Before I could react, Germán took my arm, turned me around, cradled my face in his hands and kissed me delicately on the lips. I don’t know if my jaw fell before or after the kiss, but I picked it up fast enough to ask dreamily,

“I don’t understand.”

“Then I’ll explain it to you one more time.” And he kissed me again, but this time he opened his mouth and let his tongue play with my lips, slowly and sweetly, asking for entrance. His arms surrounded me, searching for more contact with my body. I opened my mouth and let his tongue enter. I could feel his warmth, the firmness of his chest, his smell…

There is no smell. He doesn’t smell. -- Who cares!

I just stopped thinking and began feeling. Passion took over, and the kiss became more desperate. We started to move towards my tent, a knot of arms and legs, trying to squeeze out all the air between us, trying to have as much contact as we could. We didn’t make it to the bed. We tripped over our own feet, and fell to the floor; we didn’t get up. We just stayed there, turning and tossing with our clothes on, grinding until the friction took us over the edge.

Afterwards, with Germán spent on top of me, all sticky, sweaty and panting, I began to giggle at the absurdness of it all. Maybe it was just a defense mechanism against so much drama, but at that moment I felt at the top of the world, I felt like laughing with happiness. We both ended up giggling on the floor, fighting to see who could tickle whom, trying to steal kisses or blow raspberries wherever we found a piece of naked skin.

And one thing lead to the other. The second time around we ended in bed, naked, where we made love, slowly, and sweetly, learning intimately every nook and cranny of our skins, every bump and valley made by our muscles, climbing higher and higher, until I had the impression I could see the whole universe in his eyes.

Afterwards, we lay with my head on his chest, the best pillow I had ever had, warm and inviting, with my arm hugging him tightly. He laced his arms around me, and kept me tight against him. We slowly drifted into sleep in that position, safe and satisfied.

~~~

The next morning I woke up alone in bed.

Where is he? I didn’t dream what happened yesterday, did I? I remember it pretty clearly. -- His side is still warm. -- Why is he not here? Did I scare him off? -- I knew it! This couldn’t end well. A hunk like that interested in me? Not in my wildest dreams. -- He cannot be gone too far. How far can you get in a moto in ten minutes? -- He just wanted to get his rocks off, apparently. -- Shit! I should have kept my distance… this was a bad decision...

All of a sudden, the sound of the toilet flushing reached me.

Thank you, Uda! -- And now what? This is new to me. I’ve never been in a relationship. -- This is not a relationship, you fool, this is a one night stand. -- Hey, we’ve known each other for over three weeks! I am no slut. -- You sure he thinks the same? -- Well he surely doesn’t find me revolting, that he proved yesterday. -- Yeah, well, there was no one else around, and you opened your legs as soon as he asked. -- He thinks I’m a slut. Is that bad? -- Not really. Why would it be?-- Aaarghhh! Stop thinking! You are worse than a fifteen year old boys’ band fangirl. Get your shit together!

A moment later Germán came out of the bathroom, completely and utterly naked. I smiled like the fool I am. He smiled timidly back, and came under the blankets, laying his head on my chest, and his leg over mine, embracing me tightly. The feel of his skin was all I needed to relax, and stop panicking. I was content with just this, this closeness. His warm skin, was all I ever needed.

His breath on my chest was lulling me to sleep when he began to talk, tickling me with the vibration produced by his voice.

“I didn’t choose it, you know?” he said quietly.

Initially I didn’t understand what he was talking about, but then I thought about the modification.

He continued in a low voice, “They did it when I was four years old. They took me from the orphanage because my genetic code was easier to modify.”

I could feel his tears on my chest, now.

“What are your modifications?”

“Your magic wand has not been able to reveal it?”

“You don’t have to tell me. But I want you to know it makes no difference to me. I love you just the same.“

Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want to scare him off.

Lifting his head slightly, he looked me in the eyes and said, “I thought I heard you say you love me. There must be some strange echo here.”

“Yeah, I think I heard it too. So it must be true. I love you.”

And fuck caution.

Germán embraced me more tightly and buried his face in my chest again, beginning to cry with big sobs that shook his body.

That wasn’t the reaction I was going for.

We just stayed silent while he cried his heart out. Slowly, the violent sobs became simple tears, until even those dried. He began to talk with a rough voice and red eyes.

“They took me from the orphanage when I was four years old. I don’t really remember what the orphanage was like, but I remember liking the austere dorm where the sudas gathered all the children much better. There were others like me, maybe eighty in total, all of the same age. I soon realized that the children in the new home were just as cruel as they were in the old orphanage, only they were just more sophisticated. I learned fast, and was one of the big boys, so I didn’t have too many problems, but I never fit in. I was always different.”

“I don’t remember the treatment itself either; I guess it was just a couple of injections, but I do remember the pain: months of pain, of sickness, of dizziness, and then another injection, and more pain, and more sickness. I was six when they stopped the treatment. At that moment I couldn't remember any more how it was to live without constant pain. I was so happy it had stopped. But then began the training. I was a “hunter” and was trained accordingly; when I was eight-years-old, I could survive for weeks in the forest without any help or supplies; at ten I could hunt and kill small animals with my hands. By the time I was twelve, I was able to kill bigger game, with weapons I had built by myself in the woods.”

“Those were the good years. The sudas left me alone, and didn’t fondle me, or worse. I know they did it to some other children, but I guess I was too ugly, or too big, or too something for them. So I had a certain freedom they didn’t take away.”

“I was fourteen when I began the training with real weapons. Shortly after, they deployed us in some of the outer worlds, among the poorest of the poor, where we had to keep order. You can’t imagine what I saw there, what we had to do, what some of the other guys did. You should never learn how deep human misery can sink.”

After a small pause, he continued with a calm, sad voice. “That was about the time I discovered I liked boys. It was too dangerous to act on it, so I just did the same things the others did, and looked out for hookers that I paid just to give me a backrub.“

“After a time, through hard work I achieved a good position in Shboa, as part of the inner guard. Everything was going well until one of the deacons began harassing me. He was obsessed, and when I said no, he accused me of raping him. He didn’t have any proof, and his story didn’t hold water, so I didn't end up dead, or worse. They expelled me from Shboa, told me to explore the planet, and come back once a year, to report. It was a death sentence that would just take a little bit longer to be completed. Having to go back was a nice touch; if I don’t come back, they can declare me dead, and forget about me.”

“So I’ve been out there for the last few months, trying to think about what to do with my life, if I could maybe get off the planet. And then I saw a big smoke cloud, came to investigate, and found you.”

He must be talking about the fire I lit to clear the excavation site.

“I’d been watching you for two weeks, to make sure you weren’t a danger, when I decided to come over,” he confessed somewhat ashamed.

“I knew it! Not that I’d noticed anything, but as soon as I discovered you watching, I thought you’d been doing it for some time.”

* Oh, fuck! He’s been watching me for two weeks, and I didn’t notice anything! All my systems, and all my training were good for nothing. If the sudas have more like him, no one in the galaxy is safe. Actually, who knows what else the sudas have. This is huge. *

# We should take this information to the colony as soon as possible. #

Now that I have him, I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here, and enjoy him. -- I’ll take him with me! The sudas don’t want him. I’ll keep him. -- Shouldn’t you ask first? -- Nope. Just in case he says no. -- Won’t work like that, will it? Let’s see how it goes. -- There will be some problems in the colony too, but there is nothing mum Soco can’t solve. -- First things first. The chamber, then we leave. -- Wait, wait, wait! He’s been watching for two weeks! What did he see?

My voice almost broke like a teenager’s, when I cautiously asked, “Did you watch me at the camp too?”

“Are you asking me if I saw you jacking off?”

Sounding like a tiny violin, completely mortified, I answered, “Yes.”

“Absolutely, it was the highlight of my evenings those two weeks. Just beautiful.”

Oh, fuck my life! -- That is creepy. -- And kinda hot. He liked what he saw enough to come back. -- Next thing I know, porn holos of me jacking off will be circulating on the net… wait!

“You didn’t take any holos, did you?”

He winced. “I may have taken one or two, just for my strict personal use. Why do you ask?”

“You are going to delete them immediately. There’s no question about it.”

“Don’t worry, now that I have the original, I don’t need any holos,” he said, caressing my shoulder.

“Did you take any of me running?”

“But I’m not deleting those! Those are art!”

“The day I noticed you, you were taking holos, you perv.”

“Yeah, that day I was so enraptured looking at that incredibly hot guy running almost naked, I made some noise.”

“You sweet-talker, you! Admit it: I’m that good. No one escapes my keen senses, and, yeah, well, no one can resist my hotness.”

“Aha! So you’re not just hot, you are also modest.”

“Very much so,” I said, nodding innocently.

And that was the moment he decided to kiss me, I guess, to shut me up. I lost count how often we made love that day. We had a whole adolescence to make up for.

At least now we know a little bit more about Germán... Is this the "happy ever after"?  Nah, too many open threads, too many open questions. You can read a little bit more next week   
Merci, Carlos et Jaro, pour prendre votre temps pour m'aider à écrire cette histoire. Vous êtes les meilleurs!