Birds || Fuenciado

Chapter 18: Silent Night

"I will test that theory," I nod. "If I can see through my own tears by that point, of course."

"Have you ever felt like nobody was there?..." he starts singing, and I laugh again, letting go of one of his hands and putting my own over his mouth.

"I don't want to cry now!"

"Have you ever felt forgotten -" he continues, muffled by my hand. "In the middle of nowhere?"

"Have you ever felt like you could disappear?" I join in, relenting at last and withdrawing my hand, and his face lights up as he stops singing and listens to me instead. "Like you could fall, and no one would hear..."

"You have such a nice voice," he beams, and that stupid, simple compliment makes me smile ridiculously wide. In a fraction of a second I think about all the times Alex and I got together and jammed, and we sang all the songs we loved and grew up with. My voice was smooth and his was easy, and they gelled together very nicely. For my junior year music assessed practical, I played guitar and sang an acoustic version of When You Were Young by the Killers and got full marks - but I don't think I've actually sung properly since then. I used to love it.

"I have a decent voice," I shrug, and as I let go of his hands and move away from my half finished packing on the bed he moves to leave as well, and we collect our coffees and head out of my room and to the stairs. "I'm no Beyoncé."

"Well. The only Beyoncé is Beyoncé, that's true. But that's the first time I've ever heard you sing properly, you have a lovely voice."

"So do you."

"Yours is nicer. Sing some more."

I shake my head at him, but do as he wishes. "Well, let that lonely feeling wash away,

Maybe there's a reason to believe you'll be okay;

'Cause when you don't feel strong enough to stand,

You can reach, reach out your hand."

"Vic, I haven't heard you sing in a long time," says Mom as we meet in the living room, where she's just leaving to put today's laundry in the machine. "I almost forgot how lovely your voice was."

"Told you!" Jaime says gleefully, poking me in the ribs as I giggle.

The living room feels as it once felt but hasn't for what feels like an abnormally long time. It feels warm and safe and alive as Jaime and I stand in the doorway and observe the scene, where Tony and Mike are sitting cross legged beneath the tree, playing a game on Mike's phone called Heads Up - at the moment, it's Mike who has the phone on his head, screen facing Tony as words pop up, seemingly related to Disney, and Tony frantically tries to describe them without saying the words themselves. As we stand and watch, the words Mrs Potts appears on the screen.

"Oh!" Tony exclaims, highly wired and energetic, the most I've seen him so since meeting him. "Um, Beauty and the Beast -"

"Belle?"

"No, no, uh...her son is Chip!"

"Oh, Mrs Potts!"

"Yeah! Next!"

Mike flicks the phone downwards and it pings in a way that lets you know he's got the right answer, and a new phrase takes its place; Saving Mr Banks.

"Related to Mary Poppins," Tony starts, "the thing you got mad at me about when I said I hadn't seen it."

"Saving Mr Banks," Mike nods, and flicks the screen down before Tony has even had a chance to say 'correct'. Once more, it pings before replacing the phrase with; If I Never Knew You.