TITLE: Changes

CHAPTER: 3/4

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A/N: All the drama comes to a climax in this chapter. The next one will be the one you've all been waiting for. But! That doesn't mean I haven't included our daily dose of ridiculously hot citrus too! The NC-17 version is on I believe it's under the same title, if not then the same author :)

The next morning I awoke slowly, rolling into the warmth of the bed. The soft, comfortable, unfamiliar bed...

I shot up. I blinked my eyes rapidly and looked wildly around the room, praying fervently to any deity I could remember that this wasn't actually Duo's bedroom, and the pillows didn't actually smell of his shampoo, and that wasn't his melodic voice coming from the living room. I groaned miserably, wondering if I could just stay in bed forever. I steeled myself, remembering my plans, and got up from the bed to pad out of the room.

When I entered in boxers and no shirt, I was surprised to see that Duo was not alone. That in fact he had company. That company just happened to be Quatre Winner. The Quatre Winner. Inside I was dying as they both looked up at me and smiled, outside I smiled back and flopped onto the couch next to the pajama clad Duo. Quatre politely introduced himself and we began a surprisingly easy conversation between the three of us.

This had the be the weirdest morning of my life.

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"See, it's great that Heero can be my neighbor and be gay." Duo was saying to Quatre as I smiled easily. Quatre chuckled. Somehow during the last, I checked the clock, three hours, Quatre and I had bonded as if we had known each other for years. There was something behind those fierce blue eyes, something that reminded me of myself. It was as if we both shared the same goals and beliefs. I mentally shrugged. How weird is that?

"But Heero, if you're gay, how did you put up with that awful Relena for so long?" I smirked. Of course I had told them my whole life story. I opened my mouth to respond before a small light bulb went off over my head and I remembered the plan.

"Let me show you." I stood up from the couch and pulled Duo up with me. "Now stand here." I placed Duo before me. I looked at Quatre. "The trick is visualization. Let's pretend Duo is Relena. If I'm going to kiss Relena, I visualize. I'm not kissing Relena, I'm kissing the beautiful Treize Krushrenada, hottest movie star ever." I grinned (winked at Quatre) and placed my arm around Duo's waist, ignoring the questions in his eyes and feeling flutters of nervousness in my stomach. "Watch."

I kissed him.

I kissed Duo Maxwell.

It was heaven. I tried to remember I was the one who was supposed to be calm and in control here, it was hard for a moment as I dipped my tongue into his mouth but I remembered and began kissing him with fierce passion - remembering that Quatre was watching. When I pulled away I met Quatre's amused eyes, "Wanna get some waffles?"

Quatre nodded with a bouncy, "Sure!", silent laughter in his eyes and we got up and walked from the room. I heard a muffled thump as Duo hit the floor. We both exploded into laughter.

After we calmed down a bit Quatre poked me, "Hey, that wasn't very nice. He could have brain damage."

I looked at him incredulously, "You should see the way he teases me! Now that isn't nice!" Quatre laughed a bit more, clutching his stomach and flopping into one of the chairs around the table.

"Oh dear, he's doing the ol' Duo Maxwell, Sex God thing isn't he?" I nodded grimly, remembering briefly the last night in the club. "But honestly, you two should get together, there's obviously so much chemistry." He grinned knowingly. I shook my head and lowered my voice.

"I don't wanna be another notch in his bed post Quatre." Some part of me wondered why I had just readily admitted that to him, then again Quatre seemed like the kind of person that just squeezed things out of you, whether you wanted to or not and as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He looked at me seriously, then seemed to turn his gaze inward for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. I can see you're not the type for a casual fuck." He sighed, "Duo is a hard person to understand. He's wonderfully sweet to people, and then he'll take them to bed, sometimes he'll call them back, sometimes he won't. The part that confuses me the most is that the ones he likes the most, he doesn't call back. I wonder if he's scared."

That comment opened up a whole new view for me. Here I was thinking I was the only one who was supposed to be scared and it actually was Duo who was scared, we both were I think. We both were scared of our reactions to the other, of the sheer passion we caused, and the lingering feelings. I know Duo felt them too, I caught him sneaking looks at me this morning, as if he couldn't believe he was really sitting next to me on the couch. I sighed, shook my head and smiled brainlessly at Quatre, "I'm going to take a shower. Come say hi to me before you leave!" I waved to Quatre and walked out into the living room before waving to a disoriented Duo and opening the door to leave. I crossed the hall and unlocked my apartment door and in a matter of seconds I was tackled to the ground.

I groaned, eyes closed and rubbing my head before I realized there was someone on top of me. I blearily blinked my eyes open to stare in those amethyst orbs that had been haunting me for countless nights. "Duo?" His fist was clenched around my shirt and now he yanked it fiercely. I belatedly realized the emotion in those eyes was anger.

"How dare you? How dare you do that to me!" He growled, "Teasing me like that, using me for your own amusement! I'm not just some play thing to be tossed around Yuy !" He spat. A slow grin caressed my features.

"Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black." He narrowed his eyes.

"You think I tease you?"

"Relentlessly."

"No." he paused, "I don't tease." My eyebrows shot up and I opened my mouth to retort. "I always follow through." And for the second time that day I felt a now familiar pair of lips on my own. My eyes slipped shut, as if drugged. Honestly, I couldn't tell if I wasn't drugged because heat was rushing through my veins, pounding in my head and pooling in my groin. I groaned into his mouth, arching up into the kiss as I felt him shudder above me. His tongue slid over my lips as I opened them for him, letting him caress my mouth. I swear tears were coming to my eyes I was so hard. I'd never felt passion like this. I clenched and unclenched my fists beside me to keep myself from threading them through his hair or roaming his body. I tried to remember my plan to get him to leave, but it seemed as if everything was washed away by the sensuous man lying on top of me, tongue probing my mouth. I allowed one arm to hook his neck and pull his face closer to mine as I sucked his tongue into the back of my mouth. He shook violently and I tasted a muffled groan from his throat. I kept coaxing shudders and whimpers from him before I pulled back and let him go, breathing deeply and opening my eyes to meet his. I found lust, hatred, anger and need - but I also found fear. I blinked rapidly, reaching up a hand to brush his bangs away from his face. He stared at me wonderingly, I could almost see his muscles tense and his mind beg to flee.

I looked at him blankly, would this be the time I took Duo to bed? Finally gave into the overwhelming desires? Did I want that? Duo shifted slightly and brushed up against my erection - I arched, whimpering. There was no question my body wanted it. Duo smirked above me and all questions were put on hold as I decided I was going to get that smirk off his face. I flipped us over before getting off Duo and closing the door. "You know," my voice was dark and husky as I molded myself to his body again, "you should tell Quatre to go home."

Duo's voice matched my own, "He'll figure it out." I shivered, wondering if Duo knew exactly how much something as little as the tone of his voice affected me. I leaned down and kissed him again, urgently and passionately, feeling the moan bubble up through his mouth. I greedily swallowed the sound. My hands roamed his pliant body. I teased his nipples, feeling his erection swell against my hip. I moved my hand down to his pants and palmed him through the fabric. He arched against my hand, shouting into the escalating kiss. I could feel he was close to the edge. My fingers fumbled one handed with the button and zipper but after a few long moments I got it open. I freed his cock and broke the kiss. I stroked him once firmly. That was all it took for Duo to arch up under me, eyes locked with mine. He took my breath away as he spazmed with the intense explosion of pleasure coursing through his nerves. I kept looking at him, the vision of his face twisted with ecstasy and I knew I'd remember that for the rest of my life. I also realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life not being able to see it.

He was beautiful, and I loved him.

In a flash I was pressed against the door, staring wildly at a sated Duo who blinked blearily up to me. I wanted to scream. Scream until my throat was sore and my voice was hoarse. My eyes were wide with primal terror. Duo heaved himself up onto his elbows. "What's wrong?" he questioned. My breathing was harsh, and my erection still was confined into the too-tight space of my pants. I panicked. I panicked like I never had before, and in as little time as it would take Duo to blink, I had wrenched the door open and was running down the stairs.

I had to get away from him. I couldn't let myself fall.

As tears began to blur my vision I realized I already had.

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I ended up at a bar next to the club I had taken Duo to, since it was sometime in the early afternoon. Before you think I went in my boxers and no shirt I had actually changed at some pause in the conversation between Quatre Duo and I earlier. So I sat in the bar in jeans and a raggedy shirt, slumped over a powerful glass of rum and coke. It was my fourth.

I kept trying to remember where I had seen the bartender before, but each time I tried it eluded me. Furthermore the alcohol was muddling my system, but when he leaned on the bar across from me and said, "I remember you." It clicked. That was the tall brunette, the one with Quatre, the one who was friends with Duo. I fought down my urge to run, knowing that it would just lead me back to the apartment and back to Duo. I nodded drunkenly as he leveled a cool green gaze at me. "What's wrong?"

I snorted, the sober part of me shut its mouth, but unfortunately that was a very small percent. "Duo." I said. A brief flicker of recognition cross his features before he nodded.

"Tell me about it." I looked at him, seeing only soft understanding in those eyes. The alcohol didn't permit me to hesitate as I normally would have, but instead I started pouring everything out to the stranger, and seeing what he could make of it.

After I was finished he sat in silent contemplation for a while. I took a meager sip of my rum and coke that had been long forgotten. I was miserable. The man stuck out a hand. I looked at it, confused. "Trowa Barton." He said in that steely voice. I shook it.

"Heero Yuy." He smiled briefly. "Pleased to make your acquaintance." I managed. He relaxed on the bar again.

"Here's what I think Heero. I think that you two obviously have a lot of passion and spark. Sometimes that can be dangerous, and really scary. When you find the person you're really meant to be with it can be frightening because they start to consume you, until you've bonded so fully with them that you are no longer Heero's heart, Heero's soul, Heero's body, you're Our heart, Our soul, Our body. Everything becomes one. With such independent people as you and I it can be terrifying. It's also terrifying for Duo. His past is one of depending on people and being let down, he feels the same way you do, and honestly I think you two should work with it together. Why throw away such a wonderful relationship because you're scared?"

I nodded grimly, "I know you're right. But not now. Can I have another?" I brandished the empty glass at him. He relented and made me another but promising it was the last.

Other people started to file in the bar, it was happy hour, and it soon got noisy. I sat at the bar, knowing Trowa was watching out for me the whole time, and I thought. It was hard, my mind kept running in circles. I laid my forehead on the cool glass countertop and covered my head with my hands. It was then I heard a familiar voice. My whole body jerked to life, nerves on fire. "Hey Trow!" called Duo. I resisted every impulse to turn around and look at him, or to flee. I stayed still, calmly breathing but shaking slightly with the power it took to hold myself back. I felt Trowa's presence loom over me.

"Yes Duo?" He asked calmly. I started to warm up to the man.

"Have you seen my neighbor by any chance? About my height, a little taller, mussy brown hair and this shocking blue eyes?"

If Trowa glanced at me it would be over, I suppose he didn't since I never heard an exclamation from Duo. "I don't know if he's ready to speak to you Duo."

Duo growled, I shuddered at the sexy noise, rough with compressed anger. "Then he's here." No answer came from Trowa. I could almost see Duo gritting his teeth. "Then I'll find him." Trowa started to say something, but I realized this had gone on long enough. My movements were slowed because of the alcohol, but I raised my head off the bar counter and turned around on the chair, looking Duo straight in the eye.

"What do you want?" Duo stared at me. Trowa took this as his queue to leave. I stared right back at the floundering man. He probably had thought that he would have to search a long time to find me, not that I was literally right next to him.

"What do I want?" He grated out. "What do I want?!" He threw his hands in the air. "I want to know what the fuck is wrong with you, running out like that today! What the hell is your problem? I thought you were finally beginning to be normal and then you go all psycho again!" He practically screamed at me.

"What Duo, disappointed you didn't get another casual fuck?" He faltered in his anger, eyes blurring with something different. I tried to keep my body from gravitating to him, every part of me wanted to wrap my arms around him, to silence him with my lips, to make him writhe with my hands. I sighed and he moved dangerously close to me. Again I felt my muscles tense with the effort of holding myself back from him.

"That's what you think this is about, isn't it? You've heard about my reputation from somewhere and you think that I'm just trying to get you into bed so I can do the wham-bam-thank-you-man deal?!" His voice was low and dangerous in my ears, I nodded slowly. He stared at me for a long moment, something in those eyes making my body weak, and then he kissed me.

It was nothing like our earlier kisses, nothing like the fierce forbidden passion we had shared. It was tender and heartbreaking and chase, something that spoke all the words we had needed to say but couldn't. Something that was like the movies, something that shouldn't exist down here on earth. I learned into him, overwhelmed with emotion and when he broke away I hugged his body close, whispering into his ear. "Take him home please Duo?"

He did.

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