Yup! That's right people. It's that time of the year again. Rikku's annual party commence. If you are new to this I suggest you read Rikku's Annual Halloween Party, Rikku's Annual New years Party and Rikku's Annual Easter egg hunt first preferably in that order. Although not needed to understand it.
Disclaimer: I do not own FFX-2
"Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to meee-heee! Happy Birthday to me!" Rikku sang loudly throughout the house as she skipped to the front door to greet her last guests. "Painey!" She screamed in happiness as an irritated Paine failed to escape the bear hug aimed at her through the doorway, Chuckling softly behind his girlfriend, Baralai waved politely and handed Rikku a small brightly wrapped box with a casual greeting. "Chancellor Baralai! I am honoured! Rikku giggled, poking fun at her friends new role as Chancellor of the Spirian council. Oh well, at least it was an upgrade from Praetor.
"Happy Birthday and stuff." Paine responded in a dull voice, dragging Baralai behind her into the bright yellow living room. The whole party was sat around waiting for the last pair to arrive. Baralai went over to greet Tidus and Gippal who were in an animated car race on Rikku's gaming console. Wakka laughed as Tidus hit a wall and swore loudly. From the other corner of the room an disapproving Lulu covered a small ginger toddlers ears and stared angrily at the three men around the screen.
"Aunty Pay!" The toddler cried as he saw Paine walking towards Lulu and Yuna, who was cooing over her only nephew. Paine smirked and sat down in front of Vidina.
"Hey kid." She smiled, spending the next few minutes laughing at his funny pronunciations of words. Rikku burst through the door with bundles of party hats armed in her hands. As she began to hand them our she found herself with two spares.
"Hey, where's Nooj and Leblanc?" She pondered with a finger on her lips.
"Really!" Nooj cried, standing up from behind Lulu with a sulky Leblanc lounging on the sofa. "Are you kidding?" He snapped, snatching both party hats and shoving one roughly on his head.
"Chill out Noojster." Gippal laughed snapping the string of Nooj's hat playfully on his neck. The latter man growled and started frothing a little from the corner of his mouth. Everyone stepped back making a small circle around him.
"Presents!" Rikku cried, throwing her arms out dramatically and then gesturing to the pile of gifts behind her. Everyone sat down on the floor around the pile as Rikku decided very seriously which to open first. Gippal bobbed between his friends handing out drinks casually as they sprawled across the living room carpet. "I'm gonna open this one first!" The blonde girl exclaimed, grabbing the largest one which was from Yuna and Tidus. Excitedly she grabbed at the yellow wrapping paper, pulling it apart like a ravage fiend. Ripping off the selotape and diving in the box the Al bhed gave a loud squeal of delight. "Eeeeek! A karaoke machine." She clapped in delight. Everyone else in the room apart from Tidus and Yuna gave a groan of disappointment.
"Dibs, I'm not singing." Baralai announced first, startling a smiling Tidus who was sat in front of the white haired man.
"Nah ah. Not a chance Yevon boy." Gippal said pointing accusingly. "If I remember rightly you got out of twister too. Only one forfit. Don't be a hog." The Al bhed boy sternly said. Baralai pouted slightly and sat lower down that before, sulking.
"Well then loves. Consider this my time." Leblanc announced as she grabbed another glass of wine from the tables beside her.
"Um, that's mine." Yuna said timidly, watching Leblanc knock back the glass with a small shrug of not caring. Rikku, ignoring the hype behind her, dug through the presents unwrapping them with expert speed. Within five minutes she stood there the owner of a new purple sphere cam from Nooj and Leblanc, A photo album full of pictures from Baralai and Paine, a bright yellow skirt from Lulu and (she guessed) Wakka? and a sock puppet 'made' by Vidina.
"Hey..." She said slowly, counting her gifts slowly with her fingers and looking around the room. "Where is Gippal and my gift?" She pouted sadly. On cue Gippal entered the room casually with a small little creature sat on his shoulder, gripping onto his hair softly. The whole room gave a gasp as they realised what he had given Rikku for a gift.
"Monkey!" The blonde yelled, scaring the small creature on the Al Bhed boy to climb on his head. "Ghikki." She said, reaching out for the monkey with his new name in place. Gradually the monkey released its grip on Gippal and happily climbed into Rikku's arms.
"Great." Nooj snorted. "Could this night get worse? Singing and monkeys." He sighed, shaking his head.
"What's wrong with monkeys, love? It think its cute." Leblanc asked, touching his shoulder softly.
"We don't know." Baralai chuckled. "All we remember is Nooj yelling in his sleep about monkeys coming to get him, then he punched Gippal in the face." He snorted in uncontrollable laughter, as did Paine, recalling that night in the Crimson squad. Gippal looked less amused, rubbing his nose unconsciously in memory of that night.
"No one asked you, Chump!" Leblanc retorted, rubbing Nooj's back in a consoling manner. Baralai and Paine didn't care. The endless laughter caught on around the room as the former praetor attempted to give a full and detailed recount of the night Gippal got knocked out by a sleeping Nooj. The laughter slowly ceased as everyone noticed the dreaded karaoke machine being hooked up to the screen but Rikku and her precious Ghikki.
"Ah Yuna." Wakka began annoyed. "Why'd you have to go and do a think like that, hey?" he asked, disappointed that one of his oldest friends would give Rikku of all people such a terrible present.
"I thought Rikku would like it." She reasoned as they all watched Rikku input the names and click duet mode. The groaning continued. Worse...it was randomized pairings and songs. Everyone held their breath hoping it would be some one else's names to be pulled out. The screen span to mimic a random selection as Baralai and Nooj's names appeared side by side. Everyone burst into pure laughter as begrudgingly the former meyven and praetor stood up side by side to sing. The songs whirred around until it landed on the random one. 'You give love a bad name'By Bon Jovi. Baralai stood there in astonishment as the first line appeared for his to sing.
Shot through the heart, and you're too blame. You give love a bad name." Both Paine and Gippal giggled between them at the unfortunate nature of their friends getting a song referencing Nooj shooting Baralai. The laughter was constant as Nooj took the whole next verse. Particular giggled were had at Baralai starting again at 'you're a loaded gun, yeah'. When the song had finally finished everyone looked on a little sadly at the pair who patted each other on the back in comradeship.
The whirling of randomisation happened again as the next two names where selected. Gippal and Tidus high-fived and got ready to sing their song. 'Whip my hair' Gippal decided to start with the constant lines as Tidus interjected 'just whip it' and 'whip it real good' at selected intervals. They made a real act of it dancing and rapping along to the little girl singing the original version. Vidina happily bounced up and down watching his uncle Tidus whip his hair back and forth. Before they got to the very end both Gippal and Tidus decided to whip their hair in the same direction, resulting in both of them falling face-down on the floor after a cracking headbutt. The song ended, both singers clutching their foreheads in pain from the ground and fist bumping as they marginally beat Baralai and Nooj's score.
Yuna ran into the kitchen to grab some ice for the blondes who where happily recounting the story to each other. As the machine whirled around Rikku and Wakka were selected to go next. Excitedly the Al bhed skipped over to the screen to begin singing. Wakka put his head into his palm and shook his head looking around the room and the laughing idiots in the corner being nursed by Yuna, a babysitting Paine talking to a casual looking Lulu smiling at him and Nooj and Baralai drinking whiskey solomely in the corner, both ignoring Leblanc's whining. As he looked back at the screen he hoped he knew the song. It was 'let it go' from the Disney film Frozen. He gave Lulu a knowing smile and began to belt out the ballad louder and prouder that the hyper blonde next to him. Everyone stood there in shock as the ginger blitzer gave it his all, not missing a single note. A glass smashed in the background as Nooj let his grip go, mouth wide open in surprise. 'Let it go!Let it go! I am one with the wind and skkkkyy!' Wakka sang on as Paine tried to get bits of glass out of her hair that shattered next to her. No one rushed to help her. Even Rikku had stop singing to watch. 'I'm never going back the past is in the past!' As Wakka came to an end, arms open wide and panting a single clap was heard as Leblanc emerged from the crowd, tears in her eyes, crying bravo repeatedly. Everyone else stood stunned.
"How?"Baralai began, dramatically reaching out his arm towards the older man. "Teach me." He whispered, receiving glares from Paine who was still pulling Nooj's glass from her arms.
"Hey ya. I have a small son, you know?" He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck shyly as Vidina continued to sing the song from his mother's lap. Rikku sat sadly staring at her score which was obliterated by Wakka's. 'But its my birthday' she kept muttering to herself. Yuna pulled her upset cousin away from the screen as her and Lulu were called to play.
"Hey, Paine has no one to sing with." Gippal announced loudly, realising she was the last to be selected. The silver haired woman gave a horrifying glare at her friend.
"Ooh, i'll sing with her." Rikku volunteered, ignoring her friends glances. In the back ground Yuna and Lulu playfully sang along to their selected song 'Ace of spades'
"Forget it." Paine confirmed, dancing with Vidina. "I'm designated babysitter anyway."
"Aww, Painey wants a baby." Rikku joked playfully, looking at an embarrassed Baralai who was turning a light shade of pink.
"Well we weren't going to tell anyone-" he began shyly looking at the floor as Paine yelled his name angrily. Lulu and Yuna both dropped their microphones and gasped. Gippal patted his friend on the back playfully.
"Grats man." He smiled, explaining to Tidus what was happening. Rikku gave a squeal of delight.
"Aww, do we know if its a little 'Lai or a baby Painey?" She asked, hopping from foot to foot happily. "'Cause if its a girl you've got to name it Rikku." She told her friends.
"We don't know yet. Which is why we weren't telling anyone. Remember, Baralai?" She sternly reminded, receiving hugs from everyone in the room, even Leblanc.
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just so excited I couldn't keep it from them." He chuckled softly. Nooj laughed slowly to himself.
"Bit untraditional for you isn't it Baralai? I thought you'd want to be married first." Nooj interjected. Baralai nodded a little.
"Sure I would. But Paine wont let me." He pouted, staring at his girlfriend pleadingly.
"Ah come on Paine." Yuna said. "Look at that face, how can you say no?" She asked, meddling a little.
"Easy. No." Paine carried on, clearly getting annoyed by the conversation.
"Aw, but I haven't been to a wedding in ages. I wanna be a bridesmaid." Rikku cut in sadly.
"No." Paine stood her ground, leaving a trail of pouting faces around her. Gippal coughed and dropped to his knee slowly beside Rikku.
"Well if you want a wedding so bad, Cid's girl." He began, pulling a satin covered box from his jean pocket. "How about it?" He asked with a wink, showing her the diamond he wanted to give her. Rikku gasped and jumped up and down, jut as Ghikki jumped on her shoulder.
"Gippal! E maja ed! Oec oec oec!" She cried going for the ring at the same time as the monkey did. "Bad Ghikki!" She yelled as he ran away out the living room up the stairs, followed closely by the birthday girl.
"I knew that monkey was a bad idea." Gippal muttered, standing up on his feet.
"Really?" Nooj sarcastically asked.
"I can't believe our little group is expanding." Yuna sighed happily, looking around at the small group of friends who spent every important moment of their lives together. She knew she'd be there for Rikku and Gippal's wedding, Baralai and Paine's baby's first words, all of Lulu and Wakka's fights and make ups and even the probable adoption of Nooj and leblancs millions of cats. They were a family. A very random family brought together by fate. And any way, there was always Rikku's Annual Christmas Party after all.
THE END