Chapter 10: Karaoke
"You're going to sing 'Extraordinary Way' right?" Aerith wanted to know as they walked to the room that had been set aside for the karaoke. Tifa gave her friend a smile but felt her cheeks pink just a little.
"I doubt they've got Conjure One on their playlist here" she answered. A little relieved. She could hit the notes of most Conjure One songs comfortably since her singing voice was a bit in the lower range. But… she had to... slid her voice just a little and it made her feel a little – a little bit like a lounge singer, crooning. It was fine enough when she was surrounded by friends she loved and trusted or did it for her siblings to help them sleep but here -
"I thought I'd sing 'Kung Fu Fighting' or – " Tifa was interrupted as Aerith produced a music disk with a grin and waved it triumphantly in the air. Tifa gave it a look.
"Is that the CD from the bar?" she asked and Aerith just smiled. Tifa blinked.
"You're kidding me," she sounded less sure of it than she would have liked. "You dragged that thing all the way here in the off chance we'd be invited to karaoke?"
Aerith giggled and shrugged, rolling her eyes.
"They do karaoke every year, Teef" she informed her friend. "I was going to try to drag you to it anyway. Yuffie just beat me to it."
"Do they – let you bring your own music?" Tifa asked in vague sinking hope but Aerith just nodded cheerfully.
"Of course they do. There are too many weird songs out there that people want to sing."
"Shouldn't I be singing a weird song too?"
"No" Aerith shook her head. "The weird songs always go first and then things tend to settle down a little. We'll slip you in just before everyone gets too drunk to appreciate you."
Tifa's eyes narrowed at her friend. Feeling as if she'd walked into some kind of trap she should have seen coming. Aerith tipped her head and smiled.
"Oh, come on, Teef. You do this all the time at the bar. And the people here are probably less likely to catcall too. You sound good when you sing Conjure One songs. Denzel's got a bad copy of you doing 'Extraordinary Way' he listens to when you're not home at night and I'm baby sitting."
"Really?" Tifa hadn't known that and could only imagine how he'd managed to record her. Aerith just nodded.
"Besides, its your song, Tifa" her face softened along with her voice. "It fits you and I think you should sing it for our new friends."
Tifa gave her a sideways look but – when Aerith's voice softened like that it meant she was serious and so Tifa took whatever she said in that tone seriously. Even if she thought Aerith was making too much out of it.
"Okay" she agreed. "But only if it fits in with everything else."
It made Aerith grin and she linked her arm through Tifa's as they strode into the temporary bar/lounge that had been set up.
Yuffie wasn't there yet but Rikku and her girl friends were and so Tifa and Aerith got enthusiastic waves to come and join the large table they'd already claimed. Aerith scooted into the booth first and Tifa followed. The singing was already starting and onstage a cowboy, a plumber and a – Tifa wasn't sure what the last one was but it included a lot of pink feathers – were singing 'YMCA' and Rikku was already in the mood, doing the hand and arm motions along with the singers on stage. Tifa looked around and saw that it was a good-natured crowd at this point. There were a couple of waitresses serving drinks and she didn't know how things would go as the night got drunker but it wasn't anything she wasn't used to judging so she wasn't worried. She ordered a cranberry juice when the waitress got to their table. Living in a bar – Tifa had seen enough to never want that for herself. Aerith got up to go talk to the dj and Tifa asked:
"Do they do this every night?"
"Pretty much" Rikku grinned. "It'll be hysterical by the last night but for now it's pretty calm. Yuna" she gestured to one of her friends, "brings down the house with her 'Womanizer' on the last night every year."
"Are you singing tonight?" Tifa asked the other girl hopefully and the short haired brunette nodded cheerfully.
"Oh yeah. I'm debating between 'Poison' and 'Real Gone'."
The difference in styles made Tifa laugh just as Yuffie arrived with a – cautious would be the word Tifa thought to apply – Cloud in tow.
"We made it!" Yuffie chirped and started to slide onto the bench next to Tifa before jumping back up. "Oh! Drinks first!"
"Soda" was Cloud's one word response and Yuffie made a face.
"I know, I know. You get soda."
Cloud's blue eyes looked calmly at his sister.
"You get soda" he clarified. Yuffie pulled a face. Cloud's eyes didn't blink or shift and finally she huffed and turned on her heel to head to the bar. Cloud sat down next to Tifa and watched his sister.
"Oo, big brother" Rikku snickered and Cloud turned his head just enough to acknowledge it.
"She's going to be bad enough with the sugar kick," he stated calmly. "You don't want to see her drunk."
"Back!" Aerith dropped down onto the bench on the other side of Cloud, giving him a grin of greeting that made her cheeks dimple and he nodded in response, edges of his lips shifting in a smile.
"So are you singing?" Yuna wanted to know and Aerith shook her head.
"I can't sing. I hum and that's all I'm allowed to do. For everyone's safety. Tifa's going to sing."
At the looks, Tifa tucked her chin a little. Embarrassment on the edges but she pushed it firmly aside. Everyone here was too friendly to feel embarrassed around, she told herself firmly.
"Aerith convinced me. Or forced me" she answered and heard the sympathetic laughter. Yuffie came back at that point and plopped into the seat next to Rikku's silver haired friend, pushing a glass of dark soda across at Cloud. She had an identical glass in her hands. Cloud leaned forward to take the glass in her hands and slid the one she'd just given him back to her. Then he sat back in his seat with the liquid as Yuffie blinked and the looks that flickered through her eyes had Tifa, oldest sister to two rather clever pranksters, stifling her own laughter. Cloud took a long swallow of his drink, eyes not leaving his sister's.
"Too much syrup" he commented and Yuffie's face tightened in a brief look before she gave him a pout and sipped at her own drink. Tifa wrapped her fingers around Cloud's hand and pulled the drink over to her when Yuffie and Rikku got distracted looking at the playback on the silver haired girl's recorder. Sniffed. Smelled rum mixed in with the dark soda and chuckled. Cloud looked down at her and the edges of his lips were shifted upward in response. Comfortable he shifted his free arm to the back of the seat behind her.
"She's still my little sister. Some things just seem to come automatic with the job description."
"Eyes in the back of your head" Tifa agreed.
The 'YMCA' had been replaced with a group singing the 'Lumberjack Song' and now new music started. 'Brother oh Brother' by Mans Zelmerlow and Aerith perked up.
"Hey, isn't that 'Tempest'?" she asked and Tifa turned her head to look as Yuffie made happy noises and proceeded to, in highly over dramatic fashion Tifa thought, explain how they knew the dark haired man that was singing on stage. Who was having a bit too much fun with the song, including adding hand motions and a sway that fit the mood of the crowd. He was grinning as he sang it and, to the delight of the crowd, pulled a double take as he noticed the group of girls at the table – or rather – noticed Tifa. He shaded his eyes and then pointed and waved. Which had everyone turning to look as he belted out the lines:
"Believe me, brother oh brother,
she will break your heart
leave her tonight - "
Tifa felt her cheeks go pink. Not exactly the song she would have chosen to be pointed out during but it was more being pointed out at all than for the words. Rikku, on the other side of her, nudged her with a laugh.
"He's cute" she approved.
"He gave her his phone number" Yuffie stated. "Said he wanted her to call him."
Tifa gave her a look for being unhelpful but Yuffie just gave her a cheeky grin in response and then, when he finished his song, waved him over to join them. He slid into the seat next to Yuffie and smiled at her and then at each of the girls as she introduced them.
"You have a really nice voice" Yuna complimented him and Leon shook his head, looking away for a second. His eyes slid back and to Tifa, he looked just the littlest bit embarrassed.
"It was a bet. I lost. I'm not much of a singer."
"You sounded very nice" Tifa volunteered and he gave her a smile.
"I'm glad you think so. I was actually hoping I sounded horrible so my friends would never think of suggesting that kind of thing again." He pointed to a nearby table where several guys waved back. He shrugged as he turned back and leaned forward on the table a little to meet Tifa's eyes. "Could be worse. All I had to do is sing. Tomorrow Sora's going to be attending in a dress."
Tifa stifled a laugh behind her hand.
"Remind me to never make bets with you" she teased and he grinned.
"I'd be gentle with you," he answered and next to her, she felt Cloud shift.
"Do you live around here?" the blond asked the man across from him.
"Oh! My turn!" Yuna, instead of making everyone move, simply climbed over the back of the booth, much to the approval of the rest of the crowd. The Thundaar cosplayer that had been singing 'I'm Too Sexy for My Pants" finished to much cheering and catcalls and then Yuna scrambled up on to the stage. She'd gone with Sheryl Crow instead of Alice Cooper apparently and the second she opened her mouth, Tifa realized she was in the company of a real pro. Before the first verse was even done, Yuna had the bar entirely in her hands and while she swayed and sashayed across the stage, they responded cheerfully.
"Hollow Bastion" Leon answered Cloud's question. "But I come to Midgar all the time on business. You?"
"Here." Cloud's voice was calm. And flat. Tifa took his drink out of his loose grip and took a swallow of it.
"It's my turn soon" she responded to their surprised looks for different reasons with a chipper smile. "I'm not used to singing in front of a crowd like this. Usually its just my brother and sister."
And the bar but she wasn't going to bring that up. It wasn't part of the distraction technique she was aiming for. Leon's eyes left Cloud to focus on her.
"You lose a bet too?" he asked and she relaxed a little and shook her head with a smile.
"I have evil friends. I don't have to lose bets," she pointed to Aerith. And then Yuna finished her song to loud cheers and applause, which Tifa joined in. She just hoped there were enough people in between her and the other girl so people wouldn't remember and judge her against the singer. Yuna bounced back over to the group and sat down next to Leon. Her face was flushed and she was glowing. Rikku reached over several people to ruffle her short hair.
"I can't believe you don't do that for a living" Tifa told her with a grin. "You're amazing!"
Yuna shrugged but she was smiling widely.
"It's fun. I don't know if it would be fun if I had to do it all the time."
"Aerith says the same thing about her art" Tifa pointed out and for the next few songs the table was full of talk of habits, hobbies, and art, written, sung, drawn, and played. Then Aerith was leaning over Cloud to tap Tifa's hand with a smile full of faith.
"You're next" she told her and this time Tifa took another sip of Cloud's drink for herself instead of anyone else. He looked at her with his quiet, watchful eyes and she pushed at him with her fingertips. She wasn't about to crawl over the seat like Yuna had, even though she had made a trip back to the hotel room to change into pants instead of the mini-skirt. He moved and Tifa found her feet and shot Aerith a momentarily panicked look. Her best friend gave her one of those special smiles of hers that promised everything would be all right. Because it was Aerith, and only because it was Aerith, Tifa believed her.
The music started as she took the stage and she took the microphone from the last singer with a grateful smile. He gave her a wink and disappeared back into the room. Tifa closed her eyes as the familiar music played and told herself she was back in her father's bar on a slow night singing for Aerith and Barrett and Denzel and Marlene to pass the time. The image made her smile and luckily that was all she had time for before the right beat came up and she let herself sing the words she knew so well she didn't have to think about them.
"What I have is nothing to my name.
No property to speak of
and no trophy for my game.
Intangible and worthless
my assets on a page.
My coffers are empty and the offer of safety has faded away
what I have
what I have… is…
On an ordinary day the extraordinary way
you take what I can give and you treasure it.
On an ordinary day the extraordinary way
you turn to me and say I believe in this."
Her voice grew more sure and she let it 'slid' along with the music as she settled into the familiar pleasure of it. She was no professional, would never reach Yuna's level if she practiced for a million years – but that was all right. This was for fun and she enjoyed singing. So she could open her eyes as she sang the next verse and look at Aerith at the table with a smile in her eyes.
"And that makes me lucky
God, I'm lucky
So much luckier than I ever thought I'd be.
Cause what I have
means so very little to this world
A promise that I kept and a bridge that I saved before it burned
Sacrifice that I made that brought me to my knees
The choice that cost me everything and set somebody else free -
But what I have…
is the value that you see in these things…"
Her friend had her hands clasped in front of her and was smiling back, tears in her eyes. The way she always had tears in her eyes when Tifa sang this song. Because – she understood. That's why they were friends. Tifa sang through the chorus and felt the familiar buoy in her heart that she always got from the song.
"And every time I forgot those things you bring them right back to me -
with your patience
when I'm blinding mad
and your passion
when I'm really, really bad
and your eyes - "
Without meaning to Tifa's eyes shifted from the safety of her friend's face – and focused on the impossible blue beyond that. Mistake – mistake! – because she couldn't look away once she did and Cloud didn't look away either.
"taking in everything I am
and your body and soul and the way that you know how I treasure you."
The words came without her having to think about them and it was only after they were sung that she realized how it would seem – locking eyes with a guy and singing words like that. She felt her cheeks flame and was grateful that the chorus was next and she could sing it without thinking. Quick she concentrated on Aerith again which was only partially helpful since her best friend looked like she was stifling a grin.
Tifa did manage to finish the song without making a mistake but it was mostly because the song was pretty much over. She got applause, which made her cheeks pink in pleasure but she hastily handed the microphone over to the next girl in line and exited the stage without reluctance.
It didn't help that the next singer had chosen the song 'In Your Eyes' by Sylver.
Tifa squeezed into the seat next to Aerith and her friend wrapped an arm around her and gave her a tight hug.
"You were beautiful."
It made Tifa breath a laugh but it was in gratitude.
"That was amazing!" Yuffie leaned across the table. "You should sing a duet with Yuna tomorrow night!"
"oh no!" Tifa raised her hands with a laugh. "That was it for me. One shot and no pushing my luck."
Yuna grinned.
"You've got a lucky brother and sister. I would have loved to grow up listening to you singing."
"I'm getting you a drink" Yuna shuffled out of the way so Leon could announce it as he stood up, giving Tifa a smile. "That deserves some kind of reward. Name your poison."
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that's right. Since I'm spoofing/paradoying I had to stick in a songfic too (next thing you know I'll be locking people in closests). Well, that and the 'teaching Cloud to dance' vid on YouTube. And huzzah for Leon getting a shout out! Poor guy.
