12DoD #8: Christmas Karaoke With Natsuki

"Seriously Anon? You're taking me to a karaoke bar?" I hear Natsuki complain as soon as I pull into the parking lot in front of, you guessed it, a karaoke bar.

"What's wrong with karaoke? I know you like singing Natsuki." I reply as I pull into a parking spot.

"I do not!" Natsuki pouts. "You've never even heard me sing!"

"You really think I haven't heard you sing the Parfait Girls theme song whenever you use my shower? Those walls are really thin y'know?" I say and watch the red build in Natsuki's face, I can't resist and decide to tease her more. "Oh I can just remember it now, hearing your rendition of that opening." I switch into the closest to Natsuki's pitch as I can."A dash of sugar, a dash of fun! Parfait Girls cook together as one! We're all friends in this here kitchen, so won't you just watch and list-"

"STOP!" Natsuki interrupts me with a shout. Her face is now completely red with anger and embarrassment, she would probably be sending steam out her ears if she could. "I don't even like the opening! It's obviously just an ear worm created by the animation studio to sell more copies of the soundtrack CDs." I decide not to bring up the fact that I've seen her copies of the soundtrack. "And besides you weren't even in tune..." Natsuki continues.

"Well then why don't you show me how it's done?" I say with a smug smile. "Sing for me."

"I-I can't-I mean I won't do that! It's embarrassing..."

"Natsuki we're alone in a car with nobody around close enough to hear through the windows." I knock on the window to emphasize my point. "It's not like I haven't heard you do it before either. I really enjoyed your singing voice and want to hear it without a room between us." I say placing my hand on her smaller one.

"Idiot..." Natsuki quietly breaths as she grips my hand hard, then takes a deeper breath in. "A dash of sugar, a dash of fun! Parfait Girls cook together as one! We're all friends in this here kitchen, so won't you just come watch and listen?  Our sweets are never ending and no flavor is offending! Everyone who's able can take a seat at our table, because Parfait Girls are hear for you~!" Natsuki finishes the song and falls silent, still holding my hand.

"That was amazing sweetie! Especially since you've never had any singing lessons." I lean across seats and plant a kiss on Natsuki's cheek. "Now let's go have some nice food and sing together."

"W-wait! I may have done that in front of you but I'm not doing it in front of strangers!"

"This place has rooms for you to do karaoke alone as well as one in the main room, we'll do some by ourselves and then if you feel like it we can try 1 or 2 in the main room." I say as I let go of her hand and cup the side of her face. "But I don't want to do anything you don't want to, so I can take you somewhere else if you want."

"N-no it's fine...singing for you made me happy." Natsuki quietly admits. "Now let's just go in before I change my mind!"

We both exit the car and walk hand in hand into the restaurant. I request a private room and the hostess leads us to one, taking our drink orders and explaining how to use the machine. After we both wet our throats with some water, I turn to Natsuki.

"Which song do you want to start with?" I say scrolling through the long list of songs. "They all seem to be Christmas themed for the season."

"Stop scrolling for a sec." Natsuki slides up next to me. "What's with this one? It has a weird name."

Truth be told that one caught my eye too, but I wasn't sure if Natsuki would be interested. The does stand out for its...unique name, 'Don't Shoot Me Santa'.

"Well we could try it. Looks like it has 2 distinct parts of Santa and somebody else." I turn to her and smile. "You can play the Santa part."

"Why should I be Santa?" Natsuki pouts.

"Because you'd look cute in a Santa outfit." I say, starting the song before she can begin to protest.

I do my best to sing well and stay on tune while Natsuki's attempt at a deep voiced Santa impression almost causes me to laugh and miss lyrics. The 2 of us have fun, not taking the song entirely seriously since it seems to be a comedic one anyway. Natsuki playing her Santa part pretends to shoot me with a finger gun and I mime being shot as the song ends.

"Well that was interesting. But maybe we should do a more traditional one next?" I propose.

"You better, or Santa's gonna shoot you!" Natsuki is still doing her Santa voice, not seeming to have noticed yet that the waitress has entered behind her.

Natsuki notices me looking behind her and turns around with a shocked expression.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted something, I can come back later." The waitress turns around to leave.

"No you can stay. I think we're good to order now, right Natsuki?" I say scanning the menu quickly.

Natsuki's mouth is clamped shut from embarrassment, and she only nods. We give the waitress out orders and  the waitress leaves us alone again.

"Why didn't you tell me she was behind me! I'm so embarrassed!" Natsuki places her head on the table.

"I didn't see her until just before you did Natsuki." I reach across the table to play with her hair. "Besides, she probably has walked in on much worse."

"Whatever, let's just move on to another song."

I scroll through the list looking for a more normal Christmas song and I find the song Silver Bells, a classic. I select it and Natsuki and I begin. Unlike the last song this one only contains one part, and Natsuki and I sing in unison together. Her voice actually does quite a good job of patching up the weaknesses in my own out of tune voice, leaving my deeper singing to mix with her higher pitched one. As we sing I can't help but have my eyes drift over to look at Natsuki. She seems to be focusing intently on getting correct notes and despite being more comfortable singing in front of someone else now, a light blush still tinges her cheeks. She really is adorable right now, and I get absorbed into looking at her face while singing that I barely notice when the song ends. Unable to help myself, as soon as Natsuki turns to me I lean forward and kiss her for several seconds, tasting her sweet lips. Pulling back Natsuki looks embarrassed but is still smiling.

"W-what was that for?" Natsuki asks.

"You just looked really cute and I couldn't help myself." I reply.

"Idiot..." Natsuki mumblles

After our little exchange I return to searching for more songs to sing while we wait for our food. We go through about 5 more while waiting, getting more in sync and comfortable with each other each time until we're both belting out the lyrics in perfect unison and even doing a bit of dancing around each other. We continue like that until the food comes and we both begin to eat. Over our food I decide to ask Natsuki something.

"After we finish eating do you want to try singing in the main room? We're doing well in here after all." I say, wiping some ketchup off the side of my mouth.

Natsuki swallows her large mouthful of sandwich and replies. "I mean maybe...just promise to not make fun of me if I mess up."

"I would never make fun of you in front of people for messing up." I say placing my hand on my chest sincerely. Natsuki seems content with that answer and returns to eating. "I'd only do some light teasing in private about it!" I add knowing she can't reply immediately due to being in the middle of a bite. She swallows with a dirty look in her eyes and berates me.

"Anon don't make me tell the club about your hentai collection, I could ruin you for them..." Natsuki says with a sly smile, using the one blackmail tool she holds over my head whenever she needs to get her way. I really should have hid that folder on my computer better.

"S-sorry ma'am, there will be absolutely no bullying from here on out!" I salute and get a positive response.

We return to eating and both finish a little bit later. The waitress comes in with the check and tells us that we can pay it on our way out if we want to continue using the karaoke facilities. I leave a tip on the table and we both head out into the main area, which currently has around 10 people spread across the tables and the bar but the karaoke machine is unoccupied. Stepping up to it I look for another song, this list is much the same as the one in the private room but we barely scratched the surface of what's available. I decide to select a popular one to please the crowd. All eyes in the room turn to us as the opening notes of 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' starts playing. Natsuki shoots me a glare for choosing to sing a love song in front of strangers, but can't dwell on it long as the song starts. We get into the groove of it pretty quickly and judging by the looks on the faces of the patrons they're enjoying the show compared to the drunk mumbling into the microphone many people likely give them. As the song ends we get a light applause and bow to the audience.

"You did great!" I lean into Natsuki's ear and whisper as we walk from the machine to the front door.

"Thanks Anon, you did good too...not as good as me though!" Natsuki says as she puffs out her chest proudly.

I pay the bill at the front desk and we return to my car, I turn to Natsuki as I start the car and she speaks.

"I...had a really good time tonight Anon. I feel like being around you helps me be myself more and let my guard down." Natsuki turns her face away and continues. "And I just really, really love you."

Reaching out I turn her face to mine and look her in the eyes. "I love you too Natsuki, sing for me more sometime okay?"