Oh. lovely, lovely!! Thank you very much. This is a wonderful story; two young men in love but still too shy to actually admit it. Their characters -- especially Piers, with his silent grief over the loss of his lover -- are beautifully developed. Your handling of Dudley's reappearance after a year, and his explanation of what happened while he was gone, couldn't be bettered and their sex together feels real, perfect, and very touching. Incidentally, "...like a bletted medlar" isn't anything I'd expect to find in a piece of fan fiction, but as it happens I have a medlar and finally managed to blet the fruit last year!