Heero POV

I didn't sleep well that night. All night I tossed and turned, thinking of the odd thing Duo had done when we went to bed. It wasn't a big thing, but it troubled me.

We had gotten ready for bed just like always and laid down. I had gotten in first as Duo was doing things, small things like fixing the candle's position and going in and out of the bathroom. Just dawdling. It was unusual for Duo. When he finally did lie down, he put his back to me and didn't curl around me like he usually did. It helped that he immediately rolled over and plastered himself to me once he was asleep, but I still wondered why he had done such a thing. Perhaps I had done something wrong. Or maybe he was just getting sick of having me around. Whatever the reason, worst case scenarios danced through my head all night long.

Even the next morning when I went to see Chase, it preyed on my mind. I realized the other day that there had been something wrong when Duo hadn't hugged me. Now, most people wouldn't have even noticed the sudden lack of subtle touches, but for someone like me, who had come to cherish those touches that had never been in my life before, it felt like a deprivation. And the worst part was that I didn't know what I had done wrong so I didn't know how I could make it better.

Chase was in better spirits. He seemed happier and asked some more questions about what was happening. Sally insisted that Chase stay in bed a few more days so she could keep an eye on his infection. Chase wasn't all that happy about that, but didn't make too much of a fuss.

We stayed and talked with Chase until Sally kicked us out, saying Chase still needed to rest and recover. I had discovered, after Duo had finally informed me of our wages, that we only worked once or twice a week so we didn't overload the orphanage staff. We would have the rest of the week off then trying again. Of course, we would have to patrol the city every night, but we weren't supposed to go after a group of kids more than once a week.

I must admit, I was a bit sullen after we left Chase. It irked me a bit... it irked me a lot that he got a hug that morning and I didn't. I wasn't jealous, so much as I was concerned and upset. We already went over the doubts my mind was giving me, seeing Chase get a hug instead of me only made them louder.

Sally stopped us before we even made it out the door, saying she wanted to talk to me. By the way she said it, I assumed she meant in private, so I asked Duo to go get us a table for lunch. As soon as Duo left, Sally led me into a small, private room and closed the door.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened the other night," she said, pacing the room, "when Duo frantically hauled you down here. Now, I'm still sticking with my, "Don't worry about It" policy, but I thought I should explain things a little better. Most boys learn about these things long before they reach puberty, but with your upbringing you weren't informed of these things. When a child hits puberty their body starts to show signs of a need to reproduce. That was the way the male body shows it's ready. It's normal for boys to bodies to show this action when they hit puberty..."

"But I've already hit puberty."

"Well, yes, you have, but at the time your body was under too much stress to react the way it was supposed to. You also may or may not have missed your growth spurts. I know Duo just hit his last fall, but yours might have come and gone while you were too weak to sustain them. All I'm saying is don't let Duo upset you. He was worried that you had never... had never had an erection before, but that only really shows how much he cares and worries about you."

I nodded in acknowledgment and rose to leave.

"Oh! One more thing, I should probably warn you that, now that your body has started this behavior, it will probably continue fairly often."

I gave Sally another nod, turning slightly so that I could see her. I was surprised to find a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Sally? Is something wrong? You're blushing."

"Oh! Umm... no, um, nothing's wrong. Now... um... you had better get going, Duo's waiting."

I frowned in concern as I left and made a note to ask Duo about Sally's strange behavior, but didn't protest. After all, Duo was waiting for me and I was still a bit concerned that he was mad at me. I made a mental note to try to make him forgive me.

We had to give our report of the mission to Une. Duo took me down to the barracks and showed me to Une's office. From there the secretary gave us some paper and pens and told us to file a report. Duo warned me to keep it down to one page or face the wrath of Une. He laughed, then explained that, since Une had to read and file all reports by hand, it was best to keep it short so that she wouldn't have to waste time on unnecessary stuff. We both wrote our reports, then exchanged them to make sure there were no errors or inconsistences. Duo's paper at first seemed scattered and full of unnecessary things, but looking closer I found that he noted all sorts of things that I hadn't even noticed, in his own personal style. My paper was more direct, outlining our all our mission's main points. It also outlined each of the children we had brought in, paying special attention to Chase. I hoped we'd be able to find a place for him in the castle, I was growing rather fond of him.

We spent the rest of the day just goofing off. Duo showed me some more maps of the city and we went swimming in one of the underground lakes. We went on our patrol after lunch and made it back in plenty of time for dinner. Duo went to take a shower and I straightened up the room.

When Duo came back out he was in nothing but a towel. His hair was doen and hng in clumped tendrils sparkling from the water. His bare chest had a light sheen to it and I could suddenly see myself running my hands all over it. He moved to the dresser to get his clothes, dropping the towel to get his clothes. My eyes strayed to his uncovered butt and long member and i felt my pants tighten. I looked down and was surprised to see a bulge in my jeans.

"Duo, it happened again," I called, wondering what I was supposed to do about it. It didn't hurt, actually it felt surprisingly good. Especially if I moved my hips just so...

"What happened," Duo asked me, putting on his shorts and turning around. His eyes fell on my pants and he managed a surprised little, "Oh," before turning beet red. "G-Go get a shower. A cold one. Quickly," he told me. Though I hated cold showers, I scurried to do as he said.

Unfortunately, the cold water didn't seem to help. I stood in the shower, it's walls warm from Duo's shower, and stood under the cold spray of the water but all I could think about was Duo's naked body and how, just minutes before, it had been in the shower right where I was standing completely naked.

"Hey Duo, it's not working!" I yelled, turning the shower off.

"Umm... Try... uh... Try rubbing it!" Duo called back. Obediently, I fisted my member in my hand and started rubbing it in slow, hard strokes.

"It's just making it worse!" I called and had to moan loudly at the pleasure of rubbing my own swollen flesh. Duo made a strangle noise from in the bedroom.

"J-just keep going until you explode."

"Explode! I don't want to explode!"

"No! I-it's a good thing, trust me!" Duo yelled back to me and started to laugh. I could barely hear him over the pounding of my own blood, but I tried to listen in case he had any other instructions. Something was building inside me and, though I was a little hesitant about exploding, I didn't think I could stop it now.

I managed to hear a knock on the door, interrupted halfway though by my own moan, and Duo saying, "What brings you here commander?" After that I couldn't hear anything. It was like all my senses had been focused into this one little sliver of pleasure. My whole body writhed with it and I found my hand going faster and faster until I finally came in an explosion of pleasure. A white, stick fluid shot out of my member and splattered on the walls, but I was barely even aware of it. I sank down to the floor as waves of pleasure rolled over me, finally easing and subsiding.

I smiled as I lifted myself off the floor, happy and content for no reason at all. I quickly finished my shower and washed the white fluid off of the walls. I dressed and went into the bedroom, I felt like curling up beside Duo and going to sleep, or maybe getting something to eat.

Duo and Une were sitting at the table when I came out. Duo was looking uncomfortable and a dark blush was going across his face.

"Ah, Heero, there you are. I wanted to ask you some tings about your report. I hope I didn't disturb your shower."

"No, I was just trying to loosen a muscle," I told her. Duo made a squeaking noise as I pulled up a chair beside him. I felt all warma nd fuzzy, like when I was having a good dream. Absently, I leaned against Duo while talking to the commander. I explained a part of the report to where the children's nest was. Duo was oddly rigid and silent as we spoke. Finally, Une and I finished and she moved to leave.

"Duo, you still need to finish that report on the Wing stronghold," she said as she rose to leave.

"I'll do it tomorrow, I need a shower," Duo said, jerkily getting to his feet but staying behind the table.

"You just got a shower," I told him, confused.

"I need a cold shower."

"Oh. Do you want some help?"

"No! I- Gah!" Duo said, turning and practically running for the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. I watched the door for a minute, wondering what I had done to upset him so much, then turned back to Une. She was also watching the door with an amused look on her face.

"It's no wonder Sally gets so rattled when she's around you two."

"I don't understand."

"Let's just say your relationship should be a spectator sport. I'll see you later," she said, then left. I wondered about what she had said, then about Duo's odd behavior. I hoped it wouldn't last long.

But Duo's strange behavior continued, if anything it got worse. For three days he didn't touch me or hug me like he usually did. He seemed nervous and edgy, meanwhile my mind was making up so many scenarios of what I might have done wrong that I couldn't keep them all straight and ended up trying to make up for two different things. By the fourth day, I was almost out of my mind and decided I needed some help.

With Quatre and Treize away, the only person I could think of close enough to Duo to know why he was mad was Sally. It wasn't hard to find time to talk to her, since Duo and I had been going to see Chase every day. He was doing pretty well and scheduled to be released into the care of the nuns soon, but Duo warned me that he would probably not be adopted. A boy of that age was usually wanted to give some extra help around the farm, with Chase's injury he would never be able to lift heavy weights again and so would be useless as a farm hand. It didn't seem fair to me, but I knew enough about the cruelness of the world not to doubt Duo's words.

When we got to the medical wing that day I let Duo go in to see Chase while I said I would go ask Sally about his condition. It was easy to fool Duo, we had both been working on our mind barriers and become fairly good at them. It felt nice to once again have some privacy in my own mind while still being able to share what thoughts I wanted, but what I wouldn't give for those first few days when there was nothing between our minds and our hearts.

"Hey Sally," I called, entering another room in her medical complex, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure Heero, What's wrong?" she asked, putting down a testtube and wiping off her hands.

"I think Duo's mad at me and I don't know what I did wrong," I told her, Sally stilled, looking at me with confusion and concern.

"What makes you think that?"

"He won't touch me," I told her simply and se coughed, her face going beat red.

"Excuse me?"

"He won't touch me. He won't hug me or curl up with me like he used to. He's nervous around me and I don't know why."

"Oh," Sally said, looking a bit relieved, "Maybe you should ask him about it."

"I did and he keeps saying he's not mad but he still won't touch me. Maybe he's sick of me."

"Heero! You know that's not true!"

"I know, but what else could it be? Maybe I'm physically repulsive to him. Maybe..."

"Maybe he likes you too much."

"What?"

"Maybe he wants to hold you too much and is afraid of scaring you."

"But that's silly. I love it when he touches me and I know he'd never hurt me."

"Look Heero, I'm going to tell you what I know. Where you go from there is up to you and Duo, understand? I'll tell you what I think you should do, but I doubt you'll listen to me. I've already talked to Duo..."

"So you know why he's mad at me?"

"For the last time, he's not mad at you! Duo... When to people love each other... Um... that is... Duo wants to take your relationship to the next level! There, I said it, get out! Out!"

"Sally, I don't understand. What do you mean, take our relationship to the next level? We already did that, Zechs helped. And Quatre, in the library we went to the next level. Sally? Are you alright, you're face is all red."

"Y-yes, I-I'm fine. What I mean is... Duo wants to have sex with you."

"Sex? What's that?"

"Oh god!"

"Sally?"

"Umm... Sex is.. Uh... Sex is.... When... uh... two people get together and... uh... Wait! I think I have a pamphlet on sex! Oh thank you! Thank you! Yes, yes I have a pamphlet around here somewhere. Ah! There it is! Sweet, beautiful little pamphlet! Now, you read that while I go check on the dying people."

"Who's dying?"

"Me!" she squeaked under her breath then ran out of the room. I wondered about her strange behavior and hoped she'd be alright. She was definitely coming down with something.

I read both of the pamphlets Sally thrust into my hands, one called "Puberty and Sexual Intercourse" that other called "Sexual Education for Same Sex Couples." It was very informative, especially the pictures. I was a little worried that Duo wanted to do the same thing to me that Dekim and Barton had, but relaxed when the pamphlet said, "There should be little or no pain if couples go slowly and are aware of the other's feelings." Duo would be more than aware, since he could feel what I was feeling.

I thought for a long time about what to do, whether or not I should ask Duo about ti or just ignore it. One the one hand, I wouldn't have to worry about having sex with Duo and what it would do to our relationship, but Duo would probably keep his space and not touch me like he used to. On the other hand we could try it and not like it, or maybe I wouldn't like it and Duo would, and still screw up our relationship.

I worried about it until Sally returned.

"Finished reading yet?"

"Yes. What do you think we should do."

"I think you should wait. At least wait until you're secure with your body and you understand more about what you're doing."

"Does Duo want to wait?"

"No, Duo definitely does not want to wait, but he will because he loves you and he wants to do what's best for both of you. He won't rush you if you're not ready."

"But I am ready, otherwise my body wouldn't be telling me it is."

"Yes, physically, you're ready, but to mentally and emotionally. I know your hormones are telling you it's time, but I think you should wait until you're both more comfortable with each other," she told me, her voice taking a stubborn edge. I frowned.

"How can you get more comfortable with someone than having your minds linked together?"

"Heero, you have to understand... Oh, you're not even listening to me anymore. Well, I've said my peace so whatever you do from here on out is up to you. Just head my warning, if you do go through with this make sure you have plenty of time and don't rush it. If you don't feel comfortable with it, don't do it. Oh, and get some oil. Trust me, Duo will know what it's for. Now, get out of here, I have other people to deal with and you still have to see Chase. Go on, out!"

As I walked down the short hall to see Duo and Chase, new plans and preparations were forming in my head.

Mission: Have sex with Duo.

Accepted.