Work Text:
Melodies & Harmonies
Penny loved to sing.
Her family had sung together when she was little, and even though her parents hadn’t got along sometimes, she knew their soulmate duet was the reason they stayed.
Penny sang because of her soulmate a lot. She belted in the shower, sang loudly when out on walks, whispered the words at night, and mouthed everywhere else. Some people disliked having to constantly sing their feelings or match their soulmates, but Penny didn’t, she loved it.
She’d joined the San Fransokyo Youth Choir out of her love for music, and there she’d found her soulmate too.
Tip Tucci.
In Penny’s opinion, Tip was perfect. She was an alto-soprano with warm colored skin and bright curls Penny wanted to stare at forever. She’d moved to San Fransokyo from Barbados, and her voice still had a bit of an accent to it. It made her singing beautiful.
Both girls were alto sopranos in the San Fransokyo Youth Choir, but they hadn’t talked. Tip seemed really serious about her music, and Penny… well, Penny had a bad habit of stuttering around her soulmate. Tip liked to use one of the practice rooms in the morning, and Penny liked to catch up on reading before rehearsal, so it has only taken a few weeks before the redhead has realised.
Only bad news? Penny was pretty sure Tip didn’t know the same.
“Okay guys, this year, we’ve finally got the spot!” Mr Radcliffe announced.
“The Spot” referred to the entertainment of San Fransokyo’s yearly city gala. Every year, San Fransokyo put on a party/performance/festival. It was meant to be a celebration of things accomplished in the year. The city council invited people who’d been awarded recently, local bigwigs, and a smattering of other people to a big gala where one lucky group was chosen to entertain them all.
The choir erupted into muttering, cheering and questions. Mr Radcliffe smiled and raised his arms to calm them all down, then continued with his news.
“We’re going to sing My Soul’s Been Anchored ,” Radcliffe said. “So it’ll take a lot of practice, and we are going to tackle the solo, so anyones who interested will audition in two weeks,”
Those who normally tried out for solos nodded, while those who’d sung the song before started to mentally go back over the words.
Penny watched from her spot (third row, fifth from the left) as Tip (first row, eighth from the left) straightened her posture. The dark haired girl was definitely going to audition, and she’d most likely get it. Penny had a lot of ‘shared’ practice ahead of her.
She couldn’t wait.
“I honestly don’t understand why you’re so nervous,” Hiro Hamada said. “You two are soulmates!”
“It's not that!” Penny protested. She grabbed a handful of gummy bears from in front of her friend and stuffed them into her mouth, ignoring Hiro’s outraged gasp. “What? You let Riley take them!”
“Riley’s my soulmate!”
“And your girlfriend bolt-brain,” The final member of the trio - Riley Anderson - added. “Girlfriend privileges include gummy bears,”
Hiro made another strangled noise as Riley picked out the remaining orange bears and sat down. In response, she hummed the chorus of some rock song, forcing Hiro to join her.
“This doesn’t solve my problem,” Penny interrupted. “How do I tell the best singer in the entire city that I’m - the girl who could barely hold a tune until two years ago mind you - her soulmate! I can barely talk to her! What if she doesn’t even like girls! Then its going to be platonic, and I’ll be a sad gay girl who can’t even sing without being reminded of the time she was friendzoned by sexual preference!”
“I dunno,” Hiro mumbled through a mouthful of candy. “That's a real worry?”
Penny rolled her eyes. Just because Hiro and Riley’s relationship was so sickeningly sweet and perfect didn’t mean that everyones was. Hell, Hiro’s own brother had never sung a day in his life because of the soulmate bond, and his aunt’s soulmate was platonic. Hiro had lucked out, finding his soulmate by chance on the first day of school and having their relationship work out so well. While Penny loved her friends, she could get a little tired of them.
“Yes, it's a real worry!”
“Well you said she was going to try out for the solo, right?” Riley asked. “Why don’t you do the same, then she’ll duet you and figure it out,”
“That's… actually not a bad idea,” Penny said. Riley smirked and flipped her hair back.
“I know what I’m doing,”
Penny started practicing the solo on the walk home from Hiro’s. She didn’t stop practicing until her mom made her go to bed, and even then, she was mentally rehearsing.
Over the next two weeks, Penny sang more than she had ever sung before.
When she took Bolt for a walk, she was singing. Doing the dishes - singing. Penny worked on the solo in the shower, on the walk to her college classes, the walk to the rehearsal studio, in the car, anywhere. During the second week, she even got to the studio earlier to snag one of the practice rooms instead of reading.
She could tell that Tip was practicing just as hard, because everytime Penny took a break, she could still feel Tip singing on the other side of their soulbond.
As the week came to a close, Penny was excited, but she was also ready. She knew the solo inside and out, and even if she didn’t plan on getting to sing it at the gala, she knew that she could finally tell Tip about her feelings.
That was the whole point after all.
The audition day finally arrived, and Penny was buzzing with excitement. Mr Radcliffe ran through the songs with the whole group first, sometimes stopping to correct or add something. Finally, at the second hour of practice, he stopped for auditions.
There were six people who had signed up. Penny had spoken to the director beforehand, and Roger had agreed to let her go last. The first four girls were pretty good, but they focused a little more on getting the words right instead of feeling the song.
When Tip sang, Penny bit her tongue to keep from joining her. It wouldn’t do to spoil the surprise before it was time. Tip nailed the words of the solo, but she was also full of soul and the others could really hear the bluesy soul in her voice.
“Alright, that was really good Tip,” Mr Radcliffe said. “Now, Penny, it's your turn,”
Penny slipped down off the risers, then stepped to the middle of the stage and took a deep breath. Mr Radcliffe gave her a reassuring smile and thumbs up, and started the music.
“Ooooooh my lord…” She started quietly, but built up louder. “My souls been anchored, oh my souls been anchored,”
“My soul’s been anchored in the lord!”
Penny turned and stared right at Tip, whose eyes were blown wide open in surprise as she joined her soulmate in the duet.
Penny kept singing, smiling at Tip, who joined her more and more. Their voices meshed together in that perfect soulmate harmony, mixing together as the two girls were finally brought together. When their voices died down, there was a few moments of silence before the rest of choir broke out into clapping, cheering, and awes.
“We’re soulmates!” Penny cried, flinging her arms out to her sides.
“I know!” Tip replied.
The night of the gala went great. The choir performed perfectly, captivating their audience easily. And at the center?
Two girls, holding hands as they sang the solo as a duet, voices linked in magical harmony.
Yeah, Penny loved to sing. And the best part? So did Tip.