But Rodney remembers.

A week or ten days pass, and Rodney analyzes the information. He won't make his move until he has a working hypothesis and a pretty good chance of success. He thinks it out, gathers his materials, makes his plans. It's time to conduct an experiment.

They're lying on Rodney's bed, and John's hand is around his cock. Giving another guy a handjob is pretty new to John. As he told Rodney early on, "I've never been gay before." So Rodney goes slow, showing him the way without condescension, carefully ratcheting up the tension, watching closely. He knows John likes what they do - likes the kissing and touching, the way Rodney guides him and shows him the best angles to rub their bodies together, the best grip to get him off.

John is a fast learner, and soon Rodney is coming over his hand, moaning John's name and leaning up for fiery kisses. When he catches his breath, John is rubbing his still-hard cock against Rodney's hip. Rodney leans over him to the nightstand and comes up with a couple of strips of cloth, which he shows to John.

John's eyes go big as Rodney trails the silky material over his neck and chest, dropping it to pool just over his dogtags. That's when Rodney grabs John's wrists and presses them to the mattress, and sees the blankness come back into John's eyes - just like it had before.

"You like that," Rodney says, and it's not a question. "You like being restrained."

John moans, and Rodney presses harder. "You have to tell me," he says.

John struggles a little against the pressure, then relaxes back onto the pillow. He closes his eyes and licks his lips before saying it. "Yes, I like it."

Rodney doesn't let go of John's slender wrists, but he slides his hands up, pushing them even with John's shoulders on either side. "How about here?"

John swallows, but his eyes stay resolutely shut. "Higher," he whispers.

Rodney's spent cock tries to twitch. "Over your head?"

After a long pause, John says yes again, and Rodney moves his hands higher, bringing them up, stretching the muscles to gently pin the backs of John's hands to the headboard. John moans and pushes up with his hips.

"Can I tie them?" Rodney asks.

John's eyes shoot open, and he looks worried, so Rodney takes one hand from his wrist and brushes his hair back from his forehead with almost startling gentleness. He's gratified to see that John's free hand stays exactly where he left it. "I won't hurt you," Rodney says. "We can stop whenever you want to, I promise."

John licks his lips again; he's got no clue how sexy the gesture is, how hard it makes Rodney when he unconsciously does it in meetings, in the field, in the mess hall.

"Okay," John says.

Rodney gets his knees braced on the bed on either side of John's ribcage and reaches for one of the strips. He winds it around one wrist, talking quietly the whole time. "It's soft - the Athosians make it. Good tensile strength, but with some give. It won't leave much of a mark. Even if it does, you wear that stupid sweatband and the world's biggest watch, so it doesn't matter."

When he ties the other end of the cloth to the corner of the bed, pulling John's arm taut, he gets another deep, rumbling moan. He hurries to tie the second one, not wanting to miss one moment of the way John's face must look. He slides down and pushes John's legs apart with his knees, settling between them.

John's eyes are closed, his mouth slightly open, and his head is rolling back and forth on the pillow. His cock is heavy and dark, lying flat against his belly, and his hips buck up when Rodney trails his fingertips from the base to the head and back down.

"Rodney," John moans. "Touch me."

"I am touching you," Rodney says. "And I'm going to touch you a lot more." He leans in and touches the tip of his tongue to the slit at the end of John's dick, glancing upward to gauge the effect.

John's eyes open and he cranes his neck to see what Rodney's doing. "Oh," he says. "That's...oh, that's good."

Rodney slides a hand between John's belly and his cock and lifts it up toward his mouth, taking the head inside. John moans and shifts his hips upward. Rodney lets him thrust, sucking into each movement and tracing the ridge with his tongue. He pulls off before John can find a steady rhythm.

"Don't stop," John says, just a little bit of a whine coloring his voice.

"I have a plan," Rodney tells him.

"You always have a plan," John grumps, but he watches avidly as Rodney goes back into the bedside table for a tube of lubricant. His eyes go wide when Rodney pulls one of the spare pillows down the bed and urges John to lift his hips with a gentle knee before tucking the pillow underneath.

"Rodney...I'm not...I don't want..." John stammers, his face going red all the way to his hairline.

Rodney rubs a hand up and down John's thigh. "Shhhh," he says. "It's okay. I won't do anything you're not ready for."

John relaxes, and Rodney shifts back on his heels and just looks. John's arms are stretched out and tied, his elbows slightly bent and his hands curled around his bonds. The position flexes all the muscles in his arms and chest. His dark hair is in a wild disarray on the white pillowcase. His legs are splayed out, his hips tilted up by the pillow, and Rodney can see the lower curves of his ass and can't resist running his fingers lightly over that firm flesh.

John jumps, and Rodney can see his hands tighten on the cloth that binds him, but he doesn't make a sound, so Rodney repeats the caress, sliding his hands along the length of the backs of John's thighs and under, letting John's muscular ass fill his hands, his thumbs sweeping along the lowest curve. He leans down to press a kiss to the base of John's cock.

"I want to touch you," Rodney says, the words whispered against John's skin.

"You are touching me." John's neck is bent and he's looking down to where Rodney's face is pressed against him. He moans when Rodney's tongue traces over the fragile skin of his balls.

"I want to touch you inside, John," Rodney says, like it's totally obvious what he means and John is just being dim. He hears John's head thump down onto the pillow and he moves up so he can see. John's eyes are closed and he's licking his damn lips again.

"You'll stop if I don't like it?"

"Of course," Rodney says. "I know you're tied up at the moment, but I am eventually going to let you loose. I'd like to continue to be alive after that, if it's all the same to you."

John keeps his eyes squeezed shut, even as he smiles at Rodney's words. He lets a breath out and murmurs, "Yes."

Rodney kisses his way down John's chest, letting his tongue draw patterns through the crisp hair there, until he reaches John's cock again. He takes it into his mouth - as far as he can - then pulls off with a long, slow suck, before sitting back on his heels. He opens the tube of lube, wetting the fingers of his right hand before carefully recapping it and setting it aside. He reaches down and gently runs his fingertips along the cleft of John's ass, stroking over the entrance to his body, but not pushing, not yet.

John makes a strangled noise, and Rodney strokes his thigh with his dry hand, leaning down to place a soft kiss on the inside of John's knee. He strokes again and again, getting John used to the sensation before he slows the motion even further, his finger lingering on the perfect spot, feeling John's body give in to what he wants.

When he works the tip of his finger inside, John's thighs tense, moving like they want to close, but Rodney pushes them further open with his shoulders, leaning his cheek against the crease between John's leg and hip. Then he pushes his finger in further. He gently pulls out for more lube, then slips the finger back inside, into the smooth heat of John's ass, fighting to move slowly and carefully, when what he really wants to do is roughly stretch John and pull his legs over his shoulders and fuck him into the middle of next week.

But Rodney waits.

Slowly and steadily, he pushes against John until his finger is all the way in, the rest of his hand curling up to cradle John's balls.

"Are you okay?" Rodney asks. John's been too silent for too long, and he can feel the thigh he's resting against flexing and tensing.

"It...it feels weird," John pants above him.

Rodney kisses his hip. "Good weird or bad weird?"

"I don't know," John says, and his voice cracks just a little on the last word. Rodney can feel that he's starting to panic, and he moves his hand around John's leg to stroke his side. "Take it out," John says.

"All right," Rodney says, but he's got an idea. He manages to rub the pad of his finger across John's prostate as he slides his finger out.

"Jesus!" John's whole body arches. "Put it back in!"

Oh, no. He's going to have to work for that.

"Are you sure?" Rodney asks, grinning up at John, who is bending his neck to what has to be an uncomfortable angle to look down at him, wild-eyed and sweaty. John nods frantically.

Rodney gets the lube open and wets his hand again before tapping his finger against John's asshole teasingly. "I thought you didn't like it," he teases. "I thought it was weird."

John's head thumps down onto the pillow, but his legs splay open around Rodney's shoulders in surrender. "You do know I could kill you with a fork, right?" he asks.

"But you won't," Rodney says, pressing his finger back inside and finding John's prostate again with a ghosting touch just to make him squirm. "You think you're ready for two?"

John's entire body shudders at that, and his knees come up, legs trying to close again. Rodney shoulders them apart. "I'll be gentle," he says lightly.

"I'm not exactly your prom date, Rodney." John's head lifts again.

"No, you're much prettier." Rodney punctuates that with a firm stroke as he pulls out. He goes for yet more lube, distractedly thinking that he's going to have to either launder his sheets or resign himself to sliding out of the bed during the night.

He presses two fingertips into John, sliding them in only a tiny bit, feeling John's ass stretch to accommodate him. "Tell me if I hurt you."

John lets out a noise somewhere between a moan and a sigh. "Burns a little," he says.

"Yeah, that's normal. I'll go slow." He pushes a little harder and can't help looking down to see his fingers sliding inside and the pink skin stretching around his big, blunt fingers. John is soft and hot and smooth inside, and Rodney can't believe he's getting to do this. Just like he hadn't been able to believe it when John had kissed him, hard and quick, after another disastrous mission that had nearly gotten them dead. When John pulled away quickly, embarrassed or shocked, and Rodney grabbed his shoulder and jerked him back and kissed the hell out of him, complaining that John had "taken his sweet time" as soon as he came up for air.

Rodney slides his fingers in just a little bit further. "Do you remember the first time you kissed me?" he asks, trying to distract John just a little.

"Jumper," John pants. "After MX...whatever the fuck. The one with the rocks and the bushes."

"And the spear guys," Rodney adds.

"Yeah." John pushes down a tiny bit, his body urging Rodney to go further. "I got tired of waiting."

"For what?" Rodney lets his fingers sink in to the second knuckle.

"For...you...to...make a move," John pants.

"You would have waited a long time." Rodney's voice is rueful. "I don't think I would have ever worked up the nerve."

"Then I'm glad I did."

"Shut up now," Rodney says gently. "This is about to get really good."

John pulls in a breath like he going to speak, but he chokes on his words when Rodney pushes his fingers all the way in, snugging his thumb up behind John's balls; pressing against John's prostate from the inside and the outside at the same time. He eases up after a couple of seconds, feeling John's thighs tense and tremble, then braces his free hand on John's hip before starting to finger-fuck him with a slow, deep rhythm.

Rodney gets distracted, watching his own slick, shiny fingers slide in and out of John's body - John's beautiful ass, and he thinks about fucking, about how good it's going to be when they finally get there. Going slowly with John is his biggest joy and his biggest frustration. Rodney has been thrust into the role of teacher many times, but this is his first section of Gay Sex 101. John is an excellent student, but Rodney is sticking by his promise to go slow, even though it's killing him.

John's breath is coming in hard, whooping pants, and his hips are lifting from the pillow in quick, short thrusts. Rodney can feel John's entire body trembling, and the sensation is magnified by the two fingers inside. He slides them in again and keeps them there, rubbing hard over John's prostate while at the same time lifting his head to look back and forth from John's face to his cock. He's not sure what he wants to see more when John comes. He feels John's body quake around him and decides that he wants to see John's face.

John has his head thrown back on the pillow, his long neck exposed. His fingers are twisted in the cloth binding his wrists - so hard that his knuckles are white. A bright flush covers his chest and belly, and all of his energy is devoted to pressing himself down, to riding Rodney's fingers. At the crucial moment, right when Rodney can feel the first rhythmic tightening, John lifts his head and looks down, locking their eyes.

Neither looks away as John comes, shivers wracking his frame. Rodney feels every spasm squeezing his fingers, and he allows them to slip out just as John's body relaxes from its tight stretch. He pushes himself up, wiping his fingers on the already-stained sheet before looking down.

"That's some range you've got there," he remarks, looking at the come streaking John's belly and chest.

"Kill you," John pants, eyes closed and a small, sated smile on his face. "Fork."

Rodney graciously ignores the joke potential of that and slithers up the bed to untie John's hands, gently massaging his wrists before placing them gently down by his sides and slipping the lengths of cloth onto the bedside table.

"Come here," John says, lazily opening his eyes just enough to see Rodney and lifting one arm.

Rodney slides in against him and rests his head on John's shoulder. "We need to clean you up."

"We need to get you off," John answers, pushing his thigh against Rodney's still-hard cock. "As soon as I get the feeling back in my arms."

"I can wait," Rodney says, and lifts one wrist to kiss the red marks there, already fading.