Hey guys! For starters, the original version I wrote was almost rated M, so there might be mentions of certain… stuff… and scenes were certain… Stuff… almost happens. Don't get me wrong, I can write Rated M stories, but most of my readers can't read those, so yeah. I just mention. If this is a little too strong for you, that's ok. I deleted most of those parts anyway. This took a long time to write, so that's why I you haven't heard from me much. I was wondering what I would write next and this idea of Red being a female came up to me. Now, I have only written a gender bent story once, this is the second. I like this idea, since I don't like reading slash. (Please respect that, like I respect you.) I also wanted to practice my darker writing skills, since most are just happy, humorous or depressive. I hope you enjoy it. By the way, Middlemist Red is the world's rarest flower. Check it out, it's beautiful indeed. Enjoy!
"The flower that blooms in adversity, is the rarest and most beautiful of all."
-Mulan
Middlemist Red:
Red was not your ordinary girl. More like your angry girl. She wasn't a great beauty, she didn't keep her appearance. It was a miracle they all knew she was a girl. Maybe the long feathers in her head tied into a ponytail gave it away or maybe it was the eyelashes. It couldn't have been the tail, it was always messy. But nothing else. Her body was covered in large amounts of feathers that hid her figure. And nobody was about to find out. The eyebrows, even though they were not a very feminine thing, somehow fitted her.
So, yes, even after all, Red was never a girl who wanted to keep her appearance. She preferred walking around in the forest then wasting her time in a beauty parlor.
"…and what do you do, when you find a weed?" Peckinpah asked her in that judgement day.
"I don't know, but I bet you're gonna tell me." She snapped back.
"You. Plug. It. OUT!"
And those words stung, forever marking their way in her mind. Peckinpah had to send her to anger management classes.
There were times, like any imperfect bird, which she will crumble down, but nobody was there to help her climb out of her sadness. 'Eyebrow, Weed in the garden, Ugly, You'll never be beautiful, Psychopath…' Those were the words that whispered to her at nights as her only company and many times she would fall on her knees when she couldn't take it any longer. She would cry until her eyes dried and finally fell asleep.
Red was never a girl who would back down from a fight. And she usually won them anyway. *cough* Billy *cough*. Compared to other girls, she had brute strength and often got into fists fights. She remembers them like they were some of the best times in her life. Some of them really were. For example, there was this girl in her class that always bullied her because she wasn't pretty enough. That certainly stopped when she plugged away the other girl's head feathers. She looked like a crazy chicken afterwards. She even had a picture hidden away somewhere. Although, there was one she regretted. *cough* Billy *cough*.
"Of what did I made you of? I made you out of love…But wait, too late! Some very troubled somebody destroyed you out of hate!" Chuck recited his poem as he held the dummy Billy. Red took deep breaths and fanned herself. Maybe she had been a little bit too rough on the dummy. She did not regret beating it up, but upon seeing Chuck made that dummy, she was starting to think otherwise. "…and someone hated that…" He took out a red feather. HER red feather. "But who?" He glared at her and so did the rest of them.
"Oh, oh…"
She nervously chuckled and silently blamed Terrence. Now, the big guy wasn't a fan of hitting ladies, but one punch wouldn't hurt.
"Yeah… I deserved that."
That evening, the pigs arrived. Upon their arrival, they destroyed her house. The pig that stepped forward requesting the birds' friendship was called Leonard along with his companion, whose name Red didn't bother to remember. After a small confrontation and everyone else left to pan a party, Red stayed behind to see what she would do with her house.
Leonard had decided to stay behind too for a few moments. "Red, I presume." He said.
She glared. "What do you want?" She said as she looked up. He towered her by almost two feet.
"I believe we started off the wrong talon. So I wanted to introduce myself correctly. I'm Leonard." Leonard smiled at her, grabbed her hand and kissed it. "My, my, what a lovely lady."
Red stared in shock. Nobody ever called her lovely.
Leonard smiled gently. "I believe you don't get that a lot."
Red shook her head.
"Well, I'm sorry about your house. But I got to admit, in my honest opinion, it's kind of ugly."
She officially hated the guy. She liked that house. And she build it alone without any male's help.
She could be easily triggered and unleash a wave of insults in less than one minute that would leave any bird cowering under their beds. But if there was an insult that could top hers, was that fact that everyone choose the pigs over her. Even after sneaking around their ship and finding some stowaways, they choose them over her. And that hurt.
Nobody ever called her beautiful, not that she would blame them. She hadn't been the prettiest girl in the class nor the nicest. She had big eyebrows and though her feathers were usually well kept, her tail was a mess, she wouldn't give a damn about her head feathers (always tied in a ponytail) and she didn't do make up. But there had been one time after anger management class, before the fight against the pigs, that she had been called like that.
"Hey, Red." Chuck called.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"Would you like to accompany me to the banquet the pigs' are hosting?"
Red groaned. "No, Chuck. It's not you, is just that I don't like those pigs at all. For what we know they want to just slave us or something."
"Oh," Chuck looked a little disappointed. "That's ok, I guess."
"But I can go with you if you really want." She pitied him.
"Oh, good! Bomb is coming too! Then we can all have a table together!"
Red mentally sighed in relief. "That's… good. I was about to tell you that you should go with another girl. One that was actually pretty. I thought you were inviting me on a date or something. Silly of me…" She started to walk away.
Chuck shrugged. "I don't know. If it was a date, I would have invited you anyway. You're head over heels prettier than other girls."
Red stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the yellow bird, only to find that he was long gone. Thankfully, her cheek feathers were already red.
During the pigs' stay, she often found pigs checking out her stuff in her room. And it was annoying. She would find her room a giant mess with a big hole on the wall. She would keep all the pigs away during the day and when night fell, she would start to clean her room. She had a box full of untouched make up and other beauty supplies she doubted she would ever use. She just had it there just in case. If there was ever the occasion she had to use those.
As she knelt down to grab an unused hairdryer, she felt a hand rub her on her behind. Right under the tail feathers. She gasped and turned around, only to face the one and only Leonard. "What the HELL!? How did you get in here?"
"Oh, yes, the big hole in your wall." Leonard said as he pointed at her broken wall.
Red threw away her stuff into her closet. "And why the hell did you touch me!?"
Leonard sighed. "You see, where we came from, there weren't many pig ladies and certainly not now. And I've been feeling kind of lonely and…" He eyed her body, truth be told that she was hiding a gorgeous figure behind that mop of feathers. "…needy. So… I was wondering if…"
"Get the hell out of here. Do not dare to touch me again." Her voice as full of venom. She didn't need to yell for it to sting. And Leonard liked that. He had a thing for wild flowers. Rare, exotic flowers. This one was by far the most exotic in this island. Fearless and feisty. And he wanted her.
"Very well, then. I was just asking."
"Then don't ask again."
The next day, the anger management class was doing an art class outside. Paint your pain, was the title. And Red was painting a lot of ways to get rid of Leonard. The uncomfortable sensation of him touching her behind was still present in her mind, even after taking a shower.
"Red, are you ok?"
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Chuck. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."
"Bad night?" He asked.
She turned back to her painting. "I had to kick out a pig."
Chuck nodded but did not said anything.
A while later, the pigs arrived, taking pictures of an egg. Leonard held the egg. Red had a discussion with him that led to her gallery of pig pain.
"You're making our guests feel unwelcome." Peckinpah told her, taking her wrist in his hand. She would never say it, but his grip was too hard on her, a clear sign of his hate for her. She pulled away.
"And you're not asking basic questions." She answered.
They verbally fought. Red lost.
"Well, that went well. If you're me." Leonard said and his companions, including Judge Peckinpah laughed at her. Red turned around and continued her paintings, but her face betrayed some sadness and embarrassment. They started to leave and Leonard was the last to follow. He eyed her from head to toe and then left. Chuck glared at the pig until he was out of his sight.
Red convinced her friends, Bomb and Chuck, to go to Mighty Eagle's cave and ask for help. But that almost costed her hearing, due to Chuck and Bomb making Mighty Eagle noises all the way there. The only good thing they got from that visit was Mighty Eagle complementing Chuck's lovely singing voice. Which it almost got Red blushing. But from the corner of her eye, she saw the eagle smirking at her. He knew. The lazy bastard knew.
Turned out, the pigs wanted to steal their eggs. Red had sent Chuck to warn the others while she and Bomb tried to free the eggs. "Bomb! I need you to blow up the handle." Bomb nodded and climbed up towards it.
The pigs started to throw things at her. She grabbed one of the umbrellas they threw and covered herself with it. She saw Leonard smirking and looking at her like she was a piece of meat. She never felt uncomfortable under any male's stare, but Leonard's made her want to cower.
"Set sail for Piggy Island!" He shouted.
She fell, so did Bomb.
In the morning that followed, what the rest of the island population found was their homes in ruins and their precious eggs gone.
"What do we do now?" Peckinpah asked her.
"You're asking me?"
"You tried to tell us, but we didn't listen…"
Red looked up at the parents of those eggs. "We're getting those eggs back."
There were many times in her life where she was told she wasn't worth it and many times she almost believed it. But as they approached Piggy Island, she was glad she just ignored those insults.
The castle was rather ugly and it turned out that Leonard was actually the king.
After many attempts to try and get into the castle, she was the first to reach the eggs. And they were about to be boiled. "Aw! Red, glad you could join us! We're about to feast on your people's eggs, would you care to join?" Leonard asked with a sly smirk on his face as his subjects laughed.
Red glared. "You're despicable…"
"I get that a lot." He smirked. "But I'm willing to free the eggs… for a price." He said. The pigs gasped and everyone stopped doing what they were doing. Chef Pig gasped and almost fainted. Red motioned him to continue. "I will free them, if you take their place."
"YOU WANT TO EAT ME!?" She asked horrified.
"No, no, no." Leonard said. "I want you to become my queen." He clarified. "Think about it. An exotic flower like you can worth way more than simple eggs, even though those are delicious."
The pigs made collectives 'ohs' and nods and looked back at Red in anticipation. Except Chef Pig, he looked down in disappointment. They hadn't had a queen in a long time. Sure, they wanted to eat eggs, but having a queen just seemed so much fun.
"What?" She asked, not truly believing her ears. Queen? His queen!?
"You know," He said casually. "A queen. Become my wife and rule by my side. As far as I know, you don't have a boyfriend. Not that in that island you could find someone." The pigs laughed.
"I…" Red was sure she showed a lot of discomfort at the mention of boyfriend.
Leonard arched an eyebrow. "You like the yellow one, do you? He's a little short for you, don't you think darling?" Was he… jealous?
"I…" She blushed a little.
"Trust me, dear. This is a one of a kind opportunity. Imagine being queen. That yellow pipsqueak, even if he liked you back, couldn't give you everything I could. You will be respected, beloved even, by all your subjects." He motioned the pigs, who eagerly nodded. "Unlike all those good for nothing birds in your island." He smirked at her. "Everybody wins. You birds get the eggs and I get you, my love."
"Why would you want me?"
"OH, you're different, the way you act, the way you talk, not to mention quite beautiful. Right guys?"
The pigs nodded in agreement. This was the second time in her life that she was called pretty and she didn't like it one bit.
"So, what do you say?"
"It's a…" She saw Mighty Eagle approaching, ready to break through the window or ceiling. "It's a tempting offer…"
"It is."
"But I will never be your queen."
Right in that moment, Mighty Eagle flew through the ceiling and landed awkwardly on the floor, losing consciousness for a moment.
"Boil the eggs! I want the big turkey! And she is mine!"
Red slapped Mighty Eagle back into consciousness, telling him that he needed to get those eggs to safety. Just in that moment, Bomb and Chuck finally managed to get into the room. They flew away with the eggs, but one had fallen and stayed behind. Red went back to retrieve it. Everything happened too fast after that. One minute, she was fighting against Leonard in the ceiling and the next…
"You destroyed my castle!"
"You destroyed my house!"
"Yes, well, for a pretty girl like you, your house was really ugly!"
"Now we're even!"
…they were falling hundreds of feet into the deeps of the castle.
Red shook her head and looked around. She had fallen in a pit full of TNT. She searched around for the egg and found it, only for Leonard to find it. He held it high and lit a flame under it. "You can still save this egg, you know." He smirked at her.
Red growled. "Yes, I can." She launched herself to him. He lost his grip on the egg and the lighter and the egg fell close to a giant bolder, the one she fell on with Leonard.
She quickly stood up and ran for the egg, but Leonard grabbed her legs and pinned her on the floor with his body on top of hers. Not enough to crush her, though. "Why won't you accept me? This whole thing would have been prevented if you just accepted my proposal! I was being honest!"
"You destroyed my home! Humiliated me in front of my flock! How do you expect me to accept you!?" She stopped when she saw the hurt look on the pig's face. "You're… in love with me…" She realized.
In the mist of the excitement and adrenaline, he shushed her with a forced kiss. Great, her first kiss was stolen by a disgusting pig. "The day I met you, I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. I knew instantly that you weren't like other girls. You were unique, exotic. And I really like exotic things. Can't you see I really want you? That I really want to claim you as my queen?" He said as he touched her body in ways Red did not felt comfortable with. "What does that yellow pigeon have that I don't!?" He asked her. Red tried to get away, but Leonard's weight was too much on her and he was bigger.
"He wouldn't touch me if I didn't want to!" She answered.
Leonard growled at her and looked down at her in an animalistic way. Realizing what was happening, she freed her leg from his grasp and kicked him in the jewels. She escaped him and grabbed the egg, shielding herself with the giant metal pig head. The explosions came a second after.
She could not remember exactly how she came out alive, but the next thing she knew, everyone was cheering for her as she held onto the egg shell with three healthy blue hatchlings.
Bomb hugged her. Chuck kissed her on the cheek and thankfully, her feathers were red already. She handed the hatchlings to their rightful parents and then, everything was ok.
They all headed back home.
OOO
It seemed that after becoming a hero for the whole island and becoming a bird the little ones looked up to, she had suddenly become popular with guys. At first, she felt overwhelmed with the sudden attention. Sometimes it was kind of cute. But she quickly grew irritated with it. She voiced this to Matilda, who just looked amused.
"Oh dear, I'm just surprised that they didn't try to hit on you before. You're a lovely girl."
Red looked at her like she had just grown a second head. "Matilda, how can I be lovely? Look at me! I don't give damn about my appearance and I have anger issues. Why would they be interested in me? Now all of a sudden?"
"They're just starting to notice you more. After all, you are quite a different kind of flower from the rest."
Red rolled her eyes. "I'm not a flower." She looked away. "I'm just a weed in the garden…" She whispered, remembering how Peckinpah compared her to a weed. He might have apologized, but the past cannot be changed.
"Oh, darling. Trust me when I say that you're just a beautiful flower that blooms around thorns." She said as she looked up the clock. "Oh, look at the time. I have to go, Terrence invited me for dinner."
Red smirked. "Well, good luck with the big guy."
It took some time for the males to calm the flock down. But that didn't ever stopped those single males from trying.
"Hey, Red."
Red looked at him like he was from another planet. He was hitting on her… again. The irony this time was that he was more of a clean freak than Chuck and he was hitting on her… when she just had a mud battle with her friends. There was no inch of her that wasn't covered in dirt or dried mud.
"Um… hey."
"Listen," He stepped closer to her. Too close. She didn't like being close to other males other than her friends, since… the pig. Not that she ever liked the closeness anyway. "I was wondering if you would like to come with me to the beach, have some nice dinner…"
"No thanks." She replied and continued her path, but he followed her.
"Come on! Just give me a chance. Please?"
Red stopped and turned to face him. "Look, you're cute and all, but I know your antics and I know you are a player. Not being popular with guys allowed me to see who was who."
"But-"
"No 'buts'. I'm not the girl for you." And she walked away.
Because it was obvious her growing popularity with the guys, many single female birds started whispering behind her back, calling her names and laughed at her appearance. This wasn't much of a problem and was quickly solved when Red reminded the female leader about the time she plugged out her head feathers when they were hatchlings. The rumors and whispers stopped in less than an hour. "Bitch…" Red smiled in victory.
A few days later after anger management class, she was on her way home. But it had started raining and the dirt path grew wet and muddy. Thunder and lightning struck in the distance and she flinched by the sound. She sighed and continue her path back home. She was wet and grumpy and she was super hungry.
"Red!" She heard her name being called in the distance. She looked up in its direction to find Chuck waving at her from his balcony. "Come in! It's freezing outside!" He called.
Red smiled and walked towards his house. She climbed up the stairs towards the tree house, the door opened and Chuck was waiting for her with a dry towel. Before she could take it, he placed it around her shoulders himself. "Clean your feet before you enter, they're really muddy." Indeed, they were. She usually kept forgetting that Chuck was some sort of clean freak.
Red cleaned her feet and entered the tree house. Chuck closed the door behind her just when lightning struck back. The yellow bird led her towards the living room where Bomb was sitting on the floor eating popcorn. "Red!" He greeted.
"Hey, Bomb. What are you guys doing?" She asked as she sat on the floor next to Bomb.
"Oh, nothing. We were going to have a Guys' Night Out, but then the heavy rain came, so we decided to have a movie/slumber party night."
"Yeah, and you can join us too. We're not about to let you walk alone on a rainy night. You can spend the night here!" Chuck said.
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
They watched tons of movies and ate popcorn. After that, they drank hot cocoa and talked about many things, including a pillow fight. Bomb fell asleep on the couch afterwards. That left Red and Chuck for themselves. They sat at the dinner table close to the window drinking the remains of hot cocoa.
"So," Chuck started. "How have you been? I mean, after this whole pig thing."
Red sighed. "I've been fine I guess." She looked outside the window, remembering Leonard's proposal, how close he was to…
"Red?"
She snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah?"
"What happened? What really happened back there with those dirty pigs?"
Red sighed and looked down at her cocoa. "I… Leonard made me an offer."
"What kind of offer?"
"Trade myself for the eggs."
Chuck stayed quiet as he motioned her to continue. He drank some of his cocoa.
"He… he told me he wanted me to become his queen."
Chuck spitted his cocoa. "What!?"
"Shh!" Red shushed him and motioned Bomb, who was sleeping.
"Why would he want you for his queen?"
"The exact reason, I'm not sure." She whispered as Chuck growled, but he kept himself controlled. "…he was kind of in love with me. More like obsessed, I'll say." She offered. "He said that such an exotic flower like me worth more than a bunch of eggs and even the other pigs agreed."
Chuck looked like he wanted to strangle his cocoa mug. "He didn't touch you, did he?"
Red gasped as silent tears stained her cheek feathers. "He did… but he didn't went farther than that… I … kicked him in the jewels…" She whispered. "Two times…"
"Two?" Chuck asked, not believing his ears. "When was the first one?"
"Remember the day of the paint your pain class? When I told you I had to kick a pig out?" She said, Chuck nodded. "That night I was kicking out the pigs, they were searching through my stuff again. Then I started cleaning and he surprised me from… from behind… He told me straight away what he wanted from me and I said no. He just left, but my guess is that he made me the offer so I couldn't refuse him and that way, he would have gotten what he wanted."
Chuck glared at the mug. "And I guess the second time was at the castle."
Red nodded.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" He said in a soothing tone. Still not looking at her.
Red looked down. "Nobody would have believed me… why would a king want me as his queen?"
"I would have believed you…" Chuck whispered. Red looked up and smiled a little. Chuck's face softened and looked at her. "Would you have said yes?"
Red sighed. "I might have if none of you got in there on time." He looked back at him. "I haven't told anyone, and I prefer it to stay like that. Ok?"
Chuck nodded. He looked down at his mug in silence. "It's true what he said, though."
Red looked at him.
"That you are an exotic flower." He blushed instantly, obviously not meant to say that. "Oh! Um… sorry."
Red chuckled. "Thanks, Chuck."
Chuck smiled and the dreadful atmosphere instantly faded away with his new found glowing excitement. "So, I was wondering…" He scratched the back of his head. Thunder could be heard in the distance. "The Mid-Spring Festival is coming and… um…"
Red mentally sighed. The Mid-Spring Festival was a formal celebration where it was customary to bring a date, friend or loved one. Even hatchlings enjoyed the party. It was also customary for all ladies to clip their favorite or the most beautiful flower they could find on their head.
"I was wondering… If you would like to come with me?" Chuck said and chewed on his bottom lip.
"Um…" Red was speechless. She never actually liked the Mid-Spring Festival because she never actually had a date to go with and here, her best friend and secret crush was asking her to go with him. "Um… sure."
She could never say no to those sparkling green eyes. "Is Bomb coming with us?"
"Um… no. It's just the two of us."
So it was date, then.
As the week passed and the Mid-Spring Festival came around the corner, Red had yet to find a flower that fitted perfectly with her. She had searched the flower shops, beach and outskirts of the forest, but she could not find one. As she ventured throughout the forest, she groaned in annoyance. Maybe she should have told Chuck she didn't want to go. "This blows…" She said as she sat over a lonely rock. Her feet were killing her.
She felt a powerful gush of wind behind her and she turned around. Mighty Eagle landed face first on the floor. He coughed. "I'm clearly out of shape… Red! Good to see you, darling!"
He might be a lazy bastard, but there was no denying that he always had good intentions. Besides, after the fight with the pigs, he had grown to behave like a fatherly figure to her. "Hey, Mighty Eagle."
"Are you going to the Mid-Summer Festival? I know I am!"
"I am… was… I mean- I am, but…" Red couldn't find the words to explain her predicament to the eagle.
Mighty Eagle nodded. "I see you don't have a flower yet. The party is tonight, you know."
"I know, but-"
"Who's your partner?"
"Chuck."
The eagle nodded while trying to hide a grin. "I think I can help you." He cleared his throat. "Middlemist Red."
"Uh?"
"It's a flower. A really rare and beautiful, one of a kind flower. It has several petals, it looks a little like a rose when it blooms and it's like a mix of red and pink colors, so it's pinkish red. It's about the size of your hand." He motioned her hand. "It grows only on two parts of the island and one batch grows at the bottom of my mountain. I'll get one for you."
"Mighty Eagle, you don't-" But he flew away. "…have to." Red decided to wait for him. She hadn't found any flower for her appeal and pinkish red sounded nice.
Minutes later, the giant bird came back carrying a pinkish red flower. "Here." He carefully placed it on her hands. "Now, I hope to see you in the party."
Red looked up with a smile. "Thank you."
"Oh, don't. It's the least I can do for you." He flew away. "See you at the party!"
Red looked down at the beautiful flower that still had some leafs under it, giving it a more natural appearance. Somehow, it was perfect.
She headed home and placed the flower in a water vase to keep it alive while she got ready. She put her untouched make up, hairdryer, brush and other beauty supplies on the table. She looked up at the mirror and sighed. "Time to work."
She started with a bath first. Later, she used the hairdryer to smooth out her scarlet plumage. Using the same instrument, she started to work on her head feathers, striating them up and used a spray to keep them still like Stella instructed her. Her head feathers were shorter than Stella's, though. She used the hairdryer to work on her messy black tail. Once it was neatly brushed and a little curled at the end, she started to work on her make up. She applied dark liner, making her eyes look bigger, rounder. Then, she applied mascara on her eyelashes, making them pop out. She decided to do nothing with the eyebrows, not like they were an easy job anyway. She just managed to make them look a little smaller. Then came the accessories. As customary, as well as the flower, females wore leaf bracelets on both writs. Once she was done, she grabbed a pin and the Middlemist Red flower from the vase and carefully clipped the flower on the right side of her head along with the leafs to give some color diversity.
Once she was done she stood in front of the full body mirror. She couldn't believe that the same bird staring at her in the mirror was her. He smiled at her appearance. For the first time in her life, she considered herself beautiful.
She opened the door and stepped out of the house. All the birds must have been already at the party due to the fact that the street was deserted. Better for her, she could walk by and not be stared at by other birds. The party was to be held at the Town Center, a large building where formal festivities were held, and Chuck would wait for her at the entrance. As she approached the entrance, she saw Chuck chatting away with Bomb. He was wearing a white suit piece with black bottom shirt and red bow tie while Bomb wore a completely black tux with black bottom shirt and white tie, a blue lily sat still on his front suit pocket. Not all males decided to wear suits, opting for plain white shirts or a semiformal accessory, but somehow Red knew these two dressed to impress tonight. Suddenly, she wasn't sure who impressed her more, Chuck or Bomb? Her eyes just jumped back to Chuck. Yep, it was Chuck who impressed her more.
She saw a couple of girls enter the building wearing beautiful flowers on their head and their head feathers in the most glamorous styles. Hers was just straighten up, a simple style and her tail feathers were just a bit curly at the tips, theirs looked lovely. For the first time, she wondered if her appearance will meet the standards. She gulped and pushed those thoughts aside.
As she walked up to them, Chuck noticed her. And his jaw literary dropped to the floor. "Red…?"
Bomb looked at her too. "Whoa… you look, just… whoa." He smiled at her.
Red smiled and shyly looked away.
"You look beautiful." Chuck commented.
Red finally looked up. "Thanks, guys. You don't look so bad yourselves." She smirked.
"Yes, well…" Chuck said. "Bomb is trying to impress Willow."
Bomb stared at the yellow canary in shock. "No, I don't… I just have a thing… for a girl… that just happens to like art like… Willow does… and is blue…"
"Hence the blue lily." Red shook her head. "Bomb, stop. You know you can't lie."
Bomb lowered his head. "Ah, man."
"I think still think it's kind of cute, though."
Bomb smiled with a slight blush on his cheeks.
"Where did you get that flower?" Chuck asked her.
Red unconsciously touched the Middlemist Red on her head. "OH, it's a long story. Mighty Eagle helped me find it, though."
"The color fits you."
"Thanks."
They stared at each other's eyes for a moment. Bomb looked at them with a smile. "I hate to break up your staring contest, but we need to get in." He said as he entered the Town Center.
Chuck held up his arm like a gentleman. "Coming, milady?"
Red chuckled and gladly took his arm.
Upon entering Town Center, it seemed that every other bird had stopped what they were doing to stare at the beautiful bird in Chuck's arm. It took them a second to process that the bird they were staring at was Red.
They passed by the crowd pretending they didn't noticed the stares. Some were of admiration, some were of jealousy. Judge Peckinpah and Cyrus stared at Red from a corner. Peckinpah sighed and looked at the scarlet bird with an apologetic smile; now he felt even more ashamed for calling her a weed in the garden because at who he was staring was the most beautiful girl he had seen. It was like she had gone through a magical transformation and Peckinpah noticed for the first time an air of confidence and pureness around her. Young little girls stared in awe at her, wishing they would grow up to be as pretty as her. A couple of guys cried quietly in a corner at the realization that Red was practically taken and their small chances were long gone. The group of gossiping female birds stared in shock at the radiant scarlet bird, wishing they were as pretty as her. And wishing they were the girl in the arm of the sudden handsome-in-a-suit Chuck.
Chuck took her to a table where Bomb was sitting with Willow and Matilda with Terrence. He had this adorable black bowtie while Matilda had a crown of pink flowers and Willow wore the blue lily Bomb previously had on his suit. The birds except for Bomb looked at her in awe.
"Red? Is that you?" Willow asked.
"Um… yeah." Red nervously laughed as she and Chuck sat down on the table. "Why does everyone keep staring?"
"Oh, they're staring at me." Chuck said as he fixed his bowtie with a grin. "But seriously, they're staring at you. It's not every day that you put on some make up. And brush your feathers. And put a flower on top of your head." He said dreamily.
"Yeah, Chuck, I think that's enough." Red said uncomfortably.
When all birds sat down on their tables, Peckinpah initiated a speech. Truth be told, it was the same old boring speech from every other Mid-Summer Festival. When he finished, everyone clapped and the real party started. Willow took Bomb's hand and went to hit the dance floor. Matilda and Terrence stayed. Terrence was a little hungry so they ordered some food for all of them.
"See what I told you?" Matilda asked Red as Chuck chatted away with Terrence. The big guy grunted in response.
"About what?"
"That you are just a flower that blooms around thorns." Matilda smiled.
They ate their food as they chatted about random stuff. Terrence gave Matilda a pretty necklace and took her away to chat with other birds.
"You look very pretty tonight." Chuck complimented her for the fifth time.
Red wouldn't stop blushing. She rather liked it. "Thanks, Chuck."
"You know," He started. "Those girls back there have nothing on you." That was basically the sixth. She took a sip from her cup of water, trying to hide away her face. What the hell was wrong with her? She was never one to shy away. From the corner of her eye, she saw Chuck staring at her with dreamy eyes. Dreamy, green eyes.
Gosh, she should stop hanging out with Matilda so much. The cheesy part was rubbing on her.
"So, you dressed to impress tonight?"
"Oh yeah, I really want to impress this girl…" He started. "And I really hope I have." He winked at her. Red blushed.
Mighty Eagle saw them from his table and walked towards them. He was wearing a simple suit with black tie and white shirt. "Charles! Looking good!" He greeted, then turned to Red. "My, my, my… you look wonderful."
"Thanks, Mighty Eagle."
"I told you that flower would fit." He said. Red looked down in shyness and started poking her food; she had never received so much praise in just one night. Mighty Eagle stretched his back. "Well, I got to go. I promised Peckinpah we'll have a poker match. Enjoy the party!" He then looked at Chuck with a slight glare and Chuck gulped, nodding. Then, the eagle left.
"What was that about?" Red asked.
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" Chuck chuckled nervously.
The music changed to a slow dance and birds quickly went in search for dance partners.
"I love this song!" Chuck exclaimed. He stood up and extended his hand to her. "Want to dance?"
"Me!?" Red exclaimed. "No, no, no! I can't! I don't know how!"
Chuck gently took her hand. "Then I'll teach you."
Instead of taking her to the middle of the dance floor, he took her to the garden, where no one was looking and yet they could hear the music. Paper lanterns adorned the trees, glowing warmly upon them. If Red tripped or felt embarrassed, no one would notice. (Please listen to: I'll be by Edwin McCain).
"Just follow my lead." He took her hand and placed it on his shoulder. He took the other on his and placed his right hand on her waist. Red flinched a little at the sudden touch.
They started slow. One, two, three. One two, three, until he was spinning her around the garden. She never thought that she out of all girls will be dancing with Chuck. Surprisingly, he was a good dancer.
They didn't know that a coupe watched them from afar. Terrence and Matilda sighed as they smiled at them. "I guess the garden is taken, big guy." Terrence grunted in approval and took Matilda away to find another place for themselves.
Red smiled as she picked it the pace. "Yep, that's it!" Chuck congratulated. Suddenly, she tripped on her own feet and almost fell. But when she opened her eyes, Chuck was holding her. She found herself staring into his green eyes.
"You deserve to be happy, Red Rose."
OK, that was new. But… she kind of liked the nickname. Nobody ever called her pretty and the first one to do so was Chuck. Nobody ever called her by her full name and now it was Chuck. Boy, did he knew how to win first place.
"Do I?"
"Yep, you do." He whispered to her. He leaned in closer and so did she. In an instant, their beaks touched. Her hand touched his soft cheek feathers and leaned in on the kiss. She might have been kissed before, by force, and promised herself she would never be kissed again. And here she was kissing her best friend.
"Whoa." They heard. They pulled apart and looked up. Mighty Eagle stood on the door way with a bag of popcorn and a smirk. "What a show."
Chuck and Red looked at each other and then at the eagle. Mighty Eagle motioned them to go on. "Go on, don't be shy. That was some kiss, by the way." He ate some popcorn. Some fell on his suit.
"How long have you been standing there?" Red asked.
Mighty Eagle shrugged. "I don't know, since you tripped I guess."
Red and Chuck glared at the eagle. They hadn't moved from their position.
Mighty Eagle smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm gonna go…" He then glared at Chuck, the yellow bird nodded rapidly and nervously smiled.
As the Eagle left, Red looked back at Chuck. "Well, that was…"
"…amazing."
"…yeah."
They stared at each other's eyes as their beaks closed in for another kiss. Only to be interrupted by a camera flash. "Come on!" They both yelled and turned their heads into that direction. They saw, not only the Mime holding a camera, but their friend Bomb as well. Mighty Eagle was on the back eating popcorn, paying no attention to them.
Chuck dropped Red by accident. "OH, I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry!"
"That's ok." Red said as the yellow bird helped her get up.
Bomb slapped the Mime on the back of his head. "Way a go to ruin a moment." He told him. The Mime made a silent chuckle, handed him the instant photo and ran for his life. "Oh my GOD!" He yelled.
Bomb looked down at the perfectly timed picture. "Well, this one goes for the album."
Red and Chuck glared. Bomb nervously chuckled. "Yeah, um… I think Willow is calling me." And he ran away.
Chuck shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll get back at him. Wait a second." And he ran away after Bomb.
Red smiled as she heard both friends yell at each other and some camera flash noises. After five seconds, Chuck came back by her side and showed her their picture. "Well, we do look nice." He handed her the photo. "Take it, is yours." Red took the photo and smiled at it. "And this," Chuck said as he showed her a bunch of instant photos he took from Bomb and Willow. "… Are all mine!" He laughed as he shoved them inside his suit pocket.
Red chuckled. "Oh, Chuck." She laughed. Then, she turned her head away. "So… what does this make us?"
Chuck looked back at her. "A couple, I guess? I mean!" He quickly corrected himself. "Only if you want to. Maybe in the future we could… I don't know… um…" Red shushed him with a quick kiss on the lips.
"A couple sounds nice."
Chuck smiled and waved his tail just like he did when he was excited.
"And you're right. Maybe in the future…" She didn't had to finish for they thought the same thing. But then she glared playfully. "But let's not get cheesy, ok?"
"Red, I'm the king of cheesy." He ran off and came back with a plate full of cheese and grapes. "Want some?"
"Sure."
For the first time in her lonely life, she felt like she belonged. Like she was loved. For the first time, she thought that her life will turn for the better from now on. And for the first time she finally understood the meaning behind Matilda's words.
She bloomed around thorns. She was rare, unique between everyone else. She was like a Middlemist Red.
It took a lot of work but finally, here it is. I seriously hope to know what you liked or not and I would really like it if you left a review. Thank you for reading and be sure to hope for more fanfics to come.
