Chapter Three

Leonard finally caught up to Sheldon just as he was opening he office door. "Sheldon, wait!" Leonard grabbed Sheldon's hand to stop him from shutting the door in his face. "Sheldon, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were this upset!" Sheldon turned around to face the shorter man.

"I-I'm not upset, I'm just…" he looked down at Leonard's hand, which was still holding his. "Confused." Leonard awkwardly let go and the taller man mentally winced. He hadn't wanted Leonard to let go. Wait, what? Sheldon was getting really confused now. Forget 'really confused,' he was really, really, really, REALLY confused. Sheldon was supposed to hate being touched!

"What can I do?" Leonard asked him and looked straight up into his eyes. Sheldon looked away quickly and fumbled with his office key.

"I don't know, I don't know… I, it's just so, ugh, I don't know! I-I just want be alone."

"Alright," Leonard sighed. "I'm sorry, Sheldon. I never should have done that last night." He turned around, but he felt Sheldon's hand grab his arm and turn him around again.

Sheldon suddenly leaned down and kissed Leonard on the lips. He put one hand on Leonard's hip and one on his back and pulled him in closer. Leonard didn't really know what to do, Sheldon just got done telling him that he was confused and wanted to be alone! And now he was kissing him? Now Leonard was the confused one!

Sheldon pulled away almost as quickly as he had pulled Leonard in. Sheldon looked down at his hands, he seemed horrified with himself. "Oh, god, what am I doing?" he muttered and ran into his office, slamming the door behind himself. Leonard was left in the hallway, alone and baffled.

"What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular.

"I don't know!" Sheldon called from behind the door. Vulcan hearing.

Leonard stood there, trying to pull himself together. He finally turned around and walked down the hallway slowly.

Sheldon was going crazy.

Unfortunately, the crazy was contagious.

Sheldon had just kissed Leonard.

Sheldon gave it to Leonard.

Damn the craziness.

Leonard walked up to Sheldon's office door, fully prepared for whatever he might say or do. But he hadn't been prepared to find an envelope with his name on it taped to the door. He took it off the door and opened it. Sheldon's perfect handwriting printed out these words: 'Leonard, I am sorry for what happened earlier today. I do not know what has gotten into me. I have taken the bus home because, to put it in Penny-like terms, I can't keep my hands off of you. I hope that having some time alone will help me determine what is wrong with me. –Sheldon'

Leonard sighed and put the note back in the envelope. He stuck it in his pocket and walked down the hallway. Sheldon took the bus home, he was so freaked out. The crazy must be in full affect.

Just as he was nearing the elevator to go to the ground floor he ran into someone he was ready to kill: Leslie Winkle. Why was he so ready to kill her, though? Was it because she had pushed Sheldon too far? Was it because Sheldon hated her, so he felt like he should hat her too, now? Leonard didn't know the answers to these questions. Too many questions!

"Hey, Leonard. What was Dumbass so upset about earlier?"

"Nothing, it's nothing." Lies. Leonard would have kept talking and changed the subject, but he suddenly couldn't talk anymore.

"Where is he anyway? Don't you usually drive him home?" she pushed her glasses up her nose.

"He took the bus," Leonard told her, he had momentarily remembered how to speak. He started walking toward the elevator again. Leslie followed him, she wasn't done questioning him yet.

"I saw there was a note for you on his door. What'd it say?" I have enough of my own questions, why does she have to interrogate me, too? Leonard suddenly understood why Sheldon had stormed out of the cafeteria. Leslie was nosy, but this was none of her business!

"It just said he was taking the bus home. That's it!" the elevator doors opened and Leonard rushed in.

"Whatever, see yah," she said and the elevator doors closed as she walked away.

Penny sat on the couch with her laptop. She was checking her email when she heard three faint knocks on her door. Three knocks was usually the beginning of Sheldon's infamous knock for her, but she didn't hear her name being called.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" she yelled and set her computer down. Then the knocking came again. She stopped moving and listened as hard as her ears could bare. Ever so faintly, she could hear her name. The knocks came again and she leapt up and ran to her door. She pressed her ear to it and heard him much clearer this time. "Penny," Sheldon's voice softly called.

She opened the door and saw that Sheldon still had his jacket that was beige on his shoulders and white on the bottom on, and he was still carrying his bag of stuff he took to work. Speaking of which, he was home early from work. He hadn't even gone to his apartment yet.

"You're home early," she commented and he looked down at the floor.

"I couldn't stay at the university. I couldn't deal with all the unanswered questions. And I couldn't ride home with Leonard, so I left work early and took the bus. I failed to remember that I don't have a key to get in my apartment."

"Oh, sweetie," she said sympathetically. "You can come in here, I don't have your spare key but you can wait in here until Leonard comes home. Why couldn't you ride home with him, anyway?" she let him in and he set his bag on the floor. He didn't seem very happy this afternoon. He plopped down on the couch and Penny sat down next to him.

"I couldn't ride home with him because it was too awkward and…"

"Yes, Sheldon?" Penny was trying to be encouraging.

"I made things worse. I kissed him."

"Well, sweetie…" Penny paused and finished writing something in her notebook. She flipped it around and he read what she had written in bubble letters: Sheldon Cooper is in love with Leonard Hofstadter.

Sheldon frowned. "Good Lord, Penny. You thought I hadn't figured that out yet?" They had been talking for a while, but Sheldon had figured that out when he wrote his note to Leonard at the university!

Penny rolled her eyes and looked at the other things she had written down. "It's all I can tell you. You've got all the classic signs. You can't get him off your mind, the butterflies in your stomach, not to mention you kissed him! But then again, he kissed you, too. You know…" Penny paused and a smile came across her face. "You two are actually really compatible." Sheldon raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

"Well, you two know basically everything about each other. You have an understanding for one another and always seem to know when something's wrong. And for the majority of the day, you two are together. And ever since you met, you've enjoyed each other's company, right?"

"Well…" that was a bit of a stretch. 'Enjoyed' isn't the term Sheldon would use to describe their friendship at first.

"Anyway, you get my point, right?" Penny asked him. Wait, Penny was trying to make a point? Sheldon mentally hit his forehead with his palm. He should have been listening to her more closely. Betcha that's the first (and last) time you've heard that!

"Yeah." Lie. His second lie that day. He was on a roll!

Leonard sat on the couch, aimlessly flipping through the channels on the television. All he could think about was Sheldon. He hadn't seen the man the entire time he had been home. Either Sheldon had locked himself in his room, or he wasn't in the apartment at all. Leonard didn't know.

Leonard had tried to avoid all the questions that entered his mind. But he couldn't stop them. They were invading his every thought, and he was getting sick of it. It would have been different if he could answer them, but he couldn't. Was this the confusion Sheldon was talking about?

Leonard's mind wondered back to what had caused these strange two days. That tiny accidental kiss in the middle of the night. That one swift turn of the head. Why had he kept saying that in his head? One turn of the head, that's how this began. One turn of Dr. Cooper's brilliant head.

Leonard remembered the way they had stared at each other. Sheldon's deep blues eyes, staring straight at him. He could see the awkwardness of Sheldon in his eyes. He could see all 187 IQ points in those eyes. He could see logic and reason. He could see disorder and chaos. He could see laughter and happiness. He could see pain and sorrow.

He saw what Sheldon really was: the perfect combination of fire and ice. And Leonard couldn't get enough of it. He couldn't ever get enough of those blue eyes. Yup. It's for sure. The crazy was contagious. And I caught it.

A/N I will be going out of town for a little while, so it might be a little while before I update again. Just a head's up! :) Thanks for reading, review if you want to make me happy! ;) Luv y'all!