Toy Fic

25. Karaoke Party

The Andersons' car was packed with hiking and camping gear when it pulled out of the driveway. Unsurprisingly, right after the car pulled away, several toys peered out from behind the couch.

"Are they all gone?" Trixie asked. "YES! It's time! Get it!"

The toys gathered together the TV remotes. Trixie clicked through all of the settings until the connection was properly established—the karaoke machine.

"YES!" Trixie said. "Somebody dim the lights! Parteeeee! And I've got dibs on the first song."

Trixie immediately placed a microphone in front of herself on the coffee table, and punched in her song.

"Why can't the world… be more like in my dreams?" she sang sweetly. "It would be full… of all my favorite things!"

With the lights dimmed, and the sound system rocking the entire place, toys began to dance everywhere.

"Honey, let's go next!" Mrs. Potato Head said eagerly. "Oh, I've always loved your renditions of those intense heavy metal love ballads."

"Dibs," Jessie said hastily. "Buzz, let's do something from Grease."

"Um… Grease?" Buzz said blankly.

"Yeah, Grease. Loved that movie when it came out. Reminded me of Emily, in a good way. It was about… you know, her time. I liked watchin' her back then, and…" Jessie stepped back, smiling sadly. "Yeah, Grease. Let's do it."

As Trixie finished her song, Jessie got on the table and entered in "Summer Nights". "Buzz, let's do this," she said.

"Um… if, we, um… okay," Buzz said.

He picked up the second microphone and cleared his throat as the music began. "Um, summer lovin', had me a blast."

"Summer lovin', happened so fast," Jessie sang powerfully.

"I met a girl crazy for me…" Buzz clearly had no confidence about his singing, but it was adequate, and Jessie stared at him in admiration.

"Met a boy cute as can be," she responded.

As they began the duet, Woody leaned back and thought about his own musical selection, also watching the other toys in the room, the happy rhythm they'd settled into.

"Oh, hey, Belle," he said. The brunette had plopped herself onto the floor right next to Woody.

"Hi," Belle said cheerfully. She started laughing.

"What is it?" Woody said with a confused smile.

Belle waved her hand. "Oh, nothing. It's just… that Mr. Cold is such a tease!" She skipped off, still laughing.

Woody didn't know what to make of that, so he shimmied along the couch over to Rapunzel and Tiana. "Hello, princesses," he said. "Are you all going to sing?"

"Most of us," Tiana said. "Mulan and Jasmine are over there, they'll be here, and maybe Belle can…" Tiana looked over Woody's shoulder and flinched. "Oh. Never mind."

Woody turned, and only managed to catch a glimpse of Belle running away holding Mr. Cold tightly.

"Well, she's off snogging," Rapunzel said. "We need a fifth girl in our line! How do we do this?"

"W-we made out under the dock," Buzz sang unsteadily.

"We stayed out 'til ten o'clock," Jessie twirled and danced exuberantly to the music.

"And where did Jas and Mulan go?" Tiana added. "Oh, good, they're with Dolly."

A few feet away, Jasmine was leaning towards Dolly interestedly, asking, "So, you just tape up the spray nozzle?"

"Yeah," Dolly said, "and the next person to turn it on gets—oh, hey there," she said hastily. "What's going on, Woody?"

Woody smiled at her. "The princesses want you to sing with them. Could you?"

"Oh, sing with us!" Jasmine said happily.

"Eh, I don't really… sing…"

"Oh, come on, Doll," Woody said with a smirk. "It'll be adorable."

"That settles it," Mulan said. "Come on."

Jasmine and Mulan tugged Dolly up to the table as Buzz was stammering the last bars of "Summer Nights". When it ended, Jessie kissed him firmly on the cheek, to applause all around the room.

Dolly lined up with the four princesses and looked uncertainly at the screen. "Um, 'Getting Lucky', 1987, originally performed by the Chipettes… who in Milton Bradley are the Chipettes?" When images from the music video appeared on the screen, Dolly muttered, "Oh… um, I see. Huh."

And, with a fair five-part harmony, Dolly and the princesses began: "Honey, you're a sweet thing… and you look so fine… all I ever wanted, is to make you mine…"

Woody found himself dancing to the beat, and surprisingly, felt someone brush against him. It was Cleo.

"Hey," she said.

"Um, hi."

"Share a dance with me, pardner?" she joked in a heavy drawl.

"Well, sure Cleo," Woody said, pleased. "It'd be a real privilege."

Cleo put her hands on his shoulders and started shaking her whole body. "So, Woody, what's on your mind?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Cleo said. "Everybody knows you're looking for a girlfriend in this room, right?"

"Um… yeah," Woody admitted.

Cleo smirked. "Aren't I in the running?"

"Oh," Woody said. "Well, I'd never considered that, actually."

"Why?" she said with a smile. "'Cause I'm a Bratz doll? Not some innocent princess that everybody treasures?"

"Er…"

"Thought so," Cleo said, but she didn't have a trace of bitterness, she was still smiling mischievously. "You ought to open your mind a bit."

"Give me… a clue… tell me what I need to do, to get lucky with you!"

Cleo favored Woody with a dance that was… well, extremely favorable to him. He hadn't known there was such a thing as "dirty square dancing", but Cleo did it masterfully.

"Wow," he said.

"I'm a simple doll," Cleo said. "I've got feelings like any other doll, just remember that."

The song was over, and that was it. Woody didn't care that he wasn't so sure of this action; he didn't care that everybody was watching, it didn't even bother him that the tempo of the song that had just finished didn't even fit the mood. He pulled Cleo close to him and kissed her on her full lips.

Cleo kissed him back, and the two of them held it there for a moment. The room went quiet, only scattered mumbling surrounding them.

"Oh, that is disgusting," Hamm finally said. "Whose idea was it to bring Bratz dolls into this room…?"

Woody looked at him fearfully.

"Oh, right, mine," Hamm said. "Piggy bank for the win!"

Somebody whooped, and the entire crowd cheered. Woody and Cleo kissed again.

"Wanna sing, baby?" Cleo asked.

"Sure," Woody said, looking up. On the table, the princesses were positively jumping with excitement, but he'd intended to get a good look at Dolly. She stood there silently, smiling at him gently. He smiled back.

"Yeah," he said, taking Cleo's arm. "Let's you and me sing a little song."