Duo POV

I won't say I was happy to see them go. I mean, really, what kind of friend would I be? But it felt nice to know that I would finally have some time to spend with Heero. Not to say that Treize and Quatre weren't great, it was just that they watched me with this weird little shit-eating smirk every time I was around Heero, like they were betting on how soon I'd score with him.

Which was something else that bothered me. Not since that little incident at Haven, which only lasted thirty seconds so really can't be considered an incident, had Heero shown any hint at all of being physically attracted to me. I knew by our link that he loved me, but what if he wasn't attracted to me? How could my super manly studliness fail me at such a critical moment? Was it the hair? The eyes? What? Why wasn't Heero jumping at me like a rabid dog?

Okay, maybe I was overdoing it just a little, but the fact was that I was about to jump at him like a rabid dog and the thought that he was not at all attracted to me was somewhat off-putting. Though, in all fairness, I really couldn't say that I'd seen him attracted to girls any more than me, so maybe he just wasn't interested in sex.

I shudder at the thought, but it was possible. Maybe what Dekim and Barton did to him cured him of sex forever. That was definitely going to be a problem, since I was most certainly not cured of sex and I wasn't really sure how much longer I could hold out against my raging hormones. The last thing I wanted to do was scare Heero, but, let's face it, there's only so much one man can take. And seeing Heero naked in the shower was about my limit.

Not to say that I didn't do my best to tempt him without revealing to him that I wanted to throw him down on the bed and ravage him. The things I did still make me blush, but I did manage to stop short of saying, "Heero, what do you want for dinner? Do you think I'm sexy? Do you want me for dinner?"

I might have thought it, but I didn't say it.

I was not, however, able to stop myself from insinuating things about the hairbrush while Heero brushed my hair. Or insinuating other things we could do with the oil when he oiled my wings. Or insinuating other places I could rub when I gave him a back massage. He, fortunately or unfortunately, did not pick up on any of these hints. It drove me crazy!

Now, you have to understand where I was coming from. Heero had a great body. It was a little undernourished when we first arrived, but I kept on him about eating and he steadily gained weight. I made Heero relax for a few days, then we started his training four days before Quatre and Treize left. I was shocked to find that, even as sick as he had been, Heero was only five pounds under my lifting weight.

Heero liked to work out. I could tell from the first time I took him to the castle's gym. He was like a cat in a ray of sunlight, he just seemed perfectly content. He seemed to literally enjoy working his body to its hardest. I scolded him a few times about pushing himself to hard, but otherwise left him go. It was good for him, after all.

It just didn't help my libido any that I had to stand over a sweaty, shirtless man with the most gorgeous body I had ever seen all day and do nothing about it. I couldn't even make lewd jokes, since Heero either wouldn't understand them or wouldn't like them.

By the time Treize and Quatre left on their trips, Heero was about ready to take Une's test and I was about ready to lose my mind. I actually talked to Sally about libido reducing drugs for me, but she started asking me questions and I decided it was better to just give up and run for it.

By the time Heero went for Une's test, I was in a pretty depressed mood, but I put it aside to support Heero, since I knew he was going to need it.

Une is nothing if not a harsh drill master, and from the way she grilled Heero one would think that she disliked him, but it was actually a bit of the opposite. Une values the lives of her soldiers above all else, and she hates to risk her troops in anything, so she overtrains them in order to prepare them for any task. The job that I, and now Heero, took on was one of the most taxing and chaotic jobs out there, you never knew what you were going to come up against. So she grilled Heero in a course that even I would have been hard pressed to finish.

There was never a doubt in my mind that Heero could finish it, and he didn't disappoint. Sweaty and exhausted as he was, he finished the course and actually earned an approving smile from Une, something that wasn't seen often. Of course, it didn't bode very well when he collapsed the second we were out of sight of the lady, but I figured he had passed the test either way and didn't say anything about it.

I went up to our room and laid Heero on the bed, deciding it was best to let him sleep for a while and regain his strength. I grabbed a book and laid down beside him, but I unfortunately picked a book titled, "The history and genealogy of trees" and I was soon fast asleep too.

I woke up to Heero moaning. It wasn't an unusual thing, since I often woke to his nightmares, but there was an odd sense about this one. He wasn't thrashing as hard as he usually did and something sounded a bit off about his moan.

I should have looked through our mind link to find the problem and saved us both some trouble, but my sleep-muddled mind didn't even peak at Heero's so I just did what felt natural. I just curled closer to Heero, wrapping my arms around him, and tried to wake him without startling him. I pulled him close to try and comfort him and only then noticed something about him.

Heero was sporting wood.

It relieved me a bit, since I had actually worried that, due to Dr. J's work, he might not be physically able to get an erection. However, after a second I noticed the precarious position I was in.

Heero, with the hard-on of a lifetime, was pressed against my chest moaning about someone who was not necessarily me.

"Duo?" I heard softly and just about choked on my heart. Heero was awake and I was in a position that, to the person just waking up, would look like I was about to take advantage of him. A hundred different explanation sifted through my mind, but I was frozen and none of them popped out of my mouth.

"Duo?" Heero called again, his voice heavy with pleasure and laced with apprehension, "What's going on?"

I realized that I was probably scaring him, gaping like I was, and tried to make my voice work, but couldn't. I tried to move away from him, but my body wouldn't react.

"Duo? Duo, what's wrong?" Heero asked, his voice showing the edges of panic, "Why do I- Mmm! Why... do I feel... like this? What's h-happening to me? I feel so-so str- Ah! Ohhmm!" he cried arching off the bed. I was so enwrapped in watching him that I almost missed the significance of what Heero was saying. When I did, I was unfrozen and filled with a sense of disbelief.

"Heero, are you telling me you've never had a hard-on before?" I asked him. He managed to open his eyes and look at me, sort of relieved and annoyed at the same time.

"A what?"

"A hard-on. You know, sporting wood?"

"Oh. I've sported wood before. I had to chop and carry it at Wing. I don't see the relevance to this- Nnn! T-this feeling," he said, giving me a small, annoyed glare. I would have laughed, had it not been for the enormity of the situation. Heero was over sixteen and had never had a wet dream? It wasn't possible, was it?

"I mean, you've never had an erection before," I told him, trying to get him to understand and deny it.

"An erect what?" he asked me, giving me a full-fledged glare.

"An erection. It's when... It's when y-your penis... umm... goes up..."

"It does that?" he asked and I gawked in amazement.

"You've never had that happen before?" I asked one last time.

"No."

"Up. Get up, we're going to see Sally."

"Why, are you sick?"

"No, no, not me."

"You mean that thing that just happened to me? There's no sense going now, it's gone already."

I actually did laugh that time. It was going to be a long night. Grabbing Heero's hand, I dragged the silent and sullen boy down the halls to Sally's room.

"Everything checked out normal, Duo," Sally told me, an hour and a half later in her office. Heero was glaring at me angrily, so whatever Sally did when she ordered me out of the room must not have been fun. I'd have to kiss-up later and try to make amends.

"There is nothing ordinary about this, Sally. It's not normal for a boy to go without having..."

"Duo, could I talk to you alone?" Sally asked, interrupting me in a voice that meant shut up before I shut you up. I sighed, I didn't want to treat Heero like some kind of kid, but Sally knew more about people than me so I decided to go with her wishes.

"Heero, could you wait outside?" I asked. Heero glared harder, but got up and walked out of the room. The instant he was out of the room, you could see Sally's patience snap.

"What the hell was that? You make me give him an entire physical over erectile dysfunction? What were you thinking? You just about gave Heero a panic attack over nothing! This is all because you can't score, isn't it? Well ha! I'm glad you can't score, the discipline will be good for you!

"Sally! You know I'm not here just because Heero hasn't had sex with me!" Sally seemed to calm a bit at my anger. Her eye went soft and a bit regretful and her shoulders slumped. She put her hand up and rubbed her forehead.

"I'm sorry Duo. It's been a long day, I had five people come in from a logging accident. I had to amputate the arm of a little girl, and the little boy didn't survive at all. It's just... It's just been a hard day."

I got up and hugged her. There were bags under her eyes and I could tell from the tension in her shoulders that she had been upset very badly by losing that little boy. She needed the support of a friend but, more than that, she needed her lover.

"I'm sorry Duo, I should never have said that," she told me after a while, "I know you're just worried about him. It's the same way with my love, always worrying over me. It drives me crazy sometimes, but it also makes me feel very precious. I know Heero might be mad now, but he's also grateful that you care about him so much.

"Now, about the exam," Sally said, her voice changing as she moved into business, "I'm going to tell you this once and only once. Heero is fine. He has actually gained a startling amount of health since I first examined him back at Wing. The fact that he had an erection is a good sign. It may not be normal for the first erection to come at his age, but it is not something to worry about.

"You have to understand. When Heero was growing up he was barely given enough nutrients to stay alive. His body didn't have the energy to worry about things like hormones and reproduction, it just wanted to stay alive. Now that he' healthy, his body can start going through changes that would have normally happened a while ago."

"But... how do I explain these things? I mean, Heero didn't even know what an erection was."

"Well... the best idea might be to take it as it comes. Answer any questions he has but, I'm warning you Duo, don't have sex until you know he's solid in his sexuality and ready for sex. You don't want to start him off too early and you don't want to scare him. You may have to... guide him a bit, but don't do anything inappropriate. And for the love of god, don't instigate! It might be weeks before he has another, just be patient. Now, get out of my office, I have to tidy up."

"Shouldn't you go to bed?"

"No, I have to," she paused to yawn, "I have to finish up some blood tests here. You go on, I'll be fine."

I left the room and came face to face with a very angry looking Heero. Seriously, if I didn't have our link to know that he wasn't about to kill me, I would have run back into Sally's office and shut the door. As I was I could see that he was on the line between yelling at me and decking me. He took in a deep breath to yell at me....

...so I kissed him. This action managed to confuse and disarm him at the same time, while it wasn't too bad for me either. Once I broke the kiss, I launched right into an apology, not giving him time to recover.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have freaked like that. I shouldn't have dragged you all the way out here like this. I shouldn't have treated you like a kid. I was overly concerned with your welfare and, while I'm not sorry for it, I will try and curb my overprotective tendencies in the future. I know your mad at me, but could you please forgive me, just this once?" I asked, giving him my mega-watt smile.

He never stood a chance.

Heero heaved a long-suffering sigh and gave me this affectionate little half smile, then murmured baka and took my hand, leading me back toward our room. I know I would have been in trouble if he had turned around, because I could not get the smirk off of my face. Luckily for me, he didn't.

As we went near to our room, I paused for a second in front of Lady Une's room. I waved Heero ahead, but he gave me a confused look.

"Go ahead Heero, I just have to talk to Lady Une for a minute," I told him. He gave me a sideways look then asked, "You're not going to tell her I fainted, are you?"

I laughed.

"No, I'm not going to tell her. As far as I'm concerned you passed the test, it doesn't matter what you do afterward. Now go on, I'll be there in a minute."

With that reassurance he didn't hesitate to go into our room. Once he was gone, I turned and entered Lady Une's room. She was, not surprisingly, writing something at her desk. Une liked to keep lots and lots of usually useless logs. Normally they seemed stupid, but every once in a while they came in very handy. She turned to me as I entered.

"Duo, what can I do for you?" she asked me, her face showing a hint of annoyance.

"Sorry Une-baby, I'm not here to play with you tonight. I just thought you'd like to know that Sally won't go to bed again," I told here, grinning before I turned around.

"You know Duo, she is a grown woman. She doesn't need me to tell her when to go to bed."

"Yeah," I said pausing in the doorway, "but she's had a rough day. A little boy died and a little girl lost her arm. She might like some company, in case those nightmares spring up. Just thought you like to know."

"Duo," Une called before I could make a move, "thank you for looking after her for me. And thank you for keeping our secret."

Une and Sally had been in love for a long time, but most of Une's troops thought she was a shoo-in to marry Treize so they gave her a bit more respect. In the same sense, they thought that Une was in love with Treize, so they gave him a bit more loyalty and respect once they came to respect the commander. It was a tender balance that Une and Sally's relationship had almost interrupted, but both parties decided that it would be best if they were discrete about the whole affair.

Une and Treize spent a lot of time together, so it was easy to see where the notion of love came from, but they were really more like siblings. Une had actually met Treize while he was leading his father's army in their second raid. Treize was the first man to find out that Une was really a girl instead of the boy she pretended to be. He was also the one that allowed her to keep her secret and defended her right to fight when she was discovered. For that Treize had won her undying loyalty.

In the same light, Une and Sally didn't see a whole lot of time together. Both their jobs kept them very busy, but they loved their careers too much to give them up. Draw backs were many, but they managed to get around them.

I had proclaimed myself their official matchmaker... or cupid... or whoever they hell guards relationships and makes sure they don't fall apart. I was mediator when they got in a fight and, like now, message deliverer when one needed something and was too stubborn to ask.

I worked as that last one a whole lot.

I nodded at Une's gratitude before giving a cheeky smile and leaving. I could see Une starting to put her books away and new that she would head down the hall to collect Sally in a few moments. They would probably spend the night In Une's room, but they were quiet enough that it didn't bother me.

I wondered for a second if Heero and I would be able to be that quiet, then quickly shut down that line of thought. I might have had a long time to wait before I found out, so it was better just to not hope. Because if I hoped, I might try something and that wouldn't be a good idea at all.

Heero was already asleep in the bed when I entered. I knew he was tired when I sent him into the room. Hell, I could tell just from the way he didn't deck me outside Sally's office. The physical strain of the workout earlier, combined with the mental strain of seeing me panic, was just a bit too much for him.

I slipped into bed that night and wrapped my arms around Heero's warm body. I pressed my face to has shoulder and hugged him tight, causing him to murmur in his sleep. I just laid there, content for the moment.

Then I realized something. I was going to have to be careful of everything I did an said as Heero progressed. No more hints, no more jokes. Hell, I'd have to watch what other people said around him if I wanted to keep from scaring him for life. I'd have to watch how I touched him, too, or I might not be able to control myself. But I figured I'd worry about that the next morning, for tonight I'd just relax and enjoy the feeling of Heero in my arms for what might be the last time for a while.

Mission: Abstain from sexual talk and/or conduct for the next few months until Heero is deemed ready. Do not have sex with Heero.

Impossible.