DISCLAIMER
Plushoo (Me): Okay, boys! Who wants to do the disclaimer?
Duo: Pick me! PICK ME! flails arms around wildly
Plushoo: Okay! Quatre, you get to do it!
Duo: You always pick Quatre!
Plushoo: I know. I love him. hugglez Quatre
Quatre: mmph!
Heero: You're choking him.
Plushoo: Oh! Sorry, Quatre! lets go of Quatre
Duo: It's not fair!
Plushoo: Tough. Anyways, Quatre, say it.
Quatre: in a rehearsed voice that sounds like he's done this a million times Plushoo does not own Gundam Wing.
Trowa: sarcastically Really?
Quatre: shoves Trowa's head into a fishbowl However, she does own the songs.
Wufei: But I thought that I owned the songs.
Quatre: No, Plushoo owns the songs because she wrote them. She just gives them to you.
Wufei: That's not what happens in the story.
Trowa: as he sticks his head out of the water and gasps for breath Stop it! You're giving it away.
Quatre and Wufei: Sorry.
Heero: Just read the damn thing already, willya!
curtains close and fighting is heard in the background
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"Hey, guys. What's up?"
Quatre walked into the living room of the third-story apartment he shared with Heero, Wufei, Trowa, and Duo. It was a comfortable room, if a bit small, and was furnished with three squashy, light-blue, red, and yellow armchairs, a black beanbag chair, and a green corduroy couch that could fit three. Duo was on the beanbag chair, flicking channels on the TV with the remote. He looked up as Quatre walked in.
"Not much, buddy," he said, his voice bored, "unless you count channel surfing."
Quatre's face remained serious. "Well, you won't be doing much of that anymore, Duo. They're gonna cut off the cable soon. And it's not just that. The rent, the hydro… Everything is way past due!" He held a small piece of paper out for Duo to read. Taking it, the brown-haired jokester's face turned to a look of alarm.
"What!" He stared at the paper in shock. "W-whaddya mean, 'everything is two months past due'! What the hell are we gonna do!" Turning to face the couch, where Heero was lying down, Duo shoved the notice in his friend's face.
"What do you think about this!" Duo screamed, his voice frantic. "We're all gonna get kicked out!"
"If you keep screaming like that, we will for sure," replied Heero, shaking his head. "You've gotta calm down, Duo."
"Calm down! CALM DOWN! YOU calm down! This is an emergency!" Duo flung his hands into the air furiously.
Wufei, unfortunately, choose that exact moment to enter the room.
SMACK
"OUCH! DUO!"
"Umm…" Duo looked half apologetic and half terrified. A red mark had just appeared on Wufei's left cheek, but it quickly disappeared as the enraged Chinese man's face deepened to a shade of bright scarlet. "Sorry, Wufei! It was an accident…!"
"YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"
Wufei then chased Duo around the room fifty-two times in less than a minute, beating him over the head relentlessly with the overdue notice.
"Owwiee!" Duo cried desperately as he tried to escape his beating. "That hurts! It was an accident! Stoppit!"
Staring at Heero lying nonchalantly on the couch, Duo moaned.
"Make him stop, Heero!"
"Be quiet, Duo." said Heero. "You deserve it."
"No I don't!"
Quatre merely watched the entire time, his mind being distracted from the comical display because of the thought of the overdue notice. This was serious! It would be all his fault if they got kicked out. He could've found a job by now, but… No one seemed willing to hire him.
"What're we gonna do, guys?"
"I'm going out," said Heero, getting up off the couch and walking towards the door. "Try not to get us kicked out until I get back." He grabbed his coat and hat off the rack and made his exit, walking downstairs quickly and quietly.
"I wonder where he's going…" Quatre sighed. "He probably got sick of you two arguing."
"Not me," said Duo defiantly. "No one can ever get sick of me." He grinned.
Wufei glared poison daggers at him. "Wanna bet?"
Just then, Trowa walked in, shirtless (Fanservice!). He stretched and yawned. It seemed that he had only just woken up. He blinked a couple of times and rubbed his eyes.
"What's going on, guys?" He stifled a yawn.
"We're gonna get evicted," said Duo calmly, grinning.
"WHAT!" exclaimed Wufei and Trowa at the same time, staring at Duo.
Quatre stared at Duo in disbelief. "You were freaking out about that two minutes ago, remember!"
Duo blinked. "Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"What're we gonna do?" Wufei pointed to the window. "It's the middle of winter!"
"We can't get evicted!" added Duo frantically. "I'll be hounded by girls night and day if I don't have a place to hide out!"
"Speak for yourself," said Trowa lamely.
"Just--" Quatre stretched his arms out in front of him, as if he were trying to keep away a pack of rabid beasts. "Just let me think about it. I'm sure I'll figure something out."
"We're all counting on you, Quatre!" said Duo, grinning and flopping back into the beanbag chair. Picking up the remote, he folded his left arm behind his head and started flicking channels on the TV with his right.
"Yeah. No pressure, Quatre," added Wufei, who stalked off to his room to put a bandage on his cheek and plot revenge against Duo. Trowa made a beeline to the bathroom to take a shower.
"No pressure, Quatre," the petite Arabian mimicked. Sighing, he headed out the door, grabbing his coat and scarf on the way. The snow was coming down harder than ever now; he would need to bundle up. Thinking for a minute, Quatre did a quick double-take, reaching in and grabbing his hat and gloves.
Out he went, into a swirl of white that enveloped him the minute he stepped out of the door. Bowing his head against the torrential wind, he began to walk towards town. He was planning to go to his favourite place to sit and think over a hot cup of Starbucks coffee - Chapters. The atmosphere of the place was extremely calming to him; he loved the smell of books and the soft sense of tranquility. He might even see Heero, who liked the place almost as much as he did. It was one of the few things that they actually talked about. It wasn't that they didn't get along with each other very well; they just didn't talk much. There never seemed to be any point to their conversations.
Quatre lifted up his head to get his bearings. His face was immediately greeted by a blast of icy wind. Squinting, he looked around quickly and saw, to his great relief, a building that looked like Chapters. Tilting his head down again, he hurried over and pulled open the door.
The driving wind stopped as he shut the door behind himself. Shaking his head, Quatre unwrapped his red, black, and white scarf and removed his thick woollen hat.
His ears were immediately greeted by a rush of noise. The clinking of cans and mugs, the loud voices, the stomping of heavy boots, all mingled with the sounds of laughter - there was only one possibility. Blinking in stupidity at his foolish mistake, Quatre looked around in anguish.
He had stumbled into some sort of bar or pub by accident. Some of the male guests in a corner (truckers, by the looks of them) were making a raucous din with two of the hostesses, while four more pretty girls were doing some sort of dance on the bar counter. Quatre did not want to stay. Turning, he tried to push open the door. But just at that moment, a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
She was a beautiful girl. She had long, dark, shiny brown hair, dark brown eyes, a small nose, and nicely shaped lips that seemed to be made for kissing. She was very petite, and similar in height to Quatre, but it seemed that she could handle herself if the situation called for it. She was wearing a black leather miniskirt, a light pink tube top, black high heels, and bright red lipstick. Her hair hung down to her waist, curling slightly at the bottom. She grinned, showing off dazzlingly white teeth, and said to Quatre, "Where're you goin', hot stuff? The party's just started!"
Quatre was speechless. He closed his gaping mouth and silently followed his hostess to a table near the front window. Sitting down on a comfortable wooden chair, he tried to take his eyes off of her, but for some strange reason, he couldn't. She took a seat across from him, not once letting down her huge, but still pretty, grin.
"My name's Shy, by the way," she said loudly, trying to overcome the noise. "What's yours?"
"Q-Quatre," the blonde teenager stammered. What was wrong with him? Inwardly he cursed himself for his flustered behaviour. He should've gotten out of here while he had the chance. Who knew what was going to happen to him now? For all he knew, this girl could be a member in some sort of weird cult or something!
"Why'd you try to leave back there, Quatre?"
"I-I was…" He gulped. "I was looking for Chapters. I guess I got lost in the storm."
Shy seemed to disregard the fact that he hadn't actually meant to come here, and instead devoted her attention to his comment about the weather. "It is really coming down out there, isn't it?"
Quatre nodded lamely.
"So this is your first time here? Well, then, come with me!" With that, Shy grabbed Quatre's arm and dragged him to the counter. Grabbing a megaphone from out of nowhere, she shouted into it (blasting Quatre's eardrums in the process):
"Looky, everyone! We've got a first timer here!"
Everyone looked at her and Quatre for a moment, then cheered loudly, raising their glasses in tribute. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed Arabian just stood there, dumbfounded and a little embarrassed.
"An' what do we do with first timers!"
"FREE ROUND!" came the reply. Then Quatre felt himself being pulled up onto the bar counter by the four dancing girls, who then proceeded to strip him of his coat, sweater and shirt, exposing his pale stomach and nicely-developed abs. Every girl in the bar whistled. Quatre blushed bright scarlet.
After that, everything became a blur; he felt people pushing mugs of beer into his hands and, for some reason, himself guzzling them down. Then, not knowing how much time had passed, he got down off of the counter, receiving hearty slaps on his bare back from the men that felt like lashes from a whip to him. Then he fell over and promptly passed out.
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"Oh…"
Quatre sat up, rubbing his head, which felt as though someone had jabbed a thousand poisoned needles into it. He moaned in anguish. He was still wearing his pants from yesterday, although his shirt was gone. What had happened last night? He had to figure out what was going on…
Trowa walked in and looked at Quatre in mild surprise. "Hey, Quatre," the brown-haired teenager said, looking down at him. "What did you do last night, anyways?"
"What do you mean?" Quatre blinked twice and grimaced as a new spasm of pain crossed his aching head.
"Some girl named Shy had to drop you off last night. She said that you had passed out at her bar and told us to give you this note when you woke up." Trowa handed his blonde friend a slip of pink paper that was folded in half. It smelled strongly of rose perfume. Opening it, Quatre read it over twice. It said:
Hey, Quatre!
I had a great time last night. Too bad you passed out halfway thru the party. I drove you home -- I found your address in your wallet. Seems like you have nice friends. Anyway, here's my number. You should drop by my bar again sometime! It's called the Late Rose. Ciao!
Shy 291-7620
There was a picture of her taped onto the bottom of the note. Quatre sighed.
"Got a girlfriend, Quatre?' mocked Trowa, smiling thinly.
"No!" replied Quatre defensively, bristling. Trowa looked a bit taken aback. At that moment, the others walked in on them. Heero was the first one to speak.
"Wow. You've never acted like this before, Quatre."
"Yeah," added Duo. "What's wrong? Are you in love or something?"
"I am NOT in love!" Quatre yelled, causing his skull to resonate with pain. "Oh…"
"Seems like our blonde buddy here is a bit hung-over," put in Wufei, smirking.
The others blinked and stared at Quatre. They were all thinking the same thing: Hung over? Quatre would never drink alcohol. He wouldn't even try a sip of champagne. How could he have a hangover?
"Quatre!" said Duo, mocking anger. "I'm ashamed of you!"
Quatre raised his arms in defense, trying desperately to get the others to understand. "Listen, guys, it's not what you think. Really!"
"Well, whatever happened, this came in the mail today," said Heero, sitting down on the end of Quatre's bed and holding out a flyer. The other boys crowded around. The piece of paper was neon green with large red and white lettering. It proclaimed:
BATTLE OF THE BANDS CHRISTMAS BASH!
Come one, come all! Great prizes to be won!
To be held at the Late Rose bar, Dec. 23!
GRAND PRIZE:
$5000 CASH!
"Look, it's signed 'Shy' at the bottom." Duo pointed to the signature, which consisted of a very large S in the shape of a treble clef and an h and y that looked like music notes.
"Your girlfriend seems to really enjoy music, Quatre," noted Wufei, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
"For the last time, she is NOT my girlfriend!"
"You're gonna get an even worse headache if you keep screaming like that, Quatre," put in Duo.
Trowa and Heero weren't paying attention to the other's argument, however. They were both staring at the flyer and thinking the same thing. They looked at each other and raised their eyebrows.
"Guys, I think that Heero and I have an idea," said Trowa loudly. He had to shout to get the others to hear him.
Duo and Wufei stared at Heero and Trowa. Quatre winced and rubbed his head again.
"Do any of you guys play instruments?" asked Heero slyly.
Wufei's eyes widened as he figured out Trowa and Heero's plan. "Oh, no. You guys can't be serious. No way am I going through with this!"
"Oh, come on!" Duo put his arm around Wufei's shoulders and grinned. "This'll be great! By the way," he added, looking nonchalantly at Trowa, "what are we gonna do again?"
Trowa, Heero and Wufei fell over. Quatre sneezed.
"We're making a band, you idiot!" shouted Wufei angrily. "Wait! I mean, we're not--"
"Perfect! Everyone agrees!" Trowa smiled slightly. "Now, getting back to those instruments…"
"I SAID, we are NOT going to make a band!"
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"Making me play guitar… grr… how dare they do this…"
Wufei grumbled to himself as he wrote in his diary. It was something he had kept a secret from everyone, because he knew that Duo would go nuts if he somehow managed to get hold of the precious tome. Wufei wrote everything in it - his emotions, his thoughts, his fears, his revenge plans for Duo… everything. And now he had another favourite pastime.
Writing song lyrics.
The words just seemed to come to him, out of the blue. He would go to bed, then, after everyone else was asleep, he would turn on his desk lamp and begin to write. They were mostly love songs, and this was the most embarrassing part of it all. He, Wufei, writing love songs. It was totally out of character. Although, he had to admit that they were pretty good; at least, it seemed to him that they had good rhythm. Now he was writing about the girl that had brought Quatre back home after his night of partying.
The Girl
She had
Black hair
And perfect white teeth
You were
Dazed, Unconscious
And more than half asleep
But it seems to me
That there is something happening here
Something that can't be explained
(chorus)
You love her, can't you see it?
It's right there in your eyes
Just take a look around
And you would be surprised
She loves you and she cares
She wants to be next to you always
Always and forever
No matter what she says
No matter what she says…
"Okay, so it's not the most complete song in the world. But still, the rhyme scheme was kind of nice…"
"Really? I think that-"
Wufei paused. He looked up to see who was talking to him and he saw Duo's grinning face. Wufei's eyes got really big and really round.
"What's up, Wufei old buddy?"
"DUUUUOOOO!"
"Gah!" Duo jumped back in surprise. "Hold on, Wufei! I didn't mean to--"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Trowa, Heero and Quatre appeared in the doorway, all wearing their pyjamas. Quatre still looked kind of sick.
"What's going on, guys?" Heero looked angrily at Duo and Wufei. "It's three in the morning! People are trying to sleep!"
"Duo snuck into my room!" Wufei pointed his finger viciously at Duo, who did his best to try and look innocent. "No one can come into my room! Out! OUT!" He tried to whack Duo over the head with his diary.
"Hey--!" Duo dodged out of the way, grabbing the diary and holding it over his head. "Calm down, Wufei! What's the big--"
Wufei jumped on top of Duo's head, sending them both crashing to the floor. While they were arguing, Trowa reached down and picked up the book.
"Let's see…" He flipped it open, Quatre and Heero peering over his shoulders to see what was inside of it. He turned the pages quickly, stopping when he found something that peaked his interest. His eyebrows shot up, disappearing into his hair. "What's this? A love song?"
"GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!"
Wufei made several attempts to snatch the book back from Trowa, but to no avail. Trowa held the book high in one hand while keeping Wufei back with the other.
"Wufei, will you just calm down?" said Heero angrily, very annoyed at being woken up. "Trowa, give it back to him before he has a heart attack."
"Fine." Trowa handed the book back to Wufei, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not that important, anyways."
Wufei grabbed the book and ran to the other side of the room, frantically looking for space. After a moment he regained his composure. Keeping a tight grip on the book, he said, in an odd, high-pitched voice, "I would like it if you all left now. Please get out." It was obvious that something had snapped inside his mind after years of being exposed to the chemical known as Duo.
"Hey, Wufei…" Duo looked very taken aback at Wufei's behaviour. He hadn't expected him to freak out so much. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to… umm… make you act like that." He backed up until he got to the doorway, then turned and ran back to his own room. The others followed him, leaving Wufei alone with his broken brain.
"Umm…" Quatre looked over his shoulder at the Wufei's closed door. "Are you guys sure that he'll be okay by himself? I mean…"
"He'll be fine." Heero kept walking. "He's been through a lot worse than this, believe me."
"I guess…" Quatre sighed. It was hard to believe how strange everyone around here was.
"Heero…"
"What is it, Trowa?"
"I think I have another idea…" Trowa looked back at Wufei's door.
"You don't mean…" Heero's brows furrowed momentarily, then he sighed and shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine, whatever. If you can get him to agree with you."
"In his current state of mind, that shouldn't be a problem." Trowa smirked evilly.
"Wait a minute!" Quatre looked at the other two incredulously. "You guys aren't seriously thinking of using Wufei's songs, are you!"
"Why not? They're good enough, from what I read." Trowa shrugged. "And we really need that money. I'll convince Wufei to let us use his songs in the morning. I'm tired from all this excitement. Good night."
"Night, Trowa…" Quatre watched his friend's retreating back for a moment, then yawned. "I should go to bed too. Today's been really exhausting. Night, Heero."
"Quatre…" Heero stood and stared out f the window. Stars filled the night sky, and a crescent moon glowed brightly in the middle of it all.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. But… It's all thanks to you that this happened. If you had never met that Shy girl…"
Quatre blushed. "Erm… thanks, I think. Good night."
"Night."