Note: Many thanks to KS for editing. Happy New Year to everyone!

Chapter 3:

Heero's carefully selected stone skimmed five - six - times over the waves before vanishing. Mine sank like a stone.

Heh heh.

It was harder than it looked.

'It's these damn things on my hands,' I grumbled, looking down at my hands, softly encased in cobalt blue mittens. Heero had dug them out of his closet and presented them to me, along with a matching scarf and hat. I felt like an idiot but at least I was warm. At least they didn't have snowflake patterns like Heero's.

'You'll freeze if you take them off,' Heero warned softly, taking my hands in his before I could tear them off. 'Besides, I think you look…'

'Don't you dare!' I interjected, resolving that if 'cute' or 'adorable' were the next words out of his mouth, then Mr. Yuy would be taking an unplanned winter swim.

'Very manly,' he finished, smooth as spreading honey, letting me go and handing me another stone. 'Try again. It's all in the flick of the wrist.'

'Oh, God,' I groaned. 'You've been waiting how long exactly to use that line?'

He smirked. 'Wufei's going to be furious that I got to use it first!'

'You guys are way too competitive over the weirdest things.'

I was just starting to find that out. Just starting to find out a lot of stuff. Staying with them was a lot different to meeting up with them for a couple of hours every so often.

OK, some of the stuff I'd already known. Wufei was a morning person, who liked to get up early and make tea and potter about. Heero very definitely wasn't. They were both utterly paranoid about security; their house probably had a better alarm system than the White House. It had taken me a full hour to memorise all the codes. They were both exercise fanatics, but Heero preferred outdoor stuff like running and cycling while Wufei liked to work out in the gym. Which showed. Ahem.

They both liked watching those reality shows where the people opt out of their careers and head off to Tuscany or Provence to start a vineyard or something. Heero did most of the cooking and Wufei had a mildly disturbing fondness for doing laundry. I think they had every fabric softener ever sold. He'd slightly scared me by waxing lyrical about the joys of folding freshly washed, warm linens until I'd actually tried it and it was ….kind of nice.

'We'd better head back to the car,' Heero said suddenly, rolling up his coat sleeve to check his watch. 'They should be landing about now.'

'Yeah, sure.' I tried to summon up a bit of enthusiasm and didn't really get there. That was awful. Trowa and Quatre were two of my best friends. I should be madly looking forward to seeing them, and I'd been half-hoping for the last hour that Wufei would call from the port to say the L4 shuttle had been delayed, or diverted, or something.

'What are we going to tell them when they get here? Tro and Quat?'

'Happy New Year?' He suggested, grinning, and slipping one arm through mine as we walked on. I tensed for a second and then reminded myself that it was OK for him to do that sort of thing now. It wasn't as if there was anyone else on the beach, at lunchtime on New Year's Eve.

'You know what I mean.'

'Right. I don't know, Duo. I thought you'd have told Quatre already.'

'I haven't exactly had much of a chance, have I?' I tried to make it sound like a grumble, feeling my mouth stretch into a grin, despite everything.

Between them, they'd managed to keep me pretty well occupied over the past six days. I'd already booked time off between Christmas and New Year, and they'd somehow managed to wrangle most of it off too, although Heero was spending a couple of hours every day on his laptop, and Wufei had been into the office twice.

We'd gone for a couple of long hikes and cycles on sunny days. They'd taken me to their favourite restaurants and we'd gone to the newest blockbuster at their local cinema. Even going to the supermarket and then browsing 'round the sales at the mall had been a novelty. They'd insisted on stocking up with foods I liked, and then made me buy some clothes, threatening that if I didn't, then they'd buy them for me and tear up the receipts.

It had all been wonderful, but more in a 'three-guys-hanging-out' way, than in a 'we're dating' way.

Well, mostly. I'd been groped a fair bit in the back row of the cinema, discovered just how far the seats in Wufei's car could tilt back, and had them both play footsie with me under the white linen tablecloth in a very upmarket French restaurant.

Heero lifted an eyebrow at me, sensing that for the evasion it was.

'I'm not sure,' I admitted in the end. 'I just don't want him to think it's…..' My brain skipped over possible endings to that sentence from 'disgustingly perverted' to 'kinkily titillating and something he'd like to try for himself'. Probably what most people would think. 'Odd,' I finished, rather lamely.

Heero grinned. 'Because of course the empathic gay billionaire with enough sisters to start his own civilisation is the universal expert on normal. He will only be happy for you,' he said firmly. 'You know that. As for what to tell him, I don't know why you're even worrying about that. He's going to know.'

'Good point.' I swallowed, tasting sea spray on my tongue.

I stupidly hadn't even considered that, but of course he would know. I'd been worrying about the mundane stupid things, like how the three of us shared one room, and how neither of them could keep their hands to themselves around me.

Even without the empathy, it would be screamingly obvious. It still meant I would have to face someone else actually knowing that I was in this … threesome.

'When Wufei and I started seeing each other,' Heero said quietly, 'we were utterly paranoid about keeping it a secret, especially at work. When we eventually did tell people, we found out that most of our friends had already guessed, and the others didn't really care all that much.'

One elbow jabbed me slyly in the ribs. 'If you ever bothered to listen to office gossip, you'd find out that there are way more interesting things going on than what we might get up to. Did you know Sharon in HR is seeing Russell in Accounting and his twin brother and that now she's pregnant? Or that Peter in the mail office likes to be called Petronella when he's off duty? And you'd have heard all the rumours about why Une only hires young and attractive people.' He winked. 'Apparently, she has a very comprehensive interview technique.'

'Bald, body-building Peter? I don't believe you!'

'I told you, it's a very interesting place to work. Three guys together might account for, oh, three minutes' gossip on a boring day.' He laughed suddenly. 'Your life might actually get easier if your female fan club knew you were taken, you know. You'd probably be doing them a favour; they could get their lives back instead of spending every waking hour plotting how to win your affections.'

'OK, now you are joking. Or mad. I hope.'

'Not at all. You must know you're the most eligible man in the whole organisation.' He gave me a soulful, sick-sheep sort of look. 'A daring freedom fighter turned hot-shot agent. Oh, you are just irresistible to every woman in the building. And not a few men either.' The sappy look morphed into something very different when he said that last bit, like a sheep that had suddenly sprouted fangs.

I snorted, bending down to pick up a shell with my free hand. 'Oh, please. That's ridiculous.'

'It's true. John in Accounting's opened a book on who you'll end up with.' He squeezed my arm. ''Fei and I could make a killing.'

'No! No killing.' I grinned reluctantly when I realised what I'd said. 'Look. This is all really new for me, OK? I'd rather just be discreet for a bit. Can we do that?'

'We'd never do anything you were uncomfortable with,' he said hastily. 'You have to know that.'

'I do, thank you, yes.'

I swung us both to a halt and gave him a lush, lingering kiss, just capturing his gasp of surprise. Probably the first time I'd really taken the initiative with either of them.

Apart from kissing and cuddling, there hadn't been a lot else so far.

The first night I'd shared their bed, I'd assumed something more would happen; that it was what they'd wanted. But we'd just cuddled a bit; nothing too heavy. Then they'd fallen asleep, like all of this was perfectly natural and normal, and I'd lain awake for hours, trying hard not to move, trying very hard to stop my heartbeat thudding like thunder.

I hadn't slept with another person since I'd been a little kid. Dylan had never stayed the night. We'd fool around and then he'd get up and leave. Now, I had the guys I'd spent years dreaming about wrapped around me.

I'd dozed off, eventually, but I still had trouble sleeping. I wasn't sure if they knew. They'd never said anything, but an afternoon doze on the couch had become part of the routine.

So had kissing, something I'd had no problem getting used to.

'We'd better go, love.' Heero pulled back from the kiss, sounding a bit reluctant. 'You're looking cold and I'd like to be home when Wufei and the others get there.'

I nodded. 'Yeah. Heero, thanks for coming with me.'

'No problem.' Instead of heading back to the car park, he just slipped behind me, winding both arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.

In the past year, I'd come out to this beach three times.. Dylan's birthday. The anniversary of his death.

And now today, with Heero.

'He'd have loved it here,' I said softly, letting the wind whip the words away over the waves. 'He wanted to see the ocean so much. He always used to watch those marine documentaries on TV. We were going to come, one day, when we could afford it.'

Heero didn't say anything, just held me, and eventually I felt myself relax into his arms. Let him hold me.

'What was he like?'

I considered. 'Like me, sort of. He'd had a pretty tough life. Didn't get on with his step-dad and left home when he was sixteen. He lived on the streets for a bit, and then a hostel, and some social worker got him on to a course to be a mechanic. I needed someone to help me at the scrap-yard, and he just turned up at the right time.'

Neither of us had known anything much about how to be in a relationship. Two tough L2 kids, needing to prove it all the time. Most of the affection had been reserved for the bedroom with the door shut and lights closed.

It had been nothing like it was with Heero and Wufei, and me now. There'd never been the endearments and casual touches and very obvious shows of affection, even in private.

'I don't know. It was different. It was my fault he died,' I confessed suddenly, the first time I'd ever told anyone.

He didn't recoil, just planted a gentle kiss just under my right earlobe. 'No, it wasn't. I saw the report. It was an accident.'

'I'd bought this bolt cutting saw,' I went on, ignoring him. 'The damn thing had probably been third-rate quality, even when it was new, and I'd got it about tenth-hand. I told Dylan not to use it 'til I'd had a chance to check it out properly, but I was out on a salvage run, and he needed to fix some stupid part, and the wiring was fucked up.'

The cops who'd investigated had said it would have been fast; the vicious rotary saw had sliced through some major arteries.

But my boyfriend had bled to death in my workshop because I'd been too cheap to shell out for proper equipment. On the way back, I'd stopped at a garage to buy petrol, and dawdled in the shop, drinking a cold soda and chatting to the girl at the till.

By the time I got back to the scrap-yard, the cops and medical services were there, and there was a crimson lake of blood on the floor, blooming against the grey concrete.

'Not your fault.' Heero was saying it over and over, holding me so tightly that it would have hurt if I'd let myself feel it. 'He was a grown man, Duo. You warned him to be careful.'

'Yeah. And it wasn't enough. Just another monumental Maxwell screw up.'

'No.' He turned me to face him, very gently. 'No. Don't talk like that.'

'I'm so scared,' I said, when I finally got it out. 'That I'm going to mess you two guys up.' Like everything else in my whole life.

'Oh, no. Love, no.'

Locked in his arms, with kisses being feathered so softly over my face, and those blue eyes boring into mine, I could almost believe him.

'Never. But we'd be absolutely miserable if you left, you idiot. Now come on. Home.'

We made it home about five minutes before Wufei's car pulled up outside. I'd flicked on the radio the minute we got in the car and Heero hadn't objected. He held my hand the whole way home though, something I was starting to get used to.

Quatre came through the front door like a blond tornado while Wufei and Trowa were still unloading luggage, and wrapped himself around me.

'Well, it's about time! If Trowa hadn't told me to mind my own business, I would have had the Maguanacs kidnap the three of you months ago!'

'They seem to have worked it out,' his boyfriend commented, coming in the door festooned with suitcases, and then pulling Quatre away from me and into his arms. 'You can stop cutting off his air supply now.'

'Yes,' Wufei agreed. 'Heero and I would prefer you didn't strangle him within the first five minutes.'

Quatre gurgled with laughter. 'I just knew you two would be all protective. It's adorable! Duo, have they driven you insane yet?'

'Um, not quite,' I said a bit uncertainly, taken aback at how ….. oddly normal this all was; at how Trowa and Quatre were accepting it all so matter of factly. Neither of them batted an eyelid when Wufei gave me a quick kiss in passing,

The next few minutes were a bit manic, with Quat insisting on us opening the presents he'd brought and Wufei fetching drinks and Heero dashing around the kitchen to get dinner in the oven. Quatre had offered to take us all out for dinner somewhere, but in the end we'd decided just to stay at home.

Once the living room floor had been covered with the remnants of torn gift wrap, and Quat was perfectly sure we liked his gifts, he jumped up. 'Come on, Duo. We need to talk.'

'Well, that's subtle,' his boyfriend teased.

Quatre just stuck out his tongue, heading for the door. 'Subtlety's for the boardroom, silly. Or the bedroom. Duo! Come on!'

With Quatre, it's usually better just to give in straightaway. Anything else is just a waste of time.

In the spirit of getting it over with, I led him upstairs. The bed had been freshly made, and their lube and stuff were tucked away in a dresser, but I still felt a teeny bit embarrassed taking him into their bedroom.

'So?' Quatre bounced on the bed, pouting at me. 'You're supposed to be my best friend, Duo Maxwell. Why have you been keeping all of this such a secret?'

I flopped down beside him. 'It just happened a few days ago. I wanted to tell you in person.'

'Hmm. I suppose I can allow that.' He slid one arm over my shoulders. 'I am so very happy for you. And you look marvellous. It's lovely to see you wearing something other than black for once.'

I shrugged, looking down at the dark blue jeans, way more fitted than anything I would have chosen for myself, and the red sweater. 'They dragged me out shopping a couple of days ago. New image.'

'New everything,' Quatre said slyly.

'Yeah,' I acknowledged, letting myself fall backwards on to the mattress. 'New everything. Quat, I was kind of scared to tell you, actually.' I stared up at the ceiling. 'It's like…these past few days have been this amazing fantasy. Just the three of us in our own little world. I guess I didn't want reality rushing in just yet.'

'Oh, I know,' he assured me at once. 'I felt just like that when Trowa and I finally started dating. It's perfectly normal; you just want to have that little piece of time to yourselves.'

'Normal,' I echoed. 'Must be about the only thing normal about this whole set up, then.'

'I don't think any of us has a clue what normal is,' Quatre said softly. 'I'm from a colony where homosexuality was punishable by death, until a few years ago. I love Trowa more than anything in the universe, but there are still people on L4 who believe I'm perverted for feeling like that.' He shrugged. 'You have to find your own happiness, Duo, not run away from it.'

'Ah, shit,' I moaned, rolling over and resting my chin on a pillow. 'Why do I have to be best friends with an empath, out of all the people in the world?'

'Because you love me,' he returned brightly, 'and because you need someone sensible in your life to tell you what to do. They do love you, and you're good for them too. I think the three of you could be wonderful together, but you do need to reassure them that you're not going to run away. That you're not just acting out some little holiday fantasy before going back to your reality.'

'I'm not, Quat!' I burst out, and then thought about it, because in a way I was doing just that. I was cherishing every moment, hoarding up every little touch and endearment, because at some point I'd have to go home.

'You see?' he asked, almost sadly, the pain reflected in his eyes. 'They aren't stupid, Duo. They're worried about what happens next, and knowing you, you're probably turning cartwheels to avoid talking about it.'

'It's just…hard to believe it's real.'

'I know.' He was still looking at me, but his eyes were seeing some other long ago memory. 'I do know how hard it is. I still find it hard to believe, sometimes, after what I did, that Trowa…that he can love me. But it's not fair to him, to doubt him like that. Do you see what I mean?'

'I think so.' I sat up slowly, fluffing the pillows back into place against the headboard. 'Yeah, I get you. I'll talk to them.'

'Talking is always good.' He flicked me a naughty little grin and patted the mattress 'So, am I allowed to ask how the …non-talking part of the relationship is going?'

'Quat! It's fine.'

'That bad? Oh dear!'

'No!' I was searingly, scorchingly scarlet. 'It's great. I mean, we haven't done a lot but it's been….you know. Pretty amazing.'

He nodded. He was the only person I'd ever really talked to about Dylan. The one who knew I'd fallen in love with Heero Yuy at first sight. He knew I'd been having the odd moment of Wufei-attraction. He knew everything, really.

'Um, Quat, is that….you know, normal?' We both grinned at the word. 'You know, that we're not jumping on each other straight off?'

'It's different for everyone, really.' His grin broadened. 'I practically had to tie Trowa up, in the end, and you'll probably have to do the same. You know, neither of them would dream of pushing you into anything, so you'll have to be very obvious about what you want from them.'

'I do know that, yes. OK, we'd better go back down. Heero gets snarky at people being late for meals.' Which happened to be true, but it was also a handy enough excuse. I really wasn't sure if I wanted to have Quatre Winner giving me tips on sex.

Dinner was wonderful, like all the meals Heero cooked. After, we looked at photos of Quat's new baby niece and some baby lions and ponies at the circus, and opened more wine, and just talked about little things.

It was nothing the five of us hadn't done before, but this time I had Wufei sitting beside me, and Heero on the floor between our legs.

We turned on the TV at midnight, just to watch the fireworks and my best friend flung himself on his partner at the stroke of twelve.

I glanced at Heero and Wufei, not sure if they were going to pull me in for some sort of three-way kiss. Instead, Heero took my hand, and we went into the kitchen, the three of us.

'This is yours.' Heero fished in his pocket and handed me a key, the one they'd given me the morning after Christmas. I'd thanked them and put it in the little dish on the hall table, where they kept their car keys, and forgotten about it. I'd vaguely thought that it was a nice gesture but that I'd probably never use it. After all, when I visited their house in future, they'd be there to open the door for me.

Then he cleared his throat, like he was going to make a speech. 'We would like, very much, for you to consider this your home in the future.'

Wufei's hand was on my braid, suddenly, running up and down. It was a habit he'd developed over the last week; I wasn't sure if he ever realised he was doing it any more.

'Please?' he added.

The metal key in my hand was very cold. Cold as space; cold as that in-between space between yes and no before you make a decision.

I closed my fingers about it, feeling the ridges against my skin, thinking about what Quatre had said. They would never, never push me into anything. I knew that. This, probably, was as blatant as they'd dare to get, to invite me permanently into their lives.

I could feel the key in my hand slowly warming, from my body heat.

Yes.

'Yes,' I said quietly, and then they were kissing me; more fireworks exploding, but in my head this time.