 90-minute drive, one way, so I didn't go very often. For a while, I was going once a month, but that soon tapered off to once every few months. I stopped going a year or two after I got my own house because I was able to be naked in my back yard whenever I wanted. To this day, I still sit out in my back yard naked, reading.

For while, in my late 20s, I was a bit of an exhibitionist. I got some rather skimpy swimsuits to wear to the beach near me for the times when I didn't go to the nude beach. (For most of my life, I've lived within a 10- to 20-minute drive of a beach.) They were racer-type suits, some with just 1" sides. I had one with a Brazilian back--and even a thong! I'd even wash my car in the driveway in front of my house while wearing one (but I was never brave enough to wear the thong anywhere but the beach).

I don't know if this is a lasting effect of my experiences with my friend or just the way I am, but to this day, I'm still interested in scantily-dressed and naked boys (mostly between the ages of 9 and 12). Sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, it was common for children to wear long t-shirts with short shorts so that, at first glance, it appeared that perhaps the child wasn't wearing pants. I miss those days: That combo really turns me on--boy or girl. In fact, one of the sexiest things I like a woman to wear is a t-shirt with nothing on underneath.

I don't have any children, but if I did, I'm sure I'd try to keep them naked as often as practical, and dress them minimally when I couldn't. I really enjoy stores about naked boys, especially if they're naked (or nearly so) in public (around other people who aren't naked).