A.N.: So this is the first songfic I've ever tried to write. Or at least that's what it was supposed to be, just a little songfic. But it developed into something bigger. It's from Duo's POV, and contains 2xH and some vague hints of 5xS. Like usual, if you don't like the pairings, don't read! There's some language in here (Duo's a pottymouth like usual), and references to drinking and hangovers and a very minor bar fight. Also some angst.

Disclaimer: This is a sad disclaimer indeed. Not only do I not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters, but I don't even own the song! "All My Friends Say" is by Luke Bryan, and the three other songs that you'll find references to in this story have their singers listed. I don't really own anything… except this old decrepit computer.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to my Linguistics, Spanish, and Organic Chemistry professors because it is only due to them that I've actually finished this story. I want to thank them for having classes that are so boring that if I didn't use the time to write, I'd probably go crazy. Thanks!

Italics mean thoughts, --- comes before and after lyrics

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All My Friends Say (by Luke Bryan)

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"I got smoke in my hair,

My clothes thrown everywhere,

Woke up in my rocking chair
Holding a beer in my hand
Sporting a neon tan."

---

I moaned, waking myself up. Where was I? Damn, I sure had one hell of a hangover.

Fighting the splitting headache, I looked around, trying to clear my head. Hilde's home?

"No you idiot, my home." Great. I was talking to myself again. But I was right. She had given me the house when she moved out. Not that it was really a home anymore.

My brain took a long time to process what was around me, but I relatively quickly made a second discovery. I had been sleeping in the rocking chair in the corner of the living room. No wonder my back hurt.

I stood up to stretch and the room spun. I reached out to stabilize myself and realized that I was still holding a can of beer.

I groaned. "I've definitely had more than enough to drink. Maybe forever." I put the beer down, not wanting to think about drinking any more.

You're lying to yourself Maxwell, my conscience whispered, You might lay off for a day or so, but you know you'll go right back to the club like you have been ever since she left.

"Shut up," I told myself.

I really needed coffee. I walked over to the kitchen, pausing to look in the mirror by the stairs.

I looked terrible. My eyes were bloodshot and my hair was everywhere. It must have gotten out of the braid somehow. I even had neon flecks of paint all over me and it was all through my hair. Tentatively, fearing the worst, I sniffed.

I wrinkled my nose in the manner that Hilde said was characteristic of me. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Everything smelled like smoke and alcohol, but I guess there were worse smells. It would take forever to wash the smell out of my hair though.

I also noticed that I was in my boxers. "Oh great, please tell me I had my clothes on when I came home." Turning around, I noticed with great relief that my leather jacket, jeans, and various other articles of clothing (why were there like 15 socks lying around? I must not have done laundry in a long time) were strewn across the room.

I moved on to the kitchen. I really needed that coffee.

---

"My stereo cranked up,
I can't find my truck,
How'd I get home from the club?
Ain't got a clue what went down
So I started calling around"
---

I stumbled over to the sink and pushed the button on the coffee maker. As soon as it was done brewing, I grabbed a cup and took a big gulp, burning my mouth in the process.

But burnt mouth or not, the coffee managed to wake me up, although it didn't do much for the headache. I looked over at the clock: two in the afternoon.

And then I realized why my head was pounding so much. Or at least partly why. The stereo was pounding in the next room. It was blaring out one of Hilde's songs that she had loaded into it when she still lived here. It was one of her sappy love songs that I had always teased her about. I always kind of thought the fact that she played those songs so much was some sort of sign that she had feelings for me, but I was wrong. Whether she had ever liked me or not, she certainly didn't at the end when she decided to leave. "To give us a chance to be independent and have our own lives" she had said. Sure. Basically what she meant was so that she could date every scumbag guy out there while I starved because I didn't even know how to operate the toaster.

I sighed. I knew I wasn't really being fair to her, but I didn't really care. I switched off the stereo and the sudden silence made my head spin.

Steadying myself, I moved over to look out the window. I could barely see out because of all the piles of scrap metal that had been collecting without Hilde here to catalogue them.

"Sure you'll come back to help me run the business Hil," I accused her, feeling somewhat ridiculous talking to no one.

But then something caught my eye. Or rather, the lack of something.

"Where the hell is my truck?!" I exclaimed. The garage was open and completely empty. "How in the world did I get home last night? What happened?"

Thoroughly confused, I sat back down. I knew I had been to the club the night before, that much was obvious. But had I gone alone? Who would have brought me home to Hilde's house?

"Aha! I got it!" I exclaimed, excited at remembering something. I had gone out with the guys last night. The Gundam Gang had gotten back together for a night out. Even Quatre had come because he had been worried about me. He thought I was depressed or something.

But beyond that, I couldn't remember a thing. The whole night was a blank. Well, something crazy must have gone on. I felt like complete shit, more than usual. I must have drunk myself into the ground.

Well, at least I now knew how to find out.

---

"And all my friends say
I started shooting doubles
When you walked in.
All my friends say
I went a little crazy
Seeing you with him.
You know I don't remember a thing,
But they say I sure was raising some cain,
I was a rock star, party hard,
Getting over you comeback kid;
Yeah I must have did
What all my friends say
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah."

---

Well, I knew who could be most likely to tell me the truth without mincing words, so I rinsed my face and tied my hair back without bothering to braid it and called him.

"Duo." Heero's stern face appeared on the vid-screen.

"Hey, He-man, how're you doing?"

He grunted. "I'm busy. What do you want?" he asked in monotone. "You look like shit," he added with a smirk.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Or actually don't, I already know. I just wanted to chat about last night," I goaded him by talking slowly, "What happened? I don't remember anything."

"I took you home. Your truck's still at the club." Heero made a move to hang up.

"Wait! But what about before that? What did I do?" I asked, somewhat hesitantly.

Heero paused and looked almost concerned. Almost. "You don't remember anything?"

"Nah, just that you guys were there."

"She was there."

She? Hilde? Her name immediately popped into my head. But I didn't want to make Heero think I was pining after her or anything. "She who?"

He just looked at me without saying anything for a minute. "And she had a date. Some guy named Robert. I looked him up, ex-OZ officer."

"Hilde had a date!" I yelled, jealousy rising, "With someone from OZ. Great. She was probably screwing him behind my back the whole time." I seethed angrily. Only then did I realize that I had clearly given myself away. I smiled sheepishly and tried to pretend not to care.

Heero looked at me for another minute, and I sensed accusation in his eyes.

"So you started drinking, a lot. Double shots."

I groaned. "No wonder my head hurts so much."

"Then you bought drinks for everyone in the bar."

I groaned louder. What with the scrapyard not really functioning since Hilde had left, I really didn't have all that much cash to throw around.

I noticed that Heero had stopped talking, as if his story was over. "And that's it?"

He didn't answer my question. He just kept looking at me. That meant no.

"What then?" I asked, frightened. What could I have done that not even Heero wanted to tell me?

"You don't want to know. Leave it at that." Heero hung up the phone, leaving me dumbfounded.

Well, at least he had given me half of the puzzle, the part about Hilde. And he had warned me about something else too…

---

"I found my billfold,
I cried oh no no,
Good time Charlie got me now I'm broke.
But it was worth acting like a fool.
Yeah girl I must have really showed you."
---

"Crap!" My wallet was empty. How much money had I taken with me? Hell if I knew. But I was sure that I hadn't intended to spend it all. Even after all this time, I still carried extra cash around, just in case. I never did really believe that the war was over.

I mulled over what might have happened, but didn't come up with anything. But I was sure it couldn't have been that bad. I mean, I was the God of Death, if I wanted to be jealous and angry, I would have done it well. I bet I sure showed Hilde that I wasn't pining over her or anything. Hell, if I had been that crazy, I definitely must have proven that I wasn't moping, that I was out having fun.

But I still wasn't convinced; I figured I needed to call another source.

---

"Cause all my friends say
I started shooting doubles
When you walked in.
All my friends say
I went a little crazy
Seeing you with him.
You know I don't remember a thing,
But they say I sure was raising some cain,
I was a rock star, party hard,
Getting over you comeback kid
Yeah I must have did
What all my friends say
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah."
---

After a couple rings, Quatre picked up the phone in his office. "Duo?"

"Hey Quat, how did I know you would be the only one working on a Saturday?"

Quatre just smiled at me, and I could sense sympathy in his smile. What had I done to make him sad for me?

"Duo, how are you doing? I know it's been hard for you, so you don't have to lie. Just please, how are you really doing, Duo?" he asked, staring at me with his wide, expressive eyes.

"Easy there Q-man, I'm doing fine. A little hungover, sure, but doing fine overall. I really don't need any sympathy for a little headache."

Quatre looked unconvinced and I almost considered not asking him about the night before. Who knows what he would try to do to comfort me then? But then again, I really wanted to know.

"But anyway, the reason I called was that I needed to ask you something."

"What Duo? Please let me know how I can help."

"Well, it won't take much effort from you. At least I hope it won't," I joked, expecting a smile but not getting one, "I just wanted to know… well, this is kind of awkward to ask, but you see, I was really drunk last night and I really don't remember anything that happened. Heero told me I got kind of riled up over Hilde being there. But he wouldn't tell me what exactly that meant. I was just wondering if you could help me out by lending me your memory of it?"

Quatre looked stricken. "Oh Duo, I'm so sorry, that's so terrible."

"Terrible? What's so terrible about it? Come on Quatre, what is it that has gotten all of you riled up? I was just drunk, it happens to all of us sometimes, except maybe you."

"Oh Duo, it's more than that, you were hurting so much."

"Hurting?"

Quatre struggled to explain himself. "I didn't realize how much you cared for her Duo, and seeing her there with another man wasn't good for you. It brought back memories of your time together and reminded you of how much you missed her. And you tried to drown your sorrow in alcohol," he ended sorrowfully.

Although I felt this was somewhat of a dramatic re-telling of the story, I had already heard this part before from Heero and I was hoping Quatre had something more to tell me. "And? Then what?"

Quatre blushed. "Well, it was the alcohol really, you just… were very boisterous."

"Boisterous?"

"Yes, boisterous."

I paused, was that supposed to really tell me anything?

"But come on Quat, what did I actually do?"

Quatre looked uncomfortable. "Well, umm, she was gone by the time you started crying, and no one really saw it. I just knew because I understood how sad you were."

I had cried?!! Great. First I had gotten drunk and made a fool of myself and then I had cried. Or maybe crying was what I did to make a fool of myself. Did I cry "boisterously"? Wow. I cried. Whatever happened to 'grown men don't cry'?

Quatre was still on the phone, looking even more uncomfortable. I decided to help him out. I quickly slapped the token Duo smile on my face.

"Well, thanks Q-man, you were a big help. Wow, I must have drunk a lot, huh? But don't worry about me, I'm much better now. I just need more coffee," I paused and made a show of sniffing the air, "and a shower."

Quatre smiled sympathetically, "Okay Duo, you can put up that tough front if you need it, but please just listen to my advice. Please Duo, tell her how you feel. Don't be too sure she doesn't love you."

I cringed. How did Quatre know everything? Well, I must have made it pretty obvious in my drunken state. But I couldn't just blindly tell her. I was scared. I admit it, I was. The God of Death was scared of rejection. Not that it really mattered. She had already made her answer clear by moving out. But Quatre wouldn't want to hear that.

"Thanks for the advice, Quatre. I'll think about it."

"Please do," Quatre said and smiled as moved to hang up the phone. As he reached over to hit the button to turn off the vid-screen, he came a little more into the light and I noticed something.

"Wait Quat!"

He looked at me puzzledly, "Yes Duo? Is there anything else you need?"

"No just... turn your head toward the light again? Yeah, like that. Q-man, do you have a black eye? What have you been doing?"

Quatre looked embarrassed. "Oh, it was nothing, just an accident Duo, I promise I'm fine. But I really have to get back to work."

"Oh, okay Q-man, just be careful okay? You don't need to be getting into bar fights. Remember pacifism?" I joked.

For a moment I thought Quatre was actually going to roll his eyes at me, but he just hung up the phone. I wonder what that was all about, how could Quatre have gotten a black eye?

I rubbed my temples. Okay, so Quatre was more of a headache than his information was worth. I was more confused now than I had been before. But then again, I had learned something.

But I knew there was something more. There was a big blank in my memory that none of them had bothered to fill. Well, it was probably a hopeless cause, but I really wanted to find out. I figured Trowa might tell me. Even though he rarely talked, I figured he may be a better source than Wufei, who would just taunt me.

The phone rang about 10 times before that girl – was it Cathy? – answered the phone.

"Hi! Cathy here! Oh, it's you," she finished coolly, glaring at me.

I sighed. Cathy was a beautiful, sexy woman, and I made a rule of staying on the good side of women like her. But we had gotten off to a bad start. Sheesh, you'd think she would have forgiven me for finding Trowa now that he had returned in one piece. And it wasn't really my fault. How was I supposed to know he was suffering from amnesia?

"Hey Cathy, it's Duo, remember me? We met once."

She only glared at me harder.

"Ummm, okay. Well, I just wanted to talk to Trowa. Is he around?"

Her glare didn't falter one bit. If anything, it became even fiercer. Wow, even Heero might have been able to take lessons from this girl.

"Easy! Calm down! I just want to ask him a question, I'm not going to drag him away to war or anything!"

"Make it fast," she hissed and walked off to get Trowa.

I had almost recovered from her death glare when Trowa came onto the screen.

"Tro! Wow, am I glad to see you! I thought Cathy was going to glare daggers through my skull. She'd probably have thrown the daggers at me if it had been possible!"

"Call Wufei, he has a video," Trowa said in monotone and hung up the phone.

I was left somewhat dazed. "What just happened? Call Wufei?"

Well, that left just one more source of information. A video? Did that mean he had filmed me? What had I done?

Somewhat nervously, I called up Wufei at the Preventer's office, guessing that he too would be working on the weekend.

He answered with a broad smile. I was scared already. "Good afternoon ma'am, I mean Maxwell. How are you doing today? How are you feeling? Like a woman maybe? You must have some headache after last night."

What the hell was he talking about? I had never understood him. What did he have up his sleeve? "Hey there Wu-man, I'm doing fine. How about you?"

"Let's cut the small talk Maxwell. I know what you want."

"You do?"

"And I've already sent you a copy of the video from last night. Mind, I said a copy. There are many more. And in places where not even your would-be-girlfriend could hack into them. Keep that in mind next time you decide to cross the line with me… onna." He laughed maniacally as he hung up.

Onna? Did he call me a woman? What was going on? And was he trying to blackmail me?

"Wow Wu, you really need to work on your blackmailing technique. You need to make it clear what you're talking about and not just confuse your target," I advised, knowing he had already hung up.

But he said he had sent me a copy of the video. Finally. Now I would know exactly what happened.

I went to refill my coffee mug, then sat back down in front of the TV to watch whatever it was that Wufei had sent me.

To be continued…

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A.N.: So what do you think? There should be just one or possibly two more chapters, depending on how I split it up, and then an epilogue. It's all written, I just need to go through and edit it. And I know I haven't finished the lyrics to the song, they're still coming. And the other songs are in the next part too. What do you think? I know some of my characters are a little… over the top (cough cough Wufei cough), it's just for the humor effect. I hope y'all liked it!

A.N. 2: I have edited this story just to correct a little typo (I'm sorry Quatre! I didn't mean to spell your name wrong!). Nothing else has changed. Thanks so much for the reviews and for helping me fix my story!