I reread Ender's Game recently and found that it held up really well. As a kid it was one of my favorite books. It treated the kids as intelligent, thoughtful beings. Plus it had had a bunch of casual references to nudity. There always seemed to be an undercurrent there despite, or maybe because of, Orson Scott Card's noted homophobia. But the big thing I took away back then was that we kids were much more self-aware than adults thought.
Recently I read "Generation Gap" by Jack Campbell in the Ad Astra anthology which covers the social structure of a generation ship and how it would be constructed to maintain order. I decided to steal his idea but focus on sexuality. I wanted to see how a society would act that was much more open sexually, but constrained in lots of other ways. There's sex in this, especially the last part, but mostly this a different kind of exploration. The "personals" name comes from Asimov, of course.
Hope you enjoy.
"Where are you going?" mom asked.
"Personals," I answered.
Mom sighed. "Why do I have to keep saying this? You can't go like that. You know this."
"I don't want to go naked."
"That's what well-mannered kids do," she said. "It's custom."
"It's a dumb custom," I pouted.
"I don't care. It's custom. You go unclothed to the personals. Shows conservation and dedication to the ship."
I stared at her grumpily.
"Go," she said.
I took off my underwear, folded them, and put them on the small shelf by the door. Then stomped out the door with my personals bag. It's hard to leave in a huff when you're naked, even if you've been doing it your whole life. I understood how the custom started, but it was still dumb.
I was third generation shipborn on a voyage that started 96 years before. The first generation brought kids aboard. Later, couples were allowed to have children at carefully chosen intervals. The ship had to be self-sustaining for the two century voyage and this meant everything depended on conservation. Almost everything was recycled but no system was perfect and therefore it was imperative to conserve resources. This translated into a social pressure to always prove you were conserving. One of the many silly ways we did this was not wearing clothes to sleep. Washing clothes took water and energy. Maybe that happened at the beginning of the voyage but these days you slept in your underwear and made sure you stripped off before going out to the section personals. That way you proved to everyone else that you slept naked. It was dumb. The section kitchens and section personals was another resource saving system. About 2,000 people on the ship, divided into 16 sections (originally called Families by the mission planners but that didn't stick). You shared a hydroponics farm to supplement the industrial food production, common areas, kitchens, and personals with your section. In other words, about a 16th of the ship got to see you naked every day. It was not custom to be naked outside of your section. All of this in the name of conservation and dedication. Don't get me started on what you had to do with your eating utensils.
I walked the corridors to our section's personals automatically. I went through the interlock that helped recycle the excess humidity then turned and went into the kids section. When I was 16 I could start going to the adult side. One year to go.
In the common area between stalls and cubicles there was a group of giggling preteen girls being studiously ignored by the older girls and younger boys. One boy about their age was trying to hide an erection. I didn't laugh. It'd happened to me too. On the other side a bunch of young boys were sitting and talking. They'd probably get yelled at by their parents for wasting time when they got back. One of them had a full-on erection too but he didn't seem to even notice it. I didn't usually see the younger kids here since they tended to shower at night instead of in the morning.
I went into a toilet stall and peed. As I was coming out I saw my best friend Raj.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey. Here for your shower?" he asked.
"Yep."
"Cool. Share?"
"Of course," I said.
I held my wrist up to a cubicle door and the screen lit up with my name and ID. Raj held his up wrist up so the machine could read his tag. It showed his name next to mine and prompted, "Share?". He said yes. This meant the shower and water ration would be divided between us. This part of conservation and dedication I didn't mind.
As we were entering the cubicle one of the giggling girls looked over at us. She called, "Have fun in there sharing."
Raj ignored her but I yelled back, "It's ok, Rhea. When you get tits someone will share with you." I closed the door as she shouted something back.
"You know she's going to complain about that to her parents and you'll have to hug at the next section meeting," Raj said reproachfully. Ship custom put a high regard on getting along.
"I hope she has tits by then," I said.
Raj rolled his eyes as he was pulling stuff out of his personals bag. I did the same. We stood in front of the mirror and brushed out teeth, putting the brushes back into their self-cleaning cases when we were done.
In the back of the cubicle was the small shower compartment. We stepped in and started taking little dabs of soap from the dispenser and rubbing it on our bodies. It was meant to go on dry, foam up, and be rinsed off. I took the next dab and did Raj's back without asking. When I rubbed the foam down into the crevice of his butt and reached between his legs he giggled. Next I reached around and soaped his penis which had gotten half-hard somewhere along the way. I stroked his foreskin back and forth feeling him get fully hard. As I pulled the skin all the way back I stepped closer and pushed my erection into the small of his back. I reached around with the other hand and rubbed the tip of penis as I continued to stroke him. He shuddered. I loved the feel of his penis and always had. He pushed back into me as I continued to stroke. I cupped his balls and felt them tighten. One more long stroke and I felt him pulse. I continued stroking until he was done. He sighed and leaned back against me.
Raj turned around to face me, looking down at my penis standing proudly at attention. "You should have waited to soap there so I could suck you," he said.
"Or I should have sucked you," I said. "Since I'm the one who needs my mouth washed out with soap."
Raj laughed lightly in that way that always got me. He grabbed me with his hands and pulled us together. He held me tight as we embraced. Reaching between us he squeezed and stroked until I shot into the space between us. He always knew how to push me over the edge almost immediately.
When we were spent he put his hand on the button that would start the rinse and asked if I was ready. I nodded. Raj pushed the button and high pressure water shot out from all sides. We circled other other in a well-practiced pattern and made sure to get all the soap off in the shortest possible time. When we were done we shook the water off, then pushed another button that blasted us with air until we were dry. We stepped out of the shower compartment and gathered our bags. Like most ship people we wore our hair short and no brushing was required.
Raj and I checked out of the cubicle as it audibly announced our total water and energy usage in a mechanical voice which we ignored. The giggling girls were gone as was the boy with the erection. Raj and I agreed to meet at the section entrance.
I walked in the front door of our unit naked and carrying my personals bag. My mother was still in the sitting room and she nodded her approval. I grabbed my stuff and went back to my room where I put on the underwear and the shipsuit. Everyone wore the same thing, basically a loose fitting one-piece jumpsuit that cinched around the waist. Colors and patterns varied but since they were all manufactured in one place and from recycled materials they were all basically the same. Adding additional material for fashion would not have been conserving. Neither Raj or I bothered with footwear. Some people wore the soft-soled slippers that were originally part of the mission design but the current generation didn't bother except for formal occasions or if working somewhere industrial. It's not as if you needed anything when living your life in such a controlled environment. And one less article of clothing was conserving. At least that was our argument.
I met Raj at the section door. As usual he'd opted for a much wilder design. His shipsuit was a dizzying patten of orange and yellow. The funny thing about the ship (it had a long, committee-chosen name which no one used), was that it was actually pretty roomy. Despite the constant worry about resources the ship needed to be a minimum volume to be environmentally stable. If it was too small it would be too easily thrown out of balance by small things. It turns out humans were the limiting factor. Our numbers had to be controlled, but space was not as issue. The end results was a lot of open spaces, most covered with various planters, for Raj and I to stroll through on the way to school. The planters supplemented the environmetal systems and were generally thought to be good for everyone's mental health.
"Do you ever wonder about all this? I mean what's the point? You and I will never get there." There was no need to specify where 'there' was.
"Sure," I said. "We've had this conversation before."
"I mean, our purpose in life is to fill the gap. Make more people so that our great grandchildren might see the new planet and might start a colony there."
"So?"
"So, it's not much purpose," he said.
"It's more purpose than any other generation ever had. Everyone before us lived and died on the same planet. They built a civilization and a couple colonies in the solar system. But we're the first ones to spread humanity truly outward. Though I do hope the probes are right about Gliese."
"Me too," he said.
"I won't see it," I continued, "but my genes will get there, and I'm ok with that."
"I'm not sure mine will," Raj said.
"Why?"
"I'm not sure I want a family. I'm not even sure..." he paused. "That I like girls."
I thought this over for a moment, "Is that what you're worried about? Let me lay this out," I said ticking off the points on my fingers, "One, I plan to have a family and I don't like girls. You know that. But I'm pretty sure I can find someone who wants to pass on her genes."
"Not Rhea," he said.
"No, not her. Last thing I need is bitchy kids. Anyway kids for me is twelve years off as of the current census. Two, just because you and I have been fooling around since we figured out what dicks were for does not mean you're gay. Most kids do it, maybe all of them. I have been expecting you to dump me soon as you find the right set of hips to share a cubicle with."
"You wouldn't be upset about that?"
"Of course I would," I said. "But you'd still be my best friend."
"Most kids our age have tried sharing with both sexes," he said.
"True."
"Have you?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "You know about this. Maya. About a year ago."
"Oh yeah," he said. "You said it was good."
"It was," I said. "She's cute. She showed me a few things. I had a pretty good orgasm. I still prefer boys. What's the big deal?"
"You don't get my family," he said. "They're traditional. Preship traditional."
"They may think they are. But they know you and I fool around. They know most kids do. Would a preship family be ok with that?"
"I guess not," he said.
"We like to think we're bringing Earth to the stars, but we're our own society now. Different rules. Different morals. You read the newsbeams. Earth has practically disowned us as a bunch of hedonists. Despite the inventions, and art we've sent back to them." I had a little pride for my people I admit.
We'd arrived at the portal to the school section and were standing around milling with the rest of the kids reluctant to go be seated for the day.
"What do you think it'll be like?" he asked.
"I don't know. I don't spend much time worrying about it because I know I'll never see it. Actually not sure I'd want to live on planet. Who'd want to wear shoes?"
Raj looked down at his bare feet and laughed. "Yeah," he said. "It's just... To decide if I want to have kids I want to know something about what their life will be like."
"The same as ours. They won't see the planet either. And is our life so bad?"
"Not at all," he said.
"Wait, why is it important for you to decide now?" I asked.
"Because you want kids."
I had to think about this for a minute. And then it sunk in. I laughed, startling Raj. "Look at us," I said. "Couple of fifteen year-olds talking about marriage and relationships." He still looked concerned. "Raj, I'm not sure about kids. I still am one. You're not sure about me. That's ok. We have time. Can't either of us sign a contract until we're 16 anyway. When we get to that point we'll see if we're ready for the five years."
"Ok," he said. "You think fifteen is still a kid?"
"I read a lot of history," I said. "In the long past you'd be responsible for a lot more. Hell at fifteen you might have kids. You might be fighting in a war. We'll still be in school and will be for six more years."
"At six we had to know how to put on our own survival suit. At ten we had to know how to put out a fire and apply an atmo patch."
"You're right," I said. "Plus the way our society's arranged..." I was interrupted by the school chimes. People started shuffling toward the door.
"See you after school?" Raj asked. "I have a surprise."
I raised my eyebrows at him. "Yes."
I was studying navigation, which is what I hoped to be my ship career, and planetary biology, which was far less useful since I'd never see a planet. But for some reason I found it really interesting. That plus the basic math, general subjects, and a forgettable processed food lunch filled my day.
After school I met Raj back at the same place. "What's the surprise?" I asked immediately.
He grinned. "How much homework do you have?"
"Usual amount."
"So you can spare an hour or two before getting home?"
"Sure," I said.
"Follow me."
Raj led the way through the ship, refusing to answer any questions. We finally got to a small section officially known as Transient Housing Complex. It was officially for people moving sections, having family problems, etc. Unofficially it was known as The Shacks. As in where single people went to shack up.
"Are you crazy? We can't be in here," I said.
"Relax. The ops guy is a family friend. He lets me hide out here sometimes when the family gets crazy." Raj walked to a numbered door and scanned his wrist. The door opened on a tiny room. Basically a bunk bed, a desk with a decent terminal, a bunch of drawers, and a small aisle between them.
I felt a little better when the door closed behind me but I was still nervous. "Why are we here?" I asked.
"I don't want to force you," Raj said. "But I wanted to see if you wanted to do a little more than cubicle sharing."
I grinned. "We could get in a lot of trouble for this. I mean cubicle sharing is ok but this is... this is real."
"Seems the same to me," he said. "Except that we get to take our time. What the actual difference?"
"Custom," I said. Damn. I hate sounding like my mother, but sex outside the personals was a different matter. Not for kids.
"You don't want to?"
"I do."
Raj stepped closer to me until our toes touched and I could feel him close to me. I put out my arms and we hugged close together. The shipsuits rustled between us. I kissed him. It was the first time we'd ever done that and it felt pretty good. I reached up to the zipper at the collar of his suit and started to pull it down.
"I've never undressed anyone before," I said.
"Me either."
I pulled the zipper down to the waist. Undid the cinch, and kneeled as I pushed the suit all the way down his legs and off his feet. Raj was standing before me in just his underwear. I reached up and pulled those down next, seeing his erection spring out at me. I gave it a grin but didn't touch him yet. Once he was naked I stood up and kissed him again. It was his turn to pull down my zipper and pull off my suit. It was the strangest feeling to have someone undress you. Intimate despite the fact I'd been naked around Raj and others my whole life. When my underwear were off too Raj led me to the bed where he pulled back the covers and got underneath.
We'd had sleepovers but not nude. We'd never touched like this or been intimate like this. I'd seen him naked a thousand times but now I was exploring him. I traced his chest, touched his hipbone and ran my hand through his thick pubes. Our legs and our feet intertwined. We kissed and explored each other for I don't know how long. I felt on the verge of coming but I wanted more. I pulled the covers off of us and got between Raj's legs. I took him in my mouth with a vengeance. I pressed my lips and sucked until he came blasting in my mouth with a yell. When he was spent and lay panting he said, "Oh shit. I hope no one heard that."
"Probably not unusual here," I said. I put my head down on his chest and he stroked my hair. He was still quivering. I watched his stomach rise and fall as his erection softened a little.
"It's your turn," he said.
"Don't have to convince me." I rolled on my back and propped my head up. Raj moved down and took me in his mouth. Twice as I started to come he released me and sat up straddling my legs. He touched me everywhere lightly except where I wanted him to. Then as I thought I would burst be bent down one last time and sealed his lips on me as I bucked my hips and shot into his mouth. I never figured out how he could read me like that.
We lay entangled for a long time not talking. I kept looking at the time on the terminal figuring out when we had to leave to be home for dinner. That was another custom. You didn't miss section dinner.
"I know we have to go soon," Raj said, reading my thoughts. "But this is amazing. It is different."
"The mission planners were smarter than I thought," I said.
"What?"
"Customs. They're not an accident. The planners had us figured out. They knew how we'd develop. They knew how to keep us together and sane."
"I don't get it."
"Nothing," I said. "We'd better go. Can't miss section dinner."
"Yeah," he said.
"Try not to act all giddy though. People will know something's up."
"They will anyway," he sighed. "They always do."
If you like the story, support the Nifty archive. All rights are hereby donated to the archive. If you want to contact me drop a note to krchr@hotmail.com.
My other stories: 2013: gay/sf-fantasy/naked-customs (this story) 2013: gay/encounters/campgroup-spy (3 parts) 2012: gay/no-sex/new-foot-friend 2012: gay/highschool/naked-neighbor (2 parts) 2011: gay/encounters/gift-repayed/gift-repayed (3 parts) 2011: gay/young-friends/his-brother-likes-feet 2011: gay/beginnings/our-own-island 2011: gay/young-friends/sock-wrestling 2010: gay/young-friends/the-cast 2009: gay/college/2am-at-the-pool 2009: gay/adult-friends/balcony 2008: gay/beginnings/naked-on-film 2007: gay/college/barefoot-in-the-stacks 2007: gay/encounters/airport-feet 2002: gay/young-friends/naked-boy (posted under a different name).