The World Beyond [Gladis&Hideki](Private)

[-Hideki-]

Nodding when Calum told him that it should be fine for him to put his dick inside of him now giving him the instruction to be gentle and to not push the whole length in at once his eyes were lusting over that cute hole of the younger one and there was an enthusiastic, hungry, almost animalistic spark in his blue gaze when he thought about the reaction his finger had already been able to draw from the other. It had been amazing how the brunette had clawed himself into the sheets how he had moaned, how his muscle had clenched around his finger and how the other man had greedily pushed back into them and he wanted to draw even more intense reactions from him, making him determined to find that spot again hammering onto it with his cock.

 

Asher took his thick throbbing thing into his hand that was oozing pre-cum and was slippery from that as well as the younger male’s spit. The veins on his dick were pulsating hard when he was rubbing the tip onto the entrance slowly, as he had been told, starting to shove it inside. When he had entered the tip an intense spark was overflowing him, making him gasp before he carefully let it sink into Calum more until his whole length was buried inside of the younger man. The muscle was holding onto his cock strongly and the tightness alone was making him feel good and he was impatient as he let the other get used to his huge cock inside of him.

 

When he started to move he moved slowly what was good because his movements were rather uncoordinated and didn’t have a decent rhythm. It took him some thrusts to find a rhythm and to aim it right, knowing that he had found the prostate again from the other man’s reactions and expressions. He was increasing speed and intensity of his thrusts, fascinated by the pleasure that was streaming through his body, making his heart race like crazy and his breath getting heavier. The tighter the hot insides choked his dick, the more he felt like not only his cock was melting but also that his skin was electrified. Ash wanted more of this, he wanted to feel this more intensely and automatically he penetrated the other harder, ramming his dick against Calum’s prostate as if it was a nail he was hammering into the wall. Asher couldn’t really hold himself back anymore all too well and the hands he had on the younger male’s hips were grabbing more firmly and stronger just as his thrusts were getting stronger.

 

The pleasure increased and his mind was clouded by it completely, he growled deeply from time to time when it felt like Calum’s tight hole was devouring his dick, not letting go of it anymore, his balls slapping against the man’s arse, making lewd sounds as he was ravaging him. He wasn’t doing this for all that long but he felt how his muscles started to constrict and how he got closer and closer to the edge. Somehow it was clear to him that ejaculating too early on – although he had no idea what would be too early – would not be good. On the other hand he felt like he really couldn’t take it anymore, yearning to cum inside of the man and to fill him up. He tired to hold it off though as one of his hands reached out to stroke Calum’s cock while he was thrusting his throbbing rod into him, wanting desperately to make the other cum as well or to at least get him close to climax. He wasn’t good at coordinating both his thrusts and the stroking at the same time just yet though so he gave up on the stroking after a few strokes to the man’s dick placing the hand on the man’s hips again, pulling him closer while ramming his dick inside mercilessly aiming at the sweet spot. “I can’t take it for much longer anymore!” he moaned out to the other as he was already losing the rhythm, his dick twitching and throbbing inside of the other as he bucked up into the man hard but irregularly, growling in deep pleasure before he shot his load inside of the Calum’s tight hole, filling it up with his seeds, panting heavily, sweat glistering on his entire body.

[Gladis]

A soft gasp pushed past Calum’s lips as he felt Asher’s pulsating cock push past his tight ring of muscle, his teeth coming down to bite into his bottom lip. ”Fuck, you’re huge,” he groaned (not nessecarily as a complaint), feeling himself clamp down on on the other as he continued to push deeper. Still, he was thankful that Asher was taking it slow and easy, as it took him a while to adjust to the sheer size of it.

 

Likewise it seemed to take Asher some time to figure out how exactly to go about it, but that was kind of to be expected. At least it gave Calum the time he needed to adjust, his body relaxing around the rock hard appendage. By the time Asher was beginning to increase his pace Calum felt like he had grown rather accustomed to it, letting out sharp, approving moans of pleasure every time his cock hit his prostate. Wave after wave of intense pleasure washed over him, and he was thankful that the entire village was busy on the fields, because he couldn’t have held his voice back even if he tried.

 

”That’s good, Asher...keep going...fuck me…fuck me harder,” He gasped, his fingers digging into the sheets. ”Oh, it feels so fucking good,” he moaned.

 

The bed creaked, the air smelled like sex and the tiny room was filled with the noise of skin slapping against skin, Asher’s growls and Calum’s moans. He had completely relented to his most primal of instincts, his mind filled with nothing but the desire to come – and the desire to make Asher come as well. Heat pooled in his stomach and he let out an almost animalistic growl, tightening around Asher as he felt his hand wrap around his glistening cock, thrusting into it. Although it was short lived, it almost pushed him over the edge, so Asher’s warning kind of came as a relief.

 

”It’s okay,” he gasped, moving his hips to push back against Asher as he began to lose speed, ”it’s okay, you can cum. Cum inside me,” he almost begged, letting out another sharp moan as he felt Asher throb and twitch inside him. He wrapped one hand around his cock, pumping feverishly as he clamped down on the other.

 

He cried out in sheer ecstasy as he came, shuddering as a feeling of utter bliss rippled through him, his cum splattering onto the sheets beneath him. Panting, he collapsed onto the bed, completely uncaring of the fact that he’d dropped straight into the pool of his own cum. It didn’t matter. He felt dizzy and exhausted, but above all… he felt content.

 

After giving himself a moment to recover, he heaved himself up slightly, unmindful of the cum trickling down his leg. ”Not bad,” he said, still breathing heavily as he reached out to gently stroke the back of his hand down Asher’s cheek. ”Not bad at all,” he laid his hand flat on the man’s scarred skin, leaning up for a kiss – this one sweet and tender. ”You did great, Asher.” He murmured as he pulled back, sliding down until he was comfortably resting his body against Asher’s, leaning his head against the other’s chest.

[-Hideki-]

The picture of how the younger man had cum, the erotic expression, the moan’s and how his back had arched and his hips had pushed back into him burned itself into the Xenonian’s memory and he’d certainly not forgot that day. His breath hardly seemed to calm down as he saw Calum collapsing on the bed and into his own cum. Asher pulled his dick out of the other’s arse and some of the sperm he had filled the man up with dwelled out of the hole running down the brunette’s thighs. His eyes blinked up when he saw that and a spark of arousal was reappearing in him from taking in that lewd sight.

 

Satisfied and weirdly at ease inside, much more at ease than he had been for days now, he leaned himself back against the bed-rest and the wall his muscles relaxed and his heart beat was slowly returning to normal again. Then Calum finally moved and he heard the young man’s voice repeatedly saying ‘not bad’ and the platinum head was thinking what that meant to say. That it hadn’t been terrible but there was much room for improvement? It didn’t seem to matter anymore when he was kissed tenderly, the solider indulging in the kiss, struggling a little to adjust to this new way of kissing, trying to not go about it too wildly or too roughly and ruin it.

 

He couldn’t help himself but to feel proud when he was told that he had done great after all and it made a smile appear on his face as he looked into the green eyes of the younger male who was sliding down into his arms, resting his head on his chest. Ash laid his arm around the slender figure, holding him closer, pressing a kiss against the man’s temples. He just remained like this with the other man for a while, feeling the Calum’s heart beat, how his chest was rising and sinking as he breathed, the sweaty skin of the other on his own, his mind processing what had just happened. Then he remembered something the other had moaned out and a slight shade of pink was to see on his cheeks. “When I was putting it into you, you said that my dick was, well, huge. Is that good or is it bad?” the soldier asked not knowing whether this had been a complement, critic or just an observation. On Xenon no one usually talked about dick size, it didn’t matter and was unimportant to them. Other than for medical and anatomical reasons genitalia was seen as not so important anyway. They had no beauty standard especially not in this regards, like the ancient Greece society had had, nor like the 21st century had had. Health was their beauty standard and that was it! Sure, he had been aware that his cock had been somewhat larger than average but he had never thought anything about it and no one had ever commented on it.

 

After his head had gotten clearer he just started to realise that he had actually done this now. That he had had sex with another person. That he was now a hygiene threat but oddly enough he had no regrets. H e knew he would have done it anyway without the device and it had felt way too good and intense and he didn’t regret those feelings he had gotten from it, he didn’t regret connecting his body to the other’s this way, feeling the man’s insides, being that intimate with another guy. He had liked it and it wasn’t like he had risked uncontrolled reproduction what he would have never done as that was a severe crime and that he saw as disdainful, rotten and evil. But he didn’t have to worry about that and he was certain that this was the reason why Xenon focussed on women and men in their warnings, condemnation and teachings because that was much worse as it could lead to uncontrolled reproduction. “I do understand now why there are people on Xenon who still do it regardless of risking a fine they’d have to pay and a stay in quarantine for months.” The soldier said. “It’s egotistical and probably reckless but it feels so great and satisfying. Much better than the device or my hand for that matter. Although my hand feels better than the device too.” The Colonel admitted to the brunette.

[Gladis]

It warmed Calum’s heart to see Asher’s expression light up when he was praised, and he smiled as the other gently pressed a kiss onto his forehead. Sex in and of itself was great, but Calum had always found that the tender touching, the hugging, the kissing and the conversations that followed were just as important – if not even more so. He had not known Asher for a very long time, and yet he felt perfectly at ease in the others embrace. He snuggled up against him, listening to Asher’s heartbeat and feeling his breath on his hair. It was nice, and Calum found himself simply appreciating the tranquility of the moment.

 

When Asher spoke, he found himself tilting his head slightly to gaze up at his lover, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. A spark of amusement flashed across his features.

 

”Hmmm…” he said thoughtfully, ”It’s neither good nor bad, really. Some people care a lot about the size of their dicks – they think bigger always means better. What they don’t seem to take into account is that regardless of whether it’s an asshole or a virgina you’re penetrating, the bigger the appendage, the more your partner’s body needs to stretch and adjust. If it’s too small it may not be as satisfactory, but if it’s too big it can end up being outright painful.” He paused briefly, only to realize the implications of what he’d just said a moment later. ”Ah! Don’t worry about it though. You’re perfectly fine. I liked the way your cock felt…” he trailed off, a soft blush dusting his cheeks. ”I think it surprised me, is all. Because, you know, it’s one thing to see it and know that it’s big, and a different one entirely to feel it.” He leaned up, placing a gentle kiss on Asher’s jawline. It would probably take some time getting entirely used to, but that was hardly a concern to Calum.

 

He paused as Asher said he could understand why people on Xenon broke the law, despite the risks involved. He nodded his head in agreement.

 

”It’s kind of in our nature, and although you can try to suppress it all you want, I don’t think that’s going to make anyone happier.” Of course, life on Xenon was not about happiness. Calum had at least understood that much. ”Because sex isn’t just about self-gratification, or even reproduction. If it was you and I would hardly be lusting after each other, would we? It’s about pleasing each other, about mutual respect and understanding. I think that’s part of the reason it feels so much better when you’re doing it with someone else. Especially if you also share an emotional connection. I think… things can easily end up going wrong when you don’t…” he trailed off, thoughtfully tracing circles on Asher’s tigh.

 

"Of course, this is just my personal theory. I'm sure there are those that would disagree."

Calum shifted, turning around so that he could take Asher’s face between his hands, gently stroking his thumb over his cheek. ”So, what now?” He asked in a soft murmur.

[-Hideki-]

A curious look was to see on his face when Calum started off by saying that having a larger size dick was neither good nor bad as it didn’t make much sense to him. It had to be one or the other if it was not irrelevant and for it to be irrelevant the other looked too much in thought. There was a small sense of relief in him when he heard that in the brunette’s society the people tended to think that bigger meant better what would mean that it was a positive but that relief got taken away from him again when the younger one continued to speak saying that they failed to see that a huge cock meant more stretching, was more difficult for a body to adjust to and would hurt. So Calum had been in pain? His eyebrows narrowed as he didn’t find the prospect of hurting Calum whenever they did this pleasant at all.

 

He just wanted to ask the brunette why he had said it had been good then even when they had done it and had not let him know his dick caused him pain because it was larger than average when Calum quickly added that he didn’t have to worry and that he was fine and that he had liked the way his dick had felt. A relieved sigh came from the Xenonian. “Your planet really is complicated. You have to think and decide about so many things. I would have never thought about the fact that I have been a tad larger than average back on Xenon, it never mattered. You Earthlings really bother about a lot of things and you infected me with it.” The soldier said leaning his head back against the wall.

 

It surprised him to hear that the size of his dick had surprised him because the other had seen it before but this was clarified when Calum said that it was one thing to see it and know its size but to feel it inside. Ash obviously couldn’t say anything about feeling a dick inside of himself and he didn’t want to ever feel it but it was logical in a way. “Makes sense I suppose.” He said with a shrug.

 

Asher smiled and a laugh escaped him when he heard the brunette explain how sex was not solely about self-gratification or reproduction how it was about pleasing and lusting after each other and why it was in his eyes much better with an emotional connection than without and that this also made it better than masturbation or a computer program that interacted with the brain without any touch at all. “It definitely sounds a lot better how you put it than how the lecture books on Xenon explain it.” The platinum haired man thought. “However I still think that uncontrolled reproduction is despiteful and rightfully punished as nature doesn’t mean that it’s good after all. I don’t think that people should risk uncontrolled reproduction.” The Xenoian said as this view of his had not changed one bit and he was more than glad that he could basically do whatever he wanted without getting guilty of that one.

 

He was kinda curious though if having sex with someone one had no connection with actually went wrong and wasn’t satisfactory. What would have happened had he done this with that farm worker he had not known but felt sexually attracted to? Would he feel different about this now then? He wouldn’t know but it was interesting after all.

 

The finger of the brunette drawing circles on his thigh threw him out of those thoughts again and his blue eyes looked into the green ones. Soon after his head was taken between the younger man’s hands when he asked him what now, Asher stole a kiss from him because it was just an all too convenient position to do so before he spoke. “We have a boring, dreary duty to do that I am not looking forward to. And later on we should pack our things so that we can leave tomorrow at dawn.” The Xenonian said before he rose from the bed, heading towards his boxers and pants that were lying on the wooden floor.

[Gladis]

“I’m sorry, that was a rather awkward answer.” Calum admitted, feeling a little embarrassed. Even so couldn’t help but laugh softly when Asher commented on that they’d infected him with having to think of so much more than he had needed in the past. ”Worrying and philosophizing about things is our blessing and our curse.” He agreed, before adding, “But isn’t that just what makes us human?”

 

However, when Asher brought up that he still didn’t hold with what he referred to as ’uncontrolled reproduction’ Calum paused, his smile slowly beginning to falter. ”Do you still really think so?” He asked wearily. ”Wouldn’t this mean that you consider everyone in this village – heck, perhaps even on this planet, myself included, a genetic mistake? Because you know, we’re all the result of you call ’uncontrolled reproduction’. Is there something so inherently wrong with all of us that the world would have been a better place if we didn’t exist? Because one thing is for sure, without ’uncontrolled reproduction’, none of us would have been here. Not Anya, not ’Nan, not I. We don’t have all that fancy technology you keep talking about, so nature is the only thing we have to rely on. Even so, I think we’ve done pretty well for ourselves.”

 

Somehow, he felt the need to defend their way of living. He was unable to fully grasp what Asher meant by their way of reproduction being dangerous and irresponsible. To him it was simply the natural order of things, the way it was supposed to be. Especially since his own existences had kind of hinged on it. Saying it was wrong was kind of like saying they were all wrong. Like they were a mistake… and no matter how much he had come to like Asher, that wasn’t easy to hear. He loved his family, the village and the people that inhabited it. He loved their way of life, even if he found it boring and repetitive at times, and he wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way. Was that somehow wrong?

 

His thoughts were brought onto a different track when Asher leaned in and stole a kiss from him, wiping the slight frown off his features. He smiled, sinking back onto the bed as he watched Asher get up, seeming in no hurry to get ready.

 

“‘Suppose you’re right…” he agreed with a soft sigh. As much as he wanted to suggest they do something fun instead, they were already late and they’d be skipping out on helping with the fields the next few days. ‘Nan would not forgive them if they weaseled out of this too. ‘Nan… he hadn’t even told her they’d be leaving at all, yet. Surely Sasha had, though? Why hadn’t she given him hell about it, like he had been sure she would? It was strange, Calum decided, that she had not brought it up at all.

 

“It doesn’t have to be boring, you know…” he said as he finally got up. “It may not be the most exciting work in the world, but it’s very important. If we don’t take care of the harvest, we’ll have no food for the winter. Think of it as something we’re all doing together for the profit of not starving when the cold months come rolling around. It may not be much of a mental challenge, and it is physically exhausting… but at least we’re all sharing in those feelings, as well as the joy we will feel when we get it over with.” He closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around Asher’s waist to lean against his back.”

 

After staying like that for a while he finally let go, stretching slightly before reaching for his clothes.

 

“I need to wash up,” he said, “so if you could change the bedsheets in the meantime that would be much appreciated. I’ll meet you by the fields once I’m done alright?”

[-Hideki-]

It was one of those moments in which the other was making no sense to him when Calum suggested that worrying ones head over little things and philosophising about them was a blessing and a curse at the same time, what was illogical and not possible, and that this was what made them human. He raised an eyebrow looking at the younger one. “What makes us human is being of the human species.” The Xenonian just said. “I wasn’t more or less of a human back on Xenon where life was much less complicated than here on this planet.” Asher stated rather clearly. To him what made someone a human was solely defined by science and nothing else.

 

He surely was aware that the brunette’s smile was fading when he spoke about still being certain that Xenon was right on uncontrolled reproduction but he couldn’t tell why this was. When Calum however spoke he realised why and he sighed. “Yes, I really still think so and I also see that you do not understand the danger nor do you get what it’s about.” The soldier clearly said. “It doesn’t mean that everything that comes to exist from uncontrolled reproduction must necessarily be bad or a mistake. However uncontrolled reproduction harbours the risks I have told you about before. It is not good for the national corpus. It’s about improvement and evolving, It’s about safety, intelligence, health and so on. It’s about preventing to create potentially dangerous people and to prevent innocent people who never deserved going through something as horrible from suffering under awful, fatal medical conditions that aren’t repairable. Genetic engineering is not only efficient and beneficial to the national corpus and the planet; it’s a matter of being ethical and humanistic too.” Ash told him. “But you can’t see nor understand it can you? As you are never looking at the broader picture, you only see yourself and those you personally care about and you then feel insulted because you are projecting it onto yourself as criticism about your existence. That is what individualism does to people, they lose the sense for the greater good.” The foreigner said. “It’s something I realised when we first talked and I informed you about the dangers of emotion too, you took this to a personal level as well, felt attacked and pointed out I had them too.” The Colonel remembered. “Then take our great emperor for example. Our emperor was a product of uncontrolled reproduction and yet he was the one to see that it was not good. That it was one thing that had led to humanities self-destruction. He truly is a great man who sees the bigger picture and cares about the greater good.” Ash said his eyes shining, his voice filled with pride as he spoke about their emperor.

 

After he had kissed the other a smile returned onto his face and Asher was glad that it was back and that he didn’t look like that at him anymore. When Calum agreed that he was right and that they really should get to work he nodded, getting dressed again. However being told that that work didn’t have to be boring made him look at the man as if he was crazy as he couldn’t see how this could not be boring. “How?” he asked before the brunette was giving him a speech about the importance of their work. “I know it’s important but this is work for machines not for actual humans. Machines are even more efficient at this anyway.” The Xenonian let the other know.

 

He had just closed his pants and was about to put on the shirt when he felt the younger man’s arms around his waist leaning against his body what made a seemingly random smile appear on Asher’s face.

It took a while but when the other let go of him he was throwing over his shirt before moving to his combat suit. Being told that the other had to wash up and that he should change the bed-sheets in the meantime he nodded. “Okay.” He just said and after he had put on the combat suit he went on to change the bed-sheets what was something his robot that had done the household for him back at home hence he had to figure it out first as he had not done this before. It took him somewhat longer but in the end the bed was perfect and he just had to wait up for the brunette man. And while he was he was wondering what would happen now if he saw that one farm worker again. Would he still feel turned on by his sight, by the sweat running over his muscular chest although he was with Calum? If so, would that be bad and wrong? Would the other get mad about him if he looked at that man even without any intention to act? He didn’t want to find out. And somehow he started to hate the idea of the farm work even more and as soon as the other returned he looked into the green eyes and asked right away:” Isn’t there anything else I could do, another type of work perhaps?” he wanted to know and then he added as if it was just an unimportant side question: “Do you look at other men aside me?” and when he asked this he realised that he hated the mere thought of Calum looking at other guys in such a way, what meant that if he would still look at this farm worker like that, this would most certainly be bad.

[Gladis]

”It is true that I don’t understand…” Calum agreed, and there was sadness in his voice, because he very much wanted to. Not properly understanding what Asher meant not only made him feel kind of stupid, but it also put some distance between them. Yet how was he meant to grasp these concepts, when he hardly even knew what genes were? Asher could throw about scientific terms all he liked, but if Calum didn’t understand them in the first place it wouldn’t make a difference. He lacked the scientific knowledge, but did that really come as much of a surprise? It wasn’t the kind of knowledge his primitive society needed to survive. It wouldn’t help them with the harvest, or get them through the winter.

 

So to Calum Asher’s idea of safe reproduction sounded like pure witchcraft – even if the other refused to call it so. To grow a living being in a machine, and to be able to engineer said being to suit a very specific purpose… it almost didn’t even sound real. It was so far removed from anything he had ever known that trying to wrap his head around it was far more difficult than the other made it seem.

 

”I mean, I think I sort of get it. To be able to prevent children from being born with physical or mental defects is a good thing. I’m sure that if we had that kind of technology, we would do it too.” They already had a form of birth control, after all, so it wasn’t like they were all having children willy nilly anyway. ”And pregnancies carry their own risks for sure. My mother died in childbed…” he hesitated, ”but I don’t see why interpersonal relationships or familial ties need to be sacrificed in order to achieve that. Or even like… sex. Even with hetero couples there are ways to prevent pregnancies. Perhaps... this is just Calum the individualist speaking again, though..” he sighed softly, trailing off as he tilted his head a little to the side.

 

”What is the greater good?” He asked, with honest curiosity.

 

However, Asher’s comment about how the farmwork should be carried out by machines and not humans brought him onto an entirely different track once more. ”Machines can do that?” He asked, with almost childlike fascination. The only machines Calum had heard of were the ones that could be found at the junk heap, and like most of the things found in the waste, the few that were still functional weren’t exactly easy to approach. Oh, and then there were those that contained knowledge from the ancient world. They could be sold for a high prize to the scholars in the cities, and were amongst the most valuable relics a seeker could find. Here and there large metal constructions that may have been machines once upon a time could be found, but they were for the most part no longer functional, and their original uses had long since been forgotten.

 

”Thank you,” Calum said with a smile, leaning up to kiss Asher on the cheek as he agreed to change the sheets while he went to wash up. Then he left to do exactly that. He didn’t take very long, as he skipped out on heating the water and mostly focused on getting rid of the cum.

 

Upon his return a little while later he was almost instantly hit with the question of whether there wasn’t anything else Asher could do after all. Calum paused, watching Asher carefully for a while as her considered their options. Then his lips pulled into a smile.

 

”I haven’t introduced you to my equine friends yet, have I?”

 

The second question, however, caught him slightly off guard. ”Look at other men?” He asked wearily, at first not entirely understanding the question. ”Oh,” he said when he got it, shaking his head, ”There wasn’t anyone for me in this village before you came, so there certainly isn’t one now. Besides you, that is.” That was hardly surprising, considering there were about three other guys his age, one of which was already married. There weren’t many more in Asher’s and Sasha’s age range, and perhaps unsurprisingly none of those that were could be considered available. That’s what you get for living in a village with a grand population of 58. 59 with Asher, and a total of 60 once Ellie’s baby came along. Clearly there wasn’t a lot to choose from. Of course, there was always the other nearby villages, but then you actually had to go there often enough to meet someone.

 

”I mean, there are those I find attractive, but that doesn’t mean I’d ever want to fuck. Jack would be one of them. Ignoring the fact that he’s straight as an arrow, I’ve known him since I was a child and he’s kind of like a brother to me, so it’d be weird.”

[-Hideki-]

For Asher the topic was finished when Calum admitted that he indeed didn’t understand although he didn’t get why the brunette sounded that sad when he said it. There were many things that the soldier didn’t get about this planet, that were just outright nonsense to him and he didn’t care to learn about what was incorrect factually or illogical. The Colonel was not made to show interest in other perspectives after all, even though he had at least opened up his mind somewhat and was thinking on his own since he had arrived on Earth to the extent he was capable of doing so. He turned to the brunette man he was holding in his arms pressed to his naked body when he surprisingly said that he did get it to a degree and that if they had the methods and technology to prevent people from being born with fatal diseases and defects they’d do that too admitting that even pregnancies in itself had a high risk to them. “You see.” Ash nodded. “And not only does this grossness possess a threat to human females lives and health, it also makes them unable to participate in the societies workforce, meaning that they are crippled for months and won’t get to be productive for the nation. It’s highly inefficient and none of the decent and worthy Xenonian women would ever agree to do that. Sure there are criminals but they always pay the price. I have never seen one slipping through. I am not a friend of the inner division at all, they are arrogant twats and some are sadistic fuckers, but they do their job and are feared by such immoral and unethical subjects… probably because they are sadistic fuckers.” The Colonel explained to the others. “They do keep Xenon clean though.” He added nodding to himself as if he needed to convince himself that there indeed was something good about them again.

 

When the other went on and talked about how this was not a reason to scarify family ties or to outlaw sex, even sex between the opposite gender that could lead to uncontrolled reproduction, mentioning contraception, he raised an eyebrow and sighed, especially when he heard that sharp, defensive remark as the other said or it might just be he, the individualist, speaking again. The soldier let his hand run over his face sighing. “Look, what you call family, that randomly selected group of people living together, is inefficient and takes control away from the government about whether the kids are raised right or not. It is much better to select people into working groups when they are older and the government taking care of them being raised and educated correctly; being sorted into larger groups of the category they fit into, to be efficiently trained for their later purpose and work group. It’s good for the workforce, good for the nation, hence good for the people. Giving this control of how a nations children are raised out of hands means losing control, the kid might lose the path and in the worst case turn into something unwanted with dangerous, toxic ideas and become a criminal harming or intoxicating other people physically or with harmful ideas.” The Colonel explained.

 

Then he went to the next point the other had made. “Contraception doesn’t work 100%. There is a chance it fails and uncontrolled reproduction happens anyway. Also if you open that door and men and women are allowed to copulate each other using this stuff, maybe they get bold and stop using it. And even if the threat to the national corpus, the result of the uncontrolled reproduction was eliminated right away like we do now whenever this crime happens, allowing it won’t do any good anyway. Women should not have sex.” He stated. “Sex in general and as itself is not a major crime but forbidden too out of a few reasons 1.hygien and the risk of catching diseases, protection doesn’t work 100% here too, 2.the dangers of emotions, desire and lust and following ones instincts, 3.it would give people egotistic ambitions 4.It would lead to distraction from what is really important and what actually matters.” The soldier explained and at the last part he bit his lip when he thought about it. He had been distracted by it since a while now. Not only that, he had delayed their duty in favour of having sex with Calum. “I can see why people risk the fine and being labelled as a hygiene threat because it feels incredible and extremely rewarding but it also makes me see the side of the government more and why it is considered a threat, because sex can hold a certain power over people.” He explained. “And you don’t have to act this sulky about me calling you an individualist. You are one. Your society is individualistic and nihilistic. You are focussed on the individual and the individual’s fulfilment first and foremost.” The man from the foreign planet said. “I would certainly not protest if you called me a collectivist, because I am a collectivist and I would speak in favour of being so instead of feeling sore about it. Or have you started to question your outlook?”

 

Knowing that he had already explained what the greater good was to the brunette he looked at him questioningly when he asked yet the same question again. “I thought you would have understood after I have told you what the greater good was.” The platinum haired stated. “And I am afraid if you haven’t understood it then you won’t now either as I can’t explain it better than I can.” Ash said. “The greater good means that the focus lies on a higher purpose with the goal of improvement on a large scale, for the majority, even if an individual might have to scarify something for a purpose much larger and important than one person alone.” The soldier ttied to explain it once more hoping the other would get it this time and he wouldn’t be asked again soon.

 

Hearing Calum ask whether machines could actually do the farm work made him look at the other again not getting the surprise. “Of course.” He confirmed but when he saw the fascination in the younger one’s expression Asher’s face lit up and he smiled at him. “Machines, computers and robots can do much more complicated tasks than that.” the man informed the Earthling. “My robot does my household for example. Computers and robots are also capable of helping in the medical field, or at war. They assist with every aspect of life.” He let him know.

 

 

After the brunette had returned from washing himself and Ash had asked whether there was other work he could do right away the other man said something about the soldier not having met his ’equine friends’ yet. “Equine friends? What are you talking about?” the man asked having no idea what kind of work that was.

 

Asher listened to the other answering the question he had asked the man when Calum finally got what he had even meant by this as the brunette had seemed kind of surprised at him asking something like this. But he needed to know. When the other told him that there was no one like that in the village, not before he had arrived and not now other than him he felt a great relieve within himself and he relaxed more again. He tensed up a little again when the other said that there were those whom he found attractive but that he didn’t want to fuck them. He looked in total surprised when the young man told him that he found his friend Jack, the pretty boy, attractive too. “You find pretty boys like that attractive?!” he repeated a little confused. “How come you find me attractive then? I’m was never a pretty boy, nor did I like to look at them, and now I have certainly nothing smooth and flawless on me anymore. I’m also older than you.” The Xenonian said looking at his scars. If Jack was the man’s typed Asher couldn’t be, it didn’t make much sense to him. “And what does it mean he is straight? Aren’t all people who have an upright posture? Except those who have a hunch or develop a problem with their backs they might walk a little bandy! My back certainly is straight too, yours as well.” the soldier said confused about that part.

 

Finally focussing on the actual topic again that this whole Jack thing had distracted him from, he summarised. “So even if you are together with someone and you look at other men because you find them attractive that’s normal and nothing about it is immoral or unethical?” he wanted to know. “Only if you fuck them it get’s wrong and immoral and unethical? Or doesn’t it?” the man was curious, thinking about this. And he figured that he wouldn’t be alright with the other sleeping with someone else, the idea enraged him. “Regardless…. I don’t want you to have sex with someone else.” He stated. “I won’t either and I am trying not to get aroused again when I look at another man, when you promise me you won’t do anything with other guys.” The soldier said.

[Gladis]

”They sound… unpleasant…” Calum admitted, seeming just a tad alarmed at the notion of interrogation squad consisting of ’sadistic fuckers’, as Asher so nicely put it. It made him wonder what other things that Calum regarded as a natural part of everyday life was considered illegal on Xenon. What more you could get into trouble for. It also served as a reminder of the concerns he had voiced the day prior, and suddenly he was overcome by a slight sense of guilt. He had led him down a path both of them knew deep down the other was not supposed to go, and he couldn’t help but wonder whether this would end up becoming a problem further down the path. He knew in his head that the chances of Asher ever returning home were miniscule, but it could still happen. What then? Would he be punished for the crimes he had committed, or would he be considered unfit to return home? And in that case, wouldn’t it indirectly be Calum’s fault?

 

No, he wasn’t allowed to think like that. Asher was a grown man and his own agent. He too had made the decision to succumb to his desires, knowing the risks full and well. It wasn’t all on Calum, even if he undeniably bore part of the responsibility.

 

As for Asher’s explanation on why family shouldn’t be a thing, most of his arguments flew straight over Calum’s head. It made it difficult to participate in the conversation, and he simply listening, nodding vaguely whilst inwardly disagreeing. He didn’t even know why he disagreed. It just didn’t feel right to live that way. Again he got the sense that everything on Xenon was terribly cold and sterile, and that he had a hard time seeing himself ever choosing that life – no matter the benefits it may bring. He felt guilty about that too, because this was Asher’s home they were talking about. How could he expect Asher to understand their way of life, when he struggled to do the same about his?

 

”Oh, I’m not sulking,” he said after a while, raking a hand through his messy brown hair, ”Don’t mind my thoughtful musings. I agree that I’m an individualist, to some extent. But don’t forget that I also live in a society that is entirely dependent on everyone’s contribution, and that we look out for one another. So that all we do is focus on ourselves isn’t an entirely fair assessment.” He paused for a moment, sighing. ”You have to understand our circumstances, Asher. For us, to think of any greater good beyond our own survival and wellbeing is not an option. Realistically speaking, if we tried to chase your ideals, it would probably undo us all. Some of the concepts you describe are just so far removed from my reality that it becomes a struggle to understand them. I don’t mean to sound rude, or disregard your way of seeing things. I understand that there is merit to it. But I don’t think you can apply it to us in the same way it is applied to Xenon. It’s not a fair comparison to begin with…”

 

He listened in fascination as the Asher told him about robots, projecting a very different image onto the remnants of the old world than what Calum was used to. ”I see,” he said thoughtfully, ”I had always thought that their only purpose was to destroy, or store information. We have a lot of stories, you know. About the metal titans that contributed to the downfall of the old world. The waste is littered with their corpses. Seekers scavenge them for valuable parts, I think…” he trailed off.

 

In response to Asher asking what he was talking about, Calum’s lips quirked into a grin. ”I’ll show you,” he said, taking his hand to pull him along, listening to Asher as they went.

 

”I find you attractive in different ways,” Calum laughed, amused by the shocked look on Asher’s face. ”Although I must admit that I prefer your body type. As for your scars...well...uhm…” he blushed a little, ”I… actually think they’re kind of hot. Our people don’t scoff at that sort of thing, you see. For one, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone entirely without, but… it’s not just that. We wear them as badges of honor,” he explained, ”They are proof that you have been through hardships and survived. That you have the heart of a true warrior, if that makes sense.”

 

Calum lead him down the main path towards the fields, but instead of continuing straight ahead as when the road split, he turned left towards the pastures, chuckling softly.

 

”No, silly. Jack being ’straight’ means he prefers women over men,” he explained as they crossed the hill. In the distance a fence had become visible, and beyond that the silhouettes of grazing animals dotted the landscape. They prick their ears, tails swishing, and some of them raised their heads to look in their direction. ”I don’t know why it’s called that, though. Must be an old expression.”

 

”Hmm…” he mused thoughtfully as he pondered Asher’s question. ”I suppose so. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that finding other people attractive is immoral. It’s not something we have control over, really. It’s generally considered bad practice to sleep with other people when you are in a relationship, though. Unless, of course, both parties agree to it. In that case I don’t see much of a problem with it.” He paused for a moment to consider. ”That’s fine, Asher. I don’t want you to sleep with other people, either. I promise I won’t do anything with anyone else.” He said seriously, giving the others hand a gentle squeeze.

[-Hideki-]

The Colonel couldn’t help but to laugh rather loudly and wholeheartedly when Calum admitted the inner division sounded unpleasant. The space force and the inner division were old rivals, as old as Xenon was, and as a part of the space force he had his conflicts with the men in the white uniforms who were considered the elite and who were also the guardsmen of the emperor. “They are unpleasant.” He confirmed that with a way too wide smirk on his face. “Then again they have to be. If they weren’t they wouldn’t be a threat and the people wouldn’t fear disobeying the order of the government!” he explained. “You don’t want them to visit you at home, because you might not return to it, so you do everything that they won’t ever show up at your door. Logical isn’t it?” The platinum head said. “But the phantom squat belonging to the inner division is worse.” He let him know. “They call themselves elite soldiers but I would disagree. The inner division are no soldiers; they are professional henchmen, executioners and torturers. With the exception of those guarding the emperor! I never understood why they out of all got this honour.”

 

“No you focus on yourself, those who you care about and those who you need for yourself to survive.” Asher commented when the other said that they weren’t entirely focussed on themselves and that this was not fair of him to say. “I haven’t forgotten your brother’s disgracefulness and dishonourable, egotistical behaviour at the breakfast table the other day.” The soldier reminded Calum.

He sighed when the younger one told him that what he described as the best way of life wasn’t realistic to them, that it wasn’t an option for them and that if they implemented it like that, that they would cease to exist. “That’s because your society is primitive and lacks knowledge.” He commented. “But you can progress not only scientifically but in general one step at a time.” Ash said and smiled. “The first step is, get rid of religious insanity and superstition and outlaw religious ideas and ideologies.” He suggested.

 

His eyes blinked up when Calum spoke about ruins of machines made to store information and to destroy laying in the waste, it was like winning the jackpot to the Xenonian man. “Machines and robots are also a part of warfare, a vital part, those were the machines I predominantly worked with.” The soldier told him. “Where can I find the remains of those ancient war machines? Maybe there is something useful if I repair them, either to defend your village from the savages or parts I could use to get my battleship going again.” Asher spoke excitement in his voice.

 

Instead of answering his questions about what kind of work ‘equine friends’ were he was pulled along with the brunette and followed him with a shrug no idea what was awaiting him. While they were on their way they were talking and he raised an eyebrow when Calum said that he found him attractive in a different way than the pretty boy. “In what way? How is it different?” he was curious to know. Although it was a nice complement to hear that the other preferred his body type over Jacks he was much more interested in learning what the other had to say about his scars especially since he saw the younger man blush. He had not expected him to say that he found this intense complete body scarring hot and he looked rather surprised at his burn scars which were not exactly what Ash would call healthy and vital looking, hence not attractive on Xenon, and then back to the other man who went on to tell him that in his society they were regarded as badges of honour, a sign for survival and being a true warrior. That language he definitely got and he liked this, he liked it a lot and it was to see in his blue eyes and how his chest was swelling with pride. “I like this mindset.” He told him. “It also makes perfect sense to me.” The soldier let him know. “On Xenon you hardly find anyone with scars or wounds. The capsule prevents that.” he said. “It regenerates whatever damage has been done to the body if one is put inside of it early enough, what usually is the case.” He explained. “I have been in there before.” The man told the other.

 

Asher looked as if the Earthling was kidding him when he told him that being ‘straight’ meant being sexually attracted to women and not to men and he wanted to ask who of them was the silly one here. “Well, that’s really unfortunate for him.” He found and then added. “But why do you call this straight?” the foreigner wanted to know as he didn’t get it. Slight disappointment rose up in him when he heard that the younger one didn’t know this either. Then he was thinking. “So Jack likes women…. Could it be that the women who raised him and whom he lives with are straight too? It’s kinda odd but I just got that notion because they seemed to live together like your brother and your brother’s wife. Is that a thing? Women being attracted to women I mean? Or is it too farfetched?” the Xenonian was curious about this now.

 

“I am glad that you agree.” Asher stated smiling at the other after he had told Calum he didn’t want him to sleep with someone else. It was good to hear that the other didn’t even want to and that he wouldn’t want Ash to do so either. When they arrived at a fence he could see those animals with the hooves again that he had seen last night when he had strayed through the village and his eyebrows narrowed. “There!” he pointed at them. “Those coward animals again.” The soldier commented. “J.O.S.H. classified them as horses. I don’t like them. They aren’t exactly brave. I just stepped towards the fence and those cowards ran away from me. What do you need such cowardly animals for? Do you eat them? Or can something as fearful actually have a purpose?” he wanted to know and stepped towards the fence in his combat suit again, leading to the horses fleeing from the man again. “There, they are doing it again! They also don’t look exactly intelligent if one asked me.”

[Gladis]

Calum regarded Asher wearily. If he had thought that the inner division sounded unpleasant before, he found the idea of them outright terrifying now. The smirk on Asher’s face certainly didn’t help.

 

”Isn’t it exhausting?” He asked, ”to live in constant fear of other people? To always know that if you mess up, you might be physically punished for it? It may keep people in line but…” he shuddered, ”I think it sounds incredibly stressful.” Although, perhaps it wasn’t. Perhaps if you were raised in that kind of environment, it was just an ordinary part of your everyday life. ”After all, you never know–” Calum cut himself off, because he had been about to say ’each individuals circumstances’. In Asher’s world, the individual didn’t matter. Well – except for one, Calum supposed. The emperor himself. What sort of arrogant prick must he have been to decide that he was the only man fit to rule over them all? It didn’t matter how wonderful Asher thought he was – no human being should hold that kind of power over an entire people. What gave him the right? What gave him the right to strip all of his subjects of their individuality, and force them into a very small, very tight box. And if one did not wish to conform… well, it seemed the inner division took care of those. Just thinking about it made Calum feel a little sick.

 

”No, never mind…”

 

For hating religion so much, he sure had gotten his people to almost worship him as a god. They didn’t call him that, of course, but the way Asher talked about him – the way he was described as some kind of unattainable perfection… it sounded an awful lot like some would would talk about their gods.

 

He paused when Asher suggested that they stop believing in their gods, almost half a mind to point out the hypocrisy of his statement. Yet… wouldn’t that only lead to yet another argument? Calum didn’t think he had the energy for that. So he returned Asher’s smile with one of his own – as sweet and innocent as he could make it.

 

”I think the gods would be terribly upset if we did that.” He said, shaking his head a little.

 

Upon being asked about the machines, Calum tilted his head a little to the side, tapping his chin thoughtfully. ”Hmm… probably won’t be a lot on our way to the witch’s place. It’s so close to the edge of the waste that seekers will have already raided the ones that are there anyway. We’d have to go a lot deeper to find anything useful, I think…” he trailed off, his forehead creasing into a slight frown as Asher asked him in what he meant by finding them attractive in different ways. He shrugged his shoulders. ”It’s just different,” he said, ”I can’t really explain it. I can see that he’s good looking and I understand why that makes him popular, but… I just don’t feel the same way about him as I do about you. I can’t really explain it.”

 

Well, at least it was good to see Asher smile in response to Calum’s explanation. It was almost equally good to hear that there was something about Calum’s society that Asher liked after all.

 

”That’s pretty amazing,” Calum said as Asher explained why Xenonian’s generally didn’t have scars, his expression filled with fascination, ”How does it work?” To him, it was once again one of those things that sounded just like magic.

 

”Women being attracted to women is definitely a thing,” Calum said, ”And why wouldn’t it be? If you and I can be attracted to one another, so can women. You’re right, though. Lydia and Verona have been happilly married for years. So… if you told either of them what you said to me about that women shouldn’t have sex period, they’d probably laugh straight in your face.” He paused for a moment, shaking his head. ”They wouldn’t be considered straight, though. Straight means you’re attracted to the opposite gender, so in Jack’s and Sasha’s case that means women. In Verona’s and Lydia’s case it would mean men.”

 

Calum blinked as the horses shied away from the fence, clearly agitated by the sight of Asher. He should have expected it, perhaps. Even people became nervous when they saw Asher in his combat suit.

 

”Of course they have a purpose!” He chuckled, ”horses are–”

 

”Caaaaaaaaluuuuuum!”

 

He swirled around, looking down the hill to see the shape of a little girl moving towards them, her dark hair fluttering behind her as she went. It was Anya. She came to a halt a small distance from them, leaning over to catch her breath.

 

”Where…. where have you been?” She asked as she raised her head to look them, chest still leaving and falling heavily. Her eyebrows narrowed into a frown and she folded her arms, and Calum realized that she looked very much like a younger, even tinier ’nan. ”You were expected down on the fields!”

 

Calum blushed. ”W-well...uh...that’s…”

 

”No matter,” Anya pressed on, raising her chin a little, ”We’re going to have lunch now, so if you want some you better come. Oh yeah, and Liz has been asking for the two of you. Says she has some important things to discuss, she does.” Anya trailed off, and as she did the frown melted from her features. Before long she was her usual sunny self, waving happilly at the Xenonian.

 

”Hi Asher!”

[-Hideki-]

He laid his head to the side a little confused with a questioning look on his face. “Exhausting? Stressful? No! Why?” the Colonel asked not getting how the other had come to this conclusion. “I never thought about it much and it didn’t affect my everyday life as I never intended to break the law or be a disgrace to my nation. I always wanted to serve the emperor in the best possible ways, I wanted to make him and my nation proud and as long as you are a good soldier or citizen you know that you have nothing to fear from the inner division at all. It’s the shady people with corrupted minds and criminals who have to fear and whom the fear keeps in line and from spreading their toxic influences or staining society.” Asher explained. “Honestly, if I would have betrayed the emperor and Xenon, broken my oath, I wouldn’t have deserved better and had to except the punishment after all.” He added looking curious at the younger man when he was about to say something again, then stopped himself and told the Xenonian to never mind. “Really? You can ask if you have questions.” The man encouraged the other.

 

His face turned into a displeased grimace and there was pure condemnation to see in his blue eyes as he looked at Calum when the man said that their gods would be terribly upset with them if the banned religion. “There are no gods! This made up nonsense doesn’t exist, it just keeps your society on a primitive and savage level, and it prevents all progress and knowledge and scientific advancement. No one and nothing will be upset, nothing will punish you, because they don’t exist!” he spat it out again, clearly frustrated with the brunette. “Damn it, you sound so stupid when you speak like this, and stupidity is certainly not attractive.” Not Calum’s imaginary friends being upset with him now but Asher being upset with him. “If your imaginary friends exist, why don’t you introduce them to me! Show me your stupid gods so that I can talk to them, that they can speak to me as people claim they’d do to them. Surely if they are real you can show me evidence and prove, you can show me their primitive, ugly faces so that I can ask them why they have an interest to make people insane and do barbaric, disgusting and fanatic things?” he challenged Calum, a grin on his face as he knew that the man couldn’t show him and let him talk to what wasn’t real.

 

“Then we have to go deeper!” he said determinedly. If this waste harboured old war machines chances were that they were useful if one knew what to do with them and Asher did know. He was no engineer or scientist but as a soldier he did have knowledge about weapons, war machines, their constructions and how to repair them. Hence this was a chance, not only for him to get home but also for Calum’s village to defeat the barbarians. “I’d say we first go and visit that woman, eliminate her if she turns out to be a Zyan spy and then we see if she has useful information and another hint we could follow and then we search in this waste.” The Colonel was making plans. “Have you ever been there?” he then wanted to know. “What do you think we need if we were to go there?”

 

Smiling he looked at the other man when he said that the capsule of life was amazing with such a fascinating look on his face. He liked it when the other showed positive reactions to the Xenonian way of life for a change since the brunette usually didn’t seem fond of what he told him about his home and for someone as patriotic who loved his home that was pretty hard to take that the man he had grown fond of didn’t seem to like his planet. “I can’t say how exactly it works. All I know is that they put your body inside, connect you to cables and tubes, machines that take over your vital functions for your body as you are narcotised and then the capsule fills with liquids and machines work on your body.” The man described what he remembered from it. “Well, I am not a doctor or a scientist they do know how it actually works.” He told Calum.

 

Asher learned that he had been right and that those two women were together in this way and that women being sexually attracted to other women was a thing. The way the other spoke it sounded as if it had been obvious and the man should have known that but he did still find it somewhat odd and farfetched although the argument that if he and Calum could be attracted to one another why shouldn’t two women was kind of undeniable. When he was told that if he repeated to those two ladies that women shouldn’t have sex they’d laugh in his face he raised an eyebrow in question. “But two women can’t even have sex anyway. Neither of them has a dick! No dick, no sex. So the laugh really is on them I suppose.” The soldier said with a shrug and then something came to his mind. “Unless they don’t want sex anyway! Our scientists always try to breed our people without a libido and asexual, it’s seen as the best outcome and is their goal. And while it doesn’t quite work as well as they had imagined just yet, they did have huge success with plenty of Xenonian women who were born asexual and without a libido. They didn’t have much success with our men in this regards though, well, at least not comparable to the large numbers of successes they had to making the women asexual.” He explained. “At least that means I am not the only failure with a high sex drive on my planet.” The man added whose sex drive was actually perfectly normal for a male, just considered high on Xenon where the sex drive was kept as low as possible.

 

When he was told that the two women wouldn’t be considered straight and that straight didn’t generally mean being attracted to women but to the opposite gender hence it depended on the gender of the person Asher looked at the other. “You really have weird terminology and you use it weirdly too.” He commented. “What are those ladies called then?” he wanted to know.

 

Peering after the fleeing animals he listened to Calum who was just about to tell him what purpose those creatures served when they were disturbed by a young voice calling the brunette man. It was Anya, Calum’s brother’s daughter whom other than Sasha the Colonel actually liked. The girl wanted to know where they had been and Ash just reacted with a report nearly automatically. “I’ve distracted him from the farm work. He was with me, in my bed. And then we went here and he wanted to show me what work was to do.” He said but when he heard the other man’s stuttering and saw the blush on his face he got the feeling he shouldn’t have said it.

 

The girl informed them about lunch and that Liz wanted to discuss something important with them. Then she seemed to recognise Ash for the first time, waving at him happily saying ‘Hi’ to him. “Hello tiny lady!” he greeted her, patting her head. From all the kids in the village he saw the most potential in this girl. Had she seemed cowardly and confusing the first day he had been there and Ash had knocked out her father she had turned out to be the opposite.

 

He turned to Calum again. “Should we go to lunch then and see what Elisabeth has to tell us and you show me the work here later or should we work and eat later?” the man asked because he kind of had a guilty feeling leaving duty behind for something else again, this time for food and a discussion. Then again, the discussion most certainly had to do with their journey, hence was important, leaving the soldier a little torn in between.

[Gladis]

Ouch. That hurt. Whatever reaction he had been expecting in response to his half joke, it certainly wasn’t what he got. Normally he could ignore Asher’s criticism of their traditions and beliefs but this time… this time it was different. This time it wasn’t just general criticism – this time the insults were directed directly at Calum and Calum alone. They felt like a slap to the face. His smile faded and he swallowed hard, pressing his lips together in the same way he had done last night. He looked away, gazing at the trees on the other side of the pasture swaying in the wind as he allowed the silence to stretch out between them. Only after quite some time did he finally speak, with a sort of finality that left no room for argument. Though he spoke calmly, there was a hard edge to his voice.

 

”We will not relinquish our traditions and beliefs just because someone tells us to. Not even you, Asher.” He turned his head back to look at his lover, and there was hurt in his eyes, but something else else too; a glow of stubborn determination. ”You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to agree with it, but I don’t think it should be too much to ask that you remain respectful while you are here. Judging by what you have told me thus far it is obvious that you have been raised to believe that the Xenonian way of life is the only correct way of life. Therefor you think that you stand above us – that you are better than us. Perhaps that holds true on Xenon, but here things are different. Here you are nothing more than yet another human being – neither better nor worse than anyone else.” He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing.

 

”We saved your life. Even though you were a complete stranger we took you in and we nursed you back to health. We have shared our food with you, gave you a warm bed to sleep in and fresh clothes to wear. Do you have any idea how many sleepless nights I spent watching over you, to make sure I could tend to you in the case of an emergency? We worked ourselves to the bone trying to keep you alive, and you thank us by looking down on us and constantly belittling our way of life.” He paused again, letting his words sink in.

 

”It is rude and hurtful and cruel, and although I can stand being insulted, there are those that would take a lot more offence to your rhetoric. You have already made an enemy out of Sasha – please don’t let that become a pattern. There is only so much people will tolerate before they start disliking you. And then what? What if the council rules that we would be better off sending you away? I don’t know about you, Asher, but I certainly wouldn’t want that. I like you too much. I like talking to you and being with you. I don’t want our relationship to end sooner than it has to.” Genuine sadness and concern had replaced the stubborness in his eyes. He was upset. Too upset to care about any of the other things they had been talking about.

 

”But for that to be possible you need to start thinking about how you talk to and treat other people. I realize that this is difficult for you – that many of the things we say and do go directly against everything you have been taught. I can’t even begin to imagine how aggravating, confusing and difficult that must be for you. But even so you have to at least try to understand. You have to, Asher, because things will end badly if you don’t – and I’m not saying that as a threat. It is a fact. Insults and ridicule will not change anyone’s heart or mind – it will only sow seeds of animosity and discontent.”

 

It was right around then Anya showed up, momentarily distracting him from their argument. Asher’s report was enough to make him blush, and he was glad that the man at least had enough decency to leave out the details. Anya didn’t need to hear that.

 

She peered between the two of them suspiciously, probably wondering what the hell they’d been doing on Asher’s bed in broad daylight. Bed’s were for sleeping on and nothing else, as far as she was concerned. Still, the head pat brought a smile upon her face. She liked Asher a lot and Calum was glad that she did.

 

He nodded his head on response to Asher’s question. ”In a moment,” he said before turning to Anya. ”Will you tell ’nan that we’ll be with them shortly?”

 

”Alright!” Anya responded with a grin, turning on her heels only to stop once she had. ”Don’t take too long!” She warned before running back down the slope. Calum turned back to Asher, once again wearing a serious expression.

 

”Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

[-Hideki-]

A snort came from him as he looked into the brunette’s green eyes that in this moment didn’t remind him of the emperor at all because the emperor would never say outrageous and brainwashed idiotic things like that. “It’s your loss. You want to keep lunacy alive in your society? Fine, it will eat you alive and spit out your corpses. Religion is dangerous; it leads to destruction, pain and death. I was trying to help you, to safe you and your people and this planet from another apocalypse. You don’t want my help, whatever, do what you want smartass but I’ll be out of here rather sooner than later in that case.” The soldier grumbled his blue eyes looking cold, his carotid sticking out and his muscles constricting.

 

“I don’t only dislike it, I detest it!” he hissed. “And I will never pay respect to religious insanity! I’d rather die!” the Colonel barked turning his head away from the other. “And I don’t just think that science and knowledge is superior to religious lunacy, false believes, lies and superstition what is dangerous, it factually is superior!”he made that very clear not backing down an inch. “Just tell me what work I should do so that I can get it over with.” He then said still not bothering to look at the younger man at all.

 

What followed made his internal organs clench and his teeth crunched furiously, his hand forming a fist. “And I have thanked you for this more than once haven’t I ! I have shown my gratitude!” he responded. “Did you just safe me so that you can remonstrate this against me every time I say or do something that you don’t like!? To make me your fucking puppet that only says and does what you want by guilt tripping me? If so, you should have never dragged me out of my battleship and shouldn’t have watched over me. I never asked you for it anyway.” The platinum haired growled and he looked like an angry lone-wolf lost on that planet. “Tss!” he exclaimed shaking his head. “I don’t look down on you as a person. I look down on your religious ideology.” He said. “If I would look down on you I wouldn’t have stuck my fucking dick into you would I? Or do you think I did this frivolously and would have gone this far for someone I look down on? That I hate religion doesn’t mean that I hate you.” The Xenonian said a lump forming in his throat, the rage boiling in his guts, no end of the eruption to be seen.

 

When he was called to have been cruel and mean and hurting the other it was like he was hit into his stomach with a brick, his eye narrowed and he turned his sharp look back to the other and if he wouldn’t have been wearing the helmet of the combat suit one would have seen hurt in his gaze. That got overtaken by fury again though when Calum was saying that HE had made an enemy in Sasha. “That prick has made an enemy in me, not vice versa!” he cut the younger one off, listening to the rest he had to say his face getting harder again when the other spoke about that he didn’t want this to become a pattern and what if the council decided to send him away. “If not making enemies means lying and not standing in for the truth and what is right, I’d rather have a million real and truthful enemies who oppose me as I am than fake friends who get to like a lie.” He said his face now red with anger, pain mixing with the rage and he bit his lips under his helmet. “If that is what you want we won’t have to wait until your council throws me out then, I will leave alone. Now. I might return sometime to repair my battleship but I won’t stay for long then.” The Colonel said, turning his back on the brunette and the horses about to leave when he heard him say that he wouldn’t want him to get kicked out and that he wouldn’t want their relationship to end. He turned around again looking at the other man and seeing that sadness in his expression that made him feel a sting in his heart. “Why? What you said about me and how you view me as a person didn’t sound like you are particularly fond of me at all.” He asked confused now. “Maybe it was just chemistry and physical attraction that tricked you into believing you actually liked me.” The soldier guessed.

 

“I have been taught those things because they are true. I won’t abandon the truth and I will stand for what is right.” He stated. “If you think that I have done nothing but to mistreat you and your people, go ahead, throw me out of your village, you have every right to that then if I am that ungrateful and evil and generally unpleasant. But I am not going to disregard the truth in favour of your false believes.” The man said. “Also religion doesn’t need to be ridiculed, it’s naturally ridiculous.” He added. “If they get hostile and violent when confronted with the ridiculousness of their ideology, well, that just proves my point about people brainwashed by religious ideologies anyway.” Ash said shrugging.

 

He sighed when the girl was running off towards the village again and his face turned stern again immediately as he crossed his arms in front of his chest when Calum asked him if he understood what he was trying to tell him. “I understand what you are saying. I however don’t understand your intention. You say I shall respect religion but I can’t and won’t. You in other words say I am awful, but you want me to stay anyway. So what do you want from me? Repayment for the hours you spend saving my life? You can get that no problem.” He said holding his head up high. “I will keep to myself, we don’t have to talk, then I will help to save the lives of your people from the savages. My life for your village and then we should be equal.” The soldier said. “A Xenonian doesn’t leave open debts.”

[Gladis]

No. No, this wasn’t what he had wanted, but by then, perhaps what he should have expected. They were arguing again and Calum loathed every second of it. He sorely regretted that he had said anything. Nothing good ever seemed to come from it. Yet what else should he have done? Was he supposed to just blindly accept everything the Xenonian said? Was he supposed to just take it quietly and bottle it up until he couldn’t stand it anymore? Asher’s words had hurt. They had hurt a lot and he wanted to tell him as much. Yet in doing so, it seemed he had gone too far. Calum hung his head, looking defeated as he stared at the ground.

 

”You misunderstand,” he said, curling his hands into fists so hard that he could feel his nails dig into the palm of his hand, ”I’m not asking you to worship our gods, or to change your opinion in regards to our practices. You are free to feel and think whatever you like. I will not think less of you for it. However,” he raised his head to look at Asher, his throat feeling tight as he continued to speak, ”there is a difference between challenging ideas and calling someone stupid for making a dumb joke, or for believing something you don’t. Words matter, Asher. How you word something matters. What you said, the way you said it hurt. It hurt a lot. But… I’m also aware that you mean well. That you did not intend to hurt me…” he trailed off, unsure of how to proceed.

 

”The problem is that this isn’t just about me. It’s about other people, too. Because unlike me, they may not understand your intentions. They may not realize that your tactless behavior comes from goodwill, and that is a problem you will have to face sooner or later. You can’t just keep ignoring it, and I don’t think I’d be doing you any favors by not telling you. That is what I was trying to say but…”

 

Agitated as he felt, even Calum had to admit that he wasn’t being entirely fair. Bringing up that he owed them his life was low hanging fruit, and the thorn between Sasha and Asher was admittedly mutual. Calum felt ashamed. He was better than that.

 

”Asher, I’m-” the words got stuck in his throat the moment Asher cut him off, saying that if this was how it was he should just leave straight away. It was as though those very words flipped a switch in Calum, his eyes going wide as a look of utter devastation crossed his features. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound would come out. His throat felt so tight that he could barely breath. His heart wrenched in his chest, and he was overcome by a sudden nausea.

 

He took a deep breath.

 

”Asher…” he managed to press out, his voice thick and quivering with emotion. ”I-I’m sorry. It was a petty thing to say. I shouldn’t have… I…” he pulled an exasperated hand through his hair, swallowing hard. ”I’m sorry. I was upset… didn’t think of what I was saying… It’s not an excuse, I know but… I didn’t… I didn’t mean it like that. I’m–” realizing that he was rambling he cut himself off, pulling at his hair. Calum felt so utterly lost at what to do. The only thing he was sure of was that he didn’t want Asher to leave.

 

”I don’t think you’re awful, Asher. Just because I disagree with some of the things you say doesn’t mean I dislike you. You said it yourself, didn’t you? You disagree with a lot of the things we say and do, but that doesn’t mean you hate us, right? It’s just like that. I meant it when I said I like you. I like you a lot… that’s why the things you said… no, the way you said it, hurt so much. However, I realize that I overreacted. Some of the things I said were unfair. Please forgive me.”

[-Hideki-]

It just made him madder when the other said that he misunderstood like this. He misunderstood nothing, he understood perfectly fine. As the other continued to speak though he started to calm from the outrage and to listen to what he had to say and at one point it started to become utterly confusing. The other told him that words mattered and he couldn’t see how this was the case. Words only mattered in the sense that they had to have a clear definition and needed to be used to described exactly what they meant or otherwise communication wouldn’t be function and would get inefficient and confusing. There was no other way in which they mattered and one shouldn’t attach any other value onto them. They were descriptors, a way to communicate and didn’t hold power in themselves.

 

Following the other’s argument further he got more and more confused. The other called him tactless, said that other people who would get hurt by his words probably wouldn’t be able to see the good intent behind what he said and he was completely at a loss there. Words mattered to the other, he wasn’t supposed to say it how it was and how he saw it because people would find it hurtful but he didn’t want to forbid him his worldview at the same time. Shouldn’t he express it then or what? How should he when he got restricted in how he spoke? Restricting his language would mean restricting his thoughts also. (Xenon used that method because it was under a totalitarian system, not that Asher actually realised or knew, or saw the irony.)

 

“So you want me to not call something stupid, stupid anymore because people wouldn’t like to hear it and would feel attacked by it. But if no one tells them that it is stupid, how are they supposed to see it is stupid? Not telling as it is and as one sees it is illogical and not productive. And how am I allowed to disagree with religious lunacy when I am not allowed to voice it? And how can single words matter? They are descriptors, a communication tool, they themselves hold no importance or power.” He asked. “They are just there to accurately describe and communicate something.” the man said. On Xenon they had a clear cut language and people were direct and no one really got offended or hurt or upset by their tactlessness because they all were more or less tactless. Maybe Earthlings were just oversensitive and easily offended in general.

 

When he had turned around to leave and then had turned back at the other with his body trembling with fury the younger man’s attitude had suddenly changed and he looked devastated and he stuttered now. He moved his foot on the grass impatiently, arms still crossed in from of his chest as he was looking at the brunette. A snort came from him when Calum said that he had gotten upset and had said things he had not meant, that he had not thought about the words he had spoken. “What ever happened ‘words matter’?” he asked a little smug. “You are getting all riled up and accusatory about my choice of language you didn’t like and then you say things without thinking that you didn’t mean that were … well, really hurtful as they have been incredibly personal and aimed at me as a man and not my worldview! Well, at least I unlike you didn’t do any of that! But I am the one who needs to learn to watch his mouth apparently.” He snorted shaking his head.

 

He could sense how lost the other was, he even seemed desperate to him when he assure him that he had really meant it when he had said that he liked him and that he really liked him a lot and this had been why he had been hurt by how he had said it in the first place. “How am I supposed to know what of the things you say you actually mean now, it’s not the first time you said something you didn’t mean like that or you made a decision that went against what you actually had wanted. We had the same thing yesterday and you hurt me and you hurt yourself and now again!” the Xenonian said. “You criticise me for saying things as I see them and how I mean them this clearly but that is exactly what you lack. Maybe I lack some tact but you lack directness and being straight forward. You hide what you really think, feel and want between a lot of wishy-washy, soft-spoken, half-assed words to not hurt anyone or to not get hurt, to not take a risk, to not cause confrontation and it only makes everything worse because you don’t say what you mean.” The soldier stated and sighed, making a step towards the younger man when the brunette told him that a lot of the things he had said had been unfair, asking him for forgiveness.

 

Asher just came to a halt when his body stood right in front of the shorter one, he pressed a button on the combat suit to open the visor of his helmet and he cupped the man’s face in his gloved hands making him look up into his blue eyes, just looking at him before he bend down a little to kiss the brunette’s lips deeply and intensely, his tongue sliding into his mouth overtaking the other’s, slightly biting the man’s lip when he broke the kiss again. “Alright.” He said. “I’ll forgive you.” Ash told him and then he quickly turned his face away because the environment made him sneeze again and he quickly turned down the visor again, taking the other’s hand. “Let us go then. Elizabeth and the kid are waiting after all.”

[Gladis]

It would have been a lie to say that Calum didn’t feel overcome by a small sense relief when Asher said that he’d forgive him. It hadn’t exactly solved anything, and it still felt like they were on square one, but any conversation was easier to be had when the concerned parties didn’t feel the need to yell at one another. The kiss served as an ample distraction, and set his heart racing in a way Calum was sure hadn’t been entirely intentional. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

 

”Thank you,” he murmured softly, giving Asher’s metal clad hand a soft squeeze, ”I’ll try to be more direct in the future, but… in that case you have to promise that you’ll actually hear me out, because otherwise there’s no point in even trying. And just so you know, it’s not so much your opinions themselves that bother me, than the way you choose to express them sometimes. You’re entitled to believe whatever you like. You’re free to voice them too, but… trying to force that worldview onto other people is a different thing entirely. You can’t just bully someone into seeing things your way. That never works. When people feel threatened or offended they become defensive, closing their minds to any outside influences. Change has to come on its own. You can present alternate ideas to someone and try to nudge them in the right direction, but the best way of doing that is to keep an open mind yourself, and to treat people with kindness and respect – regardless of their initial beliefs. As soon as you become aggressive about it and try to force change, there are always those that will resist. People are complicated, and learning how to deal with them is half a science onto its own. That’s what I think, anyway.”

 

They made their way back down the hill, turning left where the road split. Yellow fields stretched out before them, dotted by the villagers that had gathered round a large, simmering pot. Cheerful chatter and the mouth watering scent of stew filled the air. Children ran about, playing amongst towering piles of hey. Hermis was amongst them, his black tail flailing hither and fro as he took turns chasing and being chased. Though they had spent half the day hard at work, everyone seemed to be in a jolly good mood. Old nan’ was engaged in a lively conversation with Lydia, all the while hovering over the pot to refill its contents into a smaller bowl, which she then handed to a cueing villager. Those who had already received their bowls settled down on the blankets that had been spread out on the ground. A small way off to the side Calum spotted Jack, surrounded by four pretty ladies – one of which was possessively holding on to his harm. Mathilda, Calum thought.

 

He had just been about to head down towards the crowd when a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

 

”Skirting our duties now, are we?”

 

Looking to the side, Calum spotted shape of Elizabeth, half hidden in the shade of the large chestnut tree to the side of the road. Her lips curved into a smile, her arms folded across her chest as she leaned against the trunk.

 

”Well that’s…” Calum blushed, laughing rather nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

 

”Nevermind that.” She straightened up, waving her hand in dismissal. ”I’ll let you join them soon. There’s just a couple of things I’d like to sort out first. Here, take this.” She pushed a square package into Calum’s arms. He stumbled a little. It was a lot heavier than she had made it seem.

 

”What is it?” He asked vaguely, eyening the package carefully.

 

Elizabeth smiled.

 

”Protective gear. Hopefully it’ll fit, because it was the only one remotely your size I could find.” She turned to Asher. ”I don’t have any for you, but your suit is probably better protection anyway. Do you have a weapon of your own, or will you need to borrow one?”

[-Hideki-]

Blinking his eyes he looked at Calum when the younger man threw all those confusing things into his direction while they were walking towards the house. What did he mean by he couldn’t force his ideas on people? Had he tried? He didn’t think he had. And how could change come on its own? Change wouldn’t come on its own one had to work for it and initiate it. It was also not right that outlawing things plus using power, systems and fear and then re-education and education for the next generation wouldn’t work. It had worked perfectly on many planets they had colonised and were under Xenon’s rule. Xenon had implemented its ways and it had not asked the people about it. They had had to obey the order of things or they would have gotten sorted out.

 

“I didn’t try to force or implement anything. I just talked. I am just one person, I couldn’t do much anyway. “ he said and shrugged. “It would have been a different thing if we had decided to colonise this place. But if that would have been the case your ideology would have been forbidden already and you would have been obligated to re-educate yourself.” The soldier nodded. “It worked with a lot of planets that Xenon had conquered and improved.” Asher found and then shrugged. “What do you mean with change has to come on its own? Because if no one changes something nothing will change! One has to start changing and implementing changes to see results.” He told the other and the way down into the village had passed by in no time.

 

Everyone had gathered to eat outside and Ash sighed as he would not be able to eat when he would be sneezing and his eyes would start to itch and swell, and water the whole time so he’d probably have to go inside anyway although it actually seemed quite nice even though they were sitting on the ground outside and he wasn’t sure how hygienic that was. He saw the dog, that also made him sneeze, kids playing in hey, that made him sneeze too and he asked himself why no one of the villagers sneezed and got all sick like he did. They were the same species after all. And they weren’t even engineered as he was. So why was this making him sick and they were all fine with it?

 

He didn’t get it but was thrown out of his thought by a voice that belonged to Elizabeth who was accusing them of not doing their duty. And she was right. They had abandoned duty for being together but they had wanted to do their duty after that, maybe he should tell her that before she filed a complained and reported them as anti-social subjects. “We did spend some time but we went to do duty right after that but we never got to it because we had to come here because you wanted to see us, we’ll do our duty with the coward animals with the hooves after we have eaten.” The Colonel assured her.

 

The brunette next to him laughed weirdly nervous and stuttered and he had blushed again too. He seemed to always do that when someone indicated that they knew in which way they had been together. It was odd considering the circumstances on that planet. The woman told the other that it didn’t matter though and handed Calum a package with protective gear and when the short man had trouble holding the package Asher smirked under his helmet and was mildly chuckling. “You want me to carry it for you?” he asked half gentleman like, half amused.

 

When Elizabeth turned towards him he nodded. “I think that too.” He agreed that his combat suit was certainly better than any gear they could offer him. At the question of weapons he smiled and raised his head proudly, slamming his hand onto his chest. “I repaired my field weapon. And aside from that one the suit itself is full of different weapon technology that is installed.” He informed them and then thought about it more properly. “Then again I might check out what I can find at the ruins of my battle ship and what weapons you could offer, maybe I can built something useful although I’m not an engineer because I fear that I can’t use a lot of the weapons the suit offers. Or do you own chemical warfare gear or at least a gas mask to protect yourself?” he wanted to know.

 

 

After their talk to Elizabeth they went over to the line where the brunette’s grandmother was distributing the stew and Ash looked at the shorter man while they were waiting. “Why do you always look so ashamed when anyone suggests that they guess that you had sex with me?” he asked suddenly because he had noticed that. “Is it because they suspect you of the act itself, or because you are embarrassed about having done it with me or because I am a man and you aren’t ‘straight’ then but would rather want to be like your friend?” he was curious. “And what do you call women like those Jack lives with now if they aren’t straight? And why would you think that they’d laugh at me when I say women shouldn’t have sex when they can’t even have sex because it has to involve at least one dick?” he asked all the questions again that the other had not answered when he had gotten offended by Ash’s religion comment.

 

When they had gotten the stew he thanked Calum’s grandma and smiled at her although it was not to see under his helmet and then turned to the other again. “I should rather go inside to eat or I’ll be sneezing my lungs out.” He told him.

[Gladis]

Calum let out a long, rather weary sigh.

 

”I fear,” he said, after a moment of hesitation, ”that some things can’t be explained. They have to be seen or experienced to be understood. It feels like the harder I try to elaborate, the more I end up confusing you. I don’t want to cause any more misunderstandings – we’ve had enough arguments to last us a year, don’t you think?” He managed to muster small but tired smile, running a hand through his messy brown hair. Part of him wished he could see Asher’s face. It made having a conversation like this a lot easier.

 

”I’ll still try to answer your questions, though. All I need is, well — time, I suppose. Let me think about it, okay?”

 

***

 

”I-I’m perfectly fine, thank you!” Calum all but snapped at Asher in response to his offer, his cheeks flooding with heat. ”I mean,” he added, a bit more calmly, ”it’s not that heavy. I was just, you know, taken surprised by-” he cut himself off as Elizabeth burst out laughing, clearly as amused as Asher by his minor ordeal.

 

”It’s okay, Calum. There’s no need to prove yourself to anyone. We like you just the way you are.”

 

”Liz, you can lay off the pity speech.” He grumbled, tightening his grip of the parcel as he tried to look anywhere except straight at her or Asher. He was still clearly feeling embarrassed, and the fact that he felt embarrassed over his own embarrassment didn’t exactly help.

 

”It’s not your fault you were raised in a sheltered environment.” She pointed out, no longer joking. ”And although I can understand your grandmothers and brothers motivations, I can’t say I agree with them. They may not always be around to keep you safe. That’s part of the reason I insisted you come along. It’s better to take the risk and getting to know the world you live in, than to be completely lost and defenceless when shit finally hits the fan.” She turned to Asher, a small smile twitching on her lips as her head dipped and rose in a nod. ”We have gas masks. It’s impossible to traverse certain areas of the waste without them. Still, our filters will be limited, so they must be used with care. I’d be more than happy to let you have a look at our arsenal – after lunch, if that’s alright with you.”

 

***

 

As they were getting in line to the food ’stall’, Calum was suddenly hit by a row of questions that, considering their whereabouts seemed less than appropriate. He looked at Asher with a blank expression, just as two laughing children ran past them. Hector and Isolde, he thought, judging by their thick black hair and their slightly tanned complexions. People within earshot were giving them weird glances, though Calum pretended not to notice.

 

”I’ll– uh– in a moment!” He said, as he accepted the bowl from his grandmother, molding his expression into a warm smile as he responded with the usual curtesies. As soon as Asher had recieved his own, Calum was just about to bolt off with the Xenonian – clutching the heavy parcel under one arm whilst balancing his bowl in his other hand, when the sound of his grandmother’s voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

 

”Calum…”

 

He turned around to look at her, seeming a little paler than usual. He should have expected that she would bring it up sooner or later. After all, he had kind of neglected telling her of his plans, and in a small village like the Myre, nothing ever stayed a secret for long. Jack may have thought that he’d been stealthy enough to pull off last escapade without anyone noticing, but fact of the matter was that at this point there wasn’t a soul in the Myre that didn’t know of his attempt att wooing Mathilda. The fact that the butcher, a large, muscular, middle aged man, with a head as bald as an eggs was having a go at him right at that moment was proof enough of that.

 

”Yes, nan’?” Calum asked, not entierly without hesitation.

 

”I’ve yet to have a word with you,” she said, rather sternly, leaving little doubt of what this was about. She seemed, perhaps understandably, dissapointed. ”Tonight, you hear?”

 

He swallowed, nodding his head. ”Yes, nan’...” he said, already dreading the confrontation he knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge.

 

Old nan’ flashed him a small smile. ”Well, off you go,” she crowed, waving the kitchen spoon. ”I’m sure you must both be terribly hungry. Physical labour does that to you.” She winked at them, and Calum had a strong feeling she knew far more than she let on.

 

***

 

”It’s not that I’m embarassed over the act itself,” Calum explained as they trudged up the path to the village, ”as that it’s just… sort of a private matter? There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s also not something you generally go round telling just everyone about. Unless you’re Jack, in which case boasting is ’an essential part of your existence’ he quoted his friend with a roll of his eyes. ”It’s just not something most people are interested hearing about.” He paused for a moment, seeming to reconsider. ”No, I suppose there are those would very much be interested in hearing about it, but for all the wrong reasons.” In a small village like the Myre, gossip was a currency, after all. ”It’s nothing to do with you being a man, though. No one here would care, really. Just like no one gives a damn about Lydia and Verona. What sort of people you prefer to fuck is nobody’s business but your own.” He had been about to add that the gods supported all forms of love, no matter what shape or form it took, yet decided against it for fairly obvious reasons.

 

”As for what you’d call– oh!” He came to a staggering halt as he nearly spilled his stew for the third time. Trying to balance it whilst carrying the heavy parcel was proving to be more difficult than he’d thought. ”Would you… would you mind carrying this for me?” He asked, somewhat begrudgingly, holding out the stew to Asher. He was still set on carrying the parcel himself, however.

 

”You and I would be considered to be in a gay relationship. Lydia and Verona are considered lesbians. Don’t ask me why it’s called this – I don’t know. The terms don’t hold any real significance, anyway. It’s just a way of expressing your preference, if you have one. Most people I know don’t, really. They choose their life partners based on who they are as a person – gender isn’t nessecarily part of the equasion. The only thing it affects is whether you will be able to have children or not, but there are ways around that too. Like Jack’s mothers, who volunteered to take him in precisely because they can’t have kids of their own. I mean they could, technically, but not without the involvement of...uh…a third party.”

 

As they reached the cottage he opened the door, holding it for Asher.

 

”It’s all a matter of definition, you know. If you consider sex to be, strictly speaking, the act of one party penetrating the other – then yeah, women can’t have sex. But generally the terms uses are broader than that. There are other methods to stimulating your partner than just penetrative sex, after all. That applies to women just as much as it does to men. Lydia and Verona would find your comment hilarious because… I sincerely doubt they’re living in a sexless relationship, just because they’re women.” He chuckled softly, setting down the parcel before taking his seat at the table.

 

Calum ate with good apetite, reveling at his grandmothers cooking. As usual she had done an outstanding job with it. Once they had finished their meals, he got up, gathering their bowls and spoons.

 

”How about you go see Elizabeth now?” He asked with a smile. ”I’ll take care of the dishes, and the horses in the meantime.” He refrained from mentioning that he doubted Asher would be much use with the latter anyway, considering the creatures seemed to be terrified of his combat suit. They would have to do something about that, he thought. After all, horses were their quickest mode of transport. Being unable to ride would hamper Asher’s movability considerably – something he was sure could become problematic in the future.

[-Hideki-]

After Asher had let a spate of questions overflow Calum while waiting in the line something odd happened. The people were staring weirdly and the brunette was getting uncomfortable and started to stutter again and the man from Xenon asked himself what he had done wrong? He had just asked questions. Wasn’t it natural that he wanted to know why the other man was seemingly ashamed of other people knowing that he slept with him? It irked him really. He didn’t want their sex to be something he was ashamed about, much less him to be something he was ashamed about. Weirdly enough Ash wasn’t ashamed of being with the brunette in that way at all. He would probably have been if he had sat in front of a trial on his home planet because he knew how they saw what he had done but here he didn’t. Asher had no problem with the people suggesting that they knew they had sex. It was the truth after all. And still he was getting funny looks as if his questions were inappropriate. It irritated him and he crossed his arms in front of his chest while he was waiting in line.

 

Having gotten their food and having almost been on their way to the cottage the elderly lady called for her grandson and Calum turned around to her. She said that she wanted to talk to him about something and it sounded urgent and she sounded displeased about something. Had she too noticed that they had not done their duty today? Was she mad because of that? Would the other get punished for it? Or would she blame Ash and tell the brunette that he was bad company keeping him from the duties that were the most important in life? His mind was trying to figure out what it was about and he made a mental note to ask the younger man about what his grandmother had wanted from him later.

 

When they were told off by the elderly woman the Colonel heard the remarks in regards to their ‘physical labour’ and he turned his head back to her again. Even she knew. Did everyone know that they were lying with each other? And there he had thought they had no surveillance systems but apparently they had.

 

On their way the shorter male finally started to speak and answer his questions and he listened closely and while he liked to hear that he wasn’t ashamed of the act nor about that Asher was of the same gender everything else was confusing to the point where he outright had no idea what the other was talking about. “Private matter?” he asked in the same kind of way Calum had asked him what the ‘greater good’ was or what a ‘government’ was. “None of anyone’s business?” the man repeated. “What are private matters good for? And do you mean that your government, that council you are talking about, doesn’t care about the fact that we have sex and shouldn’t be allowed to disapprove? Or that your council shouldn’t know about who has what connection to whom? And how can the council then stay informed about what their people do to keep them in line and in check?” the platinum blond man wanted to know. “And are you sure it’s only oneself business? I mean, when we do it it’s obviously your matter too and since we neglected duty it kind of affected other people as well in a way….” The man was thinking trying to understand the concept of privacy. He didn’t really get the purpose of it and why it was necessary. He had never had any privacy. There was no privacy on Xenon. Every place had surveillance cameras too. And a sentence in the official statement of the government in regards to Xenon’s security and surveillance system was ‘… Not only is it helpful to minimise crime and to identify and eliminate criminal subjects, it has also been proven that the human being behaves more controlled and civilised when it’s aware that other people can see and judge its behaviour, that bad behaviour will have consequences if only affecting the social status in its peer-group’.

 

Looking at Calum he pursed his lips. “And if it’s private and none of people’s business, why does apparently everyone know that we had sex? Even your grandmother knows.” He wanted to know because that really was odd. Something that was supposedly private was pretty much public after all because everyone just knew for some reason.

 

Asher couldn’t keep himself from laughing when Calum nearly spilled his stew again when he had been about to answer his other questions as he was obviously struggling with the package and the stew a lot but after the other had hissed at him like that when he had offered to carry the package for him he was keeping quiet. If he wanted something from him he had to ask now. He had not wanted his help after all, had even been offended and embarrassed by it what had been rather cute in a sense what probably had not been what the other had wanted to be seen as with his behaviour either though. It surprised the soldier when the brunette did ask him to at least carry the stew for him after a while as he had expected that the other would stay stubborn and rather drop everything than letting Ash carry any of it for him. “I’ll carry this for you with pleasure Calum!” The Xenonian informed the other man when he was grudgingly handing the stew over to him and the foreigner just couldn’t keep himself from mocking the other a little while he carried both bowls of stew.

 

Hearing that they would be considered gay, that the two women would be considered lesbians, that he had no idea why it was called that, that all those terms weren’t important anyway and that they only were there to make it easier to state ones preferences he kept his attention up. Then the other confused him again when he said that most people he knew didn’t have a preference for either gender, that for them the gender wasn’t important but the personality, throwing all the categories he had learned over board for him. “But when you have sex, gender is an important factor or not? You need to feel sexually attracted to someone and I mean women have different equipment and bodies than I. So how can gender be irrelevant for them if it’s a physical relationship?” the man said although he had no idea if it made sense it was just what he was feeling. “I can’t imagine being with a woman.” The man said and remembered how shocked he had been at the idea that he might want to sleep with one without the device and the idea of putting his dick…. He had not liked it. Not at all! “Do you care about gender? Or not? If not? Why not? Do you get turned on by both ? And could I even be enough in that case? Or wouldn’t you be missing something all the time because I only have to offer one side of the coin?” he wanted to know finding the idea that someone could be into women and men equally weird somehow and the idea that he might not be fulfilling and the other could want to be with women too not amusing at all.

 

As he entered the cottage he mused again hearing that it was a matter of definition and according to what sex was by Xenon’s definition Ash was correct. They couldn’t have sex. It made him think though when the other talked about other forms of physical stimulation being considered sex too. “Really? Like when we sucked each other’s dicks you mean? You consider this sex too?” he was surprised. Well, it certainly had felt incredible and had the other continued he would have had an orgasm and ejaculated into his mouth too. So maybe it was. “Hmm….” He shrugged and sat down with the stew next to Calum. “But even if we consider that sex it would not have been the sex I meant when I said ‘I still think that women shouldn’t have sex’ when I said that I meant the sex that could lead to uncontrolled reproduction and that doesn’t even apply to them in the first place.” The soldier said and then shook his head. “Anyway, I still can’t wrap my head around them having sex; I mean they can’t suck each other’s dicks either because they have no dicks. That’s really sad for them that their relationship so fundamentally lacks dicks.” Ash came to his conclusion before he started to eat his stew.

 

When they had finished eating Calum took away the dishes and told him that he should go and meet with Elizabeth while he’d take care of the dishes and the horses in the meantime and Asher nodded. “Alright.” He agreed and stood from his chair. But before he grabbed his helmet again he walked over to the brunette, took his face between his hands and kissed him. “See you later then.” The soldier said, turned around, put on his helmet and left the cottage.

 

It wasn’t difficult to find Elizabeth and the woman led him to their arsenal where the Xenonian studied their weapons some of which he carried into the empty smithery together with her. As they talked weapon, battles and combat Asher started to grow even fonder of her. He had already liked her when she had spoken out on the table that morning and he had also found what she had said to Calum before lunch had been a correct statement and planning and working with her he got certain that she would have been in the same category he was had she been Xenonian and he could have imagined having her in his unit. They then went to the battleship where the man explained some of the technology to the woman, searching for parts he could still use to build something and threw them into a wheelbarrow they had taken with them before they headed back to the smithery.

 

Back there they worked on modifying and changing some arms and Elizabeth assisted him with it what was necessary because Ash was lost with some of the ancient tools so she had to explain those to him while he explained technology to her. The time was passing by quickly and they had a lot of fun testing the weapons before she brought the gas masks that the people of the Myre had and the Colonel inspected them. They weren’t too bad 20th century technological standard and with a little modification Asher could use chemical weapons without killing his own men … well to a degree that was. However when the modifications had been installed Elizabeth for whatever reason had no criminal prisoner to spare for him to test it on to figure out if it worked and to which degree it worked. She also didn’t seem to like the idea to get a prisoner form the neighbour village for that purpose if they had none available. For a moment he had even thought she had looked a little shocked at the suggestion of experimenting on criminals in that way but Ash found absolutely nothing wrong with blowing a load of poisonous gas into a prisoners face to try the gas masks out. It was a totally normal procedure and in that way the criminals could pay back society. Not today though since he didn’t get one as Elizabeth just totally hated the idea so the Colonel figured out another way but that was a lot more complicated and took them even more time.

 

When he arrived back at Calum’s house it was night time and he had to light a lamp because without his helmet he would lose the night vision and Ash sat down on an empty table before he reheated the leftovers. There were quite some leftovers and he ate all of them before he took the lamp with him and went into the brunette man’s room that also had been his for the time he had been there.

The Colonel placed the lamp onto a safe place before he undressed himself leaving only the boxers. He put his combat suit and the clothing aside and then looked over to the younger man who was apparently still awake after all. The soldier was moving towards the bed just that he didn’t get into his own bed but crawled into the brunette’s bed laying himself behind him. He wrapped his arms around the other, placed his chin onto the brunette’s shoulder and pressed his body against the shorter frame from behind, a large smile on his face. “Calum!” He whispered into his ear and kissed his cheek. “Sorry that it’s gotten late but I had to work on an alternate procedure to test whether the modified gas masks worked because Elizabeth wouldn’t let me use a criminal.” He explained. “What did your grandmother want to talk to you about?” he remembered that he had wanted to ask the younger man about that.

[Gladis]

Calum scratched his head, not entirely sure where to even begin explaining. It confused him that Asher should think anyone else had the right to know what they were up to in the bedroom. The idea of privacy was another thing so ingrained in their society that it was hard to imagine a world without.

 

”What is it good for?” He echoed thoughtfully, his eyebrows knitting into a frown as he struggled to think of a good answer. It wasn’t something he had ever thought about really, yet it seemed so fundamental to their way of life that it was hard to imagine a world without. He shrugged his shoulders. ”Ain’t good for nothing, really. It’s just how things are, and I rather like it that way. ’Sides, why would the council be concerned with who we’re fucking? It’s completely irrelevant to the sort of work their doing…” he trailed off, sighing softly. ”I mean, obviously it’s the person you’re doing it with’s business too, but other than that it’s not really something other people should go sticking their noses into. It’s considered bad manners.” He paused, his lips pulling into a slightly crooked smile as Asher asked why then, if it was a private matter, everyone seemed to know what they’d done.

 

”Nan’ knows because you announced it to everyone around to listen, remember? Her hearing has seen better days but she ain’t deaf quite yet. As for Liz… I don’t think she actually knew. She was just teasing us for not being around when we should’ve been. And Anya… well, you kind of blatantly told her. Although she’s just a kid, so she might not have caught the full extent of what you meant. I mean… it’s not as though it particularly bothers me that people know, really. It’s just that… I don’t know… it’s embarrassing to talk about the details in public, okay?” He asked, feeling heat rise to his cheeks as he did.

 

Oh lord, why did Asher have to keep asking all these difficult questions? Calum wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to answer them all. All this hard thinking would soon end up giving him a terrible headache!

 

”Gender matters, to some extent. To some people it matters more than to others. But overall it’s just… not generally something people tend to think about a lot. We just hook up with whomever we want to hook up with and that’s that. As for me… I don’t know. I’ve only ever been with guys so that’s what I’m familiar with. I’m not repulsed by the idea of sleeping with a woman, if that’s what you mean, but I’ve never particularly felt the urge to try it either. I don’t think I’ll feel like I’m missing out on something by just being with you.” He flashed him a reassuring, almost cheeky smile. ”So you needn’t worry, Asher.”

 

Calum nodded his head. ”Yeah, that would be considered sex too. But hey… we don’t really have to discuss the intricacies of lesbian sex, do we? I don’t exactly know the details of how it works and I never bothered asking to find out…” he paused, his lips quirking into a grin, a soft chuckle spilling past his lips. ”Although I agree. A life without dicks sounds incredibly sad. However do they manage?”

 

***

 

After kissing Asher goodbye, Calum took care of the dishes as promised before heading out to tend to his other chores. Because he was alone, he ended up spending most of the afternoon in the stables, after which he dedicated the remainder of the day to helping out on the fields. By the time they decided to wrap up for the day it was already evening. However, despite it being rather late, the sun hadn’t quite yet set. It was still summer, after all – the time of year where the sun set late and rose early. A streak of it still painted the sky, spilling over the horizon to bathe the muddy road and the wooden cottages in a warm, orange-pinkish light.

 

The moment was picture perfect – or at least it would have been, if not for the heavy, somewhat uncomfortable silence that accompanied Calum and his grandmother on their walk home. Hermes was faithfully following at their heels, wagging his bushy tail. He was vying for Calum’s attention by licking the back of his master’s hand.

 

”Silly boy,” he mused softly, unable to keep a small smile from tugging at the corners of his lips, ”you had a lot of fun playing with the kids today, didn’t you?” Calum gave the large, black head a loving pat before stealing a nervous glance at his grandmother. She was walking slightly ahead, her lips tightly pressed together and her gaze fixed at the distance. He sighed, knowing full and well that this was a confrontation he wouldn’t be able to dodge.

 

”Nan’, what’s up?”

 

His grandmother said nothing, though Calum thought he could see her mouth twitch. As they arrived outside the cottage she remained silent still, heading inside without even so much as a glance at her grandson. Calum was left to deal with Hermis alone, who naturally wanted to follow them in.

 

”I’m sorry, Hermis…” he said feelingly as he took him round to the doghouse, ”but you can’t come inside right now. You make Asher all sneazy, see?”

 

Trying not to pay too much heed to Hermis’ sad puppy-esque gaze, he fastened the long leash to the dogs collar before heading inside, where his grandmother was already getting started on dinner. It was going to be a simple meal – buttered bread with some cheese, a boiled egg and an apple each.

 

”Nan’...” Calum tried again as he set the table. Although Asher wasn’t back yet, he put out a plate and cutlery for three.

 

”Don’t you ’nan’ me, young man!” she grumbled over the pot with boiling eggs, her back turned to to Calum.

 

”So you found out…”

 

”Of course I found out!” She snapped, aggressively cutting the a loaf of bread to pieces, before putting them in a basket, which she then placed onto the table. ”Did you really think you could avoid having this conversation?”

 

Calum hung his head, placing a hand onto the back of a chair. ”Nan, look, I’m sorry, I just-”

 

”You just what? You thought I wouldn’t approve of you marching off into the waste? Because you’re damn right I don’t!” She picked up the pot, emptying it of water by the window before swirling around and all but slamming it onto the placemat on the table. One of the eggs cracked.

 

Calum’s grip on the chair tigheted. He had just been about to say something when his grandmother spoke again.

 

”But…” she said, letting out a long sigh as her rigid expression softened, sadness and an edge of disappointment replacing anger. ”It’s not like I can stop you going. You’re an adult now and this is the sort of thing you must decide for yourself. I just wish you’d had the guts to tell me. To look me in the eye and be honest. I thought I’d raised you better than this…”

 

”Nan…” Calum said again, watching her pull out her chair and take a seat. ”I never intended to hide it from you or anything. It just… it never seemed like the right time to talk about it. First I had that argument with Asher and this morning we went to Jack’s and then we had to work… I’m sorry...” he said quietly, pulling out his own chair.

 

She shook her head a little, sighing again.

 

”Well, there ain’t much to be done about it now.” There was a short pause. ”Will really nothing I say change your mind?”

 

Now it was Calum’s turn to shake his head.

 

She looked him in the eye, long and hard, perhaps hoping for Calum to falter. He didn’t – meeting her penetrating gaze head on without even batting an eye. Eventually the corners of her lips pulled into a small, yet tired smile.

 

”You’re your father’s son, alright. He never would listen to a thing I told him. But then again, in my youth I was no different, so I suppose you both got it from me.”

 

Calum blinked, still seeming a bit taken aback by her change in attitude. ”So… you’re saying I can go?”

 

”Well, lad… ain’t like I’m planning on locking you in the house. You do what you have to. All I can do is pray for the gods blessings. Make sure to outlive me and your brother both, you hear?”

 

A vague smile spread across his features. ”Of course, nan. I never intended to do anything else.”

 

She returned the smile, and they proceeded to eating their dinner in peace.

 

***

 

It was getting later and Asher still hadn’t returned. Deciding that it would be unwise to stay up any longer – especially considering how early they would have to get up the following morning, Calum and his grandmother bade each other goodnight before going their separate ways. His grandmother to her bed i the corner of the main living area and Calum to his room. Changing into a plain shirt and a soft pair of trousers, he climbed into bed, snuggling into the linen covers.

 

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the door creaked open and Asher came stepping into the room. By then Calum had been almost, but not quite yet asleep. Feeling the mattress shift under Asher’s weight, he let out a soft groan as he Asher’s warm body wrapped around him from behind, feeling his hot breath against his ear as his name was whispered.

 

”’s okay…” he mumbled sleepily, without even completely registering what Asher was saying. Something about prisoners and gas masks… turning around, he made some more room for Asher. ”Nothing much. She was upset I hadn’t told her I was coming with you tomorrow, but we worked it out…” opening his eyes he looked at Asher, only barely able to make out his features in the dark. ”Did you and Liz manage to get everything sorted?”

 

Calum reached over to gently stroke Asher’s cheek with the back of his hand, before leaning in for a tender kiss. Then he snuggled up against Asher.

 

”To be honest I’m kind of nervous about tomorrow. Excited too, of course, but also nervous. I’ve never been that far east of the Myre before. Part of me… part of me is afraid I’ll end up being a liability rather than help. You know, like I’ll screw up somehow? Because you know, Liz has been doing this for ages – she knows what she’s getting herself into. And you…. you’re basically a super soldier. I don’t doubt you’ll be right in your element. And then there’s me – I’m sorry, I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”

[-Hideki-]

Asher smiled at Calum and let his hand run over the side of his torso when the other had turned around to him, telling him what his grandmother had wanted to discuss with him. A small sigh of relieve overcame him and he kissed the brunette man’s lips quickly. “I’m glad that she didn’t tell you I was bad company and you should dump me because I kept you from your duty today.” He expressed what he had been fearing the old lady would say. “I would like her to approve of me and you.” He added and he really did. It would be much nicer if the old woman would be alright with them being that close than if she would be against it and trying to talk the other out of being with a man from another planet.

 

He nodded when the younger male asked him if Elizabeth and him had been able to get everything ready and sorted out. “Yes.” He told him. “I modified the gas masks and we could improve some weapons you had in the arsenal too.” He informed the other. “She was a good help too. I like that woman, I like how she thinks. I am sure she’d be a C-type on Xenon too. “ Ash let him know. “I think that she is just right for accompanying us on the mission and that we’ll get along.” The Colonel found. Elizabeth was pretty much the opposite to Calum’s brother to him and he was glad to have met such a person in the village even though she had been that weird when it had been about testing the gas masks on criminals, he really had not been able to understand that reaction.

 

The soldier leaned his head into the hand that was caressing his cheek and he closed his blue eyes when the brunette kissed him that tenderly and he returned the kiss rather gently figuring that it would be unfitting if he would let it escalate in that situation. He held the other tight when he snuggled up against him and relaxed feeling the warmth of his body against his own. It was still so strange but such a nice feeling. Something he had never gotten on Xenon, something that didn’t exist on Xenon somehow. This weird warmth! If he’d ever get back home he’d miss that warmth, he just knew he would.

 

Lulled in by the warmth he was closing his eyes and dozing off slightly but then he suddenly heard the other talk a lot, really fast and sounding nervous and a little tense. Ash opened one eye, then the second one when the other told him about how he was scared and nervous about their trip, how he feared of becoming a liability, not being of help, thinking that he could screw up somehow. He even went out of his way to call the Colonel a super soldier what made him chuckle. When the younger man apologised to him for rambling he laughed, took his face between his hands and kissed him, more eager, deeper, with more desire, his tongue slipping inside of his mouth, wrapping around the other’s affectionately before the kiss broke and blue gazed into green. “I’m a normal soldier Calum.” He informed him. “And you won’t be a liability. You should trust my and Elizabeth’s experience in leading a troop about that. If we were to let you become a liability and not look out that we were to advise and order you properly we’d not be as good in the first place. To measure the strength of a troop, of an Army the collective counts, not the individual. “ he explained.

 

He pressed his lips against the other man’s again before he let his hands run through his hair. “Don’t worry about that! I’ll take care of you, I’ll not let you fall back and you can’t be a liability to me. I like you Calum!”the man told him and his hand was sliding under the brunette’s shirt, feeling his warm, soft skin. “Do you think we’ll be able to touch each other on our trip?” he asked and it had been on in his subconscious the whole time but he had not really noticed and was rather surprised about this question himself but he realised that the thought of not getting to touch him and to not be touched on the way, that the other might not want to get close to him because Elizabeth might notice bothered him because he wanted to touch him and be physically close to him. “If not, let me touch you again tonight, yes?” he asked, shifting, towering over the other, looking down into his handsome face with those mesmerising green eyes.

[Gladis]

Calum couldn’t help but feel a small smile tug at the corners of his lips as Asher expressed his concerns. ”Nan’ wouldn’t think badly of you for something as silly as that. She’s has grown rather fond of you, so I don’t think it’s something you have to worry about too much. Besides, it’s not like you alone carry the responsibility for our little escapade. I could’ve said no, but I didn’t, and we suffered the consequences of being teased for it. It won’t get more severe than that, though – believe me. It’s hardly the end of the world…” This was after all not the first time someone had skirted their duties for something like that, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last. People made mistakes – to Calum that was just part of what it meant to be human. ”Although…” he admitted after a moment of thinking about it, ”To be completely honest, I don’t really regret it.”

 

He listened to Asher talk about Liz, feeling glad that the two were getting along. For one, it would have made for an awful trip the following day if they hadn’t, but also because just like Jack, she was Calum’s long-time friend. Neither Elizabeth nor Jack – especially Jack – had approved of his last partner, which in turn had caused more than just a couple of arguments between them.

 

”That’s good.” He said with a smile. ”I’m glad you managed to get things done, and that you’re getting along so well. Everyone in the village respects her because of the work she does, but because she’s so sharp and set in her ways, some find her difficult to talk to. She’s not really the kind to make a lot of small-talk, if that makes sense. With her it’s always straight to the point. It’s what I like about her, though. It’s what I like about you too…” he trailed off, remembering their conversation earlier that day. Even if it occasionally led to arguments, he decided, he still preferred it over being kept in the dark. Sometimes it was better to just let it all out.

 

When Asher chuckled in response to Calum voicing his concerns, he wondered if he had said something funny – feeling grateful for the night-time darkness as heat rose to his cheeks. Still, the colonel's hands on his face were a comfort, and the kiss enough of a distraction to almost make him forget about it. He relaxed a little and parted his lips, his heart beating just a tad faster as he relented himself to the dance of tongues. It ended far too soon, Calum thought, although the speech that followed more than made up for it. He found himself smiling up at Asher almost a little bashfully, gently tracing the contours of his lover's face before stroking his finger over Asher’s bottom lip.

 

”You’re super to me…” he murmured, dropping his hand down onto the mattress, ”I’ll take your word for it. Thank you, Asher. It means a lot to me.” Although his concerns still hadn’t been entirely abated, Asher’s words had at least managed to put him a little more at ease. Allowing his lips to be seized in another kiss, Calum hadn’t failed to notice the hand snaking its way under his shirt. It felt hot against his bare skin, his breathing becoming just a tad more laboured. His lips pulled into a grin when Asher finally pulled back.

 

”You’re getting good at this!” He mused, although Asher’s question caught him slightly off guard. He paused, considering it for a moment before shaking his head. Not for the reason Asher might have thought, however.

 

”We’ll be camping outside on our way there and back – there’s no proper shelter before the witch’s place.” Normally that might not have been much of an issue, but considering Asher couldn’t take off his combat suit outside, well… even then it probably wouldn’t have been the best of ideas. It may just be the edge of the waste, but it was still far from safe. ”Still,” he murmured, his lips twitched into a smile as he slowly slid his finger down Asher’s torso, ”it’ll only be four – maybe five days at most. And that’s assuming we don’t get the opportunity whilst we’re there.” His hand stopped.

 

Since it was foolish to travel at night, it was safe to assume that they would spend it at her place before returning in the morning. Even so it of course wasn’t really guaranteed they’d find the time or opportunity to engage in any such activities…

 

”It’s already late…” he pointed out, reaching up to place his hand on Asher’s cheek as he pondered their options, ”and we’ll be needing to get up early tomorrow.” It was a valid argument – or at least it would have been, hadn’t Calum already made up his mind. He leaned up, wrapping his free arm around Asher’s shoulder as he pulled him into another heated kiss. His heart raced and he was feeling slightly light headed, although whether that was the result of all the passionate kissing, mild arousal – or perhaps both, he couldn’t tell.

 

”We’re going to regret this tomorrow, aren’t we?” He chuckled against Asher’s lips, pulling back slightly to meet his lover’s gaze. Calum’s jade green eyes sparkled with playful mischief, his lips curving into a playful smile.

[-Hideki-]

Being that close to the brunette he could feel how the man was starting to relax in his arms and he could see a smile playing around the other man’s lips in the dim light of the lantern making him smile in return. His eyes widened a little and then shone when he could feel the man’s fingers tracing the contours of his face and along the burned skin of his jaw, the warmth getting all the more prominent to him but it turned into small heat that went straight into his crotch when Calum stroked his scarred bottom lip with his finger and his heart was starting to race a little faster, his breath getting a little heavier.

 

The Xenonian man had to laugh again though when the other told him that he was ‘super’ to him, it was adorable. His lips started to feel rather lonely though without being connected to the other and neither having the man touch it that enticingly. This didn’t have to be for long though because after the younger male had thanked him and told him his words had meant a lot to him he was kissed and Asher leaned into it his hand exploring the slender body as he engulfed into the kiss completely, kissing the man passionately, feeling the skin that was so much softer and so much more flawless than his scarred body and the small flame that had already been lighted again heated him up more and he was starting to feel aroused. While also noticing that this was the first time someone had ever said to him that the word he had spoken meant a lot to them.

 

When the kiss broke he was told that he was getting good at this and it felt good to hear that, it was like balm for his ego although he hadn’t done any training or anything at all. He was just touching the other man how he liked hoping the other would feel good and like it just as much, he was doing what felt ‘natural’ to him. That word ‘natural’ Calum had used it a lot and Ash still didn’t know how he felt about this term. One thing was for sure even his first time had not been too weird or just incredibly awkward or unpleasant; he had liked it, found it enjoyable and pleasurable regardless of having been understandably nervous. Although he was inexperienced he was not a teenager, he was a grown man and it made a difference.

 

There was a feeling of disappointment settling in when he was told that they wouldn’t get to touch one another on their journey and he really shouldn’t be this disappointed about that. They were going on an important mission, he shouldn’t even be thinking about having sex he should be thinking about the mission and to bring it to success but he was thinking about sex anyway. It was like his brain had opened a new department, the department for sex and that department was loud, it was obnoxious and it was persistent. And it made five days seem like an eternity to a man who had not had sex for thirty-three years before, who had not wanted to ever have it before he had crashed onto that planet actually.

 

As the younger male pointed out how late it was to him he felt another disappointment coming the more Calum pointed the reasons against having sex right now out the more sure he was that nothing would happen between them this night and the following nights when they were on their way. An actual disappointed groan escaped him and he wanted to roll off of the other man a little frustrated again when the brunette went totally against his own argument and judgement wrapping his arm around Ash’s shoulders pulling him down. The Colonel’s blue eyes widened completely surprised but closed instinctively when their lips met and he was kissed heatedly, returning it putting his desire into it! What a confusing man that Calum!

 

The kiss broke and the brunette chuckled against his lips stating that they’d be going to regret this the other morning. But Asher already had his fingers on the hem of the younger man’s shirt and he was pulling it over the other’s head flinging it somewhere. “I don’t care!” he clearly said and his lips kissed the younger man’s neck, sucked on the skin, bit slightly into it, giving him love bites as his lips were travelling further south, over his throat, his collar bones and then to his nipples. He licked over the brunette’s right nipple experimentally peering up into his face as he kissed it, licked it again and then started to suck on it, lightly first and then more vigorously to see if it got him any positive reaction from the shorter man if he did that. His hand was rubbing over Calum’s confined cock before hastily pulling down pants and boxers, grabbing the balls, squeezing them before letting his fingers run over to shaft, letting them slide up for his thumb to tease the tip, pressing onto the slit before sliding under the foreskin letting it circle around the glans. Ash’s body was getting hotter, he felt the blood rushing downstairs and his dick was getting hard in the boxers he was wearing from the reactions his actions got him from the younger man, from touching and feeling the other man’s heated, veiny cock growing and hardening in his hand. It was hot and it turned him on.