I don't think you could call me a mystic, or even much of a spiritualist. The shrine I keep for my father is the only religious activity I've ever held seriously. But the day I met him, I knew there was something happening beyond the ordinary, perhaps even beyond the explainable.

"Is that you, Odin?"

"Hello, Obaasan."

She was puzzled for a moment, taking off those thick glasses she wore and squinting at me with her real eyes. "Is it? Oh, Little Odin! Oh my goodness! Come in, come in, please!"

I nodded and crossed the threshold, walking a bit quicker than usual to help her from her chair. Bony arms wrapped around to hug me tightly, barely anything like the soft embrace that had rocked me to sleep so long ago. Shadows of strong hands patted my back with affection, her whole frame so small and frail compared to my memories of her.

"I thought for sure," she said, pulling back, but keeping her clutch on my arms, "it was your father's ghost coming to visit me." She smiled, her already wrinkled face creasing along its worn lines. Thin fingers reached up to brush the hair from my face. "You've grown so much like him, with those wolfish eyes of his."

I looked away from her, clearing my throat softly. "I need your help, Obaasan. There are some things I don't understand."

Her smile was caring, if less bright than it had been a moment before. "You talk like him too. Always straight to the point." She let go of me, taking her seat again and motioning to the chair across the table.

For as long as I'd known her, and by that I mean my entire life, Obaasan had a skill for explaining what others could not. And that was because she had ways of knowing that others did not.

"I would wager a guess that there are many things you do not understand about this life, Little Odin. Which of those would you like to know about today?" She unfolded her glasses and set them back on her nose, the sunlight from the open doorway behind me glinting on the thick lenses. Picking up the needlework I'd interrupted by knocking at her door, she began rocking in her chair, sewing and glancing up at me now and again.

"I'm having strange thoughts. They have to do with someone I've met -- a young man."

"And what sort of thoughts are these to have you so upset?"

"Images. Emotions. They're always accompanied by a feeling of nostalgia, like these are memories; but they're memories of things that haven't happened."

She laughed. "If they're memories, then of course they've happened. They just may not have happened for as long as you can remember."

I should have mentioned before that Obaasan's explanations don't always make sense.

"Tell me about this boy you met."

"His name is Duo. He's my age, white, works at a car garage. We met by accident about a week ago. I had the sense that we knew each other, even though I was sure I'd never seen him before."

She nodded. "You're attracted to him."

I swallowed uncomfortably, a bit concerned by the way she seemed to state it as though she knew it for a fact. "Yes. Very much. We've been on a couple dates."

"And what is the sex like?"

The look of shock on my face must have been amusing because she laughed at me again.

"Ah. My dear Little Odin. As smart as you are you can be such a fool at times. You think my own children were born from snow flakes and fairy dust?" She smiled at me, eyes flashing over her glasses for a moment and then looking back to her sewing. "You know better than that so don't think that I'm naïve about these things."

I cleared my throat, looking at the floor as a light blush darkened my face. "It's good."

"Just good?" It was a baited question. "Is it passionate? Is it spontaneous? Does each of you seem to know what the other likes without asking?"

My head slowly raised, able to look at her again when curiosity outweighed embarrassment. "Yes. All of that."

She nodded. "Love-making can tell a lot about the relationship of ghosts, though most people seem to think of it as simply a bodily function."

"That's when the memories started -- when we were together."

She smiled, slipping her glasses off and looking to me across the table. "Well, I won't bother to make guesses without meeting this boy myself. Bring him by and we'll find out where these memories are coming from."

She rose from her seat, waving me away when I got up to help her. "Sorry to rush you off, but I'm having an old friend for dinner tonight. Bring this boy to see me tomorrow. Around two o'clock would be fine." She smiled and patted my cheek, fingers barely warmer than the rings she wore on them.

She turned from me, making her way slowly to the kitchen. "Good night, Little Odin. And don't you dare smoke in the hallway."

I made it outside and down the block before lighting up. I leaned against the warm brick of the corner building, eyes shifting around the neighborhood where I'd grown up, looking carefully to see if Obaasan was right, if I really had grown up to look like him. No one that passed by seemed to recognize me, which was a relief.

I didn't have time to dwell on the rest of our conversation, train of thought broken by the cell phone buzzing in my pocket. One look at the caller ID and I sighed, grinding my half-finished cigarette under my heel and pressing the receive button. "This is Heero."

"Heero? Duo. You told me to call when I got off work."

His voice in my ear triggered off a thousand memories of him saying my name, some of them more intense than others. "Y-yeah. I'll swing by now and pick you up. Did you pack?"

"Sure did. Just the bare essentials for a sleep-over party."

I fished my keys out and climbed in my car. "Do me a favor," I said as I started the ignition. "Pack another set of clothes you wouldn't mind getting ripped out of later."

He laughed and for a moment all I could see was his smile a million times over. "Sure thing. I'll get on that right now while I'm waiting for you."

I pulled onto the road, heading for the interstate that would lead me back into the city. "One more thing: Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

He smelled like sweat and motor oil, not surprising but erotic nonetheless. The scents mingled, bitter, masculine, thick on the back of my tongue like smoke. All the addictive goodness without the cancerous after-taste.

With no air conditioning in the garage, we'd both gone shirtless, the warmth of the summer night making our bodies slick and glistening as we worked on rebuilding the motorcycle. Dark streaks marked the trails where hands roamed flesh, brown residue smearing over sweat-damp torsos in dramatic lines and swirls of some impressionist's sexual fantasy.

I pulled him to straddle the bike with me, my cock aching to be inside him, but I tried to sate the urge, grinding my erection against the tightly stretched seat of his pants and the warm, round ass hidden inside. He gripped the handles as I gripped his hips, our groans harmonizing as we moved together, playing at the act of sex through our clothes.

He muttered my name, the word nothing but a shuddering breath, a spark to ignite memories I should not have remembered. I shook my head to fight them away, not wanting to live another life, wanting to be here and now with this beautiful animal of a man rutting against me. I bit his shoulder, the sharp shriek clearing my head for me as he arched, nearly crushing my pelvis with the backward jab of his hips.

My right hand slipped around him, fingers running along the thick outline of his dick, feeling heat pulse through denim. My left hand joined, fingers popping open the button of his fly, then curling inside. A grunt and a sharp tug ripped fabric, tearing the fly loose to release his dick from confinement. He whimpered when my fingers cradled him gently, wetness greeting my thumb at the tip. Already the foreplay was becoming too much for both of us.

My lips ghosted a kiss over the bite marks on his shoulder as I got off the bike, his disappointment audible at the loss of me. So impatient. I pulled a condom out of my pocket and held it in my teeth as I undressed the rest of the way. He seemed to get the hint, climbing off and shirking his clothes as well. Then he plucked the condom out of my mouth and smiled.

"Allow me this time." A purple eye winked, his gaze looking up to me as he sank to his knees.

Warm kisses pressed along the shaft, my cock already reddening from denial and throbbing painfully at every light touch of his lips. He tore open the wrapper and rolled the condom onto me, the latex snug and damp as it was spread out. Fingers curled between my legs, cupping and lifting my testicles in their clean-shaven sack as Duo wrapped his mouth around my dick. The heat was intense and exquisite, enough to make my toes curl as he slid his head back and forth.

"Ah! Duo don't ...don't waste the condom," I blurted out between gasps, too close to climax for much more playing around.

He pulled back slowly and smiled, tongue lavishing me with saliva until the latex was dripping. "Just wanted to get you wet," he purred, giving each of my balls a soft kiss before he stood up again.

I growled, shoving my mouth into his and biting his tongue when it snaked between my teeth. "On the bike."

He complied, purple eyes a bit glassy as he licked his lips and straddled the motorcycle again. He leaned forward, round ass wiggling to tempt me. I gave his cheeks a nice slap for that.

"You like to play?" I asked. I climbed on the bike behind him, licking my middle finger good before slowly pushing it into his ass. I let my cock cool down for a minute while I fingered him, as much as I could cool down with him gasping and bucking back against me as my finger pressed into the soft bump of his prostate. His insides were contracting and loosening, squeezing my finger as his hips rocked quickly.

"Fuck, Heero, put it in me already!" he groaned, reaching between his legs to squeeze his own aching erection.

I chuckled as I slid my finger out and replaced it with the slick head of my cock. "Just wanted to get you wet," I whispered, my breath blowing over his ear in a drawn out groan as I sank into him. The muscle ring stretched reluctantly, spasming a bit as it was invaded, then gripping down hard around the root of my cock. I leaned into Duo's back, wrapping my right arm around his stomach as my left hand reached out to grab the bike handle. His fingers covered mine as he braced himself on the handles as well, already trying to buck against me desperately. Always so impatient.

We found a rhythm, a fast, hard ride that disavowed consequence for rapture. Every forward push was met with a backward shove, the compounded impact making flesh redden and ring out obscene wet smacks that echoed on the concrete walls. My calves were burning, the both of us balanced precariously as we rode one another to our destination.

"I... I'm close!" he announced.

My head lifted to watch Duo's face as climax took him. A sparkle of light glinted into my eyes, and I followed it to where our fingers had laced on the left handle. My eyes widened, the light shining from identical gold bands on our ring fingers.

"Heero!"

The shout brought me back, my head twisting to look at Duo's face once more, his expression contorted as he shuddered and arched against me. My toes curled again at the erotic sight, bucking with all my strength as my stomach tightened into a knot. A half-choked moan, a wordless thought of ecstasy escaped me as I came in the squeezing tunnel, reaching my climax as his faded to an end.

We sat for a few seconds, half in and half out of reality and one another. I raked my fingernails across his belly and he gasped, shivering heavily as pink trails formed on his skin.

I lay my head on his shoulder, looking down with blurred focus at the streaks of white dripping off the gauges and marking the black leather between Duo's legs. My eyes shifted to the left handle and our twined fingers. The gold rings had vanished, phantom hallucinations of memories I shouldn't have had.