"Hello, my friend. No, nothing special. Just thought I'd check on your security system. That outer perimeter sensor looked a bit off to me when I left. That, and I needed to get away -- to tell you about what's been going on. About my lessons, and how I almost totally screwed everything up.

"Pleasure. Duo says that's the lesson I've never learned -- pleasure.

"Eh? Yeah, Wing, he showed up again. Either he's getting mission assignments that coincide with mine, or he's following me around. I really don't care which it is, as long as he doesn't get in my way when it comes to business.

"So, he told me that I don't know anything about pleasure. I argued with him, of course. I know the pleasure of doing a job well, of completing a mission successfully. But he says that's not it. He means physical pleasure. According to my long-haired baka of a tutor, I've never learned to give or receive pleasure. I'll tell you this, Wing, Duo is plenty willing to provide me with remedial training.

"He showed up at my door a couple of nights ago, after getting himself enrolled in the same school, I found out later. He knocked, and when I opened the door, he stood there grinning. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk.

"Now, why in all the worlds would I want to go for a walk so late at night? Did he think I would want to amble around so I could listen to him chatter? I don't think so. But the blanket he had tucked under his arm made me think there was more on the evening's agenda than he was letting on.

"So, I asked him, 'Are we going to have sex?'

"I didn't know the baka's eyes could get any wider, but he set an all-time personal best at that one. His mouth hung open, waiting for his vocabulary to catch up with his brain. Finally he stuttered out, 'Sure. If you want to.'

"Well, if that was the case, then I was willing to go. I told him to wait, and went back into the room to shut down my computer and tuck a revolver into the waistband of my shorts at the small of my back. I wasn't going wandering around unfamiliar territory after dark unarmed.

"He must have scouted out the area earlier, because he seemed to have a destination in mind. I followed along while he talked -- how was I, what had I been doing, wasn't it a beautiful night. He led us up a path at the back of the school, probably a couple of kilometers total, until we were at a little clearing on a hill. It was a nice night, I have to admit. Clear and warm, with the stars shining and an almost-full moon.

"'How's this?' he asked, and I shrugged. It was nice enough, I guess. So he spread out the blanket, kicked off his boots, and strolled up to me.

"You know, Wing, I never thought much about kissing before. When I did indulge in the occasional carnal fantasy, kissing was never part of it. But with Duo, kissing is as erotic as anything else I could imagine. He kisses with his whole body. It's a full contact experience, if you know what I mean. His mouth tastes so good. His lips are unbelievably soft one minute, demanding the next. He teases with his tongue, making me want more and more. And then he makes those little noises. Every little whimper is like an assault on my crotch.

"Hn. Better lighten up on the description. I'm getting hard just thinking about it.

"We kissed standing there on the blanket for a long time, and I complained when he pulled away. But he turned around, presenting his back -- and his braid -- to me. He couldn't see my face, so I smiled. He's so protective of his hair, it was like a gift to let me undo the tie and loosen the plait so that I could run my fingers through it. He warned me not to lose the leather band, so I tied it around my wrist.

"It felt so good, Wing, to touch him, to sink my hands into his long hair. I needed more, so I spun him around, and pressed him up against me so I could kiss him again. His arms went around me, and that was when I fucked up.

"It was stupid. I know why it happened, but I should have been able to control it. It almost ruined everything.

"Yes, yes I'll tell you.

"He wrapped his arms around my waist, and discovered the gun. I'd forgotten it was there. I mean, I knew it was there if I needed it, but at the moment, it certainly wasn't uppermost in my thoughts, ne? Duo was so surprised, he pulled it out -- I suppose just to look at it.

"Wing, you know what I was taught. Never, ever, EVER let another person take your weapon. It's a cardinal rule, hammered into me day after day, year after year. In the second that I realized he had my gun, all my training slammed into action, and reflex took over. Before either of us knew what was happening, I had him pinned to the ground, his arm twisted painfully backward.

"He screamed at me, 'What the fuck are you doing!' and I suddenly realized what I'd done. I let him go, grabbing my revolver as I backed away.

"He scrabbled backwards, gawking at me, finally getting up, looking like he was going to bolt if I moved a millimeter.

"I felt awful, Wing. I'd hurt him. I'd scared him. I felt like dirt. I didn't know what to say. I froze, waiting for him to calm down a bit, and I whispered that I was sorry. I said it over and over again. 'I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm so sorry.' I started to shake.

He stood there, torn between staying and running off. I didn't want him to go. I couldn't have stood it. I asked him -- no, I begged him, 'Please, don't leave.'

"Hm? So, what if I'm shaking now? It was bad, Wing. Like I said, I almost ruined everything.

"Finally, he pointed at my hand and told me to put the gun down. I didn't even realize I was still holding it. I put it at the edge of the blanket and stepped toward him, just one step. He stayed his ground, which I figured was a good thing, so I tried to explain.

"'It's reflex, Duo. It's what I was taught. Never lose control of your weapon. You grabbed my revolver, and I didn't think. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.'

"The anger was starting to go out of his face, and I could see that he wanted to believe me. He took a small step forward, looking like a wary animal, and then another one, and another, until we were together on the blanket again.

"'So,' he said, 'your gun and my braid? Always ask permission to touch?'

"I laughed in spite of myself, from relief mostly. He looked at me funny, staring, and then smiled that evil grin he gets, and I knew it was okay.

"We pretty much just went at each other then, pulling at clothes, kissing, grabbing, even biting each other, I think. I had some pretty interesting marks the next day. It didn't take long before we were both naked on the blanket, with me stretched out on top of him. This time, it was my turn to explore.

"It was a lesson in itself, my friend. He was soft and hard, salty and sweet, smooth in most places, rough in a few. I could tell what he liked by the way he moved, by the way he moaned, and I locked each one of those places away in my memory so that I can go back to them if I get another chance at this.

"I reached the point where my inexperience was a handicap -- not really knowing what else to do. So, I copied what he'd done, and took his erection in my mouth. I knew I must have been doing okay, because he reacted with a jolt, and noises that made me want to come right then. But, he pushed me away after only a minute, and pulled me up so that we were side by side, face to face.

"I tell you Wing, he may have a roundabout way of approaching me for sex, but once he gets going, I don't have to guess what the baka wants. He tells me straight out. Of course, he knows what that kind of talk does to me. He said he wanted us to come together, and he wanted to watch me.

"He draped his leg over my hip, grabbed both of our cocks in his hand, and started rocking. It felt great, but he was staring at me, watching every expression on my face, and I just couldn't stand it. I felt so naked. It was too much, his big eyes focused on me, and I turned away. You understand, don't you? I couldn't lose control with him looking at me.

"He stopped his hand, then, and reached up and pulled my face back toward his. He kissed me real soft, and told me it was okay. That I was safe with him. 'You can let go with me,' he said.

"And I remembered the way I felt with his arms wrapped around me, holding me, and I did feel safe. Duo wouldn't hurt me.

"I wrapped my hand around both of us the way he had, and watched him watching me as we both rocked and spiraled our way upward. I closed my eyes in the end so I couldn't see him looking at me, but I didn't turn away. I heard him groan his release right after I felt the explosion inside my brain. We arched against each other, and I almost forgot to breathe. Duo was breathing in little gasps into my ear.

"We untangled ourselves and I rolled over to stare up at the stars. Out of habit, I looked for a colony site, but none of them were in view. Duo scooted over to put his head on my shoulder, which was all right by me, because I could play with his hair.

"I picked up a long strand and laid it across my chest, running it between my fingers. It struck me again how absurd it was for a pilot to have hair like his, so I asked him about it. I asked him why he kept his hair so long. He said it was because it was the only thing he had that truly belonged to him.

"Well, if that's so, then I have nothing, and I told him that. He was quiet for a long time, but then he said something curious. He said he didn't think that was true. When I asked him what he meant, he told me to figure it out for myself.

"I still don't get it. I guess I need more Duo lessons.

"No, that wasn't the end of it, friend. Neither of us was ready to go back to the dorms, and as we lay there, we started touching each other, and kissing again, and I already told you what his kisses do to me. Pretty soon we were back in the same shape we'd started out in.

"Like I said, Duo isn't afraid to say what he wants, and this time was no different. He looked me in the eye and said in this real husky voice, 'I want you to take me. I want you inside me.'

"It's a good thing I was already horizontal, because those words would have knocked me over. That's a fantasy I have had, and I was more than willing to oblige, except that I only had a theoretical idea of what was supposed to happen. Tab A into Slot B, right? But after the earlier incident, I was worried that I might hurt him as a result of my ignorance.

"Well, that's what teachers are for, ne? And I had an oh-so-willing teacher. I nodded and said, 'Show me.'

"He scrambled over to where he'd left his clothes and fished out some sort of bottle that turned out to have oil in it. He lay back on the blanket, poured some of the slippery stuff into my hand, and had me use my fingers to stretch him. I was real careful, but it didn't seem to hurt. In fact, by the way he reacted, he wanted me to pick up the pace considerably, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

"Finally, he sat up and grabbed me by the shoulders, and said 'Now!' so strong, I had no doubt that he was ready. I slicked my cock with the oil, and told him to turn over, since my fantasy has always been to take him on his hands and knees. He did it without any fuss, and I knelt behind him.

"He was so beautiful in the moonlight, his long back, his hair curtaining over his sides, his lovely little ass between my hands. I bent over and licked the spot at the base of his spine, and he shivered, just like I'd imagined he would.

"But no fantasy could ever match what I felt when I sank into him. Nothing could have prepared me for that experience. There aren't words to describe it, Wing. It was amazing. It was ecstasy.

"We moved together under the stars, not thinking at all, just feeling the joy and the pleasure. He kept tilting his hips until he found the right angle, and then he cried out with every thrust. I didn't want it to end, but I needed it to. I needed to reach the top, or I was going to pass out. I felt it building in me, building fast, so intense that I was shouting to the sky, and I heard him howl a second before I came, pumping into him, filling him with a part of me I'd never given to anybody else.

"We both collapsed in a heap. I was in sort of a haze, and I told him I'd never felt anything like that before.

"That was when he told me that I'd never learned about pleasure. He said all my life had been about becoming a pilot and a soldier, and pleasure never entered into it.

"I suppose that's true. Why should I have been taught about something that could be as distracting as what Duo made me feel? It has no place in the reason I was sent to Earth.

"Even so, I'm beginning to think it was wrong of them. Dr. J really had no right to deceive me the way he did. I deserve it, don't I, Wing? Don't I deserve to at least experience enough physical pleasure to understand what it is?

"What I couldn't figure out, though, was why Duo was doing this for me. Sure, he obviously enjoyed the sex, but he could get that anywhere, any time he wanted. He draws people to him like a sex magnet. So, why me?

"When I asked him, he said it was because he understood. He told me he'd learned all about pain before he ever learned about pleasure -- just like me. He said it was a good long while before anyone ever showed him that sex could be about pleasure. He looked into my eyes and said he didn't want me to learn that way. He was glad he could teach me the good without having to go through the bad, at least where sex was concerned.

"I wonder what he's been through, Wing. I mean, he seems so young. Yeah, I know we're the same age, but he seems to have lived such a different life than mine. I guess while I was learning to be a soldier, he was learning to survive.

"So, we watched the stars for a while, just laying there next to each other, and all of a sudden Duo pointed up at a meteorite. It was really bright, streaking across the sky, and he told me to make a wish.

"I wished that my lessons would continue for a long time."