Slava

It was my first time.

But don't get too excited.

I don't mean it was my first time having sex with a man.

No, that was a real long time ago (and a long time is what the guy would be serving if that particular bit of information ever got out).

No, what I mean to say that it was my first time on the internet.

I'd been badgering my parents for the past year to buy me a PC. I told them it was for school - but really I wanted to use it to meet guys.

You see, the place where I live is right in the middle of nowhere - one of those new Eastern European republics that sounds like someone's made up the name for a novel - and there's no way, as far as I can see, to meet other gay guys in my town.

But getting that PC opened up a whole new world for me.

A world which, it turned out, was just around the corner after all.

Within 24 hours of setting up the machine I was surfing the net like an old hand.

Within 48 hours I'd discovered sites that let you talk to other guys in your own neck of the woods.

OK, my typing skills were pretty basic. I'd never used a keyboard before and kept getting all the letters confused. I still can't work out why they don't lay out the letters in a sequence we can all understand: A, B, C, D… It would make typing far easier for novices like me.

But, as soon as any guy I met on the net found out he was "talking" to a blond 18 year old kid - and a pretty good looking one too, even if I do say so myself - he always seemed quite happy to wait as long as necessary for me to type my replies and even to put up with all the typing mistakes too.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, within 72 hours I was on my way to meet a guy who, it turned out, lived only a kilometre from my own house.

And when I got to his place, I couldn't believe my luck.

He was gorgeous. Just the type I liked. About 25 years old with dark hair and a hard, muscular body.

But, I began to think, he was also a little odd.

When I got into his apartment he didn't even ask me to sit down - let alone have a beer or something to help break the ice.

"I want to take a real good look at you", he said.

"Stand up against that wall."

Well, that struck me as a bit weird but, like I told you, I was new to all this internet dating stuff so I thought that maybe this was the way it was done.

I stood against the wall as he asked.

"Take off your shirt", he said next.

I guess that in our country we're used to taking orders without questioning them.

My older brother Istvan, who's almost finished his 2-years national army service now, has warned me never to question an order when it's my turn to join up.

So I did as I was told and took of my shirt.

The guy just looked at me closely for a few minutes. Like he was giving me some sort of inspection.