"So what are we doing here again?" Ventus asked.
Cloud shrugged. "No idea."
"Auron just said we'd regret it if we didn't come." Leon supplied his cousins with a smirk. "He didn't give any specifics."
Cloud looked dismissive as he exchanged a glance with Ventus who frowned. He didn't normally come to the bar with his brother and cousin. He was still under age and so had little reason to come to Barrett's place though he couldn't deny that the arcade was worth it from time to time if he was in the mood for it. However normally...well even though Tifa worked here he just didn't have any reason to be here, especially since Cloud had started avoiding Tifa. Leon pushed the door open and held it for them as they walked inside. The bar was its usual well lit self, from behind the bar Barrett waved at them as his mechanical arm continued cleaning the glass it was holding.
"What's going on Barrett?"
Barrett smiled at them and nodded behind them. Ventus turned to see Auron sitting at a table in front of the stage. He raised his ubiquitous jug in greeting, inclining his head in a nod.
"The usual?" Barrett asked.
Leon nodded. "Yeah, send Tifa over with it."
Barrett's smile widened. "Tifa ain't here tonight. Got a new girl."
Cloud's face flashed in alarm which he quickly shielded. "What happened?"
Barrett shrugged his massive shoulders. "Just sit down and I'll have Vanille bring your drinks."
They joined Auron at his table and he had a faint smile on his features that made the scar on his face look all the more intimidating.
"Hey Auron." Leon greeted him as he took a seat besides him. "So what's up?"
Auron chuckled. "Rinoa thought up something and got Rikku and Tifa involved. They asked me to invite you two."
"Wait, you mean I wasn't invited?" Ventus asked suddenly.
Auron looked between his brother and cousin before shrugging. "You're here."
Ventus bristled at Auron's tone but was quieted as a smiling girl with pink hair practically danced up to their table.
"Two beers and one root beer?"
They took their drinks, Ventus had trouble keeping his eyes off the girl, Leon kicked him under the table.
"Ow!"
"I'm sorry, are you okay?" the girl asked with apparently sincere concern.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." he glared at Leon who was looking at the empty stage innocently.
She gave him a radiant smile. "I'm Vanille."
"Uh, Ventus." he said rather stupidly.
"I'll remember that." she said with a wave as she went back to the bar.
Ventus looked back at his brother and cousin who were both smiling at him, he scowled.
"What?"
"I think she likes you." chuckled Leon as he sipped his drink.
"Get her number?" inquired Cloud laconically as he nursed his own stein.
Ventus flushed. "Shut up both of you."
Auron chuckled. "Don't you two know better than to dictate a young man's heart?"
Leon snorted and downed his drink in one go. "Mister cryptic over here. Ventus, get her number, she's cute."
"You get her number." Ventus snapped hotly.
Leon smirked and waved him off, the scar across his face stretching out in a ragged line. "Nah, I've got Rinoa already."
"Speaking of." Auron said idly as the lights around the bar dimmed. "I think the show is about to start."
Ventus' eyes focused on the stage which was shrouded in shadow. Someone was standing there, but he wasn't sure who. There was an explosion of sound then which actually made him wince at its intensity, that was when the singing hit.
"So oh, oh, oh, oh, so oh, oh, oh, oh
So oh, oh, oh, oh, so oh, oh, oh, oh
So oh, oh, oh, oh, so oh, oh, oh, oh
So oh, oh, oh, oh, so oh, oh, oh, oh"
The three girls strode out onto the stage, Rinoa in a white short cut dress with Rikku on her left in board shorts and a bikini top and Tifa in a cowboy outfit that might as well have been a bikini and board shorts on her right. The music steadied out and the trio began to dance in rapid fluid movements in time with the music.
"All up in the blogs sayin' we met at the bar
When I don't even know who you are
Sayin' we up in your house, sayin' I'm up in your car"
The girls continued their dance as Rinoa sang with Rikku and Tifa providing back up. Their hips gyrated as their arms flew back and forth forming shapes and lines that accentuated their forms beautifully. Ventus' eyes were all but popping out of his head and when he tore them away from the display to look at the others he found Cloud and Leon both with their jaws slackened. Only Auron seemed unmoved though he was leaning forwards on the table with a pleased smile across his face.
"But you in LA and I'm out at Jermaine's
I'm up in the A, you so, so lame
And no one here even mentions your name
It must be the weed, it must be the E
'Cause you be poppin' hood, you get it poppin'"
Ventus swallowed, trying to wet his dry mouth as they all three dropped down and snapped back up, their motions exact mirrors of each other as Rinoa sang and the other two gestured. His heart was thudding in his chest and he couldn't calm himself down. Cloud looked like he'd been fixed to his seat, while Leon looked as if he might leap up on the stage and attack Rinoa if given half the chance. Ventus wasn't sure what he was feeling since before now Rinoa had always just been his cousin's cute girlfriend and Tifa had been his brother's good friend and nothing more. Rikku he hardly knew, he'd only met her recently when Cloud started attending school with Auron. In any case, none of that really mattered. What mattered as that he was feeling insane.
"Why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I wanna know
Lyin' that you're sexin' me when everybody knows
It's clear that you're upset with me
Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress
Last man on the earth still couldn't hit this"
Rinoa winked at Leon who smiled back hungrily, Ventus imagined what that smile would mean later on and had a sudden image of himself with any one of the girls on stage. He shook his head, getting the image out as quickly as it had come. That he was even thinking of doing that with an older girl was a little scary but...well all he had to do was look at them to get the answer for his mind's indiscretion. There wasn't a man in the bar who wouldn't want to sleep with any of them, of that he was sure.
"You're delusional, you're delusional
Boy, you're losin' your mind
It's confusin' you, you're confused you know
Why you wastin' your time?
Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex
Seein' right through you like you're bathin' in Windex"
The lights began to flash in time with the music and the girls all started a new segment of their dance which was much slower and jerking though still in tune with the rhythmic beat of the music. If anything, the slower dance made Ventus' heart beat that much faster as his pulse thudded in his skull like a hammer.
"Boy, why you so obsessed with me?
So oh, oh, oh, oh, so oh, oh, oh, oh
So oh, oh, oh, oh, so oh, oh, oh, oh
Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed, obsessed, obsessed "
The music changed again as did Rinoa's singing, with Tifa and Rikku carrying more of the tune now as the dancing stopped its jerky rhythm and resumed its prior fluidity. Ventus wondered if the show was about to end and found a mixture of relief and regret.
"Why you so obsessed with me? And boy, I wanna know
Lyin' that you're sexin' me when everybody knows
It's clear that you're upset with me
Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress
Last man on the earth still couldn't hit this"
The girls stopped dancing, turning from the audience and walking back across the stage towards the back. The audience began cheering as the music began to die down and the lights dimmed.
"You're delusional, you're delusional
Boy, you're losin' your mind
It's confusin' you, you're confused you know
Why you wastin' your time?"
The song ended with the trio with their backs to the audience and their arms crossed across their chests. The bar's lights came on again and erupted in a chorus of applause, whistles, and cat calls. The girls turned back to the audience, all of them smiling as they bowed to the cheering crowd.
After they had their moment, Rikku walked forwards and leaned down to smile at Auron.
"Did you like it?"
Auron smiled up at her quietly. "It was enjoyable."
Rikku stuck her tongue out. "Meanie, you're supposed to be excited when your girlfriend is dancing half naked on stage."
Auron's smile broadened as he lifted his jug up in a mock salute before taking a long drink. Rikku glared at him playfully, and then leapt from the stage, landing in Auron's lap. He exclaimed as the chair tipped over backwards. His jug went rolling across the floor as Rikku straddled him and kissed him passionately. He didn't complain, instead pulling her deeper into the kiss. Ventus flushed and he looked away just in time to see Tifa and Rinoa coming off the stage in a much more composed manner.
"Hey you two." Tifa chided. "Go easy on the furniture, Barrett will take it out of my paycheck."
Cloud looked away nervously as Tifa took the chair besides him.
"What's with that outfit anyways?" Cloud asked dubiously.
Tifa looked over at Leon who shrugged helplessly. "You don't remember?" she asked, sounding hurt. "We used to play cowboys together remember?"
Cloud blinked and looked back at her. Now that Ventus thought about it, he did remember Tifa wearing cowboy outfits a lot when she used to come over when he was little...though he didn't remember wanting to see Tifa out of those outfits.
"I don't remember them being this...interesting." Cloud responded.
Tifa smiled at Cloud playfully. "It could be much more interesting."
Cloud's face flushed and Ventus felt a moment of vindication for being embarrassed earlier. What happened next though was a little alarming. Tifa leaned over and took Cloud's face in her hands. His eyes widened but he didn't get the chance to protest as she kissed him. The look of surprise on Cloud's face was match only by the look on Ventus' face. He turned to try a conversation with the others, but Auron and Rikku had disappeared and when he looked for Leon and Rinoa he found them dancing with other visitors at the club to the new song that was playing. Ventus suddenly felt very much alone and very left out.
"Uh Cloud?"
His brother, released from Tifa's grip, looked at him in something approaching bewilderment.
"I, uh I'm going to go get that girl's number."
He stood up and headed towards the bar, where said girl was giving Barrett the latest orders.
"Her name's Vanille!" Tifa called after him.
AN: yeah I know the song has some references which don't make sense in a FF/KH setting but honestly I liked it. This scene was inspired by watching Dead Fantasy Obsession one too many times. The song is Obsession by Mariah Carey who actually managed to write a song I like, bully for her...granted I'm using the lyrics from the shortened version that Mony Oum used in his video so oh well.