I've decided to go through with the House of Mouse idea. (: Don't hate me.
Sorry for the slow update. And, I know I don't say this as much as I should, but thank you for all the kind reviews. (: They really mean a lot to me.
Special thanks to blueflower1594. ;)
Tiana walked into a room of smiling faces. They were all obviously trying to hide their excitement, failing rather miserably, of course. Snow White was bumping up and down a bit, and Cinderella was rocking on her heels.
"What's goin' on?" Tiana asked, not stepping through the door frame.
"We have a surprise for you and Naveen!" Ariel squealed, waving her hands a bit. Snow White's bouncing grew more aggressive, her eyes closed tight in enthusiasm. Jasmine and Mulan were giggling to each other. Tiana rolled her eyes, sighing.
"What kind of surprise?" She asked, fully stepping in the door. Belle shifted to give her room on the sofa, where Tiana sat with a smile.
"Well…" Aurora said, bubbly with excitement, "Since you two have never been…we're going to take you to the House of Mouse!"
"Excuse me?"
"The House of Mouse." Pocahontas said, grinning, "It's a club."
"A club?" Tiana asked warily. Clubs have never been her thing; too many people moving about, too much alcohol. Naveen adored them, of course, but not her.
"More of a restaurant, but yes." Belle said. Tiana smiled in relief. "Maybe you'll find a recipe you like."
"More likely she'll just take over the kitchen itself." Mulan teased. Tiana laughed, even though she suspected Mulan wasn't really joking.
"Meet us at Beast's castle at six next Friday." Jasmine said, "We'll lead you there."
"Trust us, it'll be fun." Belle said, the other girls nodding.
Tiana smiled meekly.
Naveen already knew when she got home; the princes had told him themselves.
"Can you wait, Tiana?" he said as he took a bite of their dinner. "I hear that Disney people of all walks of life come to eat there! Maybe we will meet someone from a time period closer to our own."
"Maybe…"Tiana said quietly, shifting her fork in her food.
"Is something wrong, my dear?"
"No, no…I'm just wondering. The Disney universe is so huge…who knows who else we could meet? Or what else?"
"I am sure there is proper security to make sure no one gets out of line." He assured her, reaching out to hold her hand. She smiled, clutching his.
"You're right. I'm being silly."
"Now eat this amazing dish you prepared."
"I shall." She grinned, scooping some vegetables with her fork.
Friday night, Naveen and Tiana drove to the Beast's Castle. Tiana wore her sparkly blue dress she borrowed from Charlotte; after all, she was one of the few with multiple good outfits, why not show them off?
"Whoa." Naveen said as they pulled into the front gate. All of the couples had their own vehicles; mostly carriages, though Jasmine and Aladdin sat on a carpet that just so happened to be floating in the air. "What is that?" he asked, getting out of his car to walk up to it. It shook his hand, adding to his amazement.
"The magic carpet." Aladdin said. "I can give you a ride sometime, if you'd like."
"That would be great!" Naveen cried, grinning. A magic carpet! God, if he could enchant his car to fly…the possibilities would be endless!
"Will everyone please enter their means of transportation now?" Cinderella said, "We will be leaving in a few minutes!"
Naveen reluctantly rejoined his wife in the car. Belle and the Beast started their carriage, the others following. It was then when Naveen realized what following carriages meant. His speed never topped 15 mph.
He finally stopped drumming on his steering wheel in boredom when they approached the building. It dwarfed all the others on the street, towering over even the largest ones. Huge spotlights roamed the skies, the name lit up in big, cartoony letters. However, what was most noticeable were the people entering it. Large yellow bears, hag-like witches, personified playing cards…the list went on. Tiana clutched her husband's hand as they exited the car.
"Oh, Tia, you look gorgeous!" Jasmine said as they passed, seemingly unconcerned about the strange people (and things) entering the place they are about to eat at. Tiana cautiously followed the other couples, not leaving Naveen's side.
The inside, however, made the outside look sane. The diversity of the customers increased tenfold, some of them not even look vaguely familiar. Anthropomorphic animals scuttled about, something Tiana was used too, to an extent. That is, until a small lion cub bumped into her.
"Excuse me, ma'm." he said, jogging off. Tiana stared at it, wide eyed.
"Naveen…I just understood that animal."
"So?"
"I haven't understood an animal since we were frogs." She looked at him, a look of realization on his face.
"Get used to it." Mulan said, patting her shoulder. "All the animals talk and act like humans here."
"OH MY GOD!" Tiana shouted suddenly, leaping back and knocking Belle almost off her feet.
"What? What?" she cried, catching her.
"Some of our ENEMIES are here!"
"Oh…" The princess laughed, much to Tiana's annoyance.
"What's so funny? This is BAD, girls!"
"Nope, they're just here for the food and the cartoons." Jasmine assured her. "No one dares to try anything evil here; the King makes sure of that." She nodded her head towards the stage, and to Tiana's shock, a giant mouse stood there. He joked and laughed, his high pitched voice echoing through the restaurant.
"The King?"
"King Mickey." Belle said.
"And he can actually defend us against our enemies?" Tiana asked, not convinced in the slightest. A giant mouse in a suit? They were as good as dead.
"Actually, yes." Mulan said. "You know how Shang and I fought off the heatless?"
"Yeah, y'all were amazing."
"Yes, imagine that with five times the acrobatics, three times the experience, and ten times the speed. Not to mention some really powerful magic. And a keyblade, though I guess you don't know what that is yet."
"…Wow."
"Yep."
"Com'n girls, let's get tables!" Ariel piped, skipping to a group of empty ones. Tiana and Naveen sat down at a table for two, only to be ambushed by a tall dog.
"Hiya, I'm Goofy, and I'll be your waiter today, hyuk!" he laughed, then, realizing who they were, leapt forward to shake their hands. "You folks are the new princess and prince, aren't ya? By golly, I'm charmed!"
"Um, thank you." Naveen said, smiling nervously.
"Oh, gosh, I gotta take your order!" Goofy gave another "hyuk," whipping out his notepad. "What would ya like?"
"Um, I'll have the…um…Mad Hatter Platter?" Tiana said, raising an eyebrow at the strange name.
"And for me the…ah...Pork Tender Lion Cub?" Naveen added.
"Right away!" Goofy exclaimed, giving a little salute before bounding off.
"A little more informal than ours, is it not?" Naveen joked, Tiana nodding. "Still, that is not necessarily a bad thing."
"No…" Tiana said. She did indeed feel a little more relaxed here than most places, like she could just sit back and have some fun. Still, it was a little unnatural sitting just a few tables away from someone who had once tried to kill a friend of yours. She suspected that it was part of the magic of the club, though, that just for an hour or two, everyone suddenly stops fighting and simply sits back and watches cartoons. I'll just get used to it, like Mulan said. She thought.
As Mickey announced the first cartoon, Tiana couldn't help but be astounded by it. She had seen cartoons before; Gertie the Dinosaur, Felix the Cat. But these were in full color, sound, and the animation was so clean and smooth…it looked like nothing she had ever seen before.
"This is amazing." Naveen whispered. His wife nodded.
After the cartoon, Mickey announced a band of young ducks called the "Brooks and Ducks." Tiana was unfamiliar with their music; it seemed to be hillbilly, but mixed with another element of music she wasn't quite familiar with. This place is outside of our world's timeline. She remembered. It might not be around yet.
Suddenly, a holler rang through the club. Goofy burst through the kitchen doors, sliding on some liquid. He through the dishes he was carrying, sending them flying onto Tiana and Naveen's table before he finally crashed into the performing band with a CLASH. The food seemed relatively unaffected, much to Tiana's surprise, and she dug into her meal as soon as she could.
Naveen was eating his food rather quickly when someone bumped into his arm, sending his food into his plate. Sauce soaked his sleeve, burning his skin underneath.
"Ah!" He cried, clutching his arm.
"No one burns arms like Gaston!" came a low voice from above him. Glancing up, Naveen saw a tall man, maybe in his early thirties, towering over him. His raven black hair was pulled back, away from his strong, condescending face. His shirt was bulging with the muscles underneath.
"What was that about?" Naveen snapped, standing up.
"Honey…" Tiana whispered, trying to coax him back down in his seat, but he ignored her. The man glared at him, holding out his arm to summon a horde of giggling blonde girls practically drooling for him. Naveen rolled his eyes. Like that was supposed to impress him. He acquires that many girls within ten seconds of stepping inside a country.
Gaston frowned at Naveen's indifferent face. Usually they respected that.
"Sir, I do not believe you realize my magnitude of manliness." He said, stepping forward.
"Yes, I do." Naveen snarked, "You come here throwing around your muscles and expect us to cower in fear. I get it. And it doesn't impress me." Naveen leaned back on their table, smirking. Gaston was starting to grimace in anger.
"Ok, fellas, let's not start a fight." Mickey hopped down from the stage, stepping in between the two men. Naveen sighed, slumping down in his chair as Gaston strutted away. Mickey grinned, returning to his place. Suddenly, Naveen heard chuckles behind him. Turning, he was shocked to see it was Adam and Belle.
"What?" he asked.
"Its only…" Adam said, "I should have figured you two would be at each other's necks."
"Why…?" Naveen said warily, turning more to face him.
"Well…think about it." Belle smiled, "You're both strong, handsome men, the women love you, you love them equally back…except for you, of course, since you're now married…and you both have something of an ego."
"I do not—" Naveen started to argue until he saw the expression on Tiana's face, her eyebrow raised and her mouth in a slight smile. He sighed. "Alright, I see your point."
"Don't take it personally." Adam said, "You're like him in a much nicer way."
"Thank you, I guess."
Naveen finished the last of his dinner with Tiana, watching the remainder of the cartoons. Finally, about midnight, Mickey finally stood up on the stage for the last time.
"Looks like that was our last cartoon!" He said, laughing, "See ya real soon!"
Naveen took his wife's arm and led her out to the car. Strangely, he enjoyed the slow drive back. He was distracted before, but it allowed him to truly appreciate the lights of the city; they were like nothing he had ever seen. They lit up Tiana's face beautifully, her eyes sparkling.
"I really enjoyed tonight." She said, placing her hand on his.
"Yes, it was rather amusing." He smiled, taking the hand and fiddling with the thin, feminine fingers in his own. "Who would have thought that I'd be so similar to one of our enemies?"
"Hm." Tiana rested her head back. "I could imagine it."
"Hey."
"Anyway, I wouldn't mind going back." She lifted her head again, looking back to the club shrinking away behind them.
"Neither would I. And it seems they can go there a lot." Naveen laughed, gripping her hand tighter, "Who knows what strange adventures are coming our way?"
"I can't wait to find out."