OM Scene 1.2.1

Paolo arrived from Sisyphus Prime the evening before. Commander Martin, an officer in the Fleet, met Paolo at the tiny space port of Myrtle Beach, and brought Paolo home with him. Paolo would stay the night at Martin’s home and then give his lecture at the school the next morning. He’d have the rest of the day to see the sights around the town and the famous Lake, before the flagship of the Coalition would come back and give Paolo a lift home to Sisyphus. That night Commander Martin and his husband, a painter, served Paolo Dinner and then the Commander showed Paolo where he’d sleep.

“You can sleep in my late son’s bed,” Commander Martin said and then closed the door before Paolo could ask questions.

Paolo looked around the room, which was a normal room for a teenage boy in the Coalition. There was a bed, a desk and a chair. On the desk was a holo terminal, used for cruising the holo net, and homework, most likely. There were holographic posters on the walls, advertising shore leave on Dionysos, showing more or less naked catamites. Other holographic posters were recruitment posters for the fleet. Paolo never understood exactly why the fleet recruited people with pictures of more or less naked boys in their upper teens. There were also posters advertising Daffodil Armaments plasma rifles, and those showed a naked boy in his upper teens, lying on a bearskin rug, in front of a fireplace, and holding a plasma rifle. Paolo wasn’t exactly sure why that would work to sell rifles, especially since Daffodil Armaments almost only sold their rifles to the Coalition Armed Forces, which meant that the Fleet issued the rifles to the officers in the fleet, not sold to them. Paolo didn’t dwell too long on these matters as he enjoyed the holographic images. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and then returned to the room, undressed and climbed into bed. About an hour later a high-pitched scream woke Paolo up, and then the light came on in the room. A naked boy stood there, about fifteen years old. He had short blonde hair, just a tint of ginger, thin but had a touch of abs and pecs. Paolo recognized the boy from holograms he'd seen around the house, often with a written piece of paper next to them, that read "Casper." They stared at each other for a second, and then Paolo's forearm tattoo became visible, and glowed. Casper's forearm tattoo also became visible a fraction of a second later. Commander Martin, and his husband, burst into the room and stared at Paolo for a second.

"What are you screaming for, Midshipman?" Commander Martin said.

"It was me, dad," Casper said. "I didn't expect there to be another guy in my bed when I got home. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake everybody. It was nice and all..."

"Well?" Commander Martin said, looking intently at Paolo.

"It wasn't him, dad," Casper said.

"It was your son, sir," Paolo said and pointed at Casper.

Commander Martin glowered at Paolo. "That's not funny. They told me you had a deficient sense of humor, but I didn't think it would be in this poor taste. We're still mourning the loss of our son, so we'd appreciate it if you didn't remind us. I'll be willing to forget this incident if you apologize."

"I'm sorry, sir?" Paolo said, getting confused.

"Dad?" Casper said.

"I guess that'll have to be good enough," Commander Martin said. "Good night. No more screaming." The Commander closed the door to the room and went back to bed, leaving Casper and Paolo alone in the room.

"Are you real?" Paolo said.

"Of course," Casper said. "People are weird around me sometimes, kinda does not notice me, and get weird notions I'm dead, which I'm not. Even my parents do that lately. I don't know why. I'm sorry I screamed, but I wasn't prepared to find someone else in my bed. For a moment I thought they'd remembered I was here and got me my present for my fifteenth birthday, even though it was two weeks ago. But I guess that's not the case. Since you are in my bed, would you mind telling me who you are?"

"Midshipman Paolo Garcia," Paolo said and extended a hand.

Casper didn't shake Paolo's hand, instead he stood to attention, though part of him had been doing so since his forearm tattoo appeared, and he saluted. Paolo responded with a salute.

When Paolo first entered the room, he'd only looked at the posters and missed the little display tablet with a dozen badges from the Space Fleet Youth Activation Program. The number of badges impresshimim, as he only got three badges during his year in SFYAP. After the incident when Paolo got trapped on Procrustes, and Calvin came to his rescue, Paolo decided to go to the Space Fleet Academy, but you had to have your sixteenth birthday the year you enrolled, so he'd have to wait a full year. Instead, the security guard at Aeolus City Space Port arranged for Paolo to join SFYAP until he could enroll in the Academy. Calvin also joined SFYAP, but he got eight badges in one year. Several SFYAP leaders, as well Calvin and his adoptive dad, Herbert said it was because Paolo spent too much time making bad jokes and too little on learning the tasks that would earn him more badges.

“At ease, Recruit,” Paolo said.

Casper relaxed from standing to attention and finally shook his hand.

“Pleased to meet you, sir,” Casper said. “They said at morning assembly you would visit our school, I didn't realize that you would stay in my house and sleep in my bed, or that you would be so cute.”

“That's very nice of you,” Paolo said. He moved the sheet and blanket aside, so he could get out of bed. “I guess I’ll be sleeping on the floor, then.”

“That's unnecessary, sir,” Casper said. He blocked the way for Paolo, so he couldn’t get out of bed. the “There's room in bed for both of us, just move over.”

Before Paolo could react, Casper climbed into bed next to Paolo and kissed him. It didn't take Paolo more than a second before he kissed Casper back. The next hour Casper’s room lit up three times with holographic fireworks from them both. After the third time, Casper kissed Paolo again and waited a while before pulling out of Paolo.

“Still wondering if I’m real, sir?” Casper said.

After that they went to sleep, Casper taking the little spoon position. It was easier since he was shorter than Paolo.