You know, the most important thing that's always struck me about this story is the lack of editorial comment in the gospel, which was written in Greek for Greek-speaking audiences.

Greek speakers would have received the sexualized meaning of the word "pais" quite clearly. Coming out of a centurion's mouth, the meaning would have had a pretty strongly implied meaning, and one that typical Greek speakers of the day would not have found culturally unusual. "Oh, a 'pais'? Centurions are centurions everywhere!"

If the gospel writer didn't want his average reader to think that, wouldn't he have chosen different vocabulary or editorialized to clear up the most common reading of a common term?

If you presume the writer didn't mean for 'pais' to be read the way it was normally read, you'd have to think the writer wasn't concerned one way or the other with how the passage was received ... almost as if he didn't think the nature of the centurion's relationship was a hot-button issue. Hmmmmm.