Disclaimer: I hereby swear that I in no way, shape, or form, own any legal rights having to deal with Gundam Wing or the song 'Straight Tequila Night' as performed and owned by John Anderson. The characters mentioned in this story are not mine and are the property of their respective owners. I do however claim the rights to the bartender in this chapter on the grounds of self-insertion; the plot for this story however is mine and mine alone. I do this solely for entertainment purposes, and stand to gain nothing financial wise. Thank you, and I hope that you enjoy this newest story, brought to you by S. S. Shadow.
"talking"
'thinking'
song lyrics
This chapter takes place approximately one week after the events in chapter two.
Stepping into the bar room, Heero made his way over to the counter to rest his laurels upon an empty bar stool, oblivious to the activities going on around him. Glazed over orbs of blue rose to meet the bartender as he walked over to take the young man's order. He looked friendly enough, black hair and equally dark eyes, fair complexion, and didn't seem to be more then 30 or 32 years old at best, yet one look into those tell tale eyes and one could see the experience that surpassed his physical appearance. He paused a minute before speaking up. "Well, what can I get you?" Heero looked up with a sad smirk upon his face.
"Whatever works hard and fast." Nodding sharply, the barkeep ducked under the counter for a minute before re-emerging with a series of different bottles. Taking a quick look around the room, as if he was afraid someone would notice, Heero stared in blind amazement, as the mixer's hands literally became a blur of action. When they stopped, he presented Heero with a mug of what appeared to be a light brown liquid. Grasping the mug, Heero looked questionably at the man across from him before taking a quick swallow of the offered drink. It slid down his throat like liquid fire and he quickly set the glass back on the bar top. As the former pilot reached for the pitcher of water that his host had the foresight to provide, he chuckled lightly as Heero began to make short work of it. Obviously he had made this particular brew once or twice before in his time.
"So who was she?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is what I said, who was she? You know, the one who broke your heart." Pausing for a moment to recover from the after effects of his drink, Heero stared at the barkeep.
"A wolf in sheep's clothing," Heero stated flatly. The server before him chuckled in mild amusement as he cleaned a previously used glass with a random dishrag.
"You don't say, you know you're the second person I've met tonight with that same problem." Leaning his elbows upon the bar table, he pointed towards a table behind the sullen pilot who had to turn a complete 180 in order to follow his line of sight. "Corner booth next to the jukebox; blue jeans, black tee, and brown bomber jacket. She beat you here by an hour; of course if you want to get specific, it's more like a week.
*If you really wanna know, she comes here a lot*
*She just loves to hear the music and dance*
Locating the identified person, Heero was mildly surprised to see a slightly buzzed Lucrencia Noin staring off into space while gradually sipping from her glass of what appeared to be a type of white wine. The brief if not subtle hint of recognition was not lost on his current associate. "You know her?"
"Hn..." was Heero's signature response.
"I take it you're a friend of hers then?" Heero turned back to face the bar and took a smaller amount of his drink as he pondered his inquisitor's question, finally, he just shrugged weakly.
"More or less."
"Well, by the looks of it, I'd say she could use a friend about now."
*K - thirteen is her favorite song, if you play it you might have a chance*
*Tonight she's only sipping white wine*
*She's friendly and fun loving most of the time*
"Her personal life is none of my concern." The next few minutes passed in silence as one man continued drinking while the other stood thinking. 'Hmm... not the reaction I was looking for, oh well, I'll just improvise.' Hiding a smirk behind his hand, the dark young man disappeared behind the bar momentarily as Heero's attention was diverted, and soon reappeared with a glass of amber hued champagne which he proceeded to place on the bar surface next to Heero, along with four quarters and a folded piece of paper. Heero looked up to his server, eyes clearly requesting an explanation for his actions.
"Where I come from, when a friend is troubled, you do your best to help them, especially if said friend is a beautiful young woman. This is just in case you change your mind," he finished as the note and coins were slid a fraction of an inch closer to Heero.
*But don't ask her on a straight tequila night*
*She'll start thinking about him, then she's ready to fight*
*Blames her broken heart on every man in sight*
*On a straight tequila night*
With that said, the nameless server took his leave and went about his duties, leaving Heero to his thoughts. Staring at the trio of objects for a solid five minutes, curiosity finally won out and he unfolded the note before him:
"A dollar gets you three, make them count."
K13
C14
G04
As his conscience and common sense waged war within his mind, Heero's gaze alternated between the items before him, and the brooding Lieutenant off in the corner by herself. Finally though, a victor had been declared.
*Here's a glass of Chablis and some quarters in change*
*Maybe you can turn her love life around*
Slowly rising from the stool with a sigh, Heero picked up his glass up with one hand while snatching up both money and note with the other. Making his way over to the jukebox, Heero dropped the four bits of currency into the appropriate slot before quickly punching in the three sequences given to him. Up to this point he had yet to be noticed by the dark haired beauty no more then four feet from his side. As soon as the first notes of the opening song began emitting from the super-sized music box however, her eyes slowly drifted upwards to observe the selector of what happened to be one of her favorite melodies. As she recognized the young pilot before her, Noin was taken aback to say the least. "Heero? What are you doing here?"
"Hello Lt. Noin, if my source is correct, same reason you are." Noin groaned as he addressed her.
*Then she won't need the salt or the lime anymore*
*To shoot that old memory down*
"First of all, outside of work its just Lucrencia, I hate all that formality crap, and second, what source?" Heero turned to point out the bartender who had served him, only to find that he was now gone. 'Huh, where did he go?' "Well, are you going to sit down or stand there all night?" Focusing his attention back towards Noin, Heero slid onto the cushioned booth bench opposite of her. "So, what brings you..."
"Relena," Heero growled flatly, the tone of his voice was calm, but at the same time dangerously quiet. Noin nodded once sharply to show her understanding of the situation.
"Zechs." Heero returned the gesture with one of his own as he raised his glass.
"To exes..." Noin brought her glass up to meet his.
"... May they burn in hell." Clinking their glasses together, a bitter smile crossed both faces as they proceeded to drown their sorrows as one.
*Just remember her heart's on the mend*
*If you ever come back here to see her again*
As the hours passed and midnight rolled around, both parties, now equally tipsy, but not yet drunk, made their way to the exit and out into the cool night air using one another for support. It's amazing how a few drinks can change a person, in this case two people who to most seem quiet and reserved becoming practically giddy at the littlest thing. Using one another as a crutch, they made their way down the street, Using what logic was left to them, they decided it would be best if they both crashed at Noin's place for the night considering that it was only a block away compared to Heero's which resided halfway across town, and that given their inhibited state, nether of them should be left to cope alone.
*Don't ask her on a straight tequila night*
*She'll start thinking about him, then she's ready to fight*
*Blames her broken heart on every man in sight*
*On a straight tequila night*
As the pair of broken hearts made their way along the sidewalk down the street, a lone presence stood perched upon the ledge of the flattop roof adorning the bar. Smirking, proud of his most recent work, the state of his most recent slacks/button down wardrobe fell away before shifting and reforming into the more familiar attire of an all black ensemble. Letting the mask of an added 10 or so years fade from his face to reveal a more youthful appearance, the adjoining hooded cloak fluttered gently behind him in the evening breeze. He chuckled joyfully at the departing couple before taking his leave. Leaping off the ledge and landing upon the sidewalk with feline grace, he quietly retreated in the opposite direction of both pilots. 'Good luck, you two take care of each other.' Then, with the light from a nearby street lamp serving as his only source of illumination, the shrouded figure literally faded away into the night.
The End.
Author's Notes: Well there you have it; to my small, but faithful group of story fans I'm sorry it took so long to finally get this last chapter posted, but I finally finished the trilogy as promised. For this last chapter I decided to try a new approach and wrote the actual story before inserting the song lyrics where I felt they would be most useful, whether or not this was an improvement I'll leave for you to decide. I was hoping to display Noin and Yuy as more of a couple by the end of this story, but this was as far as I felt that I could safely take their budding relationship for the time being. I have been entertaining the idea of trying to write a second musical trilogy to cover the future of their relationship, but if and when I do decide to pursue such a venture, I doubt it will be anytime in the near future. I invite any and all readers to offer possible ideas and songs for this next series as long as they keep in mind two things about the songs, that they are country (my favorite genre if you did not already know) and that none of them contain excessive gratuitous language In the meantime I've decided to go about updating my current fics before going back to work on my prize project, my DBZ fic entitled Love and War. I hope that this won't discourage any and all potential readers and reviewers from R&R my other stories, if you liked The Pain and Joy of Love, I'm sure you'll love my other works as well. As a final note on the chapter, I was feeling a bit adventurous at the time so decided to self-insert myself into this final chapter, or at least my character as shown in Love and War. All right then, I guess that's about it for now. Any updates that I might need to make will be posted as an additional chapter, and as always, positive comments and constructive criticism are appreciated, flames however will be disregarded for they are insulting and a waste of my time, later.
ADVERTISMENT:: If you liked this story or are a simple fan of Gundam Wing, then check out my other GW story 'Old Love, New Love'. In addition to these are my ongoing DBZ romance/action fic 'Love and War', and my Tenchi Muyo fic 'Rainy Day Lover' and it's sequel 'Lovers Revealed' As for any potential or hardcore Yu-Gi-Oh fans out there who might have an interest in uncommon pairings, I have started a new fic for this anime involving an eventual Joey/Ishizu pairing entitled 'The Odd Couple' I can assure you that any of these five stories make for a decent read and have been labeled as so by other readers.